Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1904-10-31
AN ANCIENT TOWN
TRAVELLERS DISCOVER A DESERTED
CITY IN ANDES.
Believed to Have Been Built and
Occupied by AzteCS as Long
Ago as Two Thousand Years
Everything Remarkably We'll
Preserved.

Seattle, Oct. 26.-The discovery of
city i'll the Andes mountains in Ar
gentine, which has been deserted for
possibly ? 900 years, but which was
once inha bited presumably by Aztecs
OF much larger stature than those who
lived in Central America and Mexico,
is reported by two men who reached
this city Sunday from South America.
They consider it find that may add
much to the scientific knowledge of
the dead and gone races of South
America, and are now hurrying to the
East, there to present the results OF
their researches before German and
American scientists of note.
The discoveries of the ancient city
are Prof. Emil Won Burgess, of Berlin,
Germany, a noted Archaeological of that
country, and William J. Heminway,
a New York man who has for years
been an explorer in South America.
The two men, at the head of a party
of five, have spent year in the South
on special exploration expedition.
The story of the finding of this old
deserted city would take long to tell.
Situated in the Andes about 20 miles
from Aracno, Chile, in a little valley
reached ly after weeks of effort and
hardship, the intrepid travellers found
the city, forgotten for centuries, in an
almost perfect state of preservation.
Stone houses, erected probably before
the coming of Christ on earth, crum-
bling and grown over with trees,
moses and shrubs, but nevertheless
standing as no buildings ever con-
structed in modern times will stand
bear mute testimony to the existence
of race in the Andes that other trav
elers and explorers have heretofore
failed entirely to discover.
Ancient Tools of HuSbandry.
Ancient tools of husbandry, house,
hold implements of stone, Theoretically
sealed graves which when opened dis
closed the skeletons of men of large
stature, that crum bled to dust when
exposed to the air, give evidence of a
higher state of civilization almost than
that of Asia 1000 years ago, were
found by the travellers and their COM
panions. From the old city have been
brought to the United States a large
quantity of ancient articles, and these,
some day, will probably help to fill
some museum in this country and in
Germany, according to the explorers.
The articles brought back are consid-
cred invaluable by their discoverers,
and the researches of Prof. Won Bur-
CESS will augment the worlds knowl-
edge of the Aztecs, or that portion of
the race inhabiting South America.
From all that the explorers could as
certain the city once held some 10, 500
persons. Their principal occupation
was doubtless that of agriculture and
the raising of live stock. From the
skeletons found the men of the tribe
were six feet and over in height, while
the women were also of unusual stat
ure. Prof. Won Burgess considers that
either flood or some kind of disease
exterminated the race. 1t was prob
ably the latter, according to him, as
the little city in the valley of the
mountains bears no witness of ever
having been inundated.
Both Prof. Won Burgess and Mr..
Heminway were at first reticent to
tell of their discoveries, stating that
the results of their researches should
be preserved until such time as they
could be given to some scientific So
ciety. Mr.. Heminway, however, final
ly consented to give the information
outlined above.