10 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 'JO 



throughout these deposits. In one place, above fireplace L, seven 

 distinct levels of occupancy were noted and the layers which sup- 

 ported them frequently merged one into another or disappeared 

 entirely a short distance from the limits of the hut. Careful analysis 

 of these levels and the material separating them leaves the impres- 

 sion that the lesser structures were so easily constructed that their 

 abandonment was effected without great compunction, once their 

 usefulness had ended. 



The charred ends of upright posts show that a large proportion of 

 these shelters were- destroyed by fire ; others may have become so 

 filled with debris and dust that their builders found it desirable to 

 select other quarters. In the latter case, the old hut would have 

 been pulled down and its timbers utilized in the new structure, 

 leaving the other materials which united in its construction as a fur- 

 ther addition to the court deposits. All this is apparent from 

 close examination of the remains, but many of the fireplaces, unlike 

 those exposed by previous expeditions, exhibited no trace of a former 

 covering and it may be that they were entirely unroofed. The huts 

 varied somewhat in size and interior arrangement, but they were of 

 the same general type and they served a common purpose. 



In their simplest form these associated structures consisted of a 

 roof supported by four uprights and they, in turn, surrounded a cir- 

 cular fireplace. The posts upheld crosspieces and against them, 

 leaning outward toward the ground, was a succession of small poles. 

 It seems most likely that grass and earth covered these sloping tim- 

 bers, enclosing the room on at least three sides. That portion of 

 the roof lying directly above the firepit was flat and constructed in 

 much the same manner as that of an adobe dwelling, with possible 

 provision for a smoke vent. In ruins of these huts chunks of burned 

 clay, bearing impressions of the several materials which composed 

 the roof, are almost always present upon the fireplace and within the 

 area bordered by the uprights. 



These lesser structures were really the living quarters of the 

 ancient people, rooms in which their daily activities were performed. 

 As each family possessed one or more adobe houses — places of pro- 

 tection or for the storage of semi-precious possessions — so, also, did 

 each lay claim to at least one court shelter, an associated structure 

 in which the family cooking was done, where garments and household 

 utensils were prepared and where all those numerous small tasks that 

 occupied the time even of primitive folk were performed. Some such 

 shelters possessed a second fireplace ; some a shallow, basin-like 



