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Show THE ANCIENT BASKET MAKERS OF SOUTHEASTERN UTAH The bodies exhibited, commonly known as mummies, testify forcibly to the dryness of the caves in which they were found. They were not subjected to an artificial mummifying Mum-process, as many people imagine and as the common mies." name would imply, but were buried in the usual manner, Nature alone being responsible for their present condition. The body instead of decaying, slowly dried. The flesh wasted away, under-going a gradual process of desiccation, until the skin, flattened on the bones by the pressure of the earth above it, became a parchment- like covering that enclosed the skeleton. This work of Nature was so wonderfully done that the individual external features and peculiarities, although somewhat distorted, are per-fectly preserved. The hair, eyebrows and nails are intact, and the ears, the nose, the skin of the face and other fleshy parts of the body are so perfect that they have been rendered almost life- like by a process employed in one of our universities. Nature, in this region at least, has been kind to the archaeologist, and, through her carefully prepared store- houses, has made it possible to verify many hypotheses, while at the same time she has pre-served for the student many invaluable records of the past. THE CULTURE OF THE ANCIENT BASKET MAKERS. Although most of the ancient Pueblo people and Cliff Dwellers were masters of the art of making pottery it would seem, from the data at hand, that the Basket Makers had not developed whatever ability they may have had in that line. In fact, the majority of the vessels found with the remains of these people are of a very crude type, indicative of the first steps in fictile art as pointed out by specialists. McLoyd and Graham, in speaking of this ware, say: " The third kind of pottery is very valuable, less than fifty pieces having been found up to date, and those in the underground rooms that have been mentioned as being underneath the Cliff dwellings and in the same caves. It is a very crude, unglazed ware, some of the bowls showing the imprint of the baskets in which they were formed." The pottery mentioned in this statement is on exhibition in |