TRAILING ADAM'S ANCESTORS
BY HENRY C. SHETRONE
Lest the above title may not be readily
intelligible to the
reader, it may be explained that this
paper has to do solely with
the origin and antiquity of the human
race.
It goes without saying that humans
through the ages have
concerned themselves with queries as to
the genesis, significance
and destiny of their kind. It is equally
true that every race and
every people, from the lowest savagery
to highest civilization,
have found more or less satisfactory
answers to these queries.
This being so, why should the matter not
be considered as settled,
once and for all time?
Before deciding whether or not there is
justification for
further inquiry in this direction, let
us scan briefly the evidence
for what may be termed the
origin-antiquity concept. Let us
begin this inquiry with the mythology of
historic primitive peoples,
proceeding thence to the tradition and
history of the great religions
which survive and function at the
present time, pausing perhaps
to consult some of the early classical
thinkers and writers. This
done, we should be in a position to
determine whether anything
further remains to engage our attention.
Mythology, to which we must look for
beliefs of primitive
peoples, embraces the vast and complex
body of human opinion
regarding the origin, functions, history
and destiny not only of
humans but usually of all animate and
inanimate creation. It is
the product of the inchoate and abstract
reasoning of the savage
and barbarian, in their attempts to
explain unobvious phenomena--
the existence and operations of bodies
and principles of nature.
Seldom does mythology deal with real
personages or actual
changes affecting the environing world.
Usually the world of
the savage is small indeed, being
limited to the immediate area
of his occupancy and a little beyond. As
a rule the savage world
83
84
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
was originally a place of peace and
harmony; then came strife
and discord. There is good and evil,
gods and devils, a hostile
environment, with which man feels
himself unable to cope without
the aid of magic, deities, masters,
controllers and later, gods.
With the observation that mythology as a
source of historical
information is practically without
value, we may refer briefly to
a few of the innumerable myths, in so
far as they have to do
with origin and antiquity.
Myths of Primitive Peoples
The Maori of New Zealand believe that
the vast heavens
above and the earth which lies beneath
it were the source of all
things, including man. Originally the
two were in close and
constant contact, clasped one to the
other. Their offspring, thus
begotten, resented the darkness which
had prevailed up to this
time, and conspired to rend them apart.
One after another they
tried, only to fail. Then came one lusty
son who, planting his
head firmly agains this mother Earth and
his feet against his
father Sky, succeeded by one mighty
heave in thrusting the
heavens far above, where they remain to
this day. But one of
the many sons remained loyal to his
father, ascending with him
on high, there to become the god of
winds and storms. To him
are attributable all atmospheric
disturbances resulting from the
warring elements.
For a long time Maori ancestors knew no
death; but
eventually one of their progeny deceived
a goddess, which brought
death and all their woe into the world.
Of the many mythical
heroes of the Maori, there may be
mentioned one Maui who,
weaving a magic rope, lassoed the sun
and forced him to slow his
pace that the days might be longer. The
same Maui fished up
land from the ocean bottom with a magic
hook tipped with a bit
of his ancestress' jawbone. The Maori
will show you this magic
hook to this day; it is the cape
stretching far out into the sea,
forming the southern extremity of Hawkes
Bay.
Sir George Grey's recording of the Maori
mythology1 con-
1 Sir George Grey, Polynesian
Mythology (London, 1855).
TRAILING ADAM'S ANCESTORS 85
cludes with this poetic paragraph: "Up to this time the vast
heaven has remained separated from his
spouse, the earth. Yet
their mutual love still continues--the
soft warm sighs of her loving
bosom still ever rise up to him,
ascending from the woody moun-
tains and valleys, and men call these
mists; and the vast heaven,
as he mourns through the long nights his
separation from his
beloved, drops frequent tears upon her
bosom; and men, seeing
these, call them dewdrops."
Coming closer home, we find that
American Indian mythology,
while differing in details, conforms
closely to the mythology com-
plex as a whole. The Zuni conception of
the genesis, as recorded
by Cushing2 is that the Maker of All existed
before the beginning
of time. The Maker then conceived within
himself, and evolved
fogs of increase, "mists potent
with growth." He then took upon
himself the person of the Sun, by whose
light the cloud mists
became water, thus forming the
world-holding sea. The heat
of his rays shining upon the waters then
generated a green scum
and this, increasing, became the
four-fold containing Mother
Earth and the all-covering Father Sky.
From the consorting of
these twain were generated men and all
terrestrial life, from the
four-fold womb of the Earth. In the
lowermost of these four
wombs or caves, strife and struggle made
their appearance. Then
came Poshaivankya, wisest of men, from
the nethermost sea.
Pitying distracted humans, he besought
the Sun Father to deliver
them from their duress.
The Tlingits of the Northwest coast,
according to Swanton,3
believe that in the beginning the world
lay in darkness. There
lived at the head of the Nass River, one
Nasshakiyel, their prin-
cipal deity, in whose house were boxes
containing many things,
including sun, moon, stars and daylight.
Nasshakiyel was unmar-
ried and lived alone with two old men
attendants. Yet, he had a
daughter--no one could explain. First of all beings, Nass
created the Heron and the Raven, very
good and very wise
men. Raven was his favorite, and was
made head man over
2 Frank H. Cushing, "Outlines of
Zuni Creation Myths," U. S. Bureau of American
Ethnology, 13th Annual Report, 1891-92 (Washington,
1896), 321-447.
3 John R. Swanton, Tlingit Myths and
Texts, U. S. Bureau of American Ethnology,
Bulletin No. 39
(Washington, 1909).
86
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
the world. Then, the record naively and
rather illogically goes
on to say, Nasshakiyel made some people.
