DISTRIBUTION AND CLASSIFICATION OF RUINS. 



All the modern settlements of the lower portion of the Verde valley 

 are located on terraces or benches, and such localities were also regarded 

 favorably by the ancient builders, for almost invariably where a mod- 

 ern settlement is observed traces of a former one will also be found. 

 The former inhabitants of this region were an agricultural people, and 

 their villages were always located either on or immediately adjacent to 

 some area of tillable soil. This is true even of the cavate lodges, which 

 are often supposed to have been located solely with reference to facility 

 of defense. Owing to the character of the country, most of the tillable 

 land is found on the eastern side of the river, and as a consequence 

 most of the remains of the former inhabitants are found there also, 

 though they are by no means confined to that side. These remains are 

 quite abundant in the vicinity of Verde, and less so between that point 

 and the mouth of the river. The causes which have induced American 

 settlement iu the large area of bottom laud about Verde doubtless also 

 induced the aboriginal settlement of the same region, although, owiug 

 to the different systems of agriculture pursued by the two peoples, the 

 American settlements are always made on the bottom lands themselves, 

 while the aboriginal settlements are almost always located on high 

 ground overlooking the bottoms. Perched on the hills overlooking 

 these bottoms, and sometimes located on the lower levels, there was 

 once a number of large and important villages, while in the regions on 

 the south, where the tillable areas are as a rule very much smaller, the 

 settlements were, with one exception, small and generally insignificant. 



The region treated iu these pages is that portiou of the valley of Rio 

 Verde comprised between its mouth and Verde, or Beaver creek, on 

 the north. It was entered by the writer from the south; it is not pro- 

 posed, however, to follow a strict geographic order of treatment, but, 

 on the contrary, so far as practicable, to follow an arrangement by 

 types. 



The domiciliary ruins of this region fall easily into three general 

 classes, to which may be added a fourth, comprising irrigating ditches 

 and works, the first class having two subclasses. They are as fol- 

 lows: 



Stone villages. 



a. Villages on bottom lands. 



b. Villages on defensive sites. 

 Cavate lodges. 

 Bowlder-marked sites. 

 Irrigating ditches and works. 



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