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Aztec Ruins National Monument New Mexico - John M Corbett · The American Trail

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  Speaker 1: Section zero of Aztec Ruins National Monument, New Mexico, by
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  Speaker 1: John M. Corbett, National Park Historical Handbook, Series Number thirty six, Washington,
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  Speaker 1: d c. Nineteen sixty two. This publication is one of
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  Speaker 1: a series of handbooks describing the historical and archaeological areas
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  Speaker 1: in the National Park System administered by the National Park
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  Speaker 1: Service US Department of the Interior. The National Park System,
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  Speaker 1: of which Aztec Ruins National Monument is a unit, is
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  Speaker 1: dedicated to conserving the scenic, scientific, and historic heritage of
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  Speaker 1: the United States for the benefit and enjoyment of its people.
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  Speaker 1: End of section zero.
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  Speaker 2: Section one of Aztec Ruins National Monument, New Mexico. This
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  Speaker 2: is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the
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  Speaker 2: public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit
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  Speaker 2: LibriVox dot com. As Tech Ruins National Monument, New Mexico
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  Speaker 2: by John M. Corbett Man in the San Juan Valley
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  Speaker 2: Early hunters and gatherers Man in the San Juan Valley.
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  Speaker 2: The San Juan River and its tributaries drained the region
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  Speaker 2: known as the Four Corners Country, the area surrounding the
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  Speaker 2: point where New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, and Arizona meet in
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  Speaker 2: a common boundary at right angles. Rising high in the
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  Speaker 2: rocky mountains of Colorado, the San Juan flows southwestward to
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  Speaker 2: dip down into the northwestern corner of New Mexico. Then
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  Speaker 2: it courses northwestward into Utah, almost at the point of
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  Speaker 2: juncture of the four states. With many twists and curves,
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  Speaker 2: roaring through deep canyons and gulches. It proceeds generally westward
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  Speaker 2: to empty into the Mighty Colorado River in the southeastern
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  Speaker 2: part of Utah. The San Juan Basin is the major
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  Speaker 2: drainage basin of the Four Corners country. As such, its
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  Speaker 2: lower reaches formed a formidable barrier to travel by migrant
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  Speaker 2: primitive groups and to early white settlers as well. Its
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  Speaker 2: upper portions, however, especially its tributaries, were easier of access
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  Speaker 2: and supplied that most important element of all for life
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  Speaker 2: in the desert water water for drinking, water for irrigation.
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  Speaker 2: The land between the tributaries is highly diversified. Much is
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  Speaker 2: arid or semi arid, with small streams running intermittently or
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  Speaker 2: with scattered springs that may be dry during parts of
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  Speaker 2: the year. Other areas are mountainous, with swift flowing streams.
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  Speaker 2: In places there are maces, or large table lands, which
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  Speaker 2: frequently are covered with forests of pine, juniper and pinon.
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  Speaker 2: It is a land of warm, often hot summers, and cool,
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  Speaker 2: sometimes very cold winters, a land of sharp contrasts, a
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  Speaker 2: land that seems perpetual, yet never appears exactly the same
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  Speaker 2: on any two successive days. Into this area many hundreds
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  Speaker 2: of years ago, possibly even thousands, came small bands of
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  Speaker 2: wandering hunters. Gradually, some of them learned how to adapt
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  Speaker 2: to the rigors of the land. Eventually, two centers arose
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  Speaker 2: in which the local inhabitants successfully adjusted to their environment,
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  Speaker 2: one along the Choco Wash in northwestern New Mexico and
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  Speaker 2: the second in southwestern Colorado, in many places on the Laplata,
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  Speaker 2: Mancos and Machelmo drainages. Choco, the first of these cultural manifestations,
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  Speaker 2: takes its name from the best known and finest examples
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  Speaker 2: of such ruins in Choco Canyon National Monument. The other
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  Speaker 2: is best known at and named for, the area incorporated
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  Speaker 2: in Meyseverde National Park on the northern side of the
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  Speaker 2: San Juan. Most of its tributaries are perennially flowing streams
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  Speaker 2: and rivers with broad fertile valleys and bountiful plant and
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  Speaker 2: animal resources. Near by. On one of these streets, the Animus,
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  Speaker 2: there existed a series of prehistoric towns and villages which
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  Speaker 2: exemplify the successful blending of cultural influences from both the
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  Speaker 2: major centers of Choco and Mesa Verde. This is the
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  Speaker 2: general story of the San Juan River area, of the
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  Speaker 2: people who lived there long ago, and in particular the
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  Speaker 2: story of the great ruined Pueblo on the Animus River
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  Speaker 2: near the present day town of Aztec, New Mexico, early
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  Speaker 2: hunters and gatherers ten thousand years ago, a small band
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  Speaker 2: of weary footsore, hungry hunters cautiously approached a few bison
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  Speaker 2: which they had managed to stampede away from the main
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  Speaker 2: herd ten in number. The bison had finally paused to
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  Speaker 2: drink at a small spring in a rincon of the
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  Speaker 2: canyon wall and to graze upon the thick tall grass
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  Speaker 2: for a day and a half. The hunters had carefully
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  Speaker 2: followed the large, hairy mammals, hoping the beasts would lose
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  Speaker 2: their sense of danger and allow themselves to be boxed
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  Speaker 2: into a place where the hunters could approach close enough
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  Speaker 2: to kill them. At last, the moment was at hand. Wearily,
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  Speaker 2: two hunters crawled along the slope of the canyon wall
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  Speaker 2: from opposite sides, seeking places from which they could throw
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  Speaker 2: large rocks upon the animals or hurl their spears with
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  Speaker 2: devastating force. Patiently, five more hunters waited below, concealed by
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  Speaker 2: the tall grass or behind convenient boulders. When the first
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  Speaker 2: two were in place, the leader gave the signal. Rocks
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  Speaker 2: came crashing down on the startled bison. Spears whistled through
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  Speaker 2: the air and thudded into soft flesh. One or two missed,
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  Speaker 2: but most found their targets. Shouts and cries filled the air.
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  Speaker 2: The bison, caught by surprise, whirled and milled around the
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  Speaker 2: water hole for a moment, Then several broke for the
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  Speaker 2: open country. One was wounded, the spear in its flank,
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  Speaker 2: bobbing like a wave. Tossed spindle on this animal. The
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  Speaker 2: hunters concentrated. Three more spears found their target, and the
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  Speaker 2: great beast went down, thrashing wildly. Two other animals lay
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  Speaker 2: maimed at the water hole. One young calf, hobbling painfully,
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  Speaker 2: tried to get away to the open country, but was
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  Speaker 2: quickly dispatched. The remaining six bison disappeared through the thickets
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  Speaker 2: and tall grass to the west. The animals, which were
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  Speaker 2: down but not dead, were swiftly killed with spear thrust
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  Speaker 2: through the eyes. Then the assembled hunters fell to the
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  Speaker 2: most important task of all. With quick strokes of their
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  Speaker 2: razor sharp stone knives, they carefully peeled away the hide
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  Speaker 2: from one of the carcasses. The soft inner parts, the heart, kidneys,
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  Speaker 2: and liver they immediately cut into pieces and ate raw
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  Speaker 2: on the spot, for they had not tasted meat for
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  Speaker 2: many days. In fact, for the last several days on
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  Speaker 2: the hunt, they had subsisted entirely on the few edible
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  Speaker 2: plants and roots they could easily find while tracking the bicycle.
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  Speaker 2: Now great chunks of meat were cut from the flanks
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  Speaker 2: and likewise consumed raw, until each hunter could eat no more.
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  Speaker 2: Then the men gathered up their weapons, long wooden spears
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  Speaker 2: with carefully made chipped flint or obsidian points. Some of
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  Speaker 2: the points were so deeply buried in the bodies that
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  Speaker 2: they broke loose from the shafts when the men tried
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  Speaker 2: to pry them free. Other shafts had broken leaving the
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  Speaker 2: points embedded. When the bison thrashed about trying to escape
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  Speaker 2: the sudden devastation, this was of minor concern. New shafts
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  Speaker 2: could be made, new points fashioned. It was more important
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  Speaker 2: that once again there was meat enough to go around
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  Speaker 2: for the hunters, their mates, and their children. Now surfeited,
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  Speaker 2: the hunters dozed quietly in the shade out of the
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  Speaker 2: noonday sun, but not for long, for they must bring
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  Speaker 2: the rest of the band to participate in the feast.
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  Speaker 2: One hunter started back to the last camp, where the
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  Speaker 2: women and children waited, existing on the remnants of the
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  Speaker 2: last kill and whatever edible plants, roots, nuts, and berries
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  Speaker 2: they might be able to find nearby. The other hunters
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  Speaker 2: proceeded with the skinning of the animals to build a fire,
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  Speaker 2: One man found a dry log in which he made
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  Speaker 2: a small hole with his stone knife. He sharpened another
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  Speaker 2: dry but tougher stick, Thrusting this into the hole, He
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  Speaker 2: twirled it rapidly between his hands until he built up
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  Speaker 2: sufficient friction to make a few small sparks in the log.
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  Speaker 2: These he deftly transferred to a little dry tinder, the
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  Speaker 2: flame of which he carefully nursed until twigs and branches
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  Speaker 2: could be added to make a real blaze. The fire
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  Speaker 2: would be welcome in the evening, for the days were
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  Speaker 2: getting shorter and the nights colder. When the women and
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  Speaker 2: children arrived, they would make crude lean to or wind
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  Speaker 2: break structures to help break the cold night winds from
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  Speaker 2: the north. They would scrape, clean and dry the bison
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  Speaker 2: skins so that as the band headed southward, they would
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  Speaker 2: have the w warm skins to wrap themselves in at night.
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  Speaker 2: During the day while hunting or working around the camp,
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  Speaker 2: they needed little in the way of clothing, just simple
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  Speaker 2: loin cloths on damp, rainy days, and there seemed too
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  Speaker 2: many of these brush shelters. Fires and the warm skins
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  Speaker 2: of the animals they had killed were sufficient. By now,
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  Speaker 2: the vultures were circling overhead, but it would be several
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  Speaker 2: days before these carrion birds could feast on what little
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  Speaker 2: might remain of the kill. The hunters and the rest
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  Speaker 2: of the band would stay at this spot until the
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  Speaker 2: meat was exhausted rancid as it might become. Then once
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  Speaker 2: again they would take up their spears and start after
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  Speaker 2: more game. This time they would head toward the south,
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  Speaker 2: for with the shortening days, winter was coming and the
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  Speaker 2: game was going south. But they would worry about the
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  Speaker 2: next hunt later. In the meantime, all was well. It
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  Speaker 2: was a time for relaxation and rejoicing. They had food
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  Speaker 2: for many days, they had water, soon they would have shelter.
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  Speaker 2: And this was, without doubt the best of all possible
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  Speaker 2: worlds in which to live. Of course, such a scene
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  Speaker 2: is imaginary, but it could have taken place about ten
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  Speaker 2: thousand years ago, almost anywhere among the valley and canyon
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  Speaker 2: bottoms of what is now known as the Four Corners
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  Speaker 2: Country of the Southwest. The great continental ice sheets never
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  Speaker 2: got this far south, and ten thousand years ago they
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  Speaker 2: were already retreating northward from their farthest expansion. Yet smaller
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  Speaker 2: glaciers in some of the surrounding mountains were also shrinking,
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  Speaker 2: and the general climate of the area must have been
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  Speaker 2: far different than it is to day. No doubt, it
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  Speaker 2: was colder and damper, with more rain, and many swamps, lagoons,
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  Speaker 2: and lakes abounding in gay animals and birds of all varieties.
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  Speaker 2: With a colder climate, the scenery, too, did not resemble
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  Speaker 2: that of to day. High grasslands, extensive hardwood forests, and
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  Speaker 2: full flowing streams and rivers characterized the region. The general
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  Speaker 2: land formations, however, the mountains, canyons, mass and plateaus had
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  Speaker 2: been formed long millennia before, and as short a time
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  Speaker 2: as ten thousand years ago, they would have been very
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  Speaker 2: much as they are today. Geologists believe that after the
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  Speaker 2: last of the four great continental glaciations, i e. The Wisconsin,
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  Speaker 2: there were three broad climatic periods over most of the
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  Speaker 2: Western United States. These are called the Anathermal, which was
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  Speaker 2: cool and moist, becoming gradually warmer, the alti Thermal, which
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  Speaker 2: was exceptionally dry, and the Metathermal, a relatively cool, moist
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  Speaker 2: period which is still in progress. Our imaginary tale about
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  Speaker 2: the Hunters, if it had taken place, would have occurred
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  Speaker 2: during the Anethermal period. These variations in climate have been
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  Speaker 2: determined by studying old stream terraces. Streams cut deeper when
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  Speaker 2: there is more water, and they can carry a greater
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  Speaker 2: load of a brace of sands and gravels. Old beach
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  Speaker 2: levels around ancient lakes, such as are prominent today around
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  Speaker 2: the Great Salt Lake in Utah, and ancient annual lake
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  Speaker 2: deposits of fine silts which form thin bands or varves.
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  Speaker 2: Studies of animal life, both vertebrate and invertebrate and plant
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  Speaker 2: life are important for some life forms can exist only
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  Speaker 2: under certain limited climatic conditions. Bones and shells found in
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  Speaker 2: various deposits may help to indicate the type of climate
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  Speaker 2: existing when they were laid down. Plant fragments, pollen grains,
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  Speaker 2: and diatoms microscopic plants with silicious skeletons are clues in
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  Speaker 2: telling the story of prehistoric times. What the early hunters
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  Speaker 2: may have looked like, no one really knows, for archaeologists
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  Speaker 2: so far have not found a single undisputed trace of
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  Speaker 2: their physical remains. Skeletal remains of what might be early
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  Speaker 2: man in this country have turned up in several places,
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  Speaker 2: but usually geologists, archaeologists, and others cannot agree as to
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  Speaker 2: just how ancient these remains might be. One of the
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  Speaker 2: most likely candidates for the distinction of earliest man yet
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  Speaker 2: found in America was discovered in nineteen fifty three near Midland, Texas. Actually,
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  Speaker 2: these remains, which consist of parts of a skull and
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  Speaker 2: fragments of other bones, were those of a female. They
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  Speaker 2: were found under geologic conditions that might indicate considerable age,
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  Speaker 2: and in indirect association with types of artifacts which are
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  Speaker 2: dated by other means as being of fulsome age or
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  Speaker 2: slightly more recent. Unfortunately, since radiocarbon dates on some of
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  Speaker 2: this material vary widely and the local geology is so complicated,
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  Speaker 2: it is not positive that Midland Man is the oldest
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  Speaker 2: known American. Many anthropologists, however, believe that even the earliest
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  Speaker 2: inhabitants of this country were of Asiatic descent, and thus
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  Speaker 2: might well have resembled some of the modern American Indians.
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  Speaker 2: We do not even know if they used animal skins
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  Speaker 2: as clothing. With a rather cool, damp climate, it can
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  Speaker 2: be assumed that they had some sort of shelter and
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  Speaker 2: some types of body covering, even if nothing more than
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  Speaker 2: generous swabbings of bear grease. Today, near the tip of
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  Speaker 2: South America, a tribe of Indians, the Ona, exist in
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  Speaker 2: a very damp, cold climate, eating mostly fish and sea mammals.
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  Speaker 2: They live in crude brush shelters and wear little, if
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  Speaker 2: any clothing most of the time. In Africa, certain primitive
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  Speaker 2: pygmy tribes hunt game as large as giraffes with small
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  Speaker 2: bows and arrows. They wound their quarry first and then
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  Speaker 2: follow it, often for days, until they can bring down
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  Speaker 2: the weary animal at close range with their spears. Perhaps
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  Speaker 2: that is how the early hunters in America survived. We
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  Speaker 2: cannot be positive, but we do know that scattered around
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  Speaker 2: the Four Corners country are or few sites where spear points, scrapers,
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  Speaker 2: and other implements have been found under conditions indicating great antiquity.
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  Speaker 2: In other cases, throughout the Greater Southwest, points have been
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  Speaker 2: found embedded in the remains of slaughtered animals of now
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  Speaker 2: extinct species. Often these remains are found in ancient swamps
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  Speaker 2: and waterholes where it had been possible to trap or
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  Speaker 2: mire the animals and finally kill them. The mucky swampland
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  Speaker 2: has helped preserve the bones so that today the archaeologist
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  Speaker 2: can tell the story of how they were slaughtered. As
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  Speaker 2: the glaciers disappeared and the climate became warmer, the lakes, swamps,
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  Speaker 2: and lagoons gradually dried up. The grasslands became desiccated, the
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  Speaker 2: hardwoods disappeared from the valley bottoms. Small regional differences in climate,
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  Speaker 2: sometimes due to altitude, left some places more desirable than others.
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  Speaker 2: Large mammals disappeared entirely, and the hunting and gathering people
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  Speaker 2: had to turn to smaller types of game such as elk, deer, rabbit, bear,
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  Speaker 2: and rodents. No doubt, wild edible plants, berries, fruits, nuts,
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  Speaker 2: and even roots were gathered and eaten in the Four
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  Speaker 2: Corners Country. However, evidence for occupation by man during the
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  Speaker 2: Alta Thermal or second post Glacial period is almost entirely lacking.
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  Speaker 2: This was an exceptionally dry period and few, if any
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  Speaker 2: people could live there. It wasn't until the climate became
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  Speaker 2: wetter and cooler again, more like it is today, that
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  Speaker 2: man once again inhabited the Four Corners area in any
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  Speaker 2: great numbers. End of Section one.
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  Speaker 3: Section two of Aztec Ruins National Monument, New Mexico. This
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the
• 16:59
  Speaker 3: public For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox
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  Speaker 3: dot org. Aztec Ruins National Monument, New Mexico by John M.
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  Speaker 3: Corbett The basket Makers. About the time of Christ in
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  Speaker 3: some parts, perhaps even earlier, small bands of Indians entered
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  Speaker 3: the Four Corners Country. It is possible that a few
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  Speaker 3: small groups of wondering hunters and gatherers who had survived
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  Speaker 3: the Alta Themal were already living there, but the archaeological
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  Speaker 3: evidence for their presence is very scanty. Under the impetus
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  Speaker 3: of new ideas such as agriculture, these people may have
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  Speaker 3: been slowly settling down to become farmers, possibly under the
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  Speaker 3: pressure of expanding populations elsewhere, groups seeking new lands suitable
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  Speaker 3: for agriculture moved into the area and either amalgamated with
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  Speaker 3: or drove out any local groups. If so, we do
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  Speaker 3: not know exactly where these people came from. Perhaps they
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  Speaker 3: came from the south around the moogion Rim country of
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  Speaker 3: New Mexico, where there is evidence that even earlier and
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  Speaker 3: agriculturally based sedentary population had developed. Corn had been known
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  Speaker 3: in parts of the Southwest for a considerable time. At
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  Speaker 3: Bat Cave in New Mexico, archaeologists have uncovered a primitive
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  Speaker 3: type of corn which was grown at least several thousand
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  Speaker 3: years before the birth of Christ. Only with an assured
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  Speaker 3: food supply, part of which can be stored against bad years,
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  Speaker 3: can a group find time to devote its energies to
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  Speaker 3: the arts and to the development of greater skill in crafts.
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  Speaker 3: The idea of agriculture must have spread slowly, for it
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  Speaker 3: forced a radical change in the living habits of those
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  Speaker 3: who practiced it compared to their old subsistence pattern of
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  Speaker 3: hunting and gathering. At first, the hunting group would regard
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  Speaker 3: this new plant as just another seed crop to be gathered.
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  Speaker 3: When it was ripe, they dumped the seed in the
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  Speaker 3: ground and went on about their business. When it ripened,
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  Speaker 3: they returned to harvest the crop, much as they went
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  Speaker 3: each year to harvest the pinion crop when it was ripe.
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  Speaker 3: But as they became more dependent upon corn and added
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  Speaker 3: the cultivation of squash, these people discovered that two things
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  Speaker 3: are necessary for a group dependent upon agriculture. One, that
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  Speaker 3: most of the group has to remain nearby while the
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  Speaker 3: crop is planted, matured, and harvested to protect it from rodents, deer, birds,
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  Speaker 3: and probably marauding tribes. Second, that there must be a
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  Speaker 3: secure storage place for the surplus food and the seeds
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  Speaker 3: for next year's crop. This latter requirement forced them to
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  Speaker 3: build storage pits lined with stone slabs, bark, and adobe,
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  Speaker 3: which could be securely covered so that rodents and insects
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  Speaker 3: would not eat the surplus harvest. Archaeologists have long called
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  Speaker 3: these early inhabitants of the area basket makers because of
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  Speaker 3: the variety of beautiful baskets and sandals which they wove
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  Speaker 3: from fibrous plant materials. In the earlier part of this period,
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  Speaker 3: they did not know how to make or use pottery,
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  Speaker 3: and baskets were important as storage containers or as vessels
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  Speaker 3: in which to cook by stone boiling. Although their descendants
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  Speaker 3: Selsa made and used baskets, they never achieved the fine
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  Speaker 3: quality and artistry of the early basket makers. Archeologists divide
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  Speaker 3: this basket maker phase into an early period of about
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  Speaker 3: four hundred years and a later period, sometimes referred to
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  Speaker 3: as modified basket maker, of about three hundred and fifty years.
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  Speaker 3: The modified basket makers had several important traits which the
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  Speaker 3: earlier ones lacked, namely the bow and arrow, which replaced
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  Speaker 3: the auto auto throwing stick, beans which added important protein
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  Speaker 3: to the diet, and a knowledge of how to make pottery,
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  Speaker 3: which permitted much easier cooking and better storage of perishables.
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  Speaker 3: The necessity for an assured food supply was of increasing importance,
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  Speaker 3: for there was a slowly but steadily growing population. Agriculture
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  Speaker 3: provided such a supply and freed a part of the
• 22:43
  Speaker 3: population from subsistence activities, giving them leisure to devote to
• 22:49
  Speaker 3: pursuits which were not necessary for mere existence. For example,
• 22:56
  Speaker 3: turquoise worked and polished into or ornamental jewelry seems to
• 23:02
  Speaker 3: have been first used at this time. Small crude pottery
• 23:07
  Speaker 3: figurines are also found, indicating a growing interest in religion
• 23:14
  Speaker 3: and an increasing awareness of religious ideas. Kivas, developed from
• 23:20
  Speaker 3: the idea of the older pit house, first appear in
• 23:25
  Speaker 3: this period. These provided a place for the performance of
• 23:30
  Speaker 3: religious ceremonies and other non secular functions. The men evidently
• 23:37
  Speaker 3: had the time to meet in council and debate communal problems.
• 23:43
  Speaker 3: While the family unit was still important, the clan and
• 23:48
  Speaker 3: even the entire community took on new important aspects of togetherness.
• 23:55
  Speaker 3: We do know what these people looked like. Quite a
• 24:00
  Speaker 3: few well preserved mummies had been found buried in dry caves.
• 24:07
  Speaker 3: They were short, averaging five feet three or four inches
• 24:12
  Speaker 3: for the men and about five feet for the women.
• 24:16
  Speaker 3: Their general build was medium, slender to stocky, their faces
• 24:22
  Speaker 3: moderately long and narrow. Skin color was light to dark brown,
• 24:28
  Speaker 3: and their eyes were brown to black, as was their hair.
• 24:33
  Speaker 3: The basket makers used clothing of a sort, that is,
• 24:39
  Speaker 3: they may have worn a lowin cloth or apron, and
• 24:43
  Speaker 3: probably had shoulder robes of unplored tanned hide for protection
• 24:49
  Speaker 3: against cold. Woven bands or loin cloth had been found
• 24:55
  Speaker 3: in several sights. Most burials had no type clothes, but
• 25:01
  Speaker 3: sometimes were wrapped in mantles or dried skins. Probably clothing
• 25:07
  Speaker 3: was never worn very much. Certain aprons, attached to wastecrds
• 25:13
  Speaker 3: and made of strings of cedar or yucca basts were
• 25:18
  Speaker 3: evidently used as menstrual pads. Finally, woven aprons may have
• 25:24
  Speaker 3: been worn by the women on special dress up occasions,
• 25:28
  Speaker 3: but the scarcity of such items would indicate they were
• 25:32
  Speaker 3: not for everyday use. They wore sandals made of woven
• 25:38
  Speaker 3: yucca strips or cleaned fibers, or sometimes of very fine
• 25:44
  Speaker 3: cross woven cord with fringed toes and colored ornamentation. Human
• 25:51
  Speaker 3: hair was used in making rope in considerable quantities. Either
• 25:57
  Speaker 3: it was cut off after death and utilized for this purpose,
• 26:01
  Speaker 3: or was hacked short from time to time during life.