The world was still in darkness, and
this was a matter of
great concern to Raven. If he were only
the actual son of the
great Nass, he reasoned, he would be
able to do just about
anything, including the dispelling of
darkness. So he turned
himself into a hemlock needle, and
softly fell into the water
container from which Nass's daughter was
accustomed to drink.
She did, and at once became pregnant.
It seems that the wily Nass knew all the
time what was
happening; in fact, he appears to have
wanted matters just as
they were; yet he pretended ignorance,
and asked his daughter
how she got that way. Her reply was that
she thought she had
swallowed something. So it was this
strangely begotten grandson
of Nass, rather than the Raven himself,
who actually delivered
benighted humans from obscurity, and in
this manner: He cried
for the box holding the moon, and his
indulgent grandfather gave
it to him as a pacifier. With childish
curiosity he pried off the
lid; the moon escaped, and that's why
it's where it is. Having
learned the efficacy of crying, grandson
cried for the box con-
taining daylight; again he pried, and
lo, there was light.
Nass tried to create humans from stones,
but failed. So he
made them from leaves, and since leaves
wither and fall, so must
humans. "After people die,"
Nass told them, 'if they are not
witches and do not lie or steal, there
is a good place for them to go.
Wicked people however are to be dogs and
such low animals
hereafter." The place for the good
was up above; and on one
occasion Raven raised a man from the
dead; and so on and on.
Citing just one more primitive creation
myth, we find that of
the Maidus of California, not only
ingenious and highly imagina-
tive but with a distinct present-day
sense of humor. In the
beginning, according to Dixon's
interpretation of the myth,4 there
was no sun, no moon, no stars, only
water everywhere, and
darkness. Nevertheless, a raft floated
mysteriously down from
the North. On it were Turtle and
Father-of-the-secret-society.
4 Roland B. Dixon, "Maidu
Myths," Bulletin of the American Museum of
Natural History (New York), XVII (1902), 33-118.
TRAILING ADAM'S ANCESTORS 87
Mysteriously again there dangles from
the sky a rope of feathers,
down which comes Earth-Initiate. Turtle
asks Initiate can't he
make some dry land so that Turtle may at
times emerge from the
water for a rest? Initiate could, if he
had some mud. Turtle
declares he'll dive for mud. He does so,
and is gone six years;
when he emerges, all of his supply of
mud has dissolved, excepting
that beneath his fingernails. Not to be
dismayed, Initiate carefully
scrapes this out, and has enough to make
a small marble-sized
pellet. This he fosters and tends, so
that bit by bit it increases
in size, finally becomes the earth. He
then creates the sun, moon
and stars and vegetable life, including
a tree bearing twelve kinds
of acorns.
But Turtle thought something was
lacking. So Initiate took
'dark red earth' and made people--a man
and a woman. He
then rested, prone on his back between
the man and woman.
Toward morning, the woman tickled him in
the side. But he
didn't laugh. Instead he arose, stuck a
piece of pitch-wood into
the ground and lo, the first fire. This
pair were whiter and
handsomer than any people since; eyes
pink, hair very black.
Their hands were fashioned so that if
chased by bears they could
climb trees.
Turtle thought it all looked easy; so he
tried creating humans;
but he laughed when the woman tickled
his ribs--so he failed.
Asked why he laughed, he denied that he
had. Thus the first lie.
At first, everything and everyone was
perfect; nothing to do but
eat and sleep. Then Coyote's son was
bitten by a Rattlesnake,
and died. Thus came death into the
world. A year later, everyone
suddenly began speaking different
languages--the confusion of
tongues. Then Kuk-su, representing
Earth-Initiate, announced
that thenceforth every man will have
trouble, shall work to eat,
shall die and be buried. This will
continue until Initiate returns
again, when everything will be made
over.
Among the many concepts of primitive
mythology,5 some
are amusingly ridiculous, while others
are strikingly logical and
suggestive of tenets which are basic in
some more highly devel-
5 For further discussion of primitive
mythology, see Frederick W. Hodge, Handbook
of American Indians, 2 vols.
(Washington, 1907-10).
88
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
oped religions. Thus we find creations,
deities, good and evil,
gods and devils, reward and punishment,
falling from grace and
attempts at redemption, and even deluge
and immaculate concep-
tion. It is well, however, to realize
that most myths and traditions,
if not all of them, have undergone more
or less modification
through contact and influence with other
and higher cultures,
mainly as a result of commercial and
missionary activities. It is,
of course, virtually impossible to
determine the extent of such
modification.
The Great Religious Philosophies
We now turn from the myths of savage men
to the tradition
and history of the important religions
of the world. Differences
between the two groups appear
significant or not, according to
one's point of view. Certain it is that
numerous concepts of
mythology fail to show the definite
contrasts that might be ex-
pected when compared with traditions of
those existing religions
having their origins back in the mists
of antiquity. Of the eight
or ten religions which are outstanding
because of number of
adherents and persistence through time,
space will permit con-
sideration of only a selected few.
China, which was old when Herodotus, 700
years before the
Christian era, visited and wrote about
it, can hardly be said to
have a religion as such, for the mixture
of mythology, Taoism,
Buddhism and Confucianism is more in the
nature of philosophy,
from all of which one gleans but little
on the subject of origin
and antiquity. Taoism is extremely
difficult for the occidental
mind to grasp. To its adherents it is
the unnameable, the origin
of heaven and earth; the mother of all
things, and was before
the gods. It holds that all things are
born of "being" and that
being was born of "not being."
Buddhism will be referred to
later. The Confucian philosophy as it
exists at present is sum-
marized thus by Clarke,6 in
the Ten Great Religions: There
is one highest ultimate principle of all
existence--the Grand
Extreme. This is absolutely immaterial,
and the basis of the
6 James Freeman Clarke, Ten Great
Religions: An Essay in Comparative Theology
(Boston, 1880).
