Evening star., 1940-08-22
Of Stors, Men
And Atoms
Notebook Of Science Progress
In Field, Laboratory
And Study
BIZ Thomas r. Henry.

Nuo StoOy
By Thomas r. Henry.
There were at least two major migra-
tions out of the eastern woodlands Of
before the coming Of white men.
Evidence for this is presented by DR..
Waldo r. Wedel, Smithsonian 1nstitu-
ton archeologist, in q report just issued
by the institution on the pre-history Of
the country beyond the Missouri.
These migrations, like those Of the
white settlers in the middle OF the 10Th
century, were Of small farmers who
settled in communities, planted fields
of corn and beans. and relied only in
cidentally on hunting for a livelihood.
Traces of their village sites are scattered
over the countryside but have been, for
the most part, only superficially investi-
gated.
They cannot be dated. The earliest
human beings in the Plains country, DR..
Wedel explains, were nomad hunters
who drifted eastward from the foot
hills Of the Rockies and whose perculiar
artifacts are found scattered over the
region. They were the mysterious Fol-
som and Yuma men, supposed to have
lived In the latter stages Of the last
ice age.
Between them and the farmers" he
points out, there is an enormous time
gap when, SO far can be determined from
any evidence unearthed to date, the
country was uninhabited. The emf
grants from the East probably came
into a land where there were no other
human beings.
They were pottery making people. The
peculiar styles of their handicraft IN
dicate their Eastern Affiliations. So far
as their story can be reconstructed, Mr..
Wedel says, "they filtered into the Plains
from general easterly direction. Moving
up the great river valleys they famed
out along the smaller tributaries to
penetrate at least as far as Eastern
Colorado and the heart Of the High
Plains"
The first Of these migrations, he says,
was that Of people with woodland
culture" such as was widespread over
the land east Of the Mississippi. They
moved ahead cautiously. Their sites are
small and secluded. Although they
covered wide territory the total popu-
lation must have been very small
Perhaps a little later came another
people with a considerably higher cul-
ture. Artifacts found on their village
sites link them with the mound builders
Of the Ohio and Upper Mississippi VAL
leys. They settled along the Missouri but
extended their influence for at least 100
miles further west along the Kansas
River.
The second major migration was a
people with q very different type OF
pottery who introduced the earth lodge,
q form Of dwelling characteristic of the
region ever since. They appear to have
been Middle or Southern Mississippi
Valley people who thrust themselves
westward up the Missouri at least as
far as Kansas City and extended their
influence into Nebraska.
All the evidence indicates, Dr.. Wedel
says. that both these migrations were Of
PSoSSAo1 PSOPiC oCChnl& PCdCclQl AteSs
"The small size and scattered oc-
currence of their settlements" he says,
suggest period Of peace, and prox-
unity to arabic bottomlands rather than
defensive needs apparently controlled
the selection of sites. If contemporary
hunting and non-horticultural people
were present the two groups were, tor
q az CT -
What became Of them In unknown.
They left the earth covered pit-house,
corn cultivation, the hoe and pottery
making as heritages for those who
followed them. 1t appears that the
widely scattered little communities were
for some reason abandoned before there
were any contacts with the whites and
retreat to the East started. This may
have been due to series of dry years.
The earliest white period found parts
of the area occupied by agricultural
peoples but they were destined to dwindIe
rapidly before nomad hunters, pressed
westward by the white settlements and
provided with horses and firearms. They
were bison hunters. An agricultural
SoAeulC CouiO IloI oIdIlu dBdlIlSI IueIn.
1t became restricted to small islands
In the plains, and native arts and in
dustries degenerated rapidly.
An historical cycle of perhaps 10000
years was completed--from bison hunter
to bison hunter. Only in the 18th CEN
tury did agriculture again gain foot
hold with the coming OF the white
settlers out Of the East. But despite the
differences In race and culture the pat
tern they followed had been laid down
many centuries before.