The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1898-07-08
AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES.

Although but little is known Of then
America, as we'll as her older sisters,
can boast of ruins which, while they
cannot be compared with those of
Egypt, Greece, Rome, and other an
cient countries, in grandeur and mag
niticence. yet tend to show that this
continent must have been inhabited by
a race or tribe OF people in far more
advanced state of civilization than that
in which Columbus and the early dis
coverers found them. In many parts
of the country are found ruins which
go to prove this.
In New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania
Virginia, Wisconsin and many other
States, are large mounds which appear
to have been used as burial places
And in these mounds are found many
relics and coins which apparently had
gone out of use before the arrival of
Columbus.
Some of the largest ruins are found
in the far West. In the towns and
canyons of Colorado, Arizona and New
Mexico are dwellings and temples of a
race of men who had mastered some of
the arts of civilization. In the plains
are pastoral villages built of stone and
mortar, for both shelter and defence.
The houses are quite large, sufficient
for number of people to live in, with
a courtyard in the centre. There are
no side entrances, and ingress was had
by ladders over the walls and into the
courtyard.
These cities or towns contain circu-
lar towers of great strength, construct
ed with circular walls, and court in
the centre. The walls are joined by
radial partitions, thus strengthening
the whole Most of these towers are
very much dilapidated, so that it is i'm
possible to ascertain whether they were
rooted or not. 1t is thought that they
were entered by secret rock cut pass
age, as at least one such passage has
been discovered. 1t has also been
thought by scientific men that these
towers were temples of the Sun, in the
centre of which the eternal fire was
kept burning, and it is even quite prob
able that the towers might have been
used for defence in sore extremity, the
people entering them by the secret
passages. The double and sometimes
triple walls would discourage an enemy
armed as they were in those days with
nothing but bows and clubs. AS dam
gers thckened about these people, or
perhaps in their earlier history, forti-
fed dwellings were grouped in the
caves formed in the soft rocks in the
perpendicular cliffs of the canyons.
These cliff dwellings must have been
the stone and earth was either carried
or hoisted from below. The approaches
were by steps cut into the rock and
were very dangerous. In the cutter
stone walls were a few small square
openings for air and light, while the
mode of entrance was by ladders over
the wall.
The cliff fortresses are OF great an
tiquity. The cedar wood used for beams
is, however, quite well preserved
Broken pottery in considerable quanti-
ties may be found scattered about these
ruins. The mortar with which the
stones are laid is still firm, and in some
places are seen the print of human
hands made when the mortar was first
laid on.
The true history ofthese ruined tow
ers and fortresses will in all probability
never be known. 1t is some satistac
tion, however, to know that America
has ruins of great and valuable interest.