University of Virginia Library

FOREWORD

This is the fourth of several articles reporting the findings of the
National Geographic Society's Pueblo Bonito Expeditions. Previous
numbers are:

1. Dating Pueblo Bonito and other ruins of the Southwest, by A. E. Douglass.
Nat. Geogr. Soc. Contr. Techn. Pap., Pueblo Bonito Ser., No. 1, 1935.

2. The geology of Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, in relation to the life and
remains of the prehistoric peoples of Pueblo Bonito, by Kirk Bryan. Smithsonian
Misc. Coll., vol. 122, No. 7, 1954.

3. The material culture of Pueblo Bonito, by Neil M. Judd, with Appendix:
Canid remains from Pueblo Bonito and Pueblo del Arroyo, by Glover M. Allen.
Smithsonian Misc. Coll., vol. 124, 1954.

Subsequent reports, it is expected, will examine the remarkable
ceramic complex of Pueblo Bonito and Pueblo del Arroyo, skeletal
remains from the two ruins, the growth and decline of Pueblo Bonito,
and certain small-house sites in the Chaco Canyon area.

The manner in which the Pueblo Bonito Expeditions came about
was related in the third report, cited above. Therein I also recalled
my deep personal obligation to the officers of the National Geographic
Society and to the Society's Committee on Research, which had
invited me to lead its 1920 reconnaissance of Chaco Canyon and,
later, its investigations at Pueblo Bonito, 1921-27. In my report
to the Committee in November 1920, I recognized Pueblo Bonito as
the Chaco Canyon ruin most likely to contribute additional knowledge
of Pueblo civilization at its height, and I recommended Pueblo del
Arroyo for joint investigation because its proximity made this possible
and because a low mound on the west side of the ruin and fragmentary
walls exposed by caving of the arroyo bank were thought to represent
an earlier, underlying structure.

Correlative expeditions in 1923, 1928, and 1929, under leadership
of Dr. Andrew E. Douglass, director of Steward Observatory, University
of Arizona, were prompted by our desire to learn the age of
Pueblo Bonito and Pueblo del Arroyo and were eminently successful.
These several expeditions were conducted under the authority of
permits from the Department of the Interior, and all collections resulting
from the excavations were presented to the United States
National Museum. At the request of the National Geographic Society,
my services for the annual fieldwork were lent by the Smithsonian
Institution.

Our studies at Pueblo del Arroyo were begun early in the summer
of 1923 and were continued intermittently during the following three
seasons as workmen could be spared from the larger undertaking at
Pueblo Bonito. Karl Ruppert, a University of Arizona graduate in
anthropology and my principal assistant during the 1921-26 seasons,
was placed in full charge. His excavation notes and a preliminary
report submitted late in 1926 form the basis of the present volume,
but they have been augmented by my own memoranda and by such
data as have resulted from study of the collections since their receipt
and restoration at the National Museum. Mr. Ruppert, who has
gained well-merited recognition since 1930 for his researches among
ruined cities of the ancient Maya in Yucatán and Chiapas, has not
seen the present monograph prior to publication and is not responsible
for any errors or omissions herein.

For our program at Pueblo del Arroyo Mr. Ruppert and I had the
advice and cooperation of the same staff that served so competently
at Pueblo Bonito. The work of excavation was performed by our
crew of Zuñi and Navaho Indians. Oscar B. Walsh, C. E., prepared
the ground plans, and O. C. ("Pete") Havens, of Gallup, N. Mex.,
took most of the field photographs. Frank H. H. Roberts, Jr., and
Monroe Amsden in 1925 sorted and analyzed vast quantities of potsherds
from excavated rooms and exploratory tests at both Pueblo
Bonito and Pueblo del Arroyo, and some of their results are introduced
in the following pages. During the summer of 1926 Henry B.
Roberts assembled the information presented in Appendixes B, C,
and D. Plates illustrating specimens are by Bates Littlehales, staff
photographer of the National Geographic Magazine, and the text
figures are from the pen of William Baake. Those showing architectural
details were prepared by Harold E. MacEwen from Mr. Ruppert's
field sketches. The chore of cleaning and restoring specimens
in the collection was in large part performed at the U. S. National
Museum by temporary workers provided in 1938 by the Federal
relief agencies.

As heretofore, my coworkers at the National Museum have generously
aided by identifying materials from the excavations: Rocks
and minerals, by John B. Reeside, E. P. Henderson, and George S.
Switzer; mammals, by David H. Johnson and H. W. Setzer; birds,
by A. Wetmore and Herbert Friedmann; shells, by Harald A. Rehder;
wood, by William N. Watkins; botanical remains, by C. V.
Morton. My wife, Anne MacKay Judd, as always, has been of immeasurable
assistance throughout; Mrs. Pearl Stello has typed the

final manuscript. Miss Anna O. Shepard, of the Historical Division,
Carnegie Institution of Washington, examined our sherd collections
in connection with her study of prehistoric pigments and tempering
substances, and all archeologists have benefited from her observations,
since published.

Mere words cannot adequately convey my sense of obligation to
the officers and staff of the National Geographic Society for their
unfailing interest and support throughout the years of the Pueblo
Bonito Expeditions and subsequently. Without their active cooperation
and encouragement this volume might have been still further
delayed.

It is a pleasure also to acknowledge my indebtedness to the Penrose
Fund of the American Philosophical Society for a grant-in-aid that
provided for preparation of the architectural drawings herein and for
the typing of my manuscript.