The Washington times., 1917-01-09
SCIENCE AT ODDS
OYER AGE OF MAN
Savants Fail to Fix Date Of
His Debut in New
World.

Don't you ever bet on the age OF
man.
Because IL you do and happen to CUES,
few thousand years wrong you are
going to be a hopeless loser.
And here's the reason.
The American Society Of AnthropoloRy
has met and adjourned in New York
without setting an acceptable date for
the debut OF man In the greatest social
circle in the world-life.
Various speakers were at variance
concerning when some Of Adams fami.
ly roamed over from Paradise and
settled In the New World.
DR.. Oliver P. Hay. OF the SmIthson-
Ian Institution. in discussing the ind
Ing Of human bones in stratum of
muck and sand at vero, Fla, some
months ago, ventured the opinion that
as the bones appeared to be associated
with animal matter found at the same
time the two might be traced back to
the same age or period.
Placed 4OO, 900 Years Ago.
This means that IL the skeleton was
placed in the bed OF the creek where
It was found, In the animal and yege-
table era. 1t dates back to the
Pleistocene age. II It belonged to the
early Pleistocene age somewhere along
about 100000 years ago would come
pretty near being the mans birthday.
The biologists are not prepared to
say how warm Florida was then, but
IL the theory OF DR.. Hay is true 1t Is
reasonable to suppose one thing:
The man who died in Florida was
among the first voters ON the Ameri-
can continent.
This theory is supported by the
statement of DR.. e. H. Sellards, State
Geologist Of Florida, who believes
that lin the number of bones that
have been obtained representing a
single individual there is observed
no important difference between the
human and the other animals" DR..
Sellards' paper has to do with the
finding of the bones near vero. It
says that they were found in close
association with scattered bones and
fragments OF bones from a great va
riety of extinct mammals, including
the Columbian elephant, mastodon, sa-
ber-tooth tiger. tapir, armadillo,
slothS and bison.
Conventional Theories shaken.
This vertebrate fauna, according to
DIR. Hay, would seem to represent the
early Pleistocene. This statement
was made by DIR. Hay on the ground
when he went to Florida in company
with other scientists, to investigate
the location of the find.
And this contravenes our present
idea of the history of the human
race.
The skeletons in question were
those of a man OF old age, and q wo-
man who was possibly a sub-adult.
The bones were not scattered or
piled up. the scientists. told the con-
ference. They showed no trace of
washing or weathering. An abund-
ance OF pottery. flints. and many bone
Implements were also found at vero
DR.. Ales Hrdlicka. curator OF an
trhopology. took part In the discus
sion OF the finding of the bones. but
ventured no prediction as to how old
they might be in terms OF years.
Hits Hard At Adam and Eve.
II the theory introduced by the
discussion is correct ii upsets our
time-honored belief in the establish
ment and history of the human race
and almost tends to disqualify old
Adam as the only ancestor to whom
many of US can point with pride.
The bones are resting now at the
National Museum. They are likely
to cause some difference OF opinion
among scientists before the question
of the antiquity OF man is forever