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Show ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF FIRST INHABITANTS 11 communities, and for the same reasons built their houses one, two, three, and four stories high, of mud or Stone, because timber was available only for joists and rafters. In addition, the housetops, covered with mud and solid, furnished look-outs, both in times of peace and war. In the morning the men went out in the fields to work ; in the meantime a portion of the people watched on the housetops, looking for enemies or game. They could see the country round about for miles, and give warning of impending danger. This method of community house building is as old as man. The great number of ruins, deserted pueblos, single houses or small groups of houses, have produced many stories of decayed and passed-away cities and peoples in the region now occupie d by the 5 Hewett, Dr. Edgar L., Historic and Pre-historic Ruins of the Southwest, p. 5, 1904. Dr. Hewett says: ‘‘The distribution of the pre-historic tribes of the Southwest was determined by the drainage system. The great basins of the Rio Grande, the San J uan, the Little Colorado and the Gila constitute the four great seats of pre-historic culture of the so-called pueblo region. The remains of this ancient culture are scattered extensively over these four areas. The majority of the ruins of the four great basins are embraced in twenty districts. ‘The districts are grouped as follows: The Rio Grande Basin: 1. The Pajarito Park we oie eae tata the ne oe aN nO A) district. , - found many of these ruins, but the greatest number are in the region about Zufi, to the west of Acoma, and about the Moqui pueblos in Arizona; also along the streams in southwestern Colorad o, northwestern New Mexico, the Pajarito plateau, near Santa Fé, New Mexico, and in southeastern Utah. Inspection and exploration of some of the ancient ruins are bringing to light pronounced evidence of continued occupation coverin g many centuries of time. Cut in the rocks in the vicinity of some are found petroglyphs representing human beings and animals in war-like attitudes. Some of the passageways and entrances to these old pueblos are hewn out of solid rock, are very tortuous, and the work was undoubtedly accomplished with the crudest of stone implements and tools. Ruins of ancient pueblo villages and communal houses are found in the valleys of the Rio Grande, the San Juan, the Chaco, the Animas, and other northern rivers. They are also found on the Gila, and in many parts of southern Arizona and New Mexico.° a — GI In the neighborhood of the existing Moqui pueblos are <n Pueblos. Sema |