It is the habit of the modern Tusayan Indians to deposit food of
various kinds on the graves of their dead. The basins used for that
purpose are heaped up with paper-bread, stews, and various delicacies
for the breath-body of the deceased. Naturally from its exposed
position much of this food is devoured by animals or disappears in
other ways. There appears excellent evidence, however, that the
mortuary food offerings of the ancient Sikyatkians were deposited with
the body and covered with soil and sometimes stones.
The lapse of time since these burials took place has of course caused
the destruction of the perishable food substances, which are found to
be simple where any sign of their former presence remains. Thin films
of interlacing rootlets often formed a delicate network over the whole
inner surface of the bowl. Certain of the contents of these basins in
the shape of seeds still remain; but these seeds have not germinated,
possibly on account of previous high temperatures to which they have
been submitted. A considerable quantity of these contents of mortuary
bowls were collected and submitted to an expert, the result of whose
examination is set forth in the accompanying letter:
U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, DIVISION OF BOTONY,
_Washington, D. C., March 25, 1896._
DEAR DR FEWKES: Having made a cursory examination of the
samples of supposed vegetable material sent by you day
before yesterday, collected at Sikyatki, Arizona, in
supposed prehistoric burial places, I have the following
preliminary report to make:
No. 156247. A green resinous substance. I am unable to say
whether or not this is of vegetable origin.
No. 156248. A mass of fibrous material intermixed with sand,
the fibers consisting in part of slender roots, in part of
the hair of some animal.
No. 156249. This consists of a mixture of seed with a small
amount of sand present. The seeds are, in about the relative
order of their abundance, (_a_) a leguminous shiny seed of a
dirty olive color, possibly of the genus _Parosela_ (usually
known as _Dalea_); (_b_) the black seed shells, flat on one
side and almost invariably broken, of a plant apparently
belonging to the family _Malvaceae_; (_c_) large, flat,
nearly black achenia, possibly of a _Coreopsis_, bordered
with a narrow-toothed wing; (_d_) the thin lenticular
utricles of a _Carex_; (_e_) the minute black, bluntly
trihedral seeds of some plant of the family _Polygonaceae_,
probably an _Eriogonum_. The majority of these seeds have a
coating of fine sand, as if their surface had originally
been viscous; (_f_) a dried chrysalis bearing a slight
resemblance to a seed.
No. 156250. This bottle contains the same material as No.
156249, except that no larvæ are found, but a large, plump,
brownish, lenticular seed 4 mm. in diameter, doubtless the
seed of a _Croton_.
No. 156251. A thin fragment of matter consisting of minute
roots of plants partially intermixed on one surface with
sand.
No. 156252. This consists almost wholly of plant rootlets
and contains a very slight amount of sand.
No. 156254. This consists of pieces of rotten wood through
which had grown the rootlets of plants. The wood, upon a
microscopical examination, is shown to be that of some
dicotyledonous tree of a very loose and light texture. The
plant rootlets in most cases followed the large ducts that
run lengthwise through the pieces of wood and take up the
greater part of the space.
No. 156255. The mass contained in this bottle is made up of
(_a_) grains, contained in their glumes or husks, of some
grass, probably _Oryzopsis membranacea_; (_b_) what appears
to be the minute spherical spore cases of some microscopical
fungus. The spore cases have a wall with a shiny brown
covering, or apparently with this covering worn off and
exhibiting an interior white shell. Within this is a very
large number of spherical spore-like bodies of a uniform
size; (_c_) a few plant rootlets.
No. 156256. The material in this bottle is similar to that
in 156255 except that the amount of rootlets is greater, the
grass seeds are of a darker color, seemingly somewhat more
disorganized, and somewhat more slender in form, and that
the spore cases seem to be entirely wanting.
No. 156257. The material in this bottle is similar to that
in No. 156249, containing the seeds numbered _a_, _b_, _c_,
and _d_ mentioned under that number, besides a greater
amount of plant rootlets and some fragments of corncob.
No. 156258. This consists almost entirely of plant rootlets
and sand.
No. 156259. This consists chiefly of the leaves of some
coniferous tree, either an _Abies_ or a _Pseudotsuga_.
All the seeds with the exception of those of the leguminous
plant are dead and their seed-coats rotten. The leguminous
seeds are still hard and will be subjected to a germination
test.[169]
For a specific and positive identification of these seeds it
will be necessary either for a botanist to visit the region
from which they came or to have at his disposal a complete
collection of the plants of the vicinity. Under such
conditions he could by process of exclusion identify the
seeds with an amount of labor almost infinitely less than
would be required in their identification by other means.
Very sincerely yours,