• 26:07
  Speaker 3: Some burials, especially among the males, indicate rather fancy hairstyles,
• 26:14
  Speaker 3: and it may therefore have been the women who had
• 26:18
  Speaker 3: their hair cropped to supply the material for ropes and belts.
• 26:24
  Speaker 3: Both men and women wore ornaments, bracelets, necklaces, and pendants
• 26:32
  Speaker 3: fashioned of stone, bone, or even various dried berries. Beads
• 26:38
  Speaker 3: were also made of olivela conas and abaloni shell, which
• 26:43
  Speaker 3: probably were imported from the Pacific coast by trading with
• 26:48
  Speaker 3: intervening tribes. Fur blankets were fashioned by wrapping yaka fiber
• 26:54
  Speaker 3: strings with long, narrow strips of rabbit fur and tie
• 27:00
  Speaker 3: these fur covered strings together in close parallel rows. The
• 27:06
  Speaker 3: basket makers were especially known for the fine types of
• 27:11
  Speaker 3: woven containers. They produced. Flexible, seamless sacs, beautifully decorated in black, red, brown,
• 27:20
  Speaker 3: and gray, are sometimes found. Large, wide mouthed ovoid baskets
• 27:26
  Speaker 3: carried on the back with the aid of a tumbline
• 27:30
  Speaker 3: across the forehead, were used for bringing home seeds and
• 27:34
  Speaker 3: other crops. Basket trays and bowls, with both close coiling
• 27:40
  Speaker 3: and spaced coiling, were often highly ornamented, always in a
• 27:46
  Speaker 3: symmetrical pattern. Designs usually consisted of red figures outlined with black,
• 27:54
  Speaker 3: alternating with black figures outlined in red. Ground corn on
• 28:01
  Speaker 3: matates flat slabs of rock in which eventually a deep
• 28:07
  Speaker 3: groove was worn with monos or small handstones. Stone of
• 28:13
  Speaker 3: various sorts were used in making spear and dart points,
• 28:18
  Speaker 3: and in the later part of the period arrow points, knives, drills, gravers, pipes,
• 28:25
  Speaker 3: and auto attle weights. Animal bone was carefully fashioned into awls, fleshers, scrapers, whistles, jewelry,
• 28:35
  Speaker 3: and even gaming pieces. Wood was used for the auto
• 28:40
  Speaker 3: attle and the dart, and later for bows and arrows
• 28:44
  Speaker 3: for digging, sticks for planting crops, scoops, feather boxes, and
• 28:51
  Speaker 3: hair ornaments. Basket Maker remains are found throughout the Four
• 28:57
  Speaker 3: Corners Country, the better specimens being recovered from dry caves
• 29:03
  Speaker 3: where the more perishable materials are preserved. In open sites,
• 29:09
  Speaker 3: only the stone and bone objects are left, along with
• 29:15
  Speaker 3: the remains of house structures and storage pits. In the
• 29:20
  Speaker 3: Animous Valley north of Durango, Colorado, there was quite a
• 29:26
  Speaker 3: concentration of early basket makers. Earl H. Morris, who conducted
• 29:32
  Speaker 3: the first scientific explorations of Aztec ruins, excavated a number
• 29:39
  Speaker 3: of these sites in nineteen thirty eight. In nineteen thirty nine, here,
• 29:45
  Speaker 3: in an open palace site, he found the first evidence
• 29:51
  Speaker 3: that the early basket makers had actual house structures. He
• 29:56
  Speaker 3: gives a graphic description of a typical one. A sight
• 30:01
  Speaker 3: for the dwelling was secured by digging a drift into
• 30:05
  Speaker 3: the steep hillside and piling the excavated earth and stone
• 30:09
  Speaker 3: out in front until a terrace large enough to accommodate
• 30:13
  Speaker 3: the projected house had been provided. The floor area was
• 30:18
  Speaker 3: scooped out to shallow saucer shape, in this case nine
• 30:23
  Speaker 3: meters in diameter, and coated with mud at the margins.
• 30:29
  Speaker 3: The mud curved upward to end against the half buried
• 30:33
  Speaker 3: foot logs which were the basal course of the wall.
• 30:37
  Speaker 3: The walls were composed of horizontal wood and mud masonry.
• 30:42
  Speaker 3: They rose with an inward slant to a little better
• 30:47
  Speaker 3: than head height than were cribbed for a distance to
• 30:51
  Speaker 3: reduce the diameter of the flat portion of the roof,
• 30:55
  Speaker 3: which was of clay supported by parallel poles. The ark
• 31:00
  Speaker 3: of stones was a retaining device, placed to hold back
• 31:04
  Speaker 3: the ever growing accumulation of refuse that was dumped at
• 31:09
  Speaker 3: the brink of the terrace. Interior furnishings generally consisted of
• 31:15
  Speaker 3: a heating pit, slab lined storage cysts, some with above
• 31:22
  Speaker 3: floor mud domes, and usually grinding stones and metats. How
• 31:28
  Speaker 3: such a structure was entered is not known. Possibly it
• 31:33
  Speaker 3: was through a smoke hole in the roof, as in
• 31:36
  Speaker 3: the later and deeper pit houses, or perhaps it was
• 31:40
  Speaker 3: through a lateral doorway with the high sill traces of
• 31:44
  Speaker 3: which no longer remained. By a d. Seven hundred, the
• 31:51
  Speaker 3: Four Corners country was evidently well populated in this later
• 31:57
  Speaker 3: part of the basket maker period. The houses in open
• 32:01
  Speaker 3: sites were usually more subterranean. These later houses, often with
• 32:07
  Speaker 3: slab lined and adobe plastered walls, had a smaller second
• 32:13
  Speaker 3: room or anti chamber added on the front, through which
• 32:17
  Speaker 3: entrance was made. A few such ruined dwelling sites are
• 32:22
  Speaker 3: known along the Animous River south of Durango. Morris felt
• 32:28
  Speaker 3: that an adequate archeological survey would reveal a great many more,
• 32:33
  Speaker 3: but extensive plowing of the area in recent historic times
• 32:38
  Speaker 3: has long since removed the evidence. In the latter part
• 32:44
  Speaker 3: of this period, the early basket makers evidently moved downstream,
• 32:49
  Speaker 3: where there was better land for cultivation and the growing
• 32:54
  Speaker 3: season was slightly longer. That they had a firm belief
• 33:00
  Speaker 3: even a life in the hereafter is shown by the
• 33:03
  Speaker 3: care with which they buried their dead and by the
• 33:07
  Speaker 3: offerings placed with them. It is with these burials in
• 33:12
  Speaker 3: dry caves that most of the perishable material relating to
• 33:17
  Speaker 3: this period has been found. Frequently, the bodies were wrapped
• 33:22
  Speaker 3: in mantles of fur or feather string, and sometimes wrapped
• 33:27
  Speaker 3: again in the tanned skins of deer or mountain sheep.
• 33:32
  Speaker 3: Often the bodies have sandals on the feet and occasionally
• 33:36
  Speaker 3: an extra pair for replacement if the first wore out,
• 33:41
  Speaker 3: and are accompanied by hair ornaments, necklaces, beads, pendants, baskets
• 33:48
  Speaker 3: of corn and pinion, nuts, pipes and smoking material, gaming sets, flutes,
• 33:54
  Speaker 3: and implements of warfare and the chase. The bodies are
• 33:59
  Speaker 3: us usually buried in the flexed position, that is, with
• 34:04
  Speaker 3: the knees drawn up tightly and the hands folded across
• 34:09
  Speaker 3: the chest. In the earlier part of the period, cave
• 34:13
  Speaker 3: storage pits were used as burial places. Some bodies were
• 34:19
  Speaker 3: placed in crevices behind fallen rocks within the cave. Other
• 34:25
  Speaker 3: burials were in the open or in the talus slopes
• 34:28
  Speaker 3: below the caves. In the latter part of the period,
• 34:33
  Speaker 3: so much of the cave was used by the living
• 34:36
  Speaker 3: that the dead were frequently buried in the open in
• 34:39
  Speaker 3: specially dug pits in these cases, evidence of the perishable
• 34:45
  Speaker 3: material has usually disappeared. In a few of the later graves,
• 34:52
  Speaker 3: pottery is found as a grave offering. Morris reports one
• 34:58
  Speaker 3: burial of this period that contained eleven pottery vessels. The
• 35:05
  Speaker 3: basket makers must have had warm feelings of affection for
• 35:10
  Speaker 3: their young. There was a high mortality rate among the
• 35:15
  Speaker 3: infants and children, but despite this they lavished great care
• 35:21
  Speaker 3: on each small burial. Children might be buried in baskets
• 35:26
  Speaker 3: or in large skin bags, but babies were carefully buried
• 35:31
  Speaker 3: in their cradles. These cradles were made by bending a long,
• 35:37
  Speaker 3: slender stick into an oval shape, on which a framework
• 35:42
  Speaker 3: of rods was tied to the outer oval in a
• 35:45
  Speaker 3: crisscross pattern. The cradle could be carried on the mother's back,
• 35:51
  Speaker 3: hung from a convenient peg in the home or on
• 35:55
  Speaker 3: a tree branch when out of doors, or laid carefully
• 35:59
  Speaker 3: on the ground found in the shade, all without upsetting
• 36:03
  Speaker 3: the baby. Diapers were made of soft shredded juniper bark
• 36:09
  Speaker 3: and juniper bark pads wrapped in soft skins were tied
• 36:13
  Speaker 3: on the infants to prevent umbilical hernia. Archaeologists have dug
• 36:20
  Speaker 3: up some unusual burials from this period. One was a
• 36:25
  Speaker 3: male who, presumably after death, had been cut into at
• 36:30
  Speaker 3: the waist and then sewed together again. Why this was
• 36:35
  Speaker 3: done nobody knows. He was also wearing a pair of
• 36:40
  Speaker 3: leather moccasins, an item not often found among the basket makers.
• 36:47
  Speaker 3: Another burial, from the Canyon del Muerto in northeastern Arizona,
• 36:54
  Speaker 3: consisted of only a pair of forearms and hands, lying
• 36:59
  Speaker 3: palms up side by side on a bed of grass.
• 37:04
  Speaker 3: Wrapped around the wrists were three necklaces with abalone shell pendits.
• 37:10
  Speaker 3: Ironically enough, included in the grave offerings were two pairs
• 37:15
  Speaker 3: of the finest sandals ever found. Over the whole lay
• 37:20
  Speaker 3: a large basket about two feet in diameter. Conjectures as
• 37:26
  Speaker 3: to the whys and whats of this burial have been numerous,
• 37:31
  Speaker 3: but probably the true reason will never be known. And
• 37:37
  Speaker 3: of Section two.
• 37:45
  Speaker 4: Section three of Aztec Ruins National Monument, New Mexico. This
• 37:50
  Speaker 4: is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the
• 37:54
  Speaker 4: public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit
• 37:58
  Speaker 4: LibriVox dot org. As Tec Ruins National Monument, New Mexico
• 38:04
  Speaker 4: by John M. Corbett. The pueblos. The second broad period
• 38:10
  Speaker 4: in the history of the San Juan area is that
• 38:13
  Speaker 4: in which the Indians built communal dwellings called pueblos. These
• 38:17
  Speaker 4: were stone and adobe structures, sometimes multi storied, facing a
• 38:22
  Speaker 4: central plaza which contained one or more kivas. Very similar
• 38:27
  Speaker 4: structures and village plants can be seen in a number
• 38:30
  Speaker 4: of the existing pueblos of the Rio Grande today, notably Taos,
• 38:35
  Speaker 4: Santo Domingo, and San Ildefonso. Over the previous centuries, the
• 38:41
  Speaker 4: inhabitants of the San Juan Basin and especially the Animas Valley,
• 38:46
  Speaker 4: had gradually developed a different way of life from that
• 38:49
  Speaker 4: of the early basket makers. Certainly, they still grew corn,
• 38:53
  Speaker 4: beans and squash, still hunted and snared, game, still grew old, dyed,
• 38:59
  Speaker 4: and were buried, But in addition to having some of
• 39:02
  Speaker 4: the better material things in life, such as pottery and
• 39:05
  Speaker 4: the bow and arrow, they now placed a greater emphasis
• 39:09
  Speaker 4: upon agriculture. Hunting and seed gathering were secondary sources of food.
• 39:15
  Speaker 4: In the spring, the corn seeds were carefully planted, watched over, watered,
• 39:20
  Speaker 4: and cared for. As the plants matured. The man and
• 39:24
  Speaker 4: young boys spent more time in the fields. During the day,
• 39:27
  Speaker 4: it was necessary to drive off the squirrels and birds.
• 39:30
  Speaker 4: At night, the green, tender plants must be protected from
• 39:34
  Speaker 4: the deer, rabbits, and nocturnal rodents. Water in this semi
• 39:39
  Speaker 4: arid land had to be carefully managed, whether flood irrigation
• 39:44
  Speaker 4: or plant canal irrigation was used. If all these factors
• 39:48
  Speaker 4: were not judiciously controlled, there would be no crop. The
• 39:52
  Speaker 4: forces of nature seemed increasingly important. Too much sun could
• 39:56
  Speaker 4: be as disastrous as too much water. Ceremonies were devised
• 40:00
  Speaker 4: to propitiate the spirits and the gods, who, to the
• 40:04
  Speaker 4: Indians resided in all aspects of nature. More time was
• 40:08
  Speaker 4: devoted to seasonal religious activities, and great care was taken
• 40:13
  Speaker 4: to educate the young in the proper performance of the ceremonies,
• 40:17
  Speaker 4: so they too might continue to prosper and live in
• 40:21
  Speaker 4: harmony with nature. Cotton was probably introduced at about the
• 40:26
  Speaker 4: beginning of the Pueblo period, along with loom weaving. This
• 40:31
  Speaker 4: allowed the making of true cloth suitable for blankets, poncho
• 40:35
  Speaker 4: like shirts, sashes, wraparound skirts, and other necessary items. One
• 40:42
  Speaker 4: other important change at this time affected physical appearance. The
• 40:47
  Speaker 4: soft cradle of the basket makers was replaced by the
• 40:51
  Speaker 4: hard cradle board of the Pueblos. Since the infant usually
• 40:55
  Speaker 4: was bound securely upon his back in the cradle and
• 40:58
  Speaker 4: was unable to roll around, the pressure of the hard
• 41:01
  Speaker 4: board instead of the softer cradle caused the back of
• 41:05
  Speaker 4: its head to become flattened, thus giving the whole head
• 41:09
  Speaker 4: a much broader and rounder appearance. This skull flattening in
• 41:14
  Speaker 4: no way affected the mentality of the child, but it
• 41:17
  Speaker 4: must have been obvious to the parents what was causing it.
• 41:21
  Speaker 4: Through continued use of the cradle board, skull flattening must
• 41:25
  Speaker 4: quickly have become a mark of distinction and charm, and
• 41:28
  Speaker 4: in a few generations it must have become the traditional
• 41:32
  Speaker 4: head shape of the Pueblo Indians. Dogs and turkeys were
• 41:36
  Speaker 4: still the only domesticated animals. The turkeys probably kept as
• 41:41
  Speaker 4: much for their feathers and thus periodically plucked as for
• 41:45
  Speaker 4: their food value. Burials of both dogs and turkeys occur,
• 41:49
  Speaker 4: indicating they were evidently regarded as more than mere food.
• 41:54
  Speaker 4: Bones from the refuse piles indicate the people hunted or
• 41:58
  Speaker 4: acquired by trade bear, elk, bison, wolf, mountain sheep, deer,
• 42:05
  Speaker 4: and rabbits. There was no sharp break between this period
• 42:10
  Speaker 4: and the preceding basket maker. The Indians themselves did not
• 42:15
  Speaker 4: know when they left one period and embarked upon the next. Actually,
• 42:19
  Speaker 4: such periods are classification devices of the archaeologists, who need
• 42:24
  Speaker 4: names to apply to the times at which different cultural
• 42:28
  Speaker 4: and evolutionary changes occur. In retrospect, the archaeologist can see
• 42:33
  Speaker 4: certain important changes which begin to take place about a D.
• 42:37
  Speaker 4: Seven fifty. Liking to classify and categorize the remains they study,
• 42:43
  Speaker 4: archaeologists first divided the broad Pueblo period into five substages,
• 42:48
  Speaker 4: labeled Pueblo one, two, three, four, and five. Later, the
• 42:53
  Speaker 4: first two substages were grouped together as the Developmental Pueblo Period,
• 42:59
  Speaker 4: the third was called the Great Pueblo Period, the fourth
• 43:02
  Speaker 4: became known as the Regressive Pueblo Period, and the last
• 43:06
  Speaker 4: as the Historic Pueblo Period. These terms are more meaningful
• 43:11
  Speaker 4: and will be used hereafter. The last two do not
• 43:15
  Speaker 4: concern us, for at the end of the Great Pueblo Period,
• 43:18
  Speaker 4: seemingly at the time of the well known drought a d.
• 43:22
  Speaker 4: Twelve seventy six through ninety nine, most of the Pueblo
• 43:25
  Speaker 4: dwelling peoples left the San Juan area never to return.
• 43:30
  Speaker 4: The most obvious change in the Developmental Pueblo period as
• 43:34
  Speaker 4: compared to the preceding basket Maker was a gradual shift
• 43:38
  Speaker 4: in the type of house construction. The single unit, mud
• 43:41
  Speaker 4: slab and jackal semi subterranean house was giving way to
• 43:46
  Speaker 4: the huge, multi storied stone and adobe structures which were
• 43:49
  Speaker 4: to predominate in the Great Pueblo Period two hundred fifty
• 43:53
  Speaker 4: years later. In some areas even earlier than a d.
• 43:57
  Speaker 4: Seven fifty, a few people began to build single room
• 44:00
  Speaker 4: houses above ground in a contiguous arrangement, often crescent shaped,
• 44:05
  Speaker 4: forming small villages. The construction varied from district to district.
• 44:10
  Speaker 4: Some houses were quadrangular in form and wholly above ground,
• 44:15
  Speaker 4: made of adobe and mud with upright supporting posts. Others
• 44:19
  Speaker 4: were still semi subterranean. Some even showed the beginnings of
• 44:23
  Speaker 4: true stone masonry. At this time, also, a new type
• 44:27
  Speaker 4: of structure was coming into existence, though a few examples
• 44:31
  Speaker 4: are known from late Basketmaker times. This new structure, the kiva,
• 44:37
  Speaker 4: was simply a modification of and change in the use
• 44:41
  Speaker 4: of the old pit house. Akiva is a ceremonial room
• 44:45
  Speaker 4: and clubhouse for the men, usually constructed underground, or where
• 44:50
  Speaker 4: above ground so clustered in other rooms as to appear
• 44:54
  Speaker 4: below ground in its relation to the surrounding rooms. It
• 44:57
  Speaker 4: is circular like the early pit houses, but normally contains
• 45:01
  Speaker 4: a fireplace, a deflector to prevent the draft from fanning
• 45:05
  Speaker 4: the fire too much, and a ventilator shaft by which
• 45:08
  Speaker 4: to bring in the fresh air. A sipa poo, a
• 45:12
  Speaker 4: small hole which supposedly leads to the underworld, was located
• 45:16
  Speaker 4: in the floor, on the opposite side of the fireplace
• 45:19
  Speaker 4: from the deflector. Usually there was a bench around the
• 45:22
  Speaker 4: inside of the kiva, near the floor, which may either
• 45:25
  Speaker 4: have been used as a place on which to store
• 45:27
  Speaker 4: religious objects and other paraphernalia, or may have served the
• 45:31
  Speaker 4: functional purpose of strengthening the lower part of the kiva wall.
• 45:36
  Speaker 4: Smaller kivas frequently had pilasters built upon the bench and
• 45:40
  Speaker 4: extending upward a short distance. These supported the cribbed roof structure.
• 45:45
  Speaker 4: Large kivas had four centrally located posts which helped support
• 45:49
  Speaker 4: the roof. Entrance to a kiva was normally gained by
• 45:53
  Speaker 4: means of a ladder through the central smoke hole in
• 45:56
  Speaker 4: the roof.
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: It is difficult to.
• 45:58
  Speaker 4: Assign the same dates to this developmental Pueblo period in
• 46:02
  Speaker 4: all areas of the San Juan basin. Culturally, some sections
• 46:07
  Speaker 4: seem to lag behind others. Some ideas, concepts, and artifacts
• 46:12
  Speaker 4: spread and were accepted faster than others. Also, certain regions
• 46:17
  Speaker 4: have been much better explored archaeologically, and we know more
• 46:20
  Speaker 4: about them. Unfortunately, the Anamas is one of the river
• 46:25
  Speaker 4: valleys in the San Juan Drainage which has not been
• 46:28
  Speaker 4: particularly well surveyed or investigated archaeologically. Accounts by early settlers
• 46:34
  Speaker 4: and passing references in some of Morris reports indicate that
• 46:38
  Speaker 4: in aboriginal times, certainly during the Pueblo times, the valley
• 46:43
  Speaker 4: was no doubt heavily populated. It should have been. Good
• 46:47
  Speaker 4: water is readily available in the river, and the climate
• 46:50
  Speaker 4: is healthful. Prehistorically, gay must have abounded in the nearby
• 46:55
  Speaker 4: foothills and mountains. Settlement and clearing of lands in more
• 46:59
  Speaker 4: recent times have eliminated many of the prehistoric remains, but
• 47:03
  Speaker 4: the higher banks along the river terraces still show low
• 47:07
  Speaker 4: mounds of rubble, obviously man made, with indications of cobble
• 47:11
  Speaker 4: and sandstone walls which evidently were dwellings of the Pueblo period.
• 47:17
  Speaker 4: Best known in this valley area are the cave and
• 47:20
  Speaker 4: open sites that Morris excavated north of Durango and which
• 47:24
  Speaker 4: contained the remains of early basketmaker peoples already mentioned, and
• 47:29
  Speaker 4: the great Pueblo of Aztec, near the town of the
• 47:32
  Speaker 4: same name, about fifteen miles above the confluence of the
• 47:35
  Speaker 4: Animas and San Juan rivers. As described elsewhere, This latter
• 47:41
  Speaker 4: structure was also excavated by Morris in nineteen sixteen through
• 47:45
  Speaker 4: twenty one. Without doubt, parts of the valley were more
• 47:49
  Speaker 4: or less continuously occupied from early Basketmaker times until the
• 47:53
  Speaker 4: final abandonment of the Four Corners Country about a d.
• 47:57
  Speaker 4: Thirteen hundred. Although we have no firm data on which
• 48:01
  Speaker 4: to base conclusions, it would be safe to assume that
• 48:05
  Speaker 4: the developmental Pueblo period in the Anamas Valley lasted from
• 48:09
  Speaker 4: about eight seven fifty or eight hundred to ten fifty
• 48:13
  Speaker 4: or eleven hundred, and that the conditions in the living
• 48:16
  Speaker 4: patterns of the people elsewhere were reflected in the Anamas Valley.
• 48:21
  Speaker 4: As the developmental Pueblo period progressed, house arrangements became more complex.
