24 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



western Utah; these reports, however, contained httle defi- 

 nite information regarding the character of existing ruins 

 and described only briefly the artifacts associated with them. 

 The possible relationship of such remains with those of the 

 ancient pueblo dwellers of Arizona, New Mexico, and Colo- 

 rado suggested the necessity of a preliminary examination 

 of the western Utah field, with the view of determining the 

 nature and range of former settlements, and also the de- 

 sirability of more detailed investigations. This work of 

 reconnoissance was commenced by the bureau in May and 

 extended through the close of the fiscal year, the field obser- 

 vations being made by Mr. Neil M. Judd, of the National 

 Museum. A group of small mounds near Willard, on the 

 northeastern shore of Great Salt Lake, were first examined. 

 Many other mounds in this locality have been completely de- 

 stroyed by cultivation during recent years, and of those re- 

 maining all show modifications resulting from recent tillage. 

 Four mounds were selected for special investigation, and 

 from these sufficient information was gathered to indicate 

 the chief characteristics of the primitive dwellings over which 

 the mounds had accumulated. 



Following the work at Willard, an examination was made 

 of certain well-defined mounds on the outskirts of Beaver 

 City, in Beaver County, where three house sites of the Willard 

 type were found in close proximity to larger mounds con- 

 taining groups of dwellings. Two weeks' work resulted in 

 the complete excavation of one house group comprising 16 

 rooms and the partial examination of a still larger group. 

 The Beaver mounds, like those at Willard, have resulted from 

 the gradual accumulation of drifting sand and dust over the 

 fallen walls of more or less permanent dwellings. Unlike 

 the isolated structures at Willard, however, the mounds at 

 Beaver City disclosed groups of associated rooms, arranged 

 with some degree of regularity and exhibiting a certain unity 

 of purpose. In each of the two groups studied, small series 

 of contiguous rooms were uncovered, but the majority were 

 single compartments separated from the other dwellings by 

 varying distances. The walls of these primitive dwellings 

 at Beaver were built of adobe, sometimes placed in wide 



