Sharp County record., 1880-12-09
THE GLACIAL MAN IN AMERICA.


In that distant age when Nature was still
toiling al lhe foundations of the Eastern Con-
tinept, portions of America had become dry
land, and mountan-pealS in North Carolina
were illuminated by rising and setting suns.
1t is. therefore, an anachrOnism to speak OF
America as the New World, especially when
we remember the high antiquity Of the fauna
of North America Still it is believed that the
Eastern Continent was the original abode OF
man.
But when, or under what circumstances, did
America receive her first human inhabitant!
Heretofore those who have discussed the ques-
ton have assigned the event to comparative
ly modern period, and have considered the
probability of immigrations from Asia by
Behrng Strait; while others have suggested
early transatlantic movements, or the peOpling
of America from a lost continent OF the Paclhc
Ocean. The discovery Of stone implements,
however. in the glacial deposits of the Della
ware Valley gives fresh turn to the discus
sion, and carries the QueS ion back to remote
periods. 1t is true that the great antiquity OF
man on this continent had been maintained
previously. but the evidence was quite unlike
what is now offered. Yet, whatever may be
concluded ultimately respecting the antiquity
of the Delaware lints, tits quite apparent that
the red-man found in America at the period of
its rediscOycrv by Cabot, Vespucci and Column
bus was not the descendant ofany glacial man.
No line of connection can be made out. ms
continent does not appear TO have any hent'S
Hole like that at Torbay, atfordng cOntinu-
GUS history. beginning with the cave-bear and
ending with w. Hodges, of Ireland, 1858"
The race that rose to wealth and power in
Central America did not succeed any rude
spear-maker More and more is it becoming
evident that the people Of Central Ameri-
from q lnlHDlt-
ing the borders of the MEDITERRANEAN. This
is indicated by certain similarity
in manners, customs, architecture ana
religion. Investigations, now in progress,
promise to yield the approximate date OF the
period when the first cOnqueEOrs of Mexico
and YucataU crossed the sea. The Spaniards
learned that the people whom they conquered
had themselves figured in the role OF invaders,
entering from a country called Tulan or lu-
Japan, and Overrunning the then dominant
race. 1t NAV vet be demonstrated that this
took place about the thirdyearo of the Christian
era. But who were these earlier inhabitants!
These we believe were not the descendants OF
an Indigenous race any more than were the
later tribes There is nothing to show that
they were ever connected in America with any
glacial or pliOcene man. They might, how
ever. be referred to still more remote migra-
tions from Europe, which may have taken
place III connection WIFI bNGulS lldG gave llSC
to the story of the lost continent of Atlantis,
as related by Plato. The sO-caled aboriginal
red-man is comparatively modern, although
the author of Leaves of Grass" asks con-
cerning the friendly and flowing savage" is
he "waiting for civilization or past it and
mastering it!n However this may be he is
wandering over the graves Of peoples who left
no record of their exploits, either in the con-
tineut where they sprung into life or where
they died II is, indeed, asgnitcant fact that
the East furnishes no very plain tradition OF
any exodus which peOpled America The pre-
historic emigrant must have been possessed
of the idosyncrasies of those who
"...... fold their tents like the Arabs
And silently steal away.
The absence Of such traditions is neverthe-
less not at all surprising, since the people of
antiquity, and notablyt the PhGnicianS, guard
ed their distant maratime discoveries with
care. Indeed, we wholly misapprehend the
spirit of that remote age, in Supposing that
the navigatOrs would hasten to SHOW the way
to new found lands and proclaim their discov-
cries to all the world. This was not even the
spirit of The sixteenth century, for at that pc
riod, in the spirit of the Tyran and Sidonian
sailor the Spaniards and the Frcn h had their
plans for stopping the advance Of other ma
tions-the one by fortiGying the straits OF Ma
gellan, and the other by holding the supposed
route to the Indies by way Of the st. Law
renee.
1t is nov gradually becoming apparent that
the peOpling of America was accomplished by
more than onerac of emigrants, and that at
least two distinct expeditions went from Eu-
rope 10 Mexico and 1ucatan before the Span
iards. This question therefore, has its his
toric and archaeological side, and consists of
number of very distinct lines, which are to be
studied separately by specialists, in the con-
viction that no one theory or set Of facts cOv-
ers the whole ground. Several distinct con-
tributlons were made by the inhabitants OF the
Eastern Continent toward the peopling Of
America, and, by means of a careful division
of labor we may yet reach some satisfactory
solution of a subject that has so long baflled
inquiry. Such studies may be conducted on
strictly scientific principles as well as those
Prosecuted with relation to the story of life in
general on this continent; for, if we may ac-
cept as historic the representation of Professor
Marsh, who pictures the American primates
making their way over the miOcene bridge at
Behrng Strait to Europe and falling later,
when differentiated, to return, because the
bridge had broken down, man alone returning
TO the country of his "earlier ancestry" it Is
certainly reasonable to hope that the origin of
those races not connected with the in-comer
BY Behring Strait may be satisfactorily ex-
At what period the Atlantic was first crossed
by man it is impossible now to conjecture. 1t
was nevertheless navigated in very early times
and was sea of light though at the dawn Of
history it appears as the ''Sea OF Darkness, in
Spring no little apprehension and dread; while
Albinovinus sends ont Germanicus upon the
sea with y7Gt ipSa dies. Under the circum
stances, therefore, the old discussions will be
continued, though the subject of the glacial
man in America may be pursued as something
wholly independent.
But was there any glacial man in America3
To this question the answers distinct, though
given with the reserve which the subject justi-
fes. For the best that is known, we are chief
ly indebted to DR.. G. c. abbott, who was first
TO cali attention to the stone implements
found in the glacial deposits of the Della
ware Valley. These implements are
chiefly of argellite, though examples of flint
occur at higher levels. They have been found
at the bluffs near Trenton, both in position
where deposited and among the debris at the
base. Dr. Abbott says Perhaps it is wise
caution that is exercised in but Professionally
admitting the great antiquity of American
man. but, we're these rude implements not
attributed to an inter-glacal people,
their coequal age with the containing beds
would never have been questioned" On this
point the Curator of the Peabody Museum at
Cambridge observes in the tenth annual re-