The Coolidge examiner., 1930-05-09
(By IRWIN HAYDEN
Continued from last week.

times digs Tor long time IN par
rem soil, so far as specimens are
concerned. One of them once bad
dug all day without a single ahti-
fact to gladden. his eye. Finally, in
disgust, he lifted his army trench
pick and drove it into the soil.
When he lifted it out he found i'm
paled upon it's point a fine piece
of pottery, entire, save for the
ugly hole his impatient pick had
made in it.
Today it was not impatience
which caused me literally to catch
a skeleton by the toes. | was
working in Room 80, the last of
the western row of rooms in our
compound at Casa Grande to be
excavated. | had found one edge
of an old pit dwelling still stand
ing Part of it had fallen to the
south and another part lay over on
its side. also to the south of the
standing portion | had trowelled
away some earth and was pulling
it out of my way with a broad
bladed hoe when | noticed several
toe bones, Enthusiastically human.
The skeleton of a young person
son lay just to the north of the
dwellings, north side: The head
pointed almost due east: The
burial was beneath the floor of
a room which had been built over the
pit h ouse. No objects have been
found so far which can be associated
with the burial. My opinion is that
the person buried was about eight
years old This is based on the
fact, or what seems to me to be
the fact, that many of the teeth
were milk teeth. A physician. how
Ia Michigan man who had trav
who happened along at the time
eled much, and who had more
gold nuggets in his watch chain
than | have seen for a long
time) claimed that the deceased
was a young maiden of twenty
on the alledged presence of a
mature fifth molar. Whatever its
age. there it lies. with its head
resting on its right hand; very
peaceful and still, one of the Ho-
hokam, one who is gone:
Grief of a Gopher
Some day some of the readers of
these bits of running comment on
the daily life of the Van Bergen
Los Angeles Museum Field party
are going to see some of our finds
in the museum at the Casa Grande
ruins, and some eventually will
read our report on the compound
we are excavating: Few will think
of the hours spent under the hot
Arizona sun, working in clouds of
dust which rise from the ashes of
the past, literally: Few will think
of the blistered hands, the cracked
fingers, especially of the hard cal
louS, often split by painful cracks,
which forms in the palm of the
right hand Of every trowell man
The lime in the soil. the alkali
from the wood ashes, removes the
moisture and natural oils from the
hands andthey become dry and
harsh:
Personally l wisr that some of
the readers could have seen one
of our trowell men today Six feet
two-and-a-half inches of excited
and exasperated youth was leap
ing madly about with baby scor-
p:on up his trouser leg: Every time
the young man leaped the scorpion
struck with his wicked tail: 1t
was funny for us: Later in the
day another scorpion stung the
same man on his wrist: A few days
ago centipede got familiar with
+ him: Rather "jumpy:" Fortunate
ly the sting of the scorpion seems
to be no more painful for adults
than that of hornet: They do say
however. that two-year-old baby
died near here several years ago,
as the result of scorpion sting
On anothr occasion woman
near Coolidge picked up a wash
cloth to bathe her baby's head: A
large scorpion was in the cloth and
stung the mother in the wrist:
Otherwise the baby might have
been fatally or at least painfully
stung in the head:
Three Occupations Indicated
The finding of the semi-flexed
i burial near the wall of the pit
house under room 80. has been re-
ported: Further work on room 32
has disclosed the most Interesting
fact that it had three different
floors, one about six inches below
the present floor level, one about
10 inches below ground level and
one about 16 inches: Thisnaturally
suggests three occupations: The pit
house seems to have been older
than the two uppermost floors but
= newer than the deepest floor,t bu
more digging may change the con-
clusion as to the relative ages of
the pit-house and the deepest floor,
Above the deepest floor, but be-
H.,