Page:American Anthropologist NS vol. 22.djvu/341

 KIDDER] HISTORIC RUINS IN SAN JUAN VALLEY, N. M. 329

the other hand, they may be very considerably earlier; there is always doubt. Here, however, if further examination confirms the Jemez theory, we will have a segment of culture definitely dated at both ends. Excavation would almost surely yield a sufficient amount of material to give a sound knowledge of the technique and ornamentation of the pottery. This would be of the greatest value, and would form a solid foundation upon which to work, not only forward to the later Jemez valley wares, but also back toward the less clearly defined types made in early historic and late prehistoric times.

PHILLIPS ACADEMY, AN DOVER, MASS.

NOTE: In 1916 Mr. N. C. Nelson, of the American Museum, incidentally traversed parts of the region in which ruins of the type and period considered in the above paper occur. He observed four ruins on the Largo canon, one near the head of the Gobernador and three directly east, near the junction of the Burns and La Jara canons. Four additional ruins were reported to him in the Largo, two or more about halfway up the Gobernador (some of which have been excavated by Mr. Earl H. Morris) and several more were said by the forest rangers to exist on the Carriso and Burns canons. Traces of ruins, apparently of the same type, were also found to the south, in the Puerco drainage; one being at Cuba and another about two miles west of Casa Salazar. Finally, current reports had it that other "Torreones" exist on the Los Torreones creek to the northwest of Cabezon, but these may as easily be remains of Navajo hogans.

The ruins observed all occupied conspicuous situations on the rimrock, on isolated crags or on detached blocks of rock. Those examined were uniformly small, ranging from two to six rooms. The masonry was of an ordinary type with a peculiar tendency to round off the corners. The timbers, including the notched ladders, had for the most part been cut with a metal ax. One fireplace hood was photographed. Pottery was scarce but the fragments picked up include three-color glazed ware of the Rio Grande type, early historic glazed ware, and a black-on-yellow or pink ware much resembling that found in the Keresan region near Cochiti on the Rio Grande.

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