NO. 17 



S.M I TllSOXIAN EXPLORATIONS, I916 



87 



The i)lan of the work at the Mesa \ erde was to excavate one of 

 the many mounds situated on the top of the plateau for the puri)ose 

 of discovering- the characteristics of the Mesa Verde pueblos, of 

 which formerly nothing was known. One of the most conspicuous 



Fig. 93. — Tower in Navaho Canyon, Mesa Verde National 

 Park, Colorado. Photograph by J. Wirsula. 



piles of stones (figs. 84, 85, 86), in a cluster of 16 mounds near the 

 reservoir called Mummy Lake (fig. 87), was chosen for this purpose, 

 and in this were uncovered the walls of a rectangular ruin, 113 feet 

 long bv 100 feet wide: once 20 feet high on the north side where 



