The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1923-05-18

them. The second interesting find reported by DR..
Earl III. Morris, in charge OF the digging, was the
dried body Of a dog. This may be OF historical
value. Nobody knows from where the early Pueblo
Indians came. If the species and place OF origin
Of the dog may be found, 1t may show whether the
Indians came from Asia, the South Sea Islands, or
merely moved to New Mexico from some other
part Of this country.
The remains OF prehistoric bluff jewellers nave
been uncovered In the Ozark mountains Of Mis-
souri,. A clamshel hoe, tobacco and corncobs are
among the interesting things unearthed.
Scientists who will visit Prescott, Ariz., this sum
mer to attempt to fathOm the mystery Of the an
cient cliff dwellings on the Verde river will be
asked TO give their attention to a skeleton found
recently by Morris and Howell Payne, ranchers.
Although the skeleton is apparently no larger than
that Of a child Of four or five years the skull con-
tains a fully developed set of mature teeth.
Excavations being carried on in the Valley Of
Mexico have set back several thousand years the
beginning Of civilization in the Western Henri
sphere. They show that man was building cities
here many thousands Of years ago. They reveal
five distinct civilizations, one imposed upon the
other, the lowest lying from Is to 40 feet below
the surface. They demonstrate apparently plainly
enough that the two earliest civilizations OF the
Valley OF Mexico were developed by people with
slanting eyes and strangely Mongolian features
who painted the walls Of their cities and temples
with strangely grOtesque figures and symbols,
which suggest Chinese origin. The enthusiastic
insist that the earliest Of these civilizations dates
back 10000 years ago.
Notwithstanding all this, many psychologists
stand by the iungle-swallov ed Magyar cities of
Yucatan rs potentially the most important of an
cient ruins known to man.
Or. Sylvanus G. Morcly. in charge OF the ex-
ploratianS OF the Carnegie institute, writing to the
National Geographic society, says OF the Mayas:
During the first millennium before Christ, while
vet Our own fOrpbparS of northern EurODo were
plunged in The depths Of barbarism. there devel.
opcd somewhere in middle America, probably on
tho gulf coast of southern Mexico, n great aborigi-
nal civilization called the Maya, which was des-
tined TO become the most brilliant expression Of
the ancient American mind.
Their priests and astronomers were gathering
from the stars the secrets Of time and It's accurate
measure. the revolutions Of the moon and planets.
Their mathcmaticlans and chronologists devised a
calendar and chronology which was without peer
ON rhis continent and eXcelled by none in the old
world nj that time.
Their builders developed an architecture Mt
once unique, dignlfed and beautiful. Their sculp-
tors carved the most elaborate compositions and
designs In stone.
"Their leaders mastered the problems of social
and governmental Organization and administered
the state adequately and well. In short. a great
national life was qulckening to its fullest express
sion.
'The zenith Of their civilization. however-in-
deed, the intellectual climax Of all Civilizations
was the development Of n hieroglyphc writing
which, moreover. was the only system Of writing
In the new world worthy OF comparison with the
earlier graphic systems Of the old world, such as
those Of Egypt, Of Rabylonia and Of China, for ex-
ample.
"Euried IN the vast tropical forests of northern
Central America. md especially in the state Of
Guatemala. these splendid memorials Of a forgot.