The Portland daily press., 1881-02-15
Prehistoric Americans.
A Race that has Disappeared from the
the Cliffs-Relics Left by Them
Forms OF hitecture-Ancient
Husbandry.
TCjncinuati Gazette.

America, tnere is no country In the world In
which may be found more interesting and in
structive remains of a prehistoric people.
This American prehistoric period is of so much
interest to the savants of Europe, that num-
Der of them have organized an association
called the "Americanists, the object of which
is to obtain all the facts that can be relied
upon to show what was its earliest condition
and occupancy. Some of them, as a result of
their investigation, have come to the conclu-
sion that long before the time of the red men
this country was inhabited by a white race.
The Americanists, among other things, are
now trying to find out why and how this race
disappeared. To them the remains of Babylon,
Ninevah, and other of the renowned cities of
ancient times, possess less interest than those
found in the United States, Central America,
Mexico and Peru. The Spanish invaders
found the Aztecs of Mexico using bronze i'm
plements, which some of the soldiers of Cor
tez conceived to be made of gold The hero
glyphics upon the celebrated Cleopatra needle,
believed to be that old, were probably cut
with other than iron tools. The superiority of
iron to bronze tools soon attracted the atten-
ton of the Mexicans, and they adopted the
new metal within few years after the inva-
sion of the Spaniards.
There are number of things that clearly in
dicate to many scholars that some intercourse
once subsisted between the ancient people of
different parts of the Old World and America.
In the Aztec eslendar, the principle of which
is the same as that in use at the present time
in Tartary and Thibet, is found what appears to
be conclusive proof of Asiatic influence.
Stone tools, as well as bronze, were used by
the Aztecs, and from obsidian they manufact-
ured knives and other implements, and the
Oregon Indians do at the present time, Mr..
Holiness Investigations were mostly made
along the San Juan and Fits tributaries. The
ruins OF village found on the banks of the
Rio La Plata, twenty-five miles above its con-
1uence with San Juan, were found to consist
of mounds in the shape of rectangles, circles,
elipses, and clusters of rectangular apart
ments The circular tower or chamber was
everywhere found, no matter how small the
space. The circle at this place is dug two or
three feet below the level of the ground, and
the walls, still standing, are four feet above
that level. 1t is sixty feet in diameter.
With few exceptions the rectangular enclos-
ures, the largest of which measures 100 by
$50 feet, are set with their sides accurately
in the direction of the cardinal points. The
first OF the cave dwellings were discovered
about sixty miles further down on the San
Juan river. Artificial caves were found about
halfway up bluff forty feet high, on the top
of which were the remains OF stone structures;
rectangular enclosure, thirty-four by forty
feet. divided into compartments large circu-
lar double-walled inclosure, 1876 feet in diam
eter, and circular tower surrounded by a
wall. The unhewn stone of which the tower
is built, were so carefully selected that the
curve is very smooth. The valley Of the Rio
Mancos was found TO abound in relics of the
cliff dwellers. The tops of the bluffs were
reached by a series of steplike terraces. Oc-
casionally square holes may be seen which are
the doorways to shallow and irregular apart
ments. Neither the outer openings nor the
apertures which communicate between the
caves are large enough to allow person of
large stature 10 pass. The fronts of these
caves, except the doorway, are walled up with
stones. Round towers are very numerous in
this valley. From one located ON the brink of
promontory Mr.. Holmes says that at least
three others are in view, some of them on
higher promontories, others quite low. In di-
mension they range from ten to sixteen feet in
diameter and from five to fifteen feet in
height, while the walls are from one to two
feet in thickness. In nearly every instance
hey are connected with other structures. At
the mouth OF the Mancos is a double circle
the smaller OF which was the tower, and is
fifteen feet in diameter, and from eight to ten
feet in height. The larger circular wall is
forty feet in diameter, and from two to four
feet high, and is built tangent to the former
Remains of former similar structurers were
found In every mile OF the lower fifty of the
Mancos river. A remarkable group was dis
mainder of the canyon walls being of massive
sandstone, fall of wrd-worn inches, crevices
and caves, Within 100 feet of the top and 800
feet above the bed of the river, set deep in a
great niche, with arched overhangng rock,
is situated what Mr.. Holmes designates the
upper house, its front wall built along the
very brink of a sheer precipice. Thirty feet
below is the lower or ''siXteen-windowed
house, the sixteen openings in which were
found to be intended for the insertion of
beams rather than for windows. This lower
house was one OF the most interesting diScov-
cred. Its front walls are built flush with the
precipice, and the back walls extend to the
regular wall of rock behind. The main wall
Is in some places nearly fourteen feet high.
