ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT LXXVII 



also overlooked bv previous explorers. These differ from the 

 preceding type aud are in some respects the most impoi-taut 

 ruins of the canyon. They apparently represent the home 

 pueblos occupied contemporaneously with the cliff dwellings, 

 and bore the same relation to the latter that Zuni bears to 

 Nutria, Pescado, and Ojo Caliente, or that Oraibi bears to 

 Moenkapi. The cliff dwellings were apparently occu})ied 

 as a rule only during the summer months, the occupants resort- 

 ing to the pueblos during the winter Thus the cliff dwellings 

 appear to represent a phase rather than a clironologic epoch in 

 the history of the pueblo builders. 



Although the researches are not yet completed, Mr Mindeleff 

 is of opinion that while some of the ruins maA' be pre-Colum- 

 bian, others were undoubtedly occupied in the seventeenth 

 century, and that the occupancy was probabU* continuous as 

 regards the district, though probably not continous as regards 

 particular tribes or subtribes. A general result of the study 

 was the classification of the various types of ruins, in a chi'on- 

 ologic order, in such manner that the history of the canyon 

 from the earliest occupancy up to the recent advent of English- 

 speaking settlers is clearly indicated. In combining the data 

 acquu'ed in Canyon de Chelly with those obtained from Rio 

 Verde during previous years, Mr Mindeleff finds reason for the 

 conclusion that the ruins of the former district represent the 

 first settlements in the San Juan country, aud that further 

 developments will be found in the tributary valleys, and also 

 that the large communal buildings on the tributaries o{ the 

 San Juan, representing the highest architectural art attained 

 by the pueblo builders, will prove to be the ultimate form of 

 the primitive village of this district. 



During the year Dr Cyrus Thomas completed the revision 

 of proofs of text and illustrations of his "Report on Mound 

 Explorations," and the work was put through the ])ress as the 

 body of the Twelfth Annual Report. The document c( imprises 

 much information relating to the Indian mounds of the Missis- 

 sippi valley aud eastern United States, aud it seems reasonable 

 to hope that the monograph may come to be regarded as a 

 standard source of information on the subject. Subsequently 



