NO. 2280. A PIT HOUSE VILLAGE IN NEW MEXICO-HOUGH. 429 



feldt, United States Army, has identified the remains of birds and 

 lists turkey, ha^Yk, and riiddv dnclc. 



The presence of buiiVlu i- iu line with the finding of the remains 

 of this animal in the Talaiosa cave, not far to the east of Luna,^ 

 and extends the former range of the buffalo westward. The finding 

 of the bones of the White Mountain elk also was anticipated, but 

 not a vestige was discovered, though Luna Valley is in the range of 

 this recently extinct animal. 



The presence of the duck is in consonance with the theory that 

 bodies of water may still have remained in the basins — now dry or 

 containing cienagas — at the time when the pit people lived in this 

 region. 



A comparison of the artifacts possessed by the Pit Dwellers and 

 by the peoples of normal pueblo type shows in a remarkable way 

 the simplicity of their life. No axes, hoes, or digging stones were 

 found; no large chipped objects; no pipes or cloud blowers; no 

 beads, shells, or turquoise; and no pottery figurines definitely pit 

 dweller — in contrast with the numerous specimens from the stone 

 ruins. 



Some points on the age of the Luna Pit Village were derived 

 from a study of the drainage and soil. The top soil is a rich brown 

 to black loam 1 foot thick, which also fills the pits. (See pis. 29 

 and 30.) The loam is believed to be a forest formation, and it is 

 thought that subsequent to the occupation by man the area was 

 covered with a heavy growth of pines. Excavations under pine 

 stumps show pottery, etc., 3 feet beneath the roots, which observation 

 may be taken for what it is worth. There are 50 dead and about 100 

 live trees on the area now. 



The culture of the Pit Dwellers was, from the evidence secured, 

 quite simple and much less advanced than that of the mountain 

 pueblos of stone construction, whose ruins are abundant in the 

 neighborhood. The culture is inferior to that of any of the sites 

 in the Southwest which the writer has investigated. This fact gives 

 necessarily the aspect of considerable antiquitj'^ to the remains, which 

 may or may not be justifiably deduced. Several circumstances sug- 

 gest a long inhabitation of this region, but present inconclusive evi- 

 dence. There are quasi indications of the presence of man in the 

 basin along the upper San Francisco River when these basins were 

 lakes. 



Another suggestion of age is given bj- the drainage. On the east 

 side of the pit village at Luna is a perennial stream of small volume 

 which lias cut a narrow, deep channel through the lacustrian allu- 

 vium. An abandoned course of the stream diverges from the present 

 course at a ledge of hard, white rock (andesite?), which is capped 



iHough, Bulletiu 87, U. S. National Museum, 1914, p. 5. 