• 48:27
  Speaker 4: The next step seems to have been an extension of
• 48:30
  Speaker 4: the earlier linear or crescent shaped alignment of contiguous houses
• 48:35
  Speaker 4: by adding one or more wings so that the resulting
• 48:38
  Speaker 4: plan was l shaped or formed a rectangular U. In
• 48:42
  Speaker 4: these cases, the semi subterranean kiva was still retained in
• 48:47
  Speaker 4: the courtyard as a definite religious structure. These types of
• 48:51
  Speaker 4: planned communities are called unit houses. Most were single storied,
• 48:57
  Speaker 4: though some may have had a second story added on
• 49:00
  Speaker 4: the back tier of rooms. Changes in pottery styles and
• 49:04
  Speaker 4: especially in decoration, are very marked during this period. Although
• 49:09
  Speaker 4: plain gray ware was still made, pottery with black designs
• 49:13
  Speaker 4: on a white background shows up in great quantities in
• 49:17
  Speaker 4: the western part of the San Juan area. Painted pottery
• 49:20
  Speaker 4: with a pinkish orange background and red designs makes its
• 49:24
  Speaker 4: first appearance. Examples of this type show up as trade
• 49:28
  Speaker 4: pieces in eastern San Juan sites. The differences between culinary
• 49:33
  Speaker 4: and non culinary wares become more marked. The former are
• 49:38
  Speaker 4: usually corrugated vessels, formed by pinching or indenting the clay
• 49:42
  Speaker 4: coils while they were still plastic and before the pot
• 49:46
  Speaker 4: was fired. Later in the period, this type of corrugation
• 49:50
  Speaker 4: became quite decorative in itself, and some of the better
• 49:53
  Speaker 4: cooking were ascetically rivals the painted wares. There was a
• 49:58
  Speaker 4: greater variety of vessel forms and painted designs. For example,
• 50:02
  Speaker 4: designs were no longer confined to the interiors of the bowls,
• 50:06
  Speaker 4: but were also painted on the exteriors and upon a
• 50:09
  Speaker 4: great variety of vessel forms. Many of these designs still
• 50:13
  Speaker 4: seemed to be derived from those inherent in vasketry, others
• 50:17
  Speaker 4: may have been taken from textile designs, and still others
• 50:21
  Speaker 4: originated especially for use on pottery vessels. Principal design elements
• 50:26
  Speaker 4: seemed to have been parallel lines, sometimes straight, sometimes stepped
• 50:31
  Speaker 4: or wavy, zig zags, triangles, checkerboards, and interlocking frets. In
• 50:38
  Speaker 4: the latter part of the period, these elements became broader
• 50:41
  Speaker 4: and heavier and were rendered with greater assurance. A slip
• 50:45
  Speaker 4: or wash of very fine clay was now smeared on
• 50:48
  Speaker 4: the vessel before firing to give it a smooth finish.
• 50:52
  Speaker 4: Burials were generally in refuse heaps, abandoned storage pits and rooms,
• 50:57
  Speaker 4: or beneath the floors of houses. Infants and small children
• 51:01
  Speaker 4: were frequently buried beneath the floors of houses, as though
• 51:05
  Speaker 4: the parents either desired to keep them around as long
• 51:08
  Speaker 4: as possible, or believe that the soul of the dead
• 51:11
  Speaker 4: child would return with the birth of the next one
• 51:14
  Speaker 4: if the body were close by. Grave offerings consist mainly
• 51:18
  Speaker 4: of pottery, but we may be sure that various perishable
• 51:21
  Speaker 4: objects also accompanied the dead. However, conditions for preservation are
• 51:27
  Speaker 4: so poor in these open sites that most traces of
• 51:30
  Speaker 4: perishable materials have long since disappeared. In a few areas,
• 51:36
  Speaker 4: there are rather puzzling features about some of the burials.
• 51:40
  Speaker 4: For example, along the Laplata drainage, there are too few
• 51:43
  Speaker 4: burials to account for the rather large population that must
• 51:47
  Speaker 4: have lived there. Diligent searching has failed to reveal how
• 51:51
  Speaker 4: the Laplata people disposed of most of their dead. In
• 51:54
  Speaker 4: other places, skull burials are found without any bodies, and
• 51:59
  Speaker 4: sometime times bodies are found without any skulls. Perhaps some
• 52:04
  Speaker 4: of these people practiced taking trophy heads of warriors killed
• 52:07
  Speaker 4: in combat or ambush. Now and then burials are found
• 52:12
  Speaker 4: with an arrow embedded in the body, or with scrape
• 52:15
  Speaker 4: marks on the skull, which indicate that a person had
• 52:17
  Speaker 4: been scalped, or with the skull smashed in as though
• 52:21
  Speaker 4: by a stone axe. While open armed warfare as we
• 52:26
  Speaker 4: know it today was unfamiliar to the Pueblo Indians. Life
• 52:31
  Speaker 4: may not have always been calm and peaceful. Rating or
• 52:34
  Speaker 4: ambush parties, economic strife, the strains of increasing population, arguments
• 52:40
  Speaker 4: over land and water rights all may have contributed to
• 52:44
  Speaker 4: making life uncertain during this period, and difficulties of a
• 52:48
  Speaker 4: slightly different sort are shown in skeletons from Alkali Ridge
• 52:52
  Speaker 4: in southwestern Utah, which show marked signs of malnutrition and diseases.
• 52:59
  Speaker 4: This was evidently a period of growth, development, transition, and
• 53:03
  Speaker 4: some struggle. As in other periods, it is difficult to
• 53:07
  Speaker 4: place sharp lines of demarcation between the Pueblo period and
• 53:12
  Speaker 4: the earlier basket Maker and between it and the later
• 53:16
  Speaker 4: Great Pueblo period. In all of the San Juan Basin,
• 53:20
  Speaker 4: at any given moment, examples could be found of both
• 53:23
  Speaker 4: old and new trends, even in adjacent areas. There was
• 53:28
  Speaker 4: no uniformity of cultural development, but by the end of
• 53:31
  Speaker 4: this period, in one area or another, all the basic
• 53:35
  Speaker 4: Pueblo traits were established. All that remained was for certain
• 53:39
  Speaker 4: of these areas to become specialized along different lines, to
• 53:43
  Speaker 4: become cultural centers, diffusing their ideas to neighboring groups and
• 53:49
  Speaker 4: in turn absorbing ideas from them. Throughout the San Juan Basin.
• 53:54
  Speaker 4: The people were physically much alike, Their language may well
• 53:57
  Speaker 4: have been the same or closely related, and there were
• 54:01
  Speaker 4: probably free movements of people between towns and even between
• 54:05
  Speaker 4: the more isolated groups and the larger centers of activity.
• 54:09
  Speaker 4: It is doubtful if any group was completely isolated. Inner
• 54:14
  Speaker 4: marriage must have been common. Whole family and clan groups
• 54:18
  Speaker 4: may have left one village and joined another, sometimes only
• 54:21
  Speaker 4: a short distance away, sometimes far away. It would be
• 54:26
  Speaker 4: almost impossible to trace such minor shifts in population. Large
• 54:30
  Speaker 4: scale mass migrations might leave their imprint on the archaeological record,
• 54:35
  Speaker 4: but such evidence does not seem to exist, and it
• 54:38
  Speaker 4: is doubtful if any mass movements of people occurred at
• 54:42
  Speaker 4: this time. At the close of this period, what were
• 54:46
  Speaker 4: the conditions in the lower Animous Valley, especially in the
• 54:49
  Speaker 4: immediate vicinity of what is now the Aztec Ruins. Was
• 54:54
  Speaker 4: there a small early type developmental pueblo village at this
• 54:58
  Speaker 4: particular spot, or possibly a large unit house type structure.
• 55:03
  Speaker 4: Lack of knowledge about the Animus Valley precludes a definite answer,
• 55:07
  Speaker 4: and early excavations at Aztec Ruins were largely confined to
• 55:11
  Speaker 4: the main ruins themselves. In most places, the digging did
• 55:15
  Speaker 4: not penetrate to what may have been the underlying an
• 55:18
  Speaker 4: earlier remains. In a few places beneath the great Ruins,
• 55:23
  Speaker 4: where the excavations went deep enough and where the latter
• 55:26
  Speaker 4: building of the Great Pueblo had not eradicated them, there
• 55:30
  Speaker 4: seemed to be indications that there were kivas of an
• 55:33
  Speaker 4: earlier type, and possibly a few scattered above ground dwellings.
• 55:37
  Speaker 4: An early type developmental pueblo village may have stood at
• 55:41
  Speaker 4: this same spot. End of section three.
• 55:51
  Speaker 5: Section four of vastec Ruins National Monument, New Mexico. This
• 55:57
  Speaker 5: is the liverrivox recording. All livervok recordings are in the
• 56:01
  Speaker 5: public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit
• 56:06
  Speaker 5: LibriVox dot org. Aztec Ruins National Monument, New Mexico by
• 56:12
  Speaker 5: John M. Corbett the Aztec Pueblo Part one. At the
• 56:19
  Speaker 5: beginning of the Great Pueblo period in the Animus Valley,
• 56:23
  Speaker 5: they may well have been a sizeable population living in
• 56:27
  Speaker 5: scattered unit house dwellings and small villages built largely of
• 56:32
  Speaker 5: rivercobbles and adobe mud. The area to the south of
• 56:36
  Speaker 5: Aztec in and around Chuco Canyon, and that to the
• 56:40
  Speaker 5: northwest in and around Basic Verde, had each developed local
• 56:46
  Speaker 5: variations in architectural style, religious concepts, and minor arts and crafts.
• 56:53
  Speaker 5: Cultural influences from these two areas were to have a
• 56:57
  Speaker 5: market effect upon the large pueblo at Aztec that was built, abandoned,
• 57:03
  Speaker 5: and reoccupied during this period. The chocow Washed, today a
• 57:08
  Speaker 5: dry stream bread during much of the year, rises in
• 57:11
  Speaker 5: the high plains north of the Chokromesa, extends westward for
• 57:16
  Speaker 5: sixty eight miles and then twists sharply to the north
• 57:20
  Speaker 5: to join the San Juan just above Shiprock, New Mexico.
• 57:26
  Speaker 5: For about twenty miles, it flows westward through a beautiful
• 57:29
  Speaker 5: yellowish brown sandstone canyon, the cliffs of which step back
• 57:34
  Speaker 5: in a series of gigantic sandstone ledges. In places, the
• 57:39
  Speaker 5: canyon bottom is broadened level, but today it is scarred
• 57:43
  Speaker 5: by a deeper royo with branches which extend up each
• 57:47
  Speaker 5: little side canyon, so that travel on foot across or
• 57:51
  Speaker 5: up and down the canyon is difficult. A thousand years ago,
• 57:55
  Speaker 5: this arroyo did not exist, and the Chocowash was a shallow,
• 58:00
  Speaker 5: clear flowing rear round stream meandering through a lush green
• 58:05
  Speaker 5: valley where today the sandstone ledgers stand starkly denuded of
• 58:10
  Speaker 5: all trees. There was once a dense forest of pines
• 58:13
  Speaker 5: and junipers along this canyon bottom and on the Mesa
• 58:18
  Speaker 5: tops to the north and south. The prehistoric Tacoans erected
• 58:23
  Speaker 5: some of the finest sandstone masonry pueblos in North America.
• 58:28
  Speaker 5: A number of other large charcos like sites were built
• 58:32
  Speaker 5: in places outside the canyon proper, and the influence of
• 58:36
  Speaker 5: this building style was felt for fifty miles around to
• 58:40
  Speaker 5: the northwest of Aztec, between the La Plata Mountains and
• 58:44
  Speaker 5: the Sleeping Ute. In and around the area dominated by
• 58:48
  Speaker 5: the large table land of Mesa Verde, a second regional
• 58:53
  Speaker 5: culture center developed. These Indians lived along the main watercourses
• 58:58
  Speaker 5: of the area, mac Elmo and Montezumo, or dry Farm
• 59:03
  Speaker 5: the surrounding mass It was towards the end of this
• 59:07
  Speaker 5: period that the Indians living in the Mesa Verdi itself
• 59:11
  Speaker 5: built their large, imposing cliff dwellings. By the end of
• 59:16
  Speaker 5: the preceding developmental Poor Blo period, the communities in the
• 59:21
  Speaker 5: San Juan area began to be more centralized and to
• 59:25
  Speaker 5: be built according to preconceived plans. Such planning denotes a
• 59:30
  Speaker 5: former community control or at least some kind of control
• 59:34
  Speaker 5: over a fair sized labor force. Today, community projects are
• 59:39
  Speaker 5: frequently carried out in the peplos by the majority of
• 59:42
  Speaker 5: the people under the direction of their cacikhs or leaders,
• 59:47
  Speaker 5: after careful discussions and proper religious observances by the elders
• 59:51
  Speaker 5: of the group. A similar form of self government must
• 59:55
  Speaker 5: have existed in the prehistoric pueblos. It was probably based
• 59:59
  Speaker 5: on a time on a tradition given sanctioned by religious beliefs,
• 1:00:04
  Speaker 5: which extended back as far as the late Basketmaker period,
• 1:00:08
  Speaker 5: where there were beginnings of large community cavas and centralized
• 1:00:12
  Speaker 5: religious group activities. With large groups of people living together,
• 1:00:18
  Speaker 5: greater cooperation was mandatory, and through such cooperation the necessary
• 1:00:23
  Speaker 5: tasks were accomplished more quickly. Thus there was greater leisure
• 1:00:27
  Speaker 5: for many people, which could be devoted to the more
• 1:00:30
  Speaker 5: interesting arts and crafts. Sometimes societies limit this greater freedom
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 5: and leisure to a ruling class, but such does not
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 5: seem to have been the case among the pueblos. There
• 1:00:43
  Speaker 5: are some indications, however, that especially in this period, there
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 5: may have been developing the concept of a priestly hierarchy
• 1:00:52
  Speaker 5: and also exercised civil control. The Great Pueblo period was
• 1:00:57
  Speaker 5: a period of continued specialization, not only in architecture, but
• 1:01:03
  Speaker 5: also in ceramics and in the minor arts and crafts.
• 1:01:07
  Speaker 5: Nor did the San Juan. Most of the pottery seems
• 1:01:10
  Speaker 5: to have been decorated with the carbon paint, that is,
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 5: a paint made from vegetal dye. South of the San Juan,
• 1:01:19
  Speaker 5: in the Chaco area, they generally seem to have used
• 1:01:23
  Speaker 5: mineral paints. The pottery designs of this period were often
• 1:01:27
  Speaker 5: hushured patterns with a thin filling lines surrounded by heavier
• 1:01:32
  Speaker 5: boundary lines. Band designs of steps, frets, and triangles are
• 1:01:37
  Speaker 5: also used. Bows, pitchers, olaves, and ladles with the common shapes,
• 1:01:43
  Speaker 5: and some cylindrical vessels and effigy pots are known. An
• 1:01:48
  Speaker 5: equally popular ware which was not painted, was the cooking
• 1:01:53
  Speaker 5: or corrugated ware mentioned earlier. In this period, the coils
• 1:01:58
  Speaker 5: of the vessel wall were still sometimes pressed together to
• 1:02:01
  Speaker 5: form decorative designs, or sometimes were smoothed over so that
• 1:02:06
  Speaker 5: an almost plain vessel resulted. In the field of minor
• 1:02:11
  Speaker 5: arts and ornaments. The people of this period reached a
• 1:02:14
  Speaker 5: high degree of achievement. Olive vellus shell beads were still
• 1:02:19
  Speaker 5: widely used, as well as stone beads in stone and
• 1:02:22
  Speaker 5: shell pendants carved in the forms of birds and animals. Turquoise,
• 1:02:28
  Speaker 5: which first seems to have been used in the Lake
• 1:02:30
  Speaker 5: basket maker times, was used extensively for some of the
• 1:02:35
  Speaker 5: finest ornaments, not only for beads and pendants, but also
• 1:02:39
  Speaker 5: in beautiful mosaics. However, it is the large, multistroyed proweblows
• 1:02:45
  Speaker 5: of the Tackle Canyon and the great cliff dwellings of
• 1:02:48
  Speaker 5: the Mesa Verdi that attract the most attention. The native
• 1:02:53
  Speaker 5: sandstone of Taco Canyon made an excellent building material. It
• 1:02:58
  Speaker 5: was easily obtainable, It fractured along natural cleavage plains into
• 1:03:03
  Speaker 5: thin slabs, and it could be ground and pecked into
• 1:03:07
  Speaker 5: large rectangular blocks. Both the availability of sandstone and the
• 1:03:11
  Speaker 5: relative ease with which it could be worked were important
• 1:03:15
  Speaker 5: factors in developing the charcoal style of architecture. Some of
• 1:03:20
  Speaker 5: these foreblos may have been as high as five stories,
• 1:03:24
  Speaker 5: most were at least three or four stories. All show
• 1:03:27
  Speaker 5: signs of constant alteration in individual rooms and in their
• 1:03:32
  Speaker 5: general are yacht as, though some feverish urge was forcing
• 1:03:36
  Speaker 5: the people to keep shifting the arrangement of their dwellings.
• 1:03:40
  Speaker 5: Not all the rooms in any of the large foreblos
• 1:03:43
  Speaker 5: were occupied simultaneously. Usually the rooms towards the rear were
• 1:03:48
  Speaker 5: used for storage or in many cases as stumps for
• 1:03:53
  Speaker 5: refuse and garbage. Occasionally burials are found in them. All
• 1:03:59
  Speaker 5: the great Rocco pueblos form self contained units. That is,
• 1:04:04
  Speaker 5: they were built around central plazas or courtyards, as in
• 1:04:08
  Speaker 5: the case of Poeblo Bonito, with a low row of
• 1:04:11
  Speaker 5: single storied rooms closing off the formerly open side of
• 1:04:15
  Speaker 5: the plaza, or they were roughly rectangular, with closely knit,
• 1:04:20
  Speaker 5: contiguous rooms and internal kivas, as in Yellow House. This closure,
• 1:04:27
  Speaker 5: plus the fact that the doors and windows which formerly
• 1:04:29
  Speaker 5: had opened outward at the rear or sides, are now
• 1:04:33
  Speaker 5: sealed up, has led many people to believe the later
• 1:04:37
  Speaker 5: parts of this period were marked by trouble and strife,
• 1:04:40
  Speaker 5: and that this self containment was a defensive measure. At
• 1:04:45
  Speaker 5: Chacal Canyon, many parts of the Poeblo walls were finally made.
• 1:04:50
  Speaker 5: Different styles of decoration were produced by using sandstone blocks
• 1:04:54
  Speaker 5: of various sizes. An unusual effect was achieved by all
• 1:05:00
  Speaker 5: donating bands of large rectangular blocks with a series of
• 1:05:04
  Speaker 5: bands are much smaller finely laminated sandstone blocks. The interior
• 1:05:10
  Speaker 5: of the walls consisted of crude rubble in adobe mud
• 1:05:13
  Speaker 5: and Wheresome form of banding technique was not used in
• 1:05:17
  Speaker 5: the outer or Venea wall. The chinks between the larger
• 1:05:21
  Speaker 5: stones were filled with adobe mud and spalls of very
• 1:05:25
  Speaker 5: small chink stones. When carefully done. This technique also produced
• 1:05:30
  Speaker 5: an attractive appearance, since both the interiors and exteriors of
• 1:05:35
  Speaker 5: walls were usually plastered with numerous thin laves of adobe.
• 1:05:40
  Speaker 5: It is something of a mystery why the Indians took
• 1:05:43
  Speaker 5: the trouble to produce such pleasing effects in their stone work,
• 1:05:47
  Speaker 5: and then to cover it up with plain plaster. It
• 1:05:50
  Speaker 5: may be that what we regard as decoratively charming was
• 1:05:54
  Speaker 5: to them simply a structural and engineering feature. They may
• 1:05:59
  Speaker 5: have considered carefully spaled and banded masonry to be structurally
• 1:06:04
  Speaker 5: sounded than simple rock, rubble and plaster walls. Usually the
• 1:06:09
  Speaker 5: walls of the upper stories are successively thinner, and a
• 1:06:13
  Speaker 5: similar idea was used in the beams which formed the
• 1:06:16
  Speaker 5: room ceilings and thus the floors of rooms above. The
• 1:06:21
  Speaker 5: heaviest beams were in the lower rooms, and those in
• 1:06:25
  Speaker 5: the upper stories were correspondingly lighter and smaller. In the
• 1:06:30
  Speaker 5: Choco type Great Pueblo up this period, the majority of
• 1:06:34
  Speaker 5: the rooms were large by Pueblo standards. They were rectangular
• 1:06:38
  Speaker 5: in shape, except for the kivas, which are circular and
• 1:06:42
  Speaker 5: often eight to more than twelve feet long and six
• 1:06:46
  Speaker 5: to eight feet wide. Ceilings were eight to ten feet
• 1:06:49
  Speaker 5: high in doorways, usually with the raised sill with three
• 1:06:54
  Speaker 5: to four feet high and two to three feet wide.
• 1:06:57
  Speaker 5: In comparison with the typical rooms in the base Verdi area,
• 1:07:02
  Speaker 5: those in Chaco were very spacious. In the Mesa Verdi region,
• 1:07:07
  Speaker 5: the people were also learning to build in sandstone, but
• 1:07:11
  Speaker 5: the available sandstone was coarser than that in Choco and
• 1:07:15
  Speaker 5: did not have the clean fracture plains, and the masonry
• 1:07:18
  Speaker 5: was of a thicker and seemingly cruder sort. Walls were
• 1:07:23
  Speaker 5: made of rectangular box of tanned sandstone, which quite often
• 1:07:27
  Speaker 5: were carefully shaped and ground to give a pleasing effect
• 1:07:31
  Speaker 5: on the sloping, green table top mountain known as the
• 1:07:34
  Speaker 5: Mesa Verdi, from which the surrounding area gets its name.
• 1:07:39
  Speaker 5: In the early part of this period a d. Ten
• 1:07:42
  Speaker 5: fifty to twelve hundred, the people built large unit type
• 1:07:46
  Speaker 5: of weeblows upon the long fingerlike meser tops which extend
• 1:07:50
  Speaker 5: southward from an abruptly rising escarpment on the north. Most
• 1:07:55
  Speaker 5: of these units were multi storied, and although they centered
• 1:07:59
  Speaker 5: around a central plaza, they were much smaller, more tightly
• 1:08:03
  Speaker 5: contained units than their charcoal canyon counterparts of the same period.
• 1:08:09
  Speaker 5: Frequently they contained at least one tower like structure connected
• 1:08:13
  Speaker 5: by an underground passage to a nearby kiva. One or
• 1:08:17
  Speaker 5: two other kivas might be located in or front on
• 1:08:21
  Speaker 5: the small central plaza. Although the rooms are smaller than
• 1:08:25
  Speaker 5: the ones in the great communal houses of Charcoal, they
• 1:08:29
  Speaker 5: are solidly built of double corsi and stone blocks. Because
• 1:08:33
  Speaker 5: in most cases the mass are sloping southward, many of
• 1:08:37
  Speaker 5: these unit houses were built upon one or more terraced flats. Frequently,
• 1:08:43
  Speaker 5: the only entrance into the pueblo was by steered entranceway
• 1:08:48
  Speaker 5: leading from the south into the small interior court or
• 1:08:51
  Speaker 5: plaza at me Severdi. In the latter part of this period,
• 1:08:56
  Speaker 5: about a d. Twelve hundred to twelve twenty five, the
• 1:09:00
  Speaker 5: people who had been living on the Mesa tops in
• 1:09:03
  Speaker 5: the Unitov's type of dwelling seemed suddenly to have abandoned
• 1:09:07
  Speaker 5: these dwellings and taken up residence in the nearby caves.
• 1:09:12
  Speaker 5: Here they built great pueblotype structures, often of several hundred
• 1:09:17
  Speaker 5: rooms with numerous associated kivas. Since they were limited by
• 1:09:21
  Speaker 5: the ceiling of the caves to two and three story
• 1:09:24
  Speaker 5: structures and not so exposed to the elements, it was
• 1:09:28
  Speaker 5: not necessary to use such thick, strong walls, roofs and ceilings.
• 1:09:33
  Speaker 5: The general construction at Macivility was therefore thinner than at Charcoal,
• 1:09:39
  Speaker 5: and the rooms and doorways are considerably smaller. In fact,
• 1:09:43
  Speaker 5: with the warm southern exposure of the caves which were used,
• 1:09:47
  Speaker 5: the people must have done most of their living in
• 1:09:50
  Speaker 5: daily choices outside. In the small plaza areas and on
• 1:09:54
  Speaker 5: the roofs are the lower tiers of rooms. The rooms
• 1:09:58
  Speaker 5: themselves could be small, for they were probably used only
• 1:10:02
  Speaker 5: for sleeping in storage. Because the native sandstone at Maysaverti
• 1:10:07
  Speaker 5: is coarser grained and does not fracture as easily into
• 1:10:10
  Speaker 5: blocks and smalls, This style of alternating large and small
• 1:10:14
  Speaker 5: banded masonry founded chalcoal was not adopted there, but much
• 1:10:20
  Speaker 5: of the stone work at may Severti is none the
• 1:10:22
  Speaker 5: less excellent. Perhaps some builders had greater artistry than others,
• 1:10:28
  Speaker 5: but some of the rooms, especially the circular towers, contained
• 1:10:32
  Speaker 5: blocks which have been carefully picked, ground polished, and fitted
• 1:10:37
  Speaker 5: into exact position with loving care. In this period, also
• 1:10:42
  Speaker 5: a structure known as a great kiva comes into prominence.
