Evening Star Newspaper, February 1, 1925, Page 73

MAGAZINE SECTION he Sunday St WASHINGTON, ILLUSTRATED FEATURES FICTION AND Part 5—8 Pages D. ¢, SUNDAY MORNING, FEBRUARY 1, 192 D. C. Archeologists Aid Study of Prehistoric Man 1ILIPS. bare an- BY HAROLD K. URTAINED behind nour 1ts, recently, that the heological Soctety of Washington had leased for a number of years a tract of land in France containing a cavern- ©us home of anctent man lies a story f importance tc with 2 brief into ruins of an- | *outhwest and south to | Czechoslovakia and parts of Poland. | Thence south to Austria, nto and along the Mediterranean Spain, Italy and parts, at north Africa | “Throughout these |a stratum of earth in | remains of the things that lived du & a portion, if not the entire > the quarternary or ice age. As thelr | remains are brought to light today science is finding that the more an- | clent they are the mere primitive ries, s also rich in burled chapters of i 3 : I o e e e o Fich t nuried chapters of -« z : A v / : Ao 5 . {ing that in all directions man has il oo et Sknown Story” of < | been evolving In these regions of the jcarlier fight for supremacy, world from very primitive dreatures, earlicr stages: richer, perhaps, ac- | hardly as yet to be called men, such cording to some scientists, than any { Pircown jaw. vo the. atest and nigh other country In Europe or any other ¥ . |1y atesiithte. man: who! iived' from part of the world il % S DAl 2 - Sl 4 ’ 1y paleolithic man, who lived from In ancient terraces of French rivers, 2 ; : ¢ N Tnesclister meniete da fn caves and in rock shelters, within > 4 % These later men left in which our primitive for > 4 2 | : ) ings of mow extimer their homes before the : A : (6 hnte i written word, remains | they hunted in old Europe. Remains »day and little | | of this nature and those story of pre-| described, whic storte ma Close be- greatest interest and imporfance t man'a esistenseCloss (ue. | science, are not found anywhere on n which he lived, ani- g ] 4 s the American contin which. a o animals upon ani- yé i Py . ; i ording to all indications, has be v become ex peopled in relatively recent post clal times. It was for these some that the American school was found e ed to give the American student x Germany Croatia tuto least, of sections there is which are « soctety the klance ba period tiquity. It ts now known that France, rich in the history of eivilization's record- ed battles down through the centu- when their caves ing engrav- extinct an 1s whi 1itt) ealing the are naturally of the side his ne extinet of those ar sehind the afford American students sort of an opportunity to s ’la nature’s Sehool rie gestion the n e makes his not yet es wisely determined to turn his attention to millionaires. He wsas n philanthropist, and there are 10,00 dyspepsia ¢ the drug shops f he laboring man, who may try them e after another for comparatively little money In an incredibly sk upon period Jones aire himself. Then very young woman and she at once become fashic became a = nee fe & stinn | rs in | mewhere | ) be tr onable, after na | i : Y VN ; 3 th Mrs. Jones. Ti n out- Univers:t 1 n ermine coat and d possibly a muff. there are seals here nd some doubt general time intruded cloud on the dear,” he rior kno own hand. the American | his ancient habitat Prehist Studies In Eu- rope was founded in 192 the sug- T - AT »f Dr. Henri Martin, eminent e 2 >y SRR e T'he Specialist. h: at the same time offered the ex- facilities of his famous BY J. A. WALDROY. site at L'« Quina to the ELLI GTO WILBER- an students. The initial steps FORCE JON after win creation of this school were ning his decree as a doctor .‘ul‘» taken by ':'r ‘t']l.;IIJH of medicine, became a spe- ormerly 1 he Peabody - clalist Most physiclans Museum, at Cambridge, Mass, these days become speci st ones T L D {ooking down the valley- e tion coud not be overesttmated. _In where once voamed the for dvspepsia. Everybody has dys- fhoAlon funtacbe s o Wi e caveman hordes o meonihiae Caad) int et of human remafhs, that anywhere oA the miioneire soté it approaches in aptiquity those e because bratn work at cave men of France Il\hlfl.v»-' “ ¥ times when his stomac should do its tory of our own beginning® They | % s P 5 7 were clvilizations of aborigines. How ancient were the astonishing | abodes of the cliff dw ors has not | the Maya civil zations of Yu tan and niral America are almost modern, | caves of Fr and the Maza civili- | s ) 4 Tateg .« b L b X gation antedated t era. | : 5 o , S o3 A » 2 2 % X Iie fnoletow Th the caverns and rock 1 Soraien Des France ¥ ke us b k L ed Stes shouia nearer ning least many it similar jects in North America 1 orge Grant ¢ v, research { associate in p thrapology | ? 