ARCHEOLOGICAL FIELD WOKK IN ARIZONA. 303 



of the Southwest, and at present the dam is effective, this source of 

 water being the last to fail. Much of the present forlorn appearance 

 of the country is caused by range stock. 



The ruins, five in number, are located on sandy ridges from 1 to 2 

 miles apart. They exist as inconspicuous elevations and are very 

 difficult to find amidst the maze of ridges. All the ruins of the group 

 are rectangular in plan, the rows of houses surrounding a plaza the 

 entrance to which is from the east. There were no detached houses. 

 The largest ruin is typical of the group (Plate 23). It evidently had 

 a two-story house of large dimensions at the northeast corner. Judg- 

 ing by the amount of debris, the other houses of the village were one 

 story in height. A circle of stones lies to the southwest. 



The house-building material is coarse yellow Carboniferous sand- 

 stone laid in gypsum, which is abundant in the formations of this 

 region. Smooth floors of the same material and slab floors were 

 observed in some of the rooms. Beneath the corner of the high house 

 of Ruin 1 a number of small white quartz concretions had been placed, 

 apparently in dedication of the structure. 



The debris is sufficient to indicate the occupation of these villages 

 for a somewhat extended period, perhaps two generations. Bones of 

 antelope, deer, dog, wildcat, and rabbit were found in the debris. 



The cemeteries lie to the northeast of the village, close to the walls, 

 and contained numerous interments at a moderate depth, the bodies 

 laid at full length, generally to face the east. The grave of a child 

 containing several mortuary vessels was found under the floor of a 

 house. No grave slabs were discovered, and the burials near the walls 

 were poor in pottery. The character of the soil is such that no incrus- 

 tation of mineral matter was deposited, so that the specimens came out 

 in unusually good condition. Twenty-three crania and portions of 

 skeletons were collected. Though these ruins had been sacked, 1 was 

 able during part of three days to collect over 100 specimens, many of 

 which had been left as unimportant by the workmen, who only seek 

 the marketable pottery and trinkets. 



By good fortune the Bureau of American Ethnologj^ was able to 

 purchase from H. H. Scorse the valuable pottery previously collected 

 here and from two other localities north of Holbrook. Thanks to this 

 tliese specimens now in the National Museum supplement those col- 

 lected by the writer and will be described with them in the following 

 pages. 



Seventy per cent of the ware at McDonalds Canyon is black and 

 white, the "gray ware" so widespread in the Pueblo region, and the 

 remainder is of red and coiled ware. The gray pottery from McDonalds 

 Canyon presents some of the finest specimens of this ware in existence. 

 The bowls are large and perfect and the decoration forceful, showing 

 the touch of a master hand. The largest bowl (Plate 24, fig. 2) has a 



