Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1890-04-02
AMERICAN Archaeology.
Mans First Appearance and His Progress
In the Western Hemisphere.

AMERICAN ARCHAEOLOGY.
Mans First Appearance and His Progress J
In tho Western Hemisphere.
Perhaps no anthropologist would
affirm an autochthonal race Of men for
America, even as working hypothesis. !
The unity of the human race is one Of
the best-established facts OF science, and
it rests mainly on biologic data. The
vast system Of homologies In the prog
ress Of culture under varying physical
leads ~ the same couviusi0l
that the human race is one. A saw.
age at the foot Of the Alps and another
at the foot Of the Andes learn to fashion
stone tools in the same way and to use
them for the same purpose. A barbarian
on the arid plains Of Assyria and anoth-
or on the Mexican plateau learn to irri-
gate a field in the same manner. The
savage on the Congo and the Saskatche.
wan alike come to believe the wind to
be the breath Of beast. II, then, the
human race is one, in what land did
man first appear? There has been
much speculation on this subject,
but no sound :inductive reasoning,
because the facts upon which
such reasoning must be passed are yet
undiscovered. 1t falls to the lot Of the
students Of American archaeology to
solve one portion Of this problem. Let
the American subject Of investigation
be clearly stated. AS q part Of the
problem, we must discover the first APP
pearance of mankind in the several re-
gions of the continent. The evidence
must rest on geologic facts, and only the
most skilled biologists are competent
to undertake the task, as the condi-
tons of certitude are multiform and
subtitle. The epoch not only antedates
recorded history, but is anterior to all
tradition, all mythology, all institu-
tons, all organized or grammatic
speech, and nearly if not quite all art;
for everywhere the earliest arts discov-
cred are exceedingly primitive or rude,
and we know not whether these simple
arts were practiced when the first low
ly people came to this country or
whether they were autochthonal. That
nlythologies, languages and institu-
tons sprang from many independent
centers of origin throughout America,
seems to rest on sound evidence that
we may not enter upon here; and
there seems to be some probability
that art centers we're original
and independent in various regions Of
the country, but the evidence of this is
less convincing. A part of the problem
is to assemble the works of art gathered
from geologic formations, and by vast
comparison to determine to what period
of culture they belong, and whether or
not they have common origin. Should
it be found that they are cognate, then
it can be safely inferred that man
spread over the continent after the in
vention of the rudest arts; but if, as the
evidence now seems to indicate, it
should be found that the arts themselves
sprang from local conditions, and are
more diverse at the beginning than
later, and that everywhere they are of
the lowest grade, it would be legiti-
mate conclusion that men were dis
persed over the continent anterior to the
development of the rudest arts. Again,
if it should be discovered that the ruder
arts are found in some regions at an
earlier geologic date than elsewhere,
and that they appear at later geologic
date in more distant regions, and per-
haps that such arts are of q higher
grade as distance increases, some-
thing of the progress in the occu-
patton of the land would be
discovered, and important facts
would be obtained showing the relation
between the coming of man in North
America and his appearance on other
continents. It is thus seen that the
primal problem of American archaeology
is in part geologic and in part cultural.
Something has been done toward its So
luton; but the facts require careful re-
view, for much loose and unskilled OBJ
servation is on record. Sound conclu-
sions can be reached only after a survey
has been made of the whole of North
America. 1t is the work of many men
for decades. All the Pleistocene for
nations of America must be correlated,
so that relations of contemporaneous
origin and relations Of sequence may be
established. There is to be much dis
cussion; but happily it will be done
with little acrimony, for the researches
for the last half of this century have
taught scientific men lessons of wisdom
and of tolerance for divergent opinion,
and wider knowledge abates the asperi-
ties of controversy.-Major j. w. Powell,
in Forum.
A Young Great Grandma.