TRAILING ADAM'S ANCESTORS 89
order of the universe. From this
ultimate principle, operating
from all eternity, come all animate and
inanimate nature.
Coming to India and Brahmanism, we find
in the Rig Veda
what has been characterized as the
oldest and most striking
account of creation. From the
translation of this remarkable
hymn by Muir,7 we quote:
"Then there was no entity or non-
entity: no world, nor sky, nor naught
above it. ... Death was
not, and therefore no immortality, nor
distinction of day or night.
But THAT ONE breathed calmly alone with
Nature, her who is
sustained within him. Other than Him,
nothing existed. ...
This universe was . . .
indistinguishable water; but that mass,
which was covered by the husk, was
produced by the power of
contemplation. ... Who knows exactly,
and who shall in this
world declare whence and why this
creation took place? The
gods are subsequent to the production of
this world; then who can
know whence it proceeded, or whence this
varied world arose, or
whether it upholds [itself] or not? He
who is the highest heaven
is the ruler of this universe--he knows,
or does not know."
Buddhism, in a sense the offspring of
Brahmanism, or rather
Hinduism (the Vedas and Brahmanas) in
the sixth century
B. C., affords surprisingly little
information on the origin and
antiquity of man. Buddhism, as one
writer (Clarke) sees it,
may be summarized by the lament in
Ecclesiastes "Vanity of
vanities; all is vanity." He hints
at the fatalistic attitude of the
creed thus: "Everything goes round
and round in a circle;
nothing moves forward; there is nothing
new under the sun."
While in Brahmanism, God is everything
and man nothing, in
the Buddhist system, man is everything,
God nothing. While
not denying God or the gods, Buddhism
feels that they are
unimportant.
The religious doctrines of Zoroaster, of
the same general
period, teach and emphasize creation,
without being specific.
Mohammedanism or Islam is sometimes
spoken of as the
only religion which has offered serious
competition to Christianity,
and as the only other which had its
origin in the broad daylight
7 William Muir, Life of Mahomet and
History of Islam (London, 1858).
90 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND
HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
of history. Being even later in its
inception than Christianity, it
naturally partakes freely of the older
creeds. A footnote in
Sale's translation of the Koran8 states
that the Mohammedans
believe that Adam, and the first humans,
were created thus: The
angel Azriel, after other angels had
failed to carry out a similar
command, was sent by God to fetch seven
handfuls of earth from
different depths and of different
colors, from which God himself
fashioned Adam, and then Eve, from
Adam's side. The different
colors of earth were supposed to account
for the different colored
races of men.
On the Islamic idea of creation, the Britannica
says: "God
created the world in six days, and set
Adam in the garden of
Paradise, but, tempted by Satan, Adam
fell."
The Islamic tendency to think of God as
lacking in solicitude
for humans, is expressed in this perhaps
not too sympathetic
quotation from William G. Palgrave:9
"Accordingly, when God
-so runs the tradition--resolved to
create the human race, he
took into his hands a mass of earth, the
same whence all mankind
were to be formed, and in which they
after a manner pre-existed;
and, having then divided the clod into
two equal portions, he
threw the one-half into hell, saying
'Those to eternal fire, and I
care not;' and projected the other half
into heaven, adding, 'and
these to paradise, and I care
not.'"
An important source of information on
this interesting sub-
ject is contained in a series of clay
tablets discovered early in
the 18th century in the buried cities of
Assyria. These bear
Assyrian versions of the Creation and
Flood, considered to be
much older than the Hebrew versions.
Even these are believed
to be copies of older Assyrian tablets,
their origin apparently
extending back to 2500 B. C., when
ancestors of the Jewish
people migrated northward from Babylonia
into Assyria and
later into Palestine. On one of these
tablets it is recorded that
the lord Murduk "fixed the year; he
appointed the limits thereof.
He set up for the twelve months three
stars apiece. He gave
the Moon God his brightness and
committed the night to his care.
8 George Sale, The Koran (Philadelphia,
1833).
9 William
G. Palgrave, A Year's Journey through Central and Eastern Arabia
(London, 1866).
TRAILING ADAM'S ANCESTORS 91
He set him for the government of the
night, to determine the
day, saying, at the beginning of the
month, when thou riseth
over the land, may thy horns project to
limit six days. On the
seventh day, make thyself like a
crown," etc.
From these tablets, many believe, some
five or six centuries
before the Christian era, the book of
Genesis was compiled. If
this be true, as suggested by S. J.
Shand in a recent volume,
Earth Lore, one may read the Hebrew creation saga from "an
English copy of a Latin copy of a Greek
copy of an Assyrian
copy of a Chaldean copy of a tale told
in Babylonia" far back
in the mists of time.
Since all are familiar with the text of
the Hebrew Scriptures,
carried forward into the Christian
Bible, this need be accorded
no further attention other than to
recall that in connection there-
with occurs the only specific attempt to
fix a date for the creation.
One James Usher,10 an Irish
archbishop of the 17th Century,
devised a chronology on which is based
the popular assumption of
circa 6,000 as the age of the earth and of man. Either Usher
or his associates suggested the specific
date of 4004 B. C. for the
creation, presumably basing his
calculations on the combined ages
of the patriarchs, from Adam upward to a
point where contact
with some historic date was reached.
With no intention of ir-
reverence, one may say that this
suggests a sort of "tree-ring"
chronology, such as employed by
Professor Andrew E. Douglass
in dating the prehistoric ruins of the
arid Southwest. Usher's
thesis is elaborated by Trattner11 as
follows: "In the Seventeenth
century it was possible for the Rev. Dr.
John Lightfoot, Vice-
chancellor of Cambridge, to declare that
'man was created by the
Trinity on October 23, 4004 B. C., at
nine o'clock in the morning'."
