62 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bum., to 



their significance can be determined. Their association with cir- 

 cular rooms appears in Jackson's account 1 of the stone structures on 

 the promontory at the mouth of the Yellow Jacket. He says: 



"The perpendicular scarp of the mesa ran round very regularly, 50 

 to 1 00 feet in height, the talus sloping down at a steep angle. On cave- 

 like benches at the foot of the scarp is a row of rock shelters, much 

 ruined, in one of which was found a very perfect polished-stone imple- 

 ment. Gaining the top of the mesa with some difficulty, we foimd a 

 perfectly flat surface, 100 yards in width by about 200 in length, 

 separated from the main plateau by a narrow neck, across which a 

 wall had been thrown, but which is now nearly leveled. Almost 

 the entire space fenced in by this wall was covered by an extended 

 series of small squares, formed by thin slabs of sand-rock set on end. 

 All were uniform in size, measuring about 3 by 5 feet, and arranged 

 in rows, two and three deep, adjusted to various points of the com- 

 pass. There were also a few circles disposed irregularly about the 

 inclosed area, each about 20 feet in diameter, their circumferences 

 being formed of similar rectangular spaces, leaving a circular space of 

 10 feet diameter in the center. These rectangles occur mainly in 

 groups, and are found indiscriminately scattered through the whole 

 region that has come under our observation upon the mesa tops and 

 in the valleys. They all have the same general shape and size, and 

 are seldom accompanied by even the faintest indication of a mound- 

 like character. We have always supposed them to be graves, but 

 have not as yet found any evidence that would prove them such. 

 Some that we excavated to the depth of 5 and 6 feet in a solid earth 

 that had never been disturbed did not reward our search with the 

 faintest vestige of human remains. In nearly every case, however, a 

 thin scattered layer of bits of charcoal was found from 6 to 18 inches 

 beneath the surface. In one instance, near the Mesa Verde, the 

 upright slabs of rock which inclosed one of these rectangles were 

 sunk 2 feet into the earth and projected 6 inches above it. " 

 Holmes (op. cit., pp. 385-386) describes similar structures: 

 "The greater portion of what are supposed to be burial places 

 occur on the summits of hills or on high, barren promontories that 

 overlook the valleys and canons. In these places considerable areas, 

 amounting in some cases to half an acre or more, are thickly set 

 with rows of stone slabs, which are set in the ground and arranged 

 in circles or parallelograms of greatly varying dimensions. At first 

 sight the idea of a cemetery is suggested, although on examination it 

 is found that the soil upon the solid rock surfaces is but a few inches 



i Tenth Ami. Kept. U. S. Geol. Surv. (Hayden Survey) for 1876, p. 414, 1879. 



