Poetry in Ruins Social studies, language arts SKILLS......................Knowledge, comprehension, analysis, evaluation STRATEGIES............ Observation, discussion, writing, communication, visualization, brainstorming, comparing, contrasting DURATION............. 2-hour field trip to Aztec Ruins; 1 class period afterward CLASS SIZE.............. Any OBJECTIVES In their study of Aztec Ruins, students will latilla: cottonwood or aspen pole placed above use sensory perception, imagination, and writ- the vigas and below the juniper splints in a roof. ing exercises to: mano: small stone held in the hand used to 1. Observe and examine the Ancestral Pueblo grind corn and other substances by rubbing on buildings. a larger stone, called a metate. 2. Compare and contrast observations about masonry: walls made of stone. rooms. metate: large stone used to grind corn and other substances by rubbing with a smaller stone, 3. Speculate on the activities that occurred. called a mano. 4. Write a poem about an imagined event in midden: an area where discarded items were the Great Kiva. deposited. MATERIALS mortar: the mud used around stones in walls. • Loaner trail guide booklet showing numbered markers on trail plaza: open flat area surrounded by the rooms of a structure. VOCABULARY chinks: small stones stuffed into the mortar of vent: small rectangular opening in a wall, usu- the walls, sometimes placed in decorative pat- ally placed just below the roof, that allowed pas- terns. sage of air. juniper splints: thin layers of juniper placed viga: a log of spruce, Douglas fir, ponderosa above the latillas and below the dirt layer in a pine, or juniper, used as the primary support roof. beam for a roof. kiva: room with distinctive features, usually underground, probably for ceremonial use. POETRY IN RUINS Aztec Ruins National Monument 43 BACKGROUND The science of archeology helps us learn about of the weather. Above the stripes, the ends of and appreciate prehistoric sites. But there are the vigas, or roof support beams, jut through ways to experience them other than through the walls. Most of the visible wood is original, information gleaned by archeology. One way effectively preserved by the Southwest's dry is to create a poem about a visit to Aztec Ru- climate and sheltered by the overburden of ins through using sensory perceptions, imagi- rubble that covered the structure before exca- nation, and feelings. In this way, a very per- vation. Other wall details include the vents, sonal appreciation for the area is fostered, and or small windows, placed in the upper corners a meaningful reminder of the area is removed of the rooms to allow ventilation. without causing it harm. Details of the masonry work provide a fasci- To prepare for the final poetry writing activity nating study of technique and pattern, and a in this lesson, the procedures direct students compelling connection with the inhabitants. to practice using their senses fully by remain- The National Park Service has heavily stabi- ing quiet and expanding awareness beyond lized and altered portions of the exterior walls things that are obvious and close. First, stu- by adding new mortar, additional top courses dents are directed to sharpen their sensory skills of stone, and in some places rebuilding with by visually noticing everything around them. imported sandstone. Much of the interior ma- Instead of focusing on the structure immedi- sonry is still original. Close study detects mud ately before them, they notice the plants, the mortar, chinking (small stones packed into the sky overhead, details of the structure such as mortar between the larger stones), bits of plas- the individual stones, the East Ruin (mostly ter, and even finger and hand impressions in unexcavated and closed to the public), and the the aboriginal masons' work. (Look for the hills beyond. Then students allow one sense – plaster and finger prints in the small doorway hearing – to explore its full reaches while the of the first interior room at trail marker #7. others recede for a while. They concentrate on Remind students to help preserve the walls. listening to the nature sounds around them, Do not touch or lean on them.) so often ignored because the building initially makes such a strong visual impact. Examining the larger features of the building, such as the original roof, doorways, and rooms, Students continue practicing their sensory helps evoke appreciation for their construc- skills by examining details of the structure, tion and use. The supporting large vigas are some enigmatic. For instance, they notice the Douglas fir, spruce, or ponderosa pine, hauled green sandstone stripes running along the west from at least 20 miles away. They support the wall. Their purpose is unknown, but they may smaller poles, called latillas, of cottonwood or have been symbolic and have had spiritual aspen. Above them are the juniper splints, then meaning. Most likely, the inhabitants obscured