Part 21 (1/2)
A small loophole in the corner of this large opening is still left open.
It will be noted that the original transoms of the large openings have in all these cases been entirely filled up with masonry.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate XCVIII. Cross-pieces on Zui ladders.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 93. A Zui doorway converted into a window.]
The clearness with which all the steps of the gradual reduction of these openings can be traced in the exposed stone work is in marked contrast with the obscurity of such features in Zui. In the latter group, however, examples are occasionally seen where a doorway has been partly closed with masonry, leaving enough s.p.a.ce at the top for a window. Often in such cases the filled-in masonry is thinner than that of the adjoining wall, and consequently the form of the original doorway is easily traced. Fig. 93, from an adobe wall in Zui, gives an ill.u.s.tration of this. The entrance doorway of the detached Zui house ill.u.s.trated in Pl. Lx.x.xIII, has been similarly reduced in size, leaving traces of the original form in a slight offset. In modern times, both in Tusayan and Cibola, changes in the form and disposition of openings seem to have been made with the greatest freedom, but in the ancient pueblos altered doors or windows have rarely been found. The original placing of these features was more carefully considered, and the buildings were rarely subjected to unforeseen and irregular crowding.
In both ancient and modern pueblo work, windows, used only as such, seem to have been universally quadrilateral, offsets and steps being confined exclusively to doorways.
ROOF OPENINGS.
The line of separation between roof openings and doors and windows is, with few exceptions, sharply drawn. The origin of these roof-holes, whose use at the present time is widespread, was undoubtedly in the simple trap door which gave access to the rooms of the first terrace.
Pl. x.x.xVIII, ill.u.s.trating a court of Oraibi, shows in the foreground a kiva hatchway of the usual form seen in Tusayan. Here there is but little difference between the entrance traps of the ceremonial chambers and those that give access to the rooms of the first terrace; the former are in most cases somewhat larger to admit of ingress of costumed dancers, and the kiva traps are usually on a somewhat sharper slope, conforming to the pitch of the small dome-roof of the kivas, while those of the house terraces have the scarcely perceptible fall of the house roofs in which they are placed. In Zui, however, where the development and use of openings has been carried further, the kiva hatchways are distinguished by a specialized form that will be described later. An examination of the plans of the modern villages in Chapters II and III will show the general distribution of roof openings. Those used as hatchways are distinguishable by their greater dimensions, and in many cases by the presence of the ladders that give access to the rooms below. The smaller roof openings in their simplest form are constructed in essentially the same manner as the trap doors, and the width is usually regulated by the distance between two adjacent roof beams. The second series of small roof poles is interrupted at the sides of the opening, which sides are finished by means of carefully laid small stones in the same manner as are projecting copings. This finish is often carried several inches above the roof and crowned with narrow stone slabs, one on each of the four sides, forming a sort of frame which protects the mud plastered sides of the opening from the action of the rains. Examples of this simple type may be seen in many of the figures ill.u.s.trating Chapters II and III, and in Pl. XCVII. Fig. 94 also ill.u.s.trates common types of roof openings seen in Zui. Two of the examples in this figure are of openings that give access to lower rooms.
Occasional instances are seen in this pueblo in which an exaggerated height is given to the coping, the result slightly approaching a square chimney in effect. Fig. 95 ill.u.s.trates an example of this form.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 94. Zui roof-openings.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate XCIX. Outside steps at Pescado.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 95. A Zui roof opening, with raised coping.]
In Zui, where many minor variations in the forms of roof openings occur, certain of these variations appear to be related to roof drainage. These have three sides crowned in the usual manner with coping stones laid flat, but the fourth side is formed by setting a thin slab on edge, as ill.u.s.trated in Fig. 96.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 96. Zui roof-openings, with one elevated end.]
Fig. 94 also embodies two specimens of this form.
