The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-05-29
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC J. HAsKN. Direceor.
WashingtOn. ID. @.
AMERICAS PREHISTORIC
INHABITANTS.


in seeing America first. Out in Colo
RADIO in the Mesa Verde National
Park we have prehistoric remains that
where. both in picturesqueness and
mystery The government has for
some years been engaged in excavat-
ing and repairing them and they show
promise of becoming one of the stand
ard sights of America, in a class with
the Washington Monument, Niagara
Falls, the Statue of Liberty, and Pike
Peak.
Only recently have Americans been
awakened to an interest in home grown
antiquities In 1907 when the Mesa
Verde reservation was established by
the government 21 tourists came 10
see its wonderful cliff dwellings Last
year $500 visitors were shown the
sights of the park.
Each year more of the Mesa Verde
ruins are in shape for public inspec-
ton. DR.. Fewkes, who is chief of the
Bureau of American Ethnology of the
Smithsonian institution spends his
summers directing excavation and
restoration work, with the twofold
purpose of promoting scientific knowI-
edge and of intesting Americans IN
the remarkable past of their country
Scientists have never been able to
prove definitely whence the cliff
jewellers of southern Colorado came,
or how they learned to be stone
InaSOnS or Sucn skill, OE-Hny luey dl
last abandoned their stone towers and
temples and disappeared
1t is supposed that they were the
ancestors of some of the modern
southwestern Indians who live in
pueblos, or community houses. At
one time some scientists thought that
the Aztecs of New Mexico taught the
Mesa Verde cliff jewellers to build
with stone. But now it has been prac-
ticaIly agreed that these prehistoric
IL a
ing craft
At first they were cave men. seek
ing shelter in natural caves in the
sides of the canyons Then they be-
gan to pull stones about and place
them for greater protection What are
supposed to be their early attempts
at building are simple shelters made
of huge stones set on edge. From
making these rudeNhuts the builders
progressed until they were construct
ing horizontal masonry with stones
laboriously fitted into place. At least,
this is the story read by scientists in
the varied types of ruins which plainly
illustrate different stages of skill.
Ancient Communists.
Circular. square and semi-circular
towers, some twenty-five feet high,
were built by these Indian craftsmen.
Rooms were arranged in tiers to form
community houses. There were tenn
pies with affairs and outlets for smoke.
Then the stone builders vanished, and
so complete was their disappearance
that even the Indians of the region
have only vague traditions as to their
existence.
A clue to the age of the Mesa Verde
cliff jewellers was noted by DR.. Fewkes
in excavating the Sun Temple ruin in
1915. A great red cedar tree was
Its roots had penetrated into the
rooms, so that it was necessary to
cut them off and to fell the tree in
the work of restoration A stump of
the tree was left, however, and $50
annular rings can be counted. DR..
Fewkes adds ESQ years as a conserva-
tive guess for the time of the temples
construction and use before trees
would have grown in its deserted
rooms. From such evidence he thinks
it likely that the ancient Pueblos were
in existence about 1900 A. d.
After the disappearance OF these
early communists the rock villages
were left to be gradually worn down
and buried in sand and debris. In
1888 two herdsmen who were hunting
lost cattle discovered among the cliffs
what seemed to be towers and walls
of a city. Closer inspection showed
that the structures were the remains
of an old cliff dwelling. a community
house with 200 family living rooms
and twenty-five rooms for worship. /
The herdSmen named it Cliff Palace. |
Soon after their discovery the Mesa
Verde remains were found to have !
commercial value, and vandals began
looting the rooms of pottery, bones
and bits of fabric. The walls were
badly damaged and foundations un-
dermined by the reckless collectors.
In 1907 the government reserved |
the tract of land to protect it from |
further pIundering. Congress made
appropriations, and Doctor Fewkes at
once began to restore the damaged |
for visitors to see Horseback trails |
were the only way of reaching the
ruins at first, and few tourists had
sufficient enthusiasm to make the 81
roads have been built. and |
a small hotel has been opened. Rang
ers act as guides. and Americans can |
visit the prehistoric ruins of Colo |
RADIO in modern comfort.
Work just Begun.
Almost every year some new type
of ruin is salvaged from the debris |
of the centuries, In 1910 the Cliff
Palace. which is the largest cliff 1
dwelling in the southwest, was exca-
waited and repaired In 1915 the
D-shaped Sun Temple vas brought to |
light. The next year a large COM /
house OF a new type was un- /
earthed and in 1919 one of the best
preserved cliff houses in the south |
west was added to the list of Mesa /
Verde's attra actions Even the wooden /
beams of the roof of this house were |
still intact
Last summer a fire temple. evil |
IDENTIFY devoted to worship and con-
servation of fire was discovered. /
Doctor Fewkes has just left for an
other summers work at Mesa Verde /
and he has selected for special atten-
ton this year a mound Of a new |
form. Apparently this structure was
not dwelling but was used for some /
unknown communal purpose 1t is at
present a pile OF stones twenty-five /
feet high with a depressed center. No \
walls rise above the surface of the /
ground, but all the stones covering the |
mount show artificial work indicating /
fine masonry.