USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Madisonville > Indian Village Site and Cemetery Near Madisonville, Ohio > Part 15
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Accompanying these remains was a large number of specimens some in a good state of preservation, though objects at the bot- tom of the cist and baskets at the top and sides had suffered from decay. We were, however, able to determine that there had been at least seven baskets, mostly medium sized trays. In preparing the cist to receive the bodies, a number of atlatl spear-shafts had been broken into various lengths and placed crisscross on the bot- tom. On the upper side a few inches out from the rock there stood on edge a rectangular frame of sunflower stalks and broken atlatl spear-shafts tied at right angles to each other. Back of it, also on edge, were placed several tray baskets. On the opposite side next to mummy 2 were bundles of sticks or reeds so badly shrunken that their nature could not be made out with certainty; they were probably atlatl spear-shafts. Placed over mummy 2 were more spear-shafts and the bundled fragments of a wooden device, part of which is figured in plate 36. d, e. At one side of mummy 1 were two grooved clubs. Quantities of grass and squash seed were found in much decayed skin containers; also a number of small objects, among them a fine chipped knife blade, beads of seed and stone. pendants of shell and stone, a comb-like head-ornament and a bone handle with leather strings attached.
Cist 30 was a jar-shaped excavation in the hard-pan, 15 inches in diameter at the top, 23 inches in diameter, 1 foot below the rim, and 24 inches in depth. In it were the skeletons of six infants. Four were found in woven bags. Of other wrappings there re- mained tattered pieces of dressed skin and bits of fur-string. Five umbilical pads, similar to those from Cist 11, Sunflower Cave, were taken from various parts of this cist. These could not be assigned to individual burials as the skeletons were more or less mixed as if the cist had been partly rifled in early times. At the bottom were two cradles in excellent condition. A few inches
PEABODY MUSEUM PAPERS
VOL. VIII, No. 2, PLATE 6
b
a
WHITE DOG CAVE ., Cist 24, partly cleared, showing baskets in situ; b, Pannier baskets removed, showing small baskets, mummy of white dog, and many dead flies.
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above these were about 8 quarts of shelled corn; no trace of a container could be found. Scattered through the fill were beads of seed, stone, and olivella shell, a green stone pendant, a small grinding stone, and two strips of bark, like the piece found in Cist 7, Sunflower Cave. Joined to this cist by a small funnel-like hole was a second cist, the same diameter but not so deep, while cutting the rim of this was a third and larger one (Cist 33, figure 5). These were empty; they form a good example of a number of similar arrangements found in the course of the excavation (see C'ist 52, figure 5). All are characterized by one or more small flue- like holes dug down from the surface and penetrating the sides of the cist, or, as in the case above noted, connecting small potholes to the cist (plate 9, d, and plate 14, a). Sometimes these holes, instead of entering the large cist obliquely, were dug at nearly right angles from the pothole to the side of the larger cist. As & vale cists of this type were empty save for bark or grass stalks. They strikingly resemble the field pit-ovens used by the Hopi for roasting corn; 1 there are no indications, however, that these had ever had fires built in them.
Cist 31 as shown in the plan, figure 5, was partly under one end Of a large rock. In order to reach it we were obliged to remove from the surface many others, some so large that they had first to be broken up. The top of the cist was 3 feet 6 inches below the surface, its greatest diameter 4 feet, depth 1 foot 10 inches. At one side was a single stone slab. In the cist was the partly mummi- fied body of an adult, the bones of the skeleton held together by dried tissue and caked adobe (plate 7, b). The remains rested on the left side, knees drawn up level with chin, hands palms to- gether under left cheek and supporting head. A woven bag cov- ered the head and shoulders. It had been split down the side before drawing on, then sewn together again with yucca leaves. A portion of the bag was in good condition. Over the mouth of the mummy outside the bag, was tied a sandal of the square-toed type. About the feet and lower part of the body were the remains of a fur-string blanket. The bag and wrappings were held in place by a binding of yucca leaves. About the neck were seed beads. Inverted over the middle of the body was a coarse bowl- shaped basket; under it lay a quantity of plant stalks, apparently
1 Hough, 1919, figure 3.
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of Brigham tea, also an animal bone and a pointed twig with a string attached. In the lap, as shown in plate 7, b, was a bundle made up of two wooden implements, a foreshaft with stone point, a wand-like stick with a bunch of reddish fiber tied to the end, and a small woven object, the whole wrapped about with a feather headdress and a number of turns of fine string (plate 40). The fill about the body was caked and discolored. Nothing was found in the cist under the body.
