454 EEPOET UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 



are not numerous considering the amount of relics which we find, 

 such as the fragments of pottery, flakes, and implements and weapons, 

 and the population could not have been as great as is generally sup- 

 posed, but on the contrary it is the result of a prolonged occupation of 

 the soil. Mr. Jackson states that he does not believe the population of 

 Chaco Caiion to have exceeded twenty-five hundred persons. 



The fragments of pottery found in the stratum in this canon appear, 

 according to Mr. Jackson's observations, to have been covered with 

 alluvial drift by repeated floods, as the layers from above dip westward 

 and downward, resting unconformably upon the stratum of pottery. 

 The sections and remains of stone walls are in good preservation, and 

 do not appear to differ from those of the surface. The fragments of pot- 

 tery examined show no traces of having been subjected to the action of 

 water and gravel, but appear to have been covered with a layer of sand 

 and gravel within a comparatively short period. A few pieces upon 

 which the broken edges appear somewhat rounded and worn, are in no 

 wise affected upon the glazed surfaces, but present such an appearance 

 as is perceptible upon fragments which have been exposed upon the 

 upper surface. The only material difference between the two varieties, 

 *. e., those from the covered layer and those from the surface and ruins, 

 is that the former are harder and better baked, and have a clear ring- 

 ing sound when lightly struck with a hard body, which is absent to 

 some extent in the latter. The designs of ornamentation are similar in 

 fundamental structure. 



About the ruins in Arizona, the surface specimens are similar to those 

 from Chaco Caiion, but among them we find numerous remains exhib- 

 iting more complex designs in ornamentation, and more frequently speci- 

 mens which exhibit none at all, but merely indentations and cleanly cut 

 lines done by means of a sharp pointed instrument, showing not only 

 as high a state of cultivation as the enamelled ones, but also that they 

 were made in less time, as if from fear of interruption. 



CRANIUM. 



Asymmetrical ; apparently that of a female. The eruption of the last 

 molars has not taken place. The whole of the cranial cavity is com- 

 pletely impacted with sand and gravel, which is now of the consistence 

 of agglutinated sandstone, and any attempt at its removal would prove 

 disastrous to the specimen. Since its discovery, the skull has received 

 some injury in transportation, breaking off the superior maxillary bones, 

 and as the faces of fracture are worn and rubbed, no facial angle can be 

 obtained. It is rather brittle, of a grayish yellowish-brown color, and 

 in some places of a chalky consistence. The outer tables are rather 

 bard. The ethmoid line, zygomatic processes, and inferior maxillary 

 are wanting. The termini of the zygomatic processes indicate them 

 to have been thin and slender. A facial view presents a narrow fore- 

 liead, widening upward and posteriorily, giving the greatest breadth 

 across the bi-parietal region ; orbits apparently oval ; nose broad, con- 

 sidering the curvatures of the inferior portion of the nasal eminence and 

 the superior anterior portion of the maxillary bone. Frontal eminences 

 coalesce, and retain a central elevated ridge downward to the nasal 

 eminence, which is rather broad and prominent. Superciliary ridges are 

 very slight, containing a foramen and notch over the left orbit, and two 

 foramina over the right. 



The most striking peculiarity is the great flattening of the posterior 

 portiori of the skull, including the anterior portion of the occipital and 



