Albuquerque daily citizen. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1895-1903, 1902-04-26
PREHISTORIC CIVILIZATION.
Order Issued for Protection of Relics
of Ancient Race in Arizona.

OTOeF ISSUED TOT FTOteCtiOn OF heliCS
of Ancient Race in Arizona.
A correspondent writing to the FL
Paso News, from Phoenix, Ariz.. says:
The government, finally awakening
to the necessity of steps to prevent
the utter ruin of remains of a prehis-
toric civilization in the southwest, has
issued orders for the protection of the
ancient relics scattered through Ari-
IONA.
The surveyor general of the terri
tory is preparing a report on all tracts
of public land which contain natural
wonders, ancient ruins, or other OBJ
jects of scientific interest.
Work has already beer begun in the
guarding from the relic-seeker and the
vandal the great piles of ruined build
ings scattered about the Salt river val
ley, the Casas Grande remains near
Florence, and the great cliff dwellings
in the mountains to the north.
Scientists agree that the valley of
the Salt river and the adjacent country
once supported an immense number of
people of a superior intelligence.
Fifteen miles southeast of Phoenix
lies the most important pueblo, named
LOS Muertos," roughly City of the
Dead" by Frank Hamilton Gushing,
who spent several years of archaeology
ical research in the vaIley, in the late
SOS. Cushing believed hat the pueblo
of Los Muertos undoubtedly had been
the central one in the southwest.
Within Undiscovered concrete walls he
found much to confirm his belief, and
much that told of the customs and
identity of the tribes long departed. 1t
was made plain that the government
of the ancient dwellers was theocrat-
ic; that they possessed a high grade OF
intemgence; that they were agricul-
t~urists, tilling the earth by h aid Of
water brought through artificial works
of magnitude from the Salt river. They
were not Aztecs. but of the Toltec
period, of antiquity far more remote.
The greater number of the dead were
cremated and the ashes buried in jars,
in broad, yet closely packed cemeter-
i. les. Some, probably of he priesthood
f cult, were inferred within the houses,
in cemented crypts that often must
r have beer used as divans by disconso-
|, late relatives. The skeletons thus Sc
cured are mainly those of large stature
and superb cranial formation, in al
most all respects equal to the best a
casian types of today.
!. Nearer to Phoenix is the great ruin
J in the Tempe road. five miles east,
near the railroad. Here, under the au'
: spices of the Antiquarian society OF
Arizona, have been begun systematic
excavations that are bringing to light
. trinkets and pottery The building
5 seems almost a common hillock and
no photograph can convey a sugges
ton of an edifce. But, within the
talus are the walls of a structure faI
greater in size than even the famed
. and better preserved Casa Grande
: near Florence, sixty miles to the east
{ ward. The building is $50 feet in ex
IRENE length, by $50 feet in width. Its
original height a only be conjec
tured. but at least three stories remain
y. standing. 1t is hoped to clear away
0 about half of the building, that within
it, under a protecting roof, may be es
o tablished a museum of Southwestern
!, archaeology. Probably within thu
building will be housed slabs ant
rocks from the Salt river mountain!
south of Phoenix a few miles. where
the artists of old have left, on boulder!
and cliffs, quantities of Photographs o
O of exceeding interest yet of unknown
meaning.
Y, On the extreme eastern line OF Mar
icopa county. is a group of the fines
cliff dwellings in the southwest. TIT
T. ruins are in two groups on either sid
of a precipitous canyon. The wall
IS are of good concrete without outsid'
D. doors, entrance being made from tn
n top by means of ladders. One fortres
Is well filled a shell-like cave, 140 fee
n long by forty feet in extreme dept
d and thirty feet in extreme height. TIL
building is three-fioored even nov
There yet remain many of the foo
a joists. small, red cypress logs, roug
hewn with obsidian or stone axes.
In the valley of the Verde, also, ma
interesting ruins De found One {
them, neal the mouth of Deadman car
d yon, fifty miles northwest of Phoenil
n is of white stone, with three storie