South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1916-07-18
F IND POTTERY Of
AN ANCIENT RACE
PerShing'S Camp is Built on
Dust of a People Long
Forgotten.

GEN PERSHING'S HEADQUAR-
TIERS. NEAR COLONIA. DUBLAN.
July 17.-Via motor 10 Columbus.
y. NJ. July 21-This camp is built
upon the dust Of an ancient race. a
people so ancient that only the mer-
est fragments Of their history haze
been dug up" by research parties
from Mexican and American arch
geological Institutions
Dug mp. IN this instance is literal
for the scientists who have explored
in this region from time 10 time
have had 20 dig deep into the earth
20 carry on their work. About the
only tangible things relating 10 this
little known race found by the ex-
plOrers are scores # pieces Of won
derfully colored pottery That this
fragile stun should endure through
all the centuries, while nothing else
remained. is remarkable
Not a single bit OF metal has been
unearthed so far as is known. No
vestige OF a written language has
been discovered.
Estimates OF the antiquity of this
people vary widely. Some Mexican
scientists have guessed that the race
was at least 10000 years old. Most
OF the scientists who have explored
in this valley agree that the race
died ont from 1000 TO 1000 years
ago.
Centuries before the dauntless
Spanish explorers and missionaries
pushed northward into this wild re-
gion skirting the high peaker Sierra
Madses. the dust of ages had begun
TO Obliterate the adobe huts and the
graves of these ancients.
Except for the general term of
Indian no name has been assigned
TO them and it is very doubtful if
they were Of the Indian stock that
peopled North America when Co
lum bus landed
Find Clay Vessels.
What kind of dwellings did these
Indians inhabit? No one knows.
Near the 2O0-year-old town Of Casas
Grandes. seven miles southwest Of
Camp Dublan. scientists have exca-
waited 10 "a depth Of 80 To 100 feet
and have discovered the clay vessels
used by these people for cooking
and drinking. but nothing to indi-
cate what manner of houses they
lived in Gf indeed, they dwelt in
houses at alb has been brought to
light No stone implements or
weapons have been found.
When the pottery was discovered
D.
because the first explorers did not
take proper precaution against ex-
posing them 10 the air too suddenly
When exposed Immediately to the
air they soon crum bled 10 dust
The Harvard museum contains the
dneN individual collection Of this
pottery IT was sent TO the institu-
ton by Mrs F. c. Houghton. wife Of
the manager of the Corralistos
ranch. where many of the relics
have been. One thing is known pos
itively about this race, that they
W ere expert in the preparation of
colOrs which would last for centur-
les The red. blue and orange color
ings on most of the clay pots and
drinking vessels are as fresh and
brilliant today as they we're when
they were first burned into clay
Crude patterns Of semi-geomet-
rical design were painted on some
II the pottery. Mexican scientists
who have poked around in the
ruins OF this valley believe that the
dead race was one of dwarfs. That
they were fallie worshippers is al
most certain. as their pottery shows
Many Of the pieces are hollow stat
ues of dwarfed men and women
with the creative organs grotesque-
ly enlarged.
This fact has given rise in some
scientific circles 10 the theory that
TINS strange people was in some way
related 20 the old fallie wOrshippers
of prehistoric Greece and southern
Europe. one Mexican archaeoIogist
has even advanced the theory that
the fable lost Atlantis" was a con
bnent connecting Europe with
America over which the fallies OF
the eastern hemisphere migrated
thousands of years since 10 this re-
mote region.