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                           _Canyon de Chelly_


                   The Story of its Ruins and People

                          by Zorro A. Bradley


                         Office of Publications
                         National Park Service
                    U.S. Department of the Interior
                           Washington, D.C.,
                                  1973

          _Library of Congress Catalog Card Number_ 73-600078




                                Contents


  Discovery of the Ruins                                                3
  The Principal Ruins                                                   7
      White House                                                       7
      Antelope House                                                    9
      Standing Cow                                                     12
      Big Cave                                                         13
      Mummy Cave                                                       15
  The People of Canyon de Chelly                                       17
      The Anasazi                                                      18
      The Navajos                                                      27
  Further Reading                                                      57
  Maps                                                          8, 24, 39


_Far up above me, a thousand feet or so, set in a great cavern in the
face of the cliff, I saw a little city of stone asleep. It was as still
as sculpture—and something like that. It all hung together, seemed to
have a kind of composition: pale little houses of stone nestling close
to one another, perched on top of each other, with flat roofs, narrow
windows, straight walls, and in the middle of the group, a round
tower...._

_In sunlight it was the colour of winter oak leaves. A fringe of cedars
grew along the edge of the cavern, like a garden. They were the only
living things. Such silence and stillness and repose—immortal repose.
That village sat looking down into the canyon with the calmness of
eternity.... I had come upon the city of some extinct civilization,
hidden away in this inaccessible mesa for centuries, preserved in the
dry air and almost perpetual sunlight like a fly in amber, guarded by
the cliffs and the river and the desert._

                                                         —_Willa Cather_


Quotation from _The Professor’s House_, 1925, by permission of Alfred A.
                            Knopf, New York.

    [Illustration: The righthand section of Mummy Cave Ruin as it was
    photographed by Ben Wittick in 1882 during the James Stevenson
    Survey for the Smithsonian Institution.]




                         Discovery of the Ruins


Canyon de Chelly National Monument is located in the red rock country of
northeastern Arizona’s high plateau, near the center of the Navajo
Indian Reservation. Included in its 131 square miles are three
spectacular canyons—Canyon de Chelly, Canyon del Muerto, and Monument
Canyon—and many ruins of long-deserted villages. Perched in alcoves and
on high ledges along the sheer-walled canyons, these villages are
evidence of man’s ability to adjust to a difficult environment, using
bare hands, simple stone age tools, and his own ingenuity. They stand as
enduring monuments to the culture of the ancestors of the present-day
Pueblo Indians of the southwestern United States.

The ancestors of the Navajo Indians who now live in the shadows of these
deep canyons came here long after the earlier peoples had left.
Originally the Navajos did not live in the canyon, but only passed
through it on their yearly migrations. Today some live here permanently,
and their hogans are scattered along the sandy canyon floor, almost
hidden by the thick growth of willows and cottonwoods and detectable
only by a column of smoke slowly rising from a cook fire or by the
barking of dogs. Occasionally one may catch a glimpse of a brightly
dressed woman working around the hogan or of black-hatted men trotting
their horses between the nearby trading post, cornfields, or peach
orchards. A reserved and dignified people, they still live in the
tradition of their fathers.

The main canyon’s name, de Chelly, stems from the Navajo word “Tsegi”
(pronounced tsay-yih or tsay-yhi and meaning “Rock Canyon”), the name by
which they know the canyon network. Two centuries of Spanish and English
usage have corrupted both the form and pronunciation. Most people now
pronounce it “dah-SHAY” or “d’SHAY.”

The first Europeans to see the extensive ruins in Canyon de Chelly are
unknown. A Spanish map of 1776 indicates its location, and other
documents reveal that Spanish military expeditions sometimes passed
through the neighborhood. In 1805, Spanish troops entered the canyon
while trying to suppress Navajo raids. During the period of Mexican rule
(1821-46), a number of military expeditions against the Navajo invaded
the Canyon de Chelly region. Though the ruins had not been described in
writing, the area was fairly well known, and by 1846, when the “Army of
the West” brought the region under United States control, there were
many tall tales and rumors about the wonderful cities built in the
cliffs.

    [Illustration: Archeological excavations in Canyon del Muerto,
    1929.]

In 1849, the New Mexico territorial government found it necessary to
request that a U.S. Army expedition be sent to subdue the Navajos. Lt.
J. H. Simpson of the Topographical Engineers accompanied the troops. His
journal, published in 1850, contained the first detailed account of some
of the Canyon de Chelly ruins.

