36 TWO summers' WORK IN I'Uf:HLO RUINS [eth. ann. 22 



less liv('<l on the iiorlli, cust, and soiitli ol' San Francisco mountain 

 at the time this country was discovered by the Spaniards, and they 

 subsequently left their cliff and cavate dwellings and moved into 

 Cataract canyon, where they now live." 



The fragments of pottery seen about the entrances to these caves 

 are identical with those found near the pueblo ruius in the neighbor- 

 hood, and there is no doubt that the cave inhabitants had burrowed 

 in the lava as the most practical means of constructing habitations 

 in this neighborhood. Free walls are found in combination with the 

 caves, but these walls have no distinctive characteristics, save that 

 they are built of lava. This would indicate that the builders siinply 

 utilized readilj' available building material and took advantage of 

 peculiar geological conditions. 



Old Caves 



The "Old caves" lie near the top of Old Cave mountain, about 9 

 miles noi-theast of Flagstaff, and cover an area of about 5 acres. On 

 the top of this height there is a level space which was surrounded 

 by a rough wall made of volcanic breccia, from which a good view 

 can be had of the surrounding country. The caves are found on the 

 southern slope, and were excavated in a conglomerate of cinders or 

 volcanic breccia which bears everj^ evidence of having been ei-upted 

 from a crater or blowhole (plate l). Clambering over the rough lava 

 blocks, one finds everywhere on the surface the remains of walls 

 indicating former rooms. In places there are level spaces which 

 seem to have been plazas, and tlie entrances into the subterranean 

 rooms often open vertically from these levels. At other points it 

 would seem as if the walls formed cojnplete rectangles, but there is 

 no apparent evidence that they had roofs, which, however, may have 

 existed in former times. In fact, the Old caves show combinations of 

 underground cavate rooms with free walls above, and when inhabited 

 the settlement must have looked like a collection of low one-story 

 rooms continuous for several hundred feet. We maj' therefore call 

 this cluster of cavate rooms a pueblo in which each room above 

 ground had a corresponding subterranean chamber hewn out of 

 volcanic breccia. 



One of the best-preserved and most characteristic rooms of the old 

 caves, with a vertical entrance, is shown in the accompanying plan 

 (figui-e 3). It will be seen that thei'e are two subterranean rooms, a 

 and B, each of which is entered by an opening in the roof, indicated 

 by a dotted line. Room a measures 1:2 feet each way, and the entrance 

 measures about G feet. This entrance has a square enlargement, or 

 chimney, on one side, whicli extends to the floor of the room and has 

 perpendicular, regular walls. 



At one corner of room A there has been hewn out of the lava a 

 small recess (e), the floor of which is lower than that of the room. 

 There is al.so a small recess (f) at one side of the chimney. 



