The Nome nugget., 1926-07-24
LOCAL NEWS
SCIENTIST GIVES
 TALK ON ORIGIN
 AMERICAN INDIAN
Relieves evitlence proving Americaa lndlans crOAsc<l frUm Asia cun he fOuMd h Alaska

In an extremely interesting talk given before an audience which tax ed the seating capacity of the Court room last Sunday afternoon, Dr. Ales Hrdlicka, wOrld-famOus an thr0pologist of the United States National Museum and the Smithso- nlan Institute. told his reasons for believing that the American Indians originated in Asia and crossed over to Alaska in the vicinity of Berlng Straits. gradually wandering south until the continent had been peo- pied. He also outlined the tremen- dous scope of the work undertaken by ethnologists in attempting to de- termine the antiquity and origin of the Indian and the result of their labors at the present day.
 Although no positive evidence has been collected. said Dr. Hrdlicka. scientists are convinced that the In dian could have come to Ameri- ca only through eastern Siberia. To gather facts to support this conclu- sion the Smithsonian Institute this year authorized g survey of the larger part ot the Yukon valley and the Seward Peninsula. In snbse- dnent years 1t is intended to extend
 he survey until the entire Territory has been covered. It is Dr. Hrdlic- ka's belief that an enormous amount 'f evidence which would have been incidentally valuable to museums must have besn destroyed unwit- ffngiy in Alaska by people who did not realize it's value. which will make his work the more difficult. To build Mp the facts needed not only inc bones of hmmans but also those jf animals will be collected. The larger specimens have no special in
 crest for the scientist: he must al- 70 have the smaller bones to recon .truct a complete biological history of q people.
 The Smithsonian Institute, stated Dr. IIrdlicka. has been particularly interested tn the American Indian since about 1S47. In It's efforts tc determine his antiquity and origin Central America, South America Asia. and many other parts of the world have been combed.
 The lot of the Indian in the early days of the Spanish settlement was
 hard. Spaniards had never seer
 red people and upon examination oi
 the one source of authority. the
 Scriptures. they found no mention of them. The invaders reasoned
 that since they were not spoken Oi
 in the Bible they could not be en
 tirely human. and subjected the In dians to every torture that could be devised until special bull was is
 sued by the Pope prohibiting 1t. In the days before scientific in, quiry was established there were many theories to account for the origin Of the Indians They were variously supposed to have iescend- C. from the Phoenicians. Egyptians Normans. Irish. Welsh and were most commonly thought to be the "ten lost tribes of Israel" Dr. Hrd- licka said this theory Is met with oc- casiOnly even today. Investigators would point out that Indian langua- ges contained words which appeared to resemble different tongues of old CT civilizations. Modern work has proved that this resemblance Is only superficial; that sometimes 1t came about through erroneous recording. and the fact that rarely would In dians of the same tribe pronounce words in the same manner. It is inc0ntr0vertlble at the present time that Indian languages are allied to none other in the world with the ex- |ception of few dialects in northern and eastern Asia. Even today there are people in Asia whose speech is closely allied to that of the Ameri- can Indian.
 Scientific work was really started with the establishment of the Bur eau of Ethnology. and the workers were immediately. confronted with what seemed insurm0untable dim culties. There was the dificulty of distinguishing between linguistic ia milies; the large number of distinct physical types; aRd the different In dian civilizations that have been present in the Americas.
 The question Of antiquity was ex- trsmeiy puzzling. Human bones were found underneath skeletons of animals thst must have lived ages before man came to this part of the world. It is known now that the soil ig which these animals lay bur- led was evoded away. and that in burying theiy dead Italians wonld uncover these bones and then re- place them In the graves. As the