After Simpson’s visit, other military expeditions and a few civilian
parties probably entered the canyons. No archeological investigations
were made, however, until 1882, when James Stevenson surveyed the area
for the Smithsonian Institution, making sketches, photographs, and
ground plans of 46 ruins in the two main canyons.

Stevenson found two mummies in a rock shelter ruin in the northern
canyon. Because of this find the ruin is known as Mummy Cave, and
Stevenson gave the canyon a Spanish name, Canyon de los Muertos, or
canyon of the dead men. The name has since been shortened to del Muerto.

    [Illustration: First Ruin in the lower part of Canyon de Chelly. It
    has 10 rooms and two kivas.]

Later in 1882, Cosmos Mindeleff, also from the Smithsonian and a member
of Stevenson’s party, mapped the canyons and showed the locations of
some of the larger ruins. Mindeleff’s monumental architectural survey of
the ruins of Canyon de Chelly was published in 1896, after two more
visits.

Much of our knowledge about material objects used by the early Puebloan
inhabitants of the canyons comes from the work of the late Earl H.
Morris, who excavated a number of the important cave sites in the
1920’s. Since then a comprehensive survey of the monument has been
carried out by David L. De Harport for the Peabody Museum of Harvard
University, and additional excavations have been conducted by National
Park Service archeologists.

    [Illustration: The upper and lower White House ruins were probably
    connected when the ancient Indians lived there.]




                          The Principal Ruins


Within the national monument are perhaps 800 prehistoric and historic
Indian village sites, representing various stages of Pueblo and later
Navajo cultural development and spanning a period of about 1,800 years.
The most interesting and important ruins are described below.


WHITE HOUSE

Located up the main canyon, about 6 miles from Park Service
headquarters, White House is one of the largest, best preserved, and
most accessible ruins in the monument.

    [Illustration: A kiva at the White House ruin, where religious and
    other ceremonies were held.]

Lt. J. H. Simpson described this ruin after his 1849 visit, calling it
Casa Blanca (White House). It is also known by its Navajo name,
Kini-na-e-kai. Both names derive from a conspicuous white-plastered wall
in the upper portion.

White House was constructed in two sections; one stands against the base
of the cliff on the canyon floor, and the other is in a small cave
immediately above. Mindeleff estimated that at one time the whole ruin
contained as many as 80 rooms. Much of the lower building has probably
been washed away by the stream nearby (a retaining wall now helps to
prevent this), but evidence of about 60 rooms and 4 kivas (special
ceremonial chambers) still survives.

Behind the back walls of the lower ruin the smooth cliff face rises 35
feet to the floor of the cave above. Marks on the face indicate that at
one time the rooms of the lower building stood several stories high, and
its roof came to within 4 feet of the cave floor above.

    [Illustration: This map shows only the principal ruins in the
    canyons that are open to visitors. Only some of these are discussed
    in the text. The rock formations of these canyons eroded easily,
    thus producing the steep cliffs and cave formations that provided
    protection for the Anasazi.]

The upper ruin contains 10 rooms and has a large room nearly in the
center of the cave. The outside front wall of this room is 12 feet high
and still has the coating of white gypsum clay plaster with a decorative
band of yellow clay for which the ruin was named.

At the western edge of the lower ruin are the partial remains of two
well-built kivas. One kiva used to have holes in the floor like those
used to support looms in modern Pueblo kivas. The other kiva shows
evidence of six layers of plaster. Modern Zuni Indians have a ceremony
every 4 years in which they replaster the smoke-stained kiva interior,
and this tradition may give some idea of how long this kiva was in use.

A study of the annual growth rings of its roof timbers indicates that
most of the lower ruin was built after A.D. 1070.


ANTELOPE HOUSE

Many large ruins are located in the narrow and twisting Canyon del
Muerto. One of the biggest is Antelope House, some 5 miles above del
Muerto’s junction with Canyon de Chelly. This 40- to 50-room village was
built on the stream bank against the base of a cliff which towers nearly
600 feet above it.

Antelope House received its name from four antelopes painted in tan and
white, about half life size, high on the cliff nearby. Navajo families
living in the canyon believe that these well-executed paintings were
done by Dibe Yazhi (Little Sheep), a Navajo artist who lived here in the
1830’s. Other figures in white paint are probably the work of the
prehistoric inhabitants of Antelope House.

