The Coolidge examiner., 1930-06-20
EXCAVAT|NC
AT RUINS
(By IRWIN HAYDEN
Continued from last week.


great Southwest was the mescal
This, according to Webster. is a
name given to either of two cac-
taceous plants Of the genus Lop-
hora. They have rounded stems or
joints covered with ribbed tuber-
cles. The tops are called mescal /
buttons from their appearance. The
plant is used, says Webster, as 2
stimulant and an anti-SpaSmOdic,
especially among the Mexican In
dians, who also are said to employ
it as a mild intOxicant in Various
ceremonials.
Webster does not mention use for
food, but my Information is that at
a certain season of the year, when
the plant is sending forth its young
shoots it was the custom for the
Indians to go to the mountains
where the mescal grew. There
they cut from the plant its young
and tender heart, and having
gathered many of these, roasted
them in great pits. | have seen
these mescal pits high in the Nor
mon mountains of southern Nevada I
Referring again to the curious
pits found at Site II, near Coolidge, +
by members of the Van Bergen-Los /
Angeles Museum field party. | must
confess that we are not certain as
to their use. We know that they
were used for the purpose Of cook
ing. | think they were used for
cooking meats; superintendent
Pinkley insists that they are prob
ably mescal pits. Since he has seen /
the charred vertebrae of ungulate /
or hoofed animals from the largest /
pit he admits their possible and /
even probable use for cooking meat |
but still he insists on their use as |
mescal pits, and suggests that the /
mescal hearts and young leaves
could have been brought down from
the mountains.
Plan Re-excavation
He showed me where, near the /
. great house on the Casa Grande /
National Monument, DR.. Fewkes
years ago uncovered such a pit /
We propose to re-excavate that pit
In order to get a check on ours.
Among the joys of field work in
archaeology are three: to find some
thing entirely new, to find some
thing which entirely explodes
previously held notion, to find
something which verifies hunch
ESPECIALLY if it is your OWN.
The other day was digging viii
my trowel and came upon a slab
stone Soon ! had three slabs, al
in a row. and then we had to go IL
for lunch. | left my digging thor
oughly imbued with the idea that
had a stone wall, or at least tn
foundation of one. This would b
new in our particular spot in tn
culture area and | was much elate
over the prospects. | even droppe
a postal card to our curator OF hi
tory, telling him of what | though
| had found. That afternoon l dis
covered that my stone work wa
not in any way a wall or part OF
wall So another postal card wa
. in order and was dutifully sent.
Fiqurines Unearthed
You see, knew that these cana
builders were wont to use such ma
terial as came to hand. Here In the
central Gila river valley they useu
caliche. In parts of the Salt River
valley they used adobe and also
slabs of stone, and from what
have seen in the mountains the
used water-worn boulders in nal
ing their walls | certainly was sol
Nv to have missed finding a piece
stone wall. 1t would have beel
highly interesting.
Recently we found two heads O.
CLAW moulded into human form
They seemed to have been tash-
ioned by placing lump of clay on
the end of a stick, which had cofd
around it. The modelling was clever
The ears were pierced. There was
a strong resemblance to the ART ol
Ola Mexico in prehistoric times.
evidently these heads belonged to
ceremonial dolls or figurlnes, sucn
as were made and used by Amerl-
can Indians since long before the
Christian era
New Burial Custom
In our own culture we usually
hurry our dead after embalmlng the
remains. Cremation is being more
and more practiced. Among the
American Indians, in their natlVe
estates there were number OF Gus
TOMS. Some buried their dead eA-
tended full length, as do we. others
drew the knees up under the GILL;
and thus buried their dead III d
flexed position. Some buried III
mounds: and some of the MOUNDS
we're pyramidal in shape. Still otn-
ers cremated the bodies OF tne
dead; and among some tribes some
were buried and some cremateu' VI
so it seems o., ol,ov
Here in the central CHA Valiey
vo have found three types oil Durlai
or rather four One is the custom
arv lin this area) urn burial, where
tn a handful of the fragments Oh
honas left unconsumed by the ere
oaion fires. were placed in a DOW
- . TART and deposited in the sou,
often with an inverted bowl over
the mouth of the burial bowl OF urn.
Another type of internmene WIZ WIZ
1na have found is the flexed burlal.
" both of the cases OF TINS sort
observed by US, the heaos W. =,