ANCIENT MAN?

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22907, 15 June 1936, Page 15

ANCIENT MAN?

SKELETON DUG UP IN STREET SCIENTISTS DISAGREE What may prove one of the most sensational finds in South African scientific history is involved in the discovery of a complete skeleton during excavation work in Riebeek street, Capetown (says the Cape Times of March 14). The skeleton is apparently that of_ a man. It is in amazingly good order, with every bone in good condition and a skull containing a full and perfect set of teeth. The man may have lived 500 years ago, or he may belong to an age in the remote part of 50,000 years ago. He is at present a mystery man. The skeleton is not that of a Bushman or etrand-looper, not that of a European, not that of a Hottentot or Bantu. It is said to _ resemble the modern Australian aboriginal as much as any of these. At any rate, he has caused a furore m Capetown's scientific circles. Dr Leonard Gill, of the South African Museum, Mr A. J. H. Goodwin, of the Department of Anthropology in the University of Capetown, Professor Max Drennan, of the Department of Anatomy, and Professor Raymond Dart (the Taungs skull man), of the University of Witwatersrand, and Professor Andrew Young, of the Department of Geology, were aH on the spot to watch the disinterment. DIGGING FOR FOUNDATIONS.

The discovery was made by a coloured man in the course of digging for foundations for a new garage. He was seen to stop work." He told the # foreman that thsre were "spooks" in the hole. He had heard them speaking to him. , Further Investigation revealed the leg bone of a skeleton peeping through the side of the eight-foot pi*. , , , Mr Moolenschot, of Moolenschot and Schep, building contractors, informed Mr Abrahams, the engineer, of the discovery, and Mr Abrahams told Professor Dart, a friend of his. Late on Thursday afternoon, March 12, an impromptu consultation was held, as a result of which it was decided to excavate further. , The skeleton was lying about seven feet from the surface in a two-foot layer of fine, loose sand—the original sand dunes that lined the edge of Table Bay. Incidentally, the excavation work at other levels had resulted in some minor, but interesting finds, including a. holed stone, several fragments of old china, and portion of the stem' of a churchwarden pipe . The next morning further excavation took place, and the skull was removed. The scientists were delighted at its condition. Professor Dart toid a representative of the Cape Times that the skull did not conform to the type classified as Bushman. " There are features in which it' resembles the Cape Flats skull discovered by Professor Drennan several years ago, he said. "I think this skull should be handed over to Professor Drennan for examination in conjunction with his previous discovery—an extremely important one in that for the first time an individual almost identical with the modern Australian aboriginal was discovered in a sandpit on the Cape Flats. ISSUES RAISED. " That discovery raised a number of important autlnopological issues. I am not prepared to say on a superficial examination the exact affinity of the present find either to the Cape Flats skull or to the Australian aboriginal. But 1 am definitely of the opinion that the present (iiscovery—especially if followed up Irom the points of view of the accompanying culture and stratigraphy—will add important information to our knowledge of the pre-history of Capetown. " The Australoid man belongs to a very remote age, but it must also be remembered that the Australoid type persists among some members of our coloured people. t • " Without geological knowledge of this area it is difficult to give a precise opinion on this skull. I think it is definitely worth getting a geologist on to one of these pits where the skeleton has been discovered for bucli knowledge will be most important in connection with any of the subsequent finds that are almost certain to be made in this area." Professor Dart concluded by paying a tribute to the spirit of the building contractors, who had not only at once notified an' authority but were perfectly willing to suspend their building operations in the interests of science.

The Cape Flats skull, discovered by Professor Drennan. and referred to above bv Professor Dart, wag found in 1929 at Philippi. In that instance the skeleton was in fragments and had to be laboriously pieced together. It was described as "the first genuine and unmistakable Australoid skull found in South Africa -almost an exact middle term between the Rhodesian Man and the Bushman." The find caused great interest and was said to show that South Africa was inhabited at one time by a race indistinguishable from the modern Australian aboriginal. It was further claimed •as highly likely that Australia received her Au«traloid nomilntion from South Afnca.

The present ekuli and skeleton are in perfect order compared with the earlier discovery, so that if it is decided that the two finds are co-related another anthropological link has been forged in the chain between the Neanderthal man and the modern man, and another link between Europe and Australia. "NOT A MAN." Professor Max Drennan, of the University of Capetown, says that the mystery man is not a man, but a woman. Professor Drennan is also not eo confident that the skeleton represents a great find. " The fact that it is known that there was a graveyard in that vicinity is a vitiating factor," he said. "There were cases when burials took place outside the boundaries of the graveyard.

"This was definitely not a bushman burial. The flat, supine position, with the crossed arms, is more like a modern burial. ~ "The skeleton is not that of a European. It may have been a Malay; but against that there is the fact that it appears to have been resting in an undisturbed layer of sand, though that has not been shown geologically. "The ekull is a most puzzling one. It has some definite Caucasoid features, bus there are also a few features that I have only come across among Bushmen. "It is the first skull to be found in these parts which shows trigonocephaly —the marked protuberance of the front of the forehead —and this has been shown in one of the earliest Bushman remains found at Matjes River. , "It is what I call a disharmonic ekull. The teeth, for instance, do not fit th« skull. " I am inclined to believe that it is thtt skull of a cross-breed.

" But, supposing that it is proved that the remains have been found in an old geological stratum, you have still to interpret its European features very carefully, as there is still to be considered the influence of the precursor of the European. "A European type has been found in East Africa in very old strata, and also in the Cape. " Your ' mystery man' is probably a first cross between a Caucasoid type (which includes the Indian and the European) and a Bushman. " If it is an early type—that is, if geological evidence show« that—then it id a very old type of humanity, and a new one to us."

Professor Drennan concluded by Baying thatwhat he had found equally interesting in the excavations was the series of foundations that had been revealed. Twelve feet down there were the first foundations. Then there wero the superimposed second foundations, and finally the buildings of this generation."