GENERAL VIEW OF ARCHEOLOGY OF THE PUEBLO REGION. 589 



» 'f. Gila DraiiHKjc. 



Main valley from source to below I'lioiiix. 



Northern tributaries : Northern tributaries — Continued. 



The Verde. Beaver Creek. 



Oak Creek. Pine Creek. 



Clear Creek. The Salt. 



The East Verde. Cherry Creek. 



The Tonto. The Ciblcu. 



Canyon Creek. White Mountain Creek. 



The Carrizo. The Pinal. 



The Bonito. Eagle Creek. 



The San Carlos. The Blue. 



The San Francisco. Southern tributary : 



The Tularosa. The San Pedro. 



The Cottonwood. 



IV. Preservation. 



Present state. — The present state of preservation of the south- 

 Avestern ruins depends upon several conditions. Cliff dwellings, 

 because of their sheltered situation, are much better preserved than 

 pueblos in the open. Of the former class those of the excavated type 

 are naturally the best preserved, since in many of them there are no 

 artificial walls at all and deterioration occurs only with the falling 

 away of the natural rock. This form of deterioration does occur to 

 a destructive extent in many places and manifestly is not preventable, 

 but even in the absence of all protective measures thousands of speci- 

 mens of this class of domiciles would remain in a state of perfect 

 preservation for ages. The pueblo-like cliff' dwellings being situ- 

 ated inider heavy overhanging ledges are well protected from the 

 elements and unmolested would endure for centuries. But their 

 destruction seems to have been made the peculiar pastime of a cer- 

 tain class of human beings. The early explorers of the Mancos 

 Canyon would now find, in numy cases, unrecognizable heaps of stone 

 where thirty years ago were well-preserved structures. The excava- 

 tion of cliff' dwellings without due regard to the preservation of walls 

 shoidd be made a grave misdemeanor. The preservation of these 

 remains is now almost entirely a matter of i)r()tection from vandals, 

 since they are (luite perfectly sheltered from the elements. 



The ruins of pueblos are exposed not only to vandalism but also 

 to the constant destructive effects of the weather. In most cases the 

 buildings are almost totally destroyed, only small fragments of walls 

 remaining standing al)ove the debris. Xoted exceptions to this are 

 illustrated in accompanying plates. The height of walls bears littler 

 relation to the age of ruins. The diff'erence in the state of preser- 

 vation is due principally to the character of the material used in con- 

 struction and the degree of exposure to vandalism. In some cases 

 walls have been taken down by the settlers and the stones used in the 



