170 TWO summers' work in pueblo ruins [eth. ANN. 22 



is covered in places with tall pines and other trees, and is a grateful 

 place of resort in the hot summer days. The still more picturesque 

 Bonita mountains, with their serrated summits, hem the valley on 

 the opposite side, and north of these is a broken countrj', almost 

 imj)assable, j-et with ruined cliff houses and other evidences of a 

 former occupation. 



The many ruins in tlie Pueblo Viejo are all of the same type, viz, 

 clusters of rancherias with a central building which maj" have served 

 as a citadel for defense. Whether any special building was set aside 

 for a ceremonial room or temjile is an unanswered question, but 

 there is some evidence that the central building may have sometimes 

 served for that purpose. 



Although a number of clusters of mounds were found in Pueblo 

 Viejo, there were two wliich were specially examined — that at Solo- 

 monville, called Epley's ruin, and that at Buena Vista, a short dis- 

 tance higher up the river than San Jose. The limited time which 

 could be spent in this region made the trip scarcely more than a 

 reconnoissance, which it is hoped at some later day to follow up 

 with systematic exploi-ation. 



Distribution of Ruins in Pueblo Viejo 



In ancient times, when the vallej' was populated by a sedentary, 

 agricultural race, aboriginal dwellings were thickly scattei-ed over 

 the plain between the left bank of the Gila and the Graham or Pina- 

 leno mountains. These dwellings were high up on the neighl)oring 

 foothills as well as in the level plain, adjoining the river. In 

 places houses were clustered together, forming a village, Imt the 

 majority were isolated, dotting the whole valley. A compact, 

 communal town of the pueblo type, such as is met north of the 

 Apache reservation, was not found, and even when the population 

 was concentrated the \allages were composed of many clusters of 

 small liouses, separated from each other. As a rule, however, in 

 such a cluster one central structure was much larger than the 

 remainder. This centrally placed building, which is shown in the 

 plan of the Buena Vista ruin (plate Lxvi), resembles a type common 

 in the Gila, Salado, and Verde valleys, where we find a central house 

 surrounded by many mounds, indicating that a suburban population 

 was settled about it. 



The majority of the clusters of mounds which were examined were 

 situated in the plain not far from the river. This choice was evi- 

 dently advantageous for an agricultural life, and the want of com- 

 pactness in the houses would seem to indicate that the farmers had 

 not yet been liarried and driven to seek shelter from marauding nomad 

 tiibes in walled pueblos. 



