Dewey County advocate. [volume] (Timber Lake, S.D.) 1910-1913, 1913-07-25
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spersed with larger. which suggest pieces OF
brick Overying this stratum was layer OF
sand with layer Of more recent brick earth
above 1t, then red loan, and finally the vegetable
top soil-altogether four strata, averaging about
six feet In total thickness
The top Of the stratum in which the remains
were found appears to have been the land surface
Of the age in which the man lived. This is shown
by the fortunate discovery some 30 yards away.
Of the charred and blackened remains of pre-
historic fire hearths, fragments Of burnt bones
and wood, worked fints and many animal bones.
The worked flints have been submitted to expert
examination at the British museum. where the
balance Of opinion appears to be in favor Of
assigning them to the paleolithic period, or, at
any rate, to the time of transition between that
and the neoithic age, which would place their
age at some $4,000 years. Geological evidence,
however dates them still further back, for the
corresponding deposits on the opposite side of
the Midway have yielded fossils Of pleistocene
times, when the hairy mammoth arctic fox, rein
deer and woolly rhinoceros roamed the land. The
inference, therefore, is that have here paleo-
lithic encampment, and that the skeleton was
one of the party. who, judging from the position
of the remains. was inferred a short distance
below the then surface, while some religious sig
nifcance is suggested by the body being buried
with the head to the east.
How did the human remains come to lie in
this stratum Of brick earth? DR.. Edwards OBJ
served. from the position Of the bones which
renamed last In place, tnaC the skeleton lay on
its back that all parts Of the skeleton were rep
resented. and that the whole did not occupy
more than extent of three feet in length
evidence that the body was in the CONTRACTED"
posture at death. complete skeleton, much
weathered and fragmentary. and in a contracted
posture, could only be explained by supposing
that it had been buried The solution of the
problem became apparent later. At some dis
lance from the site of the skeleton there were
found extensive remains Of ancient fire hearths
These lay Immediately over the stratum con-
tanning the skeleton, and under the everything or
fourth stratum. This level represented an old
land surface, and the skeleton was probably one
of the men who sat round the hearths on that
old land surface. That is the explanation Mr..
Cook suggested at a recent meeting of the Royal
Anthropological institute, when he gave an &C
count of his discoveries. Mr.. A. s. Kennard,
who is our highest authority on the age Of val
ley deposits, regards the strata ever the Halling
man as late pleistocene in date. Mr.. Cook de-
scribed the flint implements found on the old land
surface, but they belong to type which was
used by paleothic as well as neclithic men,
The remains of the skeleton were forwarded to
Professor Keith of the Royal College of Surgeons
for expert examination. and, as he explained to
the writer. close scrutiny revealed the surpris
ing fact that we have here type of man who
in every particular-brain capacity, conformation
of skull, long oval face, pointed projecting chin
stature Give feet four inches) and general build