226 Kansas Academy of Science. 



the adjacent ground cultivated. Scattered over this field are 

 found remains of pottery, flint chips and shells very similar 

 in character to the specimens of the material taken from the 

 ruins on the south side of the creek. A crushing-stone for a 

 stone mill, almost an exact counterpart of the one found in 

 mound No. 12 and described in the details of that place, was 

 picked up here. Parts of teepee-poles, in a state of fair pres- 

 ervation, lie about the field. This space occupies about twenty 

 acres of ground. 



As in the case of other remains found in this country whose 

 exact origin is unknown, the prevailing opinion has been to 

 ascribe to the ''buried city" a greater age than the evidences 

 will warrant, and to relegate them to the works of antiquity. 

 As yet nothing has been discovered to indicate an age greater 

 than a few centuries, and the probable age is much less. This 

 estimate is based on the character of the remains, their state 

 of preservation and the depth at which they were found. The 

 pottery and flints can with certainty be identified as those of 

 the Plains Indians. The bones found in the mounds, while 

 badly decayed for the most part, in some cases are fairly 

 well preserved. Making all allowance possible for the climatic 

 conditions in this section, which tend to prevent decay, their 

 age could not be greater than that assigned. The depth at 

 which they are found, generally from one to two feet below 

 the surface, indicates but little deposit of material on these 

 ruins. The erosion in this section of the country is very 

 rapid, and the situation of the mounds at the very base of the 

 talus slope renders the site exposed to the deposition of the 

 soil from this source. 



Either of two theories has generally been accepted to ac- 

 count for the origin of the ruins. According to one they are 

 considered the work of prehistoric Aztecs; the other holds 

 them to be the remains of camps left by early Spanish ex- 

 plorers. In considering the first enough has been said con- 

 cerning the age to prove the impossibility of the antiquity 

 that it ascribes. But as some will insist that the Indian re- 

 mains found may not have any connection with the stone 

 ruins, additional argument will be given. This region is far- 

 ther east than the remains of the Pueblos, the nearest of liv- 

 ing tribes allied to the Aztec, although it must be admitted 

 that it is the borderland between these on the west and the 

 Plains Indians on the east. But the strongest proof against 



