Science: First Nebraskans

Nebraska put in a claim last week to having the oldest inhabitants of the U.S. Dr. C. Bertrand Schultz, of the University of Nebraska, told of finding ancient camp sites which may have been human hangouts before the last glacial advance.

First finds were stone chips, by-products of ancient munitions-making. They turned up last spring beside Lime Creek, near Cambridge, Neb. When a task force from the University started to excavate, a flood helped by uncovering another chip deposit at the base of a bluff about 50 ft. high.

Stimulated by this thick overburden (hinting at great age), the archeologists attacked the bluff with dynamite and a bulldozer. By fall they had uncovered stone, bone and antler artifacts (prehistoric scrap pile), and bones of extinct animals (prehistoric garbage dump). They found no human remains, but obviously ancient man had fancied the spot for a long time, chipping his crude weapons and tossing gnawed bones over his muscular shoulder.

The stone weapons, including spearheads, knives and dart points, are fairly well made, their sharp edges finished with delicate flaking. Bone awls and a bone needle indicate that the ancient hunters wore skin clothes of some sort and sewed the edges together.

Most exciting to archeologists is the great age of the camp sites. The artifacts were imbedded in a layer of “old soil.” Above them lay many, feet of wind-deposited material (loess), the result of great dust storms associated with the last (Mankato) glacial advance, 20,000 to 30,000 years ago. Apparently man reached Nebraska early enough to feel the effect of ice when it last crept toward his hunting grounds.