The Coolidge examiner. [volume], May 23, 1930, Image 3

About The Coolidge examiner. [volume] (Coolidge, Ariz.) 1930-current

Image provided by: Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records; Phoenix, AZ

                
EXCAVATING
AT RUINS
(By IRWIN HAYDEN
Continued from last week.
Let those readers of these arti
cles who chose to do so, go out
and catch them a deer or two, or
better, a mountain sheep. Either
will do. so long as it has four legs.
Clean these bones and note a dis
tal end, or the end next to the
hoof. The condyle or joint surface
is in shape a sort of whorl. Next,
take the head of the mountain
sheep, male, with the splendid
horns. for a model, and carve the
end of the bone to represent the
sheep’s head.
Then, when the task is done,
take the carving down to the mu
seum exposition park, Los Angeles,
and ask to see the calcined bone
awls and other implements carved
from just such bones as are
described above, with the most
carved on the distal ends, the natu
ral curves of the whorls being
used for the horns. Compare
your masterpieces with those
carved by the Ho-ho-kam 1000
years ago.
Who has not seen a bird light on
the edge of a rock or roof, cling
ing with all its toes and fluttering
its wings to maintain its balance?
Some day, while at the Los Ange
les museum look at the stone (or
is it clay) bowl found in a crema
tion burial. with three birds cling
ing to the rim of the bowl. with
all their toes, their wings flutter
ing in an effort to get their bal
ance. their heads turned sideways.
Real indiaan Work 6
If I had not seen the very places i
from where these objects had just
been taken by members of the Van '
Bergen-Los Angeles Museum field
party, I should fiind it difficult to
believe that they were the work of 1
American Indians.
Here in the central Gila river j
valley we are more and more con-'
vinced that the Ho-ho-kam, "those I
who are gone,” who lived in the
ruins we are exploring, had close j
contact with middle America.
We drove south, into the edge of
the Papagueria del Norte or, in
English, into the edge of the coun
try inhabited by the northern Pa
pagos.
Pimas and Papagos in some way
nor undehstood as yet, inherited
the land of the Ho.ho-kam. When
l'ather Kino visited the Casa Gran
de.ruia3 in 1634 and in 1699. the
Pimas lived in the neighborhood
but knew not the builders of the
»uino«t villages.
There must have been some right
smart fighting between the Apa
ches on the one side and the Pimas
and Papagos on the other. The
father of Joe, a Papago who was
our guide, fought the Apaches, Joe
said. It is told that the Apaches
met their match in the Pimas and
Papagos, who fought them to a
standstill and took scalp for scalp.
The Pima country is known as
Pimeria, with the accent on the
next to last syllable. The Papago
country is the Papagueria. accent
ed on the next to last syllable. The
Papagos are divided into two sec
tions. southern, mostly in Mexico,
and northern. in Arizona.
... Pimas and Papagos Intermarry....
Between Pimeria and Papague
ria dwell the families in which Pi
mas and Papagos have intermar
ried. The fulLbloods of each na
tion have a name for these Pima-
Papagos or Papago-Pimas, which
I cannot spell, or even pronounce
with sufficient accuracy to justify
an attempt. It is not a term of de
rision.
Pimas can understand Papago
and vice versa. The Maricopa, who
live in the Gila Bend country, are
related to the Pimas. I think,and
the three peoples, while their lan
guages are not identical, can un
derstand one another.
The south end of the east wall i
of our compound ends abruptly
about 50 feet short of where the
southeast corner of the compound
should be. The east end of the
south wall of the compound ends
about 50 feet short of the south
east corner of the compound if
there were one. In the projected
southeast corner is a house, its
floor a few inches below ground
level, and beneath this house is
an ancient pit-house. This is
decidedly not as it should be.
Where is the south end of the east
wall, and where is the east end of
the south wall, and where is the
southeast corner of the compound
if there was one? All of the the
ories for the existence of the outer
walls of these villages demand a
continuous compound wall some
six or eight or ten feet high, for
defense. Certainly these villagers
would not leave themselves open
to attack on the southeast corner
or any other corner.
It is possible that the missing
walls, or portions of walls have
been eroded; or that they simply
toppled over entirely, base£ and
all. This could have happened,
and indeed probably did happen in
this case, for«the east wall, at its
present south end lies almost on
the surface of the soil, that is to
say, the remaining portion of it.