• 1:10:47
  Speaker 5: It usually has an entrance on the north side instead
• 1:10:50
  Speaker 5: of through the smoke coal, often with the stairway, and
• 1:10:55
  Speaker 5: has a large raised fire box in the center of
• 1:10:57
  Speaker 5: the south side an occasional another entrance there. In addition,
• 1:11:03
  Speaker 5: on the east and west sides of the floor are
• 1:11:05
  Speaker 5: large rectangular stone lined pits built up above the floor.
• 1:11:11
  Speaker 5: Their exact use is still a mystery, and perhaps they
• 1:11:14
  Speaker 5: served more than one purpose. It has been suggested that
• 1:11:18
  Speaker 5: when covered with boards, they would make excellent foot drums
• 1:11:21
  Speaker 5: for the dancers, or good places for the medicine men
• 1:11:25
  Speaker 5: to conceal themselves while performing certain magical rites during initiation ceremonies. Finally,
• 1:11:32
  Speaker 5: four large posts set into the floor of the kiva
• 1:11:35
  Speaker 5: supported the roof. Great kivas are fairly common in the
• 1:11:39
  Speaker 5: charcoal area, but in the Maseeverti vicinity. They seem to
• 1:11:43
  Speaker 5: be very rare in each of the two areas mentioned above,
• 1:11:48
  Speaker 5: Chacal Canyon and Mesaverdi. Archaeological work has revealed the continuous
• 1:11:53
  Speaker 5: occupation of the sites in the immediate vicinity at the
• 1:11:58
  Speaker 5: Great Aztec Ruin. However, there is still some doubt as
• 1:12:02
  Speaker 5: to what really happened in two different time periods. They
• 1:12:05
  Speaker 5: seem to be strong architectural relations to both the Charcoal
• 1:12:09
  Speaker 5: and ma Severdi centers, as well as close ties and
• 1:12:13
  Speaker 5: ceramics and other items of material culture. Part of the
• 1:12:17
  Speaker 5: intriguing mystery at Aztec is whether these similarities represent actual
• 1:12:22
  Speaker 5: migrations from those centers on a fairly large scale, or
• 1:12:27
  Speaker 5: an exchange of ideas or small groups of migrants who
• 1:12:31
  Speaker 5: strongly influenced the local population. In the midst of the
• 1:12:35
  Speaker 5: populous Animus Valley, along the edge of an old river terrace,
• 1:12:40
  Speaker 5: early in the eleven hundreds, a large, multi storied stone
• 1:12:44
  Speaker 5: pueblo was built in an architectural style reminiscent of that
• 1:12:49
  Speaker 5: in Chocoal Canyon. Did a large migrant group from the
• 1:12:53
  Speaker 5: charcoal area or some other area where charcoal like people
• 1:12:57
  Speaker 5: were living move into the Animis Valley and erect this structure,
• 1:13:03
  Speaker 5: or did some of the local citizenry decide to join
• 1:13:06
  Speaker 5: in the community effort and copy the building techniques of
• 1:13:10
  Speaker 5: their neighbors to the south. If so, what was the
• 1:13:13
  Speaker 5: impetus which launched the local people upon this ambitious project.
• 1:13:19
  Speaker 5: Perhaps a small group of highly skilled technicians, under the
• 1:13:22
  Speaker 5: leadership of a few priests or medicine men, came from
• 1:13:26
  Speaker 5: the Charcoal area into the Animus Valley. Once established there
• 1:13:31
  Speaker 5: by persuasion, teachings, or by religious magic and psychological control,
• 1:13:37
  Speaker 5: they may have prevailed upon some of the local population
• 1:13:40
  Speaker 5: to join them and to build their homes and kivas
• 1:13:43
  Speaker 5: of sandstone blocks in the traditional chocos style. We may
• 1:13:49
  Speaker 5: never know the exact answer to these questions, but wherever
• 1:13:53
  Speaker 5: the people came from, whoever they may have been, whatever
• 1:13:56
  Speaker 5: the guiding impetus. As tech Pueblo, like Rome, was not
• 1:14:02
  Speaker 5: built in a day. Dates from tree rings as described later,
• 1:14:07
  Speaker 5: indicate that the pueblo was built between a. D. Eleven
• 1:14:11
  Speaker 5: ten to eleven twenty four, with the major construction periods
• 1:14:15
  Speaker 5: in eleven eleven and eleven fifteen. Probably a small group
• 1:14:19
  Speaker 5: was just a clan moved into the site about eleven ten,
• 1:14:24
  Speaker 5: and finding it suitable for habitation, erected the first small
• 1:14:28
  Speaker 5: part of the pueblo. The next year, much larger group,
• 1:14:32
  Speaker 5: perhaps several clans or more, joined the earliest settlers, and
• 1:14:36
  Speaker 5: more than fifty percent of the pueblo was finished. Then,
• 1:14:40
  Speaker 5: in eleven fourteen or eleven fifteen, a third wave of
• 1:14:44
  Speaker 5: migrants arrived and essentially completed the pueblo, except for the
• 1:14:49
  Speaker 5: one story row of rooms which closed off the south side.
• 1:14:53
  Speaker 5: It is possible that some of the indigenous Animus population
• 1:14:57
  Speaker 5: joined these newcomers and moved in and with them. From
• 1:15:01
  Speaker 5: eleven fifteen until about eleven twenty four or eleven twenty five,
• 1:15:06
  Speaker 5: occasional rooms were added as new quarters were necessary for
• 1:15:10
  Speaker 5: newly married couples and as old rooms were used as
• 1:15:14
  Speaker 5: refuse stumps. End of section four Section five of Aztec's
• 1:15:26
  Speaker 5: Ruins National Monument, New Mexico. This is a LibriVox recording.
• 1:15:33
  Speaker 5: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
• 1:15:37
  Speaker 5: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Aztec
• 1:15:43
  Speaker 5: Ruins National Monument, New Mexico by John M. Corbett. The
• 1:15:49
  Speaker 5: Aztec poul Eblo Part two to the northwest of the
• 1:15:55
  Speaker 5: ruins less than two miles away. The Indians found in
• 1:16:00
  Speaker 5: outcropping of sandstone which could be broken into shape and
• 1:16:04
  Speaker 5: then ground into rectangular blocks. These were hauled to the
• 1:16:08
  Speaker 5: proposed building site, where the women took over the construction.
• 1:16:12
  Speaker 5: Holes were dug in the clay soil nearby, Water poured
• 1:16:16
  Speaker 5: into them and then stirred to produce a thick adobe mud.
• 1:16:21
  Speaker 5: This was used, along with crude, unshaped sandstone blocks as
• 1:16:25
  Speaker 5: filler for the walls. On the outside, the women laid
• 1:16:29
  Speaker 5: up the well shaped blocks in regular courses, chinking them
• 1:16:33
  Speaker 5: with small smalls or posters. The rooms were laid out
• 1:16:38
  Speaker 5: in rows, adjoining one another. As one row was finished,
• 1:16:42
  Speaker 5: another was added alongside of it. When several rows had
• 1:16:46
  Speaker 5: been completed, second, impossibly even third stories were added. The
• 1:16:51
  Speaker 5: first group to arrive probably completed the major part of
• 1:16:55
  Speaker 5: one wing. Later groups added to this and erected the
• 1:16:59
  Speaker 5: other wings and associated kivas, until the entire pueblo had
• 1:17:04
  Speaker 5: the traditional plant aspect of a typical plaza enclosed choco poeblo.
• 1:17:11
  Speaker 5: In the central plaza area, several kivas were dug and
• 1:17:14
  Speaker 5: roofed over a ground level. The fourth side consisted of
• 1:17:19
  Speaker 5: a single row of one storied rooms. Finally, even a
• 1:17:23
  Speaker 5: fourth story may have been added. In places. Sometimes a
• 1:17:27
  Speaker 5: large square space was temporarily left open, later to be
• 1:17:31
  Speaker 5: filled by a circular kiva out in the plaza. During
• 1:17:35
  Speaker 5: the latter part of this first occupation, works started on
• 1:17:39
  Speaker 5: the great kiva, but this was the center of the
• 1:17:42
  Speaker 5: ceremonial life of the entire pueblo. Here would be performed
• 1:17:46
  Speaker 5: as ceremonies which would ensure the inhabitants that theirs would
• 1:17:50
  Speaker 5: be a long and happy life and that everything would
• 1:17:54
  Speaker 5: prosper for the new community. For roofing the rooms, main
• 1:17:59
  Speaker 5: stringers of pine or juniper we used, and over these
• 1:18:03
  Speaker 5: were laid splits of juniper or long poles of cottonwood.
• 1:18:08
  Speaker 5: Next came a layer of rush or reed mattings, and
• 1:18:11
  Speaker 5: then a layer of dirt and adobe, which formed the
• 1:18:14
  Speaker 5: top of the roof or the floor of the room
• 1:18:17
  Speaker 5: above if there was more than one story. The pine
• 1:18:21
  Speaker 5: logs used for the main stringers are good sized, many
• 1:18:24
  Speaker 5: being one foot to one and a half feet in
• 1:18:26
  Speaker 5: diameter and up to ten to twelve feet long. Although
• 1:18:31
  Speaker 5: juniper is still fairly abundant in the nearby country, good
• 1:18:35
  Speaker 5: stands of pine today are many miles away. At the
• 1:18:39
  Speaker 5: time the first parts of this Boeblar were constructed, the
• 1:18:43
  Speaker 5: pine forest may have been much closer. Perhaps extensive cutting
• 1:18:47
  Speaker 5: hasten soil erosion and thus caused the forest growth to
• 1:18:51
  Speaker 5: retreat Prehistorically, it still was a long haul to bring
• 1:18:56
  Speaker 5: in such big logs. Many people have assumed that the
• 1:19:00
  Speaker 5: logs were floated down the animous river. This would have
• 1:19:03
  Speaker 5: been the easy way of doing it, but the logs
• 1:19:06
  Speaker 5: found in situ in the ruins were obviously fresh cut, peeled,
• 1:19:12
  Speaker 5: while green, and shown no scars. They must therefore have
• 1:19:16
  Speaker 5: been carried over land from their source, no matter how
• 1:19:20
  Speaker 5: far away, for it would have been impossible to float
• 1:19:23
  Speaker 5: them downstream without being scarred and bruised in transit. Through
• 1:19:28
  Speaker 5: the growth of tree rings on pine logs, it is
• 1:19:31
  Speaker 5: possible to date the time at which they were cut.
• 1:19:34
  Speaker 5: If a tree is cut today, the outermost ring constitutes
• 1:19:38
  Speaker 5: its growth for the year in which it is cut.
• 1:19:41
  Speaker 5: Counting to the center of the tree ring by ring,
• 1:19:45
  Speaker 5: you will arrive at the date at which the tree
• 1:19:47
  Speaker 5: was a young sapling. Climatic factors dry and wet spells
• 1:19:52
  Speaker 5: are reflected in the width of the rings. Dry years
• 1:19:56
  Speaker 5: usually show small, odd shaped or stunted rings. Normal years
• 1:20:01
  Speaker 5: show regular, well shaped rings, and extremely wet years may
• 1:20:05
  Speaker 5: result in excessively large rings. These various rings, which are
• 1:20:10
  Speaker 5: arranged into patterns, can be matched with similar tree ring
• 1:20:14
  Speaker 5: patterns from still alder trees, and a chart of patterns
• 1:20:18
  Speaker 5: can be prepared which will extend as far back in
• 1:20:22
  Speaker 5: time as you can find specimens with overlapping patterns. Against
• 1:20:27
  Speaker 5: this master chart, the ring pattern of any particular tree
• 1:20:31
  Speaker 5: can be compared in the specimen dated to day. Archeologists
• 1:20:35
  Speaker 5: have such a tree ring master chart which extends back
• 1:20:39
  Speaker 5: to the time of Christ but the sand Juan area
• 1:20:43
  Speaker 5: at Aztec, samples of tree rings were secured from some
• 1:20:47
  Speaker 5: of the beams that still existed at the time this
• 1:20:50
  Speaker 5: dating process was discovered. Such samples fall into two groups
• 1:20:54
  Speaker 5: of dates. One group with numerous samples was placed between
• 1:20:59
  Speaker 5: eighty eleven ten and eleven twenty four, the second group,
• 1:21:04
  Speaker 5: with only six samples between twelve twenty five and twelve
• 1:21:08
  Speaker 5: fifty two. The tree ring dates indicate the Great Poueblo
• 1:21:13
  Speaker 5: at Aztec had undergone at least two major periods of construction,
• 1:21:18
  Speaker 5: since a large number of dates ranged from eleven eleven
• 1:21:22
  Speaker 5: and eleven fifteen. This would appear to have been the
• 1:21:25
  Speaker 5: first peak of building activity. It is possible that earlier
• 1:21:30
  Speaker 5: samples have broddered away or have been destroyed by later
• 1:21:34
  Speaker 5: Indians or by the early White settlers. Moreover, all, building
• 1:21:39
  Speaker 5: activity probably did not suddenly cease in AD eleven twenty four.
• 1:21:44
  Speaker 5: It may well have continued for another ten years, but
• 1:21:48
  Speaker 5: the beams representative of this later period have since been destroyed.
• 1:21:53
  Speaker 5: We can safely say that the first construction period at
• 1:21:57
  Speaker 5: Aztec pou Eplo occurred sometime between eleven ten and eleven thirty,
• 1:22:03
  Speaker 5: with most of the development occurring around eleven eleven and
• 1:22:07
  Speaker 5: eleven fifteen. Likewise, a second major construction period at Aztec
• 1:22:13
  Speaker 5: occurred sometime between twelve twenty and twelve sixty, with major
• 1:22:18
  Speaker 5: development in the twenty five year span between twelve twenty
• 1:22:21
  Speaker 5: five and twelve fifty. The two construction periods at Aztec,
• 1:22:27
  Speaker 5: as indicated by the tree ring dates, are corroborated nicely
• 1:22:31
  Speaker 5: by other evidence found by Morris that Aztec actually was
• 1:22:36
  Speaker 5: built by one group of people, abandoned and then re
• 1:22:40
  Speaker 5: occupied at a later date by a slightly different group
• 1:22:44
  Speaker 5: of people. Throughout all the rooms he dug he found
• 1:22:48
  Speaker 5: sterile layers of wind blown sand and ruin debris from
• 1:22:51
  Speaker 5: falling walls and ceilings. In this debris and under the sand,
• 1:22:56
  Speaker 5: he found chocoal like pottery and artifacts. In addition, there
• 1:23:01
  Speaker 5: were surprisingly few burials. The last point might seem strange
• 1:23:06
  Speaker 5: except for the fact that even today, forty years after
• 1:23:09
  Speaker 5: Morris's work and despite endless searching, archaeologists have located few
• 1:23:15
  Speaker 5: Choco type burials in Choco Canyon itself. Whatever the burial
• 1:23:21
  Speaker 5: customs of the charcoal people may have been, they have
• 1:23:24
  Speaker 5: eluded archaeologists for many years. The absence of barrils of
• 1:23:29
  Speaker 5: this period of Aztec is a clue that probably a
• 1:23:33
  Speaker 5: group of charcoal like people bearing the distinctive charcoal culture
• 1:23:37
  Speaker 5: may actually have moved into the Aztec area. Morris wrote
• 1:23:42
  Speaker 5: that he found many rooms built in typical charcoal style architecture,
• 1:23:48
  Speaker 5: granting that the local sandstone was not quite as easily
• 1:23:51
  Speaker 5: worked as that at charcoal. The large sized rooms, the
• 1:23:55
  Speaker 5: high ceilings, the banded veneer masonry walls, arge doorways, and
• 1:24:01
  Speaker 5: other techniques used were very similar to the architectural techniques
• 1:24:06
  Speaker 5: of the Choco area overlying the charcoal debris in sterile
• 1:24:11
  Speaker 5: sand layers, Morris found pottery, household utensils, and burials characteristic
• 1:24:17
  Speaker 5: of the Classic mas Verity period, a period which occurred
• 1:24:22
  Speaker 5: later than the Great Choco period. In addition, there were
• 1:24:26
  Speaker 5: obvious architectural signs of rebuilding and remodeling within the pueblo.
• 1:24:32
  Speaker 5: Large Choco type rooms had been made swallow by wattle
• 1:24:36
  Speaker 5: and dog partition walls, while doorways had been shortened and
• 1:24:39
  Speaker 5: narrow more like the ones at may Severity. Thus there
• 1:24:44
  Speaker 5: were two definite periods of occupation at Aztec, one by
• 1:24:48
  Speaker 5: a Chocole like people and one by a Ma severity
• 1:24:52
  Speaker 5: type people. The two major construction periods, as indicated by
• 1:24:57
  Speaker 5: the tree rings, agreed with Morris's evidence of two occupation periods,
• 1:25:02
  Speaker 5: and so far as we know, closely date those periods
• 1:25:06
  Speaker 5: during which the pueblo was actively inhabited. Aztec, at the
• 1:25:11
  Speaker 5: height of the Chacoan occupation must have been a fascinating sight.
• 1:25:16
  Speaker 5: On a sunny summer day, the plaza and rooftops would
• 1:25:19
  Speaker 5: have been a busy swarm of activity, mothers nursing and
• 1:25:23
  Speaker 5: tending their young, grinding corn for tortillas, preparing meat for
• 1:25:28
  Speaker 5: the stewpot making baskets, and molden clay pots for later firing.
• 1:25:33
  Speaker 5: All men bast in the sun or instructed the young boys.
• 1:25:37
  Speaker 5: Most of the men and older boys were busy tending
• 1:25:40
  Speaker 5: the corn, beans and squash in the fertile fields surrounding
• 1:25:44
  Speaker 5: the pueblo. This was exacting work, since each plot clanned
• 1:25:49
  Speaker 5: by clan had to receive its carefully husbanded sheer of
• 1:25:53
  Speaker 5: water from the irrigation ditch that ran along the slope
• 1:25:57
  Speaker 5: of the high terrace just to the north of the
• 1:25:59
  Speaker 5: poor peblo. At times during the day, hunters would straggle
• 1:26:04
  Speaker 5: in happily it burdened with game, sadly and slowly if
• 1:26:08
  Speaker 5: empty handed after a fruitless chase. Occasionally a wandering group
• 1:26:13
  Speaker 5: of strangers would pass by with items to trade. They
• 1:26:17
  Speaker 5: were made welcome and fed, and the whole plaza took
• 1:26:21
  Speaker 5: on a festive air. At night, the pueblo must have
• 1:26:25
  Speaker 5: presented a vastly different appearance, dark, mysterious and quiet. Here
• 1:26:30
  Speaker 5: and there a small dying fire cast a flickering glow
• 1:26:34
  Speaker 5: upon a browne, a dobe wall, and one or two
• 1:26:38
  Speaker 5: of the kivas. A faint light through the hatchway in
• 1:26:41
  Speaker 5: the roof indicated preparations under way for a ceremony, or
• 1:26:45
  Speaker 5: perhaps a special, highly secret meeting of one of the
• 1:26:49
  Speaker 5: clan societies. If you looked closely, you might make out
• 1:26:53
  Speaker 5: one of the sentinels silhouted briefly against the night sky
• 1:26:57
  Speaker 5: as he shifted position. But the pueblo was silent, a
• 1:27:02
  Speaker 5: silence only broken by an occasional dog's bark or baby's wail,
• 1:27:07
  Speaker 5: until shortly after the morning star appeared. The hunters crept
• 1:27:11
  Speaker 5: quietly out of the vueblo, and as the star faded,
• 1:27:14
  Speaker 5: the broadening morning light heralded the approach of another day
• 1:27:19
  Speaker 5: in the life of Aztec Pueblo. But something happened, for
• 1:27:24
  Speaker 5: no reason we can ascertain to day, the pueblo was
• 1:27:28
  Speaker 5: abandoned by its first occupants. Presumably this was a fairly
• 1:27:32
  Speaker 5: fast exodus, but one in which the people had time
• 1:27:36
  Speaker 5: to take most of their treasured processions with them. There
• 1:27:39
  Speaker 5: is no evidence that they were driven away by invaders
• 1:27:43
  Speaker 5: or by any other major catastrophe such as fire, flood,
• 1:27:47
  Speaker 5: or pestilence. We do not know if they left en mass,
• 1:27:52
  Speaker 5: or perhaps more gradually, as they arrived in clans and groups,
• 1:27:57
  Speaker 5: if a few hardy souls stayed behind, or of a
• 1:28:00
  Speaker 5: few weak strackers couldn't make the trip. There is no evidence.
• 1:28:05
  Speaker 5: All we know is that about eighty eleven twenty five,
• 1:28:09
  Speaker 5: or perhaps eleven thirty, the pool Bloat was empty. For
• 1:28:13
  Speaker 5: almost a hundred years, the great structure stood alone, untended
• 1:28:17
  Speaker 5: and uninhabited. Perhaps the local people occasionally used a loosening
• 1:28:22
  Speaker 5: beam from the structure, or gathered up a few blocks
• 1:28:26
  Speaker 5: from the slowly crumbling walls, or held themselves to any
• 1:28:29
  Speaker 5: readily useful articles left behind, but otherwise they and any
• 1:28:34
  Speaker 5: passing wanderers seemed to have left the place alone for years.
• 1:28:40
  Speaker 5: The wind blew the sand into the open doorways, through
• 1:28:44
  Speaker 5: the widening cracks in the walls, passed the sealed doorways
• 1:28:48
  Speaker 5: down through the floors, even until the deepest and most
• 1:28:51
  Speaker 5: inaccessible rooms had a layer of four, six or eight
• 1:28:55
  Speaker 5: inches of fine sand deposited over them, and would ever
• 1:28:59
  Speaker 5: see secrets they held. Rats and other rodents infested the place,
• 1:29:04
  Speaker 5: and little disturbed the brooding silence except for their piping squeals. Occasionally,
• 1:29:10
  Speaker 5: weakened beams gave way, or a wall here and there
• 1:29:13
  Speaker 5: crashed on as its plaster and rubble fill were washed
• 1:29:17
  Speaker 5: out by rains and melting snows. Bit by bit, the
• 1:29:21
  Speaker 5: old Poeplo slowly crumpled. Why and how the first great
• 1:29:25
  Speaker 5: Poepla was built by a chuckle like people and then
• 1:29:28
  Speaker 5: suddenly and for no apparent reason, abandoned is a real mystery. Strangely,
• 1:29:34
  Speaker 5: this abandonment seems to agree roughly with the time at
• 1:29:38
  Speaker 5: which the charcoal area itself was being depopulated in Charcoal Canyon,
• 1:29:44
  Speaker 5: and arroyo much like the one which exists today, was
• 1:29:47
  Speaker 5: cutting its way backward up the canyon, and this arroyo
• 1:29:51
  Speaker 5: cutting would have made it impossible for many of the
• 1:29:54
  Speaker 5: inhabitants to continue to flood irrigate their fields. It may
• 1:29:59
  Speaker 5: have been the basic fact involved in the general abandonment
• 1:30:02
  Speaker 5: of the great communal dwellings of the Chaco Canyon around
• 1:30:06
  Speaker 5: a d eleven fifty, no doubt, coupled with a certain
• 1:30:11
  Speaker 5: amount of strife and considerable periods of drought. But this
• 1:30:16
  Speaker 5: would not have been true at Aztec. The Animous River
• 1:30:19
  Speaker 5: is a perennial stream, and there is no apparent cause
• 1:30:23
  Speaker 5: for the abandonment of the pueblo by the charcoal like people,
• 1:30:27
  Speaker 5: unless for some reason they decided to leave Aztec because
• 1:30:31
  Speaker 5: the last of their kinfolk in Chocoal were leaving that area.