3 3 . & o1 18 i R - Vil t ¥ g of servants Bt fcecor ot e Ao ok i rope. The activi of the school L > & X ¢ # Shae were to be limited France, with P “1 ‘“’” st &n opportunity for students from this i st Rl sheiter of La Quina | X % . sl 4 - 5 A Sy Before the first vear had closed, | 3 % et 44 g » : Yo ¥ : G * S Fould deariy Il in 1822, Dr. MacCurdy became con- | : s syt vinced that the scope of the school no n‘”u L s should be congiderably I dened, so oo’ as to include the whole of prehistoric 1 Jones looked research from the Eolithic period, = to § tholibaend which was the very beginning of the | knowledge for t Stone Age, to the Iron Age, and ex- {3t was very like a tend the researches to other coun- honeymoon. Why In 192 Dr. Peabody was de di- edge, “such animals don’ rector of the scho. 1 following “Well, then. I war him, in 1923, came Dr. Ales Hrdlicka dise and an aigrette ot United States Natlonai Mu- S tonln Mot Jones thought he ostrich might looked about for while, but saw only a rabbit. Jones thought to shoot the rabbit critical moment found he d ow how t load a gun. So the rrned & bit contemptu “I think ye shoot,” ‘sa “Mucs hroom Roek” Under this oner of our progenctors, with i cavemen once made their home i Irance. Clhe possible abode of 2 medieval castle 1w the ba,ckcjrouvwb. the not until reorgan: the present year tlon suggested by . MacCurdy became effective, when he was again made director of the achool. On this subject. in an ar- ticle which will appear in_ Art and Archeology in March. Dr. MacCurdy wrote only several weeks ago The new director (referring to himself) was given carte blanche to develop and carry out a program; he was aleo left single handed to pro. vide funds for the year's work. A prospectus was followed by a cam- palgn for funds. A dozen students name from a beautiful little village|of Washington is under not very far from the ancient caves. |face of the rock of C: Realizing the importance of the site, | commands an extensive Dr. Hrdlicka promptly signed an op- | vall tion for- it “The rock is flanked Dr. Hrdlicka west by the little valley Carroll_of the Archeological Society |seau des Roches. Both sides of this | lary | of Washington of his discovery, and | valley are bounded by rock escarp- or regular or full-term students last year Dr. Carroll visited the scene | ments, under shelter of which the |the directors have announced, some as the official representative of that|Paleolithic hunters lived at the con- | knowledge of prehistoric archaeolo - . . b | society. The ultimate result of that|tiguous sites known as La Souquette, | and elementary anthropology is de : 5 vere enrolled, some on full time and | visit was the leasing, some months|Labatut, Assieur, Delage, Blanchard |sirable, and me knowledge of others on part time, and the work of | ago, of the site by the Archeological | Number One, ete. Blanchard Number | French 1is almost indispensable, al- | s ) QB the Summer term began auspiclously | Society of Washington, which thus|Two is just around the projecting |though with diligent study during the | g &% ¢ 3 ¥ O Noe. tn London on July 1, last, gave American students the first site| point of the rock Summer months and the directors’ ald | g % . B35 i e BT Between that date and the close|of thelr own, where they could pur-| “The site leased is a talus slope | the deficiency could be made up in | o 'Y of the Summer term. toward the end | sue their researches into the lives!including a cave at the east end.!part. Accommodations are provided | " . eptember, the students followed a | and habits of earliest man, according | It reaches from the rock to the cul- | for the students near the excavations nced and carefully prepared | to thelr own ideas and under their | tivated field below and fx at an ele- e They studied in 23 mu-|own directors. ¥atloniof ‘Soe 131 to: 164" feet dbovei| o o ieuo b o sl e o visited and inspected 55 pre-| Excavations were the Vezere River. The work of the | J NERE is always a strange ap-| Nhistoric sites, from the Pliocene relic- | site Immediately, under school here reveals the same cultured | peal to the Imagination : - S E : hearing beds of East Anglia to Swiss | ship of Dr. MacCurdy lovels“as' those found by Peyrony at | one stands before the dark mouth of | : . N & i T . Tumuli of the Iron Age: attended 27| began yielding a large quantity of | Blanchard Number Two, namely, Mid- | & cave and reflects upon what migh % A ectures by the directar amd 23 hy 14| actual effects once used by primitive|dle and Upper Mousterian and Upper |be inside. The very name seems to | A Banknote Misprint. ~lalists of commanding ability | beings. On the site are a hitherto|Aurignacian. The Mousterian hori- |breathe of adventure and mystery, but| % nd excavated for 23 days at two im- | untouched cave, or deep rock shelter, | zons at Castel-Merle are relatively | until you have faced the yawning e IT xlf rarely scrapers, vears old, 1 [ AR » 5 s £ | Bur. of portant stations overlooking the Vezere Valley, and |rich in cultural remains. This is par- | trance to a cavern where might lie The first four weeks were devoted | great quantities of refuse accumula- | ticularly true of the flint|bones many thousands of tor Bonvhitn: BAEIASA: tHe Toseat s ton: for which was obtalned on the pla- [the bones of a race of men who have | but this happened when a banknote nionuments of Brittany, the relic-| There once lived a tribe of the|teau above. The total number of [disappeared from the face of the | was issued which bore a $50 value bearing terraces of the Somme Val- |famous Neanderthal race of men—/flint scrapers found during the past |earth, you have never experienced | on one side and a $100 value on the ley and the Paris museums. men who roamed the Old World from | season was 1,020 the greatest thrill of all other. 