Evening star., 1952-06-06
Ancestral Eskimo DweIt
Forthest North in World
Danish Expedition Reports
On Studies in PeuyIond
By Thomos R. Henry

The farthest-north land in the world
was migration route for the ancestral
Eskimo.
This is the conclusion, reported to tho
Arctic Institute Of North America, by DR..
Eigtl Knuth. leader Of the Danish Peary.
land expedition for three years between
1o47 and 1851.
Pearyland Is the northeastern pen
tnsula Of Greenland. It includes nearly
1900 square miles, q great deal Of
which Is free Of ice. It Is very sparsely
inhabited by Eskimo hunters. Dr. Knuth
and his men carried out their archeolog-
ical work, he explains. In snow-covered
areas at 10 below and, as result, OBJ
tanned relatively few artifacts.
Across this desolate peninsula, the
Danish explorers found, some of the
earliest Of the Eskimo race to have ar
rived In the New World must have
trekked on their way from Alaska to the
east coast Of Greenland. Some Of the
stone artifactS found correspond def
nitely. DR.. Knuth said, to some recent
archaeological discoveries In Alaska
which may be Of very great antiquity.
The modern Eskimo also must have
crossed Pearyland. for at one point was
found buried under snow which must
have accumulated through many years
the frame Of q umiak. or whaling boat.
which was unknown to the ancient cul-
ture.
Most Important Finds.
BY far the most important finds,
however, were q number of so-called
"burins." These were small stone tools
used for splitting. They have been found
many times in the cave sites of ancient
man in Europe and have been con-
sidered characteristic Of the latter part
Of the old stone age in the Old World.
Nothing Of the sort was known In the
new world until three years ago when
DR.. j. L. Giddings of the University of
Pennsylvania found this type of tool,
corresponding very closely to the Eu-
ropean pattern, in the oldest of three
deposits on the shore Of Norton Sound.
Alaska. Other burins since have been
found in the Brooks Mountains of
Northern Alaska.
These artifacts now are believed by
archeologists to be associated with q
mysterious Dorset people," presumably
Eskimos Of primitive type and prob
ably not very closely related to the
Eskimo race Of today. The burins tend
to link them up with stone-age Europe.
DR.. Knuth believes that at one time they
may have covered most of habitable
Greenland.
Bats that live only in the tombs of the
pharaohs-perhaps the worlds weirdest
warm -blooded animals-have just been
added to the Smithsonian Institutions
mammal collections.
They were collected from the sepul-
chral chambers Of the pyramids by 1t.
P. Quentin Tomich while member of q
Navy medical expedition to Egypt last
year. 1t. Tomich and his associates on
this mission gathered as many types of
Egyptian animals as possible in order to
identify possible disease carriers.
Noteworthy among the bats In the
collection is the rhinopoma. or long,
tailed bat. All bats have tails, of sort.
But. like the tails Of men, these usually
are invisible. Few have tail that
protrudes beyond the membrane be-
tween the hind legs. The rhinopoma,
group are nearly unique in this respect.
r Well Over 5000 Years Ago.
The particular species in 1t. Tomich's
collection is. so far as is known, exclu-
sively an inhabitant Of the sepulchral
chambers Of pyramids. It's ancestors may
have found these particular homes when
the bodies Of the first kings and queens
OF the Nile kingdom were placed in
them. well over 5000 years ago. Very
similar creatures, but of slightly diff
ferent species, are found in Africa as far
south as Lake Rudolph and in Asia east
ward to Siam. Those, however. are cave
dwellers and not tomb dwellers.
The tomb-inhabiting animals were OBJ
tanned from the great pyramids of Gizeh
near Cairo and approximately on the
site Of the ancient Memphis. They are
animals about the size Of the
ordinary American brown rat.
Throughout the day they remain in
the thick, ancient darkness Of the
sepulchral chambers, clinging to minute
inches in the roof and walls. After dark
they fly abroad seeking insects. Despite
their somewhat sinister reputation they
are entirely insect-eating creatures.
They are not abundant in the tombs,
as sometimes is the case with cave
dwelling bats.