The Kootenai herald. [volume] (Kootenai, Idaho) 1891-1904, 1896-12-26
RECENT DISCOVERIES OF A NUM-
MY IN ARIZONA.
II Is the Body of Al Little Child and
Came From II Chamber in the
Solid Rock.

on an extensive scale, burned their dead,
has made it almost impossible for stu
dents of ethnolcgy and anthropology to
find remains enough of the aborigines
upon which to build satisfactory informa-
ton concerning the kind of men and wo-
men the redmen were who "evoluted" the
first civilizations in American soil, ages
before Columbus was born, says a cor
respondent of the Boston Transcript.
While it is believed the valleys and
mountain sides of Arizona and New
Mexico were occupied in Aztec days by
not less than 100000 people, less than
dozen monuments have been found erect
ed to the dead of those races and nos
more than seven mummihed remains
have been discovered. These, too, have
been found in poor state of preservation
and are not to be compared in the
thoroughness of the work with those from
Peru and Egypt Hundreds of urns have
been found all over the territories con-
tanning ashes of aborgines, and there
are thousands more urns still remaining
sealed in the granite walls of the mount
aims and canyons or buried deep in the
adobe soil and covered by boul6ers, where
they were placed with extreme labor long
before the days of Montezuma.
Upper GiIn River.
Several scientists connected with the
Smithsonian Institute at Washington
have been busy among the remains of the
cliff-dwellers on the Upper ella river, in
Graham county, for weeks. Recently they
came across what they believed is the
most important discovery in the field of
archaeology in the southwest in some
years. The find is the body of a little
child. 1t came from one of the chambers
cut in solid rock away up on a perpen-
dicular mountain cliff, some 200 feet high.
and at an altitude of 1900 feet above sea
level 1t is thought the child was about
four years old. The dried remains were
taken from the rocky chamber, wrapped
tightly, similar to Egyptian mummes,
with bands of cloth, and bound to block
of wood several feet long. AS the bands
were removed baked peanuts and mes
quite beans rolled out. They were IN as
good a state of preservation as If placed
there but a few months before. A childs
plaything-a curious bone affair three
inches long and one inch wide, with holes
through 1t with pieces of animal hide
dangling from twas found placed be-
tween the arms of the body. The color
of the dry parched skin was similar to
that of an Egyptian mummy The little
thin hands were clinched about bits of
mesquite wood, and a thick mass of raven
black hair, much finer than that of any
modern Indian, covered the intantile head.
The legs were drawn, in the position of
a child creeping. and the forearms We're
raised so that the hands were near the
shoulders. with the palms toward the
front, similar to all Peruvian mummles.
The fingernails were perfect and the
teeth intact. The nose, ears and eyes
were gone and the skin was broken on
the right knee and one of the wrists, ex-
posing bones sinews and dried flesh.
Scientists believe the childs body has lain
among the ruins of the cliff-dwellers for
at least $50 years, and possibly for over
$50.
The home in which this mummy was
found was one of a large number in the
region of the Upper ella valley, all made
in the granite cliffs which overhang the
valley. Many of these chambers have been
explored but they are difficult of access
and many remain untouched, even by the
most reckless Adventures. Some of these
tombs are so high that they can not be
reached by ladders, and are protected
from above by the overhanging rocks,
so that they can not even be reached by
means of ropes. How the prehistoric I'M
dertakers reached these sepulchres is a
problem which will be solved, perhaps
some day when the pulverized dust inside
the charnel houses rises up on resurrec-
ton morn and explains. The cliff-dwell-
ers, as a rule, did not resort to mummify-
ing their dead, but preferred the more
aesthetic mode of burning the remain:
and depositing the ashes, together witt
some household utensils, or perhaps {
gew-gaw or fetish beloved by the wearel
while in life. These people had their pas
sions and their love affairs very muci
the same as other members of the Adam
family, and in no way was their love anC
esteem shown for each other mor'
forcibly than in the crude embellishments
which, nevertheless, represented some
times years of labor, that were mad'
upon the tombs of the departed.
PapngOes of Northern Arizona.
The Papagoes of northern Arizona an,
western New Mexico in burying erect use
a corral of rock some two or three fee
high, with roof. The body is then place.
inside in a sitting or reclining posture
together with saddles, brides and simila
objects belonging to the deceased. The
the funeral rites of the tribe are INDUCED
lasting sometimes a week. By this tim
the dead Indian is thought to be well Of
his way to the happy hunting grounds
and all save the widow Danish melanchol
in their native drink, twsin. But tn
widows are always widows so long a
they live. Unlike in our advanced stage
of civilization, they do not menace tn
happiness of the duslxy debutantes. The
can not marry again. They can not eve
fiirt. They are supported from the com
mon fund and are the common drudg
% al Husband ronisnninsr IS ns q con