142 MEMOIRS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



The specimens of human bones thus obtained were carefully packed and forwarded to the 

 Army Medical Museum, and after having been repaired and put in the best possible form, were 

 examined and measured by Dr. Matthews, and his report of the results is herewith presented by 

 authority of the Surgeon-General. 



JOHN S. BILLINGS, 

 Surgeon, U. 8. Army, Curator Army Medical Museum. 



INTRODUCTION. 



When we began the study of the bones described in this work we had reason to hope that a 

 full general account of the expedition on which they were discovered, with its archaeological labors 

 and achievements, would be published simultaneously with, or in advance of, this report; in which 

 case we should have embodied in this essay the results of our antliropometric studies only. But 

 the continued illness of the director of the expedition, Mr. Frank Hamilton Gushing, has caused 

 the indefinite postponement of the preparation of a general report, and we consequently have 

 considered it advisable to present here a short introduction, setting forth the inception, objects, 

 and results of that scholarly enterprise, short-lived, but fruitful in its results, which was known as 

 the Hemenway Southwestern Archaeological Expedition. 



Along the great cordillera of the American Continent on both sides of the equator, through 

 75 of latitude, from Wyoming to Chile, extends a land abounding in ancient ruins. 



A large part of this land of ruins lies within fche boundaries of the United States. It contains 

 the Territory of Arizona, most of Utah, more than half of New Mexico, extensive parts of the 

 States of Colorado and Nevada, with small portions of Texas, and, perhaps, of California. Its 

 precise boundaries are not known, for on its outskirts there is much wild and imperfectly explored 

 country where the existence of ruins can neither be affirmed nor denied. Its approximate 

 boundaries are: On the east, longitude 28 west (from Washington) ; on the west, longitude 38 

 west; on the north, latitude 41 north, and on the south the northern boundary of the republic of 

 Mexico, 31.20 to 32 N. L. It covers about 400,000 square miles. 



The great rivers which drain it into the ocean are the Colorado on the west and the Rio 

 Grande on the east; the former flowing toward the Pacific, the latter toward the Atlantic. But 

 much of the rain which falls on its surface does not reach the ocean; some is received in salty 

 lakes which have no outlets; some goes to form streams which reach the great rivers only in 

 seasons of abundant rain, but which at other times after a brief course are absorbed by desert 

 sands. It is an arid region, but not an absolute desert such as Gobi and Sahara. There is no 

 part of it where rain does not fall some time during every year; but it is on the high mountains 

 only that it descends abundantly; on the lower levels the precipitation of moisture is scanty, the 

 dry seasons are long, and irrigation is essential to success in agriculture. 



It has long been known that there were ruins in this arid region of the southwest. The 

 earliest travelers, beginning with the Spanish conquerors of A. D. 1540, make mention of them, 

 and their existence is noted in the reports of various military expeditions and public surveys 

 which have entered this region since it was acquired by the United States from Mexico in 1848. 

 The ruins have been known to the world for three centuries and a half; they have been in the 

 possession of the United States for over forty years, yet it is only within the past four years (since 

 April, 1887) that any attempt at systematic excavation has been made among them. In many of 

 the better preserved ruins those portions which remained above the ground had been sketched, 

 lithographed, photographed, engraved, surveyed, measured, modeled, and described, but the 

 surface of the grourd around and within them had not been broken. This method of examining 

 them remained for the Hemenway Expedition to initiate. 



The reasons for this tardiness on the part of our archaeologists are numerous. This land of 

 ruins was until recently wild, barren, and difficult of access; it was held largely by tribes of 

 hostile Indians who to this day are not perfectly subdued. It is only within the last decade that 



