Custer County Republican. (Broken Bow, Neb.) 1882-1921, 1906-03-29
FINE AZTEC MUMMY
SCIENTISTS IN RAPTuREs OVER
RECENT ACQUISITION.
Well-PreserVed Body Of Flve-Year.old
Child Of Extinct Race, Found in Arl.
iona, Has Been Presented to the
Smithsonian Institution.

Many persons who have an interest
in archaeology will be surprised to
know that not all the mummies to be
seen in museums have been taken
from far-away tombs in Egypt or other
eastern lands Well-preserved num-
mics have occasionally been taken
from the ruins of the cliff jewellers in
the mountain canyons in Arizona and
also in New Mexico and southern Cali
fornia. These mummies, though very
poor specimens of the mummifying
art, are considered great treasures by
scientists; because they give the an
thropologist a vague idea of the
strange people who had the earliest
civilization on the American continent.
The best of them are almost entirely
ignorant of who the Aztecs and Toltecs
were, how they looked and lived and
why they have been so entirely oblit.
Grated from the face of the earth, says
the Memphis Appeal.
The reason for this ignorance is
found in the fact that no satisfac-
tory remains of the dead Aztecs have
been found. These people were Gre
mationists, and they probably burned
household effects with the dead, leav-
ing little or nothing for the scientists
to build a theory upon. Frequently
party of explorers in the valleys of
Arizona will come upon cealed jars Of
burned bone dust. But the mummy
which was found by two gold mine
prospectors in lonely canyon along
the ella river in the heart of the coun-
try has excited much attention. The
hollow in the rocks was about seven
feet deep and four feet high. 1t was
evidently made for the purpose of
burial of the body found there, for no
other mummy has ever been found
within a hundred miles of this lonely
sepulcher.
At the rear of the cave the miners
found what appeared to be a chamber
in the solid granite wall. The mouth
of the chamber was sealed. When the
cementlike substance was broken away
and fiat stone was lifted it was found
that a human mummy was within
There was a smell of rosin and balsam
when the miners raised the little body
which had lain there for 500, perhaps
700, years. The body was evidently
that of child, the offspring Of pre-
historic royalty. When the covering
had been removed it was found that
the body was that Of girl about 5
years of age. There was no doubt
that she was of noble family and that
her costly and elaborate burial, instead
of that of cremation, had been for
some extraordinary reason. Wrappings
that filled five bushel baskets were I'M
wound from the remains.
AS the hands were removed peanuts
and mesquite beans rolled out Both
were in as good a state of preservation
as though they had been placed there
few months before. A childs play
thing, a curious bone affair, was found
placed between the arms. The little
shriveled hands were clasped about
bits of mesquite wood and a thick
mass Of raven-black hair much finer
than that of an Indian, covered the
head. The legs were drawn up in the
position of child creeping. The fin
ger nails were perfect and the teeth
intact. The nose, ears and eyes were
gone and the skin was broken on the
right knee and one of the wrists, ex.
posing bones, sinews and dried flesh.
So fine a mummy has probably new
er been found before in the valleys of
Arizona. 1t has been photographed
more than hundred times. Many sci
entists and archaeologists have trav-
eled long distances to see it and they
say that it is the most interesting and
instructive of all things found in that
part of the country in a decade. 1t
has been made gift to the Smithson-
ian institution.