Some Beliefs of Classical Scholars
Since more space than originally was
intended has been
accorded primitive mythology and
religious records in the belief
that some slight additional
understanding thereof might be of
10 James Usher, Anales Veteris et Novi Testamente
(n. p., 1654).
11 Ernest R. Trattner, Architects of Ideas (New York, 1938).
92
OHIO ARCHEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
interest and value, reference to
classical lay writers must be
curtailed. Herodotus (5th century B.
C.), known widely as the
father of history, is equally the father
of anthropology, and while
he writes freely on the manners and
customs of various peoples,
he has little to say about human origin
and antiquity. The Roman
Lucretius, however, in De Rerum
Natura, concerns himself
definitely with the origin of man and
the development of his
civilization. Contenting himself with
mere mention of heaven, as
an abstraction, and with little more as
to spiritual concepts, he
accords all credit for all life on earth
to Mother Earth herself.
In the beginning, he says, appeared
"all kinds of herbage and
verdant sheen" to be followed by
the lower orders of animal
creatures and eventually by man. Mother
Earth, in conjunction
with the ether, the sun's heat and
moisture were sufficient, he
believed, to account for all life. His
explanation exhibits a sur-
prising correspondence to early
scientific speculations, and is
decidedly materialistic in its nature.
It is generally known that the Romans
derived much of their
philosophy directly from the Greeks, a
fact not only admitted by
Lucretius, but reflected in the Satires
of Horace. Greek concep-
tion of human natural history, voiced by
Aeschylus in the fifth
century, B. C., was widely prevalent
before the Christian era,
with the arrival of which it gradually
was replaced by the Mosaic
conception of special creation. One
could quote interestingly
from the many subsequent early writers
to whom this intriguing
subject has appealed.
From this hurried review of a complex of
which a single
theme--mythology--has inspired a series
of twelve massive
tomes,12 we may now assume to
summarize the results. These
can hardly be considered as negative,
since there is at least a
great body of opinion, conflicting
though it be, and one definite
date posited for human origin. It may be
assumed that Adam
has been definitely placed, and that,
like peoples of today, he
belonged to genus Homo sapiens. Whether
or not Adam's
ancestors have been found or ever will
be found, remains to be
12 Louis H. Gray and George F. Moore,
eds., Mythology of All Races (Boston,
1916-32).
TRAILING ADAM'S ANCESTORS 93
considered. Waiving the fact that humans
could hardly be ex-
pected to remain satisfied with knowing
so little of their own
kind, it is equally evident that human
curiosity will not be
allayed so long as there remains one
stone unturned. And so
the writer takes it upon himself to
answer the query proposed
at the beginning of this paper, and to
decide that there is justifica-
tion for further research into the
origin and antiquity of the
human race.
During primitive times and to a lesser
degree up to the
present, men have been content to accept
or have been coerced
into accepting explanations of human
origin and antiquity by the
religious philosophies under which they
lived. To doubt these
precepts was equivalent to social and
religious ostracism. It had
become traditional to accept orthodoxy
without question. At least,
this was true of the masses, although
the individual at times may
have thought differently.
Such was the state of affairs through
whatever ages man has
lived upon the earth until comparatively
recent times. When
logical thinking and scientific
skepticism had gathered sufficient
momentum that it no longer was
necessarily heretical to question
this or that philosophy, there began to
emerge a different perspec-
tive of man, his origin and nature. Just
as knowledge of human
anatomy was delayed by traditional
inviolability of the human
body, so, to an even greater extent and
for similar reasons, was
knowledge of man's origin and antiquity
delayed.
The Anthropological Evidences
This brings us without further ado to
the current wide-
spread scientific search for Adam's
ancestors, through the methods
and disciplines of anthropology; to what
perhaps may be termed
the evolutionary origin and development
of human kind. Although
anthropology as such is hardly more than
100 years old, its litera-
ture already has assumed impressive
proportions. When this
writer began his modest connection with
archaeological activity, a
little more than a quarter-century ago,
there was a dearth of
94
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
dependable literature because not a
great deal had been accom-
plished. At that time one could deliver
an address on prehistoric
man without needing to know much of his
subject. There was
little danger of question on the part of
his audience. All this has
changed. Nowadays most lay readers are
familiar with one or
another of the standard
contributions--MacCurdy's monumental
work, Human Origins,13 Osborn's
Men of the Old Stone Age,14
and Burkitt's Prehistory,15 to
mention only a few.
Archaeological Approach to the Problem
From these scholarly sources one might
easily have prepared
a technical presentation with awesome
and mouth-filling polysyl-
lables. The writer choses however, to
serve simply as a reporter
--a committee of one--for his readers.
He must resist the temp-
tation to go into details on this most
romantic theme, and must
remember that the sole objective of this
discussion has to do with
the origin and antiquity of--ourselves.
Throughout the recent and comparatively
short Age of Iron,
men have noticed and wondered about
fossils embedded in the
rock, and strange implements of flint
and stone scattered here
and there. With the exception of the
occasional observer, these
have been accepted as natural or
supernatural phenomena. To
this day, ancient stone hatchets found
in Ireland often are con-
sidered by peasants to be thunderstones,
fallen from the skies
during storms, while flint arrow-points
in remote parts of Scot-
land are known as "Elfs'
arrows." One Olaf Worm, an early
Danish authority on the antiquities of
his time, wrote in Museum
Worimianum, in 1655, that the "thunderstones" were
supposed to
have fallen with lightning from the sky.
To the suggestion that
they might be only petrified iron axes,
he replied that people who
could be trusted had picked them up
where lightning had struck!
Another writer, Thorlacius. in a paper
entitled "Thor and his
Hammer," written as late as 1802, believed
they were symbols
13 George G. MacCurdy, Human
Origins (New York, 1926).
14 Henry F. Osborn, Men of the Old
Stone Age (New York, 1916).
