CHAPTER I. 
THE ANCIENT PEOPLES. 
The information here presented concerning the cul- 
ture of the primitive peoples of the Southwest falls into 
two classes. Knowledge of a people obtained by direct 
observation and by intercourse with them is called 
ethnological, while that which is secured from a study 
of their houses and manufactures left after they have 
disappeared is called archaeological. There are large 
regions in the Southwest where there are plentiful 
ruins which have been unoccupied since the first arrival 
of Europeans in 1539. Whatever we know concerning 
the culture of these ancient peoples must be either 
directly observed or inferred from the relation which these 
ruins and other relics bear to each other and to similar 
structures and objects still in use by living peoples. 
Much has been lost beyond any possibility of recon- 
struction. We know nothing of the language spoken 
by these peoples; their social customs can only be 
guessed at in certain minor particulars; and their 
religion in small part only is inferred from certain ob- 
jects that must have had a ceremonial use. While 
much has been lost, an increasing amount has been 
learned from a systematic examination of these ruins 
and their contents. 
Because large regions have been unoccupied for 
centuries we need not suppose the inhabitants perished 
utterly. It is more probable they moved to other 
localities where they were found by the Spaniards. 
Whence the ancient peoples came we do not know nor 
when. They may have been in this region for several 
thousands of years. We do know that after they came 
they learned to construct large community houses and 
to make highly decorated pottery. 
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