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A Buried City in Arizona.Theory that It was Overwhelmed by Earthquakes.Washington, D. C., Nov. 29.—A recent Tucson, Arizona, letter to the Washington Post, says:Some very important discoveries concerning prehistoric races have been made during the past year by Prof. Frank Cushm|n, indonref(eleioti08charge of an exploring expedition in south Arizona. He was occupied in the Salt river valley the past summer. This valley is the most fertile region in Arizona. It lies about eighty miles northwest of Tucson, on either side of the Salt river, near where it joins the Gila river. Father Keno made explorations there about 1697, when he traveled in Arizona to establish Jesuit missions, and he speaks of it as having a considerable population of Indians, who have since become known as the Pimas and Maricopas. But he discovered traces of a heavy population that had existed long before, and that had become extinct. Among the evidences were old irrigating canals, ruins of buildings, and stone utensils, both for war and domestic use, of many kinds.Prof. Cushman was for some time identified with researches connected with the Zuni Indians of Colorado. He lived nine years with the Zunis, acquired perfect mastery of their language, has written many interesting articles about them, and has had personal charge of two delegations of them that, visited the east. Mr. Cushman has a strong passion for Indian lore, whether it be of the present or prehistorio time, and to his enthusiasm and energy, coupled with exhaustive information in kindred topics, the scientific world is very-greally indebted.Prof. Cushman has been at work several months on the ruins of Salt river valley. I had the pleasure of making him a visit in the early part of August. His camp was at the edge of what had evidently been a city of considerable size, and about three hundred yards away was tlio citadel or fortress of IhiB city. We walked over to this citadel and took a general survey from that point.It had evidently been a building of considerable Bize and strength, probably seven stories high, and had its foundation laid deep in the earth. The material used in its construction was sun-dried clay, the same as that used by the Mexicans of the lower and middle classes, and before Mr. Cushman began his explorations there was nothing to mark its whereabouts except a sort of oblong hillock or mound. Little of the walls above the foundation were found intact, but the ground plan could bo traced in every detail, as well as the lines of the outer wall.The rooms were^tf different sizes and were apparently constructed with much architectural skill. A number of the smaller apartments had undoubtedly been constructed for burial-vaults, for when they were opened up skeletons were found in them, the heads be-iDg invariably to the east. In one of these vaults was the skeleton of a child. Cushman was of the opinion that the building had been a sort of combined citadel and sacred temple, and that the remains found there were those of priests and their families. He said he had encountered many evidences that convinced him that the people who had inhabited the city had reached the period in civilization when the priest is supreme in power. A chief or king lived in the citadel but. he was under the control of the priests, Just why Cushman took this view I qould not clearly understand, unless it was from relics found in the tombs.The city extended out in all directions from the palace or temple, and the foundations of many of them had been exposed. Some of them consisted of but one room, but now and then there would be one of larger and more ample proportions. In most of the larger ones had been found buvial-vaults and skeletons. Two thousand skeletons had been exhumed when I was there. There was also a general burying-ground, where (ho dead seemed to have been thrown in promiscuously—a Bort of Potter’s Field—but the skeletons here were so broken up that good specimens could not be obtained. The richer people buried their dead in their houses, in air-tight vaults built for the purpose, but the poor classes weve disposed of muoh as they are to-day in our larger cities.Mr. Cushman had found a great deal of pottery in the tombs, as well as in and about the dwellings. I saw a number of pieces that were well preserved and that had been painted with much skill. All the best specimens seem to have been used for sacred purposes, and this was doubtlesB one reason Cushman had for believing these people had arrived at a period in their national history when the priests were at the head of affairB These finer pieces of pottery were of many different shades, but were all of light color, with black markings and figures, reminding one greatly of ancient Kgyptian pottery. The inferior specimens look much like that , made by the Arizona Indians of to-day, and ' which ono may see brought into Tucson for sale almost every day. No iron, copper or metal instruments of any kind have been found, but. great quantities of Btonc axes, stone pestles and mortars, bone needles and knives, and other such materials as belong lt;} to the stone age. But the skill with which : n these articles were made was far superior to j that shown by the Indians found in America ' by the whites. These prehistoric dwellers , S of south Arizona were a people of superior i r intelligence. They built cities that ranked with those found in Mexico by Cortez, and | were in advance of those of the Colorado \e j Zuni tribe of the present day. Cushman',0 id I thinks they were much the same people as al | the Zunis, and I may add that ho had two ! j [e 1 very intelligent Zuni Indians with htm._ He . j i- ! had sent for them, thinking that they might ill! assist him in identifying the people into n- j whose remains lie was making these cxplor-ot i ations.I Cushman has found a good deal of wheat and barley, and other grain, in a charred and blackened condition, and he has traced ge : several canals and found the ruins of a largo reservoir, so that he has no doubt that extensive irrigation had been carried on and that all of the valley had been under cultivation. He thinks (here must have been a population of at least 25,000 in the mined city he was exploring, and that most of the inhabitants lived by cultivating the soil of the surrounding country. This is not anunreasonable conclusion. So large a population could not have been supported by hunting and fishing—in fact, this iB not the means of support even among the Arizona Indians of to-day, all of them growing grain, their main dependence for food.I asked Prof. CuBhmn what was his explanation of the disappearance of this prehistoric people and the almost complete obliteration of their city.“I think,” said he, “they suffered from a great calamity, like the inhabitants of Her-culanteum and Pompeii. It was probably an earthquake. I have found skeletons under the walla of houses, lying as if the walls had suddenly fallen upon the person and crushed him to death. Yes, I think there came a terrible earthquake, which killed many and frightened the remainder away. They were no doubt a religious people and strongly superstitious, so that they saw in the calamity that befell them a warning to seek another abode. They probably moved south, and it may have been their descendants that the Spaniards found in Mexico. They were certainly equal in intelligence and general advancement to the Aztecs.I came away from Cushman's camp profoundly impressed by his discoveries and of the great importance of his work in Arizona. No portion of America is so rich in remains of prehistoric people as this valley, and he has hardly made a beginning.lit
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New Harmony Register
New Harmony, Indiana, US
Fri, Dec 02, 1887
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