Ellsworth American., 1923-11-07
HOME OF FIRST MAN.


Ol lllC 1AilGIICdu Nj uStQIl Oh INdllI III
History is on his way to China to
consult with the leaders Of the muse
um's Asiatic expedition, which is said
to have been the most successful fos-
sill hunting expedition in the history
of science, and to plan the work for
several years ahead If funds are
forthcoming, the expedition will dig
in Central Asia for twenty years
more.
THE fossils a between fifteen and
twenty new genera and between fifty
found already" said DR.. w. D. Mat
thews, curator of paleontology at the
museum. "They have had marvel
Gus success in finding fossil beds.
These finds all have to be chiseled
from the rock in which they are en-
bedded before they can be studied.
This is extremely difficult and slow
work and it will be many years be-
fore we know the precise scientific
bearing of what we have.
ct was the belief of the museum
that an expedition of this kind to
Asia would show that Central Asia
was the part of the world where the
main families of animals, including
man, had their origin. 1t is too early
to say whether that theory is going
to be proved or disproved. We have
some evidence that certain lines
originated there, and other evidence
the other way. 1t is safe to say that
in the materials which have been col
lected there is evidence sufficient to
establish the theory or contradict it,
but many years of work will be re-
quired before this is understood"
The task of disengaging skulls and
parts of skeletons from the rock in
which they are found is as delicate
and scientific as surgery or jewelry.
Specialists have been at work for
three months for instance, in carv-
ing out the skeletons of two small
and very primitive dinosaurs from
blocks of stone. There is three
months work ahead of them before
these specimens are freed from their
rock matriX. These are very impor
tant specimens because they are
among the very early ancestors of
the dinosaurs. They are regarded as
finds next in importance after the
skull of Baluchitherium, the prime
val hippopotamus, hugest of land
animals.
Some Of the specimens are frag-
ments the size of a fingertip. A
tooth, vertebra or claw, visible on
the surface, is the only clew to the
fossil inside. Putting the specimen
under the microscope and using
needle on it, Dr.. Matthews picks
away the stony crust grain by grain
until the tiny organism remains is re-
Fealed There are thousands and
thousands OF such specimens un-
0arthed by the expedition in central
Asia and twenty years may pass be
fore those already accumulated have
been studied.
Students OF human origins have
iIed the locality where man is
Thought to have developed from sub
iaman stock in many parts of the
world Europe, Asia and Africa and
Africa and India. The staff of the
American Museum has developed
with considerable detail the theory
that the nursery of primitive man
was central Asia Their main evil
dence is that the horse, dog, COW,
sheep and other animals dOmesti-
Gated by man were apparently them
selves natives of central Asia They
also offered supposed proofs that the
different types of human beings
travelled outward in waves from CEN
tr11 4 clio hnnnH hot ha
pedition would bring to light evil
dence in support of this theory
SO far, however, the expedition has
produced no fossil remains of human
beings, This was not a surprise, be-
cause primitive human remains are
the hardest of all to find, Animal re-
mains are concentrated because they
were caught in the floods and
washed down stream until favorable
conditions deposited the bones in
great numbers at one spot. The
primitive man was brainy enough
usually to escape such catastrophes.
Out of more than 10000 teeth found
in one of these bone quarries pro
duced by fOod conditions in Ne
brdska, only one tooth bore a strong
resemblance to the human type, and
another bore a doubtful resemblance.
This one tooth, which is somewhere
between human and chimpanzee, is
the only truthworthy evidence in
existence to-day that man or any of
the higher anthropoids existed in
this country in primitive times. HUI
man remains are more frequent
where old caves are found, but the
chance of hitting on such a case is
one in many million.
The finding of a cave is pure acct
dent, but the fossil beds or quarries
in Asia have been discovered because
they were intelligently sought. Roy
Chapman Andrews drew the atten-
tion of the Museum to the existence
of Bad Land country in Asia-that
is, country like the Dakota Bad
Lands, where land that was formed
of sedimentary deposits had been cut
to pieces by erosion, and where the