Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-04-13
ThE EWcHrHEun IErRLE

Copyright 1907, by John Elfreth Wa'hins''
T., T'nrkestan Persia, Greece, Rome anu
Epypt some important archaeoioslcal Wolh
,s being done by the Carnegie lhstllu''oh
Of Washington. under the administrative
at-octton of it's president. DIR. Robert b
Woodward. The most extensive research
commenced thus far has been in the trans
Caspian region. including Turkestan ana
the basin Of eastern Persia and Sistan. Ihls
has been commenced under the immediate
direction of Prof Raphael PumpeHy OF
Newport the weIl-known geoiog.st and au-
thor. who has made important explorations
In Siberia China and Mongolia
The Cradle of Civilization.
That the cradle of mans civilization oc-
Cured in this once fertile but now ARD
region across the Caspian sea is the belief
% many archaeologists and ethnologists.
Here. about the basin of another great
Mediterranean sea, which has since re-
coded. the ancestors of the great clvlliza-
tions of the east and west are thought to
have lived together until warfare gradually
scattered remnants OF the vanquished
among the mountain Businesses thereaoout
and to the far remote corners OF their con-
tinCnt Gradually as the region became
drier and drier descendants of the con-
querors were themselves forced TO emil
CRATE.
Civilizations apparently the most fertile
field for archaeology afforded by e7rth-has
been neglected by the scientists of the OLD
world.
So Prof Pumpelly set out to seek here
traces of the genealogy of the great
civilizations of man and to determine now
the social evolution of the races was IN
.nuenced by the changing natural surroGnd-
ings. From Boston he jOUrneyed TO 81.
Petersburg. thence to Baku and across the
Caspian to Turkcstan. where the Russian
Har,f IN lYlI hlS
waite car. Using the railroad as a base he
made excursions to many points. lie
crossed the mountains OF khorassan INTO
Persia. journeyed to the Pamlr ana later
examined ruins in knokand, Boknara ana
near Ashkabad. These preliminary re-
commissioners by himself and his assist
ants who made Independent expeditions.
covered a territory nearly 400 miles long.
Asia's Lost Mediterranean.
That Turkestan, now approaching the
state of a vast desert. was once largely COW
cred by water. is the opinion of Prof. Pun
pely He says that the three seas. the
AraI. Caspian and Black. occupy parts of
one great basin. once filed with water. If
The Bosphorus were closed and there should
he continued excess of rainfall over
evaporation these would again emerge
and the basin would overflow into the
Northern ocean The Asian Mediterranean
thus reformed. would submerge a large part
of southern Russia and much of Russian
Turkestac But today the life of the whole
region studied Is dependent on the water
from the snow and Ice of the southern
mountains Life here is retreating also be-
fore the moving sands, whose progress is
steadily overwhelming. So Turkestan is
steadily drying up. The Aibughir gulf of
the Aral sea was $500 square kilOmeters In
area in 1882 but had become dry land in
1872
Earliest historical records show that this
region was occupied by jewellers in numer-
cities. surrounded by deserts inhab-
tied by wandering tribes, The town dwell |
ors seem to have been largely, If not wholly, |
Of Aryan stock-the family to which be-
languages of Europe and those of south |
western Asia. The wandering tribes of the
deserts seem to have been of Turanian !
stock. which includes the Firms, HunGa-
rians, Laps, Turks and Mongohans.
Bones in the Dust of Ages.
Excavations were begun by Prof. Pun
pclly at Anau near Ashkabad, when he re-
turned on his second expedition. He
brought with him DIR. Hubert Schmidt, who
had excavated Troy. Anau was chosen for
the first excavation because the professor
had seen In cut in one of the mounds,
painted handmade pottery and an abun-
dance of bones. He hoped that the bones
might throw some light on the source of
our domestic animals. He dug down 40
feet into the accumulation of successive
generations of peoples. who for age upon
age had huilJ their abodes upon the ruins
Of their predecessors settlements The eX-
taNatlDuS extended down through the iron