The most striking feature of this structure is
the round room, which is situated in about
the middle of the ruin and inside large rect
angular apartment. The walls of this circular
chamber are not high nor very regular. The
entrance to it is extraordinary, and attests the
importance attached to it, and the evident
desire of the people to secure it from all possi-
billy Of intrusion. A walled and covered pas
sageway leads from an outer chamber through
the small intervening one into the estufa
The object of this peculiarly constructed pas
sageway, Mr.. Holmes thinks, was to render
the sacred chamber as free as possible from
profane intrusion.
The upper house was reached by a niched
stairway. The house occupies the entire floor
of the crevice, which is about 120 feet long,
and In the deepest part ten feet deep. In one
apartment the walls and ceiling were black
ened with smoke-evidence of fire. In anoth-
er was found, in the rubbish, a quantity of
beans, and in another number of grains of
corn. The house was apparently never en-
tirely finished, which is not surprising, for the
stone and mortar had to be brought up that
immense height by means of ropes, or carried
in small quantities up the dangerous stairway
Running. water was found near this group of
houses, showing that the cliff-dwellers were
not compelled to carry their supply up the
cliffs.
The volume contains a description of num-
Der OF similar structures, every one of which
is full of interest and instruction, especially to
the antiquarian. Other and not less valuable
discoveries were made outside of the houses of
the cliff dwellers. In many places the walls
OF the inches and crevices are covered with
hieroglyphics. No one has yet been found who
could decipher them, but that they are the
writings of the clif-dwellers there can be no
doubt. Upon one rock is a highly spirited
picture of great procession of men, birds,
beasts and fearful figures which conveys the
idea of a general movement toward the right.
Many articles OF pottery were found, which
are undoubtedly superior in some respects to
those of the town building tribes of to-day,
PARTICULARLY in composition and surface finish.
Ihey seem to have given much attention to
the art CT ornamentation, as very few speci-
mems were found that are not painted, indent-
ed or covered with raised figures. The thick
ness of the ware varies from an eighth to
half inch, and the material used was generally
a fine clay, tempered with sand or pulverized
shells. The modelling was done almost exclu-
sively with the hand, an implement being
used only for surface crossings or indentings.
Most of the painted pottery has received a
thin coating of some mineral solution that
gives a beautiful enamel-like surface, not
mnch inferior in hardness to the vitreous
glazing of our Dotters. A few specimens are
covered with painted figures on the outside.
Nearly all the vessels and fragments collected
haye been baked or burned, but not to such a
degree as to greatly change the color of the
clay. Mr.. Holmes also found number of
stone implements, arrow-heads, ornamented
and other articles used by the ancient inhabi-
tants of that region.
Mr.. Jackson's discoveries Ewere very SIM
liar and equally remarkable. In the Chaco
canyon, in northern New Mexico, were found
most interesting remains of pueblos, or towns
OF one structure. Some of them are five hun
dred feet long, and contain several hundred
rooms. These vary in size from twenty-seven
by fourteen feet in area and ten feet in height
to tiny chambers suitable only fer storerooms.
Remains of old cultivation and artificial water
course indicate that these ancient tribes not
only cultivated corn, but made the soil pro-
ductive by irrigation. The climate has, since
the remote period of their existence, become
drier, result, it would seem, of the gradual
destruction of the trees, and the country is
now too aried to SuDDort Such nonnlation aa