HOUGH] 



ANTIQUITIES OF GILA-SALT VALLEYS 



51 



High up in the wall of the canyon, at 1^ miles distance from the 

 Blue, is a great cave whose portal is a low uniform arch (>0 feet wide 

 opening on a ledge 15 feet wide. The cave has a floor area of about 

 10,000 square feet embraced in a front section semicircular in shape 

 and a rear section which extends diagonally to the west. Owing to 

 the large entrance the front cave is well lighted, but the rear cave is 

 dark and inhabited by bats. The ceiling is in the form of a dome 

 about 12 feet high, and from the sides spring curves which merge into 

 the ceiling and have the appearance of massive groining. The floor 



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Pig. 16. Burial showing position of skeleton, Lovelady ranch, Blue river. 



is covered with a large deposit of gravel mingled with dust and the 

 excreta of animals. In this debris there were found numerous pits 

 about 3 feet square, each a shrine in which were placed ceremonial 

 offerings. Immense quantities of such objects had been deposited 

 here, and the whole mass of debris averaging 2 feet in depth was filled 

 with them. In the upper portion of the mass the offerings were 

 intact, but lower down they had disintegrated. The offerings w r ere 

 bows and arrows of natural size and in miniature, painted rods, 

 carved staffs, baskets, tablets, flutes, beaded flutes, cane cigarettes, 

 pahos of many kinds, torches, models of clothing, cloth, colored cord, 

 sandals, beads, game dice, votive pottery, and many other objects. 



