El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1898-04-30
WHO ARE
AMERICANS?
The Search For Primitive Man in
America.

America.
New York Tribune Condensed for Public
Opinion.
Many iute resting questions In regard
to the earliest human Inhabitants of
America are revived by the departure
from this city, few Gays ago, OF two
scieo tific cxpedi5 ons, one going to the
vicinity of Bearing Strai, and the
othe~ to Mexico. both of them ing
provided for by the literally of Nor
ris K. JesuI, president OF the Amer
lean museum of natural history. At
least six different centers of civilizi-
ton in North America and four 10
South America were mentioned 10
lecture given a few month ago by Dr.
Daniel q. Brin on. o. 1.-The Cultore
Status of the A American Indian at the
Period of His Discovery" In the Ohio
and upper Mississippi valleys. for in
stance, fully one thou>aod years ago,
there were the mound builders, q race
skilled in the arts of the weaver, stone
dresser, and potter, and given TO erect
ing over the graves of their heroes
massive tumuli, often seventy, eighty,
and even ninety feet in height. In
the southwestern part OF the United
Sta.es were the cliff-dw Tiers, who
either excavated living apartments In
the vertical sides OF the canyons,
where the rock WAS soft enough, or
built their houses (of stone aud mortar)
on projecting lodges IN similar sltus-
tions. These people left graceful cups
and jars, implements of boUe and stone,
window shades and other evidences OF
industrial advancement.
Near the cliff-d @ellers were q race
that lived in pueblos or towns, and
built their houses "a larger structures
of adobe, or unburned brick. In one
of their settlements, CssaS q ard 8,
which had been left in ruins
long before the Spaniards explored
the region, in 1860, there was one
edifice eight hundred fee long and
two hundred and fifty feet wide This
particular town lay one hundred and
twenty miles south of what is now the
boundary of thu United States. But
there were a numbrr of them further
north, in New M xicp and Arizona.
Two parties of scientists visited New
Mexico last year, with tn e intent on OF
ascending, if possible, the lofty plateau
of Ka' zimo, also known AS the CO.
chan Led mesa" which rises from the
plain near the village OF Acomas. 10
western central New Mexico. This
pueblo, by the way, is said to be the
Oldest settlement, occupied continuou+-
ly to the present. day, anywhere in
this country. One of the visiting par
ties, led by DR.. F. w. Hodge, of the
esting relics of the former occupants
of that long abandoned place of resi-
dence. Still further south, on the
great plateau of Mexico. COrtez die
covered a confederacy of Aztec tribes,
whose culture astO,iShed him beyond
measure. And yet a dozen miles from
Montezuma's home lay the ruined and
1izstion, of which one of the most
strik ng monuments was a pyramid
greater than that of Cheops.
AT OAxaca, in Mexico, one may see an |
other architectural wonder, whose ORR |
gin is q puzzle to the wisest inves- |
tigators. TIE sepulchral palace OF
Militia is built Of stone. decorated by |
the insertion of smaller pieces of stone |
wrought into n remarkable variety of I
patterns. Some of the granite blocks |
composing this palace are twenty feet |
long. OF the four csnters of .civilizi- |
ton in South America discussed by DR.. |
Bripcop a; least three existed in Peru. |
The other one WAS in tha northwest |
corner of what is nov the Arg antine |
republic. Colossal stone edihces. |
sculpture equ aling or surprising that
Of Egypt. and vast irr' ga'ion works
were among the expressions OF tn Sc |
ancient South American types OF Gull |
ture.
Mention should be made here of GER |
tain others discoveries, representing a |
much lower degree of advancement in |
art, found w thin the last few years in |
the Delaware valley, near Trenton |
Numerous arrow heads, kindred imple- |
ments, and the rough chips that were |
left while making stone weapons have
been found in beds of clay aud gravel,
about whose antiquity there has been |
much controversy. In certain quarters |
there is disposition to believe that
tn Sc geological deposits belong to the |
glacial epoch, when arctic anima ais |
roamed that region. Those who accept |
tb is theory look upon the makers of
chips and arrow heads of the Trenton
gravel rs men of an exceedingly low |
etage of civilization, who lived thirty |
thousand, fifty thousand, perhaps
several hundred Thousand years ago.
Commenting upon this superstition,
the American Archaeological recently |
remarked:
At no point on this continent but in !
that limited area OF the Delaware val
ley have undoubted traces of glacial
man cen Yet discovered. Let US sup
pose, however, that similar evidences |
have been, or may in the future be, |
discovered elsewhere. This additional
evidence will but strengthen the infer
ence that the glacial or pregIacisl
American was, in culture status, but
little, If any, superior to some OF the
higher anthropoid apes of the old
world; consequently, an ''autochthon,"
created or evolved from some lower
anima al found in this region. If, then,