Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-01-18
AN ANCIENT CITY DISCOVERED
More Relics of an Extinct Race of Mer
Found in an Arizona Capvon.

More Relics of an Extinct Race of Men
Found in an Arizona Canyon.
A Washington dispatch, dated January
s, to the New York Sun saws: "Mr. James
stevenson, of the Geological Survey, has
reported to Major Powell. as one of the
results of his last seasons field operations.
the discovery of several more ruined cave
and cliff cities, differing in some respects
from any he had before examined. The
most remarkable was a village of sixty
five underground dwellings situated near
the summit of one of the volcanic foot
hills of the San Francisco mountains. in
the San Juan region of Arizona.
The surface stratum of the hill
had, by exposure, become hardened, and
formed the common roof for the entire
community. The dwellings were eXca-
waited after common pattern, and a de-
scf1puon of one gives an idea of the whole.
They had no nter-communicatiOn be-
meath the surface, and were only accessi
bic by means of square holes leading from
the surface by vertical shaft to the floor
OF the main room of the dwelling. Holes
cut at convenient distances along the
sides OF the shaft served the purposes of a
stairway. Descending the shaft, the ex-
plorers found themselves at the side of an
oval-shaped, arch-rOOfed room, about
twenty feet in its smallest diameter. At
the ends and on the side opposite the en-
trance low dO0rways connected the main
room with the smaller rooms. the whole
suite consisting of four apartments.
A groove eighteen inches deep by fifteen
in width, extending from the floor of the
main room up one side of the shaft to the
surface of the hill, its bottom filled with
ashes and its sides blackened with smoke
formed the fireplace and chimney of the
establishment. Around the mouth of the
shaft stone wall inclOsed a kind of door
yard. The wall seems to have served the
double purpose of guarding against snow
slides and preventing the accidental fall
OF an inhabitant into his own or his neigh
boris dwelling.
Considerable debris was found in these
ancient dwellings, an examination of
which led to the discovery of many curios,
illustrating some of the social and domes-
tic customs of the extinct race. Stone
mauls and axes, the implements used in
eXcavaIng the dwellings, pottery bearing
great variety of ornamentatiOn, bone
avis and needles of delicate workman
ship, the family grinding stone for grain,
its we'll worn surface indicating long use.
she'll and Obsidian ornaments and imple-
ments of wood, the uses of which were un-
discOverable, were among the trophies of
the exploration.
Search was made for water course or
spring, but no appearance of the exist
ence of water in the region in recent GEN.
turtles was discovered. There were no
signs OF ntercommunIcatiOn between
this village and a cliff city some 10 miles
distant, which is also new discovery.
This city, or rather cluster of villages.
occupied the sides of a canyon. which has
recently been christened Walnut Canyon
1t is an immense fssure in the earth.
with nothing above the general level of
the country to indicate its existence to
the traveller until he stands upon it's brink.
The sides have been quilted by storms
and torrents, leaving shallow. caYe-like
places of great length at different
heights, along the bottom of which.
wherever the ledge furnished a suf-
ficient area, dwellings in groups or
singly were built. The season was well
advanced when the place was reached,
and only little time was spent in its ex-
ploration. All the ancient methods of
approach had been long before worn away.
and access to the nearest of the groups of
houses was a work of difficulty. The
group or village which was most narrowly
examined was about three-quarters of a
mile in length, and consisted of a single
row of houses, the common rear wall
being the lining rock, while the sides and
fronts were made of large squared stones,
laid in clay. A narrow street or pathway
extended along the entire front. Other
and similar villages could be seen along
the canyon for distance of five miles,
Among the relics found here was a wooden
spindle whirl similar to those in use by
the PHeblOs of the present time, but un
like them in the apparent manner of It's
manufacture.
Nothing indicating the use of metallic
tools of any description was discovered.
The surface Of the wood of which the
whirl was formed had apparently been
charred and then ground down to the re-
quired size and shape by rubbing it upon
sandstone. A shaft Of reed similar to
bamboo, a species entirely unknown in
that region at this time, still remained in
the whirl. 1t had been broken by the
ancient workman, and neatly mended by
winding about it piece Of fine twine.
The ends Of this twine, being examined
under the microscope, disclose the fact
that its fibre was Of very fine human hair.
Articles Of wood, cOrncobs and even
perfect grains of corn, walnuts, bones of
the elk, antelope and wolf, portions of
wearing apparel of a fabric resembling
the mummy cloth Of Egypt, and other ar
ticles We're found in abundance buried in
the piles of debris which partially filled
these deserted homes. There were no
weapons OF war or works of defense, no
temples or idols, and no hierogIyphics or
pictures,