Archeology of the lower Mimbres valley, New Mexico

SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOLUME 63, NUMBER 10
(With Eight Plates)
J. WALTER FEWKES
(Publication 2316)
CITY OF WASHINGTON PUBLISHED BY THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 1914
The Lord Baltimore Press BALTIMORE, MD., U. S. A.
By J. WALTER FEWKES
(With Eight Plates)
Introduction
Evidences of the existence of a prehistoric population in the Lower Mimbres Valley, New Mexico, have been accumulating for many years, but there is little definite knowledge of its culture and kinship. It is taken for granted, by some writers, that the ancient people of this valley lived in habitations resembling the well-known terraced dwellings called pueblos, many of which are still inhabited along the Rio Grande; but this theory presupposes that there was a close likeness in the prehistoric architectural remains of northern and southern New Mexico. It may be said that while there were many likenesses in their culture, the prehistoric inhabitants of these two regions possessed striking differences, notably in their architecture, their mortuary customs, and the symbolic ornamentation of their pottery.
The recorded history of the inhabitants of the Mimbres is brief. One of the earliest descriptions of the valley, in English, is found in Bartlett's Personal Narrative, published in 1854. In his account of a trip to the copper mines at the present Santa Rita, Bartlett records seeing a herd of about twenty black-tailed deer, turkeys and other game birds, antelopes, bears, and fine trout in the streams. He says very little, however, about antiquities, although he passed through a region where there are still several mounds indicating ruins. Bartlett writes ( op. cit. , vol. 1, p. 218):
On April 29, hearing that there were traces of an ancient Indian settlement about half a mile distant, Dr. Webb went over to examine it, while we were getting ready to move. He found a good deal of broken pottery, all of fine texture. Some of it bore traces of red, black, and brown colors. He also found a stone mortar about eight inches in diameter. I have since understood that this was the seat of one of the earliest Spanish missions; but it was abandoned more than a century ago, and no traces remain but a few heaps of crumbling adobes, which mark the site of its dwellings.