XO. IO ARCHEOLOGY OF MIMBRES VALLEY FEWKES 5 



specimen from Fort Bayard bearing what is described as a fish 

 design. Dr. Hough likewise points out that 



pottery from some sites [ruins] is also different from that of any other 

 [Pueblo] region and is affiliated, in some respects, with that of the Casas 

 Grandes, in Chihuahua which lies in the low foot-hills of Sierra Madre. 

 This is especially true in reference to fragments of yellow ware found here 

 [the Florida Mountains] which in both form and color of decoration is mani 

 festly like that of Casas Grandes. 2 



The latest and thus far the most important contribution to our 

 knowledge of the prehistoric people of the Mimbres we owe to Mr. 

 C. L. Webster, who has published several articles on the antiquities of 

 the Upper Mimbres, in &quot; The Archaeological Bulletin.&quot; He has made 

 known several new village sites along the valley and has mentioned, 

 for the first time, details regarding Mimbres ruins and the objects 

 found in them. Practically nothing has thus far been recorded on 

 the antiquities of the region immediately about Deming, nor of those 

 south of that important railroad center to the Mexican border. 



In an article on &quot; Some Burial Customs Practiced by the Ancient 

 People of the Southwest,&quot; 3 Mr. Webster describes and figures a 

 human burial on the Lower Mimbres not far f-rom the &quot; Military 

 Post,&quot; situated near Oldtown. It was found in the plain some dis 

 tance from any indications of prehistoric settlement. He says : 



An exploration of it [a burial] revealed that originally a circular excavation, 

 perhaps three feet in diameter and slightly more in depth, had been made in 

 the ground ; and afterwards the body placed at the bottom of this excavation 

 in a sitting posture with the knees somewhat drawn up and arms to the side, 

 and then a very large earthen olla, of a reddish color, was set over it, bottom 

 side up, thus protecting it from the earth which was afterwards thrown in, 

 filling up the excavation. 



Mr. Webster shows that the Mimbres aborigines did not always 

 bury their dead in a contracted or seated posture. He speaks also of 

 intramural or house burials in the valley of Rio Sapillo, a tributary 

 of the Upper Gila, not far from the source of the Mimbres. In this 

 region he dug down in one of the central rooms of a ruin about three 

 feet below the surface, where he says (p. 73) : 



Near the bottom of this excavation hard red clay was encountered, which on 

 opening up proved to contain the well-preserved skeleton of an adult person 



1 Bull. 35, Bur. Amer. Ethn., p. 83. See also an article subsequently pub 

 lished on the Culture of the Ancient Pueblos of the Upper Gila River Region, 

 Bull. 87, 1913, U. S. National Museum, in which several bowls with geometrical 

 designs from Fort Bayard are figured. 



2 Bandelier found that Mimbres pottery resembles that of several regions, 

 including Casas Grandes. 



3 The Archaeological Bulletin, vol. 3, No. 3, p. 70. 



