2i2 CERTAIN ANTIQUITIES OF EASTERN MEXICO [eth. ANN. 25 



elsewhere in the Gila ruins. He writes:" ''It will be remembered 

 that the ai'titicial platform already aj)pears on Tonto creek and perhaps 

 on the Upper Gila also; at Tempe it assumes a greater degree of per- 

 fection, as does the mound. The latter resemliles the rectangular 

 truncated pyramids of Mexico, with the difference that it is wholly of 

 earth and that its height is inconsiderable." In the few ruins exam- 

 ined by the author in the upper Gila valley, near Solomonville, he has 

 not been able to detect the second type; Casas Grandes in Chihuahua 

 is apparently of the first type, but the so-called "vigie" lookout in 

 the mountains above the latter ruin, judging from the figures given 

 by ]\I. E. Guillemin, is a true terraced pyramidal base of a super- 

 structure. 



The region of the ruins of the second type in the central part of 

 Mexico begins at the Casa del Edificios near Quemada, about 30 miles 

 north of the city of Zacatecas. If we follow the parallel of this ruin 

 eastward to the Gulf of Mexico, it will be noticed that south of it there 

 are ruins of both tv'pes, but that this region is essentially one of solid 

 pyramidal mounds built as foundations for superstructures, a type 

 rarely represented in the mountainous regions north of this line to 

 Utah and southern Colorado. 



The climatic and physiographical conditions of these regions of the 

 United States in which these two types occur are radically difierent. 

 The first type is confined to an area distinctly arid and mountainous; 

 the second belongs to a well- watered, generally level plain. This same 

 connection between climatic conditions and physiographical contours 

 applies also, but less closely, to the distribution of these types in 

 northern Mexico. In its distribution north and south the first type 

 follows the central plateau region while the second type is more pro- 

 nounced and extends farther north on the lowlands along the coast of 

 the Mexican gulf. 



From Vera Cruz to the mouth of the Panuco river and beyond, the 

 country is thickly strewn with mounds of the second type, some of 

 which, as that at Papantla, rank among the finest in Mexico. 



While it is known that these mounds belong to the same type as some 

 of those in the Mississippi valley, the nature of the mounds (if any 

 exist) between the Panuco and Louisiana remains unknown. It is 

 evident that what is now most needed to determine the southern limits 

 of pueblo and mound builders' culture is more facts regarding the 

 antiquities of northern and eastern Mexico. It has long been known 

 that there are extensive earth mounds in Tamaulipas and Vera Cruz, 

 but we have only limited knowledge of their character, and the arche- 

 ology of Texas is practically unknown. The author s studies of the 

 mounds in the vicinity of Tampico, which is situated in this little known 



a Final Report, p. 445. 



