The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 43, July 1939 - April, 1940 Page: 274

Southwestern Historical Quarterly

Grande and the Jemez Mountains in north central New Mexico.
Dr. Hewett believes archaeology to be one of the noblest of the
sciences-one that gives life to the dead and restores a culture
that has vanished. To him archaeological remains are but "his-
tory in storage," and the reader finds Dr. Hewett's enthusiasm
contagious. Nights in the forest, winds in the pines and spruce,
inspiring views of mesa, canyon, and mountain, sunshine and
shadow, trails worn deep by moccasined feet before Columbus
came, an untouched ruin awaiting the spade of the archaeologist-
and the layman is ready to turn archaeologist. Not only is Dr.
Hewett an archaeologist, but a philosopher as well. Time and
again he pauses in his description or narrative to give us an
insight into the working of the Indian mind. From the friendly
soil of the Earth Mother he seeks to determine who? when?
whither? To that end he resorts to the legends and myths of
the living.
The chapter, "Mesas, Canyons, and Ruins," is of considerable
interest to both the archaeologist and the layman. In it the author
treats of the geological and physiographical aspects of the region,
the coming of its prehistoric inhabitants, and the location and
characteristics of its numerous ruins.
In "Pick, Trowel, and Spade," we find a classification of the
types of dwellings found on Pajarito Plateau. Then follows an
account of the excavation of two major Pajaritian groups of ruins,
Puye and El Rito de los Frijoles.
Part Four, entitled "The Debris of Pajaritian Culture," deals
with the relationship of the ancient inhabitants of the Plateau
with modern pueblos of the Rio Grande valley to the east, namely,
the Tewa villages of San Juan, Santa Clara and San Ildefonso,
and the Keres village of Cochiti. Excavation of a number of
cemeteries on the Plateau afforded an abundance of skeletal re-
mains, sufficient to make somatological comparisons with living
groups who claim their ancestors once inhabited the Plateau. The
ancients were homogeneous long-heads; the moderns are homo-
geneous broad-heads. This incongruity, Dr. Hewett points out,
constitutes a most intriguing problem which awaits the student
"of sufficient power" to answer it.
A discussion of material culture as revealed by excavations
includes a description and classification of Pajaritian pottery. An
account is given of the sacred places and shrines of the area as

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