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Show 272 THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE * - -as - ^ o ^ -V^MT ^u."':^ -»"• ^.-.^'^ J^r- < i * h by Earl H. Morrii Often the inhabitants of the caves disturbed and destroyed the graves and dwellings of their predecessors. Here, in the construction of a masonry kiva, a ceremonial chamber, the cliff dwellers dug down through a previously existent slab house. The part of the latter which was not demolished they made use of as an enlargement of the underground room. diameter. The walls had been of posts set leaning inward, and plastered over with mud, and the roofs of logs covered with earth. Fire-perhaps accidental, perhaps incendiary-had destroyed one of these rooms and with it the possessions of its occupants. On the smooth earth floor surrounding the sunken fireplace were several pottery vessels, and elsewhere lay charred baskets, sandals, planting sticks, and practically every sort of article manufactured by the inhabitants. Beneath the masonry cliff dwelling three culture levels were recognizable (see text, page 300). A MAGNIFICENT MOSAIC ORNAMENT FOUND ON BREAST OF A MUMMY Around the corner of the cliff from Mummy Cave was a cemetery. Bones lying about the mouth of an animal's burrow gave the clew, and we set to work with the expectation of rich finds. The bubble of our hopes, however, was soon punctured, for destruction had preceded us. A deep recess had been packed full of bodies of all ages, accompanied by quantities of burial offerings, enough of them at least to transform the spot into a charnel place, when fire of unknown origin gained access to the grotto. For days we worked through an 18-inch layer of calcined bones smoked black or burned an ashy white and more brittle than icicles. There must have been more than 100 bodies in the original heap. The meager fragments of specimens recovered from the. wreckage poorly repaid our efforts, but the unexpected, which always holds a beckoning finger before the archeologist, brought us our reward in the end. In front of the burned area a pit had been dug in the talus and three bodies placed in it. They lay back downward, one on top of the other. As I was removing the earth from the breast of the second, there were glints of blue in the mold upon my trowel. |