Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1915-08-27
ANCIENT RUINS
NEAR SANTA f:
ARE EXCAVATED
Information Gained From Work
Of ArchaeoIogiSt Among
Taos PuebIoS Proves In
tenSeIy Interesting,

santa tet Aug. 1b,-lntenSclN inter- I
esting are the results Of the eXcava-
lions by \. c. Nelson for the Ameri-
can Museum Of Natural History of
New York CITY They were made this
summer in the Tanos pueblos south
of Santa Fe. For a time, Earl Nor
ris, formerly connected with the
School Of American Archaeology. ass
sisted and then went to San Juan
county to conduct excavations for j
C. Wolfing of ST. Louis and others of
the Archaeological Institute OF Amer
lea.
Mr.. Nelson eXcaVated partially six
different ruins, ranging in age from
the cliff dweller days to Spanish
times Four of the ruins, the pueblosI
of Cieneguilla, Cienega, La BajadaI
and Canyoncto, lie on the banks Of.
the Rio de Santa Fe; the fifth, Pu
eblo de los Aguajes, lies two miles
northwest Of the La Tetilla peak,
visible from Santa Fe, and the sixth,
Pueblo San Marcos, is located on the
San Marcos grant, three miles north
east of Cerrillos in the Galisteo drain
age.
The smallest ruin, Canyoncito, con-
sists of three buildings or about 1l5
ground floor rooms, while the larg-
est, san Marcos, contains forty-three
buildings or considerably over 5000
ground floor rooms. But many of
the buildings had been two or more
stories high.
Many Rooms Are Cleared.
Altogether, Mr.. Nelson cleared 475
rooms and one kiya besides digging
| trail holes and trenches in several
more rooms and kiyas as well as
refuse heaps. The smallest room
was found to be five by seven feet of
adobe Ca few stones mixed in, plas-
tered and often whitewashed Doors,
fireplaces and small bins wre exposed
in places, and were found to be quite
common About 600 specimens were
catalogued for the museum eollec-
tons and three to four wagonloads
of stone implements, potsherds, ETC.,
were left with the ruins.
The collections include: Bone deer
and turkey flutes, whistles, beads,
scrapers, avis and other pointed i'm
| plements, also one scoop or agricul-
tural imprement made from the
shoulder blade of the bison. OF stone,
metates, manos, cooking slabs, dress
ed slabs mauls and hammer stones,
hoes ca, rubbing or whetstones, pol
/ ishing stones, polishing pebbles groov-
ed axes, grooyed arrow polishers ana
ialso q few beads and pendants of
sheel and turquoise, clipper knives,
spear and arrow points of flint agate,
! obsidian, etc. Wood and fiber, i'm
! pressions of pleated mating, impress
Isions and eharred fragments of coiled
baskets, charred fragments of tWo-ply
strings or cords OF burnt clay, Sc
ries. about twelve tubular pipes with
lincised ornamentation; about dozen
entire pottery vessels, jars and bowls,
miniature and large; about fifty TO
sixty pottery vessels, broken but more
or less complete and restorable, in
GLIDING corrugated and rough, sooty
cooking pots, biscuit ware, some with
"Avanyu" symbols on both Sides an
cient black and white ware, very fine
glazed ware of three successive types,
the latest being of Spanish date;
painted ware closely resembling that
of santo Domingo and other modern
i puebos. Foodstuffs or remains OF
prehistoric days, corn shelled and on
the cob (good), beans Cline quality
pinyon nuts, bones Of wild turkey
! deer and bear, squash or pumpkin
from prehistoric times, bones OF
horse, COW, pig, sheep, goat and dog
in profusion,
San Marcos Largest Ruin.
San Marcos was the largest Of all
the ruins examined. 1t covers an area
Of ]. 500 by 500 feet, contains forty
three buildings or wings and one, pos
sibly three, kiyas The village was
founded in ancient times when black
and white painted pottery was N
style. But life went on here prob
ably without interruption down &c
1850 or very shortly thereafter, inc
last Indian houses, ike the churoh
having been built of regular adopes
The duration Of time involved can
not as yet be determined, but il was
"A long time because during the inter
val four different styles Of potterS
! came and went and the fifth, VIZ
modern painted ware, was Just begin
ming to develop when the pueblo was
abandoned.
The san Marcos church and mis-
sion buildings have been riddled viii
holes and trenches by treasure
hunters, SO that it seemed at frs
Impossible to determine anythinA
about them. The church faces cas-
land measures, on the inside, approx
mately twenty-five by eighty-fiv'
feet It is a simple, not crueitorm
structure, with the altar end taperint
almost to q point, somewhat ike TN
Ichurch or chapel at Pueblo San Crls
toval on the Pankey ranch. The WALL
Hare five feet thick and are punt o
ii fine. straw-mixed adobes, laid IN reBu
1 lar master mason courses. Adloininl
1.-THE church on the south side are lou
p small buildings arranged around
nearly square court or patio, IN
i, rooms In these buildings are fifteei
: to twenty feet square, j. e. entireI
!, different in shape and dimension
from the rooms of the Indian build
ings SO that there can be no doub
about their having formed a par
Of the mission. Several coats Of white
= still adhere to the base Of the STAND
= ing portions u the walls which q
vargas tells US were in ruins whe1