64 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



ago hardly anything was known about the archaeological wealth of the region ; 

 and while since then many surveys and excavations have been made, there 

 are still localities in which exist many ruins more or less well known, which 

 have never been seen by any archaeologist. One such locality is the Rio 

 Grande drainage in the state of New Mexico or that part of the drainage 

 ranging from the Jemez Mountains south to the Mexican boundary. It 

 was to this area that the Museum's Southwest expedition gave its attention 

 for six months of 1912. 1 



The field work began at Ysleta del Sur, a few miles below El Paso, Texas, 

 and the advance was made up the valley chiefly by short railroad journeys. 

 From most of the numerous stops, side trips east and west were taken on 

 horseback or by wagon as conditions favored. Lack of time and the ex- 

 tremely swollen condition of the river impeded the work. Nevertheless at 

 the end of five weeks when the Cochiti Canon in the latitude of Santa Fe 

 was reached, the location of one hundred and fifteen archaeological sites 

 had been ascertained, these comprising caves, rock-shelters, camp sites, 

 mescal pits, cemeteries and petroglyphs as well as extensive ruins. 



The region under consideration is eminently suited to have furthered the 

 advance of a primitive culture in prehistoric times. The Rio Grande from 

 the mouth of Santa Fe Creek where it emerges on its first considerable 

 flood plain, takes a moderately sinuous course almost due south to El Paso. 

 Throughout this three-hundied-mile stretch, the river receives numerous, 

 mostly minor, tributaries, especially from the generally higher and more 

 broken country which tends to crowd it along the west side. On the east 

 there are only two or three affluents, all well to the north, the most impor- 

 tant being Galisteo Creek. The dearth of tributary streams here is due to 

 the fact that the mountain ranges paralleling the river are either very close 

 to the stream as in the case of the Caballos and Sandia ranges, or aie sepa- 



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Beginning to clear the ruins of a two story house of prehistoric date at Pueblo San 

 Crist6bal 



1 Previous to the work in the Rio Grande valley, the expedition made brief visits to the 

 well-known Casa Grande ruins near Phoenix, Arizona, and to Bisbee close to the Mexican 

 boundary, where through the kindness of Mr. Cleveland H. Dodge, one of the trustees of the 

 American Museum, some interesting petroglyphs were examined 



