This one newspaper article from 1903 about a mummy discovery in cliff dweller territory hits upon several sensitive topics: the raiding of artifacts that belong to the Native Americans, the possibility of other people – not traditional Native Americans – having been here long before Europeans rediscovered the Americas, and the careless destruction of artifacts that could have provided us with a wealth of information.
Regardless of the political correctness which stifles society today, this article is of historical interest.
New Mexico Mummy
Hunter’s Chance Discovery Suggests Startling Theories Concerning Problems Of Vanished People
In the ransacked ruins of the cliff dwellers very little remains to reward the patient digger for Indian treasures and throw additional light on the prehistoric people who lived in the rims of canyon walls.
From time to time discoveries of more or less importance are made by hunters crossing the canyons, but their finds proved of little value to either the scientist or the layman.
Not more than a month ago, however, a remarkable mummy was found by a New Mexican hunter named John Tex, and this mummy promises to change materially some of the hypotheses formed by archaeologists, while a careful investigation of its characteristics and the peculiarities of its century old resting place suggest startling theories concerning the problem of this vanished race.
The mummy was discovered beneath three separate layers of cement flooring, which fact vouches for the extreme antiquity of the well preserved body.
John Tex says that the mummy is tall, that its head is normal, that its skin is white and its hair thick and of a reddish brown color.
These points of difference and the peculiar place in which the mummy was found lead to strange suppositions.
John Tex has lived among the descendants of the Pueblo tribes, that nation of cliff dwelling builders, since before the eighties [1880s].
“One day in the last of January, as I was riding slowly along through the sedge brush which covers the plains of San Augustine, in Sorroco county, New Mexico, my eye fell upon what looked like the opening of a cave in a wall of one of the lateral canyons of the Rio Grande del Nort,” says Tex. “It seemed to be about 200 feet above the bed of the canyon and some fifty feet up in the perpendicular face of the sandstone cliff.
“Upon climbing up to the cave I found that it had been inhabited, and, while erosion had thrown down the outer walls of the dwelling and filled the interior with quantities of broken sandstone, I was able to push my way into the aperture.
“Finding no relics of the past occupants of this cures abode lying about it occurred to me that I might discover something of value by digging through the heap of dust and refuse.
“Starting at a distance of about fifty feet from the cave opening, my shovel went quickly through several inches of sand fallen from the roof of the cave; then with more difficulty I dug through six or more feet or refuse, when my shovel came in contact with a hard substance, which i took to be the cave floor.
“After excavating I found this floor to be perfectly smooth, and made of the clay cement common in the communal houses in the valleys with which I am familiar.
“Knowing that it was the custom with this prehistoric race to bury their dead under their dwelling floors, I determines to try digging still deeper.
“After cracking the cement and pushing the broken fragments aside, I was surprised to come upon ashes, corncobs, pot shards, arrow points and a profusion of animal bones. This rubbish filled a stratum about eighteen inches thick, below which I suddenly struck a second floor.
“Under this stratum of cement I found almost the same quantity of rubbish as was brought to light above, but what was my consternation at discovering that there was still a third floor in this oddly constructed abode.
“With the greatest excitement I swung my shovel and dislodged the debris which separated me from that which I felt sure of finding now.
“There was soon a good sized hole gaping in the third covering of cement, and as my implement finally penetrated the opening it plunged through into a soft substance and crashed into a large decorated pot, which fell apart, disclosing the head of a mummy over which it had been placed.
“On examining the mummy, which was that of a man,” continues Mr. Tex, “I found that it was wrapped in three karosses, or blankets, each about four by five feet in size.
“The outer one was decayed with age, the next one somewhat better preserved, and the inner one quite perfect. The warp of these blankets was of vegetable fiber string and the woof was made of twisted strips of fur skin which had the fur left on, and had acquired, through the process of twisting, a likeness of soft wool.
“The head of the mummy showed that the man had probably died from a blow on the skull, for there was a large indentation directly over the base.
“The features were partly those of an Indian, for the cheek bones were high and rather prominent, but the skull was large, with a somewhat low brow and without the slightest trace of the usual artificial flattening practiced by the cling dwellers.
“The man must have been of great height, for in his shrunken state he measured about six feet. He was extremely broad shouldered and the dried muscles of his whole body proved him to have been very active and powerful.
“The large chest circumference showed him to have had powerful lungs. His arms were of great length and his hands and feet were very small for so large a man.
“As fair as the Zuni Indian of New Mexico and the Maya of Old Mexico, the mummy was racially distinct from either of these tribes. To what race, then, did he belong?
“On the right wrist of the mummy was a bracelet made of two polished bones, each two inches long, which were sewn upon an armlet of deer skin. Around the left wrist was fastened a bracelet of tiny shells, run on a fiber string.”
These relics are said by the authorities of the American Museum of Natural History to be very fine specimens.
As to the discovery of John Tex, they are most conservative, as there are so many explanations which might be advanced for the location in which the mummy was found, though they admit that it is probably a very old mummy, and simple theories account for the difference in skin and hair.
Discoveries that many consider unimportant are frequently made nowadays, and the archaeologists who have that territory in charge believe that everything found is of value and adds a link to the chain of facts relating to the prehistoric race of cliff dwellers.
Source: Albuquerque Daily Citizen. Newspaper. March 30, 1903.
