Salt Lake Tribune | 1901-12-30 | Page 7 | A Mammoth Edition, Some Interesting Bones

SOME INTERESTING BONES Great Archaeological Find Made in the Indian Territory One of the most notable findsIn the history of American archaeological research re-search has lately been made In Indian Territory The Investigations were conducted by Prof W H Holmes of tho United States National museum of Washington From Afton I T the professor brought back several boxes Jllled with animal remains Including the teeth of an extinct species of ox an extinct species ot horse the bones of mammoth and mastodon and the bones of modem mod-em animals like the buffalo the elk the deer and the wolf With these also were relics of human art a large number num-ber of the most exquisite Hint knives and spear heeds ever seen The astonishing part of the discovery was that all of these relics come irom the same excavation where they were found side by side Were the makers of the instruments contemporaries of the mammoth and mastodon which supposedly belonged to the age of preHstorlc man That was the question ques-tion that agitated the people The scientists of course pointed out the Impossibility of any such reality and Prof Holmes explains very satisfactorily satis-factorily ho the Implements probably came to be In such strange surroundings surround-ings The collection of relics was practically practi-cally taken from an old spring At least they came from the muck bed Immediately surrounding it The region re-gion was formerly the hunting ground of the Sioux Indians most famous of buffalohunters and the spring was to them a sacred place the dwelling of a divinity to whom they made offerings Thus they threw Into It as propitiatory gifts the Implements found THc theory the-ory is further borne out by the fact that of the tools not one shows any evidence of ever having been used the points and edges being as perfect as when made Their workmanship is particularly beautiful Before and perhaps during the glacial gla-cial period the mammoth and the mastodon mas-todon roamed these same plains and probably came to the spring to drink and becoming mired In the bog died there This region was not invaded by the ice sheet of the glacial period and so remains were preserved In later ages the remains of the modern animals ani-mals were In the same way added to the collection The discovery was made a short time ago when In an effort to Improve the water supply from the spring a sort of wooden box live feel square was sunk Into the marsh where the water bubbles bub-bles up When the boards were driven Into the moist soil the remains were found by the workmen Dr R H Harper of Afton had his attention called to them and realizing the Importance Im-portance of the discovery at once communicated com-municated with the National museum at Washington At the museum the announcement Is made that the collection as a whole surpasses In interest any single find hitherto made Philadelphia North American