U.S.A.
Discovery of an early type of man
in Nebraska
Barbour, E.H., and Ward, H.B. ;
Science, 24:628, 1906
In a circular mound recently opened
on a Loess hill north of Florence, near Omaha, Nebraska,
various skeletal parts, and eight human skulls of a
primitive type were exposed. The credit of the discovery
blongs to Mr. Robert F. Gilder, of Omaha, who described and
figured the skulls in the World Herald, October 21.
That there was intrusive burial in
this mound is apparent from the fact taht the skulls found
below a layer of burned clay are of a much more primitive
type than those found above it. Already five skulls have
been taken from the lower level, and three from the upper,
and others are in evidence and will be dug out later. Those
of the upper layer probably belonged to Indians of a later
period, and may be left out of account for the present. The
skulls of the lower layer are low-browed and inferior, the supercialiary ridges being thick and
protruding, the
distance through the temples
narrow, and the
frontal emiences being as
feebly developed as in Neanderthal man. The low arch of the skull is not the
result of head-binding, but is normal and characteristic as
is evidenced by five crania, two of which are fairly
complete (...)
The skulls are brachycephalic, and
extremely narrow in
transverse diameter through
the temples, expanding rapidly at the parietals. Length of
skull 182 mm ; minimum breadth 93 mm ; maximum breadth 160
mm.
In shape and size the mandible
agrees well with that of modern man, although the following
marked differences are to be noted ; the bone, particularly
in the region of the symphysis, is far heavier, the muscular scars more
prominents, and the third
molar in each case is ground to the very gum, while the
second and third are ground in a diminishing ratio. The
canines are weak and scarcely distinguishable from the
incisors, and the space between the molars and the base of
the coronoid is wide.
(...) The femora, which are massive, manifest an
interior curvature more prononced than
ordinary, and in cross
section they appear triangular through the great development
of the linea aspera, all muscular scars and tuberosities are
noticeably prominent (...)
the skulls of the Nebraska man seem
to be inferior to those of the mound builder, but for the
present at least will be viewed as early representatives of
the tribe.
(my emphasies)
Comments : the two obviously
different populations were burried in the same structure,
most probably by the same people (presumably the higher,
"modern" one) at, roughly, the same period. The "lower
people" could be slaves or any kind of associates of the
"higher people".
Ancient skull discovered near
Santa Barbara
Anonymous, Nature, 112:699,
1923
According to a telegram from New
York which appeared in the Times of October 31, an
expedition of the Smithsonian Institution, of which Dr. J.
P. Harrington is the head, has discovered, at Santa Barbara,
in California, two human skulls for which a very high
antiquity is claimed. They are said to belong to an era
far earlier than that of
Neanderthal man. The
evidence upon which this claim is based would appear to be a
low forehead and very
pronounced eyebrow ridges.
The mouth cavity is extremely large and the walls of the
skull very
thick. They are said to be
twice the thickness of ancient Indian's skulls. Until more
detailed evidence is available, judgment must be suspended
as to the likelihood of this claim to a high antiquity being
substantiated ; but it may be pointed out that skulls
exhibiting Neandertaloid characteristics, especially in the
pronounced eyebrow ridge, have been found in more than one
occasion in the United States. Although a great age has been
attributed to them, upon further examination they have been
pronounced to be merely a relatively modern variety of the
Indian type. It is significant that the new Santa Barbara
skulls were associated with a material culture, implements,
fish-hooks, etc. which is said to show a great advance upon
any culture that can be associated with Neanderthal
man.
(my emphasies)
Comment : once again the writer
never imagines that the owner of bones could be different
from the owner of tools.
Europe
In 1908, Polish anthropologist
Kasimierz Stolyhwo claimed the discovery of surprisingly
recent neanderthal-type bones (Poszuswie, Poland, 10th
century AC, and Novossiolka, near Kiev, where the skeleton
has been found with an iron armor). Such "anomalies" have
been found since at Klapeida, in Carelia, near Moskow, at
Podkumok (Caucasus) in 1918, etc. More details in : Boris
Porshnev and Bernard Heuvelmans, "L'Homme de Neanderthal est
toujours vivant", Plon, Paris, 1974.
Australia
The earlier known Australian human
fossils (at least 60.000 years) are only "modern" sapiens.
Nethertheless, one found dozens of recent (6.000 to
25.000 years) human skeletons, showing, at various degrees,
many Homo
erectus features (Kow
Swamp, Nacurrie, Coobool, Talgai, Cohuna, Cossack, Wilandra
Lakes, etc.) :
- low forehead
- median sagittal
ridge
- supraorbital (brow)
ridge
- cranial wall unusually
thick
- postorbital constriction
- large teeth and great alveolar
development
- general robustness of
bones
These features are still present,
to various and far lesser degrees in today Aborigins.
See for instance A. G. Thorne et P.
G. Macumber "1972 discoveries of Late Pleistocene man at Kow
Swamp, Australia" in Nature, n° 238.
John Gribbin and Jeremy
Cherfas, ("The Monkey Puzzle", Bodley Head, 1982), claimed
modern Aborigins are of both sapiens and erectus origin (by
ADN code).
A skull matching the "Kow Swamp
type" has been found in Mare (New Caledonia), and dated
1680+/-80 AC (E. Dubois, "Le peuplement du Pacifique", La
Recherche, Paris, n°74, 1977).
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