The Opelousas courier., 1891-08-01
REMARKABLE EXHIBIT.
PREHISTORIC MAN AND MANNERS
AT THE WORLDS FAIR.

1[aG 1AA Ro5SA0AS RANS0S "
in America and the life of the aborigines
at the time of the landing of Columbus
will be illustrated at the Worlds
Columbian Exposition by the department
of archaeology and ethnology Professor
T. W. Putnam, of Harvard Uni
yersity, is the chief of this de-
partment, and is pronounced the
most competent man in America for
the position. He has been granted $l0,-
600 for immediate work in his depart
ment, and has already begun with great
| enthusiasm the task of collecting and
preparing for the most extensive exhibit.
He has arranged with the Peary expedi-
ton to Greenland to get models of
| Eskimos and their huts and equipments.
A similar collection will be made from a
tribe of Aleuts. He has planned to re-
produce portions of the celebrated stone
ruins in Yucatan. For several weeks,
under Professor Putuam's direction.
excavations have been progressing in the
! vicinity of Fort Ancient, Ohio, the.
greatest known earth works of the
mound builders. A. large number of
skeletons, some of them in a good state,
of preservation, has been exhumed, and
numerous stone utensils and various orna-;
ments found. The graves and skeletons
within them will be shown at the Ex-
position in exactly the same state, except
for the earth covering them, in which
they have existed for thousand of years.
To a newspaper correspondent PROBES.
sor Putnam recently outlined as follows
his ideas of the exhibit which his de-,
partment will make at the Exposition:
aThe conditions under which mar was
living when his existence in America IS
first traced, will be shown III diagram
attic paintings representing the terminal
portions of the ice-sheet, with the clay
and gravel deposits and boulders at the
edge, the fora and fauna at the time, and
man associated with animals since x
tinct. This series is planned to contain
the skeletons of the mammoth and the
mastodon. with mounted specimens OF
northern animals living at that early
period far south of their present abode.
With portions of skeletons of man Will
be objects of handiwork and other repre-
sensations pertaining to the life OF that
tine. In connection with the hablta-
tons of the Eskimo, models of men.
women and children will be shown;
made from casts taken and colored from
life and dressed in native costumes
These figures will be made in extended
number to illustrate all types of mankind.
The work in parts is in papier mache,
with the figures draped in actual gar
meBts.
zone of the most interesting and
striking representations will illustrate the
architecture of Yucatan In casts taken
from some of the ruins. To make the
moulds for a complete cast of any single
building will be not only a gigantic
operation, but will cost several thousand
dollars. The selection of subjects is not
determined with absolute certainty, but
the great portal from the court at Labna
is one of the subjects approved for the
series. Others are the Temple of the
! Sun at Chichen-Itza, the House of the
Nuns at Uxmal, and an old house at
Merida (1549) with richly carved orna.
mentation. The entire collection OF
casts recently arrived at the Peabody
Museum from Paris, which were made
from moulds taken by NJ. Desire Charnay
during the Lorillard expedition to Yucca,
tan and other southwestern parts of the
continent, will also be exhibited.
In another group will be shown the
origin and development of the primitive
): arts, and the progress of nations during
the historic archaeological period will bt
illustrated. This representation viii con
! tain such important objects as models o
ancient vessels and models to illustrate
pancient buildings, particularly the vari
Gus habitations in the form of huts, etc.
built in this country. A third groul
will be in illustration of navigation ant
cartography. A complete series of map
of the world will be collected, both o
: those anterior to Columbus and Of other
: illustrating discoveries down to the pres
emit time. In the case OF the most rar
: maps only reproductions will be presen
, ted, although the loan of many original
I is expected. A fourth group will ex
! hibit inventions, arranged to illustrat
!. progress, with amelioration of life ant
s /, labor. In this will be shown originals
: copies and models of notable inventions
: supplemented by a collection of portrait
Of distinguished inventors.
3 ssOther collections of similar com
y pleteness will represent all the principa
q tribes Of the northern part of the cont
nent, the Indian races of the interior, tn
inhabitants of the West Indies and tn
eastern tribes of North America at th
time of Columbus, the native tribes 0
. the Southwest, those of Mexico, Centre
America, and South America, in all case
!. with their habitations and costumes an
arts and industries extensively shown
!. with the addition Of the previously mer
toned models Of the varied types mad
8 from life.
1.-THE various material required TO
these exhibits will be largely secured b
new explorations, though much Is e1
pected from private collections; an
: much, if need be, can be furnished fro
s the Peabody Museum. At present the
i is every indication that the entire d
partment will form as complete an illu
! trait ion as possible of American life b
fore the coming of the Spaniards, homo
able to the Exposition and to the Amer
can ar~cheologists in general.
II @E% EH