The Prehistoric World; Or, Vanished RacesAllen, Emory Adams
History
The Prehistoric World; Or, Vanished Races
Allen, Emory Adams
Archaeology; Indians; Prehistoric peoples
The descriptions of ruins have so much that is similar that
repetitions become tiresome. We will not, therefore, delay much
longer with Zuñi. A few miles east of Old Zuñi we come to Pescado
Springs, near which are the ruins of several pueblos. “This
spring bursts from a broken point of the lava bed, and at once
becomes a pretty stream, glittering with great numbers of the
finny tribe, which gives name to it. The circular wall which once
inclosed the fountainhead is now partly broken down. Upon each
side, and almost tangent, are ruins of pueblos so ancient that
the traditions of present races do not reach them. They are
nearly circular in form, and of equal dimension. One measured
three hundred and fifteen short paces, about eight hundred feet,
in circumference. They were of stone; but the walls have
crumbled, leaving only a heap of rubbish.”10
Following up this stream, other ruins were found. It seems, then,
that in the pueblo of Zuñi we have left a pitiful remnant of a
numerous people. When the Spaniards first appeared on the scene
they were apparently prosperous. The rapid decrease of the Pueblo
tribes was owing to several causes. In 1680 they made an attempt
to throw off the Spanish yoke. At first this was successful. But
inter-tribal warfare at once set in. At this time also the
inroads of the Apaches and Navajos became so troublesome that the
Pueblo tribes could not successfully cultivate their land. At
this time also a succession of dry years set in, and famine was
the result. Their customs and manners we will describe in another
place. There are many reasons for supposing that the country had
been inhabited for a very long period, even before the Spaniards
invaded it. Some places must have been even then in ruins, or, if
inhabited, it is very strange that the Spanish records do not
mention them. Such, for instance, is Inscription Rock, about
fifteen miles east of Old Zuñi, which the Spaniards must have
passed when on their way back and forth to Zuñi.
Inscriptionn Rock.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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