File:New trails in Mexico; an account of one year's exploration in north-western Sonora, Mexico, and south-western Arizona, 1909-1910 (1912) (14784426343).jpg

Identifier: newtrailsinmexic00lumh (find matches)
Title: New trails in Mexico; an account of one year's exploration in north-western Sonora, Mexico, and south-western Arizona, 1909-1910
Year: 1912 (1910s)
Authors: Lumholtz, Carl, 1851-1922
Subjects: Tohono O'Odham Indians
Publisher: New York, Scribner
Contributing Library: Internet Archive
Digitizing Sponsor: Internet Archive

View Book Page: Book Viewer
About This Book: Catalog Entry
View All Images: All Images From Book
Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book.

Text Appearing Before Image:
manyof these, and while, as a rule, the idea of fortifications aswell as habitations at the top in the shape of small en-closures of upright stones predominates, it seems as ifhere at Trincheras the extensive stone structures cannotbe explained by having been fortifications solely, becausethe other side of the mountain would furnish an easyaccess for attack. Still less probable is it that agriculturewas pursued on these narrow terraces, where people un-doubtedly lived, judging from the remains left of house-hold utensils. They here seem likely to have been of re-ligious importance, serving at the same time as places ofrefuge in case of need. This is also, I understand, theopinion of Professor W. J. McGee, who first called at-tention to these remarkable remains. Nowhere else innorthern Mexico do the trincheras compare in magnitudeto those seen here. The ruins of La Quemada in theState of Zacatecas are of a different character. It is useless to speculate as to what races built the for-
Text Appearing After Image:
t ti £ v a u J3 ^ ° C O rs -> CK> O «*~ > C K — P< ANTIQUITIES 143 tifications at Trincheras beyond the certainty that theywere constructed by ancient people who antedated theoccupation of the country by the Papago. They haveleft polished stone axes and nicely executed stone imple-ments on village sites along the Altar River and even asfar west as Sonoita, while in Arizona ancient artifacts maybe found in the rest of the Papagueria, especially alongthe Santa Cruz and the Gila Rivers. Grooved stone axesare commonly encountered through this region, includingSonoita. On this point Professor W. A. Holmes informsme: This is the most westerly occurrence of the groovedstone axe in this latitude, so far as recorded, if we except afew specimens reported from California, which, beingso exceptional, may have been carried from some moreeasterly district. Broken pieces of pottery are numerous on the villagesites, showing no high art, though apparently equal to thatof

Note About Images