Evening star., 1923-10-29
SKELETON FIND
THREATENS TO UPSET
EVOLUTION STATUS
Continued from First Page.)

he must be at least 300, 900 years old.
Previously the oldest human relics
found in the western hemisphere are
placed only about 10000 years back
In we'll defined historic periods.
Students Of human evolution are
mystery. The earliest vestiges OF
evidence regarding mans habitation
Of this planet. such as the skull cap
OF the Java man and the jaWbones
the Heidelberg man In Germany, date
back at least 100000 years. Then
comes a complete break of approx
mately 100000 years in which there Is
not the slightest trace of human
beings. Much of this period was
Connections In Doubt.
There is doubt as to whether the
earliest remains represent real an
cestors to man as he exists today.
They may have been only distant
relatives-although the differentia-
ton from the skeletons Of early apes
is so marked that there Is no ques-
ton but that the Piltdown and
Heidelberg discoveries represent an
entirely new species.
Then comes the Neanderthal men
toward the close Of the last ice age.
They were either direct ancestors or
very close relatives of human beings
today, although their ape-!ike qua!-
tiles were more marked than their
human. From cultural remains
found in conjunction with the skele-
tons they are known to have reached
a stage of culture where they cooked
their food, buried their dead and made
flint implements. Also they had de-
veloped a crude sort OF religioni;
Did DR.. Harrington's skeleton
come between this type, with brains
developed almost to the same point
as man of today. and the animal
like creature Of the Heidelberg stone
quarry? II so, he is the single hu-
man witness Of at least 1000 years
of history during which the great
glaciers passed over the face of the
earth.
Discoveries Pre-Columbian.
Discoveries hitherto in North and
South America have not been truly
prehistoric, but merely pre-Coium-
bian. Even the Central American re-
date in actual history. It has been
almost taken for granted that the
Americas were not inhabited in ac-
tual prehistoric times and efforts OF
anthropologists have been devoted
largely to conjecture on how human
beings fiji st came to the land.
NJ. w. Stirling, Smithsonian Insti-
tuition anthropologist, said yesterday
that 1t has practically been proven
that the first men crossed the narrow
stretches of water from island to
island in the Aleutian group to
Alaska and worked their way south
ward. One argument against DR..
Harrington's pre-Neanderthal man,
DR.. Stirling says. Is that eastern ST.
IBERIA, where 1t is obvious that the
Indian race originated. has no very
early remains.
Anotbar tbaory Mr. Ct;rJ}nr ,aye
is that the earliest inhabitants may
have come in canoes from the Pacific
islands.
His associates were loath yester-
day to discr DR.. Harrington's dis
covery, although they claim that It
ern science. The description of the
skull contained in dispatches from
California is such as to indicate that
it actually did antedate the Neander-
thai. The skull is thicker and more
apelike and. 1t Is thought likely. con-
that DR.. Harrington found obsidian
spear heads in the grave Is sus-
picious indication, however. the an
thropologtStS claim, because weapons
from this stone have been classified
as belonging to a much later period.
of paleolithic remains on the Amer
lean continent crop up every year
or so, the anthropologists said yes
terday, but hitherto they have origi-
mated with mep Of much less scien-
tifc training than DR.. Harrington.
who has been associated for years
with the staff here.
1t was brought out also that in
recent letters to DR.. ]. Walter Fewkes.
head OF the department Of American
ethnology, DR.. Harrington was con-
cerned merely with the study Of the
Tn had
no idea Of penetrating beyond the dawn
Of history.
Dr. AIes Hrdlicka. curator Of physi-
cal anthropology of the New National
able direct descent Of the present
human type from the Neandertha1 man
through study Of recent discoveries In
Europe.
Search Central Asriea.
The searchIight Of anthropology. it
was said today, has been directed at
the central African tungles in search
of the predecessor of the Neanderthal
drove the human race south from the
shore of the Mediterranean, where they
are supposed to have originated.
DR.. Harrington's fnd. II 1t holds
water, win serve to turn all this
United States. An important consid-
Grafton in proving the antiquity Of
the skeleton will be the age Of the
geological formation in which it IL
found, although, it is pointed out. this
will not be convincing proof, since
even today a grave might be dug
through strata millions of years old.
Judgment will be withheld until
letter Is received from Dr. Har-
rington himself telling OF his dis
covery and giving scientific measure
ments OF the skull. which il the
most prominent part Of the skeleton
intact.
Tho discovery might again revive
tho theory, long considered AZ proven,
but recently discarded, that the
human race originated somewhere in
Asia, coinciding with the supposed
biblical location Of the Garden Of
Eden. 1t Is only from Asia that
access to the American continent is
considered to have been possible for
the short-legged, stoop- aho uldered.
hairy creature who fought the man,
moths and the great cave bears and
left his bones scattered through the
rock quaries Of Europe.
ASSURED OF ANTIQUITY.