• 1:30:35
  Speaker 5: In fact, it could better be proposed that some of
• 1:30:38
  Speaker 5: the first groups which had to leave Chocal Canyon about
• 1:30:42
  Speaker 5: eleven hundred because of the incipiate arroyo and its accompanying
• 1:30:47
  Speaker 5: loss of irrigation water and generally lowering water table, might
• 1:30:52
  Speaker 5: actually have moved to the animous and established Aztec. Perhaps
• 1:30:56
  Speaker 5: a rather coincidental event may have occurred at Aztec which
• 1:31:00
  Speaker 5: caused its abandonment, just as Charcoal Canyon was also depopulated.
• 1:31:06
  Speaker 5: The early settlers in the Animus recall evidence of a
• 1:31:10
  Speaker 5: prehistoric canal flowing along the lower slopes of the terrace
• 1:31:14
  Speaker 5: to the north of Aztec ruins somewhat lower than the
• 1:31:18
  Speaker 5: modern one. This canal took off on the right bank
• 1:31:22
  Speaker 5: of the river, several miles upstream from the pueblo. A
• 1:31:26
  Speaker 5: major shifting of the river a swing of the main
• 1:31:29
  Speaker 5: stream against this old river terrace on the right bank,
• 1:31:32
  Speaker 5: would have effectively cut the canal at a point below
• 1:31:36
  Speaker 5: which the people could not take off water to irrigate
• 1:31:39
  Speaker 5: their fields, and in a manner they could not repair.
• 1:31:43
  Speaker 5: Such a disaster would have forced them to move to
• 1:31:46
  Speaker 5: other cultival fields if none were available nearby, and they
• 1:31:51
  Speaker 5: may have all been taken up by other local groups.
• 1:31:55
  Speaker 5: They would have had to go far away. They couldn't
• 1:31:58
  Speaker 5: return to Charcoal Canon or other areas near there. But
• 1:32:02
  Speaker 5: these places too were being depopulated, So perhaps they followed
• 1:32:07
  Speaker 5: some of their chocoal Pine folk who were intimittently migrating
• 1:32:11
  Speaker 5: in groups to the Rio Grande or to the Hopi country.
• 1:32:15
  Speaker 5: In these new areas, mixing with the local population, they
• 1:32:19
  Speaker 5: lost their distinct cultural identity. We can look at the
• 1:32:23
  Speaker 5: modern Pueblo Indians of today and wonder if perhaps some
• 1:32:27
  Speaker 5: of their long ago ancestors may not have actually lived
• 1:32:31
  Speaker 5: at Aztec or in Chaco Canyon. But there is a
• 1:32:36
  Speaker 5: double mystery at Aztec, as indicated earlier, Overlying the evidences
• 1:32:41
  Speaker 5: of a Chocal phase occupation, Marris found evidence of rebuilding
• 1:32:46
  Speaker 5: and rehabitation of many rooms. Large sized charcoal rooms had
• 1:32:50
  Speaker 5: been shortened, reduced or cut off by interior walls and
• 1:32:54
  Speaker 5: lowered ceilings. All the doorways have been blocked up or
• 1:32:59
  Speaker 5: had been partially filled and reduced in size. In some cases,
• 1:33:03
  Speaker 5: entire small rooms complete with ceilings have been built within
• 1:33:08
  Speaker 5: larger rooms. New floors have been laid down upon the
• 1:33:12
  Speaker 5: debris and wood blown sand which partially filled some of
• 1:33:15
  Speaker 5: the older rooms. All the beams have been pulled out
• 1:33:19
  Speaker 5: of rooms and reused elsewhere, or new walls in a
• 1:33:22
  Speaker 5: different style have been built in place of those that
• 1:33:25
  Speaker 5: had collapsed. A newest style of pottery, reminiscent of the
• 1:33:30
  Speaker 5: Maserverdi type pottery, was prevalent. The majority of burials found
• 1:33:35
  Speaker 5: within the ruins one hundred forty nine out of a
• 1:33:38
  Speaker 5: total of one hundred eighty six seemed to belong to
• 1:33:42
  Speaker 5: a different period, as shown by the type of earn
• 1:33:45
  Speaker 5: effects associated with them. T shaped doorways, an architectural trade
• 1:33:51
  Speaker 5: characteristic of maservertic times, was prevalent in the later parts
• 1:33:56
  Speaker 5: of the pueblo. Keyhole shaped kivas, another Masaverdi trait, were
• 1:34:01
  Speaker 5: inserted into and between rooms of the earlier period, And finally,
• 1:34:06
  Speaker 5: the great Kiva in the central plaza, which had fallen
• 1:34:10
  Speaker 5: into disuse, was rehabilitated in a much poorer style of construction,
• 1:34:16
  Speaker 5: surely but nonetheless obviously repaired and temporarily put back into use.
• 1:34:22
  Speaker 5: These factors inclined Morris to feel that some time after
• 1:34:26
  Speaker 5: a d. Eleven twenty four, the pueflo at Aztec was
• 1:34:30
  Speaker 5: abandoned by the Chacowan builders. Then about twelve twenty five,
• 1:34:34
  Speaker 5: a new group arrived, bringing with them the general styles
• 1:34:38
  Speaker 5: and culture of the area we know is masa Verdi.
• 1:34:42
  Speaker 5: As with the earlier occupation of Aztec, we do not
• 1:34:46
  Speaker 5: know exactly who these second people were or exactly where
• 1:34:49
  Speaker 5: they came from, although it is obvious that they had
• 1:34:53
  Speaker 5: a close affiliation with the people of the Maserverda area.
• 1:34:58
  Speaker 5: Nor do we know if they were allowed representing a
• 1:35:01
  Speaker 5: mass migration, or whether once again some of the local
• 1:35:05
  Speaker 5: population may have decided to attempt building a large community.
• 1:35:10
  Speaker 5: Perhaps for a second time, a few people possessing special
• 1:35:14
  Speaker 5: abilities of representing a religious organization prevailed upon either the
• 1:35:19
  Speaker 5: local population of the animous valley or wandering migrant groups
• 1:35:24
  Speaker 5: to assist them in erecting large community structures. We do
• 1:35:29
  Speaker 5: know that about this time there was a considerable population
• 1:35:33
  Speaker 5: shift all of the Masverdi area. The people were dispersing
• 1:35:38
  Speaker 5: from their normal habitats and moving into more protective locations
• 1:35:43
  Speaker 5: or consolidating into larger, more defensible units. In the Meisaverdi itself,
• 1:35:49
  Speaker 5: for example, they were abandoning their mestapo eblows and crowding
• 1:35:54
  Speaker 5: together in the caves, or moving out of the area
• 1:35:57
  Speaker 5: entirely in the hand, they retreated to the heads of
• 1:36:02
  Speaker 5: the canyons and built watch towers along the canyon sides
• 1:36:05
  Speaker 5: and bottoms to protect their dwindling water supplies. It was
• 1:36:10
  Speaker 5: evidently a period of considerable strife and turmoil. They were
• 1:36:14
  Speaker 5: short periods of recurrent drought, and possibly many of these
• 1:36:18
  Speaker 5: groups have begun to fight among themselves over land and
• 1:36:22
  Speaker 5: water rights and other necessities of life. The second occupation
• 1:36:27
  Speaker 5: at Aztec was more intensive and one in which parts
• 1:36:30
  Speaker 5: of the local population participated actively. The construction style of
• 1:36:36
  Speaker 5: this period shows a considerable use of local cobblestones set
• 1:36:41
  Speaker 5: in adobe water, as in many of the small ruins
• 1:36:44
  Speaker 5: throughout the Animus. Sometimes cobblestone walls are overlaid or underlaid by,
• 1:36:50
  Speaker 5: or even intermingled with sandstone walls. It was at this time, also,
• 1:36:55
  Speaker 5: as far as we know, that the other Pueblo units
• 1:36:59
  Speaker 5: now all room whins within the monument boundary were constructed,
• 1:37:03
  Speaker 5: as well as several other major maseverty phase structures elsewhere
• 1:37:09
  Speaker 5: in the animous valley. In addition, large quantities of new
• 1:37:13
  Speaker 5: material had to be secured fairly rapidly to keep pace
• 1:37:17
  Speaker 5: with the feverish building activities at Aztec. While some of
• 1:37:21
  Speaker 5: the rooms of the large chocolate style pueblo were rehabilitated
• 1:37:25
  Speaker 5: by these new inhabitants, others were dismantled and their materials,
• 1:37:30
  Speaker 5: in addition to those from fallen walls, were used elsewhere.
• 1:37:34
  Speaker 5: But even this great pueblo could not supply all the
• 1:37:37
  Speaker 5: stone needed, so from the old quarry to the side
• 1:37:41
  Speaker 5: of the pueblo two paths were built side by side,
• 1:37:45
  Speaker 5: each wide enough for eight men to walk abreast. For
• 1:37:49
  Speaker 5: many months, men with stone walls and hammers cracked and
• 1:37:52
  Speaker 5: chopped and ground the sandstone into building blocks. Other men
• 1:37:58
  Speaker 5: and the stronger boys troiled all day in straggling lines,
• 1:38:02
  Speaker 5: carrying the blocks on large wooden litters, or in great
• 1:38:05
  Speaker 5: slings strung on poles. Long lines of workers streamed down
• 1:38:09
  Speaker 5: one path loaded with blocks, to return over the other
• 1:38:13
  Speaker 5: path with their empty litters and slings. Although the great
• 1:38:17
  Speaker 5: kava was repaired with rather sloppy workmanship in many places,
• 1:38:22
  Speaker 5: it was probably only used for a brief period. The
• 1:38:26
  Speaker 5: focal point of the community's religious life seems to have
• 1:38:30
  Speaker 5: centered around the peculiar and somewhat puzzling triwall structures. Two
• 1:38:35
  Speaker 5: of which exist at Aztec. One is the excavated Hubbard
• 1:38:40
  Speaker 5: Mound site just to the northwest of the main ruin.
• 1:38:44
  Speaker 5: The other is Mount f which is also to the
• 1:38:47
  Speaker 5: northwest of the other major but largely unexcavated ruin, the
• 1:38:52
  Speaker 5: east ruin. If there was such a thing at this time,
• 1:38:55
  Speaker 5: as the beginning of a priestly hierarchy among the Pueblops peoples,
• 1:39:01
  Speaker 5: these triwall structures, with their centralized kivas may have been
• 1:39:05
  Speaker 5: the domiciles and religious quarters of this hierarchy. Once again,
• 1:39:10
  Speaker 5: life seemed to flourish at Aztec. This time, with all
• 1:39:14
  Speaker 5: the extra peblo units close to each other, the area
• 1:39:18
  Speaker 5: must have resembled a veritable beehive. It would have taken
• 1:39:22
  Speaker 5: an extensive farming area to support the population. If a
• 1:39:27
  Speaker 5: shift in the river had cut the Tracoan's canal, another
• 1:39:30
  Speaker 5: shift back again may have made it possible to restore
• 1:39:34
  Speaker 5: the old canal, improve it, and once again make the
• 1:39:38
  Speaker 5: surrounding fields green in summer, with growing corn being squash
• 1:39:42
  Speaker 5: in cotton. In contrast to the Tracoan occupation, Morris found
• 1:39:48
  Speaker 5: a large number of burials one hundred forty nine from
• 1:39:51
  Speaker 5: this period, mostly in the rooms. Many were buried with
• 1:39:56
  Speaker 5: great care and had numerous and varied grave offerings. For
• 1:40:00
  Speaker 5: a while, evidently the pueblos prospered and traded far and
• 1:40:04
  Speaker 5: wide luxury items. But once again bad times set in,
• 1:40:09
  Speaker 5: possibly accompanied by almost constant armed harassment by less fortunate groups.
• 1:40:16
  Speaker 5: Although Mars did not find any direct evidence that the
• 1:40:19
  Speaker 5: people at Aztec were actually killed off or driven out
• 1:40:23
  Speaker 5: by armed conflict, the later burials were all hastily made
• 1:40:27
  Speaker 5: and usually unaccompanied by grave offerings. In addition, almost the
• 1:40:33
  Speaker 5: entire east wing had been destroyed by fire. This could
• 1:40:36
  Speaker 5: have been accidental, and such a disaster might have proven
• 1:40:40
  Speaker 5: the final straw for an already beleaguered group, or they
• 1:40:44
  Speaker 5: may have fired the puebler before leaving, or some marauding
• 1:40:48
  Speaker 5: group might have been responsible. Exactly why, after twenty five
• 1:40:54
  Speaker 5: or thirty years, the second group also abandoned the site,
• 1:40:58
  Speaker 5: we may never know. Times were hard in the Four
• 1:41:01
  Speaker 5: Corners country, and by thirteen hundred this area seems to
• 1:41:05
  Speaker 5: have been virtually depopulated. Perhaps the abandonment of Aztec some
• 1:41:11
  Speaker 5: time after twelve fifty two was simply a local manifestation
• 1:41:15
  Speaker 5: of this much larger dispersal. No doubt, the great drought
• 1:41:20
  Speaker 5: of the last quarter of that century contributed substantially to
• 1:41:24
  Speaker 5: this general abandonment, but there must have been other factors
• 1:41:27
  Speaker 5: at work as well. The Indians regard the forces of
• 1:41:31
  Speaker 5: nature in a different manner than we do. They may
• 1:41:34
  Speaker 5: have been struggling through long years, not only with nature,
• 1:41:38
  Speaker 5: but among themselves. They may have felt that their gods
• 1:41:41
  Speaker 5: were against them, that somehow they had offended them, and
• 1:41:45
  Speaker 5: that nothing they could do in that country would be
• 1:41:49
  Speaker 5: right again. It may have seemed easier to them, family
• 1:41:53
  Speaker 5: by family, group by group, and perhaps poor eflou by
• 1:41:57
  Speaker 5: poor Eblo to give up the struggle incle elsewhere, to
• 1:42:02
  Speaker 5: start over in new surroundings, where the gods might smile
• 1:42:05
  Speaker 5: upon them once again. End of section five Section six
• 1:42:17
  Speaker 5: of Aztec Rowans National Monument, New Mexico. This is a
• 1:42:22
  Speaker 5: LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
• 1:42:28
  Speaker 5: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
• 1:42:33
  Speaker 5: Aztec Rowans National Monument, New Mexico by John M.
• 1:42:38
  Speaker 6: Corbett.
• 1:42:40
  Speaker 5: Explorations and Excavations, Part One. Despite popular opinion, and despite
• 1:42:48
  Speaker 5: the name applied to the Ruins, the Indians who built
• 1:42:51
  Speaker 5: this ancient pueblo were not related to the warlike Aztecs
• 1:42:56
  Speaker 5: of Mexico. In the late eighteen hundreds, there was considerable
• 1:43:00
  Speaker 5: interest in the seemingly mysterious Aztec, Toltecs, and other Indians
• 1:43:06
  Speaker 5: of Mexico. The writings of Stephens Prescott and others had
• 1:43:11
  Speaker 5: fired imaginations, and new communities, particularly those in the vicinity
• 1:43:16
  Speaker 5: of Indian ruins, were often given names of Indian groups
• 1:43:20
  Speaker 5: from south of the border. So it was with the
• 1:43:23
  Speaker 5: town of Aztec. When white settlers first roved into the
• 1:43:28
  Speaker 5: Animus Valley, they were intrigued by the great stone ruins,
• 1:43:32
  Speaker 5: believing them to be the work of a long vanished
• 1:43:35
  Speaker 5: race from the south. They named their town Aztec. The ruins,
• 1:43:40
  Speaker 5: in turn became known as those ruins at Aztec, or
• 1:43:45
  Speaker 5: simply as the Aztec ruins, and so the name remains today.
• 1:43:50
  Speaker 5: We know now that the Aztecs of Mexico, whom Cortez conquered,
• 1:43:55
  Speaker 5: had nothing to do with these ruins. In fact, they
• 1:43:58
  Speaker 5: were built and abandoned several es before Cortez, and even
• 1:44:02
  Speaker 5: before the Aztecs themselves were well established in the valley
• 1:44:07
  Speaker 5: of Mexico. The earliest reference to ruins along the Animus
• 1:44:12
  Speaker 5: River in the vicinity of Aztec is found on the
• 1:44:16
  Speaker 5: map of Escolanti's expedition in seventeen seventy six to seventy seven.
• 1:44:22
  Speaker 5: On that map, the cartographer Meira E Pachico has written
• 1:44:27
  Speaker 5: in between the lines representing the Animis in Florida rivers
• 1:44:31
  Speaker 5: the following. The branches of these two rivers are capable
• 1:44:35
  Speaker 5: of being inhabited by very large populations, as is shown
• 1:44:40
  Speaker 5: by the ruins of very ancient towns. It is doubtful
• 1:44:45
  Speaker 5: that Escolanti or any of his party actually saw the
• 1:44:48
  Speaker 5: Aztec ruins themselves, since the map would indicate that they
• 1:44:53
  Speaker 5: were well known at that particular spot, probably somewhere in
• 1:44:57
  Speaker 5: the vicinity of the present day Durango. Further, the Escalante
• 1:45:01
  Speaker 5: map shows the Rio Florida as flowing directly into the
• 1:45:05
  Speaker 5: San Juan, where actually it flows into the Animus. Likewise,
• 1:45:10
  Speaker 5: it shows what are now known as the La Plata
• 1:45:13
  Speaker 5: and Mancos rivers as flowing into the Animus, whereas they
• 1:45:18
  Speaker 5: flowed directly into the San Juan. If any Escolanti party
• 1:45:23
  Speaker 5: had followed these streams or the Animus to their juncture
• 1:45:27
  Speaker 5: with the San Juan, these mistakes would not have been made.
• 1:45:30
  Speaker 5: On the map, so the party was therefore having well
• 1:45:34
  Speaker 5: known of what is now Aztec. Possibly other earlier explorers
• 1:45:40
  Speaker 5: may have passed near or bide the Aztec ruins, but
• 1:45:44
  Speaker 5: the next recorded visit occurred on August fourth, eighteen fifty nine,
• 1:45:49
  Speaker 5: when doctor drawn Strong Newbury visited the site. Newbury, like
• 1:45:55
  Speaker 5: many of the nineteenth century men of science, was a
• 1:45:58
  Speaker 5: man of many talents. He graduated from Western Reserve University
• 1:46:03
  Speaker 5: in eighteen forty six, then obtained a degree in medicine
• 1:46:07
  Speaker 5: and lay their studied geology at Paris. At one time
• 1:46:11
  Speaker 5: or another he was associated with the Smithsonian Institution and
• 1:46:15
  Speaker 5: also taught geology at Columbian now George Washington University. In
• 1:46:21
  Speaker 5: eighteen fifty nine, he accompanied Captain T. N. Macombe, a
• 1:46:26
  Speaker 5: topographical engineer, on an exploring trip from Santa Fe, to
• 1:46:31
  Speaker 5: the junction of the Grand now upper reaches of the
• 1:46:34
  Speaker 5: Colorado River and Green Rivers, where they formed the Colorado River.
• 1:46:40
  Speaker 5: The following paragraph about the Aztec ruins is taken from
• 1:46:44
  Speaker 5: his account of this trip. The principal structures are large foreblows,
• 1:46:50
  Speaker 5: handsomely built of stone, and in a pretty good state
• 1:46:53
  Speaker 5: of preservation. The external walls are composed of yellow cretaceous
• 1:46:58
  Speaker 5: sandstone dressed to a commons will surface without hammer barks.
• 1:47:03
  Speaker 5: In some places they are still twenty five feet in height.
• 1:47:07
  Speaker 5: As usual in buildings of this kind, the walls were
• 1:47:10
  Speaker 5: unbroken by door or window, to a height of fifteen
• 1:47:14
  Speaker 5: feet above the foundation. The interior shows a great number
• 1:47:18
  Speaker 5: of small rooms, many of which are in a perfect
• 1:47:21
  Speaker 5: state of preservation and handsomely plastered. These structures are surrounded
• 1:47:27
  Speaker 5: by mounds and fragments of masonry marking the sites of
• 1:47:31
  Speaker 5: great numbers of subordinate buildings, the whole affording conclusive evidence
• 1:47:36
  Speaker 5: that a large population once had its home here. White
• 1:47:41
  Speaker 5: settlement of the valley around the Ruins area began in
• 1:47:45
  Speaker 5: eighteen seventy six, and from that time on the Ruins
• 1:47:49
  Speaker 5: have been well known. The first scientific investigations of the
• 1:47:53
  Speaker 5: ruins were made in eighteen seventy eight, when Lewis H.
• 1:47:57
  Speaker 5: Morgan visited the site and later published a description with
• 1:48:01
  Speaker 5: the Good Ground Plan. Morgan, sometimes known as the father
• 1:48:06
  Speaker 5: of American anthropology, was one of the most distinguished scientists
• 1:48:11
  Speaker 5: of the nineteenth century. He is well known for his
• 1:48:14
  Speaker 5: ethnological studies of the Iroquois Indians in New York, though
• 1:48:19
  Speaker 5: usually thought of as a social anthropologist, Morgan had a
• 1:48:24
  Speaker 5: great and abiding interest in archaeology, particularly that of the
• 1:48:28
  Speaker 5: southwestern part of what is now the United States, Mexico,
• 1:48:32
  Speaker 5: and Central America. On his trip to the Southwest in
• 1:48:36
  Speaker 5: eighteen seventy eight, he kept a journal full of observations
• 1:48:40
  Speaker 5: and notes about the various ruins which he visited. In
• 1:48:45
  Speaker 5: those days, the railroad extended only to Canyon City, Colorado,
• 1:48:49
  Speaker 5: and from there Morgan and his party had to proceed
• 1:48:52
  Speaker 5: by wagon. One of the ruins which especially seemed to
• 1:48:56
  Speaker 5: intrigat Morgan was the one on the Animous River, which
• 1:49:00
  Speaker 5: we now call Aztec. He only made a ground plan
• 1:49:04
  Speaker 5: of the entire ruin, but noted that there were other
• 1:49:07
  Speaker 5: structures of considerable size and interest in the immediate vicinity.
• 1:49:12
  Speaker 5: He also entered some of the rooms, particularly in the
• 1:49:15
  Speaker 5: west wing of the larger ruin, which still had their
• 1:49:19
  Speaker 5: ceilings intact even at that time. Evidently a good bit
• 1:49:24
  Speaker 5: of the ruin had already been destroyed by the early settlers.
• 1:49:27
  Speaker 5: For Morgan records the fact that one man at Animas
• 1:49:31
  Speaker 5: City who had lived near the ruins, told him that
• 1:49:34
  Speaker 5: about one quarter of the stones had been taken away
• 1:49:37
  Speaker 5: by the settlers to use in building houses, lining walls,
• 1:49:42
  Speaker 5: or for other construction purposes. Morgan also talks about entering
• 1:49:47
  Speaker 5: rooms on the second story, so presumably some of the
• 1:49:51
  Speaker 5: upper stories may still have been intact in eighteen seventy eight.
• 1:49:56
  Speaker 5: In eighteen ninety two, Warrn K. Moorehead visited the Aztec ruins,
• 1:50:02
  Speaker 5: studied them, and in nineteen o eight he published an
• 1:50:06
  Speaker 5: article and sketch map in The American Anthropologist. Moorehead is
• 1:50:10
  Speaker 5: better known for his work among the prehistoric mounds and
• 1:50:13
  Speaker 5: temples in southeastern United States than for investigations in the Southwest,
• 1:50:20
  Speaker 5: but he was a competent archaeologist and king observer of
• 1:50:24
  Speaker 5: prehistoric remains. He and his party, like the other early explorers,
• 1:50:30
  Speaker 5: were evidently able to enter a number of intact rooms.
• 1:50:34
  Speaker 5: He says twenty or thirty apartments. In nineteen fifteen, doctor N. C. Nelson,
• 1:50:41
  Speaker 5: who was then Curator of Archaeology for the American Museum
• 1:50:45
  Speaker 5: of Natural History, examined the ruins and was impressed by
• 1:50:49
  Speaker 5: their potential of further intensive investigations. At this time, the
• 1:50:54
  Speaker 5: museum was undertaking the arch m Huntington Survey of the Southwest.
