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 archeologist, 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 
9 
Pottery. 
