Mrs. Solórsano was an Indian herb doctor, and a feature of the work during the summer of 1929 had been to obtain specimens and information to cover the ethnobotany of the tribe. Further specimens were obtained in the summer of 1930 by Mrs. Dionisia Mondragón and Miss Marta J. Herrera, daughter and granddaughter of Mrs. Solórsano, and these were all identified by Mr. C. V. Morton, of the National Herbarium. This section gives the treatment for curing some 60 different ailments with these herbs and by other curious means. It forms a nucleus for making comparative studies in Indian medicine.
At the end of January, 1931, Mr. Harrington left for California for the purpose of continuing his studies in this region, this time specializing on the Esselen and Antoniano Indians in the southern part of Monterey County. Taking the specimens of San Juan Bautista plants with him and arriving in wild-flower season, a thorough collecting of plants was rewarded with a great mass of information which further elucidated much of the San Juan plant material. This collecting was done in several places in southern Monterey County and simultaneously in San Benito County. Seeds used for food were actually made up into the food product to get the primitive process, and the same method was followed in the study of medicines.
Along with the plants the field of ethnozoology was thoroughly covered and practically all the animals known to these Indians were identified. Specimens were obtained, especially of birds, which proved to be the most difficult field for identification in the collecting of animal names, and the skins were identified by the division of birds of the National Museum. Eight different kinds of snakes were known by name and identified.
One of the rarest features of the work was the obtaining of a number of old Indian place names in the Old Esselen country, the western tributary of the Salinas River known as the Arroyo Seco. A study of the place names resulted in the discovery that the Esselen were not a coastal but an inland people, inhabiting the Arroyo Seco and a section of the Salinas River and centered about Soledad Mission. They were one of the smallest tribes in California, and the name properly begins with an h; they were known in the San Juan Bautista from all that section of California. The expedition went from Monterey to the Aguage de Martin and from there climbed the mountain. Some 40 exposures were made of the various rocks connected with the ceremonies and the springs and camps, and several hundred pages of notes were taken down in California Spanish from Don Angel and others dealing with the history of these ceremonies and the life of Mariana and Joaquin Murrieta. On the way back to the coast the Cruz Cervantes ranch was visited, where Murrieta and Mariana were equipped by Don Cruz for starting their war against the Americans.
An examination of place names and village sites and linguistic studies occupied Mr. Harrington up to the end of June. Not only were vocabularies of early recording utilized but the invaluable records contained in the old mission books were, through the courtesy of Bishop McGinley, of Fresno, placed at the disposal of the Smithsonian Institution for copying, and a considerable part of these books has already been copied and revised with the aid of the oldest Indians.
Dr. F. H. H. Roberts, jr., archeologist, devoted the fiscal year to a number of activities. During the months of July, August, and September, excavations at a site on the Zuñi reservation, 16 miles northeast of the Indian village of Zuñi, were brought to a conclusion. The work had been started the latter part of May, 1930. At the end of the season’s field work the ruins of two houses, one containing 64 rooms, the other 20 rooms, and a number of ceremonial chambers had been cleared of the débris which had accumulated in them in the centuries which have passed since their abandonment.
Evidence showed that the largest of the houses had not been erected as a complete unit and that it was not occupied in its entirety at any time. The central block, together with a superceremonial chamber placed at its southern side, constituted the original block of the structure. Subsequent additions consisted of an east-and-west wing and a series of chambers south of the original portion and east of the great ceremonial chamber. Masonry in the walls of the latter portions was inferior to that in the original section. The outlines of the rooms in these same portions of the building were so irregular that they appeared to have been built by a different group of people. The walls in the original section were constructed in a style characteristic of the ruins in the Chaco Canyon, 85 miles northeast from the Zuñi region. The stonework in the latter portions of the building was suggestive of the type found in the ruins of the Upper Gila area to the south.
The small house did not give evidence of growth stages as distinct as those observed in the large building; it did show, however, that a fairly small structure had been added to on various occasions. The walls in this building were of the same nature as those in the later portions of the larger dwelling, except that the stones were more carefully dressed. This suggested that the small house may have been built by the same group which erected the later portions of the large one.
In addition to the two houses and seven small ceremonial chambers two great kivas were found. Only one of these was excavated. In the case of the other it was possible merely to trace the outer walls in order to obtain the size and position of the structure. The finding of these two great kivas was significant because investigations in the Southwest have shown that such structures are always associated with some form of the Chaco culture. The great kiva connected with the larger of the two dwellings revealed one of the essential characteristics of such structures when the débris which filled it was removed. It had an average diameter of 55 feet. The second of these large circular houses was completely detached from the other buildings in the village and had been placed in a court formed by the other structures. It averaged 78 feet in diameter, which makes it the largest yet discovered.
The excavations yielded 400 specimens of the people’s handicraft in addition to the information on house types. Included in the collection are pottery vessels, tools or implements of stone and bone, ornaments, and a number of stone images. The pottery is characterized by examples typical of the Chaco Canyon wares and also specimens characteristic of the Upper Gila region to the south. The summer’s investigations demonstrate that the village on the Zuñi reservation belongs to the great period of the prehistoric pueblos; that designated as Pueblo III in southwestern chronology. The evidence obtained also indicates that there was a fusion of two groups of people at this location: One, the first to arrive, came from the Chaco area in the north, and the other from the Upper Gila villages in the south. Charred timbers obtained from the ruins enabled Dr. A. E. Douglas, of the University of Arizona, to give the dates 1000 to 1030 A. D. for the life of the community.