64 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [sou., to 



GRASS MESA CEMETERY 



Grass Mesa, a plateau with precipitous sides overlooking the Dolores 

 River, is about 10 miles down the river from Dolores on the right 

 bank of the stream. There remain few signs of former buildings at 

 this place, but very many artifacts, pottery, stone implements, and 

 fragments of well-worn metates occur at various places, some of 

 which are among the best ever seen by the author. This bluff seems 

 to have been the site of a settlement, possibly pre-Puebloan, like 

 that on McElmo Bluff, with rough walls, resorted to for refuge, and 

 later used as a cemetery. It is well adapted for these purposes, its 

 top being almost inaccessible on the river side. There are many 

 other similar sites of Indian settlements farther down the river, but 

 this is one of the most typical. The scenery along the road that fol- 

 lows the banks of the river from Dolores is ever to be remembered 

 on account of high cliffs on each side. 



RESERVOIRS 



Many artificial reservoirs dating to prehistoric times were observed 

 in the area covered by the author's reconnoissance. These fall into 

 two well-marked types, one form being a circular depression, ap- 

 parently excavated and sometimes walled up with earth or stones. 

 The other form was not excavated by man, but the sloping surface of 

 rock was surrounded on the lowest level by a bank of earth, forming a 

 dam or retaining wall. Both types of reservoirs are co m monly formed 

 near some former center of population, but sometimes occur far from 

 mounds, wherever the surface of the land has a convenient slope 

 and the water can be compounded by a retaining wall. The height 

 of the bank that holds back the water of these prehistoric reservoirs 

 has been increased in some cases by stockmen; the walls of others 

 still remain practically the same height they were when constructed 

 by the aborigines. One of the best examples of the second type of 

 reservoir, the retaining wall of which is shown in plate 32, a, is crossed 

 by the road to Bluff City near the ruins in Holly Canyon, not far from 

 Picket corral. A few miles north of this reservoir, at the edge of the 

 cedars, the road crosses another of these ancient reservoirs, whose 

 retaining bank has been considerably increased in height by stockmen. 

 The ancient reservoir at Bug Mesa covers fully 4 acres, and the reser- 

 voir near Goodman Point Ruin is almost as large, and, although 

 somewhat changed from its aboriginal condition, is still used by 

 farmers dwelling in the neighborhood. The latter belongs to the 

 first type; the former to the second. Reservoirs of one or the other 

 type are generally found in the neighborhood of all large heaps of 

 rocks, the so-called mounds that indicate the former existence of 

 pueblos. The reservoir of the Mummy Lake village on the Mesa 

 Verde belongs to the excavated type. 