0dd circumstances attended “From Parls the school went direct(a long, unknown time, antedating the S e Tragedy and romance m: its discovery. A western hotel clerk to the Dordogne, where, thanks to the | last Ice Ages, and then disappeared 1approach and sights in straightening out his accounts one co-operation of Dr. John C. Merriam, | with the — glaciers, approximately imagination ofttimes day found a disagreement he could president of the Carnegle Institution |30,000 or more years ago. And there venturous explorer not explain. A pile of bills was at of Washington; and to the generosity | today modern man is unearthing fos- brave the darkness his right, and as he counted them of Col. William Eric Fowler, the|silized skeletons, crude implements find only a few dirty trinkets scat- and turned them over he placed them Archeological Soclety of Washington |and stone and bone ornaments—even | tered about the floor. Perhaps there in a pile at his left now has a paid-up lease, good for 10| the fossilized bones of the horse, the | Wil be a fosslilzed skeleton or two, Ihe Pr imitive, the Medieval and the Moderw. He consumed more than two hours more years, on a productive rock |great hairy mammoth, the bison and and again he may see before him the ’ ‘L o CI fl. counting and recounting, only to find weatin th me 1kl . shelter and cave. The Archeological | other animals that served as food tiagic end of an anclent family, a e s e ke B Society of V ington has granted |and perhaps as a source of clothing. school the sole privilege of ex-| The story of the cave, however, like cavating this site, the story of the rocks, is one of During the past Summer enough |progress. Although the species of digging was done to reveal three|antiquity have passed into oblivion, relic-bearing horizons, all of Paleo-| ays found that in the lithic age; two representing the|strata above re the remains Mousterian culture left by san- | of later but somewhat similar crea- al race and one by the Aurigna- | tu that probably evolved from cian culture left by an early Cro-' them. And the accumulations of the Magnon race. Flint implements of | Neandert man in the Castel- various types were found by the hun- -\Y-Irl-; \l\;‘lwr«' {..r.‘- mv-r!ulnh 4;.. one dred; but the st specimen was a|side by those of the somewhat more et oo it ek | recent Aurignaclan perlod, which fol- | dered by lack of funds. A movement cent pale vellow rock crystal. lowed dire upon the Mousterian [i8 on foot now to establish a small the north|French necessary for Summer stu- el-Merle and|dents. The directors have found that of the|n few weeks on the ground and the | physical necessity of speaking French | 5 on the south- |in ordinary daily life will marvel- i to of the Ruis- | pusly increase the student’s vocabu- 3 view i ach ought ave learned Mrs. with a pout: “and you so to have and out before you hired this place whether it had any useful animals. birds of paradise and aigrettes “I'll admit,” replied Jones I'm not as smart as I thought but it will not tauke me as |1earn how to load a gun as it will vou, my dear, to familiarize yourselt with the habitats of More- {over, although I've what was thought to be imp a cure | for dyspepsia—I'm sure I never could compound a spec for the vanity of | woman informed Dr. Mitchell that I was long to animals. started at the the director- Soon the place (Coprright, 1925.) when | that mistakes get past am’s inspect in the Engraving and Printing, ¥ await your to stagger the await the ad- | who dares to inside. He may HE American School for Prehis- toric Research in Europe neither asks nor accepts any fee for admis- sion. Students of both sexes are ad- mitted without cost and are entitled to its full privileges free. It is neces- sary, of course, for the students to pay their own expenses, and before being enrolled they are told that the minimum allowance for living In France now is about 20 francs a day. Like most other high institutions of learning, however, the school of- fers a few opportunities to its stu- dents for earning money while in the fleld, by doing some of the physical labor at the excavations which would otherwise be turned over to French laborers living nearby. Everything is done, therefore, to assist worthy students who are hin- heinous crime of a forgotten age bared before his astonished mind