Prehistoric Man

Waikato Times, Volume 116, Issue 19459, 26 December 1934, Page 7

Prehistoric Man

DISCOVERIES AT CARMEL* IMPORTANT AND INTERESTING, AN EXPERT'S OPINION. United Press Assn.—Elec. TeL Copyright. (Received Deo. 26, 9.15 a.m.) LONDON, Dec. 25. Delving into caverns on Mount Carmel, in Palestine,, which men inhabited 200,000 years ago, an expedition comprising members of the British School of Archaeology and the American School of Pre-liistoric Research was rewarded by discoveries opening the most remote chapter of the evolution of prehistoric man yet - disclosed. Mr Theodore McCown, who is cooperating with Sir Arthur Keith in examining the expedition’s at the Royal College of Surgeons, toldffihe Chronicle that the Palestine discoveries included a cave which had been inhabited almost continuously for 50,000 years in which w’as the best Neanderthal skeleton ever found; also the skeleton of a man aged 30, a girl of 3i, and a woman of 25. Mr McCown says these people were more 1 progressive than previous Neanderthals. The male skeletons had chins, but the woman's was without one. The story of countless centuries was revealed. As the scientists excavated one cave, layer after layer to a depth of 25 feet the remains of hippopotami, crocodiles, rhinoceroses, elephants, w’olves, gazelles, rats and mice, were found among flints and pottery of the bronze age, but these latter were absent in the low'er layers. Mr McCown believes the discoveries show that Palestinian cultures w r ere allied with African cultures, on the one hand, and Asiatic and European oultures on the other, and that modern man evolved from an intermediate type which followed the Neanderthals.

Mount Carmel (Hebrew' Orchard) is a hill in Palestine. It gives Its name to a range of hills 14 miles in length from north-west to south-east. The height (1750 ft) lies west of the plain o'f Esdraelon and overlooks Haifa, the new port on the Mediterranean Sea. It was the site of the stirring scene in which Elijah, in the presence of King Ahah and his Court defied and slew the prophets of Baal, as narrated in I. King xvlli.