lOO 



SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 66 



Socorro County, Dr. Hough commenced the excavation of a ruin 

 previously located by him, as described in Bulletin 35 of the bureau 

 (p. 59). This site was thought to contain evidence cff pit dwellings 

 exclusively, and excavations showed that an area of about 40 acres 

 contained circular, semisubterranean houses (fig. 104) in which no 

 stone was used for construction. Seven of the pits were cleared, 

 and it was ascertained that many more existed beneath the surface, 

 dug in the yellow sandy clay substratum of the region. Burnt sec- 

 tions of roofing clay showed that these houses were roofed with 

 beams, poles, brush, and mud, as in present pueblo construction. 

 The roof was supported by wooden posts, charred remains of which 



Fig. 104.— Showing circle of pit. Also showing the environs of the pit 



village beyond. 



were found. Nothing was ascertained respecting the construction 

 of the sides of the dwellings or in regard to the height of the roofs. 

 On the floor of each of the pits uncovered were a rude metate (fig. 

 105), grinding stones, slabs of stone, and the outline of an otherwise 

 undefined fireplace not quite in the center of the chamber. A bench 

 about a foot high and a few feet in length was cut in the wall of 

 some of the pits, and in one of the pits, against the wall, was a fire- 

 place (fig. 106) with raised sides of clay. 



Another type of structures adjoined the pits ; these were rectan- 

 gular, open-air houses with mud roofs, in which mealing and culinary 

 work was carried on. Here were numerous metates. manos, rubbing 



