Evening star., 1923-01-13
PUEBLO BON|TO
| RESEARCH, THEME
Neil M. Judd to Address An
thropoIogicaI Society on
{ Expeditions Progress.

Neil NJ. Judd, curator of American
archaeology at the United States Ma
tional Museum and director OF the
National Geographic Society's Pueblo
Ronito expedition, will address the
Anthropological Society of Washing
ton at the National Museum TUESDAY
evening, January 16, on the progress
which has thus far been made by the
expedition. Although these new ex-
plorations of the National Geographic
Society have been under way for two
years, but little has been made public
regarding the results already OBJ
tanned. Only those Immediately asso-
ciated with Mr.. Judd in his researches
and those who have made the difficult
journey from the railroad to his
desert camp are at all familiar with
the difficulties, the dangers and the
rewards of these extensive eXplora-
tions. Even the large collections of
turquoise and shell mosaic, of beautl
full terra Gotta vessels, of stone, bone
and wood implements and ornaments
recovered during the excavations
have been withheld from public view
pending their complete examination
in the laboratories of the National
Museum.
Prehistoric Ruin.
Pueblo Bonito. a prehistoric ruin in
northwestern New Mexico, has been
called the most wonderful example of
aboriginal architecture north of Mex
leo. 1t was four stories high and
contained over 500 rooms; it's ground
floor area was almost equal to that
of the United States Capitol. 1t was
O. whole town in itself, yet, judging by
that with which we are all familiar,
It can best be described as one of the
first big apartment houses in this
country, for its rooms were divided
into suites for the accommodation of
the many families who resided there.
Such a huge building, available for
occupancy in Washington, would do
much to relieve the present acute
housing problem. So compact was
this ancient village, so carefully
studied was the arrangement of its
numerous rooms, that not only did its
I 800 inhabitants find shelter under its
single roof. but they were provided
also with their own clubrooms for the
men. council chambers for the town
dignitaries and religious Sanctuaries
for the priesthood.
Mr.. Judd frankly admits that many
problems remain to be solved during
the three years the expedition is to
continue. Perhaps the most impOr-
tant of these problems has to do with
the age of the great ruin. 1t had been
abandoned and it's massive walls had
fallen into decay long before the
Spanish conquerors came north from
Mexico to enslave the Pueblo peoples
of the southwest. Pueblo Bonito is
so old, in fact. that no known means
exists for dating it by our own sys-
tenn Of time measurement
To Determine Age.
Apparently the chief hope of ascer-
tanning its age lies in the possibility
Of connecting the annual ring growth
of it's ancient timbers with that of the
giant sequoia in California and the
huge pines in the Arizona mountains
Some of the latter are 500 years old
while the sequoia frequently attain
an age of more than 5000 years. If
a given series of annual rings can be
found in the latter which agrees with
a similar series in the roof timbers
of Pueblo Bonito, the date of this
famous ruin can be ascertained Much
progress in this direction has already
been made and it is expected that the
expeditions to be sent out early next
spring will carry the Investigations
still further toward solution of this
extremely important question. If the
age of Pueblo Bonito can be de-
termined by this unique method 1t
will be possible, from it, to date
nearly every other prehistoric ruin
In the southwestern United States.