15 Miles C. Burkitt, Prehistory: A Study of Early Cultures
in Europe and the Medi-
terranean Basin (London, 1925); id., The Old
Stone Age: A Study of Palaeolithic
Times (London, 1933).
TRAILING ADAM'S ANCESTORS 95
of weapons employed by the god of thunder in chasing and de-
stroying evil spirits and dangerous
giants. They couldn't be actual
tools, he explained, because tools had
been made of metal from
earliest times. Strange and
incredible? Well, it may seem so;
yet similar opinions still may be found
right here in the United
States, in the year 1944.
Of the occasional exceptions to this
common credulity, one
may refer to Lucretius, first century B.
C., who wrote: "The
earliest weapons were the hands, nails
and teeth; then came stones
and clubs." Mahudel, in 1734, argued that the
thunderstones
were the predecessors of metal tools, a
thesis to which the French-
man Gouget fully subscribed. Bishop
Littleton, however, voiced
this minority sentiment most confidently
when, in 1766, he wrote,
"There is not the least doubt of
these stone implements having
been fabricated in the earliest times,
and by barbarous people,
before the use of iron or other metal
was known." Just so short
were the racial memories of early
civilized peoples; although they
had used stone tools throughout the
ages, they had quickly
forgotten.
But racial memories were being jogged.
At the beginning of
the nineteenth century a Danish
Commission was authorized
to investigate Scandinavian
antiquities. Out of this, mainly
through one Christian J. Thomsen,
emerged the first scientific
recognition of the significance of these
ancient relics, and the first
chronological scheme, 1836, for
classifying human culture--the
Age of Iron, the Age of Bronze, and the
Age of Stone. This
classification still obtains, although
the Stone Age now is divided
into Neolithic and Paleolithic, with the
latter subdivided into
upper, middle and lower.
Numerous factors thenceforth contributed
to the impetus
toward serious consideration of the
relics of ancient man. Arrival
of the Industrial Age, of which the
public first became conscious
through the Crystal Palace Exposition in
1851, brought machinery
to supplement manual effort. Building
and construction, highway
improvement and other large-scale
activities resulted in excava-
tion, grading, leveling and gravel
deposit exploitation, with result-
96
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
ing numerous exhumations of human
skeletons and minor relics.
Darwin's writings, coming a bit later,
was but one more spur to
the already feverish interest in human
antecedents. So, the chase
was on.
We may now inquire as to the evidences
with which the
nascent anthropological method was to
concern itself, and the
techniques which were to be employed.
The material evidences
of ancient man comprise the sites where
he lived and worked, his
implements, utensils and ornaments, of
decay-resisting substances,
and his skeletal remains. These may
survive in any situation,
where natural and other agencies have
not disturbed or eradicated
them, but principally in caves and rock
shelters, in glacial and
river terrace gravels and at the bottom
of lakes. The task of the
archaeologist has been to discover these
and, through his own
capabilities, or by calling in other
specialists, to identify and
interpret his finds, and to determine
their sequence in human
existence and their age. The competent
archaeologist has no
difficulty in identifying and
interpreting his minor relics. The
physical anthropologist, the anatomist
and the paleontologist may
need to consult together to determine as
to whether skeletal ma-
terial represents a modern type of man
or whether it pertains
to a biologically distinct species. The
geologist must determine the
age of the site or deposit in which both
occur. While geology is
the archaeologist's main dependence in
dating his finds, an aid
of equal value, perhaps, where it is
present, is what is termed
stratigraphy. Where more than one people
or culture group has
occupied a site at successive periods,
obviously the evidences of
such occupancy are recorded in the
accumulation of debris, dust
and other accretions from various
causes. These occupancy strata
naturally indicate sequence and, since,
in western Europe, they
usually occur in the same order, they
afford not only a culture
scale but have a definite significance
in the matter of age.
At this point it should be recognized
that our discussion has
to do mainly with western Europe and
that its apex lies in southern
France, where the story of human
development is more strikingly
recorded than elsewhere, in so far as is
known at the present
TRAILING ADAM'S ANCESTORS 97
time. From this nuclear area in western
Europe, the criteria of
most of the assumed cultural and
biological classifications in
France may be traced more or less
definitely throughout the old
world. In America there are as yet no
definite proofs of other
than Neolithic man. Several
developments, however, such as the
finding of evidences of the so-called
Folsom Man in the American
Southwest, and of somewhat analogous
discoveries elsewhere, bid
fair to push back the curtain of human
occupancy in the New
World--no one assumes to say as yet just
how far. For the
present purpose, however, America holds
nothing of immediate
importance, and so we turn our attention
to western Europe.
From the time of those initial
discoveries and speculations,
referred to a bit ago, scores of
scientists, particularly in France,
have pursued the quest with unflagging
enthusiasm. Such names
as Lartet, Comment, Capitan and Bretil
in France; Rotot in
Belgium; Weidenreich in Germany; Keith,
Moir, Dawson and
Burkitt in England; and Osborn,
MacCurdy, Hrdlicka and Hooten
in America, always will be associated
with the enactment of this
great man hunt.
An Improvised Time Schedule
As a short cut to what we wish to
consider from this bewilder-
ing complex of human life upon the
earth, the writer asks you to
picture so simple a thing as a common
foot rule, of 12 inches.
This, he trusts, will enable the reader
to visualize the sequence
of human cultures from the present
backward through the past,
their relative relationship one to
another and, at the end, some idea
of their age.
Holding the foot rule vertical with the
I-inch mark upward,
the first 1/4 inch represents recent
time, geologically known as
Holocene or post-glacial. Within this
1/4 inch, on the basis of
relative lapse of time, we must place
the present, with its so-called
civilization; immediately below, the
Bronze Age, and from this
extending downward to the 1/4 inch line,
the Neolithic or New
Stone Age, to which supposedly all
American aborigines belong.
