The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1922-04-21
STONE AK AND
ITS ERA

bank Iof the Blue Earth river nea,
its pouth. Many owners may have
held it before it fell for the last
time from the hand of some man
ten thousand years ago. 1t was
soon after the ice from the Wis
consin Glacier had retreated ana
the Blue Earth river naG resumed
its old course through Ae mound
Its outline Is exquisite anc with
the dressed surface indicate that a
highly developed people lived II,
America at the beginning OF the
Neolithic or Polished Stone Age.
An equal or greater antiquity is
sown by its physical condition for
only a small part of the blade, OF
this diorite rock, preserves the or
iginal polish. That part on on.
side, had been protected from per-
colating water by the position In
the soil in which it was lying The
remainder has undergone decay
slow and intensive, such as often
low down in the old delta which
was formed when the food waters
of Lake Agassiz were changing to
a Northern outlet and whe the
plain on which West Mankat,I now
stands was being deposited 1 The
maStodon in our high schoof Thea
roamed State street and thd Iong
horned bison wandered intf the
swamp in Dukes Addition The
climate was cold and the J. not
far away.
On every rock is. written a story
generally a long and eyentful one
Some times il is plainly written
1t would seem that this was oAe OF
that class. Being found whe'e u
was lying-its mixed state OF pre-
servation and decay-WAR Written
in every detail of it's structure all
tell of tragedy.
Its owner died there at the
mouth of the Blue Earth river.
1t lay among the grasses or
where it had fallen in the water. Al
intervals floods built up the deta-
higher and ever highef. Their
the streams grew smaller ant il
lay there undisturbed while tha
ages passed. Came a time when
white Eien placed obstruction in
the river, changing its course and
tie ak was uncovered. The dYsy
is still cutting that old delta II
may have much more to tell rs Of
other days.
Let us take a cursory glance al
what was happening ls3wnere Z
the world when the grip of Oh Il
mans hand was loosened. Let Is
note a few OF tine deciding factors
which before and after that no,
ment determined human develop
merit.
Then there roamed the vide
spread Shoshonean who connected
him with a civilization 10 south
ward that had blossomed and faded
and been forgotten. 1t was that oil
the Maya, a peculiar people, who
mad built cities On the Gulf coast Of
Southern Mexico. There Is much
to identify them with the Sumer
ians who located on the rich pain
of Mesopotamia. Both events were
in the long ago-no date is known
for either. Both were undoubtedly
branches Of brown race that fol
lowed one general line of latitude
and had encircled the earth. Their
sun n-iented monoliths, singIy ana
in groups. are still marking settle
ments, still grimly standing on is
lands. continents and along shores
OF inland seas. These people were
coastal in their culture and had
many UNIQUE customs in common re-
gardinS births. burials. religion
superstitions and treatment of their
living bodies. Maya and Sumerian
had the same distinctive profiles
with prominent beaked noses. That
of the Maya can be seen on their
counters for tseir system of mum
erals employed human heads IN
which fourteen different faces are
given but all of one racial type;
and again in their stone monu-
time to time are being unearthed
phic are given some fine examples
with the recently found Snmerian
drawings on baked clay under the
ruins of Eridu and Nippur. Eacn
Of their own peorie and made by
tho nselves. depicting their nation
al celebrities. The Mayas, their
priests engaged in sacrificiaI duties
and Sumner, her warriors arranged
in phalanax for battle. The mos;
superficial. comparison OF Maya
priests with these nine warriors OF
Sumer would establish their racial
identity. A print of this Samaritan
tablet discovered during the World
War may be seen in Wells "Out
line of History" page 1856. Neither
bore any resemblance TO Lne Amer
Jean Indian of our Northern States
with whom we are familiar. The latter
are mainly of Monaghan origin; but
in pictures OF groups of Nexicans
and Central Americans today, oc-
casionally, here and there will be
seen reversions to those same rug
ged features that high nose ridge
lined with slanting toreh.ad-tht
massive mouth and forceful chin
features that had placed their an
castors in the van of civilization
throughout the early struggle fol
supremacy Their original homeland
undoubtedly, now rests ten ,fathoms
deep in the Atlantic Ocean--a vast
continent as traced by the plummet
of the ship Challenger 1t sunk be-
meath the waves when the burden
of the Northern ice had been drain
ed back into the sea and the strain
on the earth relieved-Sunk WITH
its people. s."
Peculiar in interest is the anti
guilty of this polished stone. fn
taken in connection with the civil
ization in Central America, il shows
habitation by rowing bands of no.
MAIDS in direct contact with the
high stage OF culture in the South
and in just the same as the con.
temporary neolithic man in North
ern Europe was in contact with the
Sumerian of the Mediterranean re-
gion.
When with the invention of tho
bow and arrow, world wide palae
olithic Man emerged from his 200,-
900 years of brute life. an era o.
dcxalanp, emf hecan in faunred ma ri