The Alaska daily empire. [volume] (Juneau, Alaska) 1912-1926, 1920-07-14
By DR.. DARITH A. NEUMAN

Museum Will open. One OF the main
attractions there will be the Eskimo
exhibit a loan made by DR.. Daniel
S. Neuman. DR.. Neuman Yves ten
years among the Eskimo tribes gath
ering his curios. He has written
many articles on them which are
considered among sociologists among
the most authentic yet published.
The Empire has secured a number
of these for publication. In them
will be found descriptions of articles
included in the local exhibit and
striking pen pictures of the people
which produced and used them. Ed
itors Note.)
1t was my privilege to be a witness
(but also one of the actors) to the
last dramatic chapter of the Stone
Age of the Arctic: where the highest
civilization of the day came in con-
tact with the most primitive civil
lization which was thought to have
ended possibly ten or fifteen thous-
and years ago in Northern Europe.
BY some accident of nature, the
Stone Age was transported north
and remained there unchanged and
unaltered by surroundings or new
tribes with whom the Eskimo came
in contact
The implements of the Paleolithic
epoch and those of Neolithic per
iod, were not only preserved to us by
these Stone Age Eskimos but We're
also unaltered by improvements, and
replaced by new Inventions.
By comparative study of the
Stone Age of the Eskimos and the
Stone Age of Europe, one can not
help seeing the very striking similar
ty of their lives, weapons, clothing,
superstitions, art and music Be
tween the European Stone Age and
that of the Eskimo there is no di
viding line. BY a careful anotom-
ical study of the skulls and measure
ments, one invariably becomes puz-
zled by not only their similarity,
but by their being counterparts of
each other. The skeletons found in
the. European countries in the old
"Tumili" show they were placed in
sitting posture. They are similar
TO some of the skeletons found in
Alaska The shape of the "Tumili"
itself is identical with the archi
lecture of the Eskimo snow houses.
review of prehistoric litera-
cfe ard a personal study of the i'm
If the Stone Age of Europe
IL
Ya IN my mind that the same
ca4. inhabited the caves of the old
world, whose descendants we still
find today in the Arctics. 1t is we'll
proved that in ages past, for some
unknown reason, great migrations
from Asia swept the then uninhab
tied northern parts of France, Ger
many, Sweden, Switzerland and Nor
way. The course Of these migrations
was lost in the fog of the past
There only remains to us the fact
that the first man who inhabited
that land was one with a round head.
flat face, round jaws and small
hands and feet which undoubtedly
points to Asiatic origin.
What made this migration neces
sary? Whether an enemy, struggle
for existence, or some great up
heaval, will most likely never be
answered. What made the same
man migrate to the polar regions,
thousands of miles away, thousands
of years ago? This also will re-
ceive no answer, except by some ac-
cidental discovery. Was it due to-
the melting of the great glaciers
which compelled the animals ac-
customed to the rigidity Of winter
to change their abode and migrate
north? And as the cave man lived
on the flesh of these animals and
used their skins for his clothing
was it not natural for him to follow
this big move?
This theory will find a good many
supporters, as the remains of old
Kitchen Middens" show that at
that period, (Neolthic Stone Age
with the exception of a few now ex-
tinet animals, such as the saber-
tooth tiger and the cave bear, the
bones of sea and land animals were
identfcally the same as those found
today existing in the "far north,
with the exception of the mastodon
and mammoth, which, although they
migrated to the Arctic Region, be-
came extinct for some unknown rea-
SON. Hundreds of their skeletons
and tusks are scattered from the
Yukon to Herschel Island; from
Herschel Island to Greenland; from
Greenland to the East Cape, Siberia
from the East Cape to the Kamchat-
ka and over a great stretch to
Perm on the river Volga.
1t is abvious to me, in studying
the Eskimo of the Stone Age,
with his primitive beliefs and his
great knowledge of nature, and study
ing the man land his implements)
who in prehistoric times Inhabited
the countries which were later swept
by the Huns, Romans, Greeks. Sax
ons. and where great Napoleanic
wars were fought, Ton which ground.
even today are dug out great street
chps of trenches to resist the false