

ARCHEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS IN NEW MEXICO, 

 COLORADO, AND UTAH 



BY J. WALTER FEWKES 

 (WITH 14 PLATES) 



INTRODUCTION 



During the year 1916 the author spent five months in archeological 

 investigations in New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah, three of these 

 months being given to intensive work on the Mesa Verde National 

 Park in Colorado. An account of the result of the Mesa Verde work 

 will appear in the Smithsonian Annual Report for 1916, under the 

 title &quot; A Prehistoric Mesa Verde Pueblo and Its People.&quot; What was 

 accomplished in June and October, 1916, before and after the work 

 at the Mesa Verde, is here recorded. 



As archeological work in the Southwest progresses, it becomes 

 more and more evident that we can not solve the many problems it 

 presents until we know more about the general distribution of ruins, 

 and the characteristic forms peculiar to different geographical locali 

 ties. Most of the results thus far accomplished are admirable, though 

 limited to a few regions, while many extensive areas have as yet not 

 been explored by the archeologist and the types of architecture 

 peculiar to these unexplored areas remain unknown. Here we need 

 a reconnoissance followed by intensive work to supplement what 

 has already been done. The following pages contain an account 

 of what might be called archeological scouting in New Mexico and 

 Utah. While the matter here presented may not shed much light 

 on general archeology, it is, nevertheless, a contribution to our knowl 

 edge of the prehistoric human inhabitants of our country. Primarily 

 it treats of aboriginal architecture. 



The author spent two months in searching for undescribed build 

 ings concerning some of which comparatively nothing was known. 

 During June, 1916, headquarters were made at Gallup, New Mexico : 

 the Utah ruins, new to science, were visited from the Indian agency 

 at Ouray, Utah. 



The plan of operations in these two fields was somewhat different. 

 The work in New Mexico was an attempt to verify existing legends 



SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS, VOL. 68, No. 1 



