REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 69 



A building was uncovered in the center of which was an altar 

 filled with the pure white ashes of the ancient perpetual fire. The 

 neighboring buildings were dwellings with fire beds used for do- 

 mestic cooking. Stone metates, mullers, and other utensils used for 

 household purposes were likewise found on the floors of these rooms. 



Mr. Myer also explored an unnamed group of five mounds and a 

 surrounding village site at Boiling Spring Academy in Williamson 

 County, Tenn. At the request of many citizens of Tennessee he gave 

 this the name of Fewkes Group in honor of Dr. J. Walter Fewkes, 

 Chief of the Bureau of American Ethnology, who had visited the site, 

 recognized its importance, and caused it to be explored. 



Archeological field-work was carried on by Prof. J. E. Pearce, of 

 the University of Texas, in cooperation with the bureau. The area 

 examined is situated in the vicinity of the city of Athens, in Hender- 

 son County, and during this work Prof. Pearce received many cour- 

 tesies from Judge A. B. Watkins, who has long manifested an inter- 

 est in the archeology of the region. Prof. Pearce finds that the east- 

 ern Texas region contains numerous mounds, village sites, and burial 

 places, the objects from which are quite different from those found 

 in the central and western portions of Texas. Three interesting 

 mounds on the Morrall farm, 4 miles east of Cherokee County, were 

 investigated. The highest of these mounds measures 80 feet across 

 the base and 45 feet above the level of the base. The second mound 

 is 180 feet long by 75 feet wide, but is only 15 feet high. Most of the 

 mounds in the neighborhood of Athens have been plowed over and 

 have no regularity in form. Several mounds situated in Harrison 

 County, particularly those on the farm of Mr. Lane Mitchell, of 

 Marshall, were examined and remains of earth lodges discovered, in 

 the floor of which are central fire pits. These are probably recent. 

 Numerous other sites were explored, yielding collections of pottery, 

 stone implements, and other objects illustrating the life of the pre- 

 historic aborigines of eastern Texas. Everything found implies that 

 the Indians of this region lived in settled villages, were agricultur- 

 ists, and made pottery of a high grade of excellence. Their culture 

 was higher than that of the Indians who occupied the central region 

 of Texas, investigated in 1919. 



With a small allotment, Mr. J. A. Jeancon carried on important 

 archeological work on a ruin at Llano, near Rancho de Taos, N. Mex., 

 and obtained a valuable collection from a locality not represented in 

 the Museum. 



The architectural features and relations of the kiva and secular 

 rooms of this ruin recall those of the cliff dwellings and pueblos of 

 the Mesa Verde. The circular subterranean kiva that was excavated 

 proved to be almost identical with a typical Mesa Verde kiva, veri- 



