The Coolidge examiner., 1930-03-28

mems but to find, if possible, infor-
nation about the people who seem
to have been the earliest Indians
to occupy the place.
Beneath the walls and floors of
some of the compounds which are
marked by a ponderance of red
on-buff pottery there has been
found very primitive type of hui
man abode, the pit-dwelling. 1t
would be more precise to say that
the below-ground parts of the pit
dwellings, have been found, for the
sidings and roofings of these hous-
es have disappeared. Probably the
superstructure was af poles and
brush, much like the houses of the
Pimas
l think the typical house of the
Pimas is made Of poles and brush,
although | have not seen one as
yet. The below-ground portions of
the pit-Gwellings consisted of cir
cular pits of varying diameter. Not
having seen any myself, | cannot
say just how large the pits of our
site were; but in the Moapa valley
of Nevada we saw some which
were nearly 40 feet in diameter;
and some were over five feet deep
Search For Pit Dwellings
We are looking for these pit
dwellings beneath the walls Of a
compound which we have found in
which the. red-on-buff ware is found
in the deepest levels. Nearby is a
refuse heap, where the good folks
dumpd their garbage and village
litter This is about 100-ft in diam
eter and several feet high. Our
trenches run north and south and
east and west.
Kellerman is working in the west
trench in the refuse heap. Among
his finds so far are turquoise pen
dant and shell pendant; but the
most intriguing thing he has found
is a mass of caliche at a depth of
seven feet or thereabouts.
Adobe is a familiar word in the
Southwest. Caliche is a term which
is perfectly understood here in this
part of Arizona; but the material
is interesting as the name is
strange, to a Californian. Good old
Noah Webster, who accompanied
me on this trip, tells me that ca
liche is an American Spanish word,
from the Spanish word caliche,
meaning "a pebble in a brick, a
flake of lime. From the viewpoin
of minerology, caliche is any of
various mineral deposits. Specific
ally it is a native Chile saltpeter,
containing from so to rs per cent
of SODIUM nitrate, but caliche is al
so used specifically to designate a
calcareous or limy deposit some
times gold-bearing, occurring in
Arizona ,,
Find Hummock of CaIche
Adobe is useful for making
bricks for the building of houses.
It was used by the Indians, in pre-
historic times; but not in the form
of bricks. Here in the central Gila
valley country, and in other parts
of Arizona where it occurs, the In
dians, the Hohokam, who built the
great houses and the lesser ones
used caliche much as adobe was
used; but caliche when properly
| handled hardens into a cement-like
wall.
Kellerman found it in his trench
First we thought he had found a
portion of a wall; then perhaps a
floor or a pit lined with caliche
but now we are inclined to believe
that he has run upon hummocB
of caliche into which old Mr.. Badg
er or some other rodent (but Mr.
Badger most likely) has burrowed
a bit. 1t seems quite certain that
the charcoal and the pottery which
led Kellerman to the caliche was
part of the earth which filled the
badgers home.
Jan. 9 was a big day with the
Van Bergen-Los Angeles Museum
field party. Julian found monkey
faced figurine, or at least the head
of one. Maybe it was intended to
| ranraSent a dogs head but it looks
for all the world like the head OF a
certain dog-faced monkey. Then
found a pit-dwelling, superposed