Morris] RUINS ON THE MESAS 193 
18 inches thick. The wall between room 1 and kiva 1 is 30 inches 
in thickness and stands to a height of 8 feet. The masonry is ex- 
cellent (pl. 62, 6). The small sandstone blocks are dressed to 
conform to the curve of the wall and the cracks are chinked with 
tiny spalls. 
Kiva 1 is 153 feet in diameter. The banquettes, six in number, 
are unusually shallow, being but 5 inches deep. The ventilator shaft 
opens to the south, as appears to be the case with the other kivas. 
Since the exhaustion of funds made it necessary to abandon the 
excavation of this most interesting ruin, the nature of the other 
features of the kiva was not determined. The fact that the kivas 
are above ground impresses one as unusual. I have not observed 
another instance in the San Juan drainage where kivas built in the 
open were not subterranean. 
A discovery of the relation between this stone building and the 
numerous “pole-and-mud” ruins in the vicinity would be of the 
utmost importance in determining whether or not the ruins in the 
cliffs and those upon the mesas were built by the same people. The 
rooms excavated contained no artifacts which would help to settle 
the question. 
Slightly northeast of the building is a group of slab-inclosed boxes. 
These occur singly and in groups all over the mesas, but in order to 
avoid repetition I have deferred mentioning them until this time. 
Holmes?! and Jackson? describe similar inclosures on the mesas west 
of the Mesa Verde, and the author has been told that they extend 
eastward toward the Animas River. Some are nearly round, some 
square, and others rectangular. Their average size is about 3 by 4 
feet. Slabs of stone form the sides and in many cases there is a 
slab on the bottom. Their use is difficult to determine. They are 
commonly known as “ Indian graves,” but there is nothing to prove 
that such was their function. They occur in and about ruins and in 
isolated places far from any sign of a building. In many of them 
there are small quantities of charcoal and ashes and now and then 
an animal bone. We dug up about 50 of these “graves,” but did 
not find in one of them enough traces of fire to lead to the conclu- 
sion that a body might have been cremated therein. They may have 
been fireplaces, but if such were the case it is hardly probable that 
they would be found so far removed from more or less permanent 
habitations. It is not to be expected that an Indian would transport 
heavy slabs of stone a considerable distance in order to construct a 
cooking place for a temporary camp. 
1Tenth Ann. Rept. of the Hayden Survey, 1876, pp. 385-386. 
2Tbid., p. 414. 
74936°—19—33 ETH 
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