There is a saying that “murder A will out,” and there is on record an instance of how a homicide possibly committed 50,000 or more years ago was bared by an archeologist of mod- ern times, member of an explor- ing party, he stepped into one ‘of these ancient caves and found there the fossilized skeletons of an entire family—mother, father and several children—where an assassin had left | Ta: them. Gaping holes in the skulls told how the monster that had slain them had dashed out their brains, one after right his accounts were exact and that when he counted them back a shortage of $50 was shown. The manager was called upon, but met with no better success. At last each bill was examined separately on both sides, whereupon the mystery was solved. It was then that the $5 obverse and the $100 reverse was ylelded remains of the the age of the various skeleton: Solutre is admirably adapted by na- ture for a prehistoric camp site and place of burial. It is high and drv, with a spring nearby, and protected on the north by the towering rock of Solutre. The Aurignacians were the first to leave their dead here. Later did’ lkewise. “The skeletons school were all near are apparently of later date; in fact,| have three of them certainly are. None of | moth, reindeer, bison, cave | them had a flagstone at the head.|wolf and elk or foose, all of The second is that of an old man.|once roamed that section of France, | Bones of the horse, reind etc.. | although some are now regarded as were found -in’ fairly close contact,native of other sections of the world.” | g tq with it. Also a flint chip, but o ok % X The Treasury Department was noti- finished implements % 5 is. | fled, and after investigation it was “The skeleton is practicaly Intact| A Ll of this may have led to 2 mMiS- | gounq that it had a record of the and is particularly interesting on ac understanding of the true aims of | b1 The mistake was made when count of the pathological condition |the American not. 3 | & sheat of notes was printed for a the end of the lefts lower | ¢iety or organ fostered bY | national bank in Kansas City mam- hyena, which the uncovered by ‘th the surface much over two | at school. It is s0- tion e s g 1 loan fund with which to tide worthy has been chris- tened Castel-Merle, is beautifully sit-| ated overlooking the Vezere River, secluded and at the same time easily cessible.” -k x % IT s at Castel-Merle that the Archeological Society of Wash- ington is thus giving American sci- entists and students an opportunity to study ancient man in his native habitat without burdening European | expediticns with their presence. The search for a site that the American school might lease was begun dur- ng the directorship of Dr. Hrdlicka, who also realized the necessity for enlarging the scope of the work if it was to prove of the utmost benefit to American scientists and American in- stitutions, In 1923 he such a site instituted a search for and finally found it on the Vezere River, y a few miles om the famous caves of Le )lnu\(\or‘ Madelene and the region of Les| :vzies, which is considered by some nthropologists and archeologists as 1o richest in all France. The local- ity Is known a8 Sergeac, deriving its pe ERE N the valley just Castel-Merle site, now Washington scientists, are several more sites belonging to the Aurig- nacian and Magdalenian times. In one of these the owner, from whom the American site was leased, has discovered what is thus far the best known necklace of stone and bone beads belonging to the Aurignacian man ever found. Describing . the rock shelter at Castel-Merle, Dr. MacCurdy, in the report just received by the Archeo- Jogical Society of Washington, said the first known reference to it as a site of Paleolithic or earlier remains was made by M. Reverdit as early as 1878, although it is still a virgin field of research. Continuing, Dr. Mac- Curdy said: “Castel-Merle is one of nine Paleo- lithic stations forming a compact group. The rock rises precipitously near the left bank of the Vezere. The rock shelter leased for the American School of Prehistoric Research in Eurcpe by the Archeological Society beyond the owned by students over an emergency. In ad- dition, there are scholarships which are awarded by open competition Last year there were three such scholarships, one for 5,000 francs, an- other for 3,000 francs, and the third for 2,000 francs. Applicants for these scholarships are accepted merely on their scholarly merits. Students may take a Summer course or a full course. In the former, they get the advantage of the fleld work at the American site and some of the excursions to other sites and to fa- mous European museums. The full-term students spend an en- tire year at the school, and at the end of their studies receive certifi- cates testifying to the amount and the quality of the work done. Each is required to present a thesis show ing at least the faculty of independ- ent observation For Summer students no special