The Washington times., 1923-03-18

Old

XUTHEN che American Museum 81
Nv Natural History, in New York, re-
Gently turned over to the United
States Government as public monument
the ancient ruins and excavations Ut
Aztec, New Mexico, they made the cOur-
try present Of the oldest apartment
house in America.
Twenty thousand years ago 1T least the
first stones were hid for its foundation,
and for at least two thousand years, per-
haps for twice that number, 1t has stood
unoccupied and slowly crumbling into
ruin. Yet these same prehistoric founda-
tions appear - modern to-day, curiousIy
enough, y would those Of some recently
built building, the uper part IF M1ich had
been destroyed BY are Or earthquake.
This ancient apartment house was either
built by the ancestors Of the present
Pueblo Indians of the Southwest or by an
other rare, which disappeared after hand
ing on 10 arts, knowledge and customs to
the Pueblo Indians ancestors; science Is
not quite certain which. III was built OF
blocks Of weII-chOsen, Handicapped sand
stonG held together BY very excellent
cement, which was inside BY scraping d
certain hind of rock with hints and then
mixing II with i peculiarly sticky mud.
So good was this cement that It stilI holds
the stones firmly together To-day, after
tens pf centuries
Tie shape Of the great community
house was not unlike that of modern
New York apartment block The dwelling
part was three-sided, shaped like an 3
with the inside tongue Of the letter left
off. The fourth side, extending from the
two ends Of this z was solid, high sand
stone wall without openings of any kind
and built for defense against enemies.
The structure was seven stories high
andFcontained five hundred rooms. These
rooms were arranged in a very odd and
interesting plan. The seven stories arose
in series Of terraces. The lowest floor
extended furthest out into wide court
yard that lay between the four walls The
second floor was then built back the depth
of the front room of the first, that is, the
roof of the front room of the first floor
stretched in front of the second floor like
the depth of the second floors front room
and used its roof for it's veranda. And so
it continued up to the top story, whose
occupants looked down over succession
of six terraced roofs to the inside court.
Yous can visualize the effect exactly by
taking seven child's blocks, piling on
them six, then five, then four, and so on.
The first two floors had no windows on
the outside. Their backs and sides were
really an extension of the protecting
fourth wall, and they were left without
any back apertures that would provide
means for entrance in the event of
siege. The remaining five stories had
Sits. They were large enough, however,
to allow arrows to be shot out of them or
stones to be cast from them.
And what is perhaps most peculiar is
that this ancient apartment house, this
original community of American fiat
jewellers, was ruled entirely by women!
In building it the men did the hard
work, such as the hewing of the sand
stone blocks with the primitive implements
of stone and the setting them in place.
But the women mixed the cement and laid
it on. We know this because the scien-
fists who uncovered the ruins and who
have been reconstructing them found,
hardened in the walls, the impress of
small, delicate hands which had laid the
mortar. They were too small and deli
cate to have been mems, and since they
were found everywhere among the five
hundred rooms it was certain that the
finer job of finishing the place had been
faken over-hv the women
Later, as more and more rooms were
uncovered and the litter of ages taken
from them, it was found that man had
occupied decidedly subordinate place in
every matter of Importance. Not only
was woman the ruler of that particular
roost, but she was the one who proposed
marriage to the man of her choice. 1t
was the mother of the son and not the
father of the bride who made the mar
riage settlements. If the wife were dis
satisfied with her choice she could divorce