Mr. Stephen, however, found vestiges of
such ancient forms among the debris of fallen walls occupying two small
knolls on the edge of the first mesa, at a point that overlooks the
broken-down ruin of Sikyatki. On the southeast shoulder of one of the
knolls is a fragment of a circular wall which was originally 12 feet in
diameter. It is built of flat stones, from 2 to 4 inches thick, 6 to 8
inches wide, and a foot or more in length, nearly all of which have been
pecked and dressed. Mud mortar has been sparingly used, and the masonry
shows considerable care and skill in execution; the curve of the wall is
fairly true, and the interstices of the masonry are neatly filled in
with smaller fragments, in the manner of some of the best work of the
Canyon de Chelly ruins.
The knoll farther south shows similar traces, and on the southeast slope
is the complete ground plan of a round structure 16? feet in diameter.
At one point of the curved wall, which is about 22 inches thick, occurs
the characteristic recessed katchinkihu (described later in discussing
the interior of kivas) indicating the use of this chamber for ceremonial
purposes.
Although these remains probably antedate any of the Tusayan ruins
discussed above (Chapter II), they suggest a connection and relationship
between the typical kiva of the older ruins and the radically different
form in use at the present time.
_Native explanations of position._--Notwithstanding the present practice
in the location of kivas, illustrated in the plans, the ideal village
plan is still acknowledged to have had its house-clusters so distributed
as to form inclosed and protected courts, the kivas being located within
these courts or occupying marginal positions in the house-clusters on
the edge of the inclosed areas.
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