Cist 32 gave indications of previous disturbance. It was dug in the hard-pan against the side of the cave and showed more than usual care in the smoothing of its walls. It was oval in shape, 3 feet 6 inches in length, 2 feet in width, and 2 feet 6 inches deep. In the edge of the end opposite the cave wall was a shallow groove perhaps made to seat a cover. In the upper part of the cist was the skeleton of an infant and remains of a small reed-backed cradle, both too far gone to collect. In a sub-excavation at the bottom was the skeleton of a child about six years of age, knees drawn up to chin, head north, face southeast. About the remains were traces of fur-string wrappings and coiled basketry; under them a small quantity of green powder. This cist was probably originally a storage cist and perhaps had a stone slab cover which fitted into the groove at the end. It may have contained at one time other remains than those found, for it would hardly have been dug for them alone, as it was of much greater size than necessary.
Cist 35 was not dug straight into the hard-pan, but was slightly undercut. It measured 1 foot 3 inches across at the top and 2 feet 6 inches in greatest diameter; the bottom was rounded. In it was the mummy of a baby on a reed-backed cradle; the body was enclosed in a bag and lay on a twined-woven cedar-bark mat (plate 21, d). All were in good condition. The mat appears to be part of an old cedar-bark cradle like the ones found in Caves 1 and 2 by the 1915 expedition.1
Cist 40 was a large jar-shaped storage cist excavated in the hard- pan. It was very symmetrical in shape and measured 2 feet in diameter at the top, 4 feet in diameter 2 feet below the rim, and 4 feet 6 inches in depth (plate 9, b). The rim was 2 feet below the surface. In the top was found a rabbit net tied in a compact bundle, together with a quantity of apocynum bark done up in 1 Kidder-Guernsey, 1915, p. 165 and plate 72.
vor .. VIII, No. 2, PLATE 7
PEABODY MUSEUM PAPERS
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WHITE DOG CAVE ., Wrapped mummy of woman from Cist 24; b, Mummy of man from Cist 31.
سے
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bundles. The net had evidently been cached here after the cist was abandoned and filled up, since the hole in which it rested was partly dug in the hard-pan at the edge of the cist, and partly in the fill of the cist itself. In clearing the cist a thick layer of cedar bark was found 1 foot from the bottom; below it was clean sand. One foot from the rim on the side opposite the net there was a pot- hole, 1 foot in diameter and the same in depth.
The rabbit net, a remarkable specimen, is described in detail in another place. Its lack of definite relation to the cist or to other Basket-maker remains at first raised a doubt in the authors' minds as to whether it might not have belonged to a later period. On the other hand it will be remembered that a very similar excava- tion at the side of Cist 24 contained the remains of a Basket- maker infant.
Cist 41 gave evidence of previous disturbance. On clearing it a small niche was found in one side that contained the remains of an infant, a small basket, a skin covered object (umbilical pad) and the usual fur-string robe.
Cist 51, 3 feet 6 inches deep, and 2 feet 6 inches in diameter, was constructed of slabs set about the sides of a shallow excavation in the hard-pan. It contained the skeletons of an adult and an infant. The former lay on its right side, head south. The infant rested across the breast and left arm of the adult and had been wrapped in a fur-string blanket and placed in a skin bag. Both blanket and bag were in an advanced state of decay. There were traces of a woven bag that had once covered the remains of the adult. At one side of the cist near the head of the adult was a small bowl- basket containing beads and a variety of small objects, which are described elsewhere. There were also in the cist food offerings of corn and piñon nuts.
Cist 54. After removing from the surface a large number of rocks, the fill under the end of the great rock in the center of the cave was explored. Here, 2 feet below the under side of the rock in what appeared to be a rude cist, there was found a cradle in ex- cellent condition. With it were fragments of fur-string blankets and pieces of woven bags, but no trace of a body. The photo- graph, plate 5, a, shows the cradle in situ. The thin edge of the rock had been broken off somewhat before the picture was taken; it originally extended nearly a foot further than is shown. The
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rock may have broken from the roof centuries ago or in very recent times. The cradle, however, must have been in the position in which it was found when the fall occurred.
