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 



