Palisadian., 1924-10-03
WOMAN FINDS GEMS
5000 YEARS OLD
Taken From Skeletons Dis
covered in New Mexico.

New York.-There are few real
pick-ax Psychologists among women,
but Mrs. Earl Morris has dug for pre-
historic remains with her own small
hands and has ridden alone into dark,
unexpl0red canyons, seeking signs of
remote occupation. With her husband,
who is an archaeological explorer for
the American Museum of Natural His
tory, she recently returned from New
Mexico to New York, bringing trophies
which students Of Americas ancient
history will admire when they are
placed upon exhibition.
'"They were really my find, weren't
they, Earl?" Mrs. Morris demands,
pointing to two fine turquoise pend
ants which are one of the expeditions
proudest and most significant discov-
cries. Mrs. Morris speciality, how
ever, is basket maker sandals, and to
the study of these she is now giving
most of her time, says the Kansas
City Star.
The museums excavations at the
Aztec ruin, New Mexico, are, being
conducted chiefly with view to OBJ
tanning light upon the three periods
called, respectively, the basket makers,
the post basket makers and the pre-
Pueblo.
Fiber Weaving 1000 Years Ago.
Although the basket makers, who
and antedated the cliff dwellers by
several thousand years, had not
learned to fashion pottery, yet they
displayed fine craftsmanship in the
manufacture of baskets and sandals
woven of yucca fiber and ornamented
whose colors have survived the cen
turies. All of the specimens in Mrs.
Morris collection are obviously in
tended to adorn small feet.
1t was one hot day last November,
when all were digging in dust masks,
that her spade opened the site which
was to yield those turquoise pend
ants. The expedition was feeling
rather discouraged. They had found
no valuable skulls. And psychologists
are not happy unless they find skulls.
Finger-boneS don't "get them much
forrarder"
I'm going to try once MORE" de-
clared Mrs. Morris, and taking her
shovel she went down the slope to a
spot which the other scientific dig
gers had abandoned. Soon the earth
crumbled. Thrusting in her hand she
touched bones. "And you cannot i'm
agine the thrill of discovering that
there were not one but three skulls ~
She had come upon a prehistoric
cemetery, but a great fire at some
period had destroyed baskets and tex
tiles, leaving only bones. The Canyon
del Muerto, where this exciting event
took place, Is hundred miles from
a railroad, in the northeastern corner
of New Mexico.
Turquoise 5000 Years Old.
Under the devastated cemetery lay
two skeletons, upon their breasts the
turquoise ornaments. These are the
earliest examples of turquoise mosaic
that have been found in our South
west, and are at least 5000 years old
They were the burial adornments OF
an old woman and a young man OF
the basket maker people, and are
made of bits of turquoise and abalone
set in wood.
"You can see from remains which
that dry climate has almost mummi-
fled that the basket ladies wore
/ bobbed hair" Mrs Morris points out
Between her archaeological excava-
tions she explored many dark side can
yons leading off from the main can.
yon, and in some of these, ancient
paintings were still quite fresh upon
the walls. Less appealing were the
fresh bear tracks.
Mrs Morris was instructed at the
American School for Prehistoric Study
continue Investigations at the La
! Quina station in southern France,
where fossils from $4,000 to 100000
years old are frequently unearthed.
"Some Of those caves in the Pyre-
nees are two miles long. They open
into the hillside and slope down into
darkness. The walls are covered with
beautiful paintings and carvings. You
have to wriggle for long distances on
your stomach to explore those cav
erns, but we thought nothing of that, -
said Mrs. Morris, who was therefore
not dismayed by the caves Of Dead
Mans canyon.