Arizona republican., 1920-07-19
(5y Frederic ]. Haskin)

up the past" is no mere figure Of speech down in the southwest. from which news has recently reached the Smithsonian Institution here of two new and interesting archaelogical finds, both of which were literally dug up.
 A temple of ancient fire worship, which seems to indicate that the pre- historic inhabitants of the southwest reached a higher degree of civilization than had formerly been supposed has been unearthed and studied in detail by pr. J. Walter FeWkes. chief of the bureau of American ethnology of the Smithsonian institution. And two skeletons, those of boy and of girl have been found buried in the ruins of stone house, probably of pre- historic origin. These remains have been shipped to the National museim here where they will be carefully studied. They may shed new light on the race and physical character of the early in habitants of the region.
 This digging up of the long buried past seems a futile and perhaps an uninteresting occupation to those who have never followed or studied it. but as a matter of fact it has the highest scientific value and 1t exercises pe- culiar fascination. Nearly everyone who goes to the southwest with the slightest bent for scientific investiga- tion falls under the spell of the coun- try's romantic past, and develops something of mania for hunting the remains of it.
 Where the Past Lives
 The country is remarkably well adapted to the indulgence of this taste. It is extremely dry-the greater part of it a desert-so that in the first place bones, pottery and other ancient re- mains tend to be preserved, whereas, in more moist country they would iuiu faxrr rrzfa Tn he there is no heavy growth of vegetation to cover these traces of ancient human life. 1t is a common occurrence when riding across the mesa lands of this country to come to a slight mound of earth dotted with bits of broken pot tery. This, you may be sure, is the remains of an Indian dwelling aban- doned long ago. It may he only few hundred years old. or it may be thousand or more. If you diSmount and dig in the ruins with a sharp stick you will bring to light more pottery and probably also stone arrow heads and other flint "artefacts" as the etn- nologists call them. These bits of departed human era will surely in flame your imagination if you have any You cannot refrain from trying to reconstruct in your mind the lives of the people who made and used these things.
 Of course. the thorough exploration of one of these ancient ruins is great work and unless you are either wealthy or very fond of manual labor, you are apt to do the reconstruction exclusively with your imagination. in- stead of with a shovel and pick, which is the really scientific way. Then. too. if you do 20 in for the heavy work of excavation. the probabilities are that you are only delving into a habitation like those of the present Pueblo In- dians and not more than a few hun n1 recover a few articles of some interest or value "a perfect bit of pottery perhaps, or some turquoise ornaments-out the very ancient ruins are necessarily the rarest
 4 Fascinating Science
 None the less if you have once delved into the past on your own ac- count, you can understand the Keen fascination which has kept the scien- lists busy for years, reeonstructing fn their imaginations the lives of these long dead peoples. trying to make a hypothesis that will fit the facts.
 In doing this they have told them selves and the public some beautiful numerous cliff dwellings, in Colorado and New Mexico were discovered. the scientists proceeded to reconstruct whole race of cliff dWellers. Solely because the doors of these dwellings were very small, so that man or ordinary height had to get down on his hands and knees to enter. they ad- vanced the theory that the cliff dwell CTS had been a race of py%mies. who had subsequently, become extinct. This charming idea became very popular, was woven into fiction. and is still be- ieved by many non scientific persons Subsequent scientific investigation completely exploded it. It showed that the people who occupied the cliff dwellings were in all probability racially identical with the Pueblo ln- dians who now inhabit the region and that they built their habitations under and against the cliffs for protection against enemies who were pressing them hard. and they made their door ways small for the same reason. They entered on hands and knees just as the subsequent ivnestigators did. and aft erward rolled bouIders into the open ings to keep out intruders.
 Bandelier. one of the greatest eth nologists and archaeologfsts that America has produced. did most of the work of refuting the pygmv cliff dweller theory and showing the racial identity Of the ancient with the pres ent inha abitants Of the southwest He wrote a remarkable novel The De light Makers" depicting the life of these ancient Americans, which is perhaps the only ono of the many TO mances based on pre- historic America