FE'VKES] LOCATION OF BLACK FALLS RUINS 39 



Entei'ing by a side opcuiug, one passes into a subterranean room 

 (plate v) 12 by 10 feet and 6 feet high, the walls and floor of which 

 are partly plastered. This room has five smaller rooms leading from 

 it, which will be called B, c, D, E, and r. They average about 5 feet 

 in diameter, and have their floors depressed about a foot below that 

 of the main room, a. The entrances into these lateral rooms, especially 

 that into D, are carefully made and almost square, and when jilastered, 

 as there is good evidence that they once were, made good doorways. 

 In fact, although the walls of most of these cavate chambers are now 

 very rough, and the rooms seemingly desolate as places of habitation, 

 they must once have been comfortable abodes, for the plastering made 

 the finish almost as smooth as that of any wall which could be con- 

 structed. 



Several of the rooms in which the j)lastering still remains have 

 ledges and cubbj'-holes in which the household iitensils were doubt- 

 less kept (plate vi). The similarity of these cavate chambers to 

 those excavated in volcanic tufa in Yerde Valley is apparent. The 

 material in which they occur is different, but the iilans of the rooms 

 are almost identical. Whatever peoples inhabited the cavate dwell- 

 ings of the cinder cones near Flagstaff and the tufa mesas of the 

 Verde, their culture was not radically difl'erent. 



RUINS NEAR BL.\CK FALLS OF THE LITTLE COLORADO 



Location axd Prf.vious Exploratiox 



It has long been known that the banks of the Little Colorado and 

 neighboring mesas were sites of ancient dwellings, but exploration 

 has been confined mostlj- to the upper part of the river and its tribxi- 

 taries. The numerous ruins along the stream from Grand falls to 

 its confluence with Rio Colorado have been wholly neglected, but 

 there is little doubt that future excavation ^vill be rewarded with 

 many novelties. 



The Black falls ruins have been known for several j'ears to local 

 amateur archeologists, and a considerable collection of ancient objects 

 has been taken from them by Mr Benjamin Doney, of Flagstaff. 

 Under his guidance several well-known residents of that town, among 

 whom maj^ be mentioned Dr Robinson and Mr Jack, have visited 

 and photographed them." Herders and cowboys are acquainted with 

 the ruins, and the former have cleared some of the rooms for tise in 

 winter. 



The geological features of the region in which these three groui^s of 

 ruins occur are instructive, but for present purposes one or two simple 

 statements about them will sufiBce. The two well-marked formations — 

 lava and sandstone — have affected the appearance of the ruins. 



o The author was guided to these ruins by Mr Doney. He is indebted to Dr Robinson and 

 Mr Reed for kodak photographs, and to Mr Jack for measurements of several rooms. 