• 1:51:00
  Speaker 5: One of the objectives of which was to make an
• 1:51:02
  Speaker 5: intensive study of a large poeblocite. Because of Nelson's recommendations,
• 1:51:09
  Speaker 5: permission was obtained in nineteen sixteen from the owner, HD
• 1:51:13
  Speaker 5: Aprams to clear it a brush and weeds and to
• 1:51:16
  Speaker 5: make trial exclavations, the expense of this undertaking being borne
• 1:51:21
  Speaker 5: by J. P. Morgan. As a result of these preliminary investigations,
• 1:51:26
  Speaker 5: the Museum decided that complete excavation and repair of the
• 1:51:31
  Speaker 5: West Ruin was desirable, not only for the purpose of
• 1:51:35
  Speaker 5: procuring data on the culture of its ancient builders, but
• 1:51:39
  Speaker 5: also in order that it might be preserved as a
• 1:51:42
  Speaker 5: permanent exhibit. As a result, the museum engaged the services
• 1:51:47
  Speaker 5: of Morris, who for the next five years devoted his
• 1:51:50
  Speaker 5: time and attention to very careful excavations of the West Ruin. However,
• 1:51:57
  Speaker 5: some thirty five years before Moors under took his excavations,
• 1:52:02
  Speaker 5: an interesting and somewhat protuitous event occurred at the Old
• 1:52:06
  Speaker 5: Ruins that caused them to gain notoriety, at least locally.
• 1:52:11
  Speaker 5: By eighteen eighty the settlers in the valley, concerned about
• 1:52:15
  Speaker 5: the education of their children, had established a small one
• 1:52:18
  Speaker 5: room school. Sherman as Howe, long resident of the Animus
• 1:52:23
  Speaker 5: Area was one of the first boys to attend this school,
• 1:52:27
  Speaker 5: and in nineteen forty seven, a few years before his death,
• 1:52:31
  Speaker 5: he recorded for posterity his remembrances of the valley and
• 1:52:35
  Speaker 5: the first real exploration of the Aztec ruins. A school
• 1:52:40
  Speaker 5: teacher named Johnson, who hailed from Michigan and who must
• 1:52:43
  Speaker 5: have been quite a remarkable man for his day, was
• 1:52:46
  Speaker 5: greatly intrigued by the ruins. Sometime during the winter of
• 1:52:50
  Speaker 5: eighteen eighty one to eighty two, he encouraged the school
• 1:52:54
  Speaker 5: children to go out with him for a day on
• 1:52:56
  Speaker 5: a trip to explore the ruins. How remembers the event well,
• 1:53:01
  Speaker 5: for although he was among the younger boys, he was
• 1:53:04
  Speaker 5: also among the first who volunteered to go. The following Saturday,
• 1:53:08
  Speaker 5: about seven or eight of the boys arrived at the
• 1:53:11
  Speaker 5: Aztec Ruins with picks, shovels, and a crowbar to meet
• 1:53:15
  Speaker 5: with the teacher. As how used to tell it, it
• 1:53:19
  Speaker 5: was snowing a little and quite cold. We went into
• 1:53:23
  Speaker 5: a second story room more than half full of dirt
• 1:53:26
  Speaker 5: and began digging down at the corner of the room.
• 1:53:29
  Speaker 5: We struck the second floor at about five feet and
• 1:53:32
  Speaker 5: broke a hole through about two and a half feet
• 1:53:35
  Speaker 5: in diameter, but could see nothing but a black dungeon below.
• 1:53:39
  Speaker 5: There was a prolonged debate about the depth of it,
• 1:53:42
  Speaker 5: what might be at the bottom, and how a person
• 1:53:45
  Speaker 5: could ever get back if it he did go down there.
• 1:53:49
  Speaker 5: Some thought it might be full of rats, skunks, bats,
• 1:53:52
  Speaker 5: or rattlesnakes. We could imagine a hundred things. I believe
• 1:53:56
  Speaker 5: the dread of ghosts was the worst. How evidently, wanted
• 1:54:01
  Speaker 5: to be the first one down, but the teacher felt
• 1:54:03
  Speaker 5: it would be better if one of the older boys
• 1:54:05
  Speaker 5: went first. So one was selected and lowered on a rope. Naturally,
• 1:54:10
  Speaker 5: at the last moment, the boy was a little hesitant
• 1:54:13
  Speaker 5: of our being lowered into a dark hall, which, after
• 1:54:16
  Speaker 5: being sealed eartite for centuries, had a musty odor which
• 1:54:20
  Speaker 5: was not at all pleasant. Finally, however, having been teased
• 1:54:24
  Speaker 5: by his friends, he dropped down into the room. Soon
• 1:54:28
  Speaker 5: the rest of the boys also getting down the best
• 1:54:30
  Speaker 5: way they could. As how described it, we were in
• 1:54:34
  Speaker 5: a room, a clean room with ceiling and walls, open doorways,
• 1:54:40
  Speaker 5: all just as they had left. We were walking on
• 1:54:43
  Speaker 5: floors which had not been trodden by human feet for centuries.
• 1:54:47
  Speaker 5: There was an open door leading into the next room
• 1:54:50
  Speaker 5: to the northwest. It was also clean and imperfect condition.
• 1:54:54
  Speaker 5: There was no trash on the floor, no ashes, not
• 1:54:57
  Speaker 5: even a scrap of pottery. Mister Johnson seemed disappointed and puzzled.
• 1:55:03
  Speaker 5: Who were these people who built those large buildings and
• 1:55:06
  Speaker 5: such splendid rooms. Did they not leave something behind that
• 1:55:11
  Speaker 5: would give us some information? Could they not write so,
• 1:55:15
  Speaker 5: give us some description of themselves or a bit of history.
• 1:55:19
  Speaker 5: Such thoughts and questions as these were racing through the
• 1:55:22
  Speaker 5: mind of our teacher. He was thinking aloud and making
• 1:55:26
  Speaker 5: us do some thinking. Also, I felt very nervous and
• 1:55:29
  Speaker 5: uncomfortable down in that dark, dismal place. Disappointed at not
• 1:55:34
  Speaker 5: finding anything in these first two rooms, the teacher and
• 1:55:38
  Speaker 5: his boys broke a hole through one of the walls
• 1:55:41
  Speaker 5: into a third room next door. This room, too had
• 1:55:45
  Speaker 5: been sealed for many centuries, and the candles they had
• 1:55:48
  Speaker 5: brought would not burn properly until enough fresh air had
• 1:55:51
  Speaker 5: circulated through the hole in the wall. But this room
• 1:55:55
  Speaker 5: held a surprise for the boys. Bit by bit, as
• 1:55:59
  Speaker 5: their candles and better, the room became brighter and thin.
• 1:56:03
  Speaker 5: Well we could see across the room there was a
• 1:56:06
  Speaker 5: human skeleton facing us, with its back to the wall
• 1:56:10
  Speaker 5: it had been placed. There was no wrappings around whatever.
• 1:56:13
  Speaker 5: It was not mummified, but the ligaments had dried holding
• 1:56:17
  Speaker 5: the bones in place. Except that the head had tilted
• 1:56:20
  Speaker 5: back and was resting against the wall. There was some
• 1:56:24
  Speaker 5: dried skin and hair lying around it. The body had
• 1:56:27
  Speaker 5: been flexed in the usual manner, but instead of wrapping
• 1:56:31
  Speaker 5: and tying in the matting, as the custom was, it
• 1:56:34
  Speaker 5: seemed to have been just placed there nude. We all
• 1:56:38
  Speaker 5: stood motionless, nobody saying a word. It must be that
• 1:56:43
  Speaker 5: we were struck dumb with awe, and that we were
• 1:56:46
  Speaker 5: debating in our minds whether to stand our ground or retreat.
• 1:56:52
  Speaker 5: This was as much as the boys and the teacher
• 1:56:54
  Speaker 5: could do in the short time they had the first
• 1:56:56
  Speaker 5: day out at the ruins, but they all agreed that
• 1:56:59
  Speaker 5: they were would meet again the following Saturday and continue
• 1:57:02
  Speaker 5: their explorations. However, during the week, the boys had told
• 1:57:07
  Speaker 5: their parents about what they were doing, and the next Saturday,
• 1:57:10
  Speaker 5: when Holse showed up, there was a crowd of all
• 1:57:12
  Speaker 5: their men present, who quickly began to break into a
• 1:57:15
  Speaker 5: number of other rooms. How remembers entering one room with
• 1:57:20
  Speaker 5: them We entered the rooms through the hole in the
• 1:57:23
  Speaker 5: floor and passed through the open doorway into the northwest room.
• 1:57:27
  Speaker 5: We broke a hole through the wall and entered the
• 1:57:29
  Speaker 5: room to the northeast, and there we really did see things.
• 1:57:34
  Speaker 5: I got into that room and stood trying my best
• 1:57:38
  Speaker 5: to take it all in and see everything I could,
• 1:57:41
  Speaker 5: while that excited crowd were rummaging it, scattering and turning
• 1:57:45
  Speaker 5: everything into a mess. There were thirteen skeletons, ranging from
• 1:57:50
  Speaker 5: infants to adults. The infants were two in number. The
• 1:57:54
  Speaker 5: skulls had not knit together. One of them had two teeth.
• 1:57:58
  Speaker 5: All were wrapped in maddager similar to that around tea
• 1:58:02
  Speaker 5: chests that come from China, and tied with strings made
• 1:58:05
  Speaker 5: from fiber of the yucca plant. They were large pieces
• 1:58:09
  Speaker 5: of cotton cloth. Most of it was plain, resembling our
• 1:58:13
  Speaker 5: ten ounce duck. It was in good state of preservation,
• 1:58:17
  Speaker 5: except that it was somewhat colored with age. Some of
• 1:58:21
  Speaker 5: the cloth had a colored red design in stripes. There
• 1:58:25
  Speaker 5: was also some feather cloth and several pieces of matting
• 1:58:28
  Speaker 5: of various types. There were several baskets, some of the
• 1:58:32
  Speaker 5: best I have ever seen, all well preserved. There were
• 1:58:37
  Speaker 5: a lot of sandals, some very good, others showing considerable wear.
• 1:58:42
  Speaker 5: There was a large quantity of pottery, all may severity.
• 1:58:46
  Speaker 5: Some of the pottery was very pretty and new looking.
• 1:58:49
  Speaker 5: There were a great many beads and ornaments. I cannot
• 1:58:52
  Speaker 5: give a description of these, as I had no opportunity
• 1:58:56
  Speaker 5: to examine them closely. I remember seeing quite a lot
• 1:59:00
  Speaker 5: of turquoise. There were a number of stone axes, polished
• 1:59:04
  Speaker 5: and much nicer in appearance than the average type found
• 1:59:08
  Speaker 5: in this vicinity. There were also skinning knives so called,
• 1:59:12
  Speaker 5: and sandal last cushions of rings. They wore on their
• 1:59:16
  Speaker 5: heads for carrying burdens. Some made of yucca, nicely woven
• 1:59:21
  Speaker 5: or braided, some made very plain in coils of yuccas
• 1:59:25
  Speaker 5: strips tied in various places to hold the strips together.
• 1:59:30
  Speaker 5: Some were made of juniper bark wrapped with strings, and
• 1:59:34
  Speaker 5: some were made of corn husks. These may have been
• 1:59:37
  Speaker 5: used also as jarbrests to support vessels with convex bottoms
• 1:59:42
  Speaker 5: which would not stand upright very well without some kind
• 1:59:45
  Speaker 5: of support. And of Section six Section seven of Aztec
• 1:59:57
  Speaker 5: Ruins National Monument, New Mexico. This is a LibriVox recording
• 2:00:03
  Speaker 5: all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
• 2:00:07
  Speaker 5: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Aztec
• 2:00:13
  Speaker 5: Ruins National Monument, New Mexico by John M. Corbett Explorations
• 2:00:21
  Speaker 5: and Excavations, Part two. Obviously, finding such as these could
• 2:00:27
  Speaker 5: not long remain a secret, and for a considerable time
• 2:00:31
  Speaker 5: it was a favorite weekend. Sward still hunt for all
• 2:00:34
  Speaker 5: remains at this ruin and others in the immediate vicinity.
• 2:00:39
  Speaker 5: A great quantity of invaluable archaeological material must have been
• 2:00:43
  Speaker 5: carried away in this manner, and has long since been
• 2:00:46
  Speaker 5: lost or scattered among private individuals. A little of it
• 2:00:51
  Speaker 5: got into museum collections, but most of it was carried
• 2:00:55
  Speaker 5: off by the people who found it, and who then
• 2:00:58
  Speaker 5: left it in obscure honors of their houses until it
• 2:01:02
  Speaker 5: was broken or lost. As how himself said in his
• 2:01:06
  Speaker 5: later days when he remembered these early findings, when we
• 2:01:11
  Speaker 5: had finished this work, the stuff was taken out and
• 2:01:13
  Speaker 5: carried off by different members of the party. But where
• 2:01:17
  Speaker 5: is it now? Nobody knows. Like most of the material
• 2:01:21
  Speaker 5: from the smaller peblos around the larger buildings, it is gone. I,
• 2:01:27
  Speaker 5: being only a small kid, did not get my choice
• 2:01:30
  Speaker 5: of artifacts. I had to take what was left, which
• 2:01:34
  Speaker 5: made a nice little collection at that, but it too
• 2:01:38
  Speaker 5: is about all gone. We went on with our work,
• 2:01:42
  Speaker 5: opening all of the rooms. The visitors now passed through
• 2:01:46
  Speaker 5: the guides, but we found nothing more. The holes we
• 2:01:50
  Speaker 5: made through the walls had been converted into doorways through
• 2:01:54
  Speaker 5: which all visitors now passed from room to room. For
• 2:01:58
  Speaker 5: a number of years by the indiscriminate looting by pothunters
• 2:02:03
  Speaker 5: and others interested in these antiquities continued sporadically. Luckily, the
• 2:02:09
  Speaker 5: plot hunters did not get into the rooms, which seemed
• 2:02:12
  Speaker 5: to require a lot of hard work in digging, but
• 2:02:15
  Speaker 5: merely broke into those rooms which were still more or
• 2:02:18
  Speaker 5: less intact, and in which readily accessible material was lying
• 2:02:23
  Speaker 5: around on the floor or scattered through the debris. In
• 2:02:27
  Speaker 5: eighteen eighty nine, a patent covering the site of the
• 2:02:30
  Speaker 5: Aztec Ruins was issued to John R. Kuntz and continued
• 2:02:35
  Speaker 5: in his possession until nineteen o seven, when it was
• 2:02:39
  Speaker 5: transferred to H. D. Abrams. Due largely to the efforts
• 2:02:43
  Speaker 5: of these gentlemen, the ruins were relatively protected against vandalism
• 2:02:48
  Speaker 5: until it could be scientifically investigated by Morris in nineteen sixteen.
• 2:02:55
  Speaker 5: The name of Earl H. Morris is well known in
• 2:02:57
  Speaker 5: Southwestern archaeology, although he also did considerable archeological work in
• 2:03:04
  Speaker 5: Central America, particularly at the Temple of the Warriors at
• 2:03:09
  Speaker 5: Chichenetza in Yucatan. Trying to unravel the story of the
• 2:03:14
  Speaker 5: prehistoric inhabitants of the American Southwest was always his first love.
• 2:03:20
  Speaker 5: Morris was born on October twenty fourth, eighteen eighty nine,
• 2:03:24
  Speaker 5: in Charma, New Mexico. His family had originally come west
• 2:03:29
  Speaker 5: from the Pennsylvania oil fields in the mid eighteen seventies,
• 2:03:33
  Speaker 5: and his father engaged in construction work such as building
• 2:03:37
  Speaker 5: railway grades and roads, digging canals, and hauling freight. In
• 2:03:43
  Speaker 5: eighteen ninety one, the elder Morris moved his family to Farmington,
• 2:03:47
  Speaker 5: New Mexico. There he was able to rent out his
• 2:03:50
  Speaker 5: teams on a canal construction project. This left him free
• 2:03:55
  Speaker 5: to pursue his hobby digging for Indian antiquities, of which
• 2:04:00
  Speaker 5: he was able to impart to his son, Earle. When
• 2:04:03
  Speaker 5: Earle was three and a half years old, he actually
• 2:04:06
  Speaker 5: excavated his first Indian plot, as he used to tell it,
• 2:04:12
  Speaker 5: one morning in March of eighteen ninety three, father handed
• 2:04:15
  Speaker 5: me a worn out pick, the handle of which he
• 2:04:18
  Speaker 5: had shortened to my length, and said, go dig in
• 2:04:22
  Speaker 5: that hole where I worked yesterday, and you will be
• 2:04:25
  Speaker 5: out of my way. At my first stroke, they rolled
• 2:04:29
  Speaker 5: down a roundish great object that looked like a cobblestone,
• 2:04:33
  Speaker 5: but when I turned it over it proved to be
• 2:04:35
  Speaker 5: the bowl of a black on white dipper. I ran
• 2:04:39
  Speaker 5: to show it to my mother, to grab the kitchen
• 2:04:41
  Speaker 5: butcher knife, and hastened to the pit to uncover the
• 2:04:45
  Speaker 5: skeleton with which it had been buried. Thus, at three
• 2:04:49
  Speaker 5: and a half years of age. There it happened the
• 2:04:51
  Speaker 5: clenching event that was to make me an ardent pot
• 2:04:55
  Speaker 5: hunter who later on was to acquire the more credit
• 2:05:00
  Speaker 5: and I hope earned classification as an archaeologist. Morris's father
• 2:05:06
  Speaker 5: was killed when he was fifteen, and he had to
• 2:05:09
  Speaker 5: go to work to support his mother and to put
• 2:05:11
  Speaker 5: himself through school and college as well. In nineteen o
• 2:05:15
  Speaker 5: eight he entered the University of Colorado, but he left
• 2:05:19
  Speaker 5: temporarily to join an archaeological expedition to the Maya country
• 2:05:24
  Speaker 5: of Guatemala. Later he returned to college and received his
• 2:05:28
  Speaker 5: Pa in nineteen fourteen and as Maa in nineteen sixteen.
• 2:05:34
  Speaker 5: Having spent the winter of nineteen fifteen in New York
• 2:05:37
  Speaker 5: City at Columbia University, Morris was well acquainted with the
• 2:05:42
  Speaker 5: leading archaeologist at the American Museum of Natural History. It
• 2:05:47
  Speaker 5: was therefore, upon doctor Nelson's recommendation that the ruins at
• 2:05:51
  Speaker 5: Aztec would make an excellent subject for intensive study by
• 2:05:55
  Speaker 5: the Museum, that Morris was hired to conduct the investigations.
• 2:06:01
  Speaker 5: He was in charge of the Aztec excavations from nineteen
• 2:06:05
  Speaker 5: sixteen to twenty one and sporadically through nineteen twenty three,
• 2:06:10
  Speaker 5: at which time the area became a national monument. Morris
• 2:06:15
  Speaker 5: was the first custodian, as they were called in those days,
• 2:06:18
  Speaker 5: and was officially appointed on February eighth, nineteen twenty three,
• 2:06:23
  Speaker 5: at the salary of twelve dollars per annum. He not
• 2:06:27
  Speaker 5: only excavated the major part of the West ruin very carefully,
• 2:06:31
  Speaker 5: but also stabilized and repair the walls as he went along,
• 2:06:35
  Speaker 5: for the museum greatly desired that this ruin might be
• 2:06:39
  Speaker 5: preserved as an outstanding monument. Later, in nineteen thirty three
• 2:06:44
  Speaker 5: to thirty four, Marris's services were loaned to the National
• 2:06:47
  Speaker 5: Park Service by the Carnegie Institution so that he might
• 2:06:52
  Speaker 5: accurately restore and remoot the Great Kiva at Aztec. Maurics
• 2:06:57
  Speaker 5: dug in a number of other places throughout the site
• 2:07:00
  Speaker 5: southwest in addition to Aztec, and therefore was at a
• 2:07:04
  Speaker 5: better position than any other man of his time to
• 2:07:07
  Speaker 5: interpret and explain the development of the prehistoric cultures in
• 2:07:11
  Speaker 5: the Four Corners country. He produced a number of valuable
• 2:07:16
  Speaker 5: archaeological reports, most of them under the auspices of the
• 2:07:20
  Speaker 5: Carnegie Institution, for which he worked for many years. With
• 2:07:25
  Speaker 5: his death in nineteen fifty six, Southwestern archaeology suffered a
• 2:07:30
  Speaker 5: severe loss. But there are not many scientific investigators with
• 2:07:35
  Speaker 5: both his skill and motivation. As his lifelong friend A. V.
• 2:07:39
  Speaker 5: Kidder has said about him, throughout his career, Marris was
• 2:07:44
  Speaker 5: doubly motivated, first of course, by the urge to trace
• 2:07:49
  Speaker 5: the course and discern the causes of historical events and
• 2:07:52
  Speaker 5: cultural developments. Secondly by an exceptionally ardent wish to make
• 2:07:58
  Speaker 5: evidence to the world of today the achievements of the past.
• 2:08:03
  Speaker 5: Back of this was his own admiration for in striving
• 2:08:06
  Speaker 5: to preserve all ancient things that were beautifully and soundly made.
• 2:08:11
  Speaker 5: I think he may also have felt, perhaps subconsciously, an
• 2:08:16
  Speaker 5: obligation to repay by rescuing their work from oblivion, the
• 2:08:21
  Speaker 5: men and women of long ago whose artistry and manual
• 2:08:24
  Speaker 5: skills gave him such keen and lasting pleasure. Digging in
• 2:08:30
  Speaker 5: ruins such as at Aztec, where a dry climate has
• 2:08:33
  Speaker 5: helped preserve many perishable items normally lost to archaeologists, and
• 2:08:39
  Speaker 5: where there was always the opportunity of suddenly discovering a
• 2:08:43
  Speaker 5: fairly complete and undisturbed room, must have been a stimulating
• 2:08:47
  Speaker 5: experience to a man of Boris's capabilities. One has only
• 2:08:52
  Speaker 5: to browse through his reports and articles, or to glance
• 2:08:55
  Speaker 5: at the pictures therein to get the feeling of intense
• 2:08:59
  Speaker 5: excitement upon each discovery that prevailed throughout the five years
• 2:09:04
  Speaker 5: he was thinking they are. It would be impossible to
• 2:09:07
  Speaker 5: describe everything that bars excavated, but several of the burials
• 2:09:12
  Speaker 5: that he uncovered were of exceptional interest. One consists of
• 2:09:17
  Speaker 5: what may be the only known case of prehistoric peplow
• 2:09:21
  Speaker 5: surgery in one of the rooms, mars On, the remains
• 2:09:25
  Speaker 5: of a young female seventeen to twenty years of age,
• 2:09:29
  Speaker 5: accompanied by several bowls and a pottery mug. The body
• 2:09:33
  Speaker 5: had been wrapped in an excellently woven cotton cloth, which
• 2:09:37
  Speaker 5: in turn had been covered by a mantle of feather
• 2:09:40
  Speaker 5: cloth and finally with a mat of plaited rushes. The
• 2:09:44
  Speaker 5: young lady had been seriously injured, perhaps in a fall,
• 2:09:49
  Speaker 5: for the hip had been severely fractured, several vertebrate cracked,
• 2:09:54
  Speaker 5: and both bones of the left forearm badly broken. But
• 2:09:58
  Speaker 5: what was of particular interest was that an attempt had
• 2:10:02
  Speaker 5: been made to treat the broken arm. Six wooden splints,
• 2:10:06
  Speaker 5: each flat on one side in convex on the other,
• 2:10:10
  Speaker 5: had been bound in longitudinal position around the arm. As
• 2:10:14
  Speaker 5: Morris said, if the Indians who attempted to help this
• 2:10:18
  Speaker 5: girl realized that if pelvis was also broken, they were
• 2:10:22
  Speaker 5: unable to do anything about that, but evidently they had
• 2:10:27
  Speaker 5: attempted to set the arm and return it to normal. Unfortunately,
• 2:10:32
  Speaker 5: that occurred before sufficient time had elapsed to permit the
• 2:10:36
  Speaker 5: healing to begin, so we do not know how successful
• 2:10:40
  Speaker 5: this sort of treatment might have been. Although the surgery
• 2:10:43
  Speaker 5: may seem crude and bungling to us, at least it
• 2:10:47
  Speaker 5: chosen awareness of what was wrong and an attempt to
• 2:10:51
  Speaker 5: correct it. Another fascinating barrier was the one which Mars
• 2:10:56
  Speaker 5: referred to as the Warrior's grave, in which he found
• 2:11:00
  Speaker 5: an adult male buried in a gray pit sunk into
• 2:11:03
  Speaker 5: the floor for room. A wrapping of feather cloth enveloped
• 2:11:07
  Speaker 5: the entire body, and there had been an equally extensive
• 2:11:11
  Speaker 5: outer covering of rush matting. Along with numerous other grave
• 2:11:16
  Speaker 5: offerings of artifacts and pottery vessels, a large one eight
• 2:11:20
  Speaker 5: shield was laid over the body. It consisted of a
• 2:11:24
  Speaker 5: flat piece of coiled basketry thirty six inches long and
• 2:11:29
  Speaker 5: thirty one inches wide, and on one side was lashed
• 2:11:32
  Speaker 5: a hardwood handle. The outermost five coils of the shield
• 2:11:38
  Speaker 5: had been colored with pitch and thickly spangled with minute
• 2:11:41
  Speaker 5: flanks of selenite. The next five were stained dark red,
• 2:11:46
  Speaker 5: while the remaining forty eight were greenish blue. In addition
• 2:11:50
  Speaker 5: to the shield, they were axes of a form intermediate
• 2:11:53
  Speaker 5: between axes and hammers, so that it would appear that
• 2:11:57
  Speaker 5: they were intended for use's weapons rather than tools. One
• 2:12:02
  Speaker 5: is beautifully fashioned from a piece of hematite or similar
• 2:12:06
  Speaker 5: iron ore, and both had wooden handles which lay near
• 2:12:10
  Speaker 5: the right end of the body. Near the left hand
• 2:12:13
  Speaker 5: was a long knife of red quartzite position, so that
• 2:12:17
  Speaker 5: it might have been inserted in a belt or girdle.
