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 riot subjected to an artificial mummifying " Mum- 



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 



Mature 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. Xature, 

 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- 

 d 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 



■• of making pottery it would seem, from 



the data at hand, that the Basket Makers had not 



Pottery. 



developed whatever ability they may have had in that 



line. In fact, the majority of the vessels found with the remains 

 '.esc people are of a very crude type, indicative of the first 

 S in fictile art as pointed out by specialists. McLoyd and 



Graham, in speaking of this ware, say: "The third kind of 

 ery valuable than fifty pieces having been found 



up I and those in the ui that have I 



mentioned as being underneath tin- Cliff dwellings and in 



erude. unglazed ware, some of 

 bowing the imprint of th< ts in which they v 



form- 



The pottery n. 1 in thi «1 exhibition in 



