FEWKES] EXCAVATIONS AT CASA GRANDE, ARIZONA 305 



building above ground, with exception of the two walls at the south- 

 west angle. The condition of the base of this wall necessitated im- 

 mediate repair; for, although three feet thick, it was so undermined 

 that light was visible through holes in the base. The author erected 

 on its east side a buttress of adobe bricks to strengthen it, and took 

 other precautionary measures to keep what was left from falling. 

 The row of holes in which were formerly inserted the ends of the 

 rafters of the upper chamber can still be seen in the east face of the 

 wall. 



Directly west of Font's room is a passageway communicating with 

 the central plaza. The floor of this passageway is hard and very 

 compact, and on one side there were excavated an eagle skeleton and 

 bones of several rabbits. 



7. Rooms between Casa Grande and Font's Room 



East of Casa Grande there were several large rooms, A-E (plate 

 xxxii, b), with low massive walls, evidently of one story. It would 

 appear that in ancient times these rooms joined the terrace at 

 the base of Casa Grande, and we may suppose that their roofs were 

 on the level with the floor of the lowest room of the historic building. 

 Apparently these rooms were not all constructed at the same time, 

 the two at the north showing evidences of being older than the 

 southern pair. 1 



One of these rooms, C, was found to contain much debris, consist- 

 ing of pottery fragments, charred basketry, cloth, maize, mesquite 

 beans, 2 marine shells, and other objects. It appears to have been a 

 dumping place, and, as it has every appearance of having once been a 

 room, we may suppose that it was deserted while some of the other 

 rooms of Compound A were still inhabited. 



8. Rooms Adjoining the Most Northern oe the Six Cere- 

 monial Rooms 



Adjoining the most northern of the six ceremonial rooms on its 

 east side, there lies a room, or court, G, surrounded by walls, which 

 appears to have been without a roof (plate xxix, a, b). Its floor is 



1 This conclusion was arrived at by study of the connection of the walls, 

 the northern or more recent having been built into eroded portions of the 

 older. 



2 Flour cakes made of ground mesquite beans was a favorite food of the 

 Pimas. Alarcon, in 1542, was given loaves of "mezquiqui (probably mesquite 

 meal) by the California tribes. 



2 



