﻿NO. lO SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, I923 Jl 



pottery, ornaments, and implements do not serve as a safe means of 

 distinction between the several tribes. Any differences which existed 

 were nullified by the constant intercommunication and intermarriage 

 between members of the neighboring villages. It is also doubtful 

 whether much can be deduced from the arrangement of the lodges in 

 the villages. 



The physical type of the region is likewise quite uniform, with 

 the result that the skeletal remains of the inhabitants themselves tell 

 but little. The best means of distinguishing between the occupants of 

 the various villages is in the manner of disposal of the dead. The 

 Mandan, the Hidatsa, and the Cheyenne practised exposure of the 

 dead on scaffolds with usually secondary burial of the bones. The 

 Arikara and the Arapaho buried the dead directly. 



Excavations in the four sites which were worked were carried on 

 in the refuse mounds, cache pits, house rings, and cemeteries. An 

 extensive archeological collection was made consisting of pottery, 

 implements and ornaments of bone and stone, and a good many ob- 

 jects of European manufacture from the historic Arikara site. An 

 interesting discovery was a number of glass beads, pendants, and other 

 ornaments of native manufacture. This art, the origin of which is 

 a mystery, was described as practised by the Mandan and Arikara by 

 Lewis and Clark in 1804, but examples of it in collections have been 

 extremely rare. 



A large collection of skeletal material w'as made, representing no 

 individuals, filling an important gap which has heretofore existed 

 in the collection of the division of physical anthropology. 



The region has by no means been exhausted, and a number of sites 

 yet remain to be positively identified. 



ARCHEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS AT PUEBLO BONITO. 

 NEW ^lEXICO 



During the spring and summer months of 1923, Mr. Neil M. Judd, 

 curator of American archeology. United States National Museum, 

 continued his investigation of prehistoric Pueblo Bonito ' under the 

 auspices of the National Geographic Society. As heretofore. 

 Mr. Judd's staff" consisted of several trained assistants ; 27 Navaho 

 and Zuhi Indians were employed for the actual work of excavation. 



During the explorations of 1921 and 1922, the expedition devoted 

 its efforts primarily to excavating the eastern portion of Pueblo 

 Bonito. In this area is to be found the finest type of prehistoric 



^ Smithsonian Misc. Coll., Vol. 7J, Nos. 6 and 15 ; Vol. 74, No. 5. 



