The Cliff Ruins of Canyon de Chelly, Arizona Sixteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1894-95, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1897, pages 73-198

In this detailed account of the cliff dwellings that crown Arizona’s Canyon de Chelly, the author blends careful field notes with vivid historical background. Drawing on early military expeditions and the work of pioneering topographical engineers, the narrative sets the scene of a remote landscape once shrouded in myth. The introduction traces the muddled early reports, clarifying the origins of the canyon’s name and the first documented observations of its stone villages.

The main body surveys dozens of individual sites, each accompanied by precise measurements, descriptive sketches, and period photographs reproduced from original plates. Readers hear the methodical cataloging of terraces, rooms, and pottery fragments, revealing how the ancient Pueblo peoples adapted to the sheer cliffs. Along the way, the author notes the challenges of accessing the remote canyon and the evolving interpretations of its builders, offering a window into late‑nineteenth‑century archaeology.