Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1916-05-14
K|DDER TELLS
Of EXCAVATION
OF OLD RUINS
Expert on Archaeology Reads
Paper Before National
Academy Of Science Re-
garding Explorations,
tspse,.. CONSEQUENCES TO MORNING. %, ANAL,

ESPECIAL eoHsEspospKnes TO MORNING 20, ssAll
Santa Fe, May l3-"Arehaeologica
Explorations at Pecos," is the title of
paper by Or A, V, Kidder, who is
! conducting the excavations at Pecos,
read recently before the National
Academy of Sciences and a printed
| copy of which was received by the
museum today ii reviews the field
work Of last summer by Phillips An
dover academy on the site which Is
owned by the Museum of New Mexico.
I There is brief historical introduction
and then a description Of the eXcava-
| tons in the refuse heap which are be-
ing continued this summer. Dr. Kid
der holds forth high hopes that the
excavations Will throw much light
upon the Spanish cultures of the
southwest and says in conclusion
'"rhe most important results, how
ever, were, as had been hoped, Of
stratigraphical nature. 1t became APP
I parent as soon as digging had gone far
enough into the refuse heap to permit
observations, that the pottery at the
bottom was markedly different from
! that at the top and there were several
distinct types between. Data on this
subject was collected to some extent
/ by examination and notetaking along
the face of the trench, but principally
by tests made at different points as
| the work advanced. The tests con-
sisted of the collection of all the
sherds in given column Of debris,
the fragments from each layer being
| placed in a separate paper bag bear
ing the numbers of the test and of the
! layer. In the early tests the face was
| laid off arbitrarily in one foot or s.
inch layers. but it was found that
this method often resulted in the
splitting Of strata; the later tests
| were not laid out beforehand ana a
new bag was started whenever there
was encountered zone of san or ash,
| or where there appeared a shcrd dlt-
ferent in type from those above,
. Care. of course. had to be exercised
to choose for the tests places which
seemed to contain no burals, and all
trials were abandoned when IT became
clear that a grave shaft had disturbed
the original disposition of the refuse.
Results Not Available
"The mass Of stratigraphical mate
rial thus gathered could not be
worked over in the field final results,
therefore, are not yet available. 1t
may be said, however, that the ear
lest or lowest type was the black
and-white Above this occurred a
/ long series of wares with glazed or
nament in sharp glaze, up through
more developed stages having heavier
glaze and conventional ornament to
a late and degenerate style in which
the glaze paint was poor that the dec
grafton lost all form and became lit
tie more than daubs and splashes.
This degenerate stage extended well
into historic times, as was proved by
the finding. in that horizon, of Euro
pean objects but before the final
abandonment Of the site there &C.
cured sort of renaissance, when
glaze painting was given up and there
was produced yellowish pottery eN-
cellently finished and tastefully dec
. OIdltu WIN Nhil Di'Ah H'S'AN''' 'f'N
details of this long ceramic history;
the growth, for example, Of vessel
forms: the developments of the cook
ing wares. the influences from with
out that undoubtedly produced some
of the changes, all these must await
closer study and more data.
"The stratigraphy Of the site, then,
throws invaluable light on the local
culture; il also may be expected to
teach us much as to its external rela-
lions In the first years work there
has been found pottery Of the historic
period from the Hopi villages Acoma,
Zuni and Jemez. as well as prehistoric
wares from the Little Colorado, Lower
ella and San Juan. From the east
we have pottery, huffalo-scapula hoes
and snub-nosed scrapers from the
south. clay bells and spindlewhorls
strongly Mexican in type. Such finds
as these give an indication Of what
important results may be confidently
hoped for. II we can definitely reeog-
nize and chronologically arrange the
successive culture stages at Pecos, we
can extend that knowledge and thus
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