ce are not confined to the Verde system of ruins.

Cavate dwellings similar to those here described are reported to exist
in the canyons of upper Salado, Gala, and Zuni rivers, and we may with
reason suspect that the distribution[18] of cavate dwellings is as
wide as that of the pueblos themselves, the sole requisite being a
soft tufaceous rock, capable of being easily worked by people with
stone implements. In none of the different regions in which they exist
is there any probability that these caves were made by people
different in culture from pueblo or cliff dwellers. They are much more
likely to have been permanent than temporary habitations of the same
culture stock of Indians who availed themselves of rock shelters
wherever the nature of the cliff permitted excavation in its walls.

That the cavate lodges are simple "horticultural outlooks" is an
important suggestion, but one might question whether they were
conveniently placed for that purpose. So far as overlooking the
opposite plain (which had undoubtedly been cultivated in ancient
times) is concerned, the position of some of them may be regarded good
for that purpose, but certainly not so commanding as that of the hill
or mesa above, where well-marked ruins still exist.

The position of the cavate dwellings is a disadvantageous one to reach
any cultivated fields if defenders were necessary. When the Tusayan
Indian today moves to his _kisi_ or summer brush house shelter he
practically camps in his corn or near it, in easy reach to drive away
crows, or build wind-breaks to shelter the tender sprouts; but to go
to their cornfields the inhabitants of the cavate dwellings I have
described were forced to cross a river before the farm was reached.
That these cavate dwellings were lookouts none can deny, but I incline
to a belief that this does not tell the whole story if we limit them
to such use. It is not wholly clear to me that they were not likewise
an asylum for refuge, possibly not inhabited continuously, but a very
welcome retreat when the agriculturist was sorely pressed by enemies.
Following the analogy of a Hopi custom of building temporary booths
near their fields, may we not suppose that the former inhabitants of
Verde valley may have erected similar shelters in their cornfields
during summer months, retiring to the cavate dwellings and the mesa
tops in winter? All available evidence would indicate that the cavate
dwellings were permanent habitations.[