no 



SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 68 



tionships to those of Alesa \"erde. where there is so much in this 

 Hne to attract tourists and students. Dolores, a station on the Denver 

 and Rio Grande Railroad, was chosen as a convenient point of 

 departure for this preliminary reconnaissance. 



Especial attention was paid to a determination of the forms and 

 architectural characteristics of prehistoric buildings. Although no 

 extensive excavations were attempted an examination was made 

 of local collections of pottery and other objects, said to have come 

 from these ruins, as a basis of comparison with similar objects from 

 the Mesa Verde. While collections of these specimens are small 

 they support the conclusion, taught by architectural evidences, that 



.^*?%' :" * ''^i 



Fig. 115. — Semicircular tower one mile from Littrell Ranch, Yellow Jacket. 

 Photograph by J. Wirsula. 



the life of the inhabitants of the two regions was similar. They 

 uphold the theory that the final abandonment of the region by the 

 aboriginal occupants occiuTed in prehistoric times or before the 

 Spanish occupation, but they contribute little to definite knowledge 

 of the date of their construction. In the limited time at his disposal 

 Dr. Fewkes confined his studies to typical ruins situated in an area 

 bounded on the west by the Yellow Jacket, formerly known as the 

 Hovenweep Canyon, and its tributaries ; on the south by the McElmo ; 

 on the north by a line drawn from Dolores to the head of Sandstone 

 Canyon ; and on the east by the Montezuma \ alley, which extends 

 from Dolores to Aztec Spring Ruin. In this area there occur many 

 ty]jes of aboriginal remains, as open sky pueblos like Far A'iew 

 House, single roomed towers, multi-chambered, massive-walled castel- 



