The morning call., 1893-07-24
PREHISTORIC REMAINS IN SAN
DIEGO.

archaeological discovery in the Colorado
Desert. II may of course be a roorback.
The soil Of the desert is we'll adapted for
the production of myths. But there is no
reason why it should not be sober state
ment Of fact. There is nothing improba-
bis in tho assertion that in San Diego
County. near the Mexican border. about a
hundred miles from the Laguna Noun
tains, the remains Of a temple apparently
46Ox260 feet in size have been found. with
granite columns carved into various shapes
lying on the ground and partly covered by
the sand.
In the first place. it is reasonably certain
that at some period in remote antiquity
the present desert was the bed of body
OF water partly fresh and partly saline,
and that the borders Of this body were cult
waited and were the home of human beings
So much is made evident by the tide marks
on the side Of the Gorgonio Mountains
and by the vegetable and animal remains
which are found in the saline deposits on
the desert. We have no means of know
ing what measure of civilization these pre-
historic races had reached. Bus if we can
esta bliSh their Identity with the races
which subsequently, made their homes in
Central America and erected the splendid
edifces which Stevens and others have
depicted it is not unreasonable to infer
that they may have left their mark on
California as they did on Yucatan.
Arch@ologists are now pretty we'll agreed
that the mound-buiders. the cliff-dwellers
and the builders of Uxmal and Palenque
were, ii not OF the same race, very closely
akin. We first find them in Wisconsin,
where they erected the curious construc-
tons called mouDd-forts. Driven out of
there by relentless enemies. the ancestors
of the Rurons and Algonquins, one can fol.
low them down the Mississippi Valley and
identify them with the primitive races which
made themselves fortified homes in the
cliffs of New Mexico and Arizona. The
migration was probably slow and COW
cred many centuries. The emigrants
probably made stand when circumstances
warranted; it is quite likely that they
fully maintained themselves for
generations at time in Illinois. Kentucky.
Missouri and Tennessee. But the pressure
was memorable, and time came when
they were compelled to yield to it. They
seem to have remained long enough in
New Mexico and Arizona to conduct agri-
culture with the assistance of irrigation
for quite long period of time; but the
construction of their forts show that they
were always engaged in war. possibly
against the ancestors of the Apaches and
Comanches
Up 10 this time we have no chrono-
logical records to guide US. But 1t seems
fairly probable that about the time the
English Heptarchy fused into monarchy
branch Of these same wanderers found
their way into Mexico, possibly to escape
pursuers. possibly to seek richer pastures,
and that there they took the name of
Toltecs. In their new home they seem to
have enjoyed three or four centuries of
peace; then. about the time of the cru
sades, their old foes, known on this occa-
sion as Aztecs. followed them into the
table land and drove them into Chiapas.
Central America. Where the Aztecs came
from the old chronicles do not reveal, ex-
cept that they came from the north. There
is no incongruity in assuming that they
may have been the descendants of the
races which expelled the mound-builders
from their homes, and that the mound
builders themselves were the progenitors
of the Mayas Of Yucatan and the Clutches
of Guatemala.
We can trace the flight of the weak
tribes before the nnrelenting pursuit of
stronger races. not by any monuments they
left behind them. but by the necessities of
the case. The fugitives must have halted
quite frequently in their march to cult
vate the soil in order 10 obtain food.
These halts must sometimes have covered
quite long periods; they must have lasted
as long as the fleeing races were unmo-
Tested. 1t is quite possible that when
generation OF two had passed without
raids, the fugitives may have built
temples, and may have decorated their
forts with works of sculpture. The
Lorillard expedition exploded the popular
n otion that the Central American an
tiquities were cotemporaneous with the
pyramids. They were probably not in ex.
istence when the MoOrs began to build
Cordova. But the curious ruins which
travellers are taken to in Central America.
and with which the recent find in San
Diego may be connected. are none the less
interesting because they may date no
further back than the eighth century.