• 2:12:20
  Speaker 5: Also beside the body was a long, thin, tapering wooden
• 2:12:24
  Speaker 5: object which might have been interpreted as a digging stick,
• 2:12:29
  Speaker 5: but which Mars felt would also have been serviceable as
• 2:12:32
  Speaker 5: a sword. It is not often an archeologist has an
• 2:12:37
  Speaker 5: opportunity to uncover spectaculal remains of this sort, But these
• 2:12:42
  Speaker 5: are only two of the fascinating burials which Mars recovered
• 2:12:46
  Speaker 5: from the Aztec ruins. In all, he found one hundred
• 2:12:50
  Speaker 5: eighty six interments. Strangely enough, only six, with possibly two others,
• 2:12:57
  Speaker 5: could be identified as belonging to the Cohen phase at Aztec.
• 2:13:02
  Speaker 5: One hundred forty nine were definitely of the Masubverted period,
• 2:13:06
  Speaker 5: twelve others possibly so, and seventeen were found in circumstances
• 2:13:12
  Speaker 5: which made it impossible to tell to which period they belonged.
• 2:13:16
  Speaker 5: But burials were not the only things which Morris uncovered.
• 2:13:20
  Speaker 5: He began his diggings in the southeast corner of the ruin,
• 2:13:24
  Speaker 5: excavating the entire east wing from south to north. The
• 2:13:28
  Speaker 5: problem of moving the dirt debris and fallen rocks was considerable,
• 2:13:33
  Speaker 5: especially when he did not want merely to pile it
• 2:13:36
  Speaker 5: off to one side, where he might subsequently have to
• 2:13:40
  Speaker 5: move it a second time. Furthermore, the ruin was to
• 2:13:44
  Speaker 5: be stabilized as a permanent monument, so it was necessary
• 2:13:48
  Speaker 5: to remove the debris well outside the ruin area. At
• 2:13:52
  Speaker 5: one time, he evidently considered building a sluice way from
• 2:13:57
  Speaker 5: an irrigation ditch which runs along a high on the
• 2:14:01
  Speaker 5: north side of the ruin, thinking that most of the
• 2:14:04
  Speaker 5: debris could be dumped in the sluice box and washed
• 2:14:08
  Speaker 5: out to a lower area by the river. Perhaps this
• 2:14:11
  Speaker 5: scheme did not prove to be feasible, for instead, during
• 2:14:15
  Speaker 5: the first season's excavations, he constructed a narrow gage tramway
• 2:14:20
  Speaker 5: on which the workmen ran dump cars. Unfortunately, this method
• 2:14:26
  Speaker 5: of dirt removal did not work satisfactorily either, because the
• 2:14:30
  Speaker 5: relatively light rails which were used would not support the
• 2:14:34
  Speaker 5: weight of the loaded dump trucks. He also had difficulty
• 2:14:38
  Speaker 5: with the size and quality of the wheels on the
• 2:14:41
  Speaker 5: dump carts. Although excavators elsewhere have sometimes used this method
• 2:14:46
  Speaker 5: of removing dirt, it frequently presents its own type of
• 2:14:51
  Speaker 5: engineering problems. In the remaining years of the work at Azdek,
• 2:14:56
  Speaker 5: Morris employed horse drawn carts which could be loaded to
• 2:15:00
  Speaker 5: directly from the excavations and hauled to a vacant area
• 2:15:04
  Speaker 5: to be dumped. In many places the digging was extremely laborious,
• 2:15:09
  Speaker 5: but over the centuries the dirt and debris had been
• 2:15:12
  Speaker 5: packed into consistency, almost like that of concrete. In other places,
• 2:15:18
  Speaker 5: the rooms were full of all sorts of prehistoric rubbish,
• 2:15:21
  Speaker 5: intermixed with broken artifacts, which had to be carefully sorted out.
• 2:15:26
  Speaker 5: In describing the excavations in one room, Morris said the
• 2:15:31
  Speaker 5: ceiling failed in the most unusual way, the supports having
• 2:15:36
  Speaker 5: been broken first at the center, then at each end
• 2:15:40
  Speaker 5: where they entered the wall. The small poles seemed to
• 2:15:43
  Speaker 5: have been parted from the walls almost as soon as
• 2:15:46
  Speaker 5: the center timbers gave way. Some were standing upright against
• 2:15:50
  Speaker 5: the end walls, while the majority were mashed back against
• 2:15:55
  Speaker 5: and along the east wall. The splints, bark and adult
• 2:16:00
  Speaker 5: were in a grievous tangle. Most difficult to excavate about
• 2:16:05
  Speaker 5: the first ceiling were decayed but unburned timbers and lumps
• 2:16:10
  Speaker 5: of charcoal and bread and earth represented respectively, the second
• 2:16:15
  Speaker 5: and third ceilings. Mars completely excavated the east wing and
• 2:16:20
  Speaker 5: eastern half of the north wing. In addition, he also
• 2:16:24
  Speaker 5: excavated twenty nine rooms in the west wing and about
• 2:16:28
  Speaker 5: two thirds of the small cobblestone one story rooms which
• 2:16:32
  Speaker 5: close off the southern third of the plaza area. Besides
• 2:16:37
  Speaker 5: excavating many of the kivas enclosed within the Poeppla rooms,
• 2:16:42
  Speaker 5: Mars also excavated the large charcoal like kiva in front
• 2:16:46
  Speaker 5: of the northeast corner, as well as the Great Kiva,
• 2:16:50
  Speaker 5: which is centrally located on the south side of the plaza.
• 2:16:54
  Speaker 5: Later in nineteen thirty three and nineteen thirty four, Maris
• 2:16:58
  Speaker 5: returned to Aztec and supervised the stabilization and reconstruction of
• 2:17:03
  Speaker 5: this great giva, so that today you see it as
• 2:17:07
  Speaker 5: it supposedly existed when the Indians used it for ceremonial purposes.
• 2:17:13
  Speaker 5: Immediately to the west of the main ruin, where the
• 2:17:16
  Speaker 5: brush has been cleared, Morris found a rather extensive low
• 2:17:21
  Speaker 5: mound area. The surface was an orderless succession of hummocks
• 2:17:26
  Speaker 5: and depressions, the former thickly strewn with cobblestones, the whole
• 2:17:31
  Speaker 5: presenting an appearance characteristic of most of the ruins in
• 2:17:35
  Speaker 5: this end of the valley. Thinking these might be the
• 2:17:38
  Speaker 5: remains of an earlier structure, he excavated most of it.
• 2:17:43
  Speaker 5: To his surprise, the rivers proved to be true. Although
• 2:17:48
  Speaker 5: there had undoubtedly been an earlier charcoal like sandstone structure,
• 2:17:52
  Speaker 5: at this point, most of it had been torn down
• 2:17:56
  Speaker 5: and the debris carried elsewhere or utilized in building the
• 2:17:59
  Speaker 5: gray ruin itself. Morris said, overlying the earliest remains there
• 2:18:05
  Speaker 5: are deposits of glean earth, some of it presumably laid
• 2:18:10
  Speaker 5: down by the elements, but the bulk of it is
• 2:18:13
  Speaker 5: excavated earth, intentionally dumped where it lies. At some later date,
• 2:18:19
  Speaker 5: the Maseverdi like people had built cobblestone houses, pit rooms,
• 2:18:24
  Speaker 5: and small keepers on top of this earlier debris. Today,
• 2:18:29
  Speaker 5: the outline of some of these cobblestone walls can be
• 2:18:32
  Speaker 5: seen on the ground just to the left of the
• 2:18:34
  Speaker 5: visitor trail as it proceeds northward to enter the main
• 2:18:38
  Speaker 5: part of the West Ruin. Since Morris's excavations at Aztec,
• 2:18:44
  Speaker 5: there has been a sporadic digging, much of it in
• 2:18:47
  Speaker 5: connection with the service's ruin stabilization program. To prevent soil
• 2:18:53
  Speaker 5: moisture from seeping into the lower footing of these ancient walls,
• 2:18:57
  Speaker 5: it is frequently necessary to dig down to their bases
• 2:19:01
  Speaker 5: and cap them with concrete or preserve them by other
• 2:19:04
  Speaker 5: suitable methods. In doing so, all refuse pits, broken fragments
• 2:19:10
  Speaker 5: of pottery, or even a burial is occasionally turned up
• 2:19:15
  Speaker 5: recently in making excavations in which to place dry barrels
• 2:19:19
  Speaker 5: but drainage purposes. In two rooms on the east side,
• 2:19:23
  Speaker 5: two interesting oven like structures, each exactly centered in a room,
• 2:19:29
  Speaker 5: were accidentally found. Their location in adjoining rooms, and their
• 2:19:34
  Speaker 5: central location in the rooms precludes the possibility that they
• 2:19:38
  Speaker 5: were pit ovens from an earlier period before the Voeblo
• 2:19:42
  Speaker 5: was built. Doubtless they have been placed deliberately in these
• 2:19:46
  Speaker 5: two rooms, and they may have been used for roasting
• 2:19:49
  Speaker 5: large quantities of corn or preparing certain types of baked
• 2:19:53
  Speaker 5: corn meal or corn bread. Also, since Morris's time, the
• 2:19:59
  Speaker 5: rooms to which you may now pass, and which lie
• 2:20:02
  Speaker 5: between the plaza proper and the rooms with the intact ceilings,
• 2:20:07
  Speaker 5: have impartially excavated in order to allow you easy access
• 2:20:11
  Speaker 5: to the plaza. Finally, as part of the stabilization program.
• 2:20:16
  Speaker 5: The remaining rooms in the south wing, which enclosed the
• 2:20:19
  Speaker 5: plaza and which were largely composed of cobblestones, were cleared
• 2:20:24
  Speaker 5: and stabilized. Mars also excavated a few rooms in the
• 2:20:30
  Speaker 5: east ruins, simply as a test to see if it
• 2:20:32
  Speaker 5: belonged to the same general period as the larger ruin
• 2:20:36
  Speaker 5: in the west. From his findings there, he felt that
• 2:20:40
  Speaker 5: the East ruin was erected during the masive furthy phase
• 2:20:43
  Speaker 5: of Aztec. In recent years, one other major excavation had
• 2:20:49
  Speaker 5: been undertaken at Aztec. This was the complete clearing and
• 2:20:53
  Speaker 5: stabilization of the circular structure to the north of the ruin,
• 2:20:58
  Speaker 5: known as the Hubbard Mound, a massive circular triple wall
• 2:21:02
  Speaker 5: structure with underlying scattered remains of earlier structures. Two heavy
• 2:21:08
  Speaker 5: radial cobblestone walls now extend to the south of the
• 2:21:12
  Speaker 5: main structure, and excavations revealed remnants of other heavy walls
• 2:21:17
  Speaker 5: disappearing under the road to the west. This indicates that
• 2:21:22
  Speaker 5: the building had originally been one corner of a group
• 2:21:25
  Speaker 5: of structures. The main part of the hub and Bound
• 2:21:29
  Speaker 5: consists of three concentric circular walls. The spaces between the
• 2:21:33
  Speaker 5: outer two rings are partitioned into rooms. There are eight
• 2:21:37
  Speaker 5: rooms in the inner circle, including an entrance room on
• 2:21:41
  Speaker 5: the south, and fourteen in the outer if you again
• 2:21:45
  Speaker 5: count an open passageway on the south side. Interestingly enough,
• 2:21:51
  Speaker 5: the three circular walls are heavier and extend deeper into
• 2:21:55
  Speaker 5: the underlying sand than to the partition walls, and therefore
• 2:22:00
  Speaker 5: were constructed first as continuous circles. Within the innermost circle
• 2:22:05
  Speaker 5: there is a standard small type kiva. Evidently, the entire
• 2:22:09
  Speaker 5: structure represents a building for the use of a highly
• 2:22:12
  Speaker 5: specialized religious organization. Part of the construction is of sandstone blocks,
• 2:22:19
  Speaker 5: part is cobblestone, and all of it seems to have
• 2:22:22
  Speaker 5: been generously plastered with adobe mud. There are other examples
• 2:22:27
  Speaker 5: of triwall structures in the Southwest, but they are not
• 2:22:31
  Speaker 5: very numerous and the exact uses to which they might
• 2:22:34
  Speaker 5: have been put are unknown. An analysis of materials found
• 2:22:38
  Speaker 5: during the excavation of the Hubbard Mound reveals that it
• 2:22:42
  Speaker 5: belonged to the Masi Verdi Phays when Morris first undertook
• 2:22:47
  Speaker 5: the excavations at Azdek. It was his intention and that
• 2:22:51
  Speaker 5: of the American Museum of Natural History to excavate the
• 2:22:55
  Speaker 5: ruins completely. However, the undertaking was a man yes of one.
• 2:23:01
  Speaker 5: World War one intervened with all its uncertainties, and funds
• 2:23:06
  Speaker 5: frequently ran short. In the later days of the excavations,
• 2:23:10
  Speaker 5: Marris realized there was an advantage to leaving parts of
• 2:23:14
  Speaker 5: any run unexcavated, so that better archaeological techniques in the
• 2:23:19
  Speaker 5: future might extract information of which he was unaware At present,
• 2:23:25
  Speaker 5: the National Park Service feels much the same way. Perhaps
• 2:23:29
  Speaker 5: twenty five or fifty years from now, for the excavations
• 2:23:33
  Speaker 5: may be undertaken in this area, but for the present
• 2:23:37
  Speaker 5: the ruins will be left as they are, complete with
• 2:23:41
  Speaker 5: their feeling of mystery. End of section seven.
• 2:23:51
  Speaker 6: Section eight of Azta Kruns National Monument, New Mexico. This
• 2:23:56
  Speaker 6: is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the
• 2:24:00
  Speaker 6: public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit
• 2:24:04
  Speaker 6: LibriVox dot or read by prettipah Aztec Ruins National Monument,
• 2:24:10
  Speaker 6: New Mexico by John M. Corbett. The Aztec Ruins today
• 2:24:16
  Speaker 6: Aztec Ruins National Monument consists of an enclosed area of
• 2:24:20
  Speaker 6: twenty seven acres containing six major archaeological complexes of rooms
• 2:24:25
  Speaker 6: and structures, and at least seven or eight small amounts
• 2:24:29
  Speaker 6: which may contain structures or may simply be trash and
• 2:24:32
  Speaker 6: refuse mounds from the larger occupation zones. Two of these
• 2:24:36
  Speaker 6: major complexes have been excavated, the West Ruin and the
• 2:24:40
  Speaker 6: Hubbard Mound. Two of the others, the East Ruin and
• 2:24:44
  Speaker 6: Mount f, have been tested. Mount F is evidently very
• 2:24:48
  Speaker 6: similar to the Hubbard Mound. The East Ruin, if excavated,
• 2:24:52
  Speaker 6: might be similar in most respects to the West Ruin,
• 2:24:55
  Speaker 6: both in appearance and time of occupation. As to whether
• 2:24:59
  Speaker 6: the smallermounds contain trash or house remains, only thorough archaeological
• 2:25:03
  Speaker 6: investigations can tell. Morris's diggings and subsequent small tests have
• 2:25:09
  Speaker 6: indicated there may be earlier developmental poeblo remains underlying the
• 2:25:13
  Speaker 6: main prehistoric complexes. Also, such remains might still be found
• 2:25:18
  Speaker 6: under the wind blown sand in the flatter areas between
• 2:25:21
  Speaker 6: the major ruins. No real archaeological work has ever been
• 2:25:25
  Speaker 6: done in the monument area to determine the possible extent
• 2:25:29
  Speaker 6: of such earlier remains. The two main sites seen by
• 2:25:33
  Speaker 6: the visitor to the monument are, therefore the West Ruin
• 2:25:36
  Speaker 6: and the Hubbard Mound. The West Ruin was the one
• 2:25:39
  Speaker 6: first entered by early settlers in the late nineteenth century.
• 2:25:42
  Speaker 6: The profuse remains caused extensive digging and looting for about
• 2:25:46
  Speaker 6: a decade. Then under the ownership first of John R.
• 2:25:50
  Speaker 6: Kun's and later of H. D. Abrams, the area was
• 2:25:53
  Speaker 6: given a certain amount of protection. During nineteen sixty to
• 2:25:57
  Speaker 6: twenty one, the American Museum of Natural History excavated extensively
• 2:26:01
  Speaker 6: in the West Ruin under the guidance of Morris. To day,
• 2:26:05
  Speaker 6: three forts of this ruin has been excavated, cleared, and
• 2:26:08
  Speaker 6: stabilized so that you may gain a first hand impression
• 2:26:11
  Speaker 6: of its original appearance. The remaining one fourth is largely unexcavated,
• 2:26:17
  Speaker 6: and for all anyone knows, may contain archaeological riches equal
• 2:26:21
  Speaker 6: to any recovered in the early days or during the
• 2:26:23
  Speaker 6: excavations by the American Museum of Natural History. Although some
• 2:26:28
  Speaker 6: of the rooms and walls seen by the first white
• 2:26:30
  Speaker 6: settlers in the valley have now collapsed, evidence of at
• 2:26:33
  Speaker 6: least three stories is still clearly visible in several places
• 2:26:37
  Speaker 6: in the ruin. The main part consists of three sides
• 2:26:40
  Speaker 6: of a rectangle with a slightly blowing outer wall on
• 2:26:43
  Speaker 6: the fourth side, composed of single rooms, which seals off
• 2:26:47
  Speaker 6: the central plaza. The only entrance into the pueblo was
• 2:26:51
  Speaker 6: the one along the path by which visitors enter the
• 2:26:54
  Speaker 6: ruin to day, the pueblo was built of yellowish brown
• 2:26:58
  Speaker 6: and tanned sandstone blocks, most of them shaped into rectangles
• 2:27:02
  Speaker 6: by pecking or grinding to support the weight of the
• 2:27:05
  Speaker 6: upper rooms. The lower walls are much thicker and are
• 2:27:08
  Speaker 6: composed of rubble fill, with an outer venear wall of
• 2:27:11
  Speaker 6: the better shaped rectangular blocks. In many places, the spaces
• 2:27:16
  Speaker 6: between them are filled with small chinking stones set in
• 2:27:19
  Speaker 6: adobe mud. Sometimes broken pieces of pottery vessels were used
• 2:27:24
  Speaker 6: for spalls. Originally, the walls were plastered with layers of adobe,
• 2:27:28
  Speaker 6: most of which unfortunately have eroded away. One unusual feature
• 2:27:33
  Speaker 6: in the west ruin consists of two very fine bands
• 2:27:36
  Speaker 6: of green sandstone blocks which extend horizontally along the west
• 2:27:40
  Speaker 6: outer wall of the pueblo and into a few of
• 2:27:43
  Speaker 6: the interior rooms of the southwest corner. There are indications
• 2:27:46
  Speaker 6: in a few places that originally there may have been
• 2:27:49
  Speaker 6: three such parallel bands. The north and northwest sides of
• 2:27:53
  Speaker 6: the ruin contain the most extensive building remains. The highest
• 2:27:56
  Speaker 6: walls and best construction still exist there, and one can
• 2:28:00
  Speaker 6: see evidence of at least three stories. Also in the
• 2:28:03
  Speaker 6: north portion, along the extreme back row of rooms at
• 2:28:06
  Speaker 6: the ground level, there is a series of seven rooms,
• 2:28:09
  Speaker 6: each of which has its original ceiling intact. These seven
• 2:28:13
  Speaker 6: were the first entered by early relic hunters, who found
• 2:28:16
  Speaker 6: most of the original doorways to the south sealed up,
• 2:28:19
  Speaker 6: and who broke through the walls of each room in
• 2:28:22
  Speaker 6: an easterly direction. These breaches in the walls have been
• 2:28:26
  Speaker 6: repaired but left open, so that today you can go
• 2:28:29
  Speaker 6: from one room to the next along the path taken
• 2:28:32
  Speaker 6: by the early explorers, rather than through the doorways used
• 2:28:34
  Speaker 6: by the Indians from the plaza. The Indians gained access
• 2:28:38
  Speaker 6: to these northwestern rooms by entering the west side rooms,
• 2:28:42
  Speaker 6: then turning at right angles. They proceeded northward through the
• 2:28:45
  Speaker 6: doorways and rooms until they reached the final row of
• 2:28:48
  Speaker 6: rooms at the north Although not all are open to
• 2:28:51
  Speaker 6: the public because of their difficulty of access, there are
• 2:28:54
  Speaker 6: nineteen rooms in the ruin which still have their original
• 2:28:57
  Speaker 6: ceilings intact. In making a ceiling, the Indians used two
• 2:29:01
  Speaker 6: or more main stringers, that is, large beams of pine
• 2:29:05
  Speaker 6: or juniper, which they set into the walls of the
• 2:29:07
  Speaker 6: room at a height of eight or nine feet, traversing
• 2:29:10
  Speaker 6: the shorter dimension of the room, running at right angles
• 2:29:14
  Speaker 6: to the stringers. They placed cottonwood poles or splints of juniper,
• 2:29:18
  Speaker 6: and over these reeds, rushes or woven matting. Upon this
• 2:29:22
  Speaker 6: they put adobe mud, which was well packed to make
• 2:29:25
  Speaker 6: a firm roof, or, if there was to be another
• 2:29:28
  Speaker 6: room above it, a stout floor. Since the entire ruin
• 2:29:32
  Speaker 6: has not been excavated, it is possible there may be
• 2:29:34
  Speaker 6: more rooms with ceilings intact, or others in which, although
• 2:29:38
  Speaker 6: the ceilings have collapsed, the first floor walls and part
• 2:29:40
  Speaker 6: of the second remain. As far as we can tell
• 2:29:43
  Speaker 6: from the excavated rooms and from the surface evidence, there
• 2:29:47
  Speaker 6: are two hundred and twenty one first story rooms. There
• 2:29:50
  Speaker 6: are intact portions of one hundred and nineteen second story rooms,
• 2:29:54
  Speaker 6: and at least twelve third story rooms. When originally inhabited,
• 2:29:58
  Speaker 6: there were many more than the three one hundred and
• 2:30:00
  Speaker 6: fifty two rooms that we can count today. Generally, access
• 2:30:04
  Speaker 6: from one room to another was by doorways that led
• 2:30:07
  Speaker 6: from the back or side portions of the pueblo out
• 2:30:10
  Speaker 6: toward the central plaza. However, several rooms also had lateral doorways,
• 2:30:15
  Speaker 6: many of which had at one time been sealed up,
• 2:30:17
  Speaker 6: either by the first inhabitants or by the second group.
