NO. 3 



SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, I915 



89 



their vakie to students and render them more attractive to visitors. 

 The field work last summer (191 5) was devoted to a larg-e building 

 situated on the point (fig. 112) opposite Cliff Palace, and to Oak-tree 

 House, an adjacent cliff-dwelling in the neighboring canyon. This 

 work was unusually sviccessful in that it revealed a new type of pre- 

 historic building 121. 7 feet long by 340 around the north or semi- 

 circular side. This ruin, to which the name Sun Temple has been 

 given, is considered one of the most mysterious structures in the 



Fig. III. 



-Bird and larval insect from Mimbres Valley, 

 Heye Collection. 



Southwest. It was completely excavated, the fallen earth and stones 

 were removed, and the walls thoroughly repaired, the most improved 

 methods being adopted for their preservation from the elements. 

 The ground plan shows an original building and an annex, shaped 

 like a capital letter D. Adjoining the southwest corner of the annex, 

 on the outside, were built two walls forming an enclosure identified 

 as a shrine, the floor of which is formed by the upper face of the 

 southwest cornerstone of the building. In this floor is a fossil palm, 

 suggesting a symbol of the sun, which has given the name to the ruin. 



