INDIAN BURIAL PIT

SEVERAL HUNDRED YEARS AGO, PERHAPS MORE THAN A THOUSAND, THIS VALLEY WAS INHABITED BY MEN WHOSE AVERAGE HEIGHT WAS PROBABLY WELL OVER SIX FEET. THESE WERE NOT THE INDIANS OF QUIVIRA, WHOSE "7-FOOT WARRIORS" CORONADO DESCRIBED IN 1541, BUT AN EVEN EARLIER PEOPLE. HERE THEY LIVED IN EARTH LODGES, TILLING THE SOIL, HUNTING AND FISHING, AND HERE THEY LEFT RECORDS OF UNUSUAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL IMPORTANCE. ONE MILE SOUTHEAST OF THIS MARKER IS A BURIAL PIT CONTAINING MORE THAN 140 SKELETAL REMAINS THAT DEMONSTRATE THE REMARKABLE SIZE AND STRENGTH OF THESE PREHISTORIC INDIANS. THE PIT WAS DISCOVERED IN 1936. IT HAS BEEN SCIENTIFICALLY EXCAVATED, WITH THE SKELETONS STILL PRESERVED IN THE SAME FLEXED POSITIONS OF THEIR BURIAL CENTURIES AGO. AMONG THE OBJECTS FOUND IN THE PIT ARE PIECES OF POTTERY, A GRINDING STONE, PARCHED CORN AND BEANS, A STONE TOMAHAWK, CEREMONIAL FLINT KNIVES, AND CLAM-SHELL BEADS AND EAR PENDANTS.