PREHISTORIC ASIA

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 102, 27 October 1925, Page 2

PREHISTORIC ASIA

ANDREWS'S EXPEDITION

TO THE LAND OF THE DINOSAUR

ACiIOSS THE GOBI DESERT,

Mr. Hoy Chapman Andrews, ■ the leader of the Third Asiatic Expedition sent out by the American "Museum of Natural History, has just returned to Pekin for a flying visit, and was good enough to outline the results to date of the work of his expedition.

The main party, said Mr. Andrews to the Pekin correspondent of thu ."Daily Telegraph," left Kalgaii ili tho middle of April, and travelled by motorcars across the Gobi Desert, right to the Western Altai ltange, 800 to 900 miles west, of Pekin. Tho cuts crossed several small ranges of 2000 ft in height, over roadless country," without any serious breakdown. The spot where tho dinosaur eggs were ■ found was (lie rendezvous between the cars and the caravan of 120 camels which had gone on some weeks' ahead. It transpired that this camel convoy hud been held up at tho Yamen, on the bofder of Inner and Outer Mongolia, by the minor'offi. cials there. Proper laissesi-passevs had been given to the Mongol camel-drivers, but they had been delayed out of pure officiousness, and the' 1 camels kept near lha Yamen, with the result that they had b'aen unable to feed properly* and were nearly SCO miles from their objective at the time arranged. The result of this was a forced march for the coiivoy. resulting in the death of twentyfour camels. Mr. Andrews made representations about the attitude of the Yamen officials in Urga, and on his return found all ' the personnel had been transferred. ,

Three- topographers were engaged in making route maps from Kalgan for 800 miles, taking accurate levels the whole way. On arrival at their objective fhe latitude and longitude were ascertained, distances were checked by seven speedometers, the final result being that, in an 800-mile route, tho miip-makers were only a quarter 1 of a milo out'—a remarkably accurate result. This survey has formed a topographical backbone for .Mongolia, which will" be of incalculable value in any railway development which may be undertaken in that country, THE EGG BEDS. , .' • On arrival at tho j>3ace wliero the dinosaur, eggs were previously found it was observed that heavy rains had made further exposures, and only 10ft/ from the original site were five other perfect eggs. One of the palaeontologists put his pick into a piece of rock, lifted it, and under it -were these eggs. They wore rather different in typo from tlicsu previously found, being smaller, smoother, narrower, in fact, so elongate ai to resemble a fat sausage. Tho next find was a nest containing twelve gated as to resemble a fat ;-ausage. '*The year's, but about one-third larger and in a perfect state of preservation. They were in two tiers in circles of six, with the large ends inwards, the eggs arranged jn a star-like formation, A third lot of eggs was recovered by Lovell, tho British motor transport expert, who saw an eagle's nest in a low cliff."- Desiring to investigate this more closely, ho went to the top of tho cliff, reached his hand over- the cliff-edge, and in so doing scratched his hand-against .a sharp -surface which turned out to be the edge of a broken dinosaur egg. Fourteen eggs were lying in this place. It is presumed that the female dinosaur, after laying her eggs, left them lightly covered witli sand ready to be hatched out by the-rays of the sun. A. sandstorm then, came along and.buried the "clutch" of eggs several feet deep in sand, where they remained to be discovered some ten million years later by the expedition. . . Three different types of eggs have so far been revealed, the two described above and a. third with a very thin and smooth shell. Tho larger eggs are considered to be those of tho ancestral form of the dinosaur discovered in America, known to science as the Protocerotops Andrewsi. This species was presumably of the horned upland type as bpposedto the larger marsh-dwelling type which have been found in Tanganyika; Mr. Andrews considers that tho spot where his eggs were found is one of "the few places iv the world where conditions aro favourable for their preservation. It is a small sandy tract for about four miles by two and a half. This place has supplied thirty eggs last year and forty this year. "Two eggs of this year's find- , ing have been presented to the Urga Museum, and one of last year's was sold to the Colgate University in America. All j the remaining eggs are in possession of j the American Museum of Natural His°U' MARSUPIAL SKULLS.

The most important discoveries of this year's work have been the unearthing of no less than six skulls of mammalian appearance. Last year one small fossil skull was thought" to be ;i lizard, and turned out to bo a mammal. That skull and this year's skull are the only luiown ones in cretaceous rock except one in the British Museum. These small ■mammal skulls, about the size of a rat's 'skull, were fou^d in the same strata as the dinosaur eggs, and therefore belong to a period some two to three million years before Hie "age of mammals." Of the seven specimens there are two distinct types, otio probably a marsupial, or pouched animal, and the other v multi tuberculales; the pre-nuunmalian marsu-; pial being new to science. A special effort was matlo to find evidences of human culture, and a certain success was achieved in this connection. In a basin-like formation in the ' sand dunes tamarisk trees were growing in a rocky formation, and in this place many ' Stone Age implements were found fashioned out of chalcedony and jasper. These represent a stage of development hitherto unknown in Asia. If the central plan of Europe is accepted'as (ha centre of animal and human life, then probably waves of civilisation went from Europe to Asia, but Mr. Andrews believes that Asia was the country of nrigiu. The type of country where these implements were found was always the

same, tamarisk trees growing in sand dunes. The type of implements corresponds to the Azilan of Europe. Animal bones, too, were recovered,- but were in a very bad state of preservation, , Mr. Andrews has'christened the in.habitants of these dunes "The Dune Dwfcllers of Shabarack Ussu," and has traced the culture through the Old Stone Age, the Lower Paleolithic, to the Neolithic Age and primitive ' pottery. A .very few still older implements were foundj which are probably Mousteriai). :These dune dwellers lived on the shores 'of the lakes where hearths and charred bones of animals (in a fossilised state, : of course) were found. One of. the most I interesting side-lights on their life was | shed by the discovery of small .square [ pieces of dinosaur and Struthiolithiis eggshells. These had been carefully cut into regular shapes and drilled, probably for threading on to fibre for the pur- ! pose of embellishing the charms of the i ladies of the dunes. Several pieces of i bones and eggs oE StriiUiiolitlius, tho j largest known bird, Were dug" Out; the ! eggs being one-third larger than the ostrich egg of to-day. Near these dune dwellers' habitations a bed of Bed jasper was located, and it was out of thi.s that most of the implements, discc-vercd I were fashioned: PREHISTORIC SKELETONS. ' The expedition has unearthed two human skulls which appear to belong to a later culture than iho spedr-heads and other implements. It seems clear that these skulls are of pre-Mongol origin, as slgiis are evident of definite burial, and the Mongols, it is well 'known, do not bury their dead. In the same sediment bronze arrow points were found, so it would appear that these skulls probably belong to the Bronze Age, immediately following the fteoiithics. dictographs on rocks were seen depicting-ani-mals which have long been extinct in Mongolia.

An expert ciuematographist accorhpanied the expedition and secured photographs of enormous herds of antelope. Mnny tens of thousands were seen together, and pictures were taken from a, moving motor-car of these attractive animals. Large herds of wild asses were photographed and their amazing speed tested up to forty miles an hour. The expedition is bringing back whnt is fim'ely the strangest pet ever made—a huge black vulture,- a pleasant creature with a wing spread of Sfft 6in.

The expedition'is now at work in a. fossil field some 300 miles west of Kaljtfan, and will return t6 civilisation about 15th September. Mr. Andrews then proceeds to America, to lecture on. the' work, that has been done, and returns in the spring to continue his explorations. ■•■■..-