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KIET SIEL

Kiet Siel
Kiet Siel (commonly spelled Keet Seel), which stands for "broken pottery" in Navajo, is a well preserved cliff dwelling of the ancient Anasazi people located in a branch of the Tsegi Canyon in the Kayenta region of Northeastern Arizona. The site was first occupied at around AD 1250, during a time in which a large number of people were believed to be aggregating in sites such as this in this part of the American Southwest. There was a construction boom at Kiet Siel between AD 1272 and 1275, with construction then slowly tapering off and halting completely at AD 1286. Once construction halted in AD 1286, there was no evidence of structures being built until its subsequent abandonment some 20 years later. At its peak, its believed that up to 150 people inhabited this site at one time. Kiet Siel, along with Betatakin and Inscription House, are the three cliff dwelling sites that make up the now protected Navajo National Monument. These three sites were declared a national monument in 1909. Due to the extreemly dry climate and natural overhanging cliff, the conditions at Kiet Siel were quite optimal for excellent preservation of the sites dwellings and artifacts. Kiet Siel is considered by many archaeological experts to be one of the best preserved larger ruins in the American Southwest.

Discovery
The site of Kiet Siel was discovered in 1895 by the Wetherill Brothers. Originally part of a ranching family from Colorado, the Wetherill's keen interest in the Ancient Anasazi led them to pursue numerous expeditions into the heart of the Kayenta region, largely uncovering a number of sites that had remained undiscovered until then. Richard Wetherill is credited for selecting the term Anasazi, which refers to the ancient people that inhabited this region and means "Ancient ones" in Navajo. The Weatherill Brothers made a living from giving guided tours of sites in and around the Tsegi Canyon and Utah. Later in their careers, the Weatherill brothers were largely involved in efforts for the preservation and protection of the sites that made up Navajo National Monument, most notably, Kiet Siel.

Subsistence
The Anasazi of this area were a sedentary group that largely based their subsistence on agriculture. Their primary crop at Kiet Siel was maize, with beans and cucurbits also being incorporated into their diet. While the people of Kiet Siel relied heavily on agriculture for their food, they also hunted wild game that was indigenous to the area.

It is thought that these Anasazi people lived in these cave dwellings to optimize the amount of sustainable land to produce crops. By living in these caves, and not on the mesas or the canyon floors, they were able to use this land towards agricultural production to ensure their success in this high elevation, desert environment. Found at Kiet Siel, were a large number of rooms used for storage, suggesting that at some point their crop production was successful enough to dedicate a significant amount of their living area towards storage purposes.

Dwellings/ Architecture
The structures contained within this cave site were constructed mainly of sandstone blocks plastered together with mud and mortar. In marked contrast to earlier constructions and villages on top of the mesas, the cliff dwelling of Kiet Siel reflected a region-wide trend towards the aggregation of growing regional populations into close, highly defensible quarters during the mid to late 13th century.

While much of the construction in this site remains similar to common ancestral Pueblo architectural forms, including such features as Kivas, a circular tower, and pit-houses, the limited space that this site presented created a much more densely populated living area. At its peak, Kiet Siel had more than 150 rooms and 6 kivas. Due to the spatial limitations of this cave site, structures were never taller than two stories high or more than three to four rooms deep. One of the more impressive architectural structures found at this site was a two storey tall, round tower.

Jacal walls were also found to be used at this site. This architectural style of wall was distinct to Kiet Siel because it had ceased being used at other sites in this area at this time. Jacal walls were made from a screen of upright wooden poles plastered together with mud. The dry conditions and protection from the elements at Kiet Siel allowed for some of the most notable preservation of these architectural characteristics in all of the Southwest.

There were also a number of structures believed to be built at the base of the cliff as well. But due to this area not being protected by the over-hanging cliff wall, its exposure to the elements led to its destruction by erosion. Archaeological excavations have revealed that there were 25 room clusters beneath the overhanging wall, each that included 1 common living room, with anywhere from 1 to 4 storage rooms surrounding a small courtyard. The layout of these dwellings greatly mirrored that of the Pueblo III structures at Mesa Verde.

Abandonment
Although many archaeologists agree that there is a definitive and sharp exodus from this region in the Southwest, there has been considerable debate on the determining factors that forced people to migrate out of this area. Archaeologists have determined that there was a distinct decrease in the amount of annual precipitation between AD 1276 and 1299, a period of time that is now referred to as the "Great Drought". With the limited amount of rainfall in an already arid environment, there is no doubt that there was a considerable amount of increased stress put on the agricultural systems that these people depended on. Also there is evidence later in the record to suggest the beginning of an episode of deep arroyo cutting, that would have damaged what was left of the usable agricultural land. Increased deposition of sediment onto agricultural lands caused the lowering of the water table, thus making the land inadequate for farming. Regardless of their reasoning, near the end of the thirteenth century its evident that the Anasazi people migrated towards places with more stable and abundant water sources, suggesting that the agricultural land in this area had become unsuitable to sustain the population levels that once inhabited this spectacular cave site.