The geographical position of the country about Gallup renders it a very
important area in the study of the migration of aboriginal peoples in
the Southwest. It lies midway between the Rio Grande on the east and
the Little Colorado on the west, and between the San Juan on the north
and the Zuñi on the south. In their intercommunication, the trails of
migration in prehistoric times must have crossed this region, and as
this migration was marked by successive stages where buildings were
constructed we should expect here to find remains of former migratory
peoples. Ruins in the vicinity of Gallup have been so much neglected
by students that our knowledge of this region is very fragmentary. To
remedy this condition the author made a few trips in this vicinity
with Mr. Sanderson and Mr. Bruce Draper, local students, who furnished
important aid. A number of pueblo sites and small cliff houses within
a few miles of the city were visited and superficially examined, but
no intensive work was done upon them. The ruins mentioned below are
only a few of those in this region that could be brought to light by
systematic scientific exploration. From his examination of them, it is
the author’s impression that the majority were inhabited by ancestors
of clans now domiciled in Zuñi.