The Parker post., 1913-03-22
CLIFF JEWELLERS WE'RE DWARFS S

CLIFF JEWELLERS WERE DWARFS
The discovery by Paul P. Pitchlynp,
of the Forestry Service, of a mummy
in the cliff dwellings, on the Upper
Gila River, in Grant County, New
Mexico, convinces writer in the
Santa Fe New Mexican that these
ancient inhabitants of the region
were dWarfS At first the mummy
was supposed to be that of child,
but subseq lent examination proved
It to be that of a fully developed
man This was the judgment both OF
scientists who examined the body,
and of passers-by who viewed it in
a window of a Silver City drugstore.
Continuing, the writer says:
''The most striking feature of these
dwellings has always been the small
size of the doorways. These are us
ualy so small that an ordinary man
squeezes through with the utmost
difficulty. The doorways may have
been made small for purposes of pro
lection, but how can the extremely
low ceilings be accounted for? There
are many cliff dwellings, with ceilings
about three feet high. The discovery
of this fully developed man when
re stood erect could not have been
more than eighteen inches to two
feet high, offers a much more plauS
ible explanation of the height of the
dwellings than the supposition that
the builders, skillful as they were,
built houses in which they were fore
ed to spend their time on their hands
and knees.
''Is it not Corr0horative evidence of
smallness Of stature in these ancient
people that they built their houses in
inaccessible places? Think of the
disadvantage that would accompany
life III a wild country for race of
men who stood eighteen inches high
and weighed perhaps forty pounds.
II is little wonder that this skull
eslrows high frontal angle. These
little people must have been we'll pro-
vided with brains to successfully car
~ on the struggle against Wild ami
mails undoubtedly a thousand times
more plentiful than they are today.
Such a man would stand little higher
than the shoulder of a lobo wolf,
while to a mountain lion he would be
4 plaything.
"What a remarkable picture these
colonies would have presented to
modern eyes Even the full grown
would appear tiny, but what about
the men girdled with skins scurrying
up the cliffs like a lot of ants and
the women carrying babies a few
inches long, wrapped in downy
blank cts woven from the feathers of
small birds.
''Trat they possessed a remarkable
degree of skill in the arts is shown
by fabric woven from rabbit skin
\
Of the lue jay seems to be the
main part They also made thread
of some fiber which cannot be re-
cognized, but which is exceedingly
tough. A large quantity Of this tWine
has been wound tightly into an object
like crutch, little over six inches
long, which is the only thing found
with the body. What It was used
for cannot be guessed by any who
have examined the mummy.
'The body is wrapped in a piece
of deer skin in a good state of pres
trvation and this is wrapped in a
blanket woven Of rabbit skin. With
the body is a pad of some dark red
vegetable fiber carefully shaped and
the crutch-like object
''Of the cliff dwellers very little
indeed is known, even by scientists.
That they had been extinct for hun
dreds of years before the Spaniards
made their first journey into this
country in 1900 is admitted and it
is the cOncensus of opinion that
they were prehistoric. In 1904 a re-
port of the eXistance Of the Gila
cliff dwellings was sent to the gov
erIment at Washington with the re
commentator that they be investi-
gated by experts. No such visit by
2 trained observer has ever beeL
made. Perhaps the present discOv-
cry will stir the authorities into ac-
tIVity."
CUTTING ALFALFA.