The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1910-05-01
|igging Up of a Buried City

many hundreds OF rooms. 1t was evil
| IDENTIFY built for defense. and the living
| rooms were entered from an inner court
| by ladders TO the roof and then through
| hatchways and by ladders descending into
! the interior, Direct access to the court
was practicable only by single passage
way on the east side, six feet wide, which
was plastered with adobe tho outer open
ing being provided with "A double system
OF barricadcs. On the outside was stone
wall partly closed, which could he made
at brief notice TO shut the entrance en-
trely.
Uncovering the City.
Several hundred OF the ground floor
rooms, whose walls still remain in a
fair state of preservation. have already
been uncovered by Or. Hewitt Twenty
Tcwa Indians, experienced IN work. are
doing the digging. under the auspices
OF the School OF American Archaeology
at Santa Fe the necessary money hav-
Ing been appropriated by the legislature
OF New Mexico. 1t Is an immense labor,
the contemplated task, which viii occu-
py a number OF years. embracing the
uncovering OF cliff dwellings and other
remains over wide area OF the formerly
populous region.
Six miles in a straight line south OF
the great circular town is the pueblo OF
also making excavations. 1t gets its
name from n remarkable shrine, con-
sisting of a stone stockade enclosing the
efflgies OF pair OF pumas. or mountain
lions. which lie extended at full length.
side by side carved In high relief from
a great tufa boulder, Casts have been
made from these sculptured beasts. which
appear TO have been idols.
The plateau between the Jemez noun
tains and the Rio Grande valley was
ssn ,atcp,,i cpsT'q HbiSh IN sbs course .o ~
ages was gashed into thousands of frag
ments by torrential erosion. BY such
means 1t was cut up into detached
by the winds into fantastic shapes. the
cliffs. sometimes 500 feet In height. be-
ing adorned above with castle-like bat
Elements and honeycombed below with
natural caves,
Three Toed Horses.
Fossil remains OF three-toed horses
and several kinds Of extinct dogs as
we'll as mammoths and mastodons. are
plentiful. But the most interesting fea-
series Of cave villages extending along
the canyon Of the Rito do los Frljoles.
One of these was a continuous house,
from one To four stories high, and II
stretched along the base OF the cliff, for
distance Of 700 feet which must have
afforded accommodation for at least 1000
families. 1t is evident, however that
the natural caves were greatly enlarged
by digging-the material OF the volcanic
tufa. originally composed of gravel and
sand. being friable and easy 10 exca-
vate. Thus whole suites Of rooms, In
many cases somewhat extensive. In tho
very living rock. were occupied by these
human burrowers
The quarters thus provided. however.
were supplemented to an important eX
tent by houses OF adobe built in front
a fact made manifest by numerous holes,
remaining to this day which were evil
IDENTIFY made to support the ends Of
poles upholding the roofs. One is able.
therefore. TO obtain a pretty fair notion
of the conditions under which these pre-
historic people lived II may be that
each OF the villages along the canyon
OF the Rto was the abode OF a single
clan Of the tribe. but this is merely a
matter of ~uess.
Villages Are Named.
One of the villages following this
theory mas been called by DR.. Hewitt
the House of the Moon symbol: anoth-
or, the House OF the Turkey People: an
other the House OF the Sun People; and
yet another, the House of the Snake
People. At the upper end of the Rito.
$50 feet above the bed Of the creek Is
great ceremonial cave, which is one
of the most striking and picturesque OBJ
jects OF archaeological interest In the