THE HUMAN REMAINS FOUND AMONG THE ANCIENT RUINS OF SOUTH- 

 WESTERN COLORADO AND NORTHERN NEW MEXICO. 



By Dr. Emil Bessels. 



The human remains collected by some of the gentlemen of the United 

 States Geological Survey, among the ruins described by Messrs. T. H. 

 Holmes and W. H. Jackson, are of more than common interest, as they are 

 the first ever examined, and furnish material for conclusions in regard 

 to the general features of the former inhabitants of the region in 

 question. 



Before giving the description of these remains, it may be advisable 

 to insert a few short notes communicated by Mr. Holmes, bearing upon 

 the conditions under which the bones to be described were fouud. 

 They are as follows : 



" The broken and much decayed skull (No. 3) was found on the Hoven Weep, about 

 ten miles above its junction with the Mac Elmo, by Mr. Chittenden. This locality 

 is in Colorado, about thirty miles north of the New Mexican boundary, and ^ix miles 

 east of the Utah line. The bones of the skeleton were projecting from the side of a 

 deep wash and by their position seemed to indicate that the body had been buried in 

 a squatting posture.* The skull was about four feet from the surface. 



" It should be noted that these stream-courses are very stationary ; that tliis encroach- 

 ment upon the compact, vitreous soil of the flats is in all probability exceedingly 

 slow, so that a skeleton might rest for hundreds of years quite undisturbed. There is 

 no running water whatever during the greater part of the year. Kuius in a very ad- 

 vanced stage of decay were found in the neighborhood. The whole region has a desert- 

 like aspect, and the modern tribes are not known to frequent it. 



" The two more perfect skulls (Nos. 1 and 2) were obtained at an ancient ruin near 

 Abiquiu, N. Mex. The skeletons were found entire, having been partially unearthed by a 

 "recent wash. They were witbin 20 or 30 feet from the eastern wall of the rnin, and 

 judging from the description, within a very few feet from the spot where Dr. Yarrow 

 obtained his specimens, t Fragments of pottery were found with the skeletons. The 

 earth above them was very compact. They were three feet from the surface. 



" A great number of burial-places were noticed, but of the graves examined, few 

 yielded fnrthefr evidences of occupation than small quantities of charcoal and bits of 

 painted pottery. These bnrial-[)laces are usually found on the summits of high ridges 

 and promontories, and are still marked by slabsof sandstone set on edge, and arranged 

 in circles and parallelograms of greatly varying dimensions ; bnt that they did not 

 always bury their dead in high i)laces is proven by the frequent discovery of human 

 remains in the arroyos or deep washes in the valleys. The skeletons were obtained in 

 the vicinity of ruined villages, from the sides of recent washes." 



Before treating in detail of the skulls, we shall notice the other jiarts 

 of the skeleton. 



*We do not doubt that the position in which the bones were found, indicated a squat- 

 ting posture of the skeleton, but it is not probable that this posture was commonly in 

 use in burying the dead. — Author. 



t Report of Chief of Engineers for 1875, p. 1066. 



