380 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1945 



sheik bespeaks the compassion of Allah in the matter of the failing 

 desert spring. 



The crude methods of conserving water for domestic and agricultural 

 use employed by present-day Pueblo Indians of the arid southwestern 

 United States are a matter of common knowledge. Natural springs 

 and water holes are seasonal sources; rivers which carry water through 

 the year serve those living adjacent thereto; but by far the greater 

 number of inhabitants must conserve rainfall and storm water from 

 the mountains and the high mesas in natural depressions, converted 

 into reservoirs by means of dams and other artificial modifications. 

 While in some instances ditches lead from these to nearby fields and 

 gardens, the Indian women usually must carry water in jars for hand- 

 irrigation of their meager crops. Archeological investigation has 

 shown that, with few exceptions, surprisingly similar methods were 

 emplo3 r ed in prehistoric times in the same general area. 



This paper, however, is concerned with the historic aspects of 

 irrigation only as a frame or background for an even more romantic 

 phenomenon — prehistoric irrigation in the New World ! 



Although a matter of record, it is not generally known that in south- 

 central Arizona, long before the discovery of America, the native 

 aborigines had perfected an impressive system of irrigation, which 

 made possible the successful practice of agriculture over a period of 

 several centuries. This system has been referred to as a "million- 

 dollar project, constructed with nothing more than rude stone hoes 

 and wooden digging sticks." 



Residents of Ohio and adjacent parts of the Middle West, where 

 the civilization of the so-called Mound Builders has been made known 

 through exploration of their ancient tumuli, may not find this so 

 incredible; but to many persons, accustomed to thinking of all pre- 

 historic peoples as mere savages, the phenomenon is certain to be some- 

 thing of a surprise. 



A glance at the map of the southwestern United States will serve 

 to set the stage for the human drama which now unfolds itself. It will 

 be noted that the State of Arizona, youngest of the American common- 

 wealths, is bounded on the north by Utah and Colorado; to the east is 

 New Mexico, and to the south is old Mexico. The great Colorado 

 River, beyond which is California, forms Arizona's western boundary. 



Traversing the State from northwest to southeast are southern ex- 

 tensions of the Rockies, and the high plateau where today live the 

 Pueblo Indians and where in ancient times lived their predecessors, the 

 prehistoric Pueblos and the so-called Basket Makers. To the west 

 and south of the mountains is the Arizona desert region of scant rain- 

 fall, where, because of its much lower altitude, relatively high temper- 

 atures prevail. 



