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Updated: June 3, 2025
Doc. The expedition camped in the Chin Lee valley outside of Canyon de Chelly, and Lieutenant Simpson made a side trip into the canyon itself. He mentions ruins noticed by him at 4½, 5, and 7 miles from the mouth; the latter, the ruin subsequently known as Casa Blanca, he describes at some length. He also gives an illustration drawn by R.
From its topographic character it might be expected that the Canyon de Chelly ruins would hardly come within a scheme of classification based upon those found in the open country; and here, if anywhere, we should find corroboration of the old idea that the cliff ruins were the homes and last refuge of a race harassed by powerful enemies and finally driven to the construction of dwellings in inaccessible cliffs, where a last ineffectual stand was made against their foes; or the more recent theory that they represent an early stage in the development of pueblo architecture, when the pueblo builders were few in number and surrounded by numerous enemies.
Its southern tributaries are the Navajo, Chaco, and De Chelly.
It is about 10 miles long, and has been called Monument canyon, on account of the number of upright natural pinnacles of rock in it. In addition to those named there are innumerable small branches, ranging in size from deep coves to real canyons a mile or two long. Outside of De Chelly, and independent of it, there is a little canyon about 4 miles long, called Tse-on-i-tso-si by the Navaho.
As there is no evidence that the cliff ruins of class IV were separate and distinct from the other ruins, but the contrary, the defensive motive may be assigned a very subordinate place among the causes which produced that phase of pueblo architecture found in Canyon de Chelly.
Within the limits of Canyon de Chelly, where the physical conditions and the character of material are essentially uniform, a considerable variation in the masonry is found, implying that some conditions other than the usual ones have influenced it.
But notwithstanding this the Hopi Indians of Tusayan, to whom many of the Canyon de Chelly ruins are to be attributed, today have not a single circular kiva. The reason for this radical departure from the old type is a simple one, and to be found in the single term environment. The savage is truly a child of nature and almost completely under its sway.
In Dead Man's Canon a deep gorge that is lateral to the once populated valley of the Rio de Chelly, Arizona stands a stark spire of weathered sandstone, its top rising eight hundred feet above its base in a sheer uplift. Centuries ago an inhabitant of one of the cave villages was surprised by hostiles while hunting in this region, and was chased by them into this canon.
The notched or T-shape doorway, which is quite common in the Mesa Verde ruins and in Tusayan, is not abundant in De Chelly, but some examples can be seen there. One is shown in figure 67, which illustrates the type.
It seems probable, therefore, that the application of plaster as a finish grew out of the use of stone spalls for chinking, and its prevalence in modern as compared with old structures is suggestive. It is not claimed, however, that because we have examples of the intermediate stages in De Chelly that the process was developed there.
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