ANNOUNCEMENT

The present bulletin is intended as the first of a series treating of the antiquities of the public domain, and designed to supply the very general demand for fuller information on this subject than has yet been furnished. Recently widespread interest in these remains has been aroused, partly as a result of their rapid despoliation by relic hunters and inexperienced explorers, and a vigorous movement for protective measures has been organized. From time to time during the last few years efforts have been made to perfect and bring to the attention of Congress a suitable provision for the preservation of the antiquities under consideration and a measure generally approved by the scientific institutions of the country has recently been presented to that body. Meanwhile the several departments of the Government having jurisdiction over the lands on which the ruins are situated have recognized the need of adequate protective measures, and have taken decisive steps looking toward the preservation of the ruins and their proper utilization in the interest of history and science.

The greater number of these antiquities are situated (1) on the national forest reserves, (2) on the Indian reservations, (3) on the unappropriated public lands. The first class is thus under the jurisdiction of the Department of Agriculture and in the immediate custodianship of the Forest Service. The other two classes are under the jurisdiction of the Department of the Interior, the second being under the immediate custodianship of the Office of Indian Affairs and the third under that of the General Land Office. The departments mentioned have issued stringent orders prohibiting the excavation of ruins or burial mounds and the carrying away of archeological specimens without permission of the Secretary of the department having jurisdiction over the lands involved, and also prohibiting traffic in specimens that have been collected on the reservations. Furthermore, the issuance of permits has been restricted so as to include only competent archeologists working under the auspices and for the benefit of reputable scientific or historical institutions, or organizations having adequate museum facilities and provision for permanent custodianship of scientific collections.

The Bureau of American Ethnology has been called on from time to time by the departments for information concerning the location and character of certain ruins and the qualifications of persons and institutions to conduct investigations among them, and it is

a This measure became a law in June, 1906; for its provisions see Appendix A, page 54.

partly with the view of supplying more fully the information required in the practical work of supervision that the present publications are undertaken. The researches of this Bureau, extending over the last quarter of a century, have resulted in the accumulation of a vast body of information relative to prehistoric remains of the tribes, and this has been embodied in reports most of which are out of print. Notwithstanding the constant demand for these works, it is not possible to republish them, and the series of bulletins now contemplated will in a measure take their place; at the same time these handy volumes will serve for the use of forestry officers, Indian agents and police, Land Office agents, and others having official custodianship of the ruins, as well as for persons desiring to visit the sites or to undertake archeological researches. The bulletins will be prepared by the best qualified authorities on the several areas of which they treat, and will be accompanied by maps giving the sites already located and affording the means of making corrections and additions. When sufficiently perfected, the data embodied in these maps will be incorporated in the general archeological map of the United States which is in course of preparation by the Bureau.

The present bulletin, by Edgar L. Hewett, embraces the very important culture district in New Mexico of which the Jemez plateau is the central physiographic feature. Mr Hewett has in hand a second number, to include the region drained by the northern tributaries of the Rio San Juan in Colorado and Utah, an area of which the Mesa Verde and its wonderful cliff-dwellings form the center of interest. Dr J. Walter Fewkes is engaged in the preparation of a third bulletin on the vast area included in the drainage of the Little Colorado, and Dr Walter Hough has taken up the antiquities of the upper Gila valley. Other numbers will follow as rapidly as possible, until the whole Pueblo area is adequately presented.

This series of publications, however, must be regarded as essentially preliminary, since the available data, although adequate for certain localities, are still fragmentary, and since much careful exploration is necessary before the subject can be monographically treated. In view of these facts it is most desirable that information should be obtained from every available source, and the Bureau especially solicits the aid of correspondents in correcting the data published and in locating and describing additional sites of all kinds. A card catalogue of archeological sites of whatsoever character is being prepared, and cards indicating the nature of the data required will be furnished by the Bureau on request."

W. H. HOLMES, Chief.

a A specimen record indicating the desired data is presented in Appendix B, page 54.

ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEMEZ PLATEAU,
NEW MEXICO

By EDGAR L. HEWETT

INTRODUCTORY NOTE

The region to which the name Jemez plateau is here applied lies in the northern central part of New Mexico on the west side of the Rio Grande del Norte. The greater portion of the plateau is occupied by the Jemez forest reserve. Six Indian reservations or grants border on

or lie partly within its limits; these are the San Juan, Santa Clara, San Ildefonso, Cochiti, Santo Domingo, and Jemez. Of the remaining portion all that is not embraced within private land grants and small holdings is public land. The ruins referred to in this bulletin are distributed as shown on the map (pl. xvII). In many cases locations are only approximate, owing to the lack of authoritative surveys. The map was prepared by the Forestry Office, the data being furnished by the Forest Service of the Agricultural Department, the General Land Office and the Geological Survey of the Interior Department, and by the War Department, with corrections and additions by the author. The archeological features of the map are the result of investigations of the Bureau of American Ethnology, and are to be revised and extended as soon as the necessary data are obtained.

PHYSIOGRAPHY OF THE JEMEZ PLATEAU

The Jemez plateau may be said to extend from a point almost directly west of Santa Fé to the Colorado line, a distance of about 90 miles. It is limited on the west by the Rio Puerco and has an extreme breadth of about 60 miles (see map, pl. xvII). The area is divided unequally by the Rio Chama, which flows through it from northwest to southeast. The backbone of the northern or smaller portion is the Tierra Amarilla mountains. With this region we have little to do in this paper, as it is devoid of any conspicuous ruins except in the southern part, that is, in the Rio Chama drainage.

