ONCE IN FRANCE

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 115, 17 May 1930, Page 7

ONCE IN FRANCE

ESKIMOS' OLD HOME

SCIENTIST'S CLAIM

Returning to Canada, with thirtyeight cases of fossil specimens which he° had collected in the course of his investigations in the eaves and hillsides of Dordogne, Dr. H. A. ,Ami, a Canadian paleontologist, recently announced his conviction that France was the prehistoric home of the Canadian Eskimo. The fossils have been sent tt> the Laboratory of Geology at Ottawa, and will bo available to Canadian museums and colleges. For five months Dr. Ami has been in France, where he was directing a party operating under the direction of the Canadian School of Prehistory, which for eight years has been carry-' ing on investigations into the habits of prehistoric man and of the fossils of animals that have been discovered an this section. Interesting material regarding the various periods of the world's evolution have been found in ■Southwest France and the Canadian concession at Dordogne. 20,000 SPECIMENS. In four years in ono hillside alone Dr. Ami said more than 20,000 specimens had been discovered. Many of these are implements of warfare and pottery, and show the same characteristics that mark tho work of the Canadian Eskimo. The skull of a Magdalenian man shows ,tho same characteristics as the Eskimo skull. As weather and climatic conditions changed, the animals that were the food, clothing, and weapons of prehistoric man were forced from France, across Europe, and finally into Northern Canada, and man followed the trail. Tho art of the ancients is demonstrated by the articles recovered, and in many instances they axe identical with those of the Eskimo. Traces were found of a great flood, which, Dr. Ami says, was probably caused by conditions of the earth that opened the floodgates of ice and sent torrents of water into the valleys, destroying man and beast. This. was discovered at Combs Capelli, on the Canadian concession, where ■ implements tooled by man were discovered ground to pebbles by the.aetian.of waves. ART WORK AND LAMPS. Among the discoveries were fireplaces, where the shaggy' citizens of about 400,000. years ago made their homes; chambers in which they carved ■with minute delicacy in their desire to transcribe their ideals of beauty, in a manner said to surpass tho art of ■ the ancient Egyptians; lamps they used to light these chambers, and which are of the same type as thoso used by the Eskimos to-day. The Canadian school is working under the direction of the Eoyal Society and in conjunction with the Beaux Arts of France. Dr. Ami states that all specimens recovered are sent to the Beaux Arts. What they choose they will retain and return duplicates. Many splendid specimens were found this year, and have gone to Ottawa for classification, and along with 50,000 or 60,000 already in the- .laboratory at Ottawa, they will be available for Canadian universities. The University of British Columbia, the University of Toronto, M'Gill, the University of Alberta, and Dalhousie University will receive collections. \^