Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1916-10-03

WASHINGTON, October Tho
buried homes OF a new race OF A1neri-
cans have been unearthcd in Socorro
county. n. NJ. by DR.. Walter IIough.
or the National Museum In this city.
Although tho bones. tools, bits Of
pottery and other remnants which he
obtained have not yet been thoroughly
studied. his opinion that these people
must be distinct from any other known
face is generally accepted.
In the corner OF Socorro County
where this discovery was made there
are number OF ruins OF stone dwell
inss which we're doubtless built by
the early Pueblo Indians. Dr. Hough
was engaged In digging about one of
these some years ago when he observed
that the excavation took the form nf
great circular pit, which had evil
dentiE been made long before and grad.
uaii| filled with leaf mold and Garth
Ihen came other discoveries Bits of
chnrred wood. the bones Of animals
ana pieces OF pottery came to light II
became apparent that this circular ex-
cavation had once been the home OF
men.
Now the Puehlos always have used
sort OF ohlonE duSout as a sacred
SouhGii chamber. and Or. Hough re-
aized that this might be merely one of
those STRUCTURES but there were n num-
Der or points of difference which madc
MIN believe that he had really come
across something new.
10 an anthropologist, there is MOTH
'Hs more thrilling than to lind trace
OF what may prove TO he discovery of
genuine scientific Importance DR..
Tough had To return to the museum
and his duties at that time. bur no
remembered that suggestive pit. and
returned TO the region at the first OPP
fn1,
Roaming about the pine-clad hills
ne came upon place where the veec-
tatlon seemed to grow more thicblv
over small circular area He knew
that ii must he another OF the strant.a
PITS Ana then he perceived that there
were other circles of greenness all
about-!n fact. a whole village OF them,
Straightway he began excavations
on large scale, and gradually. from
one trihe after another, bull, up an
imaginative conception of the peopIe
who had dwclt In these pits, certainly
before.
Built on Ridge.
The site Of the village was gently
sioping. pne-clad ridge, 1000 feet
above sea level. Charred bits Of wood
showed that each Of the pits had been
surrounded by stockade about four
feet high, and bits of clay clinpinr 10
some Of the timbers proved that the
whole had been rooted with logs COW
cred by thick layer of mud Thus
me scientist could reconstruct for his
ina gination this whole village of cir
cular dwellings. half above ground.
half below, and probably entered
through a hole in the roof
Near each of the houses was n small
er one that had evidently been used
ms granary or store house, and in
the center Of the village was the most
Impressive work OF all. 1t was a cir
cular pit ninety feet in diameter. and
not yet completely filed, with a bot
tom fifty feet wide, and bench, or
step. running all the way around half
way between top and bottom-in a
word, complete and perfect amphithe-
alter. differing only In size and mate
rial from the Roman coliseum and the
Yale bowl.
This discovery banished the last
doubt about the permanence Of the
village. Undoubtedly the people who
made this great arena in which to hold
their games and dances intended to
occupy their village for a long time
1t was no temporary hunting camp.
This being determined, the signifi-
canoe OF tho discovery lay in the fact
that the mode OF life Of the people, so
far as these remnants revealed them,
I'm no way resembled those OF the ma
tive Pueblo stock. In times gone by,
many legends nave been built up about
the ancient inhabitants of the South
west, and. one by one, these have been
exploded. When the ruined stone dwell
ngs under the caves OF great cliffs
at Rito de los Frijoles, New Mexico.
and Mesa Verde, Col. first began to
attract attention, they were widely eX-
plotted by various writer's with more
journalistic sense than scientific know
ledge as the dwellings of tiny race
OF "clif-dwellcrs." The small size of
the race was determined solely by the
fact that the doors were very low.
PucbIOs Once Lived There.
Now careful Investigations by Bandc-
lier and other men from our Bureau
of Ethnology have proved conclusivcly
that all OF these interesting ruins were
inhabited by the Pueblos in an earlier
day. when inaccessible cliff dwellings,
with small doors were necessary for
defensive purposes against the Apaces
and Navajos. In q word. the polite
buck from whom you bought water
jar or Turquoise from the window OF
a Pullman at Las Vegas or Albuquerque
was n lineal descendant of the So
called cliff jewellers.
Every attempt to prove that this
country was Inhabited by an older race
before the Indians has met with tho
same kind of ride defeat at the hands
OF scientific investigation. The mound