Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1891-10-30

ruEMAN AND rur HORSE.
Prehistoric Amcrienns Probably Used th
Animal Tor Purposes ot Food,

Prehistoric Americans Probably Used tho
Animal for Purposes ot Food,
The Roueulogy of the horse has been
most admirably worked out in various
publications, and the fact has long been
| established that the genus originated ON
| the Mouth American continent, says u
writer IN the Scientific American, The
! question, however, MS TO whether prehis-
| toriC man in America had the horse ~ u
contemporary has been n disputed point,
| This question may now loo considered set
nj rest 10y the discovery OF 3 skull OF m
| extinct species OF horse in strata with
| human implements, This discovery was
announced 10y Prof l., u. Cope, ut tho
meeting of the American Association for
| the Advancement of Science, held in
| Washington the past month (August. A
! skull OF u horse wus exhibited to the mem
| heIs 10y Prot, Cope, who pointed out tho
characters of tho teeth and who stated u
would he impossible for any one TO Separ-
ate the fossil teeth from those OF tho
quagga and zebra If the three were all
thrown together, In minor characters,
such nh those OF the size of the bones, tho
| differences are pertephble. So there IL no
! doubt the skull represents nm animal
! 4 iferent from any now living. That 1t
was horse, however, any one could 500.
! The most curious thing about the skull
was its condition, The frontal bone had
been crushed in exactly IA W. see in tho
case of animals slaughtered for food, The
! friable bones protecting the eye sockets
were intaCt ms were also the long nasal
bones, Found in the same bed with tho
| skull was stone hammer that bore evil
dent marks of having been fashioned 10y
the hand of man,
! What inference WINS 10 be drawn from
! thisP la the first place Vt has b3en sns-
pecod and considered probable that curly
man on this continent had been oontcmpo'
raneous with u horse, though not the pre-.
sent living species, but no direct proof had
hitherto been found When Europeans
Landed ON the new continent, the horse
was nm unknown animal TO tho natives
So it had evidently long been extinct All
the horses now found in either North or
| South America came from stock originally
brought over 10y Europeans But here Wa
had evidence in the association Of human
implement and horse'a skull that man
and horse had lived toRotheri and tho Pc
mliar fracture OF the skull of the latter
leads to the belief that the animal had met
H. death ut the hands of man.
This fact opens several questions, What
became of the race OF horses that once
lived on the continent? Were they cxter-
minated by savage man ns civilized man
has extcrminated the biRonp Did they
once serve m beasts Of burden or were they
used only M food2 Were they wild or
domeslicaledp
H. seems probable that they were not
used for any other purpose than MS food,
and TINT they existed only IN wild state,
! for it IL nc Freely reasonable 10 suppose that
| having once been used by man and 40
dOnIektiCatCd, their use would ever nave
been forgotten or the breed allowed to die
out Neither is II probable that they were
cucrmlnated solely 10y the agency OF con-
| tpmpOraneous man, for we know that IN
/ optic Of the use OF the bison 10y the Indians
OF North America, their numbers did not
! decrease 10 any great extent. II was only
when civilized (O man began his destrue.
| tive work that the bison began TO disap-
! pear.
What, then, was the causo Of the disap.
| pearanCe OF the horse2 The age OF tho
! beds in which the remains are found Is
/ prior 10 the ice age that once prevailed in
/ NlflH hIliii liNs tNN ~ W." l''f'N ~
cold IL is possible we have u factor 70
8ccount for the extinction Of the horse.
/ The intense cold coming on forced the
animals TO migrate from their homes in
the northwest Of the United States, AID
retreaiing southwurd, they probably found
| n any competitors for existence. The
/ scaniy vegetation II New NJ xico, Arizona,
and Northern Mexico probably did not
suffice Tor The support Of the great herd OF
animals coming from the north. New
conditions Of existence may have weakened
| the italily Of the species; starvation may
have decimated their numbers compe-
tition with other races must have cut of a
large supply Of food, and the hand OF man
may have FASTENED the struggle to its
inevitable end All We know however, is
that the race became extinct. That man
lived 10 and Of course during the ice age
il ow we'll established. That he lived at
the same time with a species Of horse IL
made known by the discovery Of Prof.
Cope His inGue &c in the exlermination
~ many Of the large mammals at one time
iphabiting North Americ0 is yet uIdeter-
mined.