522 PUEBLO RUIN'S NEAR WINSLOW, ARIZONA. 



in building Sunset City, a mile away, but now in ruins, utilized the stones 

 from this ruin for their buildings. Although the walls above ground 

 have been wholly destroyed, the ash-colored mounds indicating the 

 ruin are readily seen from a considerable distance. The original pueblo 

 appears to have been of rectangular shape, with inclosed plazas over- 

 looted by more than single-storied rooms on the east side. 



The second ruin, which is referred to the Homolobi group, lies about 

 3 miles beyond the first and on the same side of the river, but is 

 separated some distance from its right bank. This pueblo is much 

 larger than either of the others and crowns a high mesa. The walls of 

 the rectangular rooms are still clearly discernible above the surface 

 of the ground, and in some places even wooden beams are still in place. 

 This ruin would well repay excavations, but its distance from water 

 deterred me from undertaking them, and other advantages presented 

 by the former ruin so far outweighed those connected with this that I 

 attempted only a day's work at this place. 



A third ruin of the Homolobi group is situated on the left bank of the 

 river, just beyond the site of old Brigham City. The periodically swollen 

 Colorado had washed into this ruin and worn away a considerable sec- 

 tion along the river front. The character of the ruin indicates that it 

 was a small pueblo built in part of blocks of adobe, and possibly 

 abandoned on account of the encroachment of the stream, although 

 well situated for farming the adjacent valley. 



The fourth ruin is perched on top of a mesa at about an equal dis- 

 tance from Winslow as the second, but on the left or opposite bank of 

 the river. The pueblo covered almost the entire top of a conical butte, 

 which on one side is almost inaccessible. This ruin indicates a village 

 of considerable size, as shown by the fallen debris and abundance of 

 pottery fragments strewn on the talus at the base of the cliffs. The 

 pictographs on bowlders halfway up the hill following an old trail are 

 abundant, characteristic, and well preserved. 



My knowledge of the character of prehistoric culture at Homolobi is 

 drawn mainly from facts obtained at the first ruin, but the similarities 

 of all four ruins implies an intimate connection and a close likeness in 

 the manners and customs of their inhabitants. For convenience it may 

 be best to designate the group of ancient towns about Winslow as the 

 Homolobi group, but I will not commit myself to the statement that 

 they were all simultaneously inhabited. There is as yet, however, no 

 evidence that they were not, and every probability that the time of 

 abandonment 1 of all was not far apart. 



Although past experience had shown me that excavations in the 

 rooms of ruins reveal few specimens of value, as compared with those 

 in cemeteries, I made extensive excavations of the rooms of Homolobi 

 to determine their form, the number of stories, and their distribution 



'The reason for their desertion is variously stated to have been inroads of hostile 

 hands, failure of crops, swarms of insects, etc. 