With this first quarter-inch, we have no
further concern, and so
98
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
we turn our attention to more remote
times. Draw a heavy
black line horizontally at the 1/4 inch
mark.
The remainder of the 12-inch rule--11
3/4 inches--may be
considered as representing the so-called
Pleistocene Age or, in
common terms, the ice or glacial age.
Geologists tell that dur-
ing this vast period the northern
portions of the continents were
covered by successive glacial invasions
with corresponding inter-
glacial periods, the former more or less
frigid and the latter more
temperate. Archaeologically, this
Pleistocene Age is divided into
Upper, Middle and Lower Paleolithic. A
brief glimpse of each
of these, in descending order, will be
helpful.
The Upper Paleolithic comprises three
distinct civilizations--
the Magdalenian, the Solutrean and the
Aurignacian--taking their
names from locations in France where
their type stations are
situated. The era was a time of intense
cold, with tundra and
steppe conditions prevailing, with their
characteristic fauna--
reindeer, mammoth, wooly rhinoceros,
muskox, wild horses, wild
cattle, bison and stag. The three
cultures were widely distributed
over western Europe, extending eastward
toward and possibly
into Asia, and indefinitely beyond the
Mediterranean into north
Africa.
Such of their material cultures as have survived the
ravages of time comprise a surprising
array of implements, orna-
ments and objects of art in stone, flint
and bone, while to the
Aurignacians and Magdalenians are to be
credited the inspiring
array of polychrome murals, sculptures,
engravings and paintings
in the caverns of France, Spain and
adjacent regions. The Solu-
treans, strangely enough, although
wedged in between these two
artistic peoples, had but little art.
They had, however, developed
the techniques of working flint to a
degree of perfection not
shared by either their predecessors or
their successors. The latter
two have much in common, with the
Magdalenian possibly directly
developed from the earlier Aurignacian,
which are believed to
have migrated from North Africa into western Europe. The
Solutreans are supposed to have conic
into the region from
eastern Europe or possibly originally
from Asia, and to have
intruded themselves into the
Aurignacian-Magdalenian develop-
ment.
TRAILING ADAM'S ANCESTORS 99
Hundreds of Upper Paleolithic stations,
mostly in caves and
caverns, have been located and explored,
and have yielded a
wealth not only of material evidences of
their occupants, but also
of skeletal material as well. While of
general occurrence through
western Europe, a maximum number of
these ancient habitation
sites center in and around the village
of Les Eyzies, in the
Dordogue, France. Here is the classic
shelter known as Cro-
Magnon, which yielded five individual
skeletons of the Aurig-
nacian, from which the Upper Paleolithic
people sometimes are
known as Cro-Magnon. Here also are the
caverns of Cap Blanc,
Combarelles, Les Eyzies, Laugeries Haute
and Basse, and numer-
ous others. A few years ago the writer
visited these, and many
others, and was accorded the pleasure of
digging and removing
with his own hands some of these records
of man of long ago.
Imagine his reaction, after having known
these classic sites only
from the literature, to find himself
actually in their midst!
It seems almost sacrilege to refer thus
lightly and inade-
quately to so important an era of human
life; but remembering
the limited objective we shall merely
mention, before delving
farther back into the past, that men of
the Upper Paleolithic,
physically, were not much if any
different from men of today.
They belonged to the genus Homo, to the
species Homo sapiens,
to which all living peoples in their
several varieties pertain.
We pass now to the Middle Paleolithic,
represented by a
single people known as Mousterian
(from Moustier, France),
and to a different picture. Again, the
same inhospitable climate
incident to the glacial age prevailed,
with occasional milder in-
tervals; and a tremendously long stretch
of time. The animal
life is much the same as in the Upper
Paleolithic. The Mousterian
race was widely distributed, their
habitation sites, mostly in caves
and shelters, being found from Britain
across Europe into Asia
Minor, and in North Africa. The nucleus
of their occupancy
again was in France. There is little art
in the Mousterian; only
a crude development of flint and stone,
with the flint hand-axe,
or coup-de-poing, the most pretentious;
yet they managed to kill
the mammoth, wild horse, reindeer and
other large mammals, on
100
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
which they were dependent for food, in
surprisingly large num-
bers. Because of the rigorous climate,
they lived almost wholly
in caves and shelters.
One of the earlier discoveries of the
skeletal remains of
Mousterian man was at Gibraltar, in
1848; however, it is from a
similar find at Neanderthal, Germany, in
1856, that the race
usually is referred to as Neanderthal
Man. Among a score or
more of subsequent discoveries is that
at Chapelle-aux-Saints,
France, in 1908, which consisted of a
complete fossilized human
skeleton. This was an intentional
burial, within a small cave, and
was accompanied by characteristic flint
implements of the Mous-
terian race. Neanderthal Man is supposed
to be the latest of sev-
eral extinct species of humans,
immediately preceding Cro-Mag-
non and modern man.
The Lower Paleolithic comprises three
distinct cultures--the
Acheulean, the Chellean and the
Pre-Chellean, all of which for
the present purpose may be considered as
a unit. Their distribu-
tion was concentrated in western Europe,
but scattering evidences
are believed to occur in almost every
part of the Old World.
The period of their occupancy was very
long--perhaps longer
than that of all their Pleistocene
successors combined. Within
the river terraces, in and beneath
glacial deposits, the industrial
remains of Lower Paleolithic man are
found throughout the
broad area of his occupancy. These
mostly are rude stones and
flint implements, the most obvious of
which is the flint hand-axe.
When we come to seek the skeletal
remains of these cultures,
however, we have a different story.