• 2:30:21
  Speaker 6: When burials were made in a room, it must have
• 2:30:23
  Speaker 6: been necessary to seal all the doorways, unless the bodies
• 2:30:27
  Speaker 6: were placed in subfloor pits or covered with dirt or debris.
• 2:30:31
  Speaker 6: Among the second story rooms in the northeastern section are
• 2:30:34
  Speaker 6: four special doorways, each placed in the corner of a
• 2:30:37
  Speaker 6: room so that it connects with the adjoining diagonal room.
• 2:30:41
  Speaker 6: As far as we know, corner doorways occur only in
• 2:30:44
  Speaker 6: second story rooms, with the possible exception of the double
• 2:30:47
  Speaker 6: doorway mentioned below. One corner doorway leads into a room
• 2:30:51
  Speaker 6: that had four normal doorways, one in each side. We
• 2:30:54
  Speaker 6: do not know if this room had a special function,
• 2:30:57
  Speaker 6: but it was the most accessible in the entire pueblow.
• 2:31:00
  Speaker 6: One corner doorway is possibly unique in the entire Southwest.
• 2:31:05
  Speaker 6: Beneath it is a second and much smaller one, which
• 2:31:07
  Speaker 6: led from the second floor level into a first floor
• 2:31:10
  Speaker 6: room which could be entered only by this means. Although
• 2:31:14
  Speaker 6: there is a step arrangement in this lower doorway, it
• 2:31:17
  Speaker 6: is so small, and its roof is so low that
• 2:31:19
  Speaker 6: it must have been a matter of crawling rather than
• 2:31:22
  Speaker 6: walking through it. This doorway enters the lower room so
• 2:31:25
  Speaker 6: high in the wall that it would also have been
• 2:31:27
  Speaker 6: necessary to have a ladder inside the room to enter
• 2:31:30
  Speaker 6: or leave it. In addition to doorways, many rooms, especially
• 2:31:34
  Speaker 6: toward the back or sides of the pueblo and in
• 2:31:37
  Speaker 6: the lower tiers, had one or two openings about a
• 2:31:39
  Speaker 6: foot square high in the back wall. These are above
• 2:31:43
  Speaker 6: the height of an average man even to day, and
• 2:31:45
  Speaker 6: could not have served as view halls or windows for
• 2:31:48
  Speaker 6: the Indians. They must have been put there for ventilation.
• 2:31:51
  Speaker 6: There are a few other openings in some walls which
• 2:31:54
  Speaker 6: are not as large as the average doorway or as
• 2:31:56
  Speaker 6: small as the ventilators. Usually these are placed at a
• 2:31:59
  Speaker 6: MIAs medium height in the room and could well have
• 2:32:02
  Speaker 6: served as windows to allow a view from one room
• 2:32:04
  Speaker 6: to another. None of these so called windows, however, opens
• 2:32:08
  Speaker 6: to the rear or sides of the pueblo, nor is
• 2:32:11
  Speaker 6: any known that opens onto the plaza in front, Not
• 2:32:15
  Speaker 6: counting the great Kiva which bulks so large in the plaza.
• 2:32:19
  Speaker 6: Excavations have revealed at least twenty nine other kivas or
• 2:32:23
  Speaker 6: ceremonial chambers. Several, especially in the southeast corner, underlie the
• 2:32:28
  Speaker 6: main structure and may represent kivas from the earlier or
• 2:32:32
  Speaker 6: developmental Pueblo period. Besides the cluster of small kivas around
• 2:32:37
  Speaker 6: the southeastern corner, there is a second grouping of larger
• 2:32:40
  Speaker 6: kivas among the rooms in the northeast corner and out
• 2:32:43
  Speaker 6: into the northeastern part of the plaza, where a rather
• 2:32:47
  Speaker 6: large Chaco type kiva is located. A third cluster, composed
• 2:32:51
  Speaker 6: of smaller Mescha Verde type keyhole kivas, is located near
• 2:32:56
  Speaker 6: the southwestern corner of the pueblo, and Morris found scattered
• 2:32:59
  Speaker 6: room mains of one or two other kivas toward the
• 2:33:02
  Speaker 6: front of the southwestern part. The Great Kiva, or House
• 2:33:06
  Speaker 6: of the Great Kiva, as Morris called it, is centrally
• 2:33:09
  Speaker 6: located in the south side of the plaza. It is
• 2:33:12
  Speaker 6: essentially circular in form and has two distinct parts. The
• 2:33:16
  Speaker 6: inner part, the kiva proper, has a floor about eight
• 2:33:19
  Speaker 6: feet below the surface at ground level, and surrounding this
• 2:33:23
  Speaker 6: inner section is an outer circle of fourteen arc shaped rooms.
• 2:33:28
  Speaker 6: Twelve of these are essentially similar, but the other two
• 2:33:31
  Speaker 6: are markedly different. One is merely an open passage about
• 2:33:35
  Speaker 6: three and a half feet wide, which leads directly from
• 2:33:38
  Speaker 6: the plaza to the head of the south stairway. The
• 2:33:41
  Speaker 6: other is a large rectangular alcove like structure on the
• 2:33:45
  Speaker 6: north side of the kiva proper, with the stairway leading
• 2:33:48
  Speaker 6: up into it from the kiva floor. On the north
• 2:33:51
  Speaker 6: and west sides of this alcove there is a low
• 2:33:54
  Speaker 6: bench like structure around the inner wall, and on the
• 2:33:57
  Speaker 6: south side are water appear to be a piece of
• 2:33:59
  Speaker 6: a wall and two rectangular masonry blocks. Toward the center
• 2:34:04
  Speaker 6: back portion of the alcove is another low, square masonry structure,
• 2:34:08
  Speaker 6: which may have been an altar. When excavated, this latter
• 2:34:12
  Speaker 6: structure had burnt poles embedded in the north side, as
• 2:34:15
  Speaker 6: though it once had a small roof or some kind
• 2:34:18
  Speaker 6: of entablature over it. The Kiva proper is forty one
• 2:34:22
  Speaker 6: feet three and a half inches wide at floor level
• 2:34:25
  Speaker 6: and forty eight feet three and a half inches wide
• 2:34:27
  Speaker 6: at a height of three feet above the floor. This
• 2:34:31
  Speaker 6: difference is caused by two benches or concentric rings, which
• 2:34:34
  Speaker 6: completely encircle the kiva base. At the north end, three
• 2:34:38
  Speaker 6: masonry steps led to the second bench, which at this
• 2:34:41
  Speaker 6: point formed a fourth step in the stairway leading to
• 2:34:44
  Speaker 6: the alcove. Above this, another masonry step was surmounted by
• 2:34:48
  Speaker 6: five sets of double juniper logs set in the sides
• 2:34:52
  Speaker 6: of a recess, with an average rise of nine and
• 2:34:54
  Speaker 6: a half inches each. These logs formed the final steps
• 2:34:58
  Speaker 6: leading from the kiva floor into the north alcove. Originally
• 2:35:02
  Speaker 6: there had also been a stairway on the south side
• 2:35:05
  Speaker 6: leading to the small exit at that point. Some time
• 2:35:08
  Speaker 6: while the kiva was in use, these stairs had been eliminated.
• 2:35:12
  Speaker 6: The two benches had been filled in smoothly at that point,
• 2:35:15
  Speaker 6: and the recess above had been partially closed. The modern
• 2:35:18
  Speaker 6: wooden stairways at both these points have been placed there
• 2:35:21
  Speaker 6: by the National Park Service for the convenience of visitors.
• 2:35:25
  Speaker 6: On the floor of the kiva are remains of the
• 2:35:27
  Speaker 6: central altar or fire pit, flanked on either side by
• 2:35:31
  Speaker 6: two large rectangular stone lined pits, the bottoms of which
• 2:35:34
  Speaker 6: are well below the kiva floor. These pits, often referred
• 2:35:38
  Speaker 6: to as foot drums, may have served at other times
• 2:35:41
  Speaker 6: as hiding places for the shamans or medicine men who
• 2:35:44
  Speaker 6: performed magical rites during ceremonies. Surrounding the kiva at ground
• 2:35:49
  Speaker 6: level are twelve similar arc shaped chambers of varying dimensions,
• 2:35:53
  Speaker 6: which represent components of the building as last used sometime
• 2:35:57
  Speaker 6: during one or another of the several alterations made by
• 2:36:00
  Speaker 6: the Indians on the Great Kiva. Every door from the
• 2:36:02
  Speaker 6: plaza into these peripheral chambers was sealed with masonry. The
• 2:36:07
  Speaker 6: floor of the rooms was adobe without much sign of use,
• 2:36:10
  Speaker 6: and the quantity of gypsum found by Morris indicates they
• 2:36:13
  Speaker 6: may have been painted white. Once the outer doors were sealed.
• 2:36:17
  Speaker 6: Entrance was doubtless by way of the niched vertical stairways
• 2:36:21
  Speaker 6: in front of each room. About ten inches from the
• 2:36:24
  Speaker 6: top bench. In front of most of the alcove rooms,
• 2:36:27
  Speaker 6: Morris found a slot eight and a half inches wide
• 2:36:30
  Speaker 6: and eight inches deep which continued to the top of
• 2:36:33
  Speaker 6: the wall. About a foot apart. In each niche were
• 2:36:36
  Speaker 6: two round junip sticks laid side by side with their
• 2:36:40
  Speaker 6: ends extending into the masonry. On the east side of
• 2:36:43
  Speaker 6: the kiva, The veneer facing of the wall had fallen,
• 2:36:46
  Speaker 6: and it could not be positively determined if these alcove
• 2:36:49
  Speaker 6: rooms also had similar slot stairways in front of them.
• 2:36:53
  Speaker 6: If they did not, the rooms would have been non
• 2:36:55
  Speaker 6: functional in connection with the Kiva proper, and therefore the
• 2:36:59
  Speaker 6: present day rests shows them correctly. That the Great Kiva
• 2:37:03
  Speaker 6: was originally roofed was determined by Morris's finding the remains
• 2:37:07
  Speaker 6: of four rectangular columns, counter sunk below the level of
• 2:37:10
  Speaker 6: the kiva floor and composed of alternating courses of masonry
• 2:37:14
  Speaker 6: and wooden poles. Each course of wooden poles was laid
• 2:37:18
  Speaker 6: at right angles to the alternating one below. Each column
• 2:37:21
  Speaker 6: was supported by three thick circular sandstone blocks, evidently to
• 2:37:25
  Speaker 6: prevent the weight of the columns and the roof they
• 2:37:28
  Speaker 6: supported from pressing them down into the soft ground or
• 2:37:31
  Speaker 6: spreading out the footings. In the excavation of the kiva fill,
• 2:37:35
  Speaker 6: Morris also found many pieces of charred timbers, so that
• 2:37:39
  Speaker 6: although we do not know the exact method of roofing
• 2:37:41
  Speaker 6: the Kiva, one method which the Indians could have used
• 2:37:44
  Speaker 6: has been duplicated in the modern Rey construction. Evidently, the
• 2:37:48
  Speaker 6: Kiva burned and was then abandoned. Just to the northwest
• 2:37:52
  Speaker 6: of the main ruin at Aztec is a small tri
• 2:37:54
  Speaker 6: walled ceremonial structure known as the Hubbard Site, sixty four
• 2:37:58
  Speaker 6: feet in diameter. It consists of three concentric walls of
• 2:38:02
  Speaker 6: stone and adobe, with a small twenty four foot circular
• 2:38:05
  Speaker 6: kiva enclosed in the center. This kiva is not directly
• 2:38:09
  Speaker 6: connected with any of the try walls. There is a
• 2:38:11
  Speaker 6: space one and a half feet wide between the outer
• 2:38:14
  Speaker 6: shell of the kiva and the inner side of the
• 2:38:17
  Speaker 6: nearest wall. There are remains of eight roof pilasters, a
• 2:38:21
  Speaker 6: central fireplace, a deflector, and a ventilator shaft in the kiva.
• 2:38:26
  Speaker 6: On the south side are openings in the two outer walls,
• 2:38:29
  Speaker 6: one directly behind the other, so that access could have
• 2:38:32
  Speaker 6: been along this passage and then up over the roof
• 2:38:34
  Speaker 6: of the kiva and down into it through the smokehole.
• 2:38:38
  Speaker 6: None of the rooms in the outer two circles connect
• 2:38:40
  Speaker 6: in any way with the kiva. There are seven rooms
• 2:38:43
  Speaker 6: of roughly equal size within the inner circle. An eighth
• 2:38:46
  Speaker 6: room might be the one mentioned above, which forms part
• 2:38:49
  Speaker 6: of the passage leading out to the south. These rooms
• 2:38:52
  Speaker 6: do not connect with each other, and access to each
• 2:38:55
  Speaker 6: of them must have been through the roof. In the
• 2:38:58
  Speaker 6: outermost circle, there are thirteen rooms, with another constituting the
• 2:39:01
  Speaker 6: outer portion of the south passage. This is the same
• 2:39:05
  Speaker 6: number of alcoves as surrounded the Great Kiva, except that
• 2:39:08
  Speaker 6: in the latter case two were entrance ways. Here in
• 2:39:11
  Speaker 6: the Hubbard Mound there is no north alcove entranceway as
• 2:39:15
  Speaker 6: there is in the Great Kiva. In the outer circle
• 2:39:18
  Speaker 6: of rooms, the first four east of the south entrance
• 2:39:21
  Speaker 6: opened into each other through a lateral doorway, and the
• 2:39:24
  Speaker 6: next two rooms around to the northeast also opened into
• 2:39:27
  Speaker 6: each other. The following room toward the north was self contained.
• 2:39:32
  Speaker 6: Proceeding around to the west, the next five rooms all
• 2:39:35
  Speaker 6: opened on each other through lateral doorways. Finally, on the
• 2:39:39
  Speaker 6: southwest there is a single room not connected to any other.
• 2:39:43
  Speaker 6: None of the rooms in the outer circle opened on
• 2:39:46
  Speaker 6: to any in the inner circle or to the outside,
• 2:39:48
  Speaker 6: except for one doorway on the west, which led to
• 2:39:51
  Speaker 6: the series of five interconnecting rooms. The separate rooms and
• 2:39:55
  Speaker 6: the other series of connecting rooms must have been entered
• 2:39:58
  Speaker 6: through the roof. Attending southward from the triwall structure are
• 2:40:02
  Speaker 6: two massive parallel walls made of cobblestones laid in thick mortar,
• 2:40:07
  Speaker 6: and two more equally massive walls extend westward. From these
• 2:40:11
  Speaker 6: there are scattered smaller walls, also of cobblestones. While we
• 2:40:14
  Speaker 6: do not know their original dimensions, they suggest rectangular enclosures
• 2:40:19
  Speaker 6: which may have contained house rooms of lighter construction. The
• 2:40:22
  Speaker 6: ruins contained within the Aztec Ruins National Monument constitute a
• 2:40:26
  Speaker 6: complex of prehistoric remains representative of several different construction periods.
• 2:40:32
  Speaker 6: Different groups of Indians seem to have been involved at
• 2:40:35
  Speaker 6: various times, and only further excavation will fully clarify their relationships.
• 2:40:41
  Speaker 6: End of Section eight Section nine of Aztec Ruins National Monument,
• 2:40:51
  Speaker 6: New Mexico. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings
• 2:40:57
  Speaker 6: are in the public domain. For more information out volunteer,
• 2:41:01
  Speaker 6: please visit librivoux dot org. Red by Prettipah. Aztec Ruins
• 2:41:07
  Speaker 6: National Monument, New Mexico by John M. Corbett. The Natural Scene,
• 2:41:12
  Speaker 6: Establishment and Administration, and related areas. The Natural Scene as
• 2:41:19
  Speaker 6: Tek Ruins National Monument is located on the Animas River
• 2:41:23
  Speaker 6: in northwestern New Mexico, about twenty miles below the Colorado
• 2:41:27
  Speaker 6: state line and fourteen miles above the point where the
• 2:41:30
  Speaker 6: Animas flows into the San Juan. The monument is on
• 2:41:34
  Speaker 6: the west bank of the Animas on high ground about
• 2:41:37
  Speaker 6: half way between the river and the low lying hills
• 2:41:40
  Speaker 6: and mesas which border the river valley. The valley, although
• 2:41:44
  Speaker 6: narrow at spots, is about two miles wide at the
• 2:41:47
  Speaker 6: point where the ruins are located. The floor of the
• 2:41:50
  Speaker 6: valley is composed of fertile alluvial soil, which produces fine
• 2:41:54
  Speaker 6: crops irrigated. Today, as in prehistoric times, the population of
• 2:41:59
  Speaker 6: this area is concentrated along the river. It was this
• 2:42:03
  Speaker 6: permanent source of water that induced the builders of the
• 2:42:06
  Speaker 6: Aztec Pueblo and in later times, the white Man to
• 2:42:09
  Speaker 6: settle this valley. No doubt, many of the fields cultivated
• 2:42:13
  Speaker 6: to day are the same ones that were tilled by
• 2:42:15
  Speaker 6: the original inhabitants of the area. The valley floor and
• 2:42:19
  Speaker 6: valley terraces are dotted with salt bush, rabbit brush, greasewood,
• 2:42:24
  Speaker 6: and sage brush. The river banks and ditches are lined
• 2:42:28
  Speaker 6: with willows and huge cottonwoods. Cat Tails and reeds grow
• 2:42:32
  Speaker 6: in the marshy areas, and wild roses grow in the
• 2:42:35
  Speaker 6: shady spots. The low hills and uplands bordering the river
• 2:42:39
  Speaker 6: valley have a sparse cover of vegetation because of the
• 2:42:42
  Speaker 6: small amount of rainfall. Therefore, the main growth is juniper
• 2:42:46
  Speaker 6: and pinon, typical of the upper Sonoran life zone. These small,
• 2:42:50
  Speaker 6: hardy trees can withstand dry periods and survive in semi
• 2:42:54
  Speaker 6: arid country. To day, much of the valley is under
• 2:42:57
  Speaker 6: cultivation or in pasture, and the mild and very dry
• 2:43:00
  Speaker 6: climate is well suited to growing non citrus fruit. Elevation
• 2:43:04
  Speaker 6: at the monument is about five thousand, six hundred feet
• 2:43:07
  Speaker 6: above sea level. Average annual rainfall is about nine and
• 2:43:11
  Speaker 6: a half inches. The humidity is usually very low. Temperatures
• 2:43:16
  Speaker 6: will reach the mid nineties during July and August, but
• 2:43:19
  Speaker 6: evenings are cool and pleasant. Night temperatures in the sixties
• 2:43:22
  Speaker 6: are not uncommon even after the hottest summer days. Occasional
• 2:43:26
  Speaker 6: afternoon thundershowers give relief from the heat during late July
• 2:43:30
  Speaker 6: and August. Spring and autumn are relatively dry seasons, when
• 2:43:35
  Speaker 6: the skies may remain cloudless for weeks at a time.
• 2:43:38
  Speaker 6: In September, a great range of temperature from night to day,
• 2:43:41
  Speaker 6: as much as forty five degrees is noticeable. The winters
• 2:43:45
  Speaker 6: are mild, the temperature rarely drops to zero or below,
• 2:43:49
  Speaker 6: and there are very few prolonged periods of cold weather.
• 2:43:52
  Speaker 6: Infrequent snows are usually light and melt quickly, many days
• 2:43:56
  Speaker 6: are warm and cloudless. At the time that the Aztec
• 2:44:00
  Speaker 6: Pueblo was inhabited, no doubt, a few deer, pronghorn or antelope,
• 2:44:04
  Speaker 6: and big horn could be found in and near the valley.
• 2:44:08
  Speaker 6: Occasionally deer still may be seen along the river to
• 2:44:10
  Speaker 6: the north of Aztec Ruins. Many of the smaller animals
• 2:44:14
  Speaker 6: which were familiar to the people of the Aztec Pueblo
• 2:44:17
  Speaker 6: are still present in the valley and may occasionally be
• 2:44:20
  Speaker 6: observed in the monument. Jack rabbits, cotton tails, rock squirrels, skunks, porcupines,
• 2:44:27
  Speaker 6: and in occasional gray fogs, all of which were probably
• 2:44:30
  Speaker 6: well known to the Pueblo people, frequent the monument. Gambols,
• 2:44:34
  Speaker 6: quail and pheasants, which are both relative newcomers, may also
• 2:44:37
  Speaker 6: be seen in the monument. Ducks, geese, and a few
• 2:44:41
  Speaker 6: large shore birds may be seen along the river during
• 2:44:43
  Speaker 6: the cooler months. Meadow larks, robins, and numerous other birds
• 2:44:48
  Speaker 6: may be seen during warmer months. Several species of lizards
• 2:44:52
  Speaker 6: and a few bull snakes, which are harmless and beneficial
• 2:44:55
  Speaker 6: and should not be disturbed, may be observed around the
• 2:44:58
  Speaker 6: Ruins area during summer. Establishment and administration as to Kruin's
• 2:45:05
  Speaker 6: National Monument was established by presidential proclamation on January twenty fourth,
• 2:45:10
  Speaker 6: nineteen twenty three. Most of the land was donated to
• 2:45:14
  Speaker 6: the government by the American Museum of Natural History in
• 2:45:17
  Speaker 6: nineteen twenty one, nineteen twenty eight, and nineteen thirty. In
• 2:45:22
  Speaker 6: nineteen thirty one, an additional six point eight acres was
• 2:45:25
  Speaker 6: purchased by the federal government from the heirs of H. D. Abrams,
• 2:45:29
  Speaker 6: who had originally owned the entire site, and in nineteen
• 2:45:33
  Speaker 6: forty seven, the Southwestern Monuments Association purchased the one point
• 2:45:37
  Speaker 6: two acres containing the Hubbard Mound and presented it to
• 2:45:41
  Speaker 6: the government. The monument, now containing twenty seven point one acres,
• 2:45:46
  Speaker 6: is administered by the National Park Service u S Department
• 2:45:49
  Speaker 6: of the Interior. Created in eighteen forty nine, the Department
• 2:45:53
  Speaker 6: of the Interior, America's Department of Natural Resources, is concerned
• 2:45:58
  Speaker 6: with the management, conservation, and development of the nation's water, wildlife, mineral, forest,
• 2:46:04
  Speaker 6: and park in recreational resources. It also has major responsibilities
• 2:46:09
  Speaker 6: for Indian and territorial affairs. As the nation's principal conservation agency,
• 2:46:14
  Speaker 6: the Department works to assure that non renewable sources are
• 2:46:18
  Speaker 6: developed and used wisely, that park and recreational resources are
• 2:46:22
  Speaker 6: conserved for the future, and that renewable resources make their
• 2:46:25
  Speaker 6: full contribution to the progress, prosperity, and security of the
• 2:46:29
  Speaker 6: United States now and in the future. A Superintendent whose
• 2:46:34
  Speaker 6: address is Route one, Box one oh one as Tech
• 2:46:38
  Speaker 6: New Mexico, is an immediate charge of Aztec Ruins National
• 2:46:41
  Speaker 6: Monument related areas. Other monuments in the National Park system
• 2:46:49
  Speaker 6: also preserve the remains of different types of prehistoric ruins.
• 2:46:53
  Speaker 6: Two of these may sever The National Park Colorado and
• 2:46:56
  Speaker 6: Chacocania National Monument, New Mexico contain the remains of Indian
• 2:47:00
  Speaker 6: groups which seem to have been related to those at
• 2:47:03
  Speaker 6: Aztec Ruins National Monument. A third, Bandalia National Monument, New Mexico,
• 2:47:09
  Speaker 6: contains the remains of another type, but still may be
• 2:47:12
  Speaker 6: one of the areas in the Rio Grande drainage in
• 2:47:15
  Speaker 6: which some of the Indians lived after they abandoned the
• 2:47:17
  Speaker 6: San Juan region. End of section nine. End of Aztec
• 2:47:23
  Speaker 6: Ruins National Monument, New Mexico by John M. Corbett