PREHISTORIC GIANTS.

Bush Advocate, Volume XXI, Issue 117, 16 November 1908, Page 6

PREHISTORIC GIANTS.

- MEN OF 200,000 YEARS AGO. SntPHISING INVESTIGATIONS. Some of tlu> prehistoric peoples of 200,000 years ago were giant? more than seven foet tall, living on. roots, nuts -and raw moats. 4 Considering his immense size, the individual of these races had a ridiculously small brain, but what ho lacked in intelligence was more than compensated for by muscular -development, for he was twice as strong ns tlio most powerful of modern athletes. This ancient giant, the very earliest of which science has ever found a trace, lived and fought among giants. He attacked and slow giant buffaloes, wounding them with arrows and spears tipped with heads of flint. Ho killed wild boars as big as the modern domestic cow,- and in his hunting expeditions ho was accompanied by dogs built on the same generous proportions. . • . All these, and many other interesting and important facts have just been gathered' by Professor Henry F. Osborn, the Da Costa Professor of Zology, and other distinguished scientists engaged in the literal reconr struction of this prehistoric giant of 200,000 years ago. The ancient giant's skull and a collection of bones of prehistoric men and beasts have furnished the' basis for reconstruction. The skull which was , found in a so-called Red Indian mound, was not perfect but its size and shape were sufficient to attract scientific "inon Tin^ainparts. Further researches in the ancient nurand brought to light several other bones of this prehistoric man. Compared with a normal skull this one shows a receding chin and forehead, abnormally large cheek bones and a brain envelope so small as to raise a doubt .whether the brain of the man who lived here 200,000 years ago was more than 1 a mere cerebral suggestion. The dome of the head is only one . inch above the top of the. eye socket. This noticeable feature in itself might have been dismissed as a mere freak of Nature were it not for tliq fact that since the discovery of tho giant's ~skull three other skulls, all bearing the same characteristics, have been unearthed several feet below the first- and in the same mound. It is without doubt the skull of the lowest order of primitive man ever found in the New World, states Professor H. F. Osborn. He adds that tho skull shows an extremely small brain, with almost negligible possibilities of a. power of thought. What manner of man was tftis who lived probably 200,000 years ago ? Wo know now that in appearance ho sometimes resembled the ape-man — the missing link found some year or two ago in Java— although much larger. Hep resenting a very low order of intelligence, ho relied more on brute strength than brain in fighting life's battles. He knew how to make arrow heads and spear heads out of pieces of flint. He did not cook his food. _ His jaws indicate tremendous crushing power, and the teeth have been worn down through tho process of grinding roots, nuts, raw meat, and even bones. The lower jaw protruded beyond the upper, and there is an abnormal development of both of them. The bones are large and heavy, and there is every indication of a massive frame, enormous muscles, and a strength equal to twice that of tho most powerful athlete of the present time. The complete skeleton of a prehistoric buffalo was also found in the same geological formation. Embedded in the right shoulder blade or this buffalo was found an arrow head, a relic of a battle wng«<l- between this

animal and tho prehistoric giant of thousands of years ago. This prehistoric buffalo, like tho prehistoric man, was a giant. In tho same geological formation have boon found hundreds of mammoths' teeth, very largo wild dogs, the interesting prehistoric horse, as well ft? species of wild hogs, taller, moro ' slimly built, and moro adapted to running than tho modern hog. What kind of life, tliex*, $a\i s t this ancient giant have bed, surrounded on all sides by enormous wildanftnnls, Which he was forced to hunt and slay for food ? Without modern weapons and without nothing but his own powerful muscles and his crudjo arrows or stone^ hammers, he was? forced to give battlo to other giants of the plain. These researches have given science tho key to much which was heretofore a mystery concerning the prehistoric ancestors — or, at all events., predecessors — of the Red Indian.