II. RUINS ON THE MESAS 
For a number of years it has been a growing conviction with the 
author that the failure to investigate the badly weathered and ap- 
parently very ancient ruins which dot the mesas of northwestern 
New Mexico and southwestern Colorado has left unwerked one of 
the richest mines of information concerning the prehistoric inhabi- 
tants of the Southwest. Naturally the first scientific explorations 
have centered about the large and more spectacular ruins, as Cliff 
Palace and Spruce-tree House, but these most important sites should 
not crowd from the mind of the archeologist the other types of 
remains, which may contain data of the utmost importance in estab- 
lishing the chronology of the various types of ruins, the trend of 
migration of the ancient people, and the relationships among the 
inhabitants of different parts of the country. Such considerations 
impelled me to begin excavations among the inconspicuous ruins 
which are numerous in the upper La Plata Valley and upon the 
mesas westward to Mancos Canyon. These have been entirely over- 
looked by the relic hunters who have worked such havoc among the 
aboriginal remains in neighboring localities. 
No earlier writer mentions the ruins in the upper La Plata Valley. 
The first of which Holmes? speaks are on the bench between the La 
Plata River and McDermott Arroyo, well below the New Mexico 
line, and Prudden? located but one ruin north of the State line. 
The Geological Survey’s maps of Soda Canyon and Red Mesa quad- 
rangles locate many of them, but these maps are far from complete 
in this respect. 
Bumprncs anv Burran Mounps 
1. RUINS NEAR MANCOS SPRING 
Ruin No. 9.—For convenience I shall begin with the remains crown- 
ing the high divide northwest of Mancos Spring. Upon the crest of 
a knoll, which, if cleared of timber, would command a view of the 
1Tenth Ann. Rept. of the Hayden Survey for 1876, p. 387. 
2Op. cit., p. 255. 
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