ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT 39 
and 45 feet above the level of the base. The second mound 
is 180 feet long by 75 feet wide, but is only 15 feet high. 
Most of the mounds in the neighborhood of Athens have 
been plowed over and have no regularity in form. Several 
mounds situated in Harrison County, particularly those on 
the farm of Mr. Lane Mitchell, of Marshall, were examined 
and remains of earth lodges discovered, in the floor of which 
are central fire pits. These are probably recent. Numerous 
other sites were explored, yielding collections of pottery, 
stone implements, and other objects illustrating the life 
of the prehistoric aborigines of eastern Texas. Everything 
found implies that the Indians of this region lived in settled 
villages, were agriculturists, and made pottery of a high 
grade of excellence. Their culture was higher than that of 
the Indians who occupied the central region of Texas, 
investigated in 1919. { 
With a small allotment, Mr. J. A. Jeancon earried on 
important archeological work on a ruin at Llano, near 
Rancho de Taos, N. Mex., and obtained a valuable collection 
from a locality not represented in the Museum. 
The architectural features and relations of the kiva and 
secular rooms of this ruin recall those of the cliff dwellings and 
pueblos of the Mesa Verde. The circular subterranean 
kiva that was excavated proved to be almost identical with 
a typical Mesa Verde kiva, verifying the legends that the 
modern Taos Indians are a mixed type containing Pueblo 
elements, probably of northern origin. 
This kiva was embedded in house walls not free from sec- 
ular buildings as in modern Taos and showed evidences of 
two occupations, or one kiva built inside another. It had 
no pilasters for the support of a vaulted roof, but there were 
in the floor four upright posts upon which a flat roof formerly 
rested. In the floor was an excellent fireplace and a plastered 
pit the purpose of which is problematical. 
Mr. Jeancon’s work attracted wide attention, and many 
persons visited the site while he was at work. Members of 
the chamber of commerce in Taos declared their intention to 
protect the excavated walls by means of a shed. 
53666°—28-——4 