We have one man at the com
pound this week who is engaged
In counting and sorting potsherds.
We shall want to know how many
j chroome, featureless sherds there
were in each of the houses. Then
we shall be able, in some of the
houses. too guess with a fair degree
of accuracy the relative age of the
houses in point of sequence. It is
fun to study potsherds. Many of
them are so coated with lime that
it is necessary to wash them in
muriatic acid to find the designs.
This morning at sunrise we were
in the northeast room of the lower
floor of the great house of Casa
Grande ruins. The reason for our
being there at sunrise was this:
In the east wall of the room,
which is several feet in thickness,
at about the height of a man's
middle. is a hole about one and
one-half inches in diameter. This
hole is horizontal and pierces the
short axis of the wall. Opposite
it, in the west wall of the room,
is anoother hole, at approximately
the same height.
It has been observed that at
sunrise on every seventh of March
and on every seventh of October,
the sun shines « through the hole
in the east wall, and almost strikes
the hole in the west wall of the
room. Ergo, the Ho.ho-kam
pierced the wall and made the op
posite hole in order that they
might know somewhat of their
calendar, in terms of a solar year.
Get History From Potsherds
It is too bad that the sun’s rays
do not actually fall on the oppo
site hole. on the seventh day of
March and of October. Personally
I am not strong on explanations
after the fact unless the evidence
is very sufficient. The fact that
the sun does not strike exactly on
the hole in the west wall, when
shining through the hole in the
east wall, is explained by an al-
I leged settling of the east wall,
which threw the two holes - out of
alignment. 1
All of tthis may be factual. May
be the Ho-ho-kam did arrange
these holes to mark the sun’s pas
sage and divide the year into *two
periods, one of five months and
one of seven months. There is no
proof that they did not.
There is no proof that they did.
The holes are there. The sun
shines through. How did the holes
get there? Why was the seventh
of March chosen (of course the
Ho-hoo.kam did not know about
the seventh of March, but why the
particular time of spring and fall,
why the five and seven division.
or rather the unequal division of
the solar year)? A very interesting
thing, is it not? And while we
watched the phenomenon, a wood
pecker nonchalantly hammered a
rousing tattoo on the tin roof
which covers the ruins of a mas
terpiece of primitive building art.
It was Saturday afternoon, about
quitting time. “Put the gold in
these burlap sacks, and the dia
monds in these white sacks, and
we’ll pick them up Monday morn
lw.” I said to one of the Mex.
icans who understands and speaks
English. He look at me as though
I was in truth “mucha loco,” but I
did not explain. I was speaking
for the benefit of a lanky youth
nearby who is quiet convinced that
we are digging for gold. They
cannot for the life of them imag
ine anyone carrying on as we are
merely to find floors and walls and
pots and arrowheads and such
Help Offered.
One fellow informed one of my
men that he and his brothers cal
’clated to get on thecrew, find out
where we were selling the stuff
we are finding, and go into the
business for themselves.
Over across the way two men
F.L. POTTS
MACHINE
SHOP
Call 160J3
When you have
MACHINE REPAIR
WORK
COOLIDGE, ARIZ.
CAFE MEXICANA
SIA. MARGARITA MOUREAL. Prop.
BEST SPANISH COOKING
Try Us
South Main Coolidge
are pot-hunting on privately owned
land. They will need rich finds to
repay them for their labor. Lack
ing any knowledge of what they
might find, or understanding of it
after they find it. all that they can
hope to have for return for their
efforts is money and that is a scant
reward. Anyone would go utterly '
bankrupt hereabouts, who engaged
in pot-hunting as a business.
It reminds me of what I saw- at ;
Pecos, N. M. last fall. On one side
of a fence stand the ancient ruined
pueblo and the newer ruined
church, both rich in history and
archeology. An eminent man has
directed operations there for 15
years, indeed became eminent be
cause of what he observed there
in his personal and vicarious delv
ing. On the other side of the fence
is private land, and there I saw - ,
busy with a pick, a pot-hunter, seek
ing ancient pottery to sell to tour
ists. He was in the employ of he
man who owned the land he was
digging. There was nothing ille
gitimate in it, but it seemed like
searching a book for unique words;
to paste in an album, utterly out of
contex, meaningless.
