EXCAVATION OF THE AZTEC RUIN 



95 



as We'll as for meeliaiiieal i-i'sourecrul- 

 ncss. Xo work of quito the same 

 character has been clone before in the 

 Southwest, so that it has been neces- 

 sary to try out different methods to 

 determine the quickest and best. 



The work itself looks like ordinary 

 labor, and may very easily degenerate 

 into such. All scientific pursuits in- 

 volve more or less of routine and 

 drudo-ery, and this is especially true for 

 those who are trying to reconstruct the 

 life and history of prehistoric peoples. 

 To wield the pen to any purpose, the 

 spade mnst be handled first. But it is 

 difficnlt indeed, amid dust and debris, 

 through alternating periods of heat, 

 cold, rainstorm, and desert dryness — 

 the mind all the while occupied with 

 purely practical problems — to maintain 

 always the nicely balanced scholarly at- 

 titude. And there is no eight-honr law 

 in archaeology even for those who do 

 not love their w^ork. On the other 

 hand, archseological field work, like 

 other branches of research, offers its 

 moments of exultation. In a way the 

 excavation of ruins is like prospecting 

 for ore— you always expect a strike 

 and you are reasonably sure of getting 

 it. But here again lies a real danger. 

 My early notion of an archseologist was 

 that of a bewhiskered individual gone 

 mildly fanatic over something or other 

 antiquated — perhaps arrowpoints. This 

 tendency to find complete satisfaction 

 in the oljject unearthed is always 

 present, and the moment it takes full 

 possession the archaeologist is dead. 



Possibly the reader may ask, "What 

 then is the ultimate purjiose of archae- 

 ological research? Wliy all this ex- 

 penditure of time and money if not 

 primarily to recover relics of the past 

 ages?"' I have had to ask myself these 

 questions more than once when hard- 

 ships and difficidties arose which made 



it for tlie moment doubtful whether 

 the game was really worth the candle. 

 This period of doubt came about the 

 time the mere novelty of the occupa- 

 tion had worn off, wiien the specimens 

 found were no longer "curiosities."' 

 The conclusion reached was — and it is 

 now an article of faith, so to speak — 

 that of course the immediate pvirpose 

 of excavation is to obtain "specimens," 

 but that specimens after all are noth- 

 ing but means to an end. The real 

 mission of archffiology is to make the 

 unknown past live again or, in other 

 words, to write history. 



Some may question the possibility of 

 stating anything of permanent histori- 

 cal value about the times lying beyond 

 the invention of writing, or concern- 

 ing any people who have not left us 

 some WTitten records. But if history is 

 to be essentially a record of the general 

 organic life and growth of the world's 

 inhabitants, then archseology is in a 

 position of vantage. A stone axe or a 

 necklace of sea shells is an incontrover- 

 tible document, in certain respects 

 worth more than any written document 

 whatsoever. A proper interpretation 

 of a complete array of archaeological 

 data from any given quarter of the 

 world will be a far safer guide than 

 any book of travels of the Mandeville 

 type or any rhapsodical history of the 

 C'arlyleian order. The most sober his- 

 torian is never com|)Ict(']y unbiased, so 

 that even admitting his sources to be 

 infallible, his interpretation at its best 

 will l)e only an a])pro.\imati()ii to the 

 truth. Therefore a history based on 

 documents other than those of the 

 written sort has, within its own limits, 

 genuine merit, and archaeological re- 

 search is amply vindicated.* 



1 The results of the work in the way of specimens 

 found, wUl be considered in a later issue of the 

 .ToiRXAL by ;Mr. Earl IT. Morris, who is in imme- 

 diate charge of the Aztec e.\cavations. 



