[Illustration: This blue-headed cow, painted by an early Navajo artist on the shelter wall, gave Standing Cow Ruin its name.]
[Illustration: This Navajo rock painting in Canyon del Muerto shows a procession of soldiers. It probably records a Spanish expedition in the 19th century.]
One of the largest concentrations of very early material at Canyon de Chelly came from Big Cave (Tse-Ya-Tso) in Canyon del Muerto. Tree-ring dates ranging from A.D. 331 to 835 indicate an intensive occupation of the site in Basketmaker times.
Several burials of interest were found at Big Cave. One was of an old man who had broken both legs across the shin bones. The fractures were set so well that only the smallest of bumps were left.
The remains of 14 infants were found in a slab-lined cist used earlier as a storage bin. Below the infants were the bodies of four other children packed in an enormous basket. None showed any signs of violence, and it is thought that some disease must have swept through the cave, killing many children in a short time.
The unique “Burial of the Hands” was discovered in another part of Big Cave. This burial consisted of just a pair of arms and hands lying side by side on a bed of grass. The elbows touched the wall of the cave in a way that suggested that the rest of the body had not been removed at a later time. Three necklaces of abalone shell pendants were wrapped around the wrists, and two pairs of exceptionally fine, unworn sandals, patterned in black and red, were lying beside the hands, as was a small basket half full of white shell beads. Another basket nearly 2 feet in diameter covered the burial. No satisfactory explanation of this burial has ever been advanced.
[Illustration: Excavations at Big Cave in Canyon del Muerto yielded valuable artifacts of the Basketmaker period.]
[Illustration: Mummy Cave, bathed in sun with its flanking ruins almost hidden in shadows.]
[Illustration: This fretwork design decorates a kiva in Mummy Cave.]
[Illustration: The central tower structure at Mummy Cave shows strong Mesa Verde affiliations and was constructed in A.D. 1284.]
One of the most beautifully situated ruins in the national monument is Mummy Cave in Canyon del Muerto 21 miles northeast of park headquarters. This dwelling, the largest in the canyons, was built in two adjacent caves about 300 feet up a talus slope from the streambed.