The daily Alaskan., 1921-09-17
MINE FOR DATA
 ON LOST RACE
Mexican Government Sinking Shaft to Uncover MySteTi-
 OuS "CiB of Gods"
BUILDERS THOUGHT INDIANS
Immense Stores Of Valuable Areheo- logical Material Have Been Taken From the Various EEosvstions-
 To Make It Show Place.


 San Juan de Teotihuacau, Meyico- Prospecting for the habtadonS of a lost race lu virtually the same manner as miners dig for gold, federal cm- ployees here have just started to un- cover the remains of city Of Ut least 100000 inhabitants which fouriShed four thousand or more years ago.
 Here and there over the confines Ot the buried city have been sunk shafts to find streets, houses and temples known to exist below the level of yhe mountain valley lu which lies the itde village of San Juan Teouhuacan, the name of which means in thc Aztec tongue "CIty of the Gods"
 The Mexican government has appr'- prlated funds for this work of eycaya- ton. which Is in charge of Manuel Gamio. director Of anthropoIogy of th' department of agriculture. The gov erumcut hopes eventually to make the spot one of the show places of Mexico.
 Dominating the area are two pyra- mIlS one Co the sun and the other ro the moon, which for centuries have dn- fled the efforts of archcuIng.>t> and historians to trace their origin. The pyramid to the moon i> sr.l u-- touched retaining am appearance 10 the lay eye of a huge mound of irruGn- lar shape. ovcrgrown with grass and rubbish.
 Builders Thought Indians.
 Scnor Gumio >uy> the city now un- der excavation ut oue ,Imr covered un area of fifteen square miles with a population of more than Io1nm lis builders are unknown to history. hut Senor Gamio believes they were part of an Indian trjbewh.oh wandered into Mexico from tnr north. au. finding The valley fruitful and. 'ne climate >a.u- bgiouS decided ,o >rOr.r there.
 The presence of volcanic rock as ua' Of thc top strata covering inc ruins tU. dlca,cs that one os rHr nearby mnuA. taius erurted and inundated rhr city with lava.
 Entry to the grounds is made facing the Temple Of rhr Goddess ol -ha Winds" which was diScovrrcf loss than a year ago. when erosion mcuy- cred wcu-defncd walls and decorations typlcally Indian and Egyptian tu their conception. This temple has now hHen dug out and reconstructed on Jho cN- tcrior
 The Inside is reached at present through a series of >uhte-rHue@u uh~- sages. Inside the visitor yrrad> oyrv massive stairs ornate with docora-ioDs Of huge sHrpents with oh>l3au eynS and CroteSque conceptions reminiscent of Egyptian art. The work of interior excavation and reconstruction is far from complete.
 Paint Still 6rl9ht.
 Between this temple and thc pyra- mid Co the sun is a stretch uf one quarter Of a mile. which is aJ intervals pierced by thc shafts of the d.--crS and in some places by the uncovered remains of a house or public building with the paint Stul bright and the fires coes as intact as the day they were placed there several thousands uf years ago.
 Between the two pyramids is we'll defined plaza, on one side Of which a street has been uncovered, known as the Path of the Dead" FlanG.uG the plaza are hundreds of mounds, which Senor Gamlo assured the correspond ent contained either houses or temples,
 Immense stores of valuable a-cheo- logical material have been taken from the various excavations. Human bones terra cotta beads. obSid.an knives. ar rowheads, chlldren'S toys Of clay. cook ing utensils, incense burners and crude musical Instruments form the bulk of the find, and all are preserved In a museum which has just been erected on the grounds.
 Tn connection with his supervision of the excavations. SeUor GWu.0 has interested himself in the Indian life of the valley, and one Of his first ef- forts has been to establish schools with special attention paid to manua, train ing.
 Originally the valley contained 2oG,- 900 Indians, but these had been re- duced to 10000 in colonial days, and now number fewer than SOC They earn but a poor living when crops are good. and when these are failures star . walton and widespread death enSue.
 Groups of Indians engaged in pot tery making, a new industry in the val . ley, were evidence that a portion al least of Seuor Gamio's program was heinz carried out.