Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1919-10-20
ANCIENT sEGRECTS
ARE VEL De D Up
BY PUE Bio RUIN
Work in North
western New Mexico Re-
veaIS Interesting Data
Aztec Becomes Popular

/ lsPFctAL CcREEaPokoHHCE TO soRHtsa JOURNAL
| New York oct 19,-Three years
ago Earl Il. Morris, representing the
! American museum Of natural history
undertook the excavation of an an
cient Pueblo ruin in Aztec, New Mex
! leo The work was begun at the pub
| ic-spirited suggestion and through
| the courtesy OF II. d. Abrams the
! owner of the property, and is being
financed from the Archer NJ. Hunt
| ington fund for surveying the south
western United States. Mr.. Morris
early finds aroused considerable pub
! lie interest, and the Aztec ruin" be
came widely known as the first Amer.
| lean apartment house,
During the past month the museum
party has uncovered a new section of
the ruin revealing several rooms filled
with sand and fallen debris. These
rooms were in perfect condition, just
as left by the last occupants. The
ceilings were standing and the OBJ
| ieets left by the inhabitants scattered
about on the floor Nothing had dis
| turbed them except the fine layer Of
dust sifted over all one Of the
rooms had been filled to the ceiling
! and was found to be n burial room
Mr.. Morris wrote briefly to DR. Clark
Wissler, curator of the department Of
anthropology at the American muse
nm, concerning his most recent find
| ings,
an two second story chambers
! there was a large accumulation of
| dry refuse. One of these yielded soma
excellent specimens of textiles and 4
burial with wrappings in a very good
state of preservation. Above the re-
fuse in the other room there was upon
the fallen third floor a surprising
number of stone implements several
bone tools, some beautifully worked
wooden boards, seven coiled basket
plaques (three we'll preserved), and a
digging implements with handle Of
wood and blade of mountain sheep
horn In the refuse beneath this
layer we have to date found the
burials of five children (three with
wraupinPs perfectly preseryed), four
baskets in excellent shape, wooden
Ulpper, some beads and various odds
and ends Three-fourths of the de,
post is still to be gone over. The
outer covering of the wrapped bodies
is particularly interesting Each body
was placed upon a rush mat. Then
the SIDES were folded inward, and one
doubled upward The whole was
then tied into a long package with
cord or yucca strips. AS yet l have not
| opened any of the bundles, so do not
know what the interiors may contain
! besides the bones. These finds GER
tainly are important. They are differ
ent from anything we have previously
uncovered"
AS a result of the excavations, Az
tee has become a popular resort for
visitors About 100 miles southeast
! of the famous Mesa Verde park lin
| which the finest cliff-houses are to
| be found), and not over two hours
| ride from Durango Colorado, the
ruins at Aztec is an attraction to all
automobile tourists. During the pres
ent year more than 1900 people Wis
! ed the ruin. In contrast to the tiny
/ cIiffhouses of the park, the great
Pueblo ruin, with its 800 square feet
/ of area and its 40G-odd rooms, is
! Wonderfully impressive. The greater
/ part of the remains is now uncovered,
and visitors may walk over the tops
of the massive walls, gazing down in
to the many chambers. Very interest
| ing are these WallS-approXimatel
three feet thick, and built of dressed
sandstone carries piece by piece by the
! llleleSS DullueES from lne qudIIleS VI
! which the nearest lies two and one half
/ miles from the ruin. For this prehis-
| loric people had no beasts of burden.
/ The cedar logs from eight to twelve
! inches in diameter, which support the
/ floors and ceilings of all the rooms,
were also conveyed from a distance,
! For no such trees grow in the vicinity
| of Aztec, nor are there any indica-
| tons that they have ever grown there.
| But If one follows the course of the
Animas river toward its source in the
mountains, he will, after a journey
of 100 to $50 miles, reach an ancient
| forest where great cedars grow. This
river passes within few rods of the
ruins. 1t is therefore, safe to infer
that the ancient builders of the pres
ent ruin journeyed to the forests
above, cut these huge logs, and RATED
! them down the stream. AS they lived
in a stone age and had no tools of
metal, these logs We're worked with
stone axes. Their ends are cut smooth
and square and one can still see on
their surfaces the marks of the stone
tools.