216 



ABORIGINAL KEMAINR IN VERDE VALLEY. 



[ETH. ANN. 13 



were rooms on the ground here. It is likely that access was ft'oin this 

 side. 



It should be uoted that this ruin, which is of a type known as "fort- 

 ress" l)y some writers, is so i)laced as to command an extensive out- 

 look over the large valley below and over the two small valleys above, 

 as well as the considerable area of flat or bottom land formed by the 

 junction of the small valleys. It is a type of a subordinate agricultural 

 s-ettlement, and had the defensive motive been entirelj' absent from the 

 minds of the builders of this village it would undoubtedly have been 

 located just where it now is, as this is the best site for an agricultural 

 settlement for some distance up and down the river. 



Kemains of walls somewhat sindlar to these last described occur on 

 a butte or pinnacle on the eastern side of the rivei' and about 7 miles 



.Kla. 287.— Sketch map of 

 ruiDs on piunacle 7 uiiles 

 north of Fossil creek. 



-Remains of small rooms 7 miles north of 

 Fossil creek. 



north of the mouth of Fossil creek. From the south this pinnacle is a 

 most conspicuous landmark, rising as it does some 2,500 feet above the 

 river within a distance of a quarter of a mile. The upper 50 feet of the 

 eminence consists of bare red rock split into sharp points and little pin- 

 nacles, as shown in figure 287, which represents only the upper i)ortion of 

 the butte. The heavy black lines on the sketch map are walls. Some 

 of these were doubtless mere retaining walls, but others are still stand- 

 ing to a considerable height, and there is yet much debris on the slope 

 of the rock forming the eastern side of the butte near its top. It is 

 doubtful whether these rooms were ever used for habitations, and 

 more i)robable that they were used as a shrine or for some analogous 

 Iiurpose. 



Perhaps a quarter of a mile northeastward, in the saddle connecting 

 the butte with the contiguous hills in that direction, there are remains 

 of three small rooms, located east of a low swell or ridge. Figure 288 



