Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-12-27
Geographic News
Bulletins by the
National Geographic Society
TREES OUTLINE HISTORY

TREES OUTLINE HISTORY
Living trees and cut timbers may
become the mute calendars of much
of the undated pre-Columbian his
tory of North America, as the result
of a new means of time determine
ton to be first applied to the study
of the Chaco Canyon ruins, explored
by the National Geographic So
ciety.
or the accomplished people who
built remarkable communal dwell
ings in northwestern New Mexico,
developed a relatively high civiliza-
ton and left traces of marvellous
cheering feats and exquisite art OBJ
jects, it has been said regretfully
they had no calendars such as the
elaborate time-keeping devices of
the Mayas of Central America.
1t seems they had, but did not
know it. Recent study of tree
growth shows that trees not only
register the passing years by their
rings; but the contour. thickness,
and conformation of these rings in
dictate climatic changes from year to
year. Moreover these changes r
cyclic.
Have Story to Tell
ooh, that they could tell their
story!" many a nature lover has ex-
claimed as he gazed at some tree
patriarch which had outlived many
generations of human beings. All
along the trees could tell their story;
but mankind is just learning to read
it.
DIR. A. E. Douglas of the Univer-
sity of Arizona and the Carnegie In
stitunon has developed a method
which science now recognizes as a
trustworthy process of reading tree
| records of time and climate. Des-
| pite the remarkable accomplish
! ments of the aNtional Geographic
| Society's expeditions to Pueblo Bon
| ito beautiful Village) of Chaco
| Canyon, the leader, Neil M. Judd,
| admits that no evidence has been
found to give a satisfactory answer
to the question most often asked,
How old is the ruin?"
Canyon Was Human Beehive
Was it 500, or 1900 A. D., or even
longer ago that, looking down from
sheer canyon cliffs the andering
Jew might have e children at
play on the roofs of the giant Pueblo
Bonito apartment house Ito men,
ton only one) and their elders at
work on their garden plots of
squash, corn and beans? Or fash
Joining some of the beautiful pottery
or tiny ornaments which resemble
earrings Of 1922? Or worshipping
with elaborate ritu, in the cloister-
ed kivas?
OF course there are ne thousand
year-old trees among the pines and
jumpers of New Mexico or Arizona.
The oldest ones yet found are from
| 400 to 500 years old. The question
then arises: How bridge the gap be-
tween these trees and the span OF
years represented by the timbers
used in the roof supports of Bonito's
excellent masonry?
Therein lies the romance OF the
forthcoming expeditions for which
the National Geographic Society has
Just made a grant of s2,500 a year
for three years. The quest a all
the mystery of a detective story, the
intrigue of a Baconian cipher, yet its
working out will furnish valuable
fact as well as mental enjoyment.
| Detective Methods in History Study
Briefly, the method of study con-
| templates getting cross sections OF
| the oldest living trees, then obtain
ing from other pueblos, of more re-
cent supposed date, timber which
| overlap the newly-cut trees in time
| period, then working ever backward
| with older and older specimens I'M
til those are found which CORE
spond, in their cyclic indications, to
those of the Chaco Canyon Pueblos.
Walpi and Oraibi, in Arizona, and
| Zuni and Acoma, in New Mexico,
| the last mentioned being the oldest
| continuously occupied pueblo In the
| southwest, will be visited in an ef-
| fort to patch together tree sections
which will carry the forest almanac
back to dating distance of the far
| more elaborate Chaco Canyon ruins.
A second line Of study will con-
| Germ itself with a study of buried
stumps near Flagstaff, Arizona, and
other stumps farther west in recent
ly washed-out valleys. These, too.
may furnish records of seasonal
changes which will help in fitting to-
gether tree diagrams Of time.
The National Geographic Society's
grant of $500 annually for three
| years to carry on this special phase
of study is in addition to the explor-
atoms tending further to disclose the
life. manners, customs, and rem
nants of the handiwork of the early
American apartment house builders