THE AUCHAIC HORIZON 1/ 



The Cemetery under the Lava. An ancient 

 cemetery Lying under lava has recently been explored in 

 a suburb of Mexico City. The lava swepl down from 

 Mount Ajusco in some cataclysm perhaps 3000 years ago, 

 covering many square miles of territory to the depth of 

 thirty or forty feet, and burying such villages as chanced 

 to lie in its path. Sec PI. VI6). The discovery of human 

 remains was made several hundred feet hack from the 

 original front of the lava flow in a quarry where lava 

 rock was being removed to build roads. Tales of clay 

 figurines found under the lava in this quarry have been 

 current for years, but no serious investigation was made 

 until human burials were met with in the earth under 

 the great lava cap. Then a series of tunnels was dug 

 and a considerable number of ancient burials were un- 

 covered, but not moved from their original position. 

 One now enters an electric-lighted graveyard and sees 

 human bodies lying exactly as they have lain for untold 

 centuries, with the funeral offerings beside them. This 

 enormously important find gives us an historical level in 

 mid-Archaic. 



Invention of Agriculture. Before examining in 

 greater detail the art of the Archaic Horizon let us 

 consider its real significance. It is generally ad- 

 mitted that America was originally populated from 

 Asia, but on a culture level no higher than the Neolithic. 

 The simple arts of stone chipping, basketry, fire-making, 

 etc.. were probably brought over by the earliest immi- 

 grants, but there is abundant evidence that pottery- 

 making, weaving, and agriculture were independently 

 invented long after the original settlement. The cul- 

 tivated plant- in tin New World are different from those 

 of the O'd World and there is a vast area in north- 

 western America and northeastern Asia, upon the only 



