The Coolidge examiner., 1930-06-06
EXCAVAT|NC AT
THE RUINS

face of the wall was perfectly pre-
served. Rubbish had been dumped
over it. l called Virginia Lozano
to come with shovel, trowel and
brush broom; and he came, as he
said con muchO gustO. Virginia has
been digging there all day, and has
already uncovered sufficient to
show the outline of a pit; which
is smaller than | thought it would
be. and does not seem to have been
a house. There is much charcoal
IN it and the walls are gray with
ash stains; | wonder whether or
not it could have been a place
where cremations took place
Finds Are PuzzIing
In what we call the shrine area,
where the wonderful carved shells
and the mountain sheep horns, ETC..
were found, there is fairly good
floor and a good fire-pit; and lead
ing in a northerly direction from
the fire place to one of the rich Gre
nation ralasIlg is a trench in the
caliche about ;uur faet deep md
two feet wide. In another crema-
tIcu area we have f"TI a simiia :
trench; and we wonder whether or
not it leads to rich deposit of
cremation offerings.
The mourning dove which is for
ever flying out of a creosote bush
nearby, with broken wing, is the
mother of two baby doves. Two
days ago their eyes were still closed,
today their eyes are wide open and
very bright. The mother flees at
I our approach but her wings do not
seem so badly crippled as at first.
She evidently has found it unneces-
sary to try that time-honored trick
on US, always. Not many hundred
yards away cat prowls in the
chaparral; we hope it does not find
those poor babies, which may live to
furnish targets for some earnest
hunters gun.
The unexpected happens right
along on this expedition of ours. |
presume that if we were 5000 miles
away from home we would get more
kick out Of it, but | can't see just
why, unless ten times the distance
would lend bit of mystery to the
affair. We had several adventures
today, for instance. simple ones, to
be sure, but full of interest of the
sort which would have delighted the
author of ''The Natural History of
Selbourne," or even Thoreau.
1t was quite delightful to watch
Happy Jack photograph the two
baby doves as they sat in all their
innocence in the sparse creosote
bush. The mother had but a mo-
ment before gone whizzing off to the
south and west, with who knows
what feelings Of dread in her heart.
Jack also undertook portraits of
most gorgeous lizard resting on the
open hand of Slim who allowed
that it was the prettiest lizard he
had ever seen. Dormant it had
no life in it, but did warm up
enough to blink at us without fear.
Then one of the men found an Of
fertory bowl with four horned toads
crawling up the sides. This was
inst hnUo fhn vNff IN, IO
wherein for centuries had reposed a
few calcined bones from some early
member of the mysterious Hobo
kan.
Virginio's pit proves more inter
esting than we thought. Many are
the stones which he has thrown out
of it; all fire broken and some
showing the effect of intense heat.
A few charred vertebrae from either
mountain sheep or deer or elk, were
found among the stones; and pot
sherds; also considerable charcoal.
Chihuahua Trace
Gabriel, silent, industrious, yery
softspoken, painstakingly welding
his trowel, found in a pit a bit of
cloisonne inlay, in red and white
on slate or pottery base, do not
at present know which. This is
definitely Chihuahua type. am
told; its Importance is great and it
is truly lovely.
Conchology was not included in
my studies; l cannot say positively
that it is made from the shell of the
splny oyster or that the spiny oys-
ter comes from the Gulf Of Cali.
fornia; but it is made from a shell
which is a pinkish red on one side
and white on the other; and | have
heard it called spiny oyster from
the gulf.
AT any rate, Gabriel. the Gentle
brought it to me yesterday at quit
ting time and we all called him
"caballero," if that is how the Mex
can word for gentleman is spelled
1t can almost be called exquisite
IN It's carving. 1t does not quite
cover the space of my little finger
nail. Its wings are spread. it's feet
extended for flight, and its head and
bill thrust ioyously sideways its
eye is perforated so that it may be