New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-09-11
PREHISTORIC MAN IN OHIO.
RESULTS OF EXTENSIVE EXPLORATIONS
IN MOUNDS AND TONES.

OF field work put in suitable snap" W. ''S'
An example of needless overs'atemeht j. ~
found in this sentence: Naked ana "Ie'cnc' 90
nrimi,,,e man was. he triumphed over the trials
and dangers that besct him, ana his ocece"u""',
vrsduallv increased until they to be numbered
almost as the leaves of the Forest again To disappear
az these soitudcs were cleared away by the axes OF
the hardy American pioneers" Even the 100000
900 or more of people now on this continent could
only uoeticaly be numbered with the leaves Of the
foresh When it is remembered how difficult the
problem of subsistence with men i'll the preda-
forv stage of life: how imperfect civilization
with weak weapons, inadequate tools, no domestic
animals except the dog, and no vehicles except thc
canoe was confined TO the neighborhood OF wafer
courses how, as Morgan has shown, the vast eN-
panse of Western plains was not only uninhanl'eu
but untraversed by the Indian till the advent OF
the horse, and how east Of the Mississippi the
dense forest away from the river valleys was as
unknown to the Indian as TO the whlte man, 10
must be seen that the area open TO population was
really very small Man under such conditions
could hardly multiply faster than the larger oeaes
of prey. which always VIGOROUSLY few IN num-
hers compared with the creatures on when 'hey
subsist Considerations like these have lea
anthropologists to estimate the total population
Of Europe in the Stone Age and aboriginal
America never emerged from the Stone 'AGe-ao
$4,000 to $4,000. c. F. Keary. as good authority
as any. puts it at $1,000. 1t is doubtful there-
fore IL the entire Indian population Of the region
now included in the boundaries of the uniteu
States was more than l 90, 900 at any one time,
and the probability is very great that it never eX-
ceeded 10000. As to the legends that have de-
seconded from pionecr times the less said the bet
ter. Probably the most accomplished liar that the
world ever produced, vacation fishermen not ex-
cented was the professional Indian slayer.
Tho remote inhabitants of Ohio with whom Mr..
Moorehead and his corps Of assistants dealt were,
in the nature of the case, worse off than their sue
cessors Intra- glacial paleolithic man could nov
we'll have been more numerous than the Esqui-
maux The mere scarcity of food must have Kept
his numbers throughout a vast region down 10
what would now he considered good figure lot an
average county town. With his successors cohul-
tions improved somewhat hut as pointed out IN TINS
volume there is absolutely no sign OF MOUND
building inhabitants on the Lake Erie side OF u'e
watershed nor. indeed, for considerable space OH
the southern slope. And in the Ohio Valley the pre-
historic remains are confined to spots easily accessl-
BILE from the Muskngnm, Scioto, or Little Miami
River so that the indications point 70 the mmigra-
ton of these people from the southwark: while,
10 NAV be added. the traditions OF the Hurons ana
Delawures seem to show that destruction fell upon
them from the north and the northeast FROM
the study of skulls found by Mr. Moor"heads
party the conclusion is reached that there were at
least two successive waves of immigration IN which,
as in Europe a lone-headed small-hodicd race was
followed by more intelligent people with short
heads and taller figures Where the former were
overcome they were either eXtermnated or re-
duced 10 slavery Bnt the career Of the conquerors
for ulilp they conn stnV
ovcrran the Little Miami and Scioto valleys, they
had apparently made no inroads into the Mus
kingum region. The explanatio, of the fact in
this book is that 1.-The lone-heads established
toward the east in the Muskingum valley were too
strong to be dislodged by the short-heads
and these in their turn were TOO powerful in the
west to be driven back by their enemies from the
land which they had taken possession Of BIT
why should not megre amount OF credit be gwen
10 the positive traditions e the warlike tribes
who when fhe white man came, inhabited the val
lcys of the Delaware and the Hudson They In
sist that after long conflict they destroyed the
people who lived along the C-hee-ou 1.-THE great
river, not the beautiful river, AMI the value Of
their traditions lies in the fact that they have man.
ifestly been handed down without mutual conami-
nation Each Of these great tribes supposed that Its
ancestors were the conquerors of the Ohio Valley
A catastrophe OF this sort, extremely possible IN
itself, would furnish needed link between the
older and newer periods Of human life in the centre
of this continent single fact TO which atten-
ton is called in this book proves that, however
early the so-called mound-bulders may have begun
their residence in the Ohio Valley, they remained
in possession down to comparatively recent times.
This fact relates to the character of the wood used
in the ttnnbs mound in Ross County was found
TO contain in state easily recognizable, relics Of
dogwood, elm, hickory, ash, maple, red and white
oak, redbud. honey -locust. chestnut and Eastwood
In another mound near by were found fragments
Of beech. sycamore and black walnut. To any
one familiar with the forests Of Ohio these names
will call TO mind stretches Of woodland JUST the
trees stand to-day There is no looking back 10
time like that Of the Danish kitchen mddens,
when frs were the only forest growth that could
endure rigorous climate, nor even TO a time when
Ohio shared the climate that now prevails north
or Lake Erie, where tall frs are still found IN
groups among the shorter growth Of more modern
forest. While it is not surprising that tree like
the honey-locust should last for buried in the
ground, most woo1cutters will open their eyes in
wide astenshment if told that Eastwood mas
tanned its texture in the drest soil even half
millennium.
Another point where a conclusion is drawn
which the results Of investigation hardly seem 70
warrant is in the brilliant essay of Dr. H. T. Cres
con on the crania exhumed Not that the conclu-
sion itself is incorrect. Most persons acquainted
with the subject will agree that the skulls he has
measured and delineatcd belonged to a people
"whose racial type was if not created, at least
Fixed on the American continent" But What he
has really shown is, that throughout the mound
building period there were in Ohio not one, but
two race types supposed TO he in deadly antag-
onism TO each other There are absolutely no signs
Of fusion, and the indications of contact those
Of conflict OF slavery. One will have TO go out
side Of this bool; for complete argument as to the
elements united in what DR.. Brinton calls the
American race.
.,,ob loa e,;I ut 10 r,oIy inn ,i,,,