hough] ANTIQUITIES OF GILA-SALT VALLEYS 17 



OTHER CONSTRUCTIONS 



Quadrangular boxes, made of stone slabs set on edge, are common in 

 the ruins of northern New Mexico and Arizona and are more rarely 

 found in the sites south of the mountains. Consisting of bare slabs 

 of stone, and only in very rare instances containing any objects or 

 substances explaining their function, they have been the subject of 

 many conjectures. By comparison they are probably pahoki ( prayer- 

 stick houses) such as those in which the Hopi place offerings, and are 

 thus shrines in the strictest sense. 



Occasionally fireplaces are found near the villages, and in several 

 of the Spur Ranch ruins these were of burnt clay, with bosses for 

 pot rests. Sometimes, also, metates were set up in the open air near 

 the village. 



Associated with all the ruins are circular depressions, which in com- 

 mon parlance are called " reservoirs." 1 These are detached, contigu- 

 ous to the village, or incorporated in the house mass. While some 

 of these which lie outside the villages may have been intended to 

 impound rain water falling during heavy storms, and while depres- 

 sions in village sites along the course of the Gila may have formed 

 part of the irrigation system, it appears that very rarely was the 

 storage of water their function, and in many cases the purpose of the 

 isolated, simple, bowl-like depressions is unknown. They may have 

 been quarries whence was taken the clay or mud for mortar, plas- 

 tering, and other requirements, for which this material was in con- 

 stant demand. 



Many of these depressions were undoubtedly kivas, such as those 

 either built in the pueblos or situated in the plazas or near the walls 

 of the village. These are deep and have vertical sides walled with 

 stone. 



A large series of ruins lying on the plateau extending northeasterly 

 from Luna to the headwaters of Apache creek show circular depres- 

 sions intimately connected with their plan (see p. 62). Even when 

 they contain only a few houses they have immediately adjoining 

 them a shallow basin (generally about equal in area to the houses), 

 and usually at one side of the basin are one or two rooms. A typical 

 plan is seen in figure 33, page 66. It is possible that these bowl- 

 like depressions were sites of arbors where communal work could be 

 carried on out of doors, lounging places, or at times open-air kivas 

 like the circular fence of stakes of the Navaho. In larger ruins of 

 this group one may see these circles inclosed by buildings of two or 

 more stores, thus appearing as octagonal or polygonal wells and 

 provided each with an entrance. These are kivas which have been 

 closed in by the gradual extension of the pueblo. 

 3454— No. 35—07 2 



