THK AXCIKXr I'KOFM.KS. 41 



side canals were pro\ ided for the distribution of the 

 water over the fields. The posts of the gates for regu- 

 lating the flow were found at the heads of these laterals. 

 Mr. Hodge, who reported these excavations, estimates 

 that similar canals provided for the irrigation of at 

 least 200,000 acres, about half of the land in the valley 

 available for such uses. 



Hunting. The large number of bones of game 

 animals found in the houses and refuse heaps indicates 

 that hunting was not neglected. The weapons proba- 

 bly employed were the bow and arrows, spears, and 

 possibly clubs. The numerous pieces of large rope 

 clearly show they had the means at hand for snares as 

 well. 



Manufactured Objects. 



Pottery. The prehistoric pottery of the Southwest 

 is of excellent quality and unusually beautiful in its 

 decoration. It bears evidence of being made by coiling. 

 The succeeding rounds of clay are made to adhere to 

 the preceding ones by pressure with the fingers and 

 then are either left rough, or smoothed down and pol- 

 ished so as to completely obliterate the individual coils. 



The larger cooking pots are often undecorated. In 

 some of them the unsmoothed coils and the marks of 

 the fingers in pressing the coils together produced 

 decorative effects but that the result w^as intentional 

 is not clear. On many of them, however, indentations 

 are applied in a symmetrical way or so as to produce 

 simple patterns. 



