Evening star., 1938-11-08
OF STARS,
MEN AND ATOMS
Notebook of Science PROGRESS
in Field, Laboratory
and Study.
BIZ THOMAS r. HENRY.

BY THOMAS r. HENRY.
The earliest Americans must have
had charmed lives.
DR.. Frank H. H. Roberts, jr., archeolo-
gist of the Smithsonian Institution, has
just returned from Northeastern Colo
RADIO after fifth summer spent in ex-
cavating the most ancient known site Of
human habitation in the New World.
Here summer after summer camped
parties Of Folsom men, the wandering
hunters who trailed herds of bison during
the closing days of the last ice age, ap-
proximately 10000 years ago. The camp
covered large area. There are hun
dreds of animal bones and hundreds of
artifa>ts.-- spearheads, knives, scrapers
and othSr tools and weapons made of
flint. But once more DR.. Roberts failed
to find a single human bone
And yet. since there is undoubted evi-
dence that the camp was occupied for a
long time, 1t seems extremely likely that
somebody died there. Folsom man led q
dangerous life. He hunted large and
dangerous animals armed only with
AASoAOA cHCu4o. ICIIldpo llC 1UukuL
at close quarters with wounded beasts.
A few human bones would be Of ines
timable value. They would show the
physical type Of this wraithlike human
being who dwelt at the edge of the great
ice sheet and may have been remotely
ancestral to some Of the present Indian
tribes. But they cannot be found and
Folsom man himself is as mysterious as
ever, although DR.. Roberts has found
good deal about his daily life, labor and
amusement
For the first time this summer DR.. Rob-
erts found the tusk of mammoth in the
Folsom deposit. In past years he has
found great number Of bones of an
extinct variety of bison, North Ameri-
can camel, and a variety of animals
which have survived up to the present.
Mammoth bones had been found with
Folsom spearheads further south. A
mammoth bone alone might not indicate
any very great antiquity for the remains
since there Is some evidence that these
great elephants survived the Ice Age
for several thousand years. DR.. Roberts
also found several new forms of knives
and scrapers, also with unmistakable
signs Of Folsom workmanship.
This first American was, after FASH
ion, an artist. In past summers DR..
Roberts has found number of isolated
bone articles upon which geometrical
designs had been inscribed or scratched.
Ihls year a considerable accumula-
tlon OF these was uncovered. The Fol-
som art seems to have stopped with line
designs. DR.. Roberts says, and in no in
stance was there anything which could
be interpreted as picture writing, or an
attempt to depict realistically any of
the animals upon which the ancient
nomads lived. But artists in bone hardly
could have been low-grade savages.
Ihey or their immediate ancestors pre-
sumably brought a developed culture
when they crossed Bering Strait from
Asia.
The picture which now clearly
emerges is that of bands of hunters who
followed the southern edge of the re-
treating ice sheet in pursuit of their
prey In winter they may have retreated
Tar TO the southwark, as did also the
herds Their points" have been found
In New Mexico associated with bones of
the musk OK. creature found now only
inside the Arctic Circle. 1t Is doubtful
II the hunters had any permanent home.
Scattered Folsom spearheads have been
found all over the United States, but
usually each find is completely isolated.
The one other exception to date Is in
limited area near the Virginia North
Carolina line, where a half dozen or
more have been picked up ALL however,
have been surface finds and efforts to
find habitation site in the East have
proved futile.
DR.. Roberts made preliminary exam
lnation this summer of another reported
Folsom camp in Wyoming. At the place
there was considerable accumulation
OF proJectile points, but all of another
type-probably distantly related to the
Folsom craftsmanship, but either earlier
or later in time. This type may have
been characteristic of the culture which
lntervened between the Folsom and that
OF the ancestors of the aboriginals found
in North America by the first white ex-
plorers.
A great deal of work still is possible on
the Lindenmeier site, where he has
worked for the past five summers, DR..
Roberts said. From now on, however.
except for the ever-present possibility of
nndlng some human bones, little is to be
expected beyond few more intimate
details, obtained with vast labor. on the
culture Of the mysterious people.
There Is every reason to expect, DR..
Roberts stresses, that the Folsom hunters
were men of the modern type in every
respect. They were very early for the
New World, but not relative to the an
tiquity of humanoid remains found in
Europe and Asia. If a skeleton ever is
uncovered it will probably prove of Mon
goloid stock, similar to that of the