The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1922-03-18

Harvard University Explorers
Make Interesting Discovery
in Northeastern Arizona.
Ancient People Were intermediate in
Development Between Basket
Makers and the Pueblo
..-~..... - Cliff DweIIers,

Cambridge, Mass. = Explorations
made by the Peabody museum of
Harvard in the Marsh pass region of
northeastern Arizona have resulted in
the discovery of the remains Of an
ancient people who once inhabited
that section and were intermediate in
development between the basket
makers, the earliest race known to
have lived in that region, and the
Pueblo cliff jewellers, whose remark
able stone villages along the Arizona
cliffs have attracted widespread in
terest.
The Harvard expeditions to this
sem1-desert region, over 100 miles
from the nearest railroad, were be-
gun in 1914 by A. V. Kidder and Sam
uel J. Guernsey of the Peabody mu-
scum staff, and were later continued
under the sole direction Of Mr.. Guern-
sey. Prior to 1914, commercial col
lectors had found traces Of the bas-
ket makers, but facts about these
earliest people Of the region had never
been secured by trained archaeologists
until the Harvard expeditions began
Preceded the Cliff DweIIers.
These expeditions have not only
contributed mass of information
concerning the basket makers but now
show the existence of a people who
followed the basket makers in point
of time, but preceded the cliff dwellers.
The post-basket makers, as these
newly discovered people are called,
resemble the basket makers in many
particulars, but were clearly in later
stage Of development. The basket
makers had no permanent dwellings,
whereas these later people had stone
houses in caves and in the open. They
also had pottery, crude in some re-
spects, but with the beginnings of
decoration, and some of it was fired.
This is the earliest pottery known to
have been made in the southwest.
Instead of bnrying their dead in
caves, as did the basket makers they
seem to have lived in the caves and
to have conducted their burials in the
open. Their more settled life is at
tributed to their success in agricul-
ture. They grew corn or a primitive
variety. -
Skulls Long Instead Of Round.
Skeletons show that both the basket
makers and these successors had rath-
er long skulls, whereas the cliff dwell
ers who followed them were a round
headed race and always had the back
of the skull artificially f1attened by
the hard board headrest Of the era
dies In which the babies were placed.
The relationship Of these various
peoples is still matter Of doubt. It
is believed the post-basket makers
probably were descendants Of the bas-
ket makers, but whether they in turn
were ancestors of the cliff dwellers Is
not certain. It seems doubtful on &C.
count Of the marked difference in the
shape Of the head, even aside from
artificial flattening.
The basket makers had dogs. The
m ummified remains Of two were found
during the Harvard explorations and
are now on exhibition at the Peabody
museum along with quantity of
other objects illustrative Of basket
maker life.
Many Of the objects found In the
dry caves in this region are In an ex-
traordinary state Of preservation, on
account of the dryness Of the climate,
despite their great age
How many thousand years ago
these primitive people lived in north
eastern Arizona is unknown, or how
they were related to the Indians of
the present day. The scientific study
Of the region Is still in It's early stages.