40 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XII. No. 286 



In the ruins of these structures, Dr. Wortman says, the greater 

 part of the specimens have been found. The houses are rather 

 large, 300 or 400 feet long and 200 feet wide, possibly larger. They 

 were generally built of adobe bricks, sun dried, without straw or 

 admixture of cement of any kind. In some instances, Mr. Gushing 

 thinks, they were four or five stories high, but this can only be con- 

 jectured from the size of the mounds, the thickness of the walls, 

 and the quantity of the debris. All that now remain are the foun- 

 dation walls, and around and within them \\\^dibris. These houses 

 seem to have been constructed on the same plan as the pueblos of 

 the Zuiiis, the Moquis, and other existing pueblos. In Casa Grande 

 a cement is found to have been used on the outside and inside of 

 the structure. The builders were probably acquainted, as the Az- 

 tecs were, with some sort of cement, which they used to protect 

 their structures from the weather. In some instances it was found 

 that, instead of building with adobe bricks, upright posts had been 

 set up. The space between was wattled with cane or willow, and 

 then filled with adobe. The woodwork has entirely disappeared, 

 there being nothing left of it except occasional bits of charred 

 wood. The post holes are still there, and show the manner of con- 

 struction. 



The dead were buried in the houses. Below the floor of the 

 house a vault was dug, and the body, first wrapped in cloths of 

 some description, was deposited in this sepulchre. Then the grave 

 was filled with adobe, which was packed around the body. Food- 

 vessels and water-jars were also buried with the dead. With the 

 body of a man of consequence, war-clubs, images of various kinds, 

 arrows, and other articles were also interred, but, of course, only 

 the most imperishable remain. Sometimes two or three bodies 

 have been found in the same sepulchre, and it is believed that 

 where two are found in one grave they were man and wife. The 

 skeletons are not well preserved, and crumble after a few hours' 

 exposure to the air. The bodies were wrapped in cotton cloths, as 

 is shown by the impressions left in the adobe, or mud, which was 

 soft when it was first packed around them. In some instances the 

 fragments of cloth have been found. It is of rather fine texture' 

 and the size of the cavities in which the skeletons are now found 

 proves that the bodies inust have been wrapped thickly, so that little 

 or no moisture had access to them. Such being the case, the con- 

 dition of the bones, especially when the dryness of the climate of 

 Arizona is considered, indicates a great antiquity for these burial 

 places. 



The tombs already described appear to have been those of the 

 priestly class. The bodies of the common people were cremated. 

 In connection with each house supposed by Mr. Gushing to be the 

 house of a clan or one of the sociological divisions, such as are 

 found among the Pueblo Indians, was what the explorer calls a 

 pyral mound. On this the bodies and effects of the dead were con- 

 signed to fire. This mound is eight or ten feet high, and is com- 

 posed entirely of the accumulations or dibris resulting from these 

 cremations. The ashes and charred bones of each body were col- 

 lected and placed in an urn, which was buried at the foot of the 

 mound from six inches to a foot below the surface. In some in- 

 stances as many as 400 or 500 of these urns were found buried 

 about a mound. 



Between forty and fifty of the large, or communal, houses were 

 found in Los Muertos. In the centre was a structure larger than 

 the others, which Mr. Gushing called a temple. In this building, 

 which was enclosed by a strong adobe wall, and in no other, were 

 bodies found deposited in an upper story. Here there were four 

 or five adobe sarcophagi, two of which were placed nearer the 

 centre of the building than the others, were more conspicuous, and 

 contained what appeared from the skeletons to be the remains of 

 men of advanced age. Mr. Gushing said that extra decorations 

 were found on these two sarcophagi. It is supposed that this was 

 the home of the chief ruler of the tribe, the chief priest, or some 

 one of exceptional note. The object of the wall surrounding the 

 structure was probably to make it a stronghold or citadel in time 

 of war. The temple might also have served as a general store- 

 house for provisions. 



Other structures of a peculiar character were discovered. They 

 were circular, and in the centre of each was a fireplace. One of 

 these was found in each city. Mr. Gushing thought that this 



round structure was a temple of the sun, or something of that sort, 

 as nothing was found in them but the fireplace and broken pottery. 