Because it stands on the river bank, Antelope House has also eroded
badly. Yet many of the house walls still rise two and three stories
high, and the masonry outlines of dozens of unexcavated rubble-filled
rooms and of two kivas can still be seen.

    [Illustration: Antelope House in Canyon del Muerto is on the canyon
    floor under a towering, overhanging cliff.]

    [Illustration: An Anasazi pictograph.]

The famous “Burial of the Weaver” was found in a small cliff alcove not
far from Antelope House. The grave was against the cliff, and a curved
masonry wall in front held back the earth. Inside was the tightly flexed
body of an old man lying on his left side. His hair was streaked with
gray and tied back in a bob; a billet of wood served as a pillow. The
body’s outer wrapping was a feather blanket made from the breast down of
golden eagles. Under the feather cloth was a white cotton blanket,
excellently made and appearing as clean and new as if freshly woven; and
under the white blanket was an old gray cotton blanket. Beneath that
blanket, lying on the mummy’s breast, was a single ear of corn.

A reed mat covered the floor of the grave, and the amount and variety of
objects laid away with the body suggest that the individual was highly
respected in life. A long wooden digging stick, broken to fit into the
grave, lay across the burial bundle. Beside this, and also broken, was a
bow so thick that only a powerful arm could have pulled it. With the bow
was a single reed arrow with a fire-hardened wooden point. Five pottery
jars, one broken, together with four bowl-shaped baskets woven from
yucca leaves, were also in the grave. These containers were filled with
cornmeal, shelled corn, four ears of husked corn, pinyon nuts, beans,
and salt. Tightly packed around the body and offerings were thick skeins
of cotton yarn which measured more than 2 miles in length. A spindle
whorl—a wooden disc on a reed stem which probably had been used to spin
the cotton—lay on the yarn.

    [Illustration: A National Park Service archeologist examines a
    storage jar found at Antelope House.]


STANDING COW

This cave in Canyon del Muerto was named for a large white and blue
pictograph of a cow, drawn in the historic period and undoubtedly the
work of a Navajo. Not much can be seen of this ancient ruin, for Navajos
have lived on the site in recent times and still use the old bins for
storing corn and the leveled areas for drying peaches.

On the cliff near this ruin is an interesting old Navajo painting of
Spanish cavalrymen.

    [Illustration: This blue-headed cow, painted by an early Navajo
    artist on the shelter wall, gave Standing Cow Ruin its name.]

    [Illustration: This Navajo rock painting in Canyon del Muerto shows
    a procession of soldiers. It probably records a Spanish expedition
    in the 19th century.]


BIG CAVE

One of the largest concentrations of very early material at Canyon de
Chelly came from Big Cave (Tse-Ya-Tso) in Canyon del Muerto. Tree-ring
dates ranging from A.D. 331 to 835 indicate an intensive occupation of
the site in Basketmaker times.

Several burials of interest were found at Big Cave. One was of an old
man who had broken both legs across the shin bones. The fractures were
set so well that only the smallest of bumps were left.

The remains of 14 infants were found in a slab-lined cist used earlier
as a storage bin. Below the infants were the bodies of four other
children packed in an enormous basket. None showed any signs of
violence, and it is thought that some disease must have swept through
the cave, killing many children in a short time.

The unique “Burial of the Hands” was discovered in another part of Big
Cave. This burial consisted of just a pair of arms and hands lying side
by side on a bed of grass. The elbows touched the wall of the cave in a
way that suggested that the rest of the body had not been removed at a
later time. Three necklaces of abalone shell pendants were wrapped
around the wrists, and two pairs of exceptionally fine, unworn sandals,
patterned in black and red, were lying beside the hands, as was a small
basket half full of white shell beads. Another basket nearly 2 feet in
diameter covered the burial. No satisfactory explanation of this burial
has ever been advanced.

    [Illustration: Excavations at Big Cave in Canyon del Muerto yielded
    valuable artifacts of the Basketmaker period.]

    [Illustration: Mummy Cave, bathed in sun with its flanking ruins
    almost hidden in shadows.]


MUMMY CAVE

    [Illustration: This fretwork design decorates a kiva in Mummy Cave.]

    [Illustration: The central tower structure at Mummy Cave shows
    strong Mesa Verde affiliations and was constructed in A.D. 1284.]

One of the most beautifully situated ruins in the national monument is
Mummy Cave in Canyon del Muerto 21 miles northeast of park headquarters.
This dwelling, the largest in the canyons, was built in two adjacent
caves about 300 feet up a talus <DW72> from the streambed.

