MiNDELEFF] RIO GRANDE CAVATE LODGES. 225 



of these auimals. Ears of corn aud oorncolis were also found in many places. 

 Some of the chambers were evidently constructed to be used as storehouses or 

 caches for grain. .Altogether it is very evident that the clift' houses have been used 

 iu comparatively modern times ; at any rate, since the peoph' owned asses, goats, aud 

 sheep. The rock is of such a friable nature that it will not stand atmospheric deg- 

 radation very long, and there is abundant evidence of this character testifying to 

 the recent occupancy of these cavate dwellings. 



Above the cliffs, on the mesas, which have already been described, evidences of 

 more ancient ruins were found. These were pueblos built of cut stone rudely 

 dressed. Every mesa had at least one ancient pueblo upon it, evidently far more 

 ancient than the cavate dwellings found in the face of the clitt's. It is, then, very 

 plain that the cavate dwellings are not of great age; that they have been occupied 

 since the advent of the white man, and that on the summit of the cliffs there are 

 ruins of more ancient pueblos. 



Major Powell obtained a triiditioii of the Santa Clara Indians, recit- 

 ing three successive periods of occnpancy of the cavate lodges by 

 theiu, the last occurring after the Spanish conquest of New Mexico in 

 the seventeenth century. 



It will be noticed that here again the cavate lodges and village 

 ruins are associated, although in this case the village ruins on the mesas 

 above are said to be more ancient than the cavate lodges. A general 

 view of a small section of cliff containing lodges is given in plate xxxi, 

 for comparison with tliose on the Verde. The lodges on the Rio 

 Grande seem to have been more elaborate than those on the Verde, 

 perhaps owing to longer occupancy; but the same arrangement of a 

 main front room and attached bade rooms, as in the cavate lodges on 

 the Verde, was found. 



As the cavate lodges of the San Francisco mountain region have 

 been assigned to the Havasupai Indians of the Yumau stock, and those 

 of the Rio Grande to the Santa Clara pueblo Iu<lians of the Tauoan 

 stock, it may be of interest to state that there is a vague tradition 

 extant among the modern settlers of the Verde region that the cavate 

 lodges of that region were occupied within the last three generations. 

 This tradition was derived from an old Walapai Indian whose grand- 

 father was alive when the cavate lodges were occupied. It was impos- 

 sible to follow this tradition to its source, and it is introduced only as 

 a suggestion. Attention is called, however, to the tradition given in 

 the introduction to this paper with which it may be connected. 



Aside from the actual labor of excavation, there was but little work 

 expended on the Verde cavate lodges. The interiors were never plas- 

 tered, so far as the writer couhl determine. Figure 291 shows the plam 

 of one of the principal sets of rooms, which occurs at the point marked. 

 I) on the map, plate xxv; and plate xxxii is an interior view of the 

 principal room, drawn from a flashlight photograph. This set of rooms 

 was excavated iu a point of the cliff and extends completely tlirough it 

 as shown on the general plan, plate xxv. The entrance was from the 

 west by a short passageway opening into a cove extending back some 

 13 ETH 15 



