Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-04-10
SCIENTISTS PLAN
STUDY OF ICE AGE
Chicago Conference Maps
Methods to Find if Men
Lived in America Then.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.


Were there human beings-or crea-
lures resembling nen-in North Amer
lea during the ice ages?
The National Research Council Is
holding q conference Of some Of the
country's foremost anthropologists, geol-
ogists and engineers in Chicago today
to map. out a cooperative program for
answering this question. which has
caused some of the most heated con-
troversies in American science in the
past
The most generally accepted theory
has been that the Western World was
peopled less than 10000 years ago by
long continued trek Of nomads from
Siberia into Alaska and thence over
the rest Of North and South America,
long after the ice had retreated for the
last time.
Ancient Skeletons Cast Doubt.
While these immigrants are consider
ed unquestionably the ancestors Of the
American Indian and the Eskimo, who
differ very little from the present people
of Northern Siberia, occasional frag-
msnts of human skeletons have been
found associated with bones of animals
supposed to have disappeared long be-
fore the first man came across Boring
Strait, such as the mammoth and the
great ground Sloth.
Discovery of such remains has been
purely accidental and much doubt has
been thrown upon them by anthropolo-
gists, but If sustained they would sup
port the view that there was an earlier
human or pre-human race in the New
World, which may have persisted or
been absorbed by the Asiatic immi-
grants.
The object Of today's conference, ac-
cording to the announcement OF DIR.
Madison Bentley. chairman of the
division of anthropology and psy-
chology Of the National Research Coun-
ell, "is to secure a sort Of cooperation
with the public, the engineer and the
large excavatcr of earth, stone and
gravel that has led during the past
decades to important discoveries of
primitive man and his works in other
parts Of the world.
Will Study Ice Movement.
1.-THE quest centers in the discovery
Of human remains from the time Of the
great ice sheets which covered o large
part of North America, as well as
Europe, during the Pleistocene period.
1.-THE presentation of the subject by
clude q description of the ebb and now
of the ice in the Middle West and of
the evidences Of human habitation In
those times. A comparison win be
drawn between America and Eurasia,
showing how persistent and widespread
cooperation has benefited the study
of primitive man in other parts of the
world. An arrangement will be made
in the council whereby those engaged
in the removal of earth, gravel and
stone will be able to communicate i'm
human bones or implements. to
neighboring geologist or archeologist
who will stand ready to examine on
call any object which seems to indicate
early human habitation Of the region"
Ordinarily, 1t is pointed out, great
excavations such as those made In
building railroads are the most favorable
places for finding ancient human bones,
but, especially in steam shovel days,
these are unlikely to attract the at
tention of workmen.. Generally neither
the foreman nor engineer on the job is
competent to detect the significance of
such finds and is little interested until
instructed to be on the lookout for
such things.
Java Man Earliest Found.
Thus far, 1t was pointed out at the
National Research Council, the finds Of
ancient man in the Old World either
have been uncovered by streams cut
ting through banks or by road builders,
but in each case there happened to be
Q man nearby who understood the
significance of the finds. The earliest
OF all, the ape-man pithecanthropus Of
Java, was brought to the surface owing
TO river cutting down its banks, and
the most persistent search OF the same
locality has failed to reveal any more
bones OF the strange creature.
DR.. John G.. Merriam. president of
the Carnegie Institution Of Washing
ton. will preside at today's conference.
Among the speakers will be Mathew
w. Stirling, chief of the Bureau of
American Ethnology of the Smithson-
ian Institution, which is the chief gov
agency for the study of the
e-history OF the country.
The conference. 10 was explained by
DR.. Bentley. will be sin1ilMr in scope to
that held two years ago at ct, Louis, !
which has resulted In the appointment |
Of minute men" throughout the coun-
Try 70 examine reports and yumoEn ef