Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1941-03-16

from the ancient hills of Lebanon,
near Beirut in Syria, soon may
be on their way to this country, travel
ing in a huge one-ton block Of stone,
in which they have been encased for at
least 10000 years.
When servants of the great King
Solomon traversed the ground of Leb-
anon 49, hewing down the famed cedar,
Ar and algum trees used for building
his splendid temple-those babes OF
the Old Stone Age, and many of their
as vet undiscovered ancestors. slept
their endless sleep far below. They
were unmindful of the tread of numer-
Gus feet above them.
Even the sacred footsteps of the
Saviour may have passed over their
deep and stony burial spots, as perhaps
did those of the Prophet Elijah, who
destroyed the sinful priests of Baal.
The skeletons of these two young
sters recently were discovered. and
only partly removed from the rock in
which they lay, by young Jesuit
priest-scientist, Father Joseph G. DOH
erty, S. j., of Boston College, Massa-
chusetts, and one of his associates.
Father Doherty, who now is in the
United States again. hopes to dissect.
away the surrounding stone, piece by
piece, with dental instruments and
other delicate tools, until the two COM
plete skeletons - or what remains of
them - are recovered.
But first he must travel back to Leb-
anon to superintend the removal and
shipping to Boston of the stone block
in which the bones still are partly i'm
prisoned.
The importance of the discovery
first made in 1897 but only recently
announced. lies in the fact that the
skulls resemble those OF noden humans
rather than those of the british ape
type creatures who have left traces
of their earlier Paleolithic or lower
Old Stone Age culture in most parts
of the world. If further studies and
analysis of the remains are
still imbedded in the reddish limestone
of the cave-bear out preliminary OBJ
servations, it may be found that these
skeletons are representatives of the
While millions of bones of prehistoric
animals and stone implements asso-
ISOLATED with Paleolithic Man have
been uncovered all over the world,
discoveries of actual human skulls anc
tons have been very few, since mans
are more fragile than these other rel
become pulverized and disappear with {
sage of the ages.
Lebanon Man, as the new discove
be called, may become of prime imp
in charting the migrations of prehistori
and dating the rise and fall Of Stone
ture in various parts Of the world.
The Lebanon Mountain region is
happy hunting ground for archeC
yielding ruins and relics of practici
periods of human history.
These mountains and valleys are
larry rich in Old Stone Age sites; the
lithic Age in that part of the worl
from about 10000 B. c. to 10000 B..
beyond.
1t happens that there is legend
the Arabs OF the Lebanon. concerning
who hundreds Of years ago fled v
tribe and sought refuge in a cave W
enemy attacked his city. The fugitiv
supposed TO have taken all their poss
including fabulous treasures. with I
the cave. The enemy found the cave,
-fy bes1eged II, and, when the King
people refused to come out, walled II
left them 20 perish.
This persistent legend has caused
less treasure-hunters in the past two
hundred years 10 scour the Lebanon
the cave and its treasure. Ancient tex
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