Summing up the evidence as to mortuary customs contained in the foregoing descriptions, we see that the bodies were placed in cists of three sorts: jar-shaped excavations, whose primary pur- pose seems to have been for storage; larger, shallower pits appar- ently dug expressly to contain burials; and slab cists of the type illustrated in plate 9, c. Almost every cist held more than one individual and all the indications pointed to the interments having been made simultaneously.1
The bodies of adults were always wrapped in fur-string blankets and at the loins of most females were small string aprons. The limbs were flexed to occupy the least possible space and oc- casionally held in that position by cords. The bundles thus pre- pared were encased in large woven bags, which were cut down one side for greater ease in drawing on, and then stitched together again with yucca leaves. Babies were sometimes placed in bags, but were more commonly buried on their cradles with their blankets, umbilical pads and "diapers" of bast in place as in life.
No fixed manner of orienting the remains was adhered to, this detail having been decided, apparently, by the manner in which the body best accommodated itself to the shape and size of the cist.
Mortuary offerings were numerous and varied and seem fairly representative of the food, implements, weapons and ornaments of daily life together with some objects of a ceremonial nature. The standard gift to the dead was basketry; tray baskets were practically always inverted over the heads of adults, often over children; large panniers also served as covers; and smaller baskets, empty or filled with trinkets, were generously piled into the graves.
Kiva (?). There remains to describe a peculiar and puzzling room found at the front of the cave (see figure 5). The first inti- mation of its existence came when, in clearing the surface above what proved later to be the ventilator shaft, the wall of the main structure was exposed. The room, as shown in the plan, lies at the foot of the great rock pile which rises at a sharp angle to the
1 The same thing was noted in Sunflower Cave (Cists 7 and 11); in Cave 1 Kinboko (Kidder-Guernsey, 1919, p. 83) and in the Sayodneechee burial cave (Ibid. p. 29); at the latter site there were more individuals per grave than in any of the others, one cist holding no less than 19 bodies; all, apparently, buried at one time.
PEABODY MUSEUM PAPERS
VOL. VIII, No. 2, PLATE 8
b
a
WHITE DOG CAVE Mummy of man, Cist 24: a, Wrapped; b, With coverings removed.
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back of the cave. It was owing to the imminent danger of rock slides from this source that we were unable to excavate the room Completely, either in 1916 or on a second visit to the cave in 1917, when another attempt was made to do so.
This chamber is, and apparently always was, entirely subter- ranean. The part that we were able to clear is irregularly circular. "The room is sunk through the surface sand and into the hard-pan, which, standing as dug, forms the lower part of the wall (see figure 7, b). The upper wall is masonry of rough and irregular
Post Hole
Fire Place
POST HELLO
HAR
FEET
FIGURE 7
White Dog Cave: Plan and Cross-section of Kiva.
stones laid with little attempt to preserve a smooth face either within or without. At one point on the east side two upright slabs were set in and the wall was built on them. The top courses are somewhat more carefully constructed. Adobe mortar is used, sparingly below, more abundantly above. The whole structure is thickly "spalled" with small fragments of stone wedged into the cracks.
The general shape of the wall, partly straight, partly curved, can best be seen in the plan and section. The southern offset, which in the plan has the appearance of a bench or banquette, we are inclined to think was not a part of the original design of the build- ers, but was made necessary by the occurrence here of an outcrop- ping of the ledge, the upper surface of which slanted inward at too
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great an angle to furnish a stable foundation for a wall along the inner edge. At any rate, the offset overcame this difficulty, though for some reason, instead of continuing the wall as before, of laid-up stones, stone slabs set on end were used. We do not know whether or not this method of construction is continued under the rock pile. Placed across the top of the slabs was a stout log, one end resting on the top of the offset, the other passing out of sight under the rock heap. It is possible that the entrance to the room was at this point, as the sloping surface of the ledge here is very smooth as if from wear. South of the offset and outside the room we found slabs, set at right angles to the wall, and three up- right stakes burned off close to the adobe in which they were em- bedded. There was a large amount of charcoal in this area. The slabs of the offset wall and those outside were much blackened by smoke.
