Doheny Memorial Library, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0189 Public Domain. Release under the CC BY Attribution license--http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/--Credit both “University of Southern California. Libraries” and “California Historical Society” as the source. Digitally reproduced by the USC Digital Library; From the California Historical Society Collection at the University of Southern California Send requests to address or e-mail given USC Libraries Special Collections specol@usc.edu
Description
Photograph of the Puye cave dwellings (or Santa Clara ruins?), New Mexico, ca.1900. Various sized holes where cave dwellers used to dwell are visible around the base of the cliff. Rocks and large boulders are strewn all over the hill leading up to the caves. "The Tewa are a group of Pueblo Indians related by language. Today they live in six villages near the Rio Grande, all north of Santa Fe, namely, Nambe, Pojoaque, Tesuque, San Ildefonso, Santa Clara, and San Juan. According to legend the Tewa entered this world by ascending from Sipofene, a mythical place beneath a lake. In some Tewa villages it is said that the people climbed up a Douglas fir rising out of the lake, and that the first one up was Poseyemum the Tewa culture hero, a supernatural being sometimes called the son of the sun, who taught the art of living to the people. Ancient beliefs and traditions are still among the Tewa. Their pueblos are divided into two parts, so-called moitiesm the summer and the winter people." -- Brandy Stahley, July 1998. "Puye cave dwelling Indians: The first thing you see is the cliff face dotted with little black holes that use to be the homes of ancient Indians. The Indians that lived in these cliffs were long gone by the time Europeans landed. It isn't known exactly why they left but life in these cliffs was far from easy. Food and living materials needed to be carried up the cliff faces. The holes in the cliff face vary in size and shape. The black ceilings tell of fires long since extinguished. Here is one of the few remaining structures on the side of the cliff. It was repaired in the recent past to fill up some of the holes. The fact this was built right on the edge of a steep drop shows the ingenuity of these natives. The cliff face was only half the actual inhabitation. On top the mesa was the remains of probably 50-100 buildings. It was thought that the Indians moved from the cliff face, to the mesa top. The community structures and storage buildings all seemed to be located on top. One of the most impressive structures was the large covered pit that was the community meeting room." -- unknown author.
Type
image
Format
2 photographs : glass photonegative, photoprint, b&w 21 x 26 cm. glass plate negatives photographic prints photographs
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