Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1915-08-10

lived on our
planet. There is positive evidence that
man was already a dweller on the earth
in the days Of the mammoth and the
mastodon, but they have gone into eX-
tinction, while he not only remains, but
has made enormous advances in his
physical and mental development and the
conditions of his life.
In a certain way the mastodon stands
typically for prehistoric America. and
the mammoth for prehistoric Europe.
Mammoth remains have been found in
America, and within the area OF the
United States. and similarly, mastodon
remains have been found in the old world.
But, broadly speaking. the special home
OF the mastodon.. so far as his relics
show, was in this country. while that of
the mammoth was in Europe and Asia.
TIE relations Of the cave men Of Europe
with the mammoth have been clearly re-
vealed by archaeological explorations,
and pictures of the huge beast. drawn by
the hands of men who met him, have been
found in the prehistoric caverns Of
France. The discovery of the frozen
bodies of mammoths in the icy
marshes of Siberia has enabled us to
compare these drawings made by our
ancient forebears with the real forms of
the creatures that they were intended 20
represent, and the likenesses are found
to be astonishingly distinct. ''f
Evidently those early men. clad only
in skin garments and armed only with
spears and darts. pointed with flint and
staghorn, were not afraid to encounter
these immense beats in hand-to-hand con-
flict, and were able TO. slay them. To
kill mammoth. however, they must have
employed other means than the rude
weapons Just mentioned. Probably they
used some kind Of trap. as the natives
of Africa did in capturing elephants be-
fore the white man came with his guns.
The details OF their drawings show that
the cave men understood. the anatomy
OF their gigantic game. - ssse. ...--
There is very little doubt that early
man met the mastodon in America just
as he met the mammoth in Europe, but
the evidence is by no means 80 abund-
ant. The fret human inhabitants of this
continent left but insignificant marks OF
their presence, compared with the in
Vulnerable traces OF their possible CON
temporaries on the other side Of the
Atlantic This arises, largely from the
difference of local conditions.
1t so happened that in those parts OF
Europe, particularly France, where men
and mammoths met. extensive, dry cav
ems existed. forming admirable and
secure dwelling places for primitive men,
and here they made relatively large
settlements and dwelt for many success
sive generations. On our side of the ocean
there were no centers OF population COM
parable, for instance with the valley or
the Vezere in France. with its bordering
caverns and rock shelters, which furn-
ished a kind of natural metropolis for
the cave men. The prehistoric Amer
leans were. evidently less settled in their
habits.
But the rnastodons assembled In chosen
places il the men did not. They seem
10 have had a predilestion for marshy
places. in which, with their huge, un-
wieldly bodies, they became helplessly
Inired. The skeletons OF mastodons were
first found in ancient swamps west OF
the Hudson river in New York. The
mystical Cotton Mather believed that
the tooth of one OF the monsters, found
in 1706, which weighed nearly five pounds.
belonged TO one Oh iHe eidhe ihcA "
early days mentioned in Genesis. He
calculated the heig. Of the giant at
seventy-five feet, on the basis OF sup
posed thigh-bone seventeen feet longl
There is a place. some twenty miles
south OF st. Louis, Mo. called kimms-
wick. where bones representing several
hundred mastodons have been discovered.
at the foot OF bluff near the Junction
of two little streams. 1t seems prob
able, says Frederick A. Lucas. the d.
rector Of the American Museum OF
Natural History, in his book on Animals
OF the Past" that, in the days when
the streams we're larger the spring floods
swept down the bodies OF animals that
had persisted during the winter, to
ground in an eddy beneath the bluff "or, |
as the place abount in springs Of sulphur
and salt water. It may be that this was
where the animals assembled during cold |
weather"
The cause OF the extinction OF the
mastodons and mammoths remains to be |
discovered