PROCEEDINGS: ANTHROPOLOGICAL SOCIETY 335 



horizontal kiva masonry, but not the work of peoples of a distinct 

 culture that disappeared. These house builders employed adobe or 

 rude mud walls with brush and logs in the construction of their dwellings 

 and introduced cysts made of vertically placed stones for storage, 

 burial or other purposes. They were not replaced by another people 

 but gradually improved in their craft, passing step by step into struc- 

 tures of cut stone with regular horizontal masonry characteristic of the 

 excellent work of the cliff dwellers. Pari passu they made synchronous 

 advances in the excellence of their pottery and other artifacts, although 

 certain weapons like the "throw-stick" were replaced by the bow and 

 arrow. 



The earliest stage in the genesis of the Mesa Verde cliff dwelling 

 was an earth lodge constructed of adobe walls accompanied by cysts 

 made of vertical stone slabs; the last member of the evolution series 

 being the pure pueblo with unit type kivas situated in caves or on the 

 plateau. 



The culmination of the series flourished and disappeared before the 

 advent of European historians. It illustrates a middle phase of pueblo 

 development, but, although now extinct, degenerate forms of the unit 

 type kiva characteristic of the Mesa Verde cliff dwellings still survive 

 in the sacred buildings of the modern pueblos, where the type is modi- 

 fied by mixture with other architectura' features. 



542ND MEETING 



The 542nd meeting was held in room 42-43 of the National Museum, 

 at 4.45 p.m., on Tuesday, January 20, 1920. Program: 



Gerard Fowke : Explorations in caves in the Ozark region of Mis- 

 souri. 



In the hilly portions of Missouri south of the Missouri River, es- 

 pecially in the Gasconade limestone formation, are thousands of caverns. 

 Most of them are small, or at least have small entrances; others are 

 large, extending beyond the point to which any visitors have ventured. 

 Many of them have the front portion much expanded, with an opening 

 which admits ample light; and these were often resorted to by abo- 

 rigines for shelter. Owing to various causes not many of them were 

 suited for permanent occupation; the floors may be rough or uneven; 

 water m.ay drip from the roof or flow along the bottom; the entrance 

 may not be easily accessible ; no stream or spring may be near ; or other 

 reasons may make them undesirable as places of abode. Occasionally 

 one of them offers exceptional advantages for residence; and in such 

 cases the primitive dwellers in the region availed themselves of the 

 opportunity to secure a good home without labor. 



The most noteworthy habitations of this character are along the 

 lower portions of the Osage and Gasconade Rivers and their tributaries, 

 especially in Phelps and Pulaski Counties. Some of these have been 

 carefully explored recently, with interesting results. It is evident that 

 they were continuously occupied for a long period. In one, the ashes 