GEO. A NOWLIN
BUILDING CONTRACTOR
Plans and Specifications
Box 1301, Coolidge Arizona
***************
* R. N. REED:
*
PLUMBING
"Estimates cheerfully submitted*
*. COOLIDGE, - • ARIZONA*
* ,
***************
g55E5553E5555555*■* ■ ■> ———■!* —■
A Real Roundup of Op
portunity Exists in this j
town, and valley, for k
the careful investor to MifW/
secure a farm, home or
lot at an advantage.
The Coolidge Dev. Co.
Is at your service for all information
relating to the advancement of the
fastest growing town in Arizona.
For prices for land, lots or oppor
tunities for business address
R. J. JONES
P. O. Box 77 Coolidge, Arizona
Founder of Original Coolidge Townsite
References: All Banks in Arizona.
THE COOLIDGE EXAMINER
NOTICE
Beginning Saturday, May 3rd
and until furthe” notice, our places
of business will close at 1:00 p. m.
Saturday.
FOXWORTH-GALBRAITH
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P. W. HAMILTON
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Telephone 157R11 when
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CAPITAL AND SURPLUS
$145,000.00
Arizona Southwest
Bank
CCOLIDGE - - ARIZONA
Transparent Gem
Hiddenite is a green, transpar
ent variety of spodumene used as
a gem stone. A well-marked pris
matic cleavage renders the mineral
rather difficult to cut. Its color
passes from an emerald green to a
greenish yellow and Is often un
evenly distributed through the
stone, which shows much fire when
properly cut. Hiddenite was orig
inally found as loose crystals in
soil, but was afterward worked
in a vein stone where it occurred
in association with quartz, garnet
and other minerals.
Political Announcements
*************** ************** **
* FOR RECORDER
* *
* I hereby announce myself as a candidate for
*
* the office of Recorder of Pinal County, subject *
to tthe approval of the voters of my party a t *
* the Primary Election, September 9th, 1930. *
l MRS. MATTIE M HALL *
* *
)s *********************** * * * $ * £
* *************** ***************
: FOR GOVERNOR ;
I hereby announce myself as candidate
* for the office of Governor of Arizona, subject
* to the will of the voters at the Democratic *
Primary Election to be held September 9th, *
* 1930. *
: FRANK H. LYMAN
*
*************** *************** *
*************** *************** *
: FOR ASSESSOR *
•X*
I hereby announce myself as a candidate for *
* the Democratic nomination of Assessor of Pinal *
* county, subject to the will of the voters in Dem- *
ocratic primary to be held September 9th, *
* 1930. *
THAD MOORE ;
* *************** ****************
*************** ***************
: FOR SHERIFF *
*
I hereby announce myself as a candidate *
* for the office of Sheriff of Pinal County, subject
* to the will of the voters at the Democratic Pri- *
mary Election to be held September 9th 1930. *
: EMMETT R. TURMAN *
*
* *************** ***************
w *************** ************** *^
: FOR SHERIFF ;
* *
* I hereby announce myself as a candidate *
* for the office of Sheriff of Pinal County, subject *
to the will of the voters at tne Democratic Pri
* mary Election to be held September 9th 1930. #
* WALTER LAVEEN l
**************** ****************
**************** ***************
: FOR CLERK OF THE SUPERIOR l
* COURT
* *
* I hereby announce myself as a candidate *'
* on the Democratic ticket for the nomination of *
* Clerk of the Superior Court, subject to the will *
* of th evoters of my party at the September *
* Primary. *
: ALBERTA C. HOOD ;
**************** ****************
* *************** ***************
* *
* FOR TREASURER *
I hereby announce myself as a candidate for *
* the office of Treasurer of Pinal county subject *
* to the will of the Democratic voters at the Pri- #
* mary Election to be held September 9th, 1930. *
* ALVA L. WEAVER *
* *
*************** *************** *
*******************************
* *
* FOR JUDGE OF THE SUPERIOR COURT *
* *
I am a candidate for the Democratic nomin- *
* ation for Judge of the Superior Court of Pinal *
* County, and solicit the support of my party at *
* the Primaries, September 9th, 1930. *
* ' E. L. GREEN, *
* (Incumbent) *
* * *
* * * ************ ***************
Solid Comfort
For Hotel Guests
The San Carlos Hotel strives to
please its guests whose satisfac
tion has proved our best bid for
patronage.
COOLIDGE, - ARIZONA
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