The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1937-09-09
Earliest Traces of
Mans Existence in
Palestine Dug Up
Bone Beds of Bethlehem
Yield Ancient Specimens
BY E. N. FALLAIZE, Royal Anthropo.
logical Institute of London

logical Institute of London
London.-The earliest known
traces of mans existence in
Palestine, and it may be, al
most the earliest evidence of
man in the whole world, have
been discovered in deposits now
known as the Bone Beds of
Bethlehem.
The discovery was made by Miss
E. Gardiner and Miss D. Bate ex-
cavating the deposits, in what APP
pears to be a swallow hole near
Bethlehem, on behalf of the Well
come Marston archaeological re-
search expedition to the Near East.
The discovery of the swallow hole
was made some few years ago when
excavations were being made for a
water supply. On the nature of the
deposits becoming apparent, con-
cession to eXcavate was granted to
J. L. Starkey on behalf of the Well
come expedition. The actual exam
ination of the deposits was entrusted
to Miss Bate, the well-knoWn author
ity of the British Museum of Nat
ural History on paleontology, and
Miss E. Gardiner, lecturer on geol-
ogy of London university.
Important Animal Specimens.
Two short seasons work had pro-
duced some interesting and scientifi-
cally valuable archaeological speci-
mems, but it was not until the season
of 1887 that indubitable evidence of
mans handiwork was forthcoming.
Specimens of the animal remains
and worked f1ints which were asso-
ciated with them from these depos-
its are now on exhibition at the
Welcome Research institution, Lon
don.
The most striking specimen
among the animal remains is the
hinder part of the shell of a gigantic
tortoise of species not yet identi-
fed. With it were several detached
plates of the shell and huge leg
bone. Although only the tail part of
the shell was found whole, it meas
ures well over two feet across, as
compared with little over two
inches for the same part in tor
toise of about a foot in diameter.
There is also part of the tooth of
an elephant-the elephant was first
identified in Palestine in evidence
from the Bethlehem bone beds-and
cheek teeth of the rhinoceros. Most
important, however, from the view
of the paleontologist and geologist
is what appears to be part of leg
bone of very small form of horse,
possibly hipparion, the three-toed
horse of Tertiary geological epoch.
Very Early Human Artifacts.
In the same beds, and associated
with these animal remains, were a
number of worked fiints of which a
selection has been brought to Eng
land and is now available for exam
nation by expert judges of mans
earliest handiwork. There can, how
ever, hardly be any doubt as to the
human origin of these specimens.
One of them appears to be a core,
from which fakes have been struck,
while the others show the charac-
teristic forms and chipping found in
eolithic or pre-palaeolithic nipple
ments. Of those who have seen
them, ]. Reid Moir, the great au-
thority in Great Britain on pre-
palaeolithic implements, is confident
as to their human origin and their
early form.
There is every reason to say that
at least the deposits are not later
than Early Pleistocene, and it may
be that they are Pliocene. This is
certainly nearly as early as the
earliest date assigned to the earliest
implements found by Reid Moir in
England, and approximately con-
temporary with Picking Man and
Pithecanthropus, unless a Pliocene
dating is proved, when it is earlier.
For this 100000 years might be re-
garded as very moderate estimate