W. ,1. HOFFMAN.— ANTIQUITIES OF NFW MEXICO AND ARIZONA. 113 



Then again, the discovery of human remains and relics of art, found 

 at varying- depths in the soil, present every indication of considerable 

 age. 



The most interesting discovery is that of a skull found several years 

 since in the Chaco Canon, N. M., fourteen feet below the surface.* 

 The canon is about 500 yards broad at the point under consideration, 

 the bed consisting of alluvium. Ten large ruined pueblos are located 

 in the valley occupying about ten miles from first to last. At the 

 time of building there was a stream of water which has since disap- 

 peared, but has left a narrow deep channel, varying from six to six- 

 teen feet in depth, exposing to view the horizontal strata of alluvial 

 'deposits composuig the soil. Nearly opposite Pueblo Bonito the cut 

 has exposed a stratum of gravel and broken potteiy in which the 

 skull was found. On the opposite side of the gorge, and above the 



lished in the Rcricw is illustrated by cuts, showing how the houses might 

 have heen constructed, &c. "Upon the crests of tlip walls were the sites of 

 the houses.' He manifestly refers to the dwelling-places of the Pimos, Man- 

 dans, i&c, and assumes that the ^[ouud Builders constructed their mural 

 works for identically similar purposes. He further maintains ' that the 

 tribes who constructed the earthworks of the Ohio Valley were American 

 Indians ; no other assumption is tenable.' He refers to them as "Village In- 

 dians,' and his fanciful picture of a restored village is odd enough." 



" He describes the readiness with which a communal dwelling could be 

 built — bj' inclining poles against the sides and securing them at the top. 

 The house is divided into several rooms, to suit tlieir communal customs ; 

 these apartments are occupied by separate families; a space for fire is ar- 

 ranged at intervals in a hall running the entire length, to accommodate the 

 necessities of four apartments." 



" In answer to this fallacious theory, it may be only necessary to say that, 

 if true, we should be able to find at intervals in the embankments ashes, 

 charcoal, kitchen refuse, etc. IS'ot a single instance is upon record of such 

 discovery where walls have been carefully taken down for economic uses, as 

 at Marietta, Circleville, Columbus and elsewhere, where the material was 

 used in manufacturing brick, &c. In some places the earthworks had been 

 used for burial purposes, as at Fort Ancient." 



The circular dwellings of the Pimas frequently, and as far as my personal 

 observation extended, generally had an embankment of earth and sand piled 

 around and against them, to strengthen the fundamental support, and to pre- 

 vent the water from entering diu'ing rains, thus acting as a barrier. Should 

 one of these houses be in any way destroyed, what would indicate its former 

 existence? Nothing but a circular embankment, though less in extent than 

 most of those of the Ohio Valley; but in them would exist the remains of a 

 hearth, its accompaniment of charcoal, ashes, broken pottery, etc., etc. The 

 same thing, on a still smaller scale, can be seen after the destruction of a hut 

 behmging to a miner, or a charcoal burner; instances being common where 

 mud and turf has been piled against the outside walls as high as the roof, 

 and examples of which can be seen in a settlement of railroad builders most 

 any time. 



* Described and figured bj- the writer in the Tenth Ann. Rep. U. S. Geol. 

 and Geog. Survey of the Terr, for 1876. 



[Pi-oc. D. A.N. S.. Vol. III.] 15 [April 14, 1881.] 



