Ch.2: Historic Pueblo Architecture

URBAN GENESIS AT CHACO: Case Study of the Origin of Civilizations. Chapters: 1 2 3 4 5 6

2.3 The Plaza

The plaza is the fundamental spatial unit around which the pueblo develops. Two examples illustrate this: Oke'onwi, a Tano Pueblo on the Rio Grande; and Mishongnovi, a Hopi Pueblo on Second Mesa in Arizona. In both cases, the village began as a series of house-blocks surrounding a single plaza. When the number of households became too great to fit around one plaza, the village was expanded by the creation of a series of other plazas around which new houses were arranged. Ortiz describes this sequence of development at Oke'onwi, and Victor Mindeleff illustrated the sequence at Mishongnovi (Mindeleff 1891). I have adapted Mindeleff's sequence below.

Air View of Mishongnovi

The plaza is also the visible expression of the Pueblo community. Here, the entire community gathers for ceremonies and celebrations; here the entire community can see each other at once. Plazas are often rectangular such as at Shungopavi (figure 2.11) or the probable first form of Mishongnovi (figure 2.7). In other pueblos the plaza is an oblong space formed by a widening of the pathway between several house-blocks such as at Orayvi (figure 10), A'ko (Acoma), or Kiua (Santo Domingo). Whatever the form of the plaza, the space is defined by the surrounding house-blocks. During gatherings, the terraces serve as grandstands for a better view. In some pueblos, the kivas are located in the plazas or they define an edge of the space, as at A'ko. At other pueblos, such as Tua (Taos) and Walaovi (Walpi, a Hopi pueblo), the kivas are situated on the edge of the village. The route from the kivas into the main plaza is used as part of the entry processional by spirits during ceremonies.