Evening star., 1938-12-20
Of Stors, Men
And Atoms
Notebook Of Science Progress
In Field, Laboratory
And Study
BIZ Thomas r. Henrn.


By Thomas r. Henry.
The story of thousand years Of pre-
| history in the high watershed of the San
Juan River has been dated by archeolo-
gists of the Carnegie Institution of
Washington by means of patient exami-
nation of annual tree rings preserved in
the wood of ancient and long demolished
dwellings.
This region was the cradle of the great
Pueblo culture, one of the greatest
achieved in the New World, remnants of
which persist in the Southwest today.
BY means Of the tree-ring calendar the
archeologists have been able to estab-
lish the following tentative dates, ac-
cording to report presented to trustees
of the institution this week:
First occupancy-Just prior to 300 AID.
First pottery making-About ATS AID.
Invasion and conquest by an alien
people-About 800 AID.
The Golden Age of Pueblo culture
From 1850 to 1878 AID.
Abandonment of the region-About
130O
The first settlers, the Carnegie archeol-
ogistS found. were short people with
long skulls. who camped in the open, but
| occasionally constructed f1lmsy, single
room huts of sticks and mud. Their only
clothing consisted of loin cloths, sandals
and shoulder wraps of wrapped cord.
They apparently were typical savages.
delighting in color. Their bodies were
richly adorned with beads and shell
pendants They had not yet learned
the use Of the bow and arrow. Instead
they hurled darts with more primitive
instrument, the spear thrower.
These were the Basket Makers They
were, for the most part, hunters, and
skillfully fashioned spear points from
the hard quartz. Around their camps
they cultivated some corn and pumpkins.
Slowly they evolved toward a sort of
civilization, presumably brought about
by their increasing dependence an agri-
culture. Beans were added to their
basic crops. The villages tended to be-
come more permanent. The brush hut
gave way for a single-room dwelling
made of posts heavily coated with mud.
They learned the use of the bow and
how to make pots out of clay.
At about this stage. the archaeological
record indicates a sudden change took
place, probably an invasion by an alien
race with short. broad skulls and
more advanced culture. They SUBJ
merged the Basket Makers but probably
did not destroy them. There followed
several centuries of very rapid develop
ment. The art of weaving declined, but
pot-making was developed into a fine
art. The one-room shack developed into
the fortreSsllke structure of masonry
rising to the heighth of four stories and
containing as many as 1000 rooms Such
a structure probably housed about 1000
people. The very fact of such a multi
tude living for many generations under
one roof indicates highly complex and
efficient social organization.
Then. the excavations show, came a
long and very severe drought which rem
6eled the country uninhabitable The
| population scattered to the southwark
| into the area which it survives in the
Pueblo and Eopi towns of the present
| 1t has been relatively easy to read the
record here. the archeologsts point out
in their report, because in such an arid
region archaeological objects are we'll pre-
! served even in the open and to a re-
! markable degree in the shallow caves
/ that cut into the walls of the canyons
Manufactured objects remain bright and
fresh as new. Even the bodies of the
/ people are preserved in condition
comparable to that of the most carefully
embalmed Egyptian mummies.
A new technique has been evolved by
| the Carnegie archeologists for determin-
ing the trade relations of pottery making
| people, such as the dWellers in the San
| Juan watershed. This consists in ex-
animation with a photographic micro
scope Of thin sections cut from the frag-
ment of pot. In this way it is possible
| to determine the nature of the sand
mixed with the clay to prevent excessive
shrinking. Often it is found they claim,
that the sand is of kind not found in
! the immediate locality. Hence it must
| have been imported.
Pottery from the ancient Pueblo viii
lage Of Pecos, N. Mex. has been studied
in the greatest detail. Here traces of
volcanic ash, the nearest deposits of
which are 80 miles away, were found in
the clay. Studies also have been made
on pottery of the Mayas of Yucatan,
which show that these highly cultured
people carried on an extensive trade in
raw materials.
The technique has been developed to
the point where it is possible to tell
whether raw material or the completed
pot was imported. The results show that
the Indian peoples were far from being
independent of each other and that COM
merce had been developed among them
to surprising degree.
Decrics Plan to
Regulate Pedestrians.
| n he Edito- of he