Pueblo

A Pueblo (Spanish: "village" ) is a common, particularly in New Mexico and Colorado form of settlement of the Pueblo Indians.

Was there before the European conquest, for example, in New Mexico still over 100 such settlements, there are today only 19 are inhabited.

They were built in either Adobe or construction of stone, with a mixture of sand, clay and water was used as mortar. The walls were partly a plaster made ​​of light loam. A Pueblo can have up to five floors and comprise several hundred rooms. Example: Pueblo Bonito in Chaco Canyon with about 800 rooms and over 30 kivas. The higher floors were always a bit set back and were accessible via externally leaning ladders, so that the complex was a stair-step appearance.

In its basic form, the systems vary, they can be rectangular, D- shaped or oval. In most centrally located is within the pueblos of an open space with a large kiva. These are grouped around the blocks of living and storage rooms and other kivas. The individual rooms were linked in part with door openings in series, but could also have separate entrances. In general, the access to the premises was never possible directly from the outside, door openings were always directed towards the interior of the complex. At the still preserved ruins of the pueblos also differences in access to facilities has been made. Firstly, there were pueblos with an almost completely open side, with others, for example in the Aztec Ruins National Monument, several inputs found in the outer walls. But to protect them from enemies, the settlement could also have a closed outer wall. The way in or out then led only by ladders.

Overall, the construction of the previous Pueblos was the target in the foreground, to be able to defend themselves. The still inhabited pueblos show, in contrast, although still the typical architectural style, but no longer have the character of an almost inaccessible fortress like the old settlements.

The Pueblos are similar to the Ksar Berber in the Sahara.