The Diggers

Some of the major discoveries of diggers -- archaeologists and paleontologists -- recently made or described, include:

In Nevada, along the Muddy River, extending for some six miles from St. Thomas to near Overton, was discovered the remains of a great Pueblo or rather pre-Pueblo, village. Governor Scrugham of that state, interested in archaeology, came across several historical references to a buried city. He organized an expedition under the scientific direction of Mr. M. R. Harrington of the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation (Manhattan). Last fall, the site of the buried city was found. Excavations undertaken by Mr. Harrington and Dr. Kidder of the Smithsonian Institution, and financed by the Heye Foundation, have indicated that it is a record of the oldest civilization in this country.

About 20 chambers have been excavated. The upper structure had crumbled, but beneath the houses were what appear to have been ceremonial chambers, with great stone benches against the walls. Many layers of ashes, of ceremonial fires were found; and in the floors of these chambers were graves. With the skeletons were found pottery vessels (for water) and baskets (for food) on the journey to the hereafter. The stature of adults was not much over five feet. Grains of corn, corncobs, squash seeds and beans indicated that the people had practiced dry farming at a time when the region was not as arid as it now is. There were also bones of deer, mountain sheep and rabbits, remains of fibre garments and garments of twisted leather, the inevitable dice, beads of turquoise and shell. The pottery, white or light-colored with black designs, was made without potters' wheels. There were chipped stone implements. The living chambers of the houses uncovered were small -- only about six by eight feet, a contrast to the large communal houses of the later tribes.

The erosion of the houses has been considerable and this, in a very dry region, points to great age. The village is farther to the north and west than other pueblos, and its age has been tentatively set at from 5,000 to 10,000 years -- which makes it as old or older than the most ancient Egyptian tombs. Governor Scrugham has accepted the title of "Pueblo Grande de Nevada" for the buried city, and plans to convert it into a state park. Needless to say, the work of excavation has only begun.

It is rare, in America, for a man to carry academic interests into politics, yet Governor Scrugham, a professor by occupation, has served science in politics.

In Babylonia, at Ur of the Chaldees, the expedition of the British Museum and of the University of Pennsylvania began to delve into the ruins surrounding the great ziggurat or tower. The first works uncovered date from about 600 B. C.; in the courtyard of a temple of the Moon God was found a building believed to have been used as a sort of convent schoolroom and museum by the priestesses. Another building, a temple to Nin-Gal, wife of the Moon God, has also been uncovered in a corner of the compound. Some of the objects found dated from 2,500 B.C.; going down to the lower foundations, the excavators found older and older masonry, some of primitive unbaked bricks that may have been laid as early as 2,800 B. C.

In India, at Harappa, in the Punjab and at Mohenjo Daro in Sind, massive houses and temples, burnt brick, water mains, marble slabs were uncovered near the surface. Inscriptions were found in an unknown pictographic writing. New types of coins, dice, jewelry were discovered. The Director General of Archaeology in India ventured the opinion that these were remains of a civilization coeval with the Sumerian and perhaps 5,000 years old.

From Rome emanate at intervals reports of new excavations of the Circus Maximus and of other forums beneath buildings between the Coliseum and the Victor Emanuel Monument.

From Greece came a report telling that the American School of Archaeology had discovered ancient pottery at Hymettus, an ancient bath at Nemea (supposed to have been used by athletes at the Nemean Games) and a large building of the Hellenistic period at Phlius. Other excavations were undertaken by the Fogg Art Museum of Harvard at Eutresis; it is reported that excavations are to be resumed at Corinth and will be begun at Athens in the area between the Theseum and the Temple of the Winds.

In Denmark, Dr. Stephen J. Herben Jr., a Princeton investigator, believes he has discovered the site of Heorot, the great hall mentioned in Beowulf, not at Laerai, but at a point 15 miles away on the Danish Coast. Gold and silver jewelry, including bracelets, pendants, necklaces, arm bands were found where they were presumably left when Heorot burned, about A. D. 520.

In Spain, Dr. Rhys Carpenter of Bryn Mawr discovered the site of an early Greek settlement built before 600 B. C. It was called Hemero-skopeion (The Watch Tower). Near Punta de Ifach, he found a great rock, 1,076 feet high, jutting out into the sea, a harbor and a quarry; dug up Greek pottery and remains of a temple.

In Tripoli, at Sabrata, as excavations proceeded, a number of valuable marbles were unearthed, including a statue of a Roman Emperor and of the African Jove.

In Egypt, in the vicinity of the Pyramids of Giza, near Cairo, a Harvard expedition, having removed some 30,000 tons of debris, uncovered the foundations of temples, boatlike depressions-- where the "ships of the dead" or funeral boats were buried-- and two particularly fine tombs of priests. About 100 yards east of the great pyramid of Cheops, in the final cleaning of debris, a patch of white plaster was discovered. When torn away, stonework was revealed, and when this was removed, a stairway appeared leading downward. About 90 feet down, the top of a burial chamber was discovered. Some stone blocks were removed disclosing a chamber 12 by 18 feet and a white alabaster sarcophagus surrounded by burial regalia. The tomb was dated at the period of Sneferu (before the construction of the pyramids of Giza) and on the sarcophagus was an inscription bearing the name Nebti-Sneferu. It was believed that this is the tomb of a princess, although some have contended that it is the tomb of Sneferu, himself. No determination can be made until the shaft is made safe so that the chamber may be entered. It was announced that the tomb would be closed until Dr. Reisner of Harvard should arrive from the U. S. But the point is that Sneferu was the first king of the Fourth Dynasty; while, until the present time, no intact tomb prior to the Sixth Dynasty had been found (Tutankhamen belonged to the 18th Dynasty). Sneferu lived about 3,000 to 4,000 B. C. He is credited with having built the pyramid of Medum and also one at Dahshur. Sneferu (unlike Tutankhamen, who was an unimportant king) was an empire builder; he was not an Egyptian, but came from somewhere in the north. He built a fleet to bring wood from Lebanon, conquered the Sinai region to get copper and made an expedition to the Sudan and brought back 7,000 slaves and 200,000 cattle.

In Bechuanaland, at Taungs, in a limestone quarry, was found a fossil skull. Its discoverer, Professor Raymond Dart of Witwatersrand University, gave it the name of Australopithecus Africanus. He described it as representing a hitherto unknown stage in the evolution of man, a stage nearer the ape than the human. If this be so, it forms another link in the cumulation of evidence of the successive stages of man's evolution. Whether it is one of man's direct ancestors or comes from a collateral branch of the family is not yet known; but the inference of the discoverer is that it is the former.

In Tanganyika, was found a well-preserved skeleton of a gigantic prehistoric reptile of the dinosaur group, which excited considerable comment in London.

In Mongolia, Roy Chapman Andrews is once more scouring the country. This year, his assistants include a cartographer; and valuable corrections of current maps-- said in some instances to err by 150 miles in the location of places-- are expected. But the main object will be to inspect fossils in an attempt to trace the ancestry of man.

In Bolivia, in the Tarija valley, Professor Elmer S. Riggs, in the third year of an expedition for the Field Museum, is reported to have discovered important vertebrate fossils, especially glyptodoni (extinct mammals related to the armadillo).

In France, at Sergeac, parts of four skeletons, one of the Neanderthal Man, the others of a later period,* were exhumed and have been sent to the National Museum at Washington, with other relics discovered.

*They are probably from 15,000 to 18,000 years old.