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THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



were eleven wooden dry goods boxes 

 filled with a surprising variety of ob- 

 jects, something over six hundred speci- 



Photograph bii Earl H. Morris 

 When cooking pots were cracked or worn out, 

 they were sunk into the adobe floors to serve as 

 storage or hiding places for grain and valued 

 articles. In the picture a portion of one of the 

 floors may be seen in the corner above the mouth 

 of the jar. There was no sign to indicate that 

 anything was concealed beneath until the curiosity 

 of a workman caused him to investigate the hol- 

 low rumble which a tap with his pick upon the 

 hardened earth brought forth from the drumlike 

 cavity within the pot 



mens in all. The air space in the room 

 below, and the several feet of earth 

 above, had kept the rubbish as dry as if 

 hermetically sealed, so that even the 

 most perishable objects were perfectly 

 preserved. 



Grains of corn, together with cobs, 

 tassels, and husks were fully intact ; also 

 beans and bean-pods, pine cones and 

 branches, and pumpkin seeds and 

 shells. These, together with bones of 

 turkey, rabbit, deer, and antelope, show 

 plainly upon what wild and cultivated 

 foods the aborigines depended for sus- 

 tenance. 



Cotton fiber, yucca leaves, and 

 rushes represent the raw materials for 

 textile products. The cotton was 

 twisted into yarn and woven into cloth 

 of excellent strength and texture, some 

 of it ornamented in red and brown. 

 The needles with which this cloth was 

 sewed were ingeniously devised. A long 

 strip was split from a yucca leaf, and 

 the basal portion macerated so that 

 only a few strands of fiber remained. 

 The thorn at the end of the leaf made 

 an effective point for the needle, and 

 the frayed fiber at the opposite end was 

 twisted in and around the cotton 

 thread. 



Yucca leaves, whole or split, were 

 plaited into sandals and mats, or the 

 separated fiber was twisted into cord. 

 Some of the cord is as fine as number 

 sixty linen, and some is as large as 

 quarter-inch rope. A soft and heavy 

 cloth was made from yucca cord and 

 feathers. The down was stripped from 

 the ribs of the feathers and wrapped 

 about the cords, which were then woven 

 into jacket-like garments such as have 

 been found upon the dead in various 

 parts of the Southwest. 



Rushes were plaited into mats for 

 covering floors, or for wrapping the 

 dead, also into sandals, baskets, and bags. 



