ption of
the most meager information nothing concerning it has come down to us
from early historical references in the sixteenth century. It is
therefore interesting to record all possible information in regard to
these people prior to the period mentioned, and this must be done
mainly through archeology.

Although there are many Tusayan ruins which we have every reason to
believe are older than the time of Coronado, no archeologist has
gathered from them the evidences bearing on prehistoric Tusayan
culture which they will undoubtedly yield. Large and beautiful
collections of pottery ascribed to Tusayan ruins have shown the
excellent artistic taste of the ancient potters of this region,
indicating that in the ceramic art they were far in advance of their
descendants. But these collections have failed to teach, the lesson
they might have taught, from the fact that data concerning the objects
composing them are so indefinite. Very little care had been taken to
label these collections accurately or to collect any specimens but
those which were strikingly beautiful or commercially valuable. It was
therefore with the hope of giving a more precise and comprehensive
character to our knowledge of Tusayan antiquities that I wished to
excavate one of the ruins of this province which was undoubtedly
prehistoric. Conditions were favorable for success at the mounds
called by the Indians Sikyatki.[95] These ruins are situated near the
modern Tusayan pueblos of East Mesa, from which I could hire workmen,
and not far from Keam's Canyon, which could be made a base of
supplies. The existing legends bearing on these ruins, although
obscure, are sufficiently definite for all practical purposes.

I find no mention of Sikyatki in early historical documents, nor can
the name be even remotely identified with any which has been given to
a Tusayan pueblo. My knowledge of the mounds which mark the site of
this ancient village dates back to 1892, when I visited them with one
of the old men of Walpi, who then and there narrated the legend of its
destruction by the Walpians previously to the advent of the Spaniards.
I was at that time impressed by the extent of the mounds, and prepared
a rough sketch of the ground plan of the former houses, but from lack
of means was unable to conduct any systematic excavation of the ruin.

Comparatively nothing concerning the ruin of Sikyatki has been
published, although its existence had been known for several