Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1901-07-24
BURROWED IN THE HILLS.
Prehistoric Men Who Lived in Holes
Like Rats.

Recent explorations IN the RfO Verde
valley OF Arizona, conducted for tn,
Bureau Of Ethnology by Cosmos Min
deleff brought about interesting dis
coveries respecting prehistoric race
These people burrowed in the earth lik,
rats. Their houses were holes in the hills
some OF them SO extensive as to be veri.
table subterranean hotels, the apartment,
| being in suites for the occupancy of fami
| lies.
| Eight miles south OF Verde, on tn,
| east side of the river, is the now empty
home OF a once prosperous underground
community. 1t has 200 rooms on the main
level, divided into seventyfour distinct
| and separate sets. On a level above
constituting second story, are fifty-siz
rooms in twenty-four sets. 1t is believed
that the entire establishment accommo.
dated $50 to 200 people.
followed out of the faces of the cliffs
| in that region are thousands of rooms
sometimes in clusters OF two or three
| while now and then will be found such
an elaborate excavation as that just de-
scribed, affording quarters for com.
munity of considerable size. The places
chosen for such workings are along the
faces of cliffs, where strata of soft
rock occur. The rooms generally are
rudely circular, the largest being thirty
feet and the smallest five or six feet in
diameter.
In the underground hotels a suite or
dinarily consists of one large main room
in front, entered by narrow hall from
the face OF the bluff, and number OF
smaller rooms connected by narrow door
ways or short passages. There is no out
let into the open except through the main
room or parlor. Usually there are a num-
Der of little storage-rooms or cubby- holes,
corresponding to closets. These are from
with the floors.
Not much is known about the history
of the Rio Verde. valley. Within recent
years that region has been a stamping
ground of the hostile Apache aud Walipai.
Remains of large villages are found on
the river terraces, some of them OF
elaborate and complex ground-plan, in
dicatiDg long occupancy. The ruins
cover a space of five acres. This village,
like all OF the others, was built after the
fashion of pueblo, being merely an
aggregation OF rooms, most of which
were only one story in height. 1t had 225
rooms on the ground floor and about 800
rooms in all, providing accommodation
for perhaps 450 persons. This interesting
structure of antiquity is OF roughly
dressed stone, with number of courts or
open spaces separating the clusters of
rooms. One room that stands by itself is
thought to have been a sacred ceremonial
chamber.
The ancient Inhabitants OF the Verde
valley relied mainly, il not wholly, upon
agriculture for their support. OF the
military art they knew SO little that they
built no Notifications of any kind. They
grew much corn, and remains of irriga
tion canals and reservoirs utilized by
them are found. That they domesticated
graphic writings.
In the room were found fragments of
baskets, bits of grinding stones, bundles
OF fibres, pieces OF cotton cloth, pottery,
arrow-shafts and sandals of woven yucca
fibre. Sometimes the house had cavity
in the rock for holding fifteen or twenty
gallons of water-a months supply for an
aboriginal family.
These people buried their dead in inches
In the rock. A few of their mummies
have been found, preserved merely by the
dryness OF the atmosphere in the arid
region. That climate is particularly
favorable to the preservation OF bones.
The origin OF naturalization is natural
and not artificial. 1t was SO in ancient
Egypt, which is very dry country.
The population of the Verde valley was
never large, probably not exceeding 1000
souls. There were few tillapie areas, and
apart from these the country is forbid
ding and not suited to agriculture. The
ruins in the region are SO numerous and
extensive as to be attributed formerly to
an immense population, estimates run
ming as high as 100000. But these people
had way of moving continually on and
on, and a band OF 800 of them might leave
behind them the remains of fifty villages
in century.