532 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XL VI. No. 1196 



PM Kappa Phi Fraternity. — WiUmeet an Satur- 

 day, December 29, 1917. President General, Ed- 

 win E. Sparks. Secretary General, L. H. Pammel, 

 Iowa State College, Ames, Iowa. 



Gamma Sigma Delta. — ^Will meet on dates to be 

 announced. President, A. V. Storm. Secretary, 

 L. H. Pammel, Iowa State College, Ames, Iowa. 



SCIENTIFIC EVENTS 



SMITHSONIAN EXCAVATIONS IN NEW MEXICO 



An expedition organized by the Bureau of 

 American Ethnology of the Smithsonian In- 

 stitution and the Museum of the American 

 Indian, Heye Foundation of ISTew York City, 

 under the immediate direction of Mr. F. W. 

 Hodge, ethnologist-in-charge of the Bureau 

 mentioned has concluded its first season of 

 excavating among the ruins of Hawikuh in 

 western New Mexico. This pueblo was one 

 of the famed " Seven Cities of Cibola " which 

 was seen by Marcos de Niza, a Franciscan 

 Friar, in 1539 and was the scene of the death 

 of his negro guide and companion. In the 

 following year the pueblo was stormed by 

 Francisco Vasquez Coronado, the celebrated 

 Spanish explorer, who almost lost his life in 

 the attack. The Zuni occupants of Hawikuh 

 fled to their stronghold a few miles away; the 

 Spanish took possession of their village, which 

 Coronado called Grenada, and while there 

 wrote his report to the Viceroy of Mexico, 

 giving an account of his expedition up to 

 that time and sending various products of the 

 country and examples of native art. 



The excavations were commenced at the 

 close of May by Mr. Hodge, assisted by Mr. 

 Alanson Skimier and Mr. E. F. CofSn of the 

 Museum of the American Indian. Work was 

 begun in a great refuse heap forming the 

 western slope of the elevation on which Hawi- 

 kuh is situated. This refuse was found to 

 contain many burials of Zuni dead, of which 

 there were three types — remains cremated and 

 deposited in cinerary vessels accompanied by 

 food and water vessels; others buried at 

 length, or in abnormal postures without ac- 

 companiments; and usually dismembered; 

 others still deposited at length with head di- 

 rected eastward and with them numerous 

 vessels of earthenware, great quantities of 



food, and the personal tools and ornaments of 

 the deceased. In all, 237 graves were opened 

 during the three months devoted to the work, 

 in which quantities of pottery vessels of vari- 

 ous forms and with a great range of decora- 

 tive painting, were uncovered. Among burials 

 of the third type mentioned were several skel- 

 etons of members of the Zuni Priesthood of 

 the Bow, with their war paraphernalia, in- 

 cluding bows and arrows, sacred paint, war 

 clubs, and their personal or ceremonial be- 

 longings. 



A Franciscan mission was established at 

 Hawikuh in 1639 and continued in operation 

 until 1670 when the ijueblo was abandoned on 

 account of Apache depredations. Considering 

 the length of time since the village was for- 

 saken by its inhabitants, the remains were in 

 a remarkably good state of preservation. The 

 deposit of great quantities of food in the 

 graves, especially boiled corn on the cob, had 

 the effect of decaying the bones but of pre- 

 serving the materials that usually more read- 

 ily perish, such as baskets, fabrics, and ob- 

 jects of wood, many of which were saved by 

 immediate treatment. Many very beautiful 

 things found in association with the remains 

 include 8 objects of turquoise mosaic, consist- 

 ing of ornamental hair combs, ear pendants, 

 and hair ornaments, some of which are so 

 well executed as to be among the finest ex- 

 amples of encrusted turquoise ever found in 

 America, and far e-xceeding the mosaic work 

 of the Hopi Indians in Arizona to-day. Of 

 the fabrics various examples were recovered, 

 and indeed in one instance the clothing of a 

 woman was so well preserved that it was pos- 

 sible to study the character of her dress from 

 neck to feet. 



The pottery of the Hawikuh people, as 

 mentioned, possesses a wide range of decora- 

 tion and coloring. Most of the designs are 

 geometric, but numerous highly conventional- 

 ized figures of birds, as well as many lifelike 

 forms of quadrupeds, the eagle, the butterfly, 

 the tadpole, and the corn plant were found. 

 Many of the vessels are decorated with a dis- 

 tinct glaze, black and green predominating. 

 The vessels consist chiefly of bowls, ranging 



