Wood River times. [volume] (Hailey, Idaho) 1882-1915, 1882-05-27

GvlAencos 81 the AntaqdltY - AMeT.
lean Civilization.

PREHISTORIC MAN.
GvsAencss u the AntiqaltY - Amer.
lean Civilixasion.
Man beholds the traces of his labors
Ill around him, finds everywhere, even
aeep down in the bowels OF the earth,
evidences Of his great antiquity, and
looks upon all as stable and enduring.
He inquiries Of the pyramids, ascends
their submits, wanders through their
interior labyrinthian passages, and seeks
20 find the motives for their construc-
ton. He deciphers the inscriptions on
their walls, and is astonished with the
power and wisdom of those who made
Them. He finds their builders were in
serlopers from some other country, and
At \ very remote age. Human records
Tail to give the origin of these people,
" the country from which they came.
Tho antiquarian lends his aid. He finds
tho mounds and tumui Of America
identical in general form, and evidently
constructed for the same purpose, with
.hose covering the vast steppes OF Asia
The mounds are traced down the valleys
u the Taris and Euphrates, and fee
ble idea Of their magnitude is learned
by expiring the ruined Temple Of Be-
lus-the wonderful Tower Of Babel, of
biblical story-on the site Of ancient
Babylon As We follow the nomadic
builders of those structures, we overtake
them in the valley Of the Nile, driving
out the native blacks, as they had al
rsady done III Asia, setting up new
civilization peculiarly their own, and
erecting their mounds, towers and pyra.
nils, each step Of their progress mark
ing m improvement on the preceding,
the general idea and purpose Of which
their remote ancestors carried out with
hem from o continent which was grad
tally submerged, the Inhabitants retir-
ing before the incoming ocean. During
III. long periods Of their journeyings,
-.sting for centuries by the way, and
.gain advancing, they reached that re-
Sion, foreigners on foreign shore,
where We first find them at the com.
mencement Of the historic age, making
aggressive inroads upon the native pop
ulations of Asia and Africa.
The American continent bears unmis-
tempcraneous with those people. They.
too, were mound, pyramid and artificial
lake builders they were sun Worship
ers, as were those who reached Asia,
and, like them, had their idols, to whom
they made animal and human sacrifices;
they faced the east in their worship,
and buried their dead looking in the
same direction, and each had large
array Of priests who administered to
their gods; each employed ornamented
funeral urns in which they deposited the
ashes Of their worthy dead, and each
used the phallic emblem in the same
manner. In short, each were parts of
the great wave of humanity, goi z out
of common confer, one rolling east
ward, the other westward, to escape q
calamity. Each had
similar features and similar forms Of ex-
preston; each carried forward similar
civilization each had made similar all
vances in mineralosy; each employed
the now los art Of hardening copper for
stone cutting, and used the precious
metals for ornamentation. And, to CHI
max the whole. each had written Ian
guage. Famine, pestilence and exter-
mlnat!ng war, an overwhelming ocean
wave, or some Other d.refuI calamity
swept oil away. His labors only re-
main to tell that he has been. Savage
man, from some less favored region.
gained control. and intruded his dead
INTO the mounds and places of sepulcher
of the lost, and now. 20 far as America is
concerned. wholly cxtin race.
The antiquarian and scientist and the.
,logian As we'll, should ase investiRa-
tons among the ruins of Asia for the
birthplace OF humanity, but such may.
with profit, linda perfect resemblance be.
tween ancient Aslatic and American civ
lizations, and almost demonstrate that
the latter IN CO, val with or antedates the
iormer by thousands Of years that the
Western Is quite rs old as the Eastern
hemisphere, and that here has been
wrou ;ht changes Of which the human
mind has but u feeble conception that
he marks Of an ancient and advanced
riviliza ion oil around us give indications
II rtill Older ones which cycles OF sub.
mergtnce aud emergence are ever deyel.
oping to observing man; and which. il
human records could be preserved
through all the mutations of time. would
ultimately reveal much that 1t present
10 concealed from the earnest investi.
gator.