JEANCON] EXCAVATIONS IN THE CHAMA VALLEY 15 
In only one place did we find any attempt at paving with stone 
slabs. This was in room 8, location 3. About one-fourth of the 
floor was covered with large slabs of stone. (Pl.7.) In a very few 
places single large plates of stone were found set in the floor. The 
purpose of these is not known to me. They bore no marks of fire 
and upon removing them we found no cavities under them. 
OPENINGS IN THE FLOORS 
There was a great variety in the openings in the floors. In many 
cases these were small pits with nicely plastered walls, which varied 
greatly in diameter, depth, and form. In some cases the mouth or 
opening was larger than the body of the pit; in others, just the 
reverse. The usual bottle-shaped pits occurred in great numbers and 
seem to have taken the place of the wall niche, which was entirely 
missing. 
There is no definite place for any of the pits, as they sometimes 
occur at a distance from the walls, sometimes in corners, sometimes 
beside the fireplaces; in fact, any place that seemed to please the 
fancy of the maker. In depth they varied from 152 mm. to 45 cm. 
The openings, even in the smaller ones, were always large enough to 
admit the hand freely. Nothing was found in any of them. 
FIREPLACES 
Fireplaces occurred in many of the rooms and varied from a 
simple group of bowlders to well-plastered and well-arranged fire- 
places that would do credit to a more modern pueblo. A good fire- 
place is shown in Plate 7. The sides were built of stones set on 
end and plastered. The room wall formed the back of the fireplace 
and was also plastered and smoked up. 
Another fireplace consisted only of a flat stone placed at the base 
of a wall, which still shows a heavy coat of soot and smoke stain. 
This is in an inside room, No. 8, location 3, and had another story 
above it. 
Fireplaces occurred oftener against the middle of the wall in a 
room than any other place, although a few were found in corners. 
In some cases where the middle of the wall was used for the back 
of a fireplace we found another fireplace in the débris of the room 
above, in a similar position. There were no evidences of chimneys, 
and as the fireplaces were not confined to the extericr rooms, but 
often occurred in the interior rooms, even when the buildings were 
two and three stories high, the question of how they disposed of the 
smoke is an interesting one, and so far I have not been able to 
answer it. 
