NO. 12 



SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, IQI/ 



III 



late buildings, cliff-houses, and other domiciles. In the progress of 

 this work one or two excursions were made into Ltah to Cross 

 Canyon west of the Yellow Jacket, where extensive ruins of char- 

 acteristic type await investigation, but no attempt is made to include 

 the results of these trips in this account. Xaturally, since the eastern 

 part of the area considered has been thickly settled by white men for 

 a considerable time the prehistoric ruins in this region are more 

 dilapidated than those on the public domain farther west. There 

 appears, however, to have been a close similarity in the buildings of 

 the eastern and western parts of the area ; existing; dift'erences 

 beino" due rather to nature of sites than to cultural causes. The 



■ ■ '' '*"•' '■"' '" " ■:' •': 



Fig. ii6. — Aztec Springs Ruin. Photograpli l)y J. Wirsula. 



western ruins are the l)etter preserved, and can be used to interpret 

 the Imried walls of eastern motmds, where little now remains visible 

 exce|)t piles of fallen stones, but a satisfactory intepretation must 

 await verification 1)\- the uncovering of their walls. 



Aside from one or two cliff'-dwcllings (fig. 112) the ruins near 

 Dolores crown low hills on the left bank of the river, and are nuich 

 dila]iidatcil. If thc\- arc com])are(l with ruins in the I Tovenwcc]) it 

 ajjjjears that their buried walls had circular i)-sliape<l forms. ( )ne 

 of these hill-ruins situated about three miles from town, in ])lain siL:IU 

 frfjm the .\ioiil iccllo road thai jjraclically tollows ihe old Spanish 

 trail, is the ruin reterred to in ihc brici notice that a]ipears in tlic 

 diarv of i^'atbers Doniinguez ami i'.scalant^', dated 177''. and is 

 probabK the tir-~t ('oloradii rniii iin-iit i(Jiic(l in historical il( icunicnts. 

 8 



