Long Before Columbus

Long Before Columbus Excavation of Pesh-ba-gowah Ruin by W.P.A. Forces Adds Valuable Chapter to Arizona Archaeological History

SKELETONS of men and women who developed a relatively high type of civilization in Arizona at least two centuries before the time of Columbus are being uncovered at Cesh-bagowah ruin, near Globe, under a project of excavation and reconstruction now well advanced.

From their abandoned homes and their graves, archaeological treasures are being recovered, restored when necessary, and stored or placed on exhibition in temporary museum quarters.

The project is being executed by the Gila County Archaeological society, in cooperation with the federal work program of Works Progress administration. An allotment of approximately $8000 of federal funds for labor has been granted. Materials and equipment used and supervision is being furnished by the city of Globe, sponsor of the project.

Pesh-ba-gowah, although not one of the largest ruins of the district, is expected to be among the most important from a From the standpoint of materials for study and exhibition being recovered.

More than a hundred burials have been excavated. The museum, which has already been moved in search of larger quarters, is overcrowded with pottery, stone implements, trinkets and ornaments, skeletons, and other relics.

The ruin is situated only a mile south of the Gila county court house, in what is designated as the center of the Gila basin section of the archaeological research field of the southwest, a district in which there are many ruins, most of them undisturbed.

It is built on a high mesa, overlooking Pinal creek, near which, evidence shows, the pueblo people once cultivated their crops. The site overlooks many other locations of prehistoric villages on the outskirts of Globe, the city itself, and surrounding districts at the foot of the Pinal mountains. The name of the ruins, translated literally, means "village of metals."

Against the side of a room which has been completely reconstructed leans a bright, neatly built pine ladder, in the place where a cruder ladder, bound with rawhide thongs, gave access to the original building seven centuries ago. The(Continued on Page 20)