NO. 10 ARCHEOLOGY OF MIMBRES VALLEY — FEWKES I3 



PREHISTORIC SITE NEAR BLACK MOUNTAIN 



Walls and outlines of rooms indicated by rows of stones mark 

 remains of a prehistoric settlement at the base of Black Mountain, 

 eight or nine miles northwest from Deming. Here occur many frag- 

 ments of pottery, broken metates, and manos, and other indications 

 of occupation by man. On top of Black Mountain there are rude 

 cairns or rings of stones apparently placed there by human hands. 



The fragments of pottery taken from the ruin at the base of Black 

 Mountain are very different from those from Oldtown and other 

 typical Mimbres ruins. Its color on the outside is red, with a white 

 interior surface decorated with black geometric designs, the border 

 is flaring often with exceptional exterior decoration. These bowls 

 have broken encircling lines — a feature yet to be found in other 

 Mimbres pottery — and none of the few pieces yet obtained from the 

 ruin near Black Mountain has animal pictures. The whole appear- 

 ance of this pottery recalls old Gila ware and suggests an intrusion 

 from without the Mimbres region, possibly from the north and west. 



The circles of stones on the top of Black Mountain have many 

 points of resemblance to similar structures on hilltops near S warts' 

 Ranch on the Upper Mimbres, described by Mr. Webster, as fol- 

 lows : ^ 



The tops of nearly all the mountains of this valley, and particularly those 

 here mapped, are occupied by hundreds of rock mounds, breastworks, pits, etc. 

 The region shown in plate 3, and which represents an area about one mile in 



length and three-fourths mile in width, exhibits 240 of these structures 



These rock mounds are composed of more or less rounded rocks gathered from 

 the region, and generally weighing from four to eight pounds each ; although 

 many are smaller : and again others weigh from twenty-five to fifty pounds 

 or more each. These sti actures are generally circular : although at times they 

 are ovate, and again assume an oblong or linear marginal outline. They vary 

 considerably in size, although usually being only from three to four feet in 

 diameter : the linear ones being from six to eight feet or more in length. Some 

 of the larger circular mounds assume a diameter of seven to eight feet. The 

 height of these mounds varies considerably ; but as a rule assume a height rang- 

 ing from one to one and a half feet. 



The distance apart of these structures is variable; being as a general thing 

 from five to fifteen feet ; but not infrequently they are only two to four feet 

 apart: at other times, however, they may be observed to be from sixty to 

 ninety feet or more distant from each other. 



^ Archaeological and Ethnological Researches in Southwestern New Mexico, 

 Part 2, Ruin, Ancient Work Shop, Rock Mounds, etc., at S warts' Ranch. (The 

 Archaeological Bulletin, vol. 4, No. i, p. 14, 1913-) 



