FEWKES] EXCAVATIONS AT CASA GRANDE, ARIZONA 29I 



Before the excavations were begun, the old stage road from 

 Florence to the Casa Grande station on the Southern Pacific Rail- 

 road entered Compound A east of the main building, crossing it 

 diagonally between the ruin and the two fragments of walls forming 

 the southwest corner of the compound. The opening of rooms 

 directly beneath this road made it necessary to divert it around the 

 south end of the compound. The road-making incidental to this 

 change in the highway necessitated grading and leveling in that 

 vicinity. The level area thus formed would be a good place on 

 which to construct one of the old circular huts of the Pimas, in order 

 to show the character of the dwellings of the common people in pre- 

 historic times. 



As work progressed in this cluster of mounds it became evident 

 that with proper treatment Compound A could be made a type ruin, 

 representing many others scattered throughout the valley of the 

 Gila and its tributaries. With this idea, therefore, the work at Casa 

 Grande has been carried on — the idea of restoring for posterity a 

 representative prehistoric settlement of the deserts of southern 

 Arizona. 



It is hoped tkat the plan of developing type ruins to illustrate cul- 

 ture areas of the Southwest may be carried out also in the Little 

 Colorado, Rio Grande, and other river valleys of Arizona and New 

 Mexico. Representative ruins, properly excavated, repaired, and 

 protected, will greatly increase the interest of tourists as well as 

 scientific students in the antiquities of our country. Needless to 

 say, this plan would merit the support of the settlements near which 

 the ruins lie. 



The main objects of the work at Casa Grande are to bring to 

 light rooms and walls, to repair and protect them, and incidentally 

 to make a collection of objects for the National Museum. 



Classification of Casa Grande Mounds 



The artificial mounds at Casa Grande may be grouped into five 

 classes, distinguished as follows : 



1. Multiple or single mounds scattered over a rectangular area 

 surrounded by a defensive wall. These enclosed areas may be desig- 

 nated compounds. 



2. Single mounds' covering buildings, but not surrounded by a 

 wall. These may be called clan houses. 



3. Oval mounds, ordinarily called "hollow" on account of central 

 depressions, the bottoms of which are generallv lower than the level 