Just as history becomes less informative
as it reaches back-
ward in time, so also do the records of
archaeology. Relics of
flint and stone, being well-nigh
imperishable, persist, but skeletal
remains, since human bones are preserved
for great lengths of time
only when some happy combination of
conditions obtains, neces-
sarily become scarcer with the lapse of
time. Again, the more
primitive cultures were less likely to
bury their dead, much to the
archaeologist's regret. Because of these
factors, it is impossible
TRAILING ADAM'S ANCESTORS 101
up to the present to identify definitely
Lower Paleolithic skeletal
remains, although certain of the
numerous fossil bones, to be
referred to presently, must pertain
thereto.
Humans of the Remote Past
Although we now have reached the bottom
of the hypothetical
foot-rule, within the scope of which
falls the human race as it
actually is known, we may add an
additional tentative 12 inches
to represent the upper portion of the
ancient geological Tertiary
time period. We shall pause here just
long enough to recall that
toward the close of the Tertiary there
apparently existed in Britain,
Belgium and elsewhere on the Continent,
what is known as
Eolithic, or Dawn Man. Little is known
of the Dawn Man aside
from the discovery of rude occupancy
levels or floors, deeply
buried, together with crude hammerstones
and flint implements,
hardly distinguishable from natural
objects.
We now have accorded a bow of
recognition to humans back
through the ages to a point where
skeletal remains and relics of
material culture no longer enable us to
identify man definitely as
falling into one or another of the
recognized categories. We may,
however, at least extend a polite nod to
some others of the denizens
of that nether world, some of whom still
await their credentials
as members of the human family. During
the past two or three
decades numerous fossil human remains
have been found, some
of which presumably pertain to Lower
Paleolithic peoples, while
others appear to be even earlier than
the recognized types.
Merely as an outline and as a possible
incentive to the reader
to investigate more fully the evidences
of the existence of very
early man, a brief summary of the more
important skeletal dis-
coveries is offered at this time.
Beginning with the most primitive human
type so far recog-
nized, there are two closely related
groups--the Man of Java,
from the Island of Java, and Peking Man,
from the adjacent
mainland, near Peking, China.
The first evidences of Java Man,
consisting only of a strongly
anthropoid skull cap and some minor
bones, was discovered as
102
OHIO ARCHEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
early as 1892, and attracted world-wide
attention. Scientists were
hesitant in basing definite
determinations on such scant evidence,
but, in succeeding years, additional
remains, representing at least
five individuals, both male and female,
have been found. This
makes possible a definite reconstruction
of the physical character
of the Old Man of Java.
Peking Man first came to the attention
of students of pre-
historic man in 1927 when, in a
consolidated deposit representing
the debris of an ancient cave, human
skeletal parts were found.
Since then additional discoveries bring
the total number of in-
dividuals represented to upward of
forty.
These two types of primitive humans,
equally ancient and
closely related, are described as
follows: Medium stature, upright,
not so different from modern man as to
body; but skull very
primitive, small brain, receding
forehead, heavy projecting brows
and jaws, teeth resembling those of the
great apes more than
those of humans.
Perhaps the next in order, from the
standpoint of physical
evolution, is the so-called Homo
soloensis, found in Java in 1932.
This discovery comprised ten or more
individuals which, in the
opinion of some authorities, are direct
descendants from Java
Man and Peking Man of the same general
region.
In 1921 there was exhumed in South
Africa what is known
as the Rhodesian man, described at the
time as exceeding in size
of face and upper jaw all previously
known human types. This
is accepted by some authorities as
slightly more advanced than
Homo soloensis.
We already have considered Neanderthal
Man, who appears
to have been the next in the ascending
order of physical evolution
toward Homo sapiens who, as Cro-Magnon
Man, appears in the
Upper Paleolithic. There are, however, numerous other im-
portant discoveries of fossil human
remains which fall somewhere
within the wide interval separating
modern man and Neanderthal
Man, and in some instances perhaps in
the period preceding
Neanderthal. On the slope of Mt. Carmel,
Palestine, in 1932, a
group of Neanderthal-like skeletons were
found embedded in a
TRAILING ADAM'S ANCESTORS 103
stony formation; similar remains are
reported from Kafzeh,
Judea, and Steinheim, Germany--all with
the strange association
of primitive face and forehead, but with
well-developed brain
cases. Certain skeletal parts from
Piltdown and Swanscomb,
England, are either too fragmentary or
the age of deposits in
which they were found is too uncertain
to admit of scientific
agreement as to their significance.
Summary of Archaeological Evidence
With this brief survey of archaeological
evidences, we may
inquire as to just what specific light
they shed on the actual
origin and the antiquity of man. In so
doing, two interdependent
factors must be kept in
mind--morphology, or the type of man
represented by fossil skeletal remains;
and chronology, the time
sequence of the geological horizons in
which they occur. Should
these factors coincide, it would be
logical to conclude that modern
man has evolved systematically from some
as yet unknown primi-
tive stem, through successive types of
humans as suggested above
--Java-Peking Man, Homo soloensis, Homo
Rhodesiensis, the
widely distributed Neanderthal Man,
Cro-Magnon Man, man of
today.
Unfortunately, the quest is not so
simple. Morphology and
chronology do not always coincide, and
there are disturbing gaps
in the sequence of physical human types.
Such discrepancies per-
haps are to be expected, and need not be
too discouraging. The
anthropological approach to the problem
is very recent, and there
has not been sufficient time for
exhaustive investigation. Geology,
equally concerned in solving the human
puzzle, while more ma-
ture, has not as yet exhausted its
potentialities. Then, too, the
vastness of elapsed time and the
unbounded space attendant upon
the human drama preclude an early
solution of the puzzle.
We may summarize by saying that
authorities mostly agree
that man has evolved from an ancient
Prehominid (pre-human)
phylum or stem, the base of which
reaches backward perhaps a
million years to the beginning of the
Pliocene geological epoch.