South of the Chama and crowning the plateau is a great complex of mountains loosely known as the Jemez. There are two important ranges. The western forms the watershed between the Rio Puerco and the Rio Jemez, and the eastern forms the Jemez-Rio Grande divide.

9

The leading topographical features of the entire area are mountains, characterized by massive rounded contours, the highest peak attaining an altitude of 11,200 feet; flat mesa lands of an altitude of 7,000 to 8,000 feet, cut up by innumerable canyons from 100 to 1,500 feet deep, the mesas sloping gently from the mountains to the valleys, on whose borders they terminate in bold perpendicular escarpments (pl. 1); and narrow sandy valleys at altitudes ranging from 6,000 to 7,000 feet. The mountains are for the most part well forested with pine, spruce, fir, and aspen. No peaks extend above the timber line, as is popularly supposed, the baldness of their tops having been caused by fires. The mesas are rather thinly covered with piñon, juniper, and cedar interspersed with many small open parks. The valleys naturally produce sage, chaparral, and cactus, and can be adapted to agriculture and fruit-growing by means of irrigation.

Pre

There are but few permanent streams throughout this area. cipitation ranges from 10 to 15 inches annually. There are a high percentage of cloudless weather, little snow except in the high mountains, excessive evaporation, summers never excessively hot or winters very cold, an atmosphere of marvelous clearness and dryness, and generally speaking, a climate unsurpassed for salubrity. The country is poor in game and fish, nor are wild fruits or other natural food products abundant.

This region became the seat of a considerable population in prehistoric times and almost innumerable ruins of the ancient civilization are distributed through the Pajarito plateau, the Chama drainage, and the Jemez valley.

The culture that developed here was evidently molded largely by the physiographic conditions above described. Being deficient in game and other natural food supply, the country did not offer an inviting prospect to a nomadic people, while, on the other hand, the adaptability of soil and climate to agriculture, and the natural protection from enemies afforded by cliffs and canyons rendered it attractive to a people of sedentary inclinations. The selection and preparation of ground for agriculture naturally tended to permanency of abode, and the peculiar geological conditions as naturally determined the character and construction of the dwellings of the people.

ARCHEOLOGICAL REMAINS

The ruins of prehistoric habitations, occurring in vast numbers throughout the Jemez plateau, are of two general classes, cliffdwellings and pueblos.

The cliff-dwellings of this district are quite generally of the excavated type, whence is derived the term "cavate dwellings," which is sometimes applied to them. This type embraces a wide range of domiciles. The most primitive is the natural open cave, formed principally by wind erosion and only slightly, if at all, enlarged and

shaped by excavation (pl. II, a). A considerable advance over this type is shown in the wholly artificial dwelling excavated in the perpendicular face of the cliff (pl. II, b), the front wall being formed of the natural rock in situ. Numerous variations occur as shown in the illustrations, the most important of which are those with cased doorways (pl. II, c) and those with front wholly or in part of masonry (pl. I, d, e, f). It is evident that when in use the majority of these dwellings were rendered much more commodious by the building of porches, as shown in the restoration (pl. III, b) in front of the excavated rooms. In some cases complete houses were built upon the sloping talus, as shown in the restoration of Tshirege (pl. I, α), the excavated rooms at the back being used mainly for storage and burial crypts. These cliff-dwellings occur in vast numbers in the southern faces of the tongue-like mesas (potreros) of volcanic tufa that extend out from the base of the mountains toward the valley on what is known as the Pajarito plateau, the table-land lying between the Jemez range and the Rio Grande. They occur also in similar formations in the mesas that are drained by the southern and western tributaries of the Chama. Occasionally they are found in cliffs with eastern exposures, but they very rarely face either north or west.

The pueblo ruins are those of the many-chambered community houses which are found upon the mesa tops and in valleys independent of any support from natural cliffs. They exist in large numbers on the Pajarito plateau from Cochiti north to the rim of the table-land overlooking the Chama valley; in the valleys of the northern tributaries of the lower Chama; on the mesas both north and south of the upper Chama, particularly in the Gallinas "bad lands;" and in the Jemez valley. The pueblo structure is invariably a cluster of rooms or cells. There are numerous variations of extension and arrangement. In some cases the rooms are arranged irregularly and in others they have a definite alignment of common wall. The smaller pueblos were but one story high, while the majority of the large ones were from two to four stories. There was a general tendency to build them in quadrangular form. Many single-chambered ruins are found in the vicinity of the pueblos. These were for the most part simply camps or lookouts, similar to those now used by the Pueblo Indians in summer.

Petroglyphs or rock pictures are numerous throughout the districts, especially so on the Puyé cliffs in Pajarito park and in the Rio Grande valley between La Joya and Embudo. Fine specimens are to be seen also at the mouth of the Canyones overlooking the Chama. The illustrations here presented (pl. Iv) give a fair idea of the range of designs. While some of these represent nothing more than idle picture-making, perhaps most of them are of serious totemic, legendary, and religious significance.

a The accompanying plans of pueblos represent only an approximation to the arrangement and extent of the rooms.