The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1891-04-30
PREHISTORIC MAN.
3ecent Remarkable Finds In North
western America.
Ancient Sculptures Which Indicate the
Former Existence Of Superior
Race OF which No Tra-
ditiou Remains.

sooMSS lcrry HAS yuSe puUllSucu uc-
scriptions and photographs of some Of
the most remarkable works Of pre-
historic man yet discovered on the
American continent, says Alfred r.
Wallace in Nature. They represent
three rude, yet bold, characteristic and
even lifelilSe sculptures of simian heads,
executed in basalt. One of these be-
longs to the author, one to T. Condor
and the third to Prof o. G. Marsh, who
referred to it in his address "On Verte-
brate Life in America" in the follow
ing terms: 'On the Columbia river I
have found evidence of the former ex-
1stsnce 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 resembled those Of apes that
the likeness at once suggests itself.
Whence came these sculptures and by
whom were they made?" Unfortunate
1y we have no detailed information as
to the conditions under which these
specimens were found except that
s'thcy would be classed as surface
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 5A
to 61 inches in height. Tho three are
30 different from each other that they
appear to represent three distinct ami
mails; and, SO far as I can judge, they
all differ considerably from the heads
of any known anthropoid apes. In par
ficular, the nostrils are much farther
frosn the eyos 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 cheeks seem
to point to very low type of anthro-
poid. In a letter to Mr.. Terry, Mr.. Con-
don suggests 'that they were copied
from the fgurehead of some Malay proa
that may have been wrecked on the
coast;" but such supposition is quite
rAhcbuhliSolOlS, oluCO AhoOlAlliS uu OIL 10
Fembling these heads is ever carved on
MALAY proas and there is no reason to
believe that if such carving did come
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
east side of the Cascade mountains.
Taking into consideration the enor-
nous antiquity of the stone mortars and
human remains found in the auriferous
Kravels Of California, buried under tho
ancient lava streams and associated with
q fora and fauna altogether different
from that Of any part Of America at the
present time, Mr.. Terry's own conclu-
sion appears the more probable. It is,
s'efther that the animals which these
carvings represent once existed in the
Columbia valley, or that, in the remote
past, a 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 imperishable sculp-
lures" The latter alternative appears
to me, for many reasons, to be highly,
Improbable; and though the former will
seem to many persons to be still more
Improbable, I am inclined Professionally
to accept it.