MAMMAL REMAINS FROM TWO PREHISTORIC VILLAGE 

 SITES IN NEW MEXICO AND ARIZONA. 



By Marcus Ward Lyon, Jr., 



Assistant Curator, Division of Mammals, U. S. National Museum. 



While conducting the iield work of the Museum-Gates expedition of 

 1905, Dr. Walter Hough secured fragments of various mammals from 

 two ancient village sites in New Mexico and Arizona. Among them 

 are bison and marmot remains, which considerably extend the known 

 range of these two animals. 



The larger and more interesting lot was collected in a cave on the 

 upper Tularosa River, in western Socoi'ro Count}-, near Joseph, New 

 Mexico. Doctor Hough writes concerning the caves and the remains 

 found in it, as follows: 



The cavern is situated in a bluff of yellow conglomeratic tufa resembling sand- 

 stone, capping a steep slope about 250 feet above the river. Beneath the overhang 

 and masking the cave were formerly four houses built of rubble. These had been 

 crushed by falls from the cliff and buried under a ridge of debris which almost 

 closed the entrance. The cave is about 30 feet deep, 11 high, and 8 wide, and was 

 filled to within a short distance of the roof with droppings of animals containing 

 layers of various rejects from the houses. The bison bones were found deep in this 

 mass; one cannon bone, showing traces of fire, was taken out below the 6-foot layer. 



Of the smaller and second collection, Doctor Hough says: 

 The animal bones of the second collection came from Blue, Graham County, east- 

 ern Arizona. They were obtained in the debris removed during the excavation of 

 an ancient pueblo near that place. 

 Blue is situated in a long, deep canyon, at an altitude of about 7,000 feet. 



LIST OF MAMMAL REMAINS PROM THE C.WE OX THE UPPER TULAROSA RIVER, NEW 



MEXICO. 



Dee7' {Odocoileus 8]).). — Fragments of nearly all parts of the skel- 

 eton of one or more species of deer were found to be common. The}' 

 are too small and not sufficiently characteristic to enable me to deter- 

 mine the species, but probably represent forms of the white-tailed 

 deer and of the mule deer. 



Pronghorn {Antllocapra americana (Ord)). — Skin of a young indi- 

 vidual and fragment of the skin of an adult. 



Proceedings U. S. National Museum, Vol. XXXI— No. 1500. 



647 