On the east side of the room 2 feet above the floor, there is a small opening leading through the wall into a ventilating shaft. This orifice is five and one-half inches high by eight inches wide; it has two slender, round lintel sticks running across its top, their ends embedded in the masonry at either side (figure 7, b). All the edges of the opening are neatly finished off with adobe, the corners carefully rounded. On the floor of the room, nearly in front of this hole, lay a thin slab of rock measuring 11 by 12 inches; on trial it was found to fit exactly into grooves around the hole that had obviously been made for it (plate 10, b).
The horizontal shaft, to which the opening gave access, extended out from the wall for a distance of 3 feet 6 inches. It was built of flat stones set on either side with their bases together and their tops slanting outward, making a V-shaped trough 2 feet 6 inches wide across the top. This was roofed over with short stout logs covered with cedar bark, brush and coarse grass, the whole held down by flat rocks. The photograph, plate 11, b, shows the east end of the shaft with its log roofing. Behind and above may be seen the outside of the top courses of the wall of the main room, the position of which is also indicated by the dotted line in plate 11, a. There is no trace of a vertical flue connecting this horizontal pas- sage with the surface. The pitch of the deposit is so steep here that it is probable that such a shaft was unnecessary, and that the horizontal passage ran straight through to the outer air.
PEABODY MUSEUM PAPERS
VOL. VIII, No. 2, PLATE 9
Fille
Sand
Hardpon b
Bart
Hard pan
d
u
Types of Basket-maker cists: a, b, d, White Dog Cave; o, Cave 6; e, f, Cave 14.
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The floor of the room itself, as far as we were able to lay it bare, was of hard packed adobe with a smooth but uneven surface. At what seems to have been a little east of the middle of the room there is a firepit, a saucer-shaped depression in the floor with a neatly made coping or rim of hard baked adobe (plate 10 a). It was filled to the brim with clean white ashes. In outline the pit is a perfect circle, 2 feet in diameter; the rim is raised 3 inches above the floor, and the bottom is somewhat scooped out giving a depth of 5 inches to the center of the pit.
At the floor level in the back of the room is an oval niche dug horizontally 12 inches into the hard-pan of the wall, and measuring 18 inches across the front (see figure 7, b). There are two holes five and one-half inches in diameter and twelve inches deep, dug in the floor, one at the angle of the back and east wall, the other at the front directly opposite. So close are these holes set to the wall that at the back the sides of the holes are continued up through the adobe of the wall for some 6 inches. For this reason we are quite sure they are intended for post-holes though no post ends were found in them.
The filling of the room was entirely free from rocks, showing that the great pile that now covers its rear portions and its northeast wall must have fallen after the place had already been deserted for a long time. On the floor was a 3-inch bed of pure sand; above this was an equal amount of coarse brush and charcoal, topped by a layer of cedar bark. The remaining 4 feet 6 inches to the sur- face was a homogeneous deposit composed of equal parts of rat dung and sand, laid down in perfectly regular, thread-like hori- zontal strata, separated from each other by thin layers of clean wind-blown sand.
The peculiar make-up of this fill has been a matter of much dis- cussion between the authors. A plausible history of the fill might be that the room, with roof still intact, was abandoned for a period sufficient to allow the three-inch layer of clean sand to sift in and accumulate on the original floor, after which it was retenanted for a short time, the brush and bark brought in, and fires built, then vacated finally by man to become the rendezvous of rats through the long period which must have been required to build up the deep deposit of rat dung and sand found in it. During this latter period the roof remained; otherwise, instead of thin regular layers of ap-
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parently sifted sand, there would have been sand deposits of vary- ing thickness, marking the occurrence of high winds such as we experienced while at work in the cave. Finally, and prior to the falling of the rocks from the ceiling of the cave, there came other visitors who found the roof a convenient source of fuel supply thus accounting for its complete disappearance.
Such a long discussion on the foregoing may appear unnecessary, but any condition which marks the lapse of time seems worthy of careful consideration.
It is unfortunate that we were unable to clear this room com- pletely as there may be concealed beneath the débris which still covers the unexplored portion some evidence that would settle definitely the question of whether it is the work of the people who excavated the cists and buried their dead here, or of the Cliff- dwellers who came after. Such artifacts as were found in it are of little assistance in identifying the builders since they are either devoid of character or of such a nature as might easily have been dragged into it by rats. Outside the wall on the northeast and east sides we found some evidence of disturbance, such as might have been made in excavating for the foundation of the room, and in this disturbed area, close against the wall, lay two sandals with side-loops, of a type quite common in cliff-dwellings but which we have not yet found directly associated with Basket-maker remains. One of these was touching the wall at a depth of about 3 feet below the surface.
