Adam a Chinese

Horowhenua Chronicle, 27 May 1931, Page 2

Adam a Chinese

CRADLE OF HUMAN RACE. 1 WHAT MONGOLIA REVEALED. When the spades of paleontologists, who were exploring the sands of the great Gobi Desert of Mongolia, laid) bare the skeleton remains of a pre-* historic man, now scientifically named “Sianthropus,” there was made a mosti impressive and significant as a result of further evidence that Adam and Eve were Chinese, and thati the mythical Garden of Eden is to bej found somewhere in Central Asia had just been advanced to scientists, sayd the San Francisco Chronicle. The revelation of the nature of thej brain-case of this prehistoric man, ini the opinion of G. Elliot-Smith, F.R.S., professor of anatomy in the University of London, and author of “The Evolution of Man,” affords ample corroboration of the claim that these new discoveries in China provide a new basis for the study of human evolution. According to details of the disoveries, explorers of the China survey, led by Dr. Davidson Black, of the Pekin Union Medical College, unearthed the jaws ,with many teeth still in place, and the remains of the skull as well, of several ancient men who very likely lived 500,000 years ago in the preNeolithic days. “The evidence provided in these three memoirs,” says Professor Smith, in the Scientific American, “makes it possible for us to visualise the circumstances of this epoch-making discovery. These facts are essential for the understanding of the significance of the new light on our remote ancestry.” Dr. Black, in his account of the new discoveries at a recent meeting of the Geological Society of China, pointed out that there was a remarkable geographical relationship between the two finds, at the opposite ends of the Eurasiatic Continent, one that of the Peking man and the other that of the Pi.ltdown or “dawn” man of Great Britain whose remains were found in the village of Piltdown, Sussex, in 1912. The Piltdown man was found in about 50 degrees north latitude. According to Dr, Black it has been definitely ascertained that the persistent route of migration, first of animals and later .of man, since mid-tertiary time, has been approximately along latitude 40deg., and it seemed evident that these two extremes represented migrations in opposite directions from a common centre of origin. But where was this centre? Where, in other words, lay the mythical Garden of Eden? Where was the cradle of the human race? Critical consideration of all the known geological geographical, and biological facts when viewed in the light of these recent discoveries point to Central Asia, and most probably to Mongolia. Interesting Theories. In advancing the theory that the cradle of human development is to be found somewhere in Central China, Dr Black presents a number of interesting theories. He points to the fact that Central Asia was roamed at will by animals until the Himalaya Mountains rose in the mid-tertiary age. Then monsoon winds sweeping in from the Indian Ocean and laden with moisture met the barrier of the mountains. Forced to rise and so become condensed, the winds parted with their moistures, heavily watering the southern slopes and permitting a luxuriant growth of vegetation, among which the fortunate anthropoids which had on the south of the barrier found existence easy and effortless. But not so those who were left north of this barrier. For, as the winds crossed the mountains, having left their moisture on the southern side, they again descended, and by expanding became drying winds. One by one the springs failed, rivers dried and lakes became saline. Deprived of their moisture the trees of the forest withered and died, and slowly the once heavilywooded region became a desert. None suffered more from the change than the anthropoids. In the open, according to Dr. Black, the old process of swinging from branch to branch was no longer possible, and an upright gait was forced upon the creatures with the aid of a branch from dead trees. That such a branch first grasped for support would also prove an effective weapon against an adversary would quickly be discovered, and when by accident a fragment of stone became wedged in the lower split end of such a stick the greater effectiveness of such a reinforced weapon would not long wait discovery. The arid climate increased the discomforts of existence until the creatures were slowly driven to other climes. And thus, as the ages passed, they migrated to the four corners of the earth. ' Here, then .ends the study of the dei elopment of mankind, for the time being at least, until some fortunate scientist digs up the fossiled remains of the creature that is the missing link in the chain which may lead definitely to the site of the Garden of Men.