Your Daily Giant 6/10/2013

 

 

 

Today's Daily Giant comes from the Chester Times, November 2, 1925, pg 3. A skeleton unearthed in Missouri is thought to be Mayan because the skull is elongated or cradle boarded. From the article, "A skeleton, seven feet two inches long, believed to be that of a member of the ancient Maya people, has been found beneath a creek bed near Fairfax, Mo., Frank Plumb, student of Anthropology, announced yesterday. The low, slanting skull, Mr. Plumb said indicated Maya origin, as it was the practice of this people to flatten the foreheads of their infants." A more detailed account is found in The Miami News pg 30 on the same day. "Great interest has been aroused at Fairfax, Mo., 50 miles north of here, by the discovery of Frank L. Plumb on the farm of Robert Russell...Anslem Schumacher of Maryville, archeologist, discoverer of Indian graves and relics, who went to view Mr. Plumb's discoveries, also found a skull similar to that found by Mr. Plumb. Guy Grebe discovered a mastodon tooth eight inches in diameter." While researching Frank Plumb I found a most interesting report a year later in the Southeast Missourian, July 26, 1926, pg 1. "A huge stone, believed to contain hieroglyphics, has been unearthed in Gubser Creek, five miles west of here, by Frank C. Plumb of this city. The stone was discovered at a spot where other relics of an early age have been found in recent years. Photographs of the stone were taken and sent to the Smithsonian Institute where authorities were asked to make an effort to decipher the coded figures. It is believed that their report will cast some light on other discoveries here. Plumb found a skeleton in the creek last September and several archaeologists were unable to classify the discovery. Since that time, several hundred specimens have been unearthed. They were found in quantities, escpecially after heavy rains, which washed the earth away along the creek banks. Stone axes, pieces of pottery, mastodon teeth, flint arrow heads, petrified wood, skeletons, knives, tools, corn grinders and several articles which resembled ivory tusks are among the discoveries made in the region. Plumb is a student of anthropology and has located a sacrificial mound, a serpent mound and an ancient fort in the vicinity of Fairifax. The serpent mound is more than 1000 yards in length and is located atop a bluff. Several years ago the mound was uncovered when the ground was opened for cultivation. Gubser creek, where the relics were found, runs through a farm owned by Mrs. George Gubser, a widow and empties into Mill creek, three miles from the Missouri river." Same details given in different newspapers a year apart yet the relevant details, names and places are all the same. The skeptic would want you to think that these articles are unreliable accountings of events. I would say, if you have a pulse and a brain you can figure out fairly quickly there is a fair amount of veracity to these reports. The Smithsonian once again was sniffing around a troublesome artifact, this time photographing it and I can only assume eventually acquiring it.