68 



THE AM ERIC AX MUSE CM JOURNAL 



rated from it by broad stretches of low semi-desert or barren plains, across 

 which no living stream can reach. 



The river valley itself, or more pioperly its productive flood plain, varies 

 in width from almost nothing up to four and five miles, according as the 

 mountain ranges and occasional lava flows approach one another from oppo- 

 site sides of the stream. This flood plain, subject in part to inundations, 

 comprises close to 400,000 acres and is all of it suitable for irrigation. It 

 was doubtless this fact which made the Rio Grande valley relatively popu- 

 lous in prehistoric times. Our first definite knowledge of its inhabitants 



dates back to the year 

 1540 when the Coronado 

 expedition reported the 

 existence of about sev- 

 enty pueblos or villages 

 in the valley. At the 

 present day only seven- 

 teen villages of the old 

 type remain in the entire 

 Rio Grande drainage, 

 and several of these such 

 as Santo Domingo as well 

 as additional scattered 

 settlements near Las 

 Graces and at Ysleta del 

 Sur, are of modern origin. 

 From these facts it will 

 readily be seen how rich 

 the region must be in 

 archaeological data. 



Most of the ruins lo- 

 cated by the expedition 

 however are not situated 

 on the great river or the 

 lands described as most 

 suitable for cultivation 

 but to the east and the 

 west thirty or forty miles 

 away. It is conceded 

 that the Museum expe- 

 dition did not examine 

 all the ruins known to 

 exist close to the Rio 



Small bin for foodstuffs, built of stone slabs in the ,, . . . 



corner of a room, at Pueblo San Cristobal Grande; hilt it that had 



Ceiling and roof construction at Pueblo San Cristobal. 

 Over the timbers was placed a thicker layer of adobe 

 sufficient to shed the rains 



