Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-10-19
SAFE FOR POSTER|TY
Writings Centuries Old on
Rock Will Be Preserved.
PAPER IMPRESSIONS TAKEN
Plaster Casts Will Be Made at Ma
tional Museum-Excavations
in New Mexico.

r. ". Hodge, ethnologist in charge of
the bureau of American ethnology of the
Smithsonian Institution. has returned to
Washington from an expedition to New
Mexico conducted under the joint aus
piccs of the bureau and the School of
American Archaeology. at Santa Fe. Early
In September Mr.. Hodge proceeded TO FL
MORO. or Inscription rock. in western
New Mexico. where with the assistance
of Jesse L. Nusbaum of the School of
American Archaeology, paper impressions
and photographs OF the Inscriptions on
the rock were made
The paper impressions or "saueezes"
have been transferred to the National
Museum. where plaster casts will shortly
be made of them for permanent preserva-
ton.
Inscriptions Made in 1905.
e. Moro is an enormous sandstone
rock rising a couple of hundred feet out
Of the plain and eroded in such fantastic
forms as 10 give it the appearance of a
great castle, hence its Spanish name. a
small spring of water formerly existing
at the rock made il a convenient camp
ing place for the Spanish explorers of the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and
the smooth face of the castle" well
adapted it TO receive the inscriptions of
the ConqUerors of that early period
The earliest inscription. and historically
the most important. is that of Juan dc
Onate, a coiOnizer of New Mexico and the
founder of the city of Santa Fe, in 1906.
II was in this year that Onate visited
FL MORO and carved this inscription on
his return from trip to the head of the
Gulf of California. There are nineteen
other Spanish Inscriptions of almost equal
Importance among them that of Don Die
4
the Pueblo Indians after their rebellion
against Spanish authority in 1850.
Although III Moro has been made
national monument by proclamation of
the President. there is no local custodian,
consequently the rock is exposed TO van
dalisnl, and the Inscriptions, so important
to the early history of the southwest, are
ever threatened with destruction by the
thoughtless visitors who scratch their
own insignificant names in dangerous
proximity TO these old records of early
exploration
Excavations in Jemez Valley.
Mr. Hodge later joined Dr. Edgar l..
Hewett, director of the School of Amer
lean Archaeology, on an expedition to the
Jenez valley, about siXty-tive miles north
west of Albuquerque. where excavations
were conducted In the ruins of a large
stone pueblo known as Amoxiumqua,
feet. and is situated on a mesa rising
1900 feet above Jemez river. This pueblo
was occupied from prehistoric times to
the year 1622 when, according to early
Spanish records. it was abandoned on ac-
count of the depredationS of the Navajo
Indians. Seven years later it was rebuilt
and reoccupied at the instance of Fran
ciscan missionary, and 1t remained inhab-
tied for some time before 1880, when it
was permanently abandoned.
Excavations, chiefly in the refuse heaps
which formed the cemeteries of the town.
brought to light about 125 skeletons and
fragments because the occupants had the
custom OF killing" the vessels deposited
with the dead by heaping large stones
upon them. All the fragments were care
fully preserved. however. and are now on
their way to the National Museum, where
they will be repaired and made available
for study. Most of the pottery bears dec
orations in color, and some of it shows
close relationship to pottery found ir an
Client ruins in northwestern Arizona.
Studies by the bureau of American eth
region show that some of their clans
came from the Jemez country, and the
archaeological studies in the Jemez valley
likewise show early connection between
the occupants of these two areas.
In addition to the pottery, numerous OBJ
jects of bone stone and shell were found.
Among the most significant of the finds
are the remains of a necklace, acconlpa-
nying the skeleton of child, consisting
OF twenty-four Venetian glass beads.
substantiating the early Spanish records
that the old pueblo was occupied within
the historical period