Unresolved Mystery: The Magician

THE Wagician Uncommon Gravesite Treasures Reveal an Ancient Man of Power and Mystery

Text by ANNE MONTGOMERY Illustrations by BRAD HOLLAND "During the excavation of Ridge Ruin... a most remarkable and unusual burial was found. The burial offerings, accompanying the remains of a man, numbered over 600 artifacts ... many of which were of such fine workmanship and unique execution that it is our belief that this is the richest burial ever reported in the Southwest."

THE DISCOVERY CAME ON THE LAST DAY OF excavating Ridge Ruin, a pueblo sitting on a small outcropping overlooking a cinder-covered valley east of Flagstaff. Archaeologists dug through the floor of a masonry-lined pit room and found the skeletal remains of a man surrounded by an incredible array of burial offerings. In 1939, archaeologists as a matter of course removed and logged such finds and gave them to museums to display. So the man, who would become known as "The Magician," and many of the objects interred with him, were gathered and moved from where they rested for more than 800 years to the Museum of Northern Arizona. Today Ridge Ruin lies near Flagstaff, almost invisible beneath a windswept hillside scattered with juniper and piñon trees. The only obvious evidence of its ancient occupation are the tiny, geometrically designed, black-and-white potsherds littering the rocky ground, fired-clay fragments thought to be almost a thousand years old. Only a practiced eye can see where the stone rooms once stood. The settlement, which produced one of the most astounding burial sites in terms of the number and quality of recovered objects and artifacts everdiscovered in the Southwest, has been backfilled to protect it from looters.

In 1992, Ridge Ruin and the surrounding area was placed on the National Register of Historic Places, one of the few instances in which an individual from early history has been cited as one of the reasons for including the site on the register.

While the sheer volume of funerary objects unearthed at Ridge Ruin was impressive, the quality of the workmanship in many of the artifacts also impressed the archaeologists.

One important find was a pointed skullcap made of beads. Some were white shell, while others were formed from fine-grained black rock. Arranged alternately, the beads numbered more than 3,600— 21 per inch— and were bored with holes so tiny that the smallest commercial needle in use in 1939 was unable to pass through them. Another exquisite artifact, a coiled tube, was coated with 1,500 mosaic pieces of turquoise, orange-colored rodent teeth and black stone inlays. It was later determined that this "basket" might really have been a decorative armband used for some ceremonial purpose.

Former Museum of Northern Arizona archaeologist John C. McGregor, who presided over the discovery, said the most interesting personal ornament uncovered was a large nose plug made of red argillite and bearing turquoise buttons at either end.

The buried man also sported matching stone charm bracelets of carved animal heads, and a pair of earrings—one of three sets found—made of flat, circular disks of turquoise overlaid with smaller shell disks. The turquoise objects found in the grave were exceptionally bright blue, a variety known to come specifically from the Los Cerrillos area southeast of Santa Fe, New Mexico, almost 330 miles away.

Some of the objects obviously traveled great distances before they were placed in the grave, especially considering the shells found at the burial site. A needlelike variety of shell common to southern California was found in great quantity. Five complete cardium shells were unearthed, as well as fragments of an abalone shell.

None of these objects, however, was able to give archaeologists indications about this man's identity. Nor did the myriad baskets, 420 arrow points, 25 pottery vessels or the large collection of minerals and crystals, which included a bundle of reed tubes filled with pigments-blues and greens derived from copper minerals and reddish hues from ground cinnabar.

Clues to the background of the man would come from artifacts made from a much more mundane substance-wood.

McGregor, in his 1943 monograph delivered to the American Philosophical Society, wrote: "Several carved sticks were found in various positions in relation to the body. All were made of some dark, dense wood... the grain and the color suggest mountain mahogany or some similar type. [The sticks are] pointed on one end and ornamented on the other. Three of these are carved in the form of deer feet, and two are carved into human hands."

The 12 decorated sticks were familiar items to the Hopi Indians asked by McGregor to view the objects. Though none had ever witnessed the ritual for which they were used, their inclusion in the grave identified the ceremony the man performed as either Moochiwimi or Nasot wimi, both of which refer to "swallow sticks."

"If you know what you're doing, and you know how to hold your head and your neck, and lose your fear, and acquire the technique, you can put on quite an impressive display for what we would call today a sword-swallowing act," said Chris Downum, an associate professor of anthropology at Northern Arizona University.

Downum, a soft-spoken archaeologist, sits in his office, a short drive from what remains of Ridge Ruin. Today, it is difficult to imagine what would have drawn a man of such physical stature and mystical abilities-as The Magician must surely have been to be honored with such a magnificent burial-to what, on first glance, appears to be a lonely backwater. But on closer inspection, it becomes obvious Ridge Ruin was built with special care.

"The earliest part of it, the core part of the pueblo, was built of slabs of Moenkopi sandstone. That is not a building material that occurs near the pueblo," Downum said. "When they got the stones, they built the pueblo in a masonry style that involves fully coursed and chinked walls."

The people who initially built Ridge Ruin must have carried large hunks of sandstone over several miles. In the early 12th century, there were no large pack animals in North America, nor did the people have the advantage of the wheel. And the style of masonry construction they used, which resembles modern-day cinderblock walls, was more complicated than the layering of basalt boulders, the style with which subsequent Ridge Ruin rooms were built.

Fully coursed and chinked masonry is rare. The most well-known examples can be seen at Wupatki and the Chaco Canyon great houses. This building style alone, then, raises Ridge Ruin's stature among contemporary settlements. But with just 20 to 25 rooms, the pueblo is only one-sixth the size of Wupatki. Imagine a great and powerful man drawn to what, back then, was a big city. But it's possible that during The Magician's lifetime, Ridge Ruin was the more desirable destination.

The sandstone core of Ridge Ruin pueblo was probably built before A.D. 1150, about the same time that the Wupatki community began developing. Wupatki continued to expand to more than a hundred rooms by the time it was abandoned, but in the lifetime of The Magician, Ridge Ruin may have been the larger pueblo.

While it is certainly possible that The Magician could have been born and raised at Ridge Ruin, his physical appearance marked him as different from his peers. McGregor speculated that with his unusually flat cheekbones and long, narrow, high-bridged nose, The Magician's facial structure suggested some European types. And at 5 feet 8 inches tall, he would have been somewhat larger than most of the people of his time.

"He was a man who probably had some physical gifts that other people didn't have," Downum explained. "He was a large fellow, which means he was probably pretty capable of taking care of himself. Which, if it's true he was the leader of a warrior society, certainly makes sense."

While the Hopis are historically known as a peaceful people, no group survives without having the ability to defend itself. Following the eruption of the Sunset Crater volcano in A.D. 1064, the interaction among the Sinagua people in the area greatly increased.

The ash spewed over 800 square miles, providing mulch that conserved soil moisture, producing farmable land where there had been none before. The eruption also took on a supernatural aura, which may have drawn settlers to the area. More people moving about meant more trade.

With all the intermingling, groups needed the ability to protect their homes and families from interlopers. A physically imposing leader with seemingly mystical abilities might have been the difference between life and death.

It may never be known why those who honored The Magician at his burial so revered him, or which pueblo had originally been his home. And though his deeds remain unknown, this remarkable man may have been one of the greatest ancient leaders of the area.

The Museum of Northern Arizona protects his remains and the associated artifacts and funerary objects. In accordance with the Native American Graves and Repatriation Act, the Hopi Tribe will choose his ultimate resting place. Careful deliberation precedes the decision, along with consideration of all the spiritual implications of the past, present and future. For The Magician, who is remembered eight centuries after his death, such thoughtful attention seems appropriate. Al