hewett] 



ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEMEZ PLATEAU 



51 



ments of stone. On these heaps were growing dwarfisli wild potato 

 pl0,nts, the tubers, although ripe, not being more than half an inch in 

 4iameter. Tliis ruin presents every appearance of antiquity, and, so 

 far as observed, contains no definite trace of the presence of the white 

 man. The fallen roof timbers, wliich still remain among the debris 

 in some of the chambers, had been cut with primitive tools. . . . 



No. 49. — Sixteen miles above Jemez pueblo, occupying a low slop- 

 ing terrace on the west side of the valley and 30 or 40 yards from the 

 creek, is a small pueblo group, of usual type (fig. 31). It is about 40 

 feet above the creek bed and covers a space some 50 yards long, facing 

 the stream, and 50 yards deep, reaching back to the steeper ground. 

 The low crumbling walls of small irregular stones indicate a squarish 

 structure of numerous rooms, 

 including an open space or court, 

 in which are two circular depres- 

 sions, probably the remains of 

 kivas. A third depression occurs 

 in the midst of the ruined walls 

 on the north side. 



Scattered stone lodges. — An 

 important feature of the antiq- 

 uities of Jemez valley is the ruins 

 of small stone houses that are 

 encountered by the explorer at 

 every turn in the tributary val- 

 leys, on the steep slopes of the plateaus, and scattered over the 

 upper surfaces of the wooded tablelands. In the foothills they are 

 seen sometimes occupying very precipitous sites, and in riding 

 through the deep forests of the uplands they may be counted by 

 the score. They consist generally of a single room, rarely of two 

 or more rooms, and the dimensions of the apartments seldom 

 exceed ten or twelve feet. The' walls are thin and loosely laid up, 

 and to-day are rarely more than three or four feet in height, the 

 dearth of debris indicating that they could not have been more than 

 one story in height at any time. . . . These houses occur in 

 considerable numbers in the valley of the San Diego near the great 

 bend, 20 miles above Jemez pueblo; in the vicinity of the warm 

 springs, a few miles above the bend; on the plateau east of Jemez 

 springs; and along the terrace-like projections of the western slope of 

 the canyon wall. 



The existence of other important ruins exceptionally well preserved 

 has been reported from the high Valle Grande and San Antonio valley 

 on the eastern rim of the Jemez basin; also from tiie foothills of the 

 Nacimiento range on the upper Guadalupe. 



"//jifiiiii||i\\\\\\\^ 



Fig. 31.— Ground plan of ruined puelilo IG miles 

 above Jemez. 



