A small room on the east side, near the brink of the arroyo that
traverses the ruin from east to west, was completely cleared out,
exposing its fireplace, the stone paving of its floor, and other details
of construction. Built into an inner partition of this room was found a
large slab of stone, pierced with a circular hole of sufficient size for
a man to squeeze through. This slab was set on edge and incorporated
into the masonry of the partition, and evidently served as a means of
communication with another room. The position of this doorway and its
relation to the room in which it occurs may be seen from the
illustration in Pl. C, which shows the stone in situ. The doorway or
"stone-close" is shown in Fig. 86 on a sufficient scale to indicate the
degree of technical skill in the architectural treatment of stone
possessed by the builders of this old pueblo. The writer visited Zu?i in
October of the same season, and on describing this find to Mr. Frank H.
Cushing, learned that the Zu?i Indians still preserved traditional
knowledge of this device. Mr. Cushing kindly furnished at the time the
following extract from the tale of "The Deer-Slayer and the Wizards,"
a Zu?i folk-tale of the early occupancy of the valley of Zu?i.
[Illustration: Plate XCIV. Ancient wall of upright rocks in
southwestern Colorado.]
"'How will they enter?' said the young man to his wife. 'Through the
stone-close at the side,' she answered. In the days of the ancients, the
doorways were often made of a great slab of stone with a round hole cut
through the middle, and a round stone slab to close it, which was called
the stone-close, that the enemy might not enter in times of war.
Pages:
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318