About 3 miles below the mouth of the East Verde there is still another ruin of similar character, located on the edge of a mesa or bench overlooking the river. It is built of bowlders and slabs of rock. Like the others this ruin is rectangular in plan and of small size.
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Fig. 279.—Sketch map, site of small ruin 10 miles north of Fossil creek. |
About 10 miles north of the mouth of Fossil creek, on the point of a bench or terrace on the western side of the river, and perhaps 20 feet above it, occurs a small ruin, similar in character to the preceding. The river here makes a long turn eastward, then flows south again, and in the angle a small bench or terrace is formed. At this point the mountains rise abruptly from the river on both sides to a height of over a thousand feet. Fig. 279 illustrates the location of this ruin. So far as could be distinguished from the hills opposite, the rooms occur in two broken lines at right angles to each other.
These four small ruins are all closely similar to the large ruin described above in all respects except size, and peculiarities of ground plan attendant on size. The rooms are always rectangular, generally oblong, and arranged without regularity as regards their longer axis. Except the one last described, the ruins consist of compact masses of rooms, without evidences of interior courts, all of very small size, and all located without reference to defense. The last-described ruin differs from the others only in the arrangement of rooms. There is practically no standing wall remaining in any of them, and even now they can be seen for miles from the hills above. When the walls were
standing they must have been conspicuous landmarks. The masonry of all consists of flat bowlders, selected doubtless from the river bed, or perhaps sometimes quarried from the terraces, which themselves contain large numbers of river bowlders. In general appearance and in plan these ruins resemble the ruin next to be described, situated near the mouth of the East Verde.
Fig. 280.—Ground plan of ruin at mouth of the East Verde.
On the southern side of the East Verde, half a mile above its mouth, a small creek comes in from the south, probably dry throughout most of the year; and on a promontory or point of land left by this creek a small ruin occurs. It is similar in plan and in character of masonry to those just described, and differs from them only in that its site is better adapted for defense, being protected on two sides by steep hills or cliffs. The ground plan of this ruin is shown in figure 280, and its general appearance in plate XIV, which also shows the character of masonry. The village overlooked a large area of low bottom land in the angle between the Verde and the East Verde, and is itself overlooked by the foothills rising behind it to the high mesas forming part of the Mazatzal mountains.