Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1899-07-10
BURIED CITIES OF ARIZONA.
DR.. Fewkes's Explanation of Prehis
toric Relics.

| LIT. j. waiter E6WkeS, the noted
archaeological explorer Of Washington,
who by his recent discoveries in the
Southwest won for himself the title
Of the Schliemann of the new world"
is going to eXcavate another mass of
buried treasure which he believes to
lie beneath the parched sands of Ari-
iona. The region into which he will
shortly penetrate lies in the weird
valleys and among the treacherous
cliffs OF the numerous parallel noun
tain ranges running diagonally across
northeastern Arizona into New
Mexico. DR.. Fewkes has lived among
the Zuni at the lower end of the trails
and with the weird Hopi people above.
He has been admitted to their sacred
priesthoods, and is known to them
under an aboriginal name. They have
confided to him the traditions handed
down through the centuries by ances-
tors.
The most probable theory as to the
origin Of those people is that they re-
suited from an overflow of the ancient
Mexican peOples-the same frontier
They once reached a remarkable stage
of civilization. Their cities were built
OF stone. They were short and broad
headed, resembling the Chinese or
japanese more than any other race.
Ihey wore their hair long and
straight. Both men and women
clothed themselves in kits and san
dals woven from the fiber of the CEN
fury plant. They were an agricul-
tural people, who probably deserted
the valley because of the rising of
alka1 to the top Of their soil, as a
result of their mastery of irrigation, or
they may have been driven out by
wandering tribes from the north One
clan of the Hopi people seems to have
descended from them. Excavations
near the Zuni country show similari-
ties to the latter.
The largest ruins are buried along
the water courses of the rivers. The
migration of the ancient people seems
to have followed these courses. The
country is wild and mountainous, a
jumbled mass of parched soil and rock
formation. To cross many of the cliffs
is impossible. Two years ago DR..
FeWkes, with his associate, DR.. Hough,
acting upon the tradition of the Hopi
sage, who had declared that a mound
OF buried treasure lay near the point
where the Atchison, Topeka and Santa
Fe railroad bridge crosses the Little
Colorado, resorted to this spot, and
after a month of digging excavated
more than they had anticipated. They
uncovered what had been a large set
Element of many houses, built like
cells of mammoth beehive, one upon
another, towering up into a truncated
pyramid of four stories. The entrances
were in the tops.
There were no relics which might in
dictate that the occupants had ever
seen the whites or learned any of their
arts. The entire populace appeared
to have deserted rather than to have
suffered violent determination by
enemies or the elements No skeletons
haunted the living-rooms to tell of mas
sacre or starvation. Several of the
dead had been buried beneath the
floors of the houses. Excavations con-
tinued near by brought to light the
cemetery Of the settlement, where hun
dreds Of skeletons were found re-
posing bneath fat slabs of stone, up
on which had been painted pictures of
rain clouds. A round hole was in
variably drilled in the center of each
slab, probably to admit the soul to the
spirit world. At either side of the
neck of a skeleton was usually found
a mortuary bowl containing grass
seed, corn or rolled waters of meal
Upon the wrists, necks and breasts of
the skeletons were found elaborate
jewels of turquoise and shell.
There is also tradition, confded to
DR.. Fewkes by two Hopi priests, that
far to the south there was a stream
known as "The blue water" where a
race of people lived many long years
ago, and where the Hopi always went
for "holy water" to be used by the
priests in their rituals. The explOr-
ing party went there and excavated
a second settlement similar to the first,
except that the main dwelling struc-
ture had been built upon the plan of
| hOllOW rectangle, the space WlInln
having evidently been used as a cere-
monial court or dance plaza. Near by
was cemetery similar to that found
alongside the former ruin.
A third tradition led the party south
over what was said to be the trail
through which the lost race travelled
during it's retreat toward the north.
Here, upon hill of lava, was found
third city, built in two sections, crown
ing the opposite edges of the hill and
bearing indications of having once
been a street. The usual ceme-
terry was close by. Here the graves
were covered by logs, a piece of lava
being at the head and foot Of each.
A year ago DR.. Fewkes and DR..
Hough began their excavations mid
way in the trail joining Zuni and Tu-
sayan and unearthed still larger