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



would equally well apply to other bowlder sites, as, for instance, those 

 of the Verde valley. 



The arrangement and size, and absence of remains of human life near 

 these lines of bowlders have led the author to abandon the commonly 

 accepted theory that they have relatioushi]5 to house walls, or, indeed, 

 to habitations of anj' kind. The small size of the bowlders employed 

 shows that they are not fortifications, and they should not be con- 

 founded with trincheras or fortified hilltops so common in southern 

 Arizona and northern Mexico. They may be regarded rather as the 

 walls of terraced gardens, so placed as to divide diffei-ent patches of 

 cultivated soil, or to prevent this soil from being washed down to the 

 plain below. 



Very extensive terraced gardens may be seen not far from San Jose, 

 and all along the mesa near the Solomonville slaughterhouse. It 

 would seem from their distribution that not only ii-rigation ditches 

 watered the valley of Pueblo Viejo, but also that water was in some 

 way carried up the hillsides, so that land now barren was in ancient 

 times cultivated by the peoj^le of this region. 



As no remains of rancherias were found near some of the.se ter- 

 raced gardens, it is evident that the farmers who tilled them had to go 

 a considerable distance from their homes to plant and harvest their 

 crops. 



The use of terraced gardens still survives among the modern Ilopi 

 Indians, and these structures amy still be seen on their reservation, 

 at Wipo and Kanelba on the East mesa, as well as on the Middle mesa 

 and at Oraibi. The size of the gardens on the East mesa is much 

 less at the present day than in fornuM- times; those which have been 

 abandoned closely resemble the rectangles inclosed by lines of stones 

 in the Verde and Gila valleys. 



Prehistoric Irrigation in Pueblo Viejo 



There are evidences that the ancient farmers of the Pueblo Viejo 

 irrigated their farms, for remains of extensive aboriginal ditches can 

 be seen at several points. These old canals are clearly visible in 

 that part of the valley which is not at present cultivated, but traces 

 of them have naturally disappeared before the plow of the white 

 settler. The remains of large circular reservoirs can be readily traced 

 near some of the house clu.sters of Buena Vista, and not far from 

 E]3ley's ruin, where there is a reservoir from which was undoubtedly 

 drawn the water supply of that neighborhood. At the time of the 

 author's visit this reservoir was full of water, wliich was used on the 

 farm. 



The modern acequias, the San Jose and Montezuma ditches, follow 

 in jiart of their courses the ancient canals, as the author has been 

 informed by an old settler in Solomonville; and a section of a side 

 canal at right angles to the Gila may still (1897) be traced near San 

 Jose. 



