NO. 12 ARCHEOLOGY OF TAOS VALLEY — JEANgON 9 



degree of regularity. Even after the many years that the walls have 

 been buried, the mixture of which they are made becomes very hard 

 when exposed to the air for a few days. The average thickness of 

 walls in the ruins was twelve inches. It is impossible at this time even 

 to approximate the height. 



Large Mound 



The large mound (pi. 2, A), located about 300 feet approximately 

 east of the smaller one, gave the appearance before excavation of 

 having been a two- or possibly three-storied building. This was 

 found, however, not to be the case, the height of the mound being 

 due to the fact that the ruin excavated had been a secondary structure 

 built on the debris of an earlier one. No attempt was made to estab- 

 lish the outlines of the first occupation, except at five or six places 

 where they were accidentally encountered. The whole mound was cov- 

 ered with a thin deposit of very black loam containing many quartzite 

 pebbles, and supporting a very heavy growth of sage-brush which had 

 to be cleared before the work of excavating could be commenced. The 

 mound was entered from the south central end ; the dirt was thrown 

 out by hand and afterwards moved to the base of the mound by a 

 scraper drawn by two horses. The whole surface of the mound was 

 scraped until the walls appeared, at a depth varying from six to eight- 

 een inches. Very little wind-blown sand from the mesas or valleys 

 appeared in the dirt, and most of the debris removed was from de- 

 cayed wall material. Even near the floors there was almost no wind- 

 blown sand, indicating that the ruin did not stand empty long before 

 it collapsed. The noticeable absence in many places of roof material, 

 either charred or semi-decayed, gave rise to a supposition that possibly 

 the second building was never completed and had not been roofed 

 over. In some places, however, there was a lot of charred material 

 and it is possible that where such was not found, the roof had been 

 completely destroyed by fire and the remaining ashes had become so 

 thoroughly mixed with deteriorated wall material that they could not 

 be distinguished. In some rooms there were the charred remains of 

 upright poles which indicated, despite the absence of roof material 

 in any form, that the room had actually been finished and covered 

 over. These upright poles were located in the center of the room, the 

 only exception occurring in room 6 where the post was in the south- 

 east corner. In the kiva were the remains of two upright cedar posts, 

 and two openings in the floor where others had stood. The existence 

 of the latter was shown in the adobe lining of the holes where decayed 



