The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1891-07-05
PREHISTORIC MAN.
Recent Remarkable Finds In North,
western America.
Ancient Sculptures Which, Indicate tho
Former Existence of q Superior
Race OF Which No Ira
illtiou Remains.

james Terry has just published de-
scriptions and photographs of some of
the most remarkable works of pre-
historic man yet discovered on the
American continent, says Alfred II.
Wallace il Nature. They represent
three rude, yet bold, characteristic and
even lifclike sculptures of simian heads,
executed il basalt. One of these be-
longs to the author, one to Il. Condor
and the third to Prof. o. C. Marsh, who
referred to it in his address "On Vcrtc-
bratc Lice in America" in the follow
ing terms: "On the Columbia river l
have found evidence of the former eX-
istSnce Of inhabitants much superior to
the Indians at present there, and of
which no tradition remains. Among
many stone carvings which saw there
were number of heads which so
strongly rcscmbled those of apes that
the likeness at once suggests itself.
Whence came these sculptures and by
whom were they madc?" Unfortunate
~ we have no detailed information as
to the conditions under which these
specimens were found except that
they would be classed US 'surfacc
finds from the fact that the shifting
sand dunes, which were largely utilized
for burial purposes, are continually
bringing them to the surface" This
gives no indication of their antiquity,
but is quite compatible with any age
which their other characteristics may
suggest.
The size of the heads varies from to
10 inches in total height, and from So
to G,l inches in height The three are
CO RI iT,ro-,t al
appear to represent three distinct ami
mails: and, so far as can judge, they
all differ considerably from the heads
of any known anthropoid apes. In par
ticular, the nostrils arc much farther
from the eyes and much nearer to the
mouth than in any of the apes. In this
respect they are more human; yet the
general form of the head and face, the
low and strongly ridged forehead, and
the ridges on the head and checks seem
to point to very low type of anthro-
poid. In n letter to Mr.. Terry, Mr.. Con-
don suggests that they were copied
from the figurehead of some Malay proa
that may have been wrecked on the
coast" but such a supposition is quite
iDadmissiblc, since nothing at all re-
sembling these heads is ever carved on
Malay proas, and there is no reason to
believe that if such n carving did como
into the possession of the natives they
would ever think of copying it in stone;
while these sculptures were found two
hundred miles from the coast, on the
cast side of the Cascade mountains
Taking into consideration the cnor-
nous antiquity of the stone mortars and
human remains found in the aurifcrous
gravels of California, buried under the
ancient lava streams and associated with
fora and fauna altogether different
from that of any part of America at the
present time, Mr.. Terrys own conclu-
sion appears the more probable. 1t is,
''eithcr that the animals which these
carvings represent once existed in the
Columbia valley, or that, IL the remote
past. n migration of natives from Some
region containing these monkeys
reached this valley and left one of the
vivid impressions of their former sur
roundings in these impcrishablc sculp-
lures" The latter alternative appears
to nc. for many reasons, to be highly
improbable: and though the former will
seem to many persons to be still moro
improbable, l am inclined professionally
to accept it.