Did the Ancients Know?

Did the Ancients Know? Recent Archaeological Find in Northern Arizona Turns Strange Light on Life Long Ago

By BOB EUNSON ARIZONANS who are boosting the completion of highway 89 as an international highway may not be the first who thought of easy communication between Central America and Canada, if recent archaeological findings near the junction of Highways 89 and 66, in Coconino County, reveal what scientists believe them to.

That some form of communication must have existed between the ancient Mayans and the Pueblo III dwellers of Northern Arizona is evidenced in the likeness of game courts recently exсаvated by Professor John C. McGregor of Arizona State Teachers College at Flagstaff and the game courts found in Central America and Mexico. McGregor is professor of archaeology at the college and curator of dendrology at the Museum of Northern Arizona. A crew of students from the college worked with McGregor on the excavation.

One of the courts on which Mr. McGregor and his party have been working has now been excavated sufficiently to identify it. This court, located on Dead Man's Flats, 35 miles northeast of Flagstaff in Coconino County, is an oval bowl about a hundred feet long and forty-five feet wide. It is slightly pointed on each end. It has a level earthen floor and sloping sides which were originally approximately seven or eight feet high. At the north and south ends openings were left in the walls to serve as entrances to the court. At the south end of the court a "goal" consisting of four rocks set in the floor was discovered. Spectators, if any, were permitted to witness the game, probably were accommodated at the top of the surrounding wall.

bowl about a hundred feet long and forty-five feet wide. It is slightly pointed on each end. It has a level earthen floor and sloping sides which were originally approximately seven or eight feet high. At the north and south ends openings were left in the walls to serve as entrances to the court. At the south end of the court a "goal" consisting of four rocks set in the floor was discovered. Spectators, if any, were permitted to witness the game, probably were accommodated at the top of the surrounding wall.

Several sites similar to the one on which excavation has been completed, have been found near Flagstaff, but they have not been heretofore identified. A few years ago Dr. J. W. Fewkes examined one of these sits at Wupatki ruins on the Wupatki National monument, a few miles north of the Dead Man's Flat ruins, but this was identified at that time as a "reservoir." Mr. McGregor's work now shows that the Wupatki court is a game court also. A few similar courts have been discovered recently in Southern Arizona, the most notable one being the court discovered and identified at Gila Pueblo last July by Dr. Emil Haury. Dr. Haury's work at Snaketown was the first definite demonstration that courts similar to the Mayan one existed north of Central America. Because of the difference in climate and altitude between the southern and northern parts of Arizona little thought was given to the possibility of any form of communication between the two areas. The excavation completed by the party headed by Mr. McGregor was striking in that it did demonstrate some form of communication between the early residents of the south and the prehistoric dwellers of the north.

The archaeology survey of the Museum of Northern Arizona at Flagstaff marked out the four depressions which now are identified as game courts. All four of the courts are of about the same size, and all have the long axis approximately north and south.

What kind of a game did the ancient inhabitants of Northern Arizona play that required such elaborate structures? No one can say as yet. To get further