DISCOVERIES AT THE AZTEC EUIN 



173 



for covers, and often the place of tlieir 

 concealment was completely hidden by 

 a layer of mud. Under such condi- 

 tions they would be passed over by the 

 workmen during our work of excava- 

 tion, were it not for the hollow rumble 

 they emit when the floor above them is 

 struck by the pick or shovel. 



The difficulty which may be at- 

 tached to the recovery of specimens 

 during the excavation, and the extreme 

 caution that must be exercised to make 

 sure that none are overlooked, are well 

 illustrated by the circumstances under 

 which was made one of the best finds 

 of the season — that of a large red bowl. 

 The bowl was broken and the fragments 

 had become scattered over the floor of 

 a second story room. As slow decay of 

 the supporting timbers enabled the 

 rain to wear holes through the floor, 

 one by one many of the fragments fell 

 into the room beneath, and were cov- 

 ered by an accumulation of rain- 

 washed earth. As this lower room was 

 being excavated, a workman caught the 

 glint of the sun upon a bright red 

 potsherd (the name by which a frag- 

 ment of pottery is known to an ar- 

 chaeologist) in a shovelful of dirt. A 

 day and a half of sifting followed, with 

 the result that over ninety per cent of 

 the bowl was recovered. The frag- 

 ments were scattered over an area eight 

 by eleven feet, and from six inches to 

 three feet in depth. To recover them, 

 176 cubic feet of earth — more than six 

 wagon loads — were run through the 

 sieve. 



Sifting is slow and tedious at best, 

 but when it has to be done within 

 doors, it acquires the qualities of an 

 ordeal. In a room where not a drop of 

 moisture has penetrated for centuries, 

 and no current of air can enter save 

 through an aperture only large enough 

 for a man to crawl through, each 



movement stirs up a reek of pungent 

 (lust. In a few minutes the atmo.*- 

 phere is so thick that a man can not 

 be seen five feet distant. The workmen 

 cough and choke behind masks of wet 

 cloths and sponges, and every little 

 while have to come into the open for a 

 breath of clean air. The acrid quality 

 of the dust, due to its dryness and the 

 presence of finely divided ashes, gyp- 

 sum, and filth, leaves the membranes 

 of the nose and throat inflamed for 

 several days. 



To the uninitiated there is nothing 

 particularly suggestive or interesting 

 about a few cartloads of rubbish ; but a 

 back room on the north side of the 

 ruin, containing such an accumulation 

 of refuse, proved to be a veritable 

 treasure house. About thirty years ago 

 relic hunters tunneled into the ruin 

 and opened some rooms whose ceilings 

 are still intact. The protection of 

 these ceilings is one of the most diffi- 

 cult problems connected with the pres- 

 ervation of the Aztec ruin, and it was 

 decided to clear one of them, and to lay 

 a heavy coating of cement upon it in 

 order to ascertain if in this way the 

 beams could be kept sufficiently dry to 

 resist decay. Men were put to work to 

 remove the thirty tons of earth and 

 stone which had fallen upon the ceiling 

 from the walls of the third and the 

 upper part of the second story. Tlie 

 first workman to reach the floor raised 

 a section of a beam which had fallen 

 from above, and beneath it lay a yucca 

 sandal. In a few moments it became 

 evident that the floor was covered to a 

 considerable depth with refuse, every 

 shovelful of which contained something 

 of importance. Sieves were brought, 

 and for five days two men worked in a 

 cloud of dust separating the coarser 

 material from the sweepings and ashes. 

 When the task was completed, there 



