pewkes] PREHISTORIC VILLAGES, CASTLES, AND TOWERS 59 



tower (pi. 29, a) is in much the same condition as when sketched by 

 Holmes over 40 years ago. It is circular in form, about 10 feet in 

 diameter, and about 16 feet high, with a broken window on the north 

 side. The sky line is irregular. It is one of the best preserved 

 towers, but not as high or as well constructed as some of the Hoven- 

 weep specimens. 



Accompanying this tower on the north there are mounds indicative 

 of rooms and two circular saucer-like depressions. Excavations 

 revealing a few human bones, including a well-worn human skull, 

 have been made in a burial place southeast of the tower, where the 

 surface is covered with fragments of pottery. Except in size Holmes 

 Tower does not differ from others already described, but, like them, is 

 connected with rectangular rooms. Farther up the Mancos Canyon 

 there are other towers, one of which, Great Tower, is mentioned b} T 

 Holmes in his report. 



On the way up the canyon, perhaps two-thirds of the distance from 

 the bridge to the Holmes Tower, midway in the alluvial plain and on 

 the right bank of Mancos Creek, stands a circular ruin which conforms 

 to Holmes's description of Great Tower but is too poorly preserved 

 to be positively identified. All that now remains of this building is 

 a large pile of rocks with a central depression, but no signs of radiating 

 partitions, although such may have existed when it was constructed 

 and for many years after it began to fall into ruin. 



Towers on the Mancos River Below the Bridge 



There are two towers situated on the south side of the Mancos below 

 the bridge on the Ship-rock Road, one about G, the other 7 miles 

 distant. The walls of the first of these (pi. 30, b) are visible for some 

 distance and are about G feet high, evidently very much broken down 

 on the south and east sides. Its shape is round and there is a pile of 

 stones indicating rooms on the east side separated from the tower 

 by a depression. It would be a valuable contribution to our knowl- 

 edge of these ruins if some one would determine the nature of these 

 pits, which can hardly be regarded as reservoirs, but suggest kivas. 



row Kit i! 



The tower (pi. 31, a) situated farther down the Mancos River has a 

 more commanding position than Tower A and is conspicuous because 

 it stands on a projecting precipice, below the rim of which are walled- 

 up artificial caves. These caves have apparently never been entered 

 by white men; the walls of masonry are unbroken and there arc 

 square openings, windows or doorways, which can be made out long 

 before reaching the place. 



