TWO ANCIENT INDIAN CULTURES IN EASTERN 



ARIZONA 



By frank H. H. ROBERTS, JR., 



Archcologisf, Bureau of Aiiicricaii Ethiwloyy 



Early developments in the unfolding- of the sedentary Indian cul- 

 tures of the prehistoric Southwest present a problem upon which con- 

 siderable archeological interest is centered at the present time. The 

 work of the last 25 years has done much to complete the portion of 

 the story which deals with the later stages, the periods of the great 

 communal houses and massive clitT-dwellings, but preceding chapters 

 are for the most part only outlined. In an effort to supply some of 

 the needed details the writer, assisted by Mr. J. A. Jeanc^'on, former 

 special archeologist for the Bureau of Ethnology, spent the field 

 season of 1929 conducting" excavations in eastern Arizona. The site 

 investigated is on the old Long H Ranch, between St. John's and 

 Houck, 40 miles west of the present Indian village of Zuiii. 



The locality presents several features of interest besides those of 

 a purely archeological nature. Close to the ranch houses, one half mile 

 from the ruins, are two small lakes to which the Ziu'ii attribute special 

 ceremonial significance. ( )ne is very salty and distinctly red in color 

 (fig. 168), while the other is only slightly salty and has a pronounced 

 green hue. Both were found to figure rather prominently in certain 

 of the Zuhi myths and the writer was informed that quadrennial 

 pilgrimages are made to them for the purpose of depositing prayer 

 plumes and offerings of turquoise. Around the borders of these lakes 

 are a number of fresh water springs which probably were an im- 

 portant factor in the choice of the location by the people whose house 

 and village remains attract the archeologist. 



Three miles south of the ruins investigated is a considerable group 

 of petrified logs, prol)ably an eastern outcropping- of the petrified for- 

 est which lies several miles farther west. Some of the logs, exposed 

 on the surface of the ground, are 50 feet long and from 4 to 5 feet in 

 diameter (fig. 169). In many instances the stone is brightly colored 

 and, judging from the many fragments found in the ruins and refuse 

 mounds, was extensively collected by the prehistoric settlers. Several 

 small ruins in the immediate vicinity show that the builders even 

 went so far as to use blocks of the petrified wood in erecting walls. 



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