CRADLE OF MANKIND

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 729, 31 July 1929, Page 9

CRADLE OF MANKIND

WAS GARDEN OF EDEN IN ALGERIA? ANCIENT SKELETONS FOUND (United P.A.—By Telegraph — Copyright) ( United Service) Reed. 9 a.m. NEW YORK, Tuesday. Dr. Alonzo Pond, an American archaeologist representing the Logan Museum, claims the discovery of the cradle of mankind in Africa, and within a month he will bring to America the skeletons of 15 individuals who lived and died, but probably never fought, 20,000 years ago. Dr. Pond insists that the real Garden of Eden was in Algeria. He pieced together the bones of these men who lived before history was recorded. They closely resemble the men of today. Dr. Pond hopes to be able to trace mankind’s migration northward through the sluggish Nile and Niger Valleys into Europe. One skeleton which is en route to America is that of a man more than 6ft. in height. The others range from sft. 4in. to 6ft. At the conference in Capetown on July 23 of the British Association for tho Advancement of Science, Mr. J. H. Hofmeyr, who delivered the inaugural address, traced the development of science in South Africa since the association’s first visit in 1905. Mr. Hofmeyr outlined South Africa’s possible contributions to the cause of science, dwelling on the unique advantages astronomy and the meteorological sciences can enjoy. Anthropologically, he declared, Africa gave splendid promise of verifying Darwin’s belief in this continent as the scene of nature’s greatest creative effort—-man. Africa also offered the richest opportunities of investigation into the contact of races of different colours and stages of civilisation. The speaker described Africa as- offering a pei'petual challenge to science to unravel her past.