22 ANNUAL BEPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1915. 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY. 



The field work of the Bureau of American Ethnology during the 

 last year resulted in the accumulation of a large amount of im- 

 portant data relating in particular to the early inhabitants of the 

 western and southwestern portions of the United States. There was 

 also brought together a great deal of material bearing on the habits, 

 customs, beliefs, institutions, ceremonies, and languages of vanishing 

 tribes of Indians throughout the country. The report of the ethnolo- 

 gist-in-charge, appended hereto, reviews in detail many lines of sys- 

 tematic research now being conducted by the bureau. Among these 

 I may note interesting explorations in New Mexico and Utah among 

 ancient village sites which appear characteristic of peoples prob- 

 ably of a considerable earlier period than those heretofore known 

 from those regions. Ancient earthenware collected by Dr. Fewkes 

 in such sites in the lower Mimbres Valley in New Mexico bear deco- 

 rations of animals and geometric designs in some measure resembling 

 certain ancient paintings on the walls of caves in France. In south- 

 ern Arizona are some extensive aboriginal ruins awaiting investiga- 

 tion, which bid fair to add much to our knowledge of the early in- 

 habitants of that region. 



Among documents preserved in the Santa Ines Mission in Califor- 

 nia there has been brought to light an old manuscript of special in- 

 terest in connection with the study of the former Chumash Indians, 

 and a complete copy of the manuscript has been made for the use of 

 the bureau. 



Special researches have been in progress for some years in the 

 preparation of several series of handbooks relating to American In- 

 dians. One of these series, devoted to Indian languages, is in course 

 of publication, the first volume already having been issued, under 

 the editorship of Dr. Franz Boas. A Handbook of American An- 

 tiquities, the first part of which will soon be ready for the printer, 

 is being prepared by Mr. W. H. Holmes. The " Handbook of Ameri- 

 can Indians North of Mexico," published some years ago, has had 

 several reprintings, and the public demand for it still continues. A 

 handbook in course of preparation is devoted to Aboriginal Remains 

 East of the Mississippi. 



There had been such doubt and discussion as to the probable age 

 of certain Indian mounds in northeastern Kansas and southeastern 

 Nebraska that it seemed important for a representative of the bureau 

 to make an investigation of the facts in the case. This task was 

 undertaken by Mr. Gerard Fowke. His report indicates that instead 

 of dating back many thousands of years, as some had claimed, " it is 

 safe to say that no earthwork, mound, lodge site, or human bones 

 along this part of the Missouri River has been here as long as 10 

 centuries." 