ex- perience in prehistoric archacology is absolutely essential, although a another Students or plece: another trail fore history Last year Castel-Merle, France. tation French scientists. A port Di “Our school some visits to museums of prehistoric | first day, archaeology are highly desirable. of the excavations of Solutre, They dug there at the invi- of Prof. Deperet, and Dr. Arcelin, three distinguished Human skeletons, some dating back to the Aurignacian age, have been found there. * X X % SECTION was set aslde for the | goer were picked up in fairly close American students and in his re- | association with MacCurdy made the follow ing remarks on the results: was especially short course of general reading and | nate in finding a human skeleton the and before the end of a|been made can one week had encountered five others. Nelther Is an extended knowledge of [ja too early to establish definitely ] skeleton. L} American for Prehistoric Studles in Europe any day may bring to light a few bones of stone that will open up into the dim ages be- began, man himself, as man is reckoned to- day, came into being. the School before | i students the American School worked not only at but also at the classi¢ near Macon, Mayet the deepest being not feet; but depth alone is no criterion of age. The spot where we found the skeletons has been subject to erosion for thousarnds of years.. On the contrary the adjoining depression fn which three skeletons were found 1923 has been subject to afill for a like period of time. This fact would account for the additional depth of four feet at which they were found. “The first skeleton - (that of a female) found by the school was a burial similar in every detail to the Aurignacian burlals discovered last year. It lay full length, resting on the back, and with a flagstone set up at each side of the head. Some | red ocher was found near the right | hand. Bones of the horse and rein- the skeleton. At | the same level, but somewhat removed |trom the skeleton, Paleolithic flints were fortu- | found. “Only after detailed 'studies have say definitely 1t| whether or not this is a Cro-Magnon The five other, skeletons upper leg bone. ‘Accident or disease had carried away the upper’' end of the bone and the shaft of the fibula had fused with that of the tibia some four centimeters below what would have been the normal contact. * * * “One is impressed by the great pre- ponderance of horse bones; not only in the celebrated horse magma at the top of the Aurignacian deposit, but also at other levels. The three pits sunk by the school were outside the limits of the horse magma, but bones and teeth of the horse were ex- ceedingly plentiful and composed about 99 per cent of the faunal re- mains. The leg bones predominat Many horse teeth were found. For every upper molar encountered there | were literally scores of lower molars. | such a head of )ne might aSsume from marked discrepency that the the horse the plain below and the upper jaw, including the brain case, left where the horse fell. But the reason for such action would be difficult to ex- plain. . “In adaitisn to the horse the sites had been dismembered in| science to give opportunity to enjoy the extreme sen- satfon of delving into prehisto archeology, but its objects have heen carefully defined. by governing boards. That the will broaden rapidly in the seems assured as a result of achfevements it has attained already and the standing it has won for it- self among European scholars. future As expressed by its directors, the| [T main object of the to, assist graduate American students, museum curators, collectors and structors to a first-hand knowledge of a fleld of learning which from ear to vear is assuming wider terest and greater importance. The field in which the ancient men | confined | PRITAIN s following the American boundaries of | of France hunted was solely to the present that nation. Remains and relics just like those of France, may be traced across the English Channel to channel {slands and finally to south- eastern England itself. North they gxtend to the limits of Belglum not American students an | Through its directors and | ana a $50 reverse. school | the American School | for Prehistoric Research in Europe Is in- | in- | 1 the | & mistake of the pressman two misprinted notes went out—one with a $50 obverse and a $100 re- verse, the other with a $100 obverse The cashier re turned the note to the Treasury and received a good one in fts stead. e Credit in the United States. is estimated that about cent of the transactions in retall trade and about 90 per cent of the transactions in wholesale trade are | settled by means of credit ipstru- ments—checks, trade acceptances, drafts | and notes. 60 per { Railroad Bussesr. example of running busses on branch rallroad lines trains are not profitable eastern Rallway Co. is now furnish- ing a railed motor service from York, England, to several small stations along its lines. ks