Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-03-17
NEW MExlco'S GREAT RUINS
Remains of Immense Prehistoric Buildings
Of Roughly Hewn Stone.
Found Near Aztec In San Juan County
Valuable Relics Secured I'm
Sealed Chambers, 81
From the Saute Fe New Mexican,

Juan there exist wonderful remains of the
| early jewellers. About a mile west OF the
| county town of Aztec on a mesa now under
| cultivation are found the fallen or par
| tally standing walls of a structure which
| presents features OF unusual interest The
mound of debris which has been made from
the fallen walls is quite twenty-five feet
above the general level and out Of the
heap walls yet standing rise in their orig
inal position TO further height of thirty
| feet
| Inc lower rooms can now be reached only
l through passageway that has been cut
through the second story, and can be ex-
amined only by the aid OF artificial light.
| They vary from six by ten to ten by sixteen
| feet at the base and are ten feet in height
The ground walls are three and one-haIf
leet 1 nthickness, ana the facings of all
| outer and inner walls are made OF dressed
1 stone OF uniform thickness. While shaped
/ without the aid Of metal tools. they present
| very uniform appearance. and the
| amount OF labor required to dress them
with implements of stone attests the skill
and patience Of the builders. The many
l thousands OF tons of rock were brought
by human labor from a quarry two miles
| distant. Some attempt was made to break
| joints in the different courses. and, doubt
less for artistic effect alternate layers Of
stone. not more than one inch in thickness.
We're frequently used in the walls.
The builders evidently knew the use of
the plumb line, for the standing walls are
vertical, but they were ignorant of the
principles OF bonding at point Of wall in
| tersectfons, for each cross wall is built to-
\ but not into, the wall II meets at the true
| right angle. They evidently were not IA
miliar with the use of lime, for all mortar
was made from deposit of red clay about
one-half mile distant, which contains a
| large amount of pyroxide of iron and mi
\ mute infusioriae of marine deposit, which
| furnishes mortar, when protected from
4 a havd
In these dry and now underground rooms
this mortar has become almost as hard as
| the stone itself. but in the outer walls the
| centuries Of storms and sand-laden winds
| have worn 1t away to a depth of about
two inches
Passage to the several rooms was made
| through doorways of uniform width of
| three feet. varying from four to five feet
| In height. and so far as known all en-
| trance was first made from the court or
auadrangu!ar area embraced within the
| outer walls. Light and ventilation were
| secured to the outer tier of rooms by OPEN
| ings, usually eight by twelve inches in size.
| which are located at uniform distance of
| six feet from the clay floors.
In all places where irregular Joints occur
| the mortar Is filled with countless numbers
OF makes of stone, perhaps not more than
one-eighth of an inch in thickness. The
| mortar was placed with the hand as Is APP
parent from the palm and finger prints. All
dividing walls were carried from the base
| through the upper stories. thus making
erai stories were completed an offset OF
about four inches was made and from the
receding thickness of the three stories now
standing the building was evidently seven
stories in height.
While many of the rooms bear no evil
dence OF fire, others are blackened with
smoke. and the ireplaces in the angles are
connected with plastered fiues that extend
I upright through the several stories
A puzZling question arises as to how or
| where they procured the logs that support
floors They rad
| spruce. but that is not now found nearer
| than 100 miles distant the higher noun
| tains at the head of the Aniuaas river and,
| If procured, could have been brought down
only by being floated on that stream. One
| log, which now in part supports the floor
| or three rooms Is forty-two feet in length
with a difference of but two inches in diam
eter at either end.
Some years ago a log was removed from
| the ruins that was siXty-four feet In length
having diameter Of eight and eleven
inches at the extreme ends. No red spruce
| now growing in the forest maintains its
| size to this degree. All supporting beams
We're cut in the spring, for they are free
from bark, and bear no marks OF tools ex-
cept at the ends, where with stone axes
they were cut of as evenly can be done
with the modern steel This may be a
hard statement to believe, but the logs are
here to speak for themselves, in the absence
of their former owners, and all can see
who Will. So enduring and great is the
strength of this timber that now, after CEN
turtles Of use, where 1t has been protected
from moisture, 1t Is apparently as sound as
when first cut, and the two logs that span
each room now support a deposit OF from
ten to fifteen feet of rock and mortar that
has fallen from former walls. In -hther
rooms through the open dooorways can be
seen the broken and battered beams and
poles that have been crushed by the great
weight Of fallen debris, writes Cecil A.
Deane.
At right angles to the beams is laid a
tier of small poles about three inches In
diameter. and also free from bark. On
these is a layer of cedar splints. and above
them layer of cedar bark, which In turn
is covered with a deposit of clay mortar
about four inches in thickness. which forms
the floor proper.
About fifty rooms in the lower and now
underground story have been opened. The
number far Investigations have been
made indicates total of about 100 rooms, or
700 in the building before its destruction
began. plan of the ground story was
made by Prof. W. K Moorehead, president
of the Archaeological Society of Columbus
Ohio, who with a party of assistants passed
two weeks here in 1892 in making a careful
survey of the ruins. His time did not adj
nit of examination of the east or remain
ing side Of the quadrangle. The mounds of
debris there are of less height, and, unlike
the sandstone rock used in the walls of the
three sides. water-worn boulders, taken
from the river bed. We're put IN place. The
walls were probably not more than two
stories in height.
The eight council chambers and places
where their mystic ceremonies were OBJ
served are faced with cut stone, and the
depresSions are now about eight feet in
depth, although doubtless partially filled
above their former bottom.
The archaeological treasures that may be
found in the many sealed rooms are purely
matter of conjecture. That many relics
will be recovered II they are opened may
be expected from the fact that In those
opened by the Boston party fourteen skele-
tons and mumnies were found in one room
and from other rooms two wagon loads OF
vases, jars, pitchers. bowls and other arti-
cles of domestic life were secured and re-
moved
A few hundred feet to the east OF this
large ruin is another almost as large as Is
proved by the area covered by the debris
Of fallen walls. 1t bears evidence of stin
greater antiquity, and but isolated portions
OF the stone walls appear above the sur
face. The timbers where exposed are great
ly decayed, and the general surface Of the
mounds Is broken into numerous depres-
sions where the once supporting timbers
have been crushed by the weight of fallen
walls. From the size of the. few rooms
that can be entered it is inferred that
there were seventy-flve rooms in the first
story, but how many stories there were
originally in the building cannot now be
determined.