There is not, however, unanimity of
opinion as regards several
104
OHIO ARCHEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
important details of the evolutionary
process. While most authori-
ties are inclined to believe that the
human ancestral stem is com-
mon to all types of men who have lived
upon the earth, there are
others who insist on a separate, closely
related and perhaps paral-
lel stem for modern man.
One school of thought believes that
evolution connotes gradual
and orderly development as a result of
natural selection and sur-
vival of the fittest, and that existing
gaps in the sequence either
may be closed by future research, or
that evidence which would
close them has been eradicated by time
and the elements. An-
other school, recalling that not
infrequently new types and va-
rieties occur in nature through sudden
sharp mutations, feel that
such gaps as may exist are not
important. These latter cite the
evolution of the horse as an
exceptionally complete fossil record,
yet not without its blank intervals; the
domestic dog, with its
many breeds, all presumably springing
from a common wild an-
cestor; and certain mutations in plant
life. Opponents of this
thesis call attention to the instability
of hybrid types and muta-
tions and their tendency to revert to
type.
From the appended references to
authoritative writers, the
reader, if he is so inclined, may
further indulge his interest in
this intriguing subject. As
representative of current reaction to
the several schools of thought, we
refer to the following:
Dr. Franz Weidenreich,16 a recognized
authority who per-
sonally has studied most of the existing
fossil skeletal remains,
believes that these form a rather
continuous line of evolution
which begins with the Prehominids (Java
and Peking Man) and
ends with recent man. He thinks that men
must have branched
off very early from a common
anthropoid-like stein which had
already adopted an upright posture while
brain case, jaws and
dentition still retained their
anthropoid characteristics. This in-
terpretation of the evidence is widely
held.
That there is no scientific basis for
rejection of the ascent of
modern man from other human species, is
the belief of a different
school of thought. According to Dr. J.
M. Gillette17 a widely
16 Sir Arthur Keith, The Antiquity of Man (London, 1925); id.,
New Discoveries
Relating to the Antiquity of Man (New York, 1931).
17 J. M. Gillette, "Ancestorless
Man: The Anthropological Dilemma," Scientific
Monthly (Washington), LVII (1943), 533-45.
TRAILING ADAM'S ANCESTORS 105
accepted view of evolution as natural
selection of successive gen-
erations from a multitude of slightly
varying forms, with few or
no gaps, is not essential to a logical
interpretation of human evolu-
tion. A widely different view, he points
out, admits of large
mutations, or variations, from the
preceding generation. Thus,
he believes, from some early pithecan
form sprang the man-like
ape; from this in turn, ape-like man
(Java, Peking); then came
higher traditional humans, as
Heidelberg, Neanderthal, Cro-
Magnon and modern man.
Still another interpretation insists
that modern man could
not have evolved from an earlier human,
but that he sprang from
a separate and distinct stem, extending
backward at least to the
Middle Pleistocene period. The surviving archaic Australian,
chinless, with small skull, beetling
brows and protruding face, ac-
cording to Dr. W. W. Howells, may well
be an early representa-
tive of Homo sapiens--modern man.
The title of this paper implies that
Adam may have been
blessed with ancestors. In the foregoing
pages the writer has
presented evidences pertinent to any
inquiry into the matter, and
has shown that scientific research in
attempting to supplement
traditional and historical accounts of
the origin and antiquity
of the human race. At this point, then,
we may inquire, "Have
Adam's ancestors been found?" This query, in the very nature
of the case, will be answered by both
"yes" and "no." Whether
we accept the Hebraic credentials for
Adam, as the very first man,
or whether we choose to consider him as
a generalized speculation
of the poet-philosophers of old, will
determine the decision.
The anthropologist seeks evidence
wherever it may be found,
and attempts to interpret the same
without prejudice or bias. On
the basis of his investigations up to
this time, he is likely to con-
clude that humans of a vastly more
primitive type than Adam,
obviously Homo sapiens, lived upon the
earth at a time vastly
more remote than that proposed for the
special creation of the
world and of Adam. The layman, on the
other hand, is equally
entitled to his conviction for, after
all, material evidences are not
necessarily more real than spiritual
ones. Thus we rest the query
"Have Adam's Ancestors been
found?"
TRAILING ADAM'S ANCESTORS
BY HENRY C. SHETRONE
Lest the above title may not be readily
intelligible to the
reader, it may be explained that this
paper has to do solely with
the origin and antiquity of the human
race.
It goes without saying that humans
through the ages have
concerned themselves with queries as to
the genesis, significance
and destiny of their kind. It is equally
true that every race and
every people, from the lowest savagery
to highest civilization,
have found more or less satisfactory
answers to these queries.
This being so, why should the matter not
be considered as settled,
once and for all time?
Before deciding whether or not there is
justification for
further inquiry in this direction, let
us scan briefly the evidence
for what may be termed the
origin-antiquity concept. Let us
begin this inquiry with the mythology of
historic primitive peoples,
proceeding thence to the tradition and
history of the great religions
which survive and function at the
present time, pausing perhaps
to consult some of the early classical
thinkers and writers. This
done, we should be in a position to
determine whether anything
further remains to engage our attention.
Mythology, to which we must look for
beliefs of primitive
peoples, embraces the vast and complex
body of human opinion
regarding the origin, functions, history
and destiny not only of
humans but usually of all animate and
inanimate creation. It is
the product of the inchoate and abstract
reasoning of the savage
and barbarian, in their attempts to
explain unobvious phenomena--
the existence and operations of bodies
and principles of nature.
Seldom does mythology deal with real
personages or actual
changes affecting the environing world.
Usually the world of
the savage is small indeed, being
limited to the immediate area
of his occupancy and a little beyond. As
a rule the savage world
83