I02 



THE MUSEUM 



the rocks near the hon. Imagine our 

 surprise when, with loud squawking, 

 an old goose flopped down off the cliff 

 and settled in the river below. This 

 was evidence enough that a nest was 

 somewhere near, and a climb along 

 the ledge began — resulting in our find- 

 ing a nest containing five eggs in an 

 advanced state of incubation. With 

 much difficulty the camera was brought 

 up and three snaps made of the nest 

 (only one of which proved goodj 



Now, can anyone tell me how Mad- 

 ame Goose was going to get her gos- 

 lings down in safety from their ex- 

 tremely elevated home.' Unthinking- 

 ly I took the eggs home for my col- 

 lection, instead of leaving them to be 

 hatched out — which would have ena- 

 bled me to have solved the mystery 

 with respect to the safe removal of 

 those youngsters to their native ele- 

 ment. 



Prehistoric Ruins in Arizona. 



While the ruins in the Salt River 

 Valley are not so often heard of, per- 

 haps, as Casa Grande (in tne Gila Val- 

 ley) or Montezuma's Castle (on Beaver 

 Creek), they are none the less inter- 

 esting to the student of Archaeology. 



There are seven important groups 

 of ruins in this valley, besides a num- 

 ber of smaller ones They are all sit- 

 uated within a ladius of twenty miles 

 from the city of Phcenix. 



Each of these groups contain two 

 temples (.'') ruins. One of these is el- 

 liptical in shape, and Mr. Frank H. 

 Gushing, who was in this Valley some 

 eight or nine years ago, says these are 

 Sun Templts They are often called 

 reservoirs by tlie tourists and others 

 who visit the ruin-;. They are not the 

 ruins of reservoirs as the ancients had 

 numerous canals which brought the 

 waters of the Rio Salado to their lan<l, 

 and they would, without a doubt, pre- 

 fer this water to that from reservoirs. 



The other are rectangular in foim, 

 and are, as a rule, the largest ruins in 



the group. Specimens are not often 

 found in these temple ruins, but when 

 one is found, it is a valuable one to 

 the Aichffiologist. 



I have never found any entire pot-^ 

 tery in the ruins in which the people 

 are supposed to have lived. When 

 excavating one of these ruins, I find, 

 after a little surface dirt has been re- 

 moved, a layer of chunks of hard dirt, 

 some of which is from the walls, and 

 some from the roof. That from the 

 roof is imprinted with sticks. After 

 this is removed a layer of ashes and 

 charcoal is enconntered. This is but 

 a few inches in thickness. Charred 

 corn cobs, often with the grains of 

 corn still sticking to the cob, are fre- 

 quently found in these ashes and on 

 the floor. I have been told that char- 

 red bread (.') was found in a ruin not 

 far from Tempe. 



When this layer of ashes and char- 

 coal is removed, the hard dirt floor is 

 brought to light. Many fragments of 

 pottery, a few of them decorated are 

 found on the floor. 



The homes of these people appear 

 to have been destroyed by fire. Find- 

 ing the ashes and charcoal prove this: 

 the roof was of brush covered with 

 dirt. 



I fear that I have made this article 

 too long for publication so I will close, 

 hoping to have the pleasure of writing 

 again sometime for The Museum. 



Burt Ogburn. 



