62 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 65 



tions. They constitute an educational unit of considerable value, 

 have attracted from the beginning the best and most serious attention, 

 and eventually, it is hoped, will become the foundation of a museum 

 in San Diego. 



PREHISTORIC REMAINS IN NEW MEXICO 

 Previous to the month of May, 1914, it was pretty generally 

 believed by archeologists that the elevated plateau extending from 

 Deming, New Mexico, to the Mexican border was destitute of any 

 ruins indicating a prehistoric occupation by man. In April of 

 that year Mr. E. D. Osborn wrote to the Bureau of American 



Fig. 62. — Ruin near Osborn Ranch. Photograph by J. W. Fewkes. 



Ethnology that he had made a considerable collection of pottery and 

 other objects from a village site (fig. 62) not far from his ranch, 12 

 miles south of that city. From the nature of these objects, especially 

 the decoration on the pottery, photographs of a few of which accom- 

 panied his letter, it was apparent not only that the Mimbres Valley 

 was peopled in prehistoric times by a sedentary people, but also that 

 the former inhabitants of this valley had attained a considerable 

 artistic development. Accordingly Dr. J. Walter Fewkes, an eth- 

 nologist on the Bureau staff, was sent to Deming to investigate these 

 remains, and to secure, if possible, a typical collection. 



He was two months in the field, confining his work more especially 

 to the above mentioned ruin, and to the somewhat larger and more 

 populous village (figs. 63, 64) near Oldtown, 22 miles north of the 

 above mentioned city. He secured by excavation and purchase a 



