Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-05-10
DR.. G|DLEY TRACES
ICE AGE WANDERING
New Evidence, Putting HUI
mans in America With Mas
todonS, Believed Found.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.


New evidence of the co-existence Of
human beings in America with nam
moths, mastodons, tapirs, ground sloth!
and camels has just been brought bach
to Washington by DR.. j. w. Gidley, as.
socaite curator of vertebrate paleontol-
ogy of the National Museum.
DR.. Gidley spent the past two month;
eXcavating a coastal terrain near Mel
bourne, Fla, and among his finds is q
cone-shaped bit Of stone, about 2 inches
in diameter, which bears evidence oil
human workmanship, and which prob
1t was found among bones of pleis-
tocene animals.
Held Important Evidence.
This hammer head, DR.. Gidley said
probably is the most important evidence
he has discovered bearing upon a sub
ject which has caused a spirited con-
trcversy among Washington scientists
for the past four years. since he first
announced the discovery of a crushed
huTlan skull among mammoth bones
His discoveries have led DR.. Gidley 10
construct new picture of the migra-
tions of prehistoric animals in North
America during the great ice ages.
The Florida terrain consists of three
distinct layers. First is the ancient
sea bottom, shell deposit easily dis
tinguished. Next is layer Of sand,
which washed in after the sea had re-
treated. Above this is a surface of
coarse, loose sand, swamp muck and
leaf mould, which is comparatively re-
cent Geological evidence shows plain
~ that the second layer was laid down
in the pleistocene, or ice age period,
roughly from 10000 to 100000 years
ago.
At this time the fauna of the North
American continent was different from
the present and the skeletal remains can
be distinguished easily from those of
existing animals. The second layer is
full of such ancient bones. But the
discovery Of human artifactS among
them does not necessarily indicate
anything. Washington anthropologiStS
pointed out when DR.. Gidley announced
his discovery.
Explain" Findings.
The practice of human burial IS
ancient 1t was entirely possible that
some comparatively recent grave was
dug down to the plelstocene level.
Others pointed out that the region long
has been sWampy and that some lucklesS
human being might have been pulled
far down into the mud by alligators.
The finding of a flint spear head was
explained by the common practice OF
plunging a spear into the ground.
Gidley insisted that If the skull he
found was in a grave this would be
indicated by disturbance OF the layers.
which were differentiated sharply. The
hammer head, blunt instrument, could
into the soil like a spear head, he points
cut. and there can be little doubt that
it lies where 1t was discarded by its
owner.
It has been generally agreed by
anthropologiSts that man first came 10
the North American continent from
Asia by way Of Alaska in comparatively
recent times after the present charac-
teristic fauna of the continent had been
established. Many centuries were re-
quired before he could have spread as
far south as Florida.
Gidley. on the other hand, insists that
the most favorable possible interpreta-
ton of his findings will place man IN
America long before this time. His
remains were found among large de-
posts OF pleiStocene bones and none
of modern animals. If there were only
a few mammoth or maStOdon remains
yivaI of some of these animals into the
modern period.
AS it is, Gidley says, he cannot es-
cane the conclusion that man was here
long enough before the present period
to allow the Pleistocene animals 10
disappear. This, however, does not
necessarily indicate great antiquity,
but might push the whole Pleistocene
period further toward the present. This
usually has been dated by comparing
geological evidence with the skeletal re-
mains of the animals and concluding
that the period came to an end when
the creatures in a particular LOCALITY
became extinct, without taking into &C
count their possible wanderings because
Of the ice.
Lived First in Mexico.
Originally, Gidley says. the man.
moths, mastodons and camels Of this
period lived somewhere in the present
Mexico during the first glacial period.
When the ice retreated, they migrated
northward, vest OF the Mississippi.
where they increased greatly in num-
bers. Then came the second glacial
invasion, driving them south again.
AS soon as the ice retreated second
time, they again came north in great
numbers, but found that their ancient
range IldQ Dccu EcI4OcIcN a1l0 Wy IAlc
action of the ice. This drove them
eastward across the Mississippi, in
search of water. and pasturage, into
Pennsylvania, Maryland and the pres
ent District of Columbia.
Then came the last glacial invasion,
driving them south once more. When
they reached the Florida peninsula, they
could retreat no further and remained
there until, by a gradual process ex-
tending over thousands OF years, they
became extinct.
Some time during the decline of these
animals man, very much the same as he
Is today, came among them and prob
ably contributed to their extinction. But
it may not have been so very long ago
as geological time Is reckoned, since
the PleiStocene animals could have con-
tinued in Florida long after they were
extinct farther North.
While he Is convinced that the human
artifactS could not be among the ami
NAL bones by accident, DR.. Gidley be-
lieves that his theory of animal migra-
lions may do much to reconcile the
anthropologists to the possibility OF
mans existence in America in the Pleis-
tocene Last Winter. crude stone
arrow head was found lying under q