The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-11-30
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
Evidence Of People Who Existed
Since Columbus Time.
Skeletons and Implements Of All Kinds
Found In Large Numbers Along
the Shores Of the Pa
ciHc Ocean.

The archaeological explorations
which are being conducted in the town
of Alameda, Cal, will probably set at
rest the doubts which have been enter
tanned touching the age of the human
remains found on the coast Ever since
the American occupation such remains
have been turned up by the spade and
the pillow in the seaboard counties
Th4y have been found in Alameda.
Coftra Costa, Marin, Sonoma, Napa
and Sofano counties, and they have
always been identical. The heads Of
the skeletons have been prognathous,
and the bones have occurred in con-
Junction with stone arrowheads and
spearheads, stone pestles and mortars.
ana not infrequently with heaps Of
shells like the shell mounds which are
called kitchen holdings in Denmark.
They have generally been found five to
ten feet below the surface in an allu-
vial deposit. At one time it was sup
posed that the remains were contempo-
raneous with the relics of mound
builders of Ohio, Indiana and Wiscon-
sin. 1t was even suggested that they
might be coeval with the tribe to which
the owner Of the Calaveras skull be-
longed.
But investigation long ago led tho
San Francisco Call to the conclusion
that they must be Of much more recent
origin. The condition in which the
bones are found forbids the theory that
they can be very ancient Lying es
they do in a bed of alluvium, they
would not preserve their shape for ono
or, at most, two centuries. 1t Is only
under exceptionally favorable circum-
stances that q human skull or human
bono will retain Its form seven hum
dred or eight hundred years after it has
been buried, and some of the mounds in
the river states must be as old IS that.
It is known that the Indians who were
found here by the Spaniards used
weapons tipped with stone having
no knowledge Of the metals, and that
they ground their corn in stone mortars
with stone pestles There Is thus
to forbid the hypothesis that
these remains are those Of . race which
inhabited California long after the oc-
cupation Of tho Atlantic states and Of
Mexico by Europeans, and there is
much to confirm that theory.
If prehistoric MANN the sense in
which the word is commonly used-is
ever discovered in California he will
probably be found, as the Calaveras
skull was found, in the drift which
overies the limestone or the primeval
rock. There is every reason to believe
that man existed in the dIuvial period,
in places as to which it is I'M
certain whether they were ever covered
with the glacial deposit. Doubts on the
question have been suggested by the
curious fact that in all the explorations
which have been undertaken to discover
the bed of rivers no human remains
have been found, if we except the Cal
averas skull and one other. In most Of
The countries of Europe the drift is rich
n human remains In this state, where
The pursuit of gold has led to vigorous
in the drift, no such discov-
cries have been made. But still the
is so strong that man ex-
oCCN az Vic SiAAAC gnu W % SCA uO"h
oy the floods into the river beds that |
We are driven to regard the nondiscov-
.ry of his remains as accidental.
What manner Of man he will turn !
mt to be when he is found is matter Of |
conjecture. The primeval American,
IS unearthed elsewhere, was OF short |
tature, and his head was prognathous
that is to say, the facial angle was
cute, as it is in the brute creature. A |
ew years ago some remarkable skulls |
we're found in Oregon by a scientist |
Who is now connected with the Metro
'olitan museum in Central park, New
FORK. They resemble the skulls Of |
heep. and yet there is no doubt that |
hey were human. An examination of
heir form led to the idea that they !
anne nearer to the connecting link be-
ween man and the brute creature than
ny other skulls which had been dug
ut of the earth.
In scientific discovery the next thing
D the evolution of truth is the explo-
ion of an error. The exploration in
llameda county will perhaps set at
est the anxieties Of those who have
reamed of a prehistoric race on this
oast and in 50 doing they will render
service to science. Indian pestles and
lortars made Of stone have been famil-
N objects Anyone who takes an In
crest in such curios can fill a wheel
arrow with them on the shore of San
labo bay