a thick layer of mud that serves as the floor of them by plastering mud on the exterior of the the next story. pueblo to seal the walls from the eroding forces 44 Aztec Ruins National Monument POETRY IN RUINS The doorways through which the trail passes Sharpening the senses and noticing details, in the interior rooms are not original, but were small and large, help our imaginations breathe constructed by the National Park Service. life inside the rooms, on the rooftops, and in Original doorways are visible to the south, or the plaza. Within interior rooms, one can right-hand side of the rooms. At times when smell smoke from woodfires and the aroma of people inhabited parts of the building, rooms stewed venison; hear the sounds of someone in the rear were mostly for storage, while rooms chipping a stone tool, people shuffling through adjacent to the plaza were for daily living. The doorways, the voices of old and young, and uses of the rooms changed over 200 years. In babies crying; see hides hanging from the door- later years, people used the rooms in this build- ways, remnants of food preparation and tool ing for burial tombs, storage areas, midden de- manufacture on floors, dried corn hanging posits, turkey pens, and work areas, while daily from walls, bunches of herbs suspended from living took place elsewhere. ceilings, stashes of clay for pottery making, yucca leaves for weaving into mats and san- Kivas are usually underground rooms, and are dals, and middens of food, bone, and pottery frequently round with special features. People discards. entered small kivas on a ladder through an opening in the roof. Today, Pueblo people still Daily life mostly occurred outside, in the plaza maintain and use kivas for ceremonial activi- and on the rooftops. This is where one might ties. The size of the great kiva at Aztec sug- have seen and heard women replastering walls, gests use as a community-wide gathering place men carrying heavy timbers for construction, for ceremonial or administrative matters. Al- hunters bringing in their prey, men crafting though widespread in prehistoric times, tools, women carrying water from the river in kivas of this size do not exist in today's pueb- pots on their heads, children playing with dogs, los. Aztec's great kiva is reconstructed on the girls grinding corn using a mano and metate, site of the original. It and the other structures boys learning how to make projectile points, at Aztec are sacred today to the descendants and travelers from other areas arriving to trade of the prehistoric inhabitants, Pueblo peoples their goods. On ceremonial days, people gath- such as the Hopi, Acoma, Zuni, Zia, and La- ered from the hinterlands for feasting and cel- guna tribes of Arizona and New Mexico. ebration. Dancers entered the plaza to the beat- ing of drums and shaking of gourd rattles with the people around the plaza intently looking. Identifying and expressing personal feelings about the area is another dimension of appre- ciating the site. Feelings about the contrast between being inside and outside can be lik- ened to the inhabitants' daily passages to the outside from inside rooms and kivas. These feelings are explored further when students imagine an event in the great kiva, and then express thir feelings and their imagination in a poem. POETRY IN RUINS Aztec Ruins National Monument 45 SETTING THE STAGE TRAIL MARKER 3 Before walking through the West Ruin, briefly Students discuss their observations about mention that this place is what remains from the sandstone wall. Discuss the roof beams the people who built and used the structure projecting from the wall, and the green nearly 900 years ago. Today, we call them An- stone stripes. Students sit quietly and list cestral Pueblo people. Their descendants are in their notebooks observations they have Pueblo peoples from many different tribes who made in the course of being outside. live today in New Mexico and Arizona. One descendant, a man from Santa Clara Pueblo, TRAIL MARKER 7 calls this site "The Place by Flowing Waters." Students discuss observations about their This is a poetic name – we do not know what surroundings. Is it dark? Humid? Cold? the people who lived here called it. This man What is the floor like? Notice the plaster, used his imagination and feelings to give it a masonry, and components of the ceiling, name that is meaningful to him. The students and discuss. will journey through the site and do some- thing similar – they will involve their senses, TRAIL MARKER 8 feelings, and imaginations to explore and cre- Students discuss observations about their ate a poem meaningful to them. surroundings, and then compare this room to the room at trail marker 7. Is it darker? PROCEDURE Are there the same number of vents in Follow the interpretive trail to the following both? Timbers in the ceiling? Students trail markers: imagine and discuss what it might have been like when Ancestral Pueblo people lived here.