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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



rough mortars, metates, and stone implements to be seen in the 

 walls of the new acequia. The writer, whose appetite for discov- 

 ery had been whetted by his surprising success when excavating 

 in the high tier of cave-dwellings in the frowning cliffs of Clear 

 Creek, eleven miles to the southeast, immediately commenced an 

 examination of this majestic pile of ruined walls, forming a 

 mound two hundred and eighty feet in length by one hundred feet 

 in width, having an average depth of seven or eight feet. The 

 walls are now standing to that height, the lower rooms being 

 filled with the debris of the fallen upper stories. The building 

 had been destroyed by fire, three layers of charcoal in the rub- 



Fig. 13. — Metate and Grinding-Stone from Casa Grande of the Middle Verde, five 



miles north of fort verde. 



bish corresponding to the roof and ceilings, which were evidently 

 constructed of wood, reeds, and grass. Nearly all the inflammable 

 materials had been destroyed, while many bone implements, and 

 even some of stone, had been cracked and charred by the fire ; 

 and the greater part of the pottery, of which a large quantity was 

 unearthed, had been broken bv the fallen walls. 



The labor of removing the debris from the rooms proved 

 rather slow and difficult. As most of the pottery and implements 