 The one most carefully excavated was forty or fifty feet in di- 

 ameter. 



This ancient people built all their houses on the main line of the 

 irrigating canal. This irrigating system was extensive. The many 

 ditches and canals were constructed on a peculiar plan. A cross- 

 section shows a series of terraces. At the bottom is a central ditch, 

 and above this, widening to the top, are terraces. The large canals 

 are about twenty-five feet wide at the top, the central ditch being 

 four or five feet wide. Mr. Gushing believes the canals were used 

 not only for irrigation, but for navigation as well. " We know," 

 said Dr. Wortman, "that the inhabitants of these towns used 

 timbers of considerable size in their building operations. The only 

 available wood in the immediate vicinity was Cottonwood or mes- 

 quite, which would not serve their purpose. They used pine, and 

 the nearest point where they could get lumber of that description 

 from was seventy-five or a hundred miles away. Timbers of a size 

 required by them in the construction of their buildings could not be 

 carried such a distance on the backs of men. The conclusion is 

 that they floated them down the Gila or Salt River. Certain re- 

 mains have been found indicating that they constructed of reeds 

 rafts, or balsas, such as are found in Mexico and the South Sea 

 Islands. Stones of considerable size, not found on the plains, were 

 taken to the towns from the mountains. It would have been im- 

 practicable to have carried these stones such a distance unless they 

 were floated on rafts. 



" To conduct water from one level to another in these canals was 

 a gigantic undertaking, especially when the character of the imple- 

 ments used is considered. They had no tools except stone ones 

 in making their excavations. A few copper implements were found, 

 but metal was scarce. Copper was used for ornaments, earrings, 

 and bells. There was not enough, it is supposed, to use for agri- 

 cultural implements. The irrigating system is sufficient in extent 

 to render the whole extensive valley fertile. The beds of the ca- 

 nals were puddled. Soft mud was packed down well, and then 

 burned or baked by filling the canal with brush and setting fire to 

 it. When constructed this way the lining was almost as hard 

 and impervious to water as terra-cotta pipes. They lost but little 

 water, and the people were extremely economical of water. In 

 some places large ditches terminated in great reservoirs. In these 

 probably water was stored to be used in times of drought. The 

 longest irrigating ditch was probably about twenty-five miles long. 

 The river has perceptibly gone down in its bed since water was 

 taken from it to fill these canals." 



The theory that these towns were occupied successively is dis- 

 proved. Dr. Wortman thinks, by the fact that some towns are 

 twenty-five miles from the river, and all the intervening space is 

 covered with ruins. Canals were constructed from the river to the 

 furthermost town. If the towns were successively occupied there 

 would have been no necessity for constructing these irrigating ca- 

 nals. The enormous labor expended with stone picks for exca- 

 vating and baskets for carrying away dirt in extending these irrigat- 

 ing ditches to these distant points indicates plamly that all the 

 land between them and the river was occupied. 



Mr. Cushing's party found on the rocks of neighboring moun- 

 tains petrographs, or crude etchings. All illustrated inatters of a 

 realistic nature, and did not record the history of an individual or 

 of a nation. They represented men offering prayers for rain, or 

 herders or hunters offering sacrifices. These rock pictures are in- 

 teresting, however, as bearing upon the question of the use of do- 

 mestic animals by these people, and their probable acquaintance 

 with the use of wool. In these petrographs appear representations 

 of animals much like the llama of South America. They are repre- 

 sented in a position or attitude that the llama habitually assumes. 

 They are so pictured as to lead to the conclusion that they were 

 domestic animals. They are connected with a string or cord, a 

 man having hold of the string and appearing to be driving them. 



Mr. Gushing has also found in the ruins a number of terra cotta fig- 

 ures, representing various animals that were hunted, — the mountain 

 sheep, the deer, the fox, the coyote. In one case a number of fig- 

 ures of animals corresponding in appearance with those pictured 

 were found buried together. Mr. Gushing came to the conclusion 



