22 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 70 



domestic activities. The shelters seemingly were erected without 

 serious consideration of their possible interference with the general 

 plan of the village ; they were easily constructed and the site chosen 

 for each appears to have been the least obstructed space nearest 

 the home of the prospective builders. Huts of this type, together 

 with the adobe houses, acted as natural barriers that caught and 

 held the wind-blown sand and earth as it swept across the treeless 

 foothills and settled in and among the dwellings, adding materially 

 to the size of the mound. Not all of the exposed dwellings were 

 inhabited simultaneously and it is highly probable that many decades 

 elapsed between the occupation and abandonment of the site. 



Ceremonial chambers adjacent to the secular structures suggest 

 that at least three clans had united in the establishment of the village. 

 In form and their obvious connection with the neighboring habita- 

 tions these circular rooms resemble the kivas in cliff-dwellings and 

 historical Pueblo villages. Although certain structural details com- 

 monly identified with the latter are absent in the Paragonah kivas, 

 but little doubt remains that they served similar purposes and exerted 

 equally important influences upon their respective builders. 



Large numbers of artifacts were recovered from the refuse heaps 

 which filled the open spaces between the houses. Most of these are 

 of bone and stone, but charred fragments of more perishable mate- 

 rials were also found, and all of them, taken together, indicate that 

 the ancient artisans possessed considerable ingenuity and attained 

 creditable results with their crude implements. Among the objects 

 collected are many shards of earthenware vessels decorated with 

 geometric figures of a type common to prehistoric communities 

 south and east of the Rio Colorado. Inasmuch as decorative motives 

 did not change readily among the ancient house builders of the 

 Southwest this similarity in pottery design is noteworthy. 



Not only the character and ornamentation of certain lesser anti- 

 quities, but also the structural peculiarities of the rectangular 

 dwellings and their general relationship to each other confirm the 

 opinion that a marked cultural affinity existed between the ancient 

 people of Parowan Valley and those inhabiting the semi-arid regions 

 east of Navaho Mountain. Just how extensive and far-reaching 

 this may be can be determined only by additional investigations — 

 researches that shall have for their prime motive the tracing of the 

 ancient culture so characteristic of western Utah. Once these limits 

 are ascertained the problem of the Utah mounds will have been solved 

 and the builders of the adobe dwellings will have found their right- 

 ful place in the story of our prehistoric Southwest. 