The special object of this arrangement is in some cases difficult to determine; the raised end in all the examples on any one roof always takes the same direction, and in many cases its position relative to drainage suggests that it is a provision against flooding by rain on the slightly sloping roof; but this relation to drainage is by no means constant. Roof holes on the west side of the village in such positions as to be directly exposed to the violent sand storms that prevail here during certain months of the year seem in some cases to have in view protection against the flying sand. We do not meet with evidence of any fixed system to guide the disposition of this feature. In many cases these trap holes are provided with a thin slab of sandstone large enough to cover the whole opening, and used in times of rain. During fair weather these are laid on the roof, near the hole they are designed to cover, or lie tilted against the higher edge of the trap, as shown in Fig. 97.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 97. A Zui roof hole with cover.]
When the cover is placed on one of these holes, with a high slab at one end, it has a steep pitch, to shed water, and at the same time light and air are to some extent admitted, but it is very doubtful if this is the result of direct intention on the part of the builder. The possible development of this roof trap of unusual elevation into a rudimentary chimney has already been mentioned in the discussion of chimneys.
A development in this direction would possibly be suggested by the desirability of separating the access by ladder from the inconvenient smoke hole. This must have been brought very forcibly to the attention of the Indian when, at the time a fire was burning in the fireplace, they were compelled to descend the ladder amidst the smoke and heat.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate C. An excavated room at Kin-tiel.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 98. Kiva trapdoor in Zui.]
The survival to the present time of such an inconvenient arrangement in the kivas can be explained only on the ground of the intense conservatism of these people in all that pertains to religion. In the small roof holes methods of construction are seen which would not be so practicable on the larger scale of the ladder holes after which they have been modeled. In these latter the sides are built up of masonry or adobe, but the framing around them is more like the usual coping over walls. The stone that, set on edge in the small openings built for the admission of light, forms a raised end never occurs in these. The ladder for access rests against the coping.
When occurring in connection with kivas, ladder holes have certain peculiarities in which they differ from the ordinary form used in dwellings. The opening in such cases is made of large size to admit dancers in costume with full paraphernalia. These, the largest roof openings to be found in Zui, are framed with pieces of wood. The methods of holding the pieces in place vary somewhat in minor detail.
It is quite likely that recent examples, while still preserving the form and general appearance of the earlier ones, would bear evidence that the builders had used their knowledge of improved methods of joining and finis.h.i.+ng.
As may readily be seen from the ill.u.s.tration, Fig. 98, this framing, by the addition of a cross piece, divides the opening unequally. The smaller aperture is situated immediately above the fireplace (which conforms to the ancient type without chimney and located in the open floor of the room) and is very evidently designed to furnish an outlet to the smoke. In a chamber having no side doors or windows, or at most very small square windows, and consequently no drafts, the column of smoke and flame can often on still nights be seen rising vertically from the roof. The other portion of the opening containing the ladder is used for ingress and egress. This singular combination strongly suggests that at no very remote period one opening was used to answer both purposes, as it still does in the Tusayan kivas. It also suggests the direction in which differentiation of functions began to take place, which in the kiva was delayed and held back by the conservative religious feeling, when in the civil architecture it may have been the initial point of a development that culminated in the chimney, a development that was a.s.sisted in its later steps by suggestions from foreign sources. In the more primitively constructed examples the cross pieces seem to be simply laid on without any cutting in. The central piece is held in place by a peg set into each side piece, the weight and thrust of the ladder helping to hold it. The primitive arrangement here seen has been somewhat improved upon in some other cases, but it was not ascertained whether these were of later date or not.
In the best made frames for kiva entrances the timbers are halved in the manner of our carpenters, the joint being additionally secured by a pin as shown in Fig. 99.
The use of a frame of wood in these trapdoors dates back to a comparatively high antiquity, and is not at all a modern innovation, as one would at first be inclined to believe. Their use in so highly developed a form in the ceremonial chamber is an argument in favor of antiquity. Only two examples were discovered by Mr. L. H. Morgan in a ruined pueblo on the Animas. One of these measured 16 by 17 inches and the other was 16 inches square. Each was formed in the floor by pieces of wood put together. The work was neatly done.[8]