NO. 12 SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, I917 1 33 



roasting corn. The majority show scanty evidences that they were 

 graves, and excavations have yielded few, if any, human bones, 

 although ashes and charcoal are abundant. Similar slabs of stone, 

 possibly a survival of a more archaic method of construction, are 

 often found set upright in horizontal masonry. Some of these uncut 

 stones are large enough to be called megaliths ; these also may be 

 regarded as survivals of early methods of construction ; in some walls 

 they are used without smaller stones. 



The Director of the National Park Service, recognizing the popu- 

 lar and scientific interest in the preservation of the towers in Square 

 Tower (Ruin), Holly, and Hackberry Canyons, as a sequel to the 

 above field work, is endeavoring to have them set aside from the 

 public domain, to be known as the Hovenweep National Monument. 



