RUINS IN NORTHERN SONORA AND SOUTHERN NEW MEXICO. 73 



of that which is ornamented is painted white on the inside and is decorated with black 

 hnes. It resembles that found in the cHff dwelhngs and other villages farther to the north 

 rather than that of the villages in southern Arizona. Old hearths of cobble-stones set in 

 circles 2 feet in diameter are common, and in the center of the village are only 50 to 100 

 feet apart, which seems to imply a dense population. Many large stones are scattered 

 here and there in groups among the houses, but are not now in any definite arrangement 

 except in one case, where they form part of a circle 10 feet in diameter. Many of the 

 stones have been broken to small bits by the action of the frost, which would seem to imply 

 great age. The same implication is derived from the high degree to which the pottery has 

 been broken to small fragments, and also, perhaps, from the way in which eohan erosion 

 has scoured the ground into hollows 2 feet or more in depth. 



The present water-supply at this place is almost negative, and the possibilities of agri- 

 culture are still smaller. In 1909, according to the men who live at the Beard Ranch, no 

 water at all flowed past this place. In 1910 a Uttle came down two or three times for an 

 hour or two during the heavy summer rains. Even in years of good rainfall it comes only 

 two to four times, and never for more than an hour or two at any one time. The slope 

 here is fairly pronounced, and the soil is gravelly and porous, so that reservoirs could only 

 be made with great difficulty. That they could hold water for two years, as would have 

 been necessary from the summer of 1908 to that of 1910, seems scarcely possible. The 

 nearest supply of water at any time of year except during showers is at Hughes Spring, 4 

 miles away among the mountains. Even if the inhabitants could have drunk from this, 

 they could not have used it to water their crops. Indeed it is impossible to see how they 

 could have raised crops of any kind or in even the smallest quantity under the present 

 concUtions. To-day not only do the settlers, both Americans and Mexicans, make no 

 attempt whatever at cultivation without irrigation, but many of the cattlemen have been 

 obliged to move away for lack of rain. 



As to the age of this ruin and others, there is little direct evidence. At the Beard village 

 a large mesquite bush, with roots as thick as a man's thigh, has grown up in the very midst 

 of an old stone hearth. The bush, according to Dr. Forrest Shreve, of the Desert Botanical 

 Laboratory, may be from 300 to 600 years old. Probably an equal or much longer time 

 must have elapsed after the abandonment of the village before a seed could take root and 

 grow in such a disadvantageous spot. These are the roughest estimates, and merely serve 

 to show that the minimum age of the ruins is probably well toward 1,000 years, while 

 they may be much older. 



In the prececUng pages a great number of facts which were observed in Arizona, Sonora, 

 and southern New Mexico have been omitted, not because they are not conclusive, but 

 because they are of the same type as those here included. I have endeavored to state the 

 facts fahly without warping them to suit any particular theories. It remains for the 

 reader to form his own conclusions as to whether they do or do not indicate a change of 

 climate. In considering this matter it must be remembered that, for the momeiit, the 

 choice is merely between the occurrence or non-occurrence of changes; the question of 

 dates and periodicity does not enter into the matter. So far as probability is concerned, 

 neither theory has any innate advantage. On the one side may be put the fact that the 

 records of the past hundi'ed years are interpreted by meteorologists to mean that there 

 has been no change during that period. On the other hand stands the fact that since the 

 culmination of the glacial period, presumably about .30,000 years ago, tremendous changes 

 are universally agreed to have taken place. During the last century the slight changes 

 which have taken place from decade to decade have sufficed to produce important effects 

 upon agriculture, and to drive out settlers from dry regions, after tempting them in during 

 wet times. This, however, has been on a scale far smaller than that which is applicable 

 to the ruins. If we accept the hypothesis of no change, we must adopt the assumption that 



