The Repair of Casa Grande Ruin, Arizona, in 1891: Fifteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1893-94, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1897, pages 315-348Mindeleff, Cosmos
History
The Repair of Casa Grande Ruin, Arizona, in 1891: Fifteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1893-94, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1897, pages 315-348
Mindeleff, Cosmos
Arizona -- Antiquities; Casa Grande National Monument (Ariz.); Hohokam architecture -- Conservation and restoration; Indians of North America -- Arizona
A full description of Casa Grande has been given by the writer in a
published memoir[1] on that ruin, hence only a brief account will now be
necessary to aid in making the present report intelligible. Following
this description is a statement of the condition of the ruin in 1891 and
of the plans formed for its repair, the latter being necessarily
controlled by the amount appropriated. After this there is an account of
the work done, from the passage of the bill until the delivery of the
work to the agent of the United States who received it, and of the
reservation, of an area of land about the ruin by order of the
President. This is followed by a catalogue of the articles found during
the excavations in and about the ruin, which were subsequently deposited
in the National Museum; a transcript of the contract under which the
work was done, including specifications, plans, and sections, and the
report of Mr H. C. Rizer, who inspected and received the work. Finally,
there are appended the correspondence and report relating to the
condition of Casa Grande in 1895, with recommendations concerning its
further protection.
[Footnote 1: Thirteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology,
p. 289 et seq.]
Casa Grande has occupied a very important place in the literature of
American archeology, a place which it doubtless will continue to occupy;
and as dates are frequently of importance an effort has been made to
make the present report as full as possible in that respect.
DESCRIPTION OF THE RUINS
Casa Grande appears to be the sole surviving remnant of an extensive and
important class of remains in the southwest. These remains occur usually
in large groups or clusters, and Casa Grande is no exception. The name
has been ordinarily applied to a single house structure standing near
the southwestern corner of a large area covered by mounds and other
debris; but some writers have applied the term to the southwestern
portion of the area, others to the whole area.
Probably no two investigators would assign exactly the same limits to
this area, as its margins merge imperceptibly into the surrounding
country. The accompanying map (plate CXII) shows the limits of the ruins
as interpreted by the writer. The surface covered by well-defined
remains, as there shown, extends about 1,800 feet north and south and
1,500 feet east and west, or a total area of about 65 acres.
Casa Grande ruin occupies a position near the southwestern corner of the
group, and its size is insignificant as compared with the entire cluster
of ruins, or even with the remains of the large structure which occupied
the north-central part of the area. The contour interval on the map is 1
foot, sufficiently small to show much surface detail. The depressions
are indicated by dotted contours.
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