On the completion of the work of excavation and repair of Cliff Palace, in the Mesa Verde National Park, in southern Colorado, in charge of the writer, under the Secretary of the Interior, he was instructed by Mr. W. H. Holmes, then Chief of the Bureau of American Ethnology, to make an archeologic reconnaissance of the northern part of Arizona, where a tract of land containing important prehistoric ruins had been reserved by the President under the name Navaho National Monument. In the following pages are considered some of the results of that trip, a more detailed account of the ruins being deferred to a future report, after a more extended examination shall have been made. Mention is made of a few objects collected, and recommendations are submitted for future excavation and repair work on these remarkable ruins to preserve them for examination by students and tourists. As will appear later, a scientific study of them is important, for they are connected with Hopi pueblos still inhabited, in which are preserved traditions concerning the ruins and their ancient inhabitants.
The present population of Walpi, a Hopi pueblo, is made up of descendants of various clans, whose ancestors once lived in distant villages, now ruins, situated in various directions from its site on the East mesa. One of the problems before the student of the Pueblos is to locate accurately the ancestral villages where these clans lived in prehistoric times. From an examination of the architecture of these villages and a study of the character of secular and cult objects found in them, the culture of the clans that inhabited these dwellings could be roughly determined. The culture at any epoch in the history of the clan being known, data are available that may make possible comparison and correlation with that which is still more ancient: in other words, that may add a chapter to our knowledge of the migrations of the Hopi Indians in prehistoric times.
The writer has already identified some of the ancient houses of those Hopi clans that claim to have dwelt formerly south of Walpi, on the Little Colorado near Winslow, but has not investigated the ruins to the north, in which once lived the Snake, Horn, and Flute clans. An investigation of the origin and migrations of this contingent is instructive because it is claimed that these clans were among the first to arrive at Walpi, or that they united with the previously existing Bear clan, forming the nucleus of the population of that pueblo.
A preliminary step in the investigation of the culture of the clans that played a most important part in founding Walpi and giving rise to the Hopi people would be the identification of the houses (now ruins) of the Snake, Horn, and Flute clans, the existence of which in the region north of Walpi is known with a greater or less degree of certainty from Hopi legends. An archeologic study of these ruins and of cult objects found in them would reveal some of the prehistoric features of the culture of the ancient Snake clans. “The ancient home of my ancestors,” said the old Snake chief to the writer, “was called Tokónabi, which is situated not far from Navaho mountain. If you go there, you will find ruins of their former houses.” In previous years the writer had often looked with longing eyes to the mountains that formed the Hopi horizon on the north where these mysterious homes of the Snake and Flute clans were said to be situated, but had never been able to explore them. In 1909 the opportunity came to visit this region, and while some of the ruins found may not be identifiable with Tokónabi, they were abodes of people almost identical in culture with the ancient Snake, Horn, and Flute clans of the Hopi.
