The Tj Ruin

Excerpt from Tj Ruin: Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument, New Mexico The TJ Ruin overlooks the half-mile-wide valley of the Gila River at the confluence of the West and Middle Forks (figure The site lies at the edge of a 100 foot high bluff of exposed Gila Conglomerate on the north side of the river at an elevation of 5775 feet. Covering the site is a dense stand of saltbush which concentrates on the house mounds and masonry features. Grama grass and other range grasses cover the exposed mesa top while mixed juniper and walnut woodlands encroach on the old polo field which lies just north of the ruin. In the valley below, the river supports denser stands of cottonwood, sycamore, walnut, wild grapes, willow, reeds and other plants of a more mesic community. In sheltered side canyons south of the river, Ponderosa Pine and Douglas Fir give way, on canyon 510pes, to more xeric communities of pinon, yucca, prickly pear, and oaks. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

During more than a thousand years before Europeans arrived in 1540, the native peoples of what is now the southwestern United States and northern Mexico developed an architecture of rich diversity and beauty. Vestiges of thousands of these dwellings and villages still remain, in locations ranging from Colorado in the north to Chihuahua in the south and from Nevada in the west to eastern New Mexico—a geographical area of some 300,000 square miles. This study presents a comprehensive architectural survey of the region. Professionally rendered drawings comparatively analyze 132 sites by means of standardized 100-foot grids with uniform orientations. Reconstructed plans with shadows representing vertical heights suggest the original appearances of many structures that are now in ruins or no longer exist, while concise texts place them in context. Organized in five chronological sections that include 132 professionally rendered site drawings, the book examines architectural evolution from humble pit houses to sophisticated, multistory pueblos. The sections explore concurrent Mogollon, Hohokam, and Anasazi developments, as well as those in the Salado, Sinagua, Virgin River, Kayenta, and other areas, and compare their architecture to contemporary developments in parts of eastern North America and Mesoamerica. The book concludes with a discussion of changes in Native American architecture in response to European influences. Written for a general audience, the book holds appeal for all students of native Southwestern cultures, as well as for everyone interested in origins in architecture. In particular, it should encourage younger Native American architects to value their rich cultural heritage and to respond as creatively to the challenges of the future as their ancestors did to those of the past.