Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1919-06-30
PIT VILLAGES IN
SOCORR0 CO. ARE
MANY YEARS OLD
Walter Hough'S Explorations
Result in Finding Ancient
Ruins Located on Main Road
to SpringeviIIe,


Especial coReEsPoHpEHcs TO ~oRnI4e Iouey,,l
Santa Fe, June 29.-As remarkable
as any romance is the story OF the
Pit House villages in western socorro
county, told in the latest publication
Of the United states National Museum
Walter Hough, the curator of othnOI-
ogy, who has for many years now.
explored the prehistoric dwellings of
the southwest, tells the story of his
excavations i'm word and picture and
leaves the impression that the pit|
house villages of SocorrO county are
older than the cliff and cave dwell
ings of the Pajarto and OF any of
the other prehistoric habitations thus
far found. Yet. he cites Melchior
Diaz on his journey northwest from
the town of Sonora in search of the
sea coast, as he says: "They came to
a province of exceedingly tan and
strong like giants. They are naked
and live in large straw cabins, built
underground like smoke houses. with
only the straw roof above the ground
They enter these at one end and come
out at the other More than a hundred
persons, old and Young, sleeping in one
cabin" DR.. Hough asks: Were these
the Yumas?"
Speaking of the age of these pre-
historic remains, he says: Some
points on the age of the Luna pit vii
lage were derived from a study of
the drainage and soil The top soil
is a rich brown to black loan one
foot thick, which also fills the pits
The loan is believed to be a forest
formation, and it is thought that sub
seQuent to the occupation by man the
area was covered with a heavy growth
Of pines Excavation under pine
stumps shows pottery etc, three feet
beneath the roots, which observation
may be taken for what it is worth. !
The culture of the pit dwellers
was, from the evidence secured. quite /
simple and much less advanced than |
that of the mountain pueblos of
stone construction, whose ruins are
abundant i'm the neighbOrhoOd. The !
culture is inferior to that of any of
the sites in the southwest which the /
writer has investigated. This fact gives
necessarily the aspect of considerable |
antiquity to the remains, which may
or may not be iustifiably deduced. !
Several circumstances suggest a long
inhabitation of this region, but pres
ent inConCluSiVe evidence. There are !
quasi indications of the presence of /!
man in the basin along the upper San
Francisco river when these basins
were lakes. Another suggestion Of age
is given Ey the drainage"
The pit houses eXcavated are with !
in sight of the main highway to |
Springerville. near Luna, western So
zorro county. They are within the
Datil forest and on lands filed upon
by James Melvin Swap. The ruins oc-
cupy a gentle slope inclining south /
by east on the third terrace above
the san Francisco river. which is .
about one and One-half miles away.
The terrace abuts on low hillocks to
the north. The area, about thirty
acres in extent has been naturally for
osted since the Abandonment of its use
for human habitations, but major
ity of the trees (pines) have matured
and died or have been logged off
The soil is loose but not washed.
There are no rocks in the soil, which
may be classed as lake shore allu
vium covered with products of Or
ganic action on soil resulting in loan.
In this soil there had been anciently
dug perhaps 100 or more pits IA feet
in diameter and 1-2 feet feet deep.
Covering them We're roofs of poles
boughs and mud supported on posts
and the sides were perhaps waited.
1t is evident that a former time hui
man activities had disturbed the con-
tour of a large area by the removing
and piling up of great quantities Of
earth, Another pit village lies seven
miles farther north and traces Of sim
liar habitations have been found in