22 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1921. 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY. 



The Chief of the Bureau of American Ethnology calls attention 

 to the desirability of increasing the membership of the staff in order 

 to meet the requirements of modern ethnological research. The 

 service that the bureau should render to the state is somewhat dif- 

 ferent from what it was when the bureau was organized by Maj. 

 Powell, its director. American ethnology of the future, having 

 passed its descriptive stage, will demand a synthetic comparative 

 treatment of the vast mass of facts accumulated in the last 25 years. 

 There is an urgent call for generalizations that will be immediately 

 useful to the community: and as there is an ever-growing interest 

 in the history of the Indians, the future of this science lies along 

 the line of the historical development and appreciation of pre- 

 historic culture. 



Nature has made the Rocky Mountains a vacation ground for the 

 people of this country who love mountain scenery, and parks and 

 monuments containing natural attractions are being set aside by 

 presidential proclamation and placed under the direction of the De- 

 partment of the Interior. One line of usefulness that ethnology can 

 follow is to turn the minds of our people to the educational value 

 of this area. 



The aim of the chief during the year has been to cover as fully 

 as possible with the funds available the comprehensive field of the 

 ethnology and archeology of the American Indian. This plan em- 

 braces the many aspects of the cultural life of the Indians, their 

 languages, dwellings, social and religious customs, music, mythology, 

 and ritual. In many cases it is urgent that this valuable material 

 be recorded immediately, as certain of the tribes are rapidly ap- 

 proaching extinction. It is the purpose of the chief to increase 

 as much as possible the field-work of the bureau, especially in the 

 branch of archeology, which is becoming more and more popular 

 as shown by the increasing demand for publications on this subject. 

 Researches were carried on during the year on the Algonquian In- 

 dians, the Iroquois, various members of the Muskhogean stock, 

 Kiowa, Pueblo, Osage, Pawnee, and others. Archeological explora- 

 tions were conducted in Texas, Missouri, Tennessee, Kentucky, Colo- 

 rado, New Mexico, and the Hawaiian Islands. 



Successful archeological field-work was accomplished by Dr. J. 

 Walter Fewkes on the Mesa Verde National Park, Colo. An ex- 

 tremely interesting ruin on which work was begun during the pre- 

 vious year was completely excavated and repaired. Owing to its 

 undoubted use in connection with the worship of fire by the Indians. 

 it was named Fire Temple. In Tennessee a number of prehistoric^ 

 mounds were excavated which yielded interesting and valuable data 



