A Study of Pueblo Pottery as Illustrative of Zuñi Culture Growth | Page 3

that (as in the accompanying plan) the
three sides of a square are already formed, suggesting the
parallelogramic as a convenient style of sequent architecture.
[Illustration: FIG. 494.--Evolution of rectangular forms in primitive
architecture.]
All this, I need scarcely add, agrees not only with my own observations
in the field but with the kind of linguistic research above recorded. It
would also apparently explain the occurrence of the circular
semisubterranean _kí wi tsi we_, or estufas. These being sacred have
retained the pristine form long after the adoption of a modified type of
structure for ordinary or secular purposes, according to the well known
law of survival in ceremonial appurtenances.
In a majority of the lava ruins (for example those occurring near
Prescott, Arizona), I have observed that the sloping sides rather than the
level tops of mesa headlands have been chosen by the ancients as
building-sites. Here, the rude, square type of building prevails, not,
however, to the entire exclusion of the circular type, which, is
represented by loosely constructed walls, always on the outskirts of the
main ruins. The rectangular rooms are, as a rule, built row above row.
Some of the houses in the upper rows give evidence of having
overlapped others below. (See section, Fig. 495.)
FLAT AND TERRACED ROOFS DEVELOPED FROM SLOPING
MESA-SITES.

We cannot fail to take notice of the indications which this brings before
us.
(1) It is quite probable that the overlapping resulted from an increase in
the numbers of the ancient builders relative to available area, this, as in
the first instance, leading to a further massing together of the houses. (2)
It suggested the employment of rafters and the formation of the flat
roof, as a means of supplying a level entrance way and floor to rooms
which, built above and to the rear of a first line of houses, yet extended
partially over the latter. (3) This is I think the earliest form of the
terrace.
[Illustration: FIG. 495.--Section illustrating evolution of flat roof and
terrace]
It is therefore not surprising that the flat roof of to-day is named _té
k'os kwïn ne_, from te, space, region, extension, _k'os kwi e_, to cut off
in the sense of closing or shutting in from one side, and _kwïn ne_,
place of. Nor is it remarkable that no type of ruin in the Southwest
seems to connect these first terraced towns with the later not only
terraced but also literally cellular buildings, which must be regarded
nevertheless as developed from them. The reason for this will become
evident on further examination.
[Illustration: FIG. 496.--Perspective view of a typical solitary house.]
[Illustration: FIG. 497.--Plan of a typical solitary house.]
The modern name for house is _k'iá kwïn ne_, from _k'iá we_, water,
and kwin ne, place of, literally "watering place;" which is evidence that
the first properly so called houses known to the Pueblos were solitary
and built near springs, pools, streams, or well-places. The universal
occurrence of the vestiges of single houses throughout the less
forbidding tracts of the Pueblo country (see Figs. 496 and 497) leads to
this inference and to the supposition that the necessity for protection
being at last overcome, the denizens of the lava-fields, where planting
was well-nigh impossible, descended, building wherever conditions
favored the horticulture which gradually came to be their chief means

of support. As irrigation was not known until long afterwards, arable
areas were limited, hence they were compelled to divide into families
or small clans, each occupying a single house. The traces of these
solitary farm-houses show that they were at first single-storied. The
name of an upper room indicates how the idea of the second or third
story was developed, as it is _ósh ten u thlan_, from _ósh ten_, a
shallow cave, or rock-shelter, and _ú thla nai e_, placed around,
embracing, inclusive of. This goes to show that it was not until after the
building of the first small farm-houses (which gave the name to houses)
that the caves or rock-shelters of the cliffs were occupied. If predatory
border-tribes, tempted by the food-stores of the horticultural
farm-house builders, made incursions on the latter, they would find
them, scattered as they were, an easy prey.
ADDED STORIES FOR CLIFF DWELLINGS DEVELOPED FROM
LIMITATIONS OF CLIFF-HOUSE SITES.
[Illustration: FIG. 498.--A typical cliff-dwelling.]
This condition of things would drive the people to seek security in the
neighboring cliffs of fertile canons, where not only might they build
their dwelling places in the numerous rock-shelters, but they could also
cultivate their crops in comparative safety along the limited tracts
which these eyries overlooked. The narrow foothold afforded by many
of these elevated cliff-shelves or shelters would force the fugitives to
construct house over house; that is, build a second or upper story
around the roof of