Evening star., 1928-12-30
ARCHEOLOCY
WORTH DRAGGING ABOUT
Discoveries in New Mexico Show Ceramic
Work of 400 B. C.-Every State Has
Prehistoric Remains.


pueblos. In this work many Of olr
and schools have also en-
gagged. among which the work Of Har-
ward and Phillips Andover particularly,
under kidder, and of the University OF
deserve special mention.
The most remarkable of the pre-
historic cliff dwelling sites in this coun-
try are In the side canyons of the
MancoS River in Southwestern Colorado.
Hundreds of these interesting villages
are inside the limits of the 1925 acres
which have been set aside by the Gov
ernment as the Mesa Verde National
Park. The names of Bandelier and
W. H. Holmes, for many years chief Of
the Bureau Of Ethnology, are linked
forever with the early days of scientific
work in the sites of the cliff dwellers.
The other type of prehistoric sites.
which are many times more numerous
than the cliff dwellings, is the pueblo,
large scale community house. New
Mexico and Arizona are full of them.
They dot the tops of innumerable
mesas, they line the side valleys and
canyons of the Rio Grande; there are
hundreds in the great Pajarito plateau
on which Santa Fe IS situated.
Date Back Centuries.
lie 11ODl NuIdScS, EuCDlO DOIl1UO anu
Chettro Ketl in Chaco Canyon, Gran
single some out of many, are the real
things, and they date back centuries
before such tourist show places as Puye
and Taos.
The same question arises In connec-
ton with the excavation of ancient
culture sites in our Southwest as did,
and to some extent still does, arise in
the Mediterranean, Near and Far East
prehistoric centerS. How old are they,
and how does one know?
The protagonistS of the Maya culture
in Yucatan now have certain dates that
reach back before the birth of Christ
So have the eXcavators in the pueblo
sites in New Mexico. The dates of the
former are arrived at by the deciphering
OF Maya chronological inscriptions:
those of the latter by comparative
ceramics.
1t has come to fs the most widely
admitted fact in archaeological discovery
that the finds of pottery, both whole
and in shredS, give the most exact
chronological yardStick that science
knows. 1t comes much closer in its
figures than does geology, and it reaches
back centuries and millennia before
there was writing of any kind.
Excavation in New Mexico.
An account of a single excavation,
choosing one out of many. ought to do
more to explain and clarity the meth
odS and results of a dig on United
States soil than any amount of argu-
ment. BY good chance such an exca-
vatlon was conducted last Summer in
the Mimbres Valley in Southwestern
New Mexico. It was done by a Joint
expedition Of the University of Mime
sofa, under Prof Albert E. jerks. and
the School of American Research at
Santa Fe, under Wesley Bradfield.
That part Of the work which dealt
with the chronological data from pot
terry was under the charge of Mr.. Brad
field, perhaps now the leading authori-
ty In this country on ceramic chro-
nology.
The School of American Research is
particularly well equipped to do singly
or IN joint enterprise such an Ameri-
can excavation. Director Hewett is the
best all-around American archeologist
we have. and he has also the necessary
knowledge Of comparative kind gained
IN actual work and surveys in the for
eign fields of Mesopotamia, Palestine.
Egypt, Africa, Greece and Italy. In
Kenneth M. Chapman the school at
Santa Fe has the best expert on the
art and decorative side Of ceramics and
in Wesley Bradfeld the leading au-
thority on chronological ceramic data,
based on provenience, technique and
material.
Dig in Cameron Greek Area.
The site dug last Summer in the
Cameron Creek district of the Mimbres
valley Is an extraordinary one. 1t Is
remote enough to have remained vir-
tually untouched, although from the
distance outlined in white against the
base of the mountain range.
Naturally, the rooms nearest the sur
face were of the later periods. AT first
one might wonder why some of these
later period surface rooms were so
clearly marked out as ceremonial rooms.
coming. as one likely would, from cliff
dwellings or pueblos where the cere-
monial kivas Tor rooms) were under
ground and at a lower level than the
living rooms.
But when one is taken into an under
ground pitroom where objects of a
ceremonial character, that proved its
use. were found, and is shown the
prior, older entrance when that pit
room was used as living room, the
transition from house to ceremonial
use, as the levels of the pueblo rise, be-
gins to grow clear.
Cameron Greek. which runs through
the MimbreS Valley. shows considerable
erosion below the recently excavated
pueblo. The south end of the pueblo
was recognized by the thousands of
wall stones which had been carried
away by the creek when In flood. When
the excavation began, it was found that
nothing remained of the sur
face houses except the foundations.
What had not been carried away by
the water had been taken, after the
of the surface rooms, for
the construction Of other rooms toward
the north.
Discover Ancient Grave.
There happened to be about so or
more visitors the day the first pit
burial was found. II was under the
floor of a pitroom OF the middle or
early middle period Of the pueblo. 1t
was the grave of an adult woman On
the bone of her left arm above the
elbow were four shell bracelets. Long
strings of beads and two beautifully
carved bracelets of shell came to light
at the bottom of the pit to the right
Of the skull. Four broken bowls and
pots were on the floor Of the room at
the right.
The bowls were broken, as was ex-
pected. In the graves and tcmbs in
the Mediterranean area the pottery
buried with the dead IS usually found
unbroken. In the American pueblos,
after the body was buried face down.
ward and in a contracted kneeling or
position. large bowl was
broken down over the head
and shoulders and the other bowls for
he most part, were either broken or
had a hole punched in them. It took
nearly four hours to excavate the small!
pit grave just described, because thc
ine gravel had to be scooped or duste-'
lp very carefully and then every cup
'ul of it sifted:
Ashes in Fire Pits.
The second level was found about