At
K'iakima, at a point near the margin of the ruin, occurs a series of
very large, upright slabs, which occupy the positions of headstones to a
number of small inclosures, thought to be mortuary, outlined upon the
ground. These have been already described in connection with the ground
plan of this village.
The employment of upright slabs of stone to mark graves probably
prevailed to some extent in ancient practice, but other uses suggest
themselves. Occupying a conspicuous point in the village of Kin-tiel
(Pl. LXIII) is an upright slab of sandstone which seems to stand in its
original position undisturbed, though the walls of the adjoining rooms
are in ruins. A similar feature was seen at Pe?asco Blanco, on the east
side of the village and a short distance without the inclosing wall.
Both these rude pillars are, in character and in position, very similar
to an upright stone of known use at Zu?i. A hundred and fifty feet from
this pueblo is a large upright block of sandstone, which is said to be
used as a datum point in the observations of the sun made by a priest of
Zu?i for the regulation of the time for planting and harvesting, for
determining the new year, and for fixing the dates of certain other
ceremonial observances. By the aid of such devices as the native priests
have at their command they are enabled to fix the date of the winter
solstice with a fair degree of accuracy. Such rude determination of time
was probably an aboriginal invention, and may have furnished the motive
in other cases for placing stone pillars in such unusual positions.
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