RUINS OF PREHISTORIC NEW MEXICO 



73 



miles to the northwest. The excavated ruins, such as Tanos and San Cris- 

 tobal, are situated on these tributary streams and are arranged in such a 

 way as to enclose a roughly oval stretch of territory about eight or ten miles 

 in diameter — the Galisteo Basin. The ruins normally do not lie in the 

 open basin, but immediately beyond its borders, a short distance .up the 

 canons, penetrating the surrounding mesas and low-timbered hills. Vari- 

 ous common sense reasons for the choice of site are usually apparent, such 

 as shelter, the presence of building material, timber and water. Doubtless 

 the element of defence against marauding enemies played a part although 

 it is not clearly apparent in some cases. 1 



The Galisteo pueblos resemble those observed elsewhere in the Rio 

 Grande drainage. They represent villages of the well-known communistic 

 type, consisting of a series of buildings arranged at right angles in such a way 

 as to form one or more enclosed courts or plazas. Within these enclosures 

 are usually found traces of a circular and semi-subterranean structure, 

 known as a kiva or estufa, and in fact a sort of underground house used in 



part for ceremonial pur- 

 poses to the present day 

 by the remaining Pueblo 

 Indians along the Rio 

 Grande. The ruins are 

 those of large towns cov- 

 ering an area from three 

 to ten acres in extent and 

 appearing to-day in the 

 form of well-marked 

 iidges representing col- 

 lapsed two and three 

 story houses, invariably 

 covered with a heavy 

 growth of cacti. Close 

 to the ruins are usually 

 found one or more refuse 

 heaps made up of ashes, 

 animal bones, lost and 

 discarded as well as 

 broken artifacts, and a 

 large number of human 



Remains of Spanish mission church at Pueblo San burials. The sites are 

 Cristobal. Built probably during the first half of the . _. 



seventeenth century and abandoned in 1680 characterized moreover 



i It should be stated also that four of the excavated pueblos are located on the large 

 estate of Mr. B. F. Pankey of Santa Fe, to whose generous treatment the expedition owes 

 much. 



