The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-09-23

as If a whole family had gathered to meet
death and persisted in one another's arms.
Some Of the skulls of these prehistoric
Texans were OF enormous size and the ma
jority Of them had rather low foreheads. A
singular fact observed was that while all
Of the teeth were considerably worn, show
ing the use Of hard food and age of the
persons. there was in no case the slightest
Indication OF decay, a quite different situa-
tion from that observed in r,Iics nt more
modern but still prehistoric Indians,
among whom dental carries is compare lively
common.
Several thousand skeletons were removed
in the process Of excavation. Fifteen hun
dred were actually counted in the first part
of the excavation, and doubtless several
thousand more were removed. As a rule
they We're soft and damp when first uncov-
cred, but many became fairly hard after
being exposed a while to the SUM- No
bones Of children were found and this was
accounted for by the supposition that they
had all decayed.
The situation of this remarkable archae-
illogical find was a deposit Of she'll gravel.
AID sand in bank consisting of about
thirty acres nearly surrounded by the
Clear Creek. This deposit consists OF sew
en- distinct strata, each about three feet
thick, and between each stratum there is
inch to one inch in thickness. On the TOD
Of the bank the soil is about eight inches
deep and large live oak trees grow thickly
over it,
1t is one OF the last places one would
go TO in looking for the remains of pre-
historic race. No two of the strata are
exactly alike, some having a larger per-
centage OF gravel than ott s, and the
shells Slso vary. Some are much larger
some are clam. On the average the deposit
consists of about 40 per cent shell. 40 per
cent gravel, and 20 per cent coarse sand.
In the second layer from the top the
bones were found in great abundance. and
in the bottom layer. just at water level,
and about twenty-one feet below the top
OF the bank, large quantities Of the bones
were found
Just how to explain this phase Of the
situation has taxed the antiquarians Sons
suggest the possibility OF two successive
tidal waves, one perhaps far removed from
the other in point Of time The ivory beads
found were about one-quarter of an inch
in diameter and one and one-half to two
inches long, with a hole lengthways and a
diagonal groove cut on the outside
The inhabitants of ancient Pompeii and
Herculaneum persisted in a day and their
cities were blotted from the face OF the
earth by the fiery flood from the burning
mountain Vesuvius but generations later
the lava covering their houses has been
and their homes together with
their skeletons. their utensils, and the
remains of their rich civilization have
been uncovered TO the curious gaze of the
and the sightseer. Here. TOO. in
this Western world lived a people which
was overtaken by flood and which persisted
in night. perhaps longer ago than the
event described so graphically in Bull
wer's Last Days of Pompeii" and in the
closing days of the nineteenth century
their bones have been taken from the
earth which for so many ages
mas saeredly Kept the secret OF their abid-
ing place.
By a singular combination of events .he
secret was discovered Just before the oc-
currence Of another great tidal wave,
similarly disastrous to human life. and in
lime for the exhibition of the relies at the
exposition which is 70 Illustrate the prog
'ess upon this continent OF a race which
saw 1t not TIL perchance thousands CT
ears after the CONFUSION OF nature which
cut the seal of death upon the secret Of
his prehistoric people.