6 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 
Archeological work was renewed on the Mesa Verde in 
June, 1920, and the work of excavating was begun on a ruin 
called Painted House and a neighboring cliff dwelling. The 
result of this work was of great significance, for it brought 
to light a large cliff building that showed no evidence of hay- 
ing been formerly inhabited. It was not a cliff dwelling, but 
built for some other purpose. Its character points to the 
conclusion that this purpose was a temple for the celebration 
of fire rites, or possibly the conservation of that fire from year 
to year. While there was found no evidence that anyone 
ever lived in it, an adjacent cliff dwelling afforded every 
indication that it was inhabited by at least two clans. New 
Fire House belongs to the same group of ceremonial buildings 
as Sun Temple, except that it is situated in a cliff and not on 
top of the mesa. 
The features that have led to the identification of this ruin 
as one devoted to New Fire rites are the large walled firepit 
full of ashes in the middle of the court and the resemblances 
of phallic and other pictures on the walls of the rooms to 
those still surviving among the Hopi in the New Fire cult. 
Mr. James Mooney, ethnologist, remained in the office 
throughout the year, engaged chiefly in the elaboration of 
material relating to the heraldry of the Kiowa and the 
Peyote cult of the southern plains tribes. 
In connection with the preparation of the Denig Assiniboin 
manuscript for publication, a correspondence was carried 
on with members of the Denig family and others for the pur- 
pose of gathering all available information concerning the 
history and personality of the author. A valuable comple- 
ment to the Denig work is the German manuscript journal 
of the Swiss artist, Friedrich Kurz, who visited the upper 
Missouri in 1851-52, spending some months with Denig at 
Fort Union. A copy of the original journal, now in the 
museum of Bern, was made some years ago by direction of 
Mr. David I. Bushnell, jr., who sold it to the bureau. 
The usual amount of correspondence in answer to requests 
for varied ethnologic information received attention. Among 
these may be noted requests from the War Department 
