628 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1910. 



and southwest of Mount Argaeus and Csesarea 1 Mazaca, overlooking 

 the Huyler and the valley of the Geureme in Cappadocia (pi. 8, fig. 1) . 

 Man}'', perhaps the majority, of these were the works of Christian 

 monks dating from the time of St. Basil. 



Many travelers have commented on resemblances in the geology 

 of Syria, Palestine, and the arid regions of our Southwest. In some 

 parts of Asia Minor we find the geological formations of Arizona; so 

 closely reproduced that one is amazed at the similarities. In one as 

 in the other there are regions of volcanic tufa eroded into fantastic 

 shapes. We should expect to find in countries the geological features 

 of which resemble each other so closely a similarity in human 

 habitations. 



This resemblance is evident in the cone dwellings near Martchan 

 and those of the Otowi, New Mexico (pi. 8, fig. 2). These cones are 

 geologically considered the last stages in the erosion of tufaceous 

 cliffs and, as would be expected, we find associated Avith them all stages 

 from the massive wall to a conical structure sometimes capped with 

 the harder lava rock which has preserved it. The whole region in the 

 neighborhood is volcanic in origin, and consists of a thick layer of 

 tufa overlaid with lava which is comparatively thin. This tufa can 

 be easily worked with primitive implements as stones or sticks; with 

 a little patience chambers of any size could be excavated in it. 

 Although some of the Asiatic excavations are 25 feet long by 13 feet 

 wide, they might be made in a single month by one industrious 

 workman. 



In the past centuries the tufa has been eroded into deep canyons 

 lined by cones often tipped by a lava cap 300 feet above the level of 

 the canj^on. In places the sides of these cones have been eroded, so as 

 to expose the chambers in their interiors that are now used for drying 

 grapes or other fruits. Ingress is generally by means of parallel 

 holes arranged in rows which, when the sides have been worn away, 

 are no longer visible. The rooms are commonly small, a fact that led 

 the older writers on the troglodytes to speak of them as a dwarfish 

 race, from which arose the supposition that the ancients knew of the 

 race of pygmies in Africa. This supposition, that the cave dwellers 

 are pygmies, 2 is world-wide in distribution, always due to the same 



1 Ciesarea was the home of Basil, the founder of the rule of St. Basil first accepted in 

 Cappadocia, as far back as the fourth century, but others date back to a much earlier 

 period. 



2 The most ancient sedentary people of New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado which 

 preceded the Pueblos lived in caves or pit rooms and practiced cremation. Their culture 

 center was in the neighborhood of the Rio Grande. Another stock which also cremated 

 their dead lived along the Gila and its tributaries. In early prehistoric times the Little 

 Colorado Valley from Zuni to the Great Colorado, including Hopi, was practically unin- 

 habited by sedentary people. Later it was peopled by colonists from these two cultural 

 centers, possibly a race largely composed of extra-Pueblo peoples that did not cremate 

 the dead. 



