SOURCES OF THE GILA

DISTRIBUTION OF THE RUINS

1. SOURCES OF THE GILA

No. J. Cliff-dwellings

—

In the rim of a

mesa

4 miles north of Datil, Socorro county, N. Mex., there are 5 or 6 contiguous

rooms

forming a cliff-house, but only one of

them

is intact.

The

pottery

from

this locality isdullgray

and brown

incolor

and

of crude

manu-

facture, resemblingthat

from

near Magdalena, N. Mex.,

and

stations

on

the Rio Grande.

The

size, location,

and

plan of this ruin relate it to

many

similar ruins in the mountains of southern

New Mexico and

Arizona.

Few

ruins exist in the neighborhood of Datil or ap- parently are to be found on the streams of this portion of the Datil range,

which

borders thedreary

San

Agustin plains.

Professor

De

Lashmutt, of Tucson, reports a quarry of obsidian located on the headwaters of the Gila near the

San

Agustin plains.

aFinal Report, pt. n,Papers of Archaeological Institute of America, Am. Series, iv.

"American Anthropologist, ix, 311-313, September, 1896.

cThelocation of each ruin is shown on map, plate xi.

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^[bill. 35

This quarry

was worked

by the aborigines. In the neighborhood of the quarry is a walled inclosure of great extent, containing near one side a " reservoir."

No. ^.J. Pueblos, cares,

and

cliff-dwellings.

— ^At

Gatton's ranch, on Sapillo creek, a branch of the Gila, Bandelier (Final Report, 11, 359)

saw

a quantity of pottery

and

other artifacts

which

were taken

from

a cache

some

time before his visit.

The

specimens were stated to be like those

from

the

Mimbres

valley,

which

liesa

few

miles to theeast.

The

ruins along the Sapillo are small

and

in no respect diiferent

from

those on the headwaters of the Mimbres.

Bandelier alsomentionsthe occurrence of cavesat

Mangas

springs"

(6miles southeast ofGila, T. 16W.,R. 17 S.),

from which

^ceremonial

objects have been taken.

No. 3. Cliff-house

and

care.

— On ^Diamond

^{river, about 8 miles}

above the

mouth and

10 miles southwest of

Old Camp

Vincent (on T. 14 W., R. 10 S.), are ruins located in the walls of a canyon about 30 feet above the valley.

The

front wall is

from

15 to 18 feet long, isbuilt of volcanic debrislaid in

mud, and

has timbers cementedinto the inner face. There are

two

rooms, one of the latter about 11 feet long

by

10 feet wide.

The

smaller

room

.has

two

loopholes

and

thelargera door

and window. To

the right,20 feet above,is

an

open cavern,access to

which

can be

had

by rudesteps.

This cave contained broken

bows and

arrows heaped in a pile near the front,

and

Mr.

Henshaw

estimated that there were

more

than 1,000 broken shaftsat this spot.''

Bandelier describes a large cliff-dwelling located near no. 3,

and

gives plans

and

sections.

These cave dwellings are properly but one story high, but the compulsory adaptationto the configuration of theground hascaused an accidental approach to two ^stories. They are instructive for the study of the development of the terraced house of the Pueblo Indian. Perfectly sheltered, and therefore quite well ](reserved, the cave villages are perhaps larger than the open-air ruins, compactness compensating for the limitation in space. Rut they illustrate the fact that the foundations remaining of villages built in the open air are fre- quently only those of courts or inclosures, the mounds alone indicating the site of buildings. Of the twenty-six compartments contained in the caves on Diamond creek only, nine were clearly elevated structures, as the doorways show; the rest are in many cases courts of small dimensions, encompassed by low and still perfect inclosures. The roofs are of the pueblo pattern, well defined, but in one cave the trouble of building them was spared by completely walling up the entrance, with two apertures for admission. The fireplace wasa rectangular hearth, as I found it at Pecos, and placed in the center of the room.

The partition walls are of stone and laid up in adobe mud. Some ^of them

still preserve their outer coating of yellowish clay. Their thickness is 0.30

"Named for Mangas Coloradas. ^"Red Sleeves," the famous Apache.

6Wheeler Report, Archaeology, vn, 370-371, Washington, 1879.

hough] ANTIQUITIES OF GILA-SALT

VALLEYS 31

meter, and the roofs were entire on some of the rooms. Round beams with thehark peeledoff werein agoodstate of preservation. The diameterofthese beams varied between 0.07 and 0.24 meter (3 to 9i inches). The roof which these beams supported was of the ordinary pueblo pattern and ^0.2.". meter (9 inches) thick. The doorways were nearly square, and low. Air holes, T- shaped and of unusual size (0.95 by 1 meter), opened upon the outside ⁱⁿ several places.

These buildings occupy four caverns, the second of which toward the east ^is 10 meters high. The western cave communicates with the others only from the outside, while the three eastern ones are separated by huge pillars, behind which arc natural passagesfrom one cave to theother. Theheight of the floor

Fig. 1. Cliff-dwellings, West fork of the Gila.

abovethe bed of the creek ^is 55 meters, and the ascent ^is steep, in some places barely possible. To one coming from the mouth of the cleft the caves become

visible only after he has passed them, so that they are well concealed. But while it would be difficult for an Indian foe to take the place by storm, its inhabitants could easily be cut off from wateror starved. The southern slope, fronting the caves, is steep, but covered with forests, and the cleft ^is so nar- row that a handful of men, armed with bows and ^arrows and posted behind the tall pines, could effectively blockade the cave dwellings. With all its natural advantages, therefore, this cave village was still extremely vulnerable.

Among

the many objects taken from these ruins I mention particularly sandals made of strips of the yucca. It may be remembered that similar foot- gear was found at the Tze'-yi (Chelly). I have been informed that the Tara- humares of southwestern Chihuahua still wear the same kind of sandals. In

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[bull. 35 addition, I saw many baskets or fragments of baskets; also prayer-plumes and plume-sticks. Sneh remains indicate that their makers were in no manner different from the Pueblo Indians in general culture.

No. 4- Cliff-dwellings.

—

^{These ruins are on the} headwaters of the Gila river,near

Hot

springs; they are accessible

from

Silver City.