SOME UNUSUAL KIVAS NEAR NAVAJO MOUNTAIN

Abstract

Sitting astride the border which separates Arizona from Utah is Navajo Mountain, a great rounded dome that rises from the high plateau. The igneous rock never entirely broke through the mass of sedentary deposits that covered the surface as in the case at El Capitan, and several other places to the west in Monument Valley. The tremendous pressure from beneath simply elevated a portion of the surface, leaving jagged cracks on its slopes here and there, and a great rounded crest that can be seen for many miles from every direction. To the north and northwest the surface is cut by deep gashes of West, Long, Forbidden, Nonnezoshi, and Beaver Canyons and their numerous branches. This section is exceedingly rough and affords little sustenance for man or beast. To the east a somewhat broken country extends to Pahute canyon, a deep gorge that zigzags northward to the San Juan river. To the south and southwest the land slopes rather unevenly toward the canyons of the Nitsie (Navajo Creek) which flows northwestward into the Colorado River. Prehistoric human habitations are found in a few small caves on the southern and western slopes of the mountain; and on the mesa to the east and the sloping plains to the south, and to the west are found the ruins of numerous villages which attest that at some time in the past, probably from about 1000 to 1400 A.D., this region supported a considerable population. The largest of these villages show a general plan that can be traced in ruins from lofty Cummings Mesa on the west and Navajo Mountain eastward to Marsh Pass. Two ruins southwest of the mountain, known to the Navajo as Kinclachie (Red House) and Kinklitso (Yellow House) illustrate well this plan. Red House, close to the base of the mountain, may be taken as a sample. These villages were usually located on ground that sloped gently toward the south or southwest. On the highest portion of the area was built a long two-story building. At Red House this building is 100 feet long and 10 feet wide. The walls are of fairly well dressed, red sandstone, taken from a nearby projecting cliff of Navajo Mountain, and laid in clay mortar. The walls are double. The blocks of the outer courses have been carefully selected and some measure four feet in length, while those used on the interior of the building were smaller and more irregular. The interior walls probably had been covered with clay plaster. From each end of this building an enclosing wall, flanked on the inside by groups of rooms, extended