The largest part of the structure, about 55 rooms and 4 kivas, was built
in the eastern cave. The western cave, with about 20 rooms, is now
accessible only by a ledge from the east cave, although traces of an
eroded hand-and-toe trail can be seen leading directly from the top of
the talus to the ruin. Along the ledge connecting the two caves are 15
rooms, including a “tower” house; these are the best preserved of all
the ruins here. Much original plaster in several colors remains on inner
and outer walls throughout the village. Especially notable is the white
clay plaster on the interior of the third story of the tower house and
the red-painted fret design on white plaster in the large kiva of the
east cave.

    [Illustration: A Navajo family has settled below the ruins of the
    ancient ones in Canyon del Muerto.]




                     The People of Canyon de Chelly


Though the stunning sheer red cliffs of Canyon de Chelly are easily the
national monument’s most spectacular feature, the area was set aside for
its importance to the study of prehistoric peoples in the Southwest. The
architecture, tools, clothing, ceramics, and other decorative or useful
objects found here contain a comprehensive record of many hundreds of
years of human activity.

Nothing was known about the ancient culture sheltered here until
archeologists began piecing together the information gleaned from Canyon
de Chelly’s many ruins and burials. Their story survived because these
people lived in a physical environment that posed a minimal threat to
normally fragile remains.

Wherever the remains of ancient man occur in the open, building ruins
and some objects of stone, bone, and pottery survive, but those of wood
and fiber disappear completely. Most of what we know about peoples from
the dim past thus comes from materials that have been buried and
protected. For the archeologist there are few better sources of
information than formal burials, which often contain extensive
offerings, and situations like those at Canyon de Chelly and Canyon del
Muerto, where sites served as dwelling places for long periods of time
and the steady accumulation of refuse buried layers of cultural debris.

The extremely arid conditions in the caves of these canyons offered
additional protection. The climate here is so dry that human burials are
perfectly preserved as natural mummies or desiccated bodies (there being
no attempt at artificial preservation by these people), and such fragile
buried objects as baskets more than a thousand years old are in good
condition.

The people who lived at Canyon de Chelly in prehistoric times are today
called the Anasazi, a Navajo word meaning “old people.” These people
were the ancestors of modern Pueblo Indians, and they lived in the
vicinity of northern Arizona and New Mexico, southwestern Colorado, and
southeastern Utah from about the beginning of the Christian era to the
end of the 13th century. Over most of that period they lived in these
canyons. Before they learned to build in the cliffs they located and
constructed their houses much differently. But the canyons always
sheltered them, and their homes, their dead, and their debris tell us
how it was with these people from the beginning to the end of their time
here.

    [Illustration: These bone tools were used to work leather and weave
    baskets.]


THE ANASAZI

Early man, a nomadic hunter of big-game animals, came to the Americas
from Asia over the Bering Strait some time between 20,000 and 15,000
B.C. Thousands of years later, after the big animals had become extinct,
larger bands of hunters and gatherers preyed on game animals of species
still living today. Still later, groups began to settle in favorable
areas and to grow maize (corn), which reached them from more complex
cultures in what is now Mexico. From this time on, the spread and
development of prehistoric Indian cultures in the northern Southwest can
be traced in increasing detail.

No one knows exactly when the first people arrived in the Canyon de
Chelly area. But a tree-ring date of A.D. 306 from the West Alcove at
Mummy Cave and the accumulation of sweepings and ashes at this site
suggest that people were living in Canyon del Muerto at about the
beginning of the Christian era.

These early people were primarily farmers rather than nomadic hunters,
although they still depended to some extent on game animals for food.
They established their homes in the shelter of the many caves and
alcoves in the canyon walls, and farmed the mesa tops and canyon
bottoms. Dogs were their only domestic animal, and corn was their major
crop and main source of food. Squashes (pumpkins) were grown in some
quantity, and beans were introduced at an early time. Pinyon nuts and
acorns, sunflower seeds, yucca and cactus fruit, and small seeds of
other wild plants were gathered for food.

    [Illustration: This burial at Sliding Rock Ruin shows pottery,
    baskets, corn, and the remains of a blanket used in the day-to-day
    life of the Anasazi.]

    [Illustration: Ring-baskets of split yucca leaves have been in
    common use from about A.D. 1100 to the present.]

    [Illustration: This coiled basket was used for carrying burdens.]

    [Illustration: Indian women fastened