Had the chamber just described been found in a pueblo or cliff- dwelling, it would have occasioned no particular surprise, for while its ventilator opening is smaller and higher set than usual and the V-shaped horizontal passage is of unfamiliar construction, yet the mere presence of a ventilating apparatus, the adobe rimmed fire- place full of white ashes, and the subterranean situation of the room itself are all features perfectly normal in Cliff-dweller kivas. Furthermore the kivas of this particular district are typically vari- able and unspecialized.1 The sandals seem to be Cliff-dweller and to have been left where found while the wall was under construc- tion. All these things point to an origin subsequent to that of the Basket-maker cists. On the other hand we have never seen, nor have we read of, a kiva built as is this room all by itself
1 Kidder-Guernsey, 1919, p. 201.
PEABODY MUSEUM PAPERS
Vor. VIII, No. 2, PLATE 10
G
C
e
White Dog Cave: a, Interior of kiva; b, Ventilator cover in kiva; d, Baskets in Cist 22; e, Objects in Cist 13. Sunflower Cave: c, Skeletons in Cist 7.
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th no living-chambers in the vicinity. All kivas with which we e familiar form integral parts of house-clusters. The only rely identifiable Cliff-dweller remains found in the cave are numerated as follows:
A storage room foundation was built on the sloping rock floor gainst the west side of the cave (see figure 5); it measured 5 feet a length, 2 in width and consisted of a low wall, 8 to 10 inches Ligh, the stones mudded in with adobe mortar. In the enclosure vas a bed of plant stalks, "Brigham tea"; the floor is bare uneven ock. We collected in the top sand of the cave a few handfuls of 'liff-dweller potsherds, for the most part plain gray and black-and- 'hite ware, and a few pieces of feather string. A small corrugated ot covered by a flat stone was found cached in the sand 1 foot inches below the surface; the mouth had been sealed with adobe mudded on to corn cobs, but this had crumbled and was found at ne bottom of the jar. About the jar was a harness, made, with the xception of one short section, of Cliff-dweller feather string. 'he short piece is apparently Basket-maker fur-string and was robably a stray bit picked up from the surface.
The above is not an imposing list and leads us to doubt that the lace was ever regularly used as a dwelling by the Cliff-house eople. As to the identity of the kiva-like room, the writers them- Ives are not agreed; the senior author believes that it may pos- bly be of Basket-maker origin, the junior considers it surely liff-dweller, but can offer no explanation for its isolated situation.
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FIELD WORK, SEASON OF 1917
REACHING Kayenta by the usual route via Farmington, New Mexico, and the Chinlee, the party first attempted explorations near Sayodneechee Canyon in Monument Valley, but was forced by lack of water to abandon the work after a few caves had been examined. Returning to Kayenta the exploration of the South Comb was resumed. White Dog Cave was revisited and an unsuc- cessful attempt was made to move the rocks from above the kiva- like room. Two new caves were discovered and investigated. Again forced to move by lack of water, the remainder of the season was spent in Sagiotsosi Canyon, where nine caves were either wholly or partly explored (see map, figure 1).
SAYODNEECHEE CANYON
This is one of the numerous short canyons which head near the Agathla rock and run northward into Monument Valley. Although it is without living water, the Navajo are able to culti- vate corn in certain places. In the winter, rain and melting snow furnish sufficient drinking water for the Indians and their flocks; and in some years enough of this is held in pockets among the rocks to last until the showers of July and August. Generally, however, these natural reservoirs go dry in June and the Navajo must move away for a month or so to some more favored locality, returning after the rains to harvest their crops.
Aside from its dryness, Sayodneechee is a most attractive place; the scenery is magnificent, grass and firewood are abundant, and the cliffs contain many caves to tempt the archaeologist's shovel.
Caves 3, 4 and 5 are in a break of the rock ridge that forms the west wall of Sayodneechee Canyon, and are nearly opposite the Basket-maker burial cave in the above canyon excavated by the 1914 expedition.1
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