Jan. 1935 Annual Report of the Director 173 



Had there been any masonry walls there, they would have been 

 discovered; however, none were located. 



But large pieces of charcoal were found in these trenches. Their 

 presence suggested the possibility that a pole-and-brush structure 

 had stood on the same level as the peripheral chambers. Therefore 

 the trenches were widened, and the dirt banked up on the side 

 of the extra-kiva rooms was removed. The expected evidence was 

 found, and it now seems safe to say that the north, east, and west 

 (and perhaps south, if it exists) peripheral chambers were joined 

 by a series of rooms of jacal or pole-and-brush construction. 



A closer inspection of the north, east, and west chambers was 

 made, and it was observed that the masonry walls were crudely built. 

 In fact, in many places large slabs took the place of coursed masonry. 

 Also, the walls of these chambers were fragile. Because of this, 

 they probably never were carried very high. Moreover, pestholes 

 were found in the corners. It was then concluded that the walls had 

 been built with masonry bases and wattle-and-daub upper portions. 



Heretofore, a block of four rooms in the center of the pueblo 

 has been regarded as a nucleus of early Chaco construction. Investi- 

 gations this season indicated that there was an earlier, more typical 

 Chaco section. This is composed of walls of typical Chaco-like slab 

 masonry, but, unfortunately, later dwellers tore out many walls and 

 so modified this section that it is impossible to reconstruct the size 

 or shape of the early building. The "Mesa Verde" people ingeniously 

 bonded many of their walls to the Chaco ones in a manner that 

 makes it often impossible to tell exactly where Chaco wall ends and 

 Mesa Verde begins. 



With the help and guidance of Mr. Lawrence Roys, a structural 

 engineer of Moline, Illinois, who has studied Maya construction, an 

 intense survey and analysis of masonry was begun. Heretofore, 

 archaeologists have called certain walls "Mesa Verde" or "Chaco," 

 but no criterion has existed for identifying many hybrid types. It 

 is not certain that masonry can be classified so accurately as pottery, 

 but some generalizations may be worked out. 



The Museum gratefully acknowledges the assistance rendered 

 the expedition by Mr. Robert Burgh, cartographer of the United 

 States National Park Service, who, at his own expense, surveyed 

 and mapped Lowry ruin and the surrounding area; by Dr. Pierce 

 Butler, of the University of Chicago, who lent his surveying instru- 

 ments; and by Mr. Roys, who spent a month in making a detailed 

 analysis of pueblo masonry. 



