Neanderthal Skull 50,000 Years Old Discovered on a Kansas Farm

Skull pictured on the bottom is that found in Kansas that was described as thick walled with a protruding brow ridge.

Marion Daily Star, April 7, 1902

When the skull was found, it was not thought to have any scientific value. Several days ago M. C. Long curator of the Kansas City public museum, and Edwin Butts, the civil engineer for the Metropolitan Street Railway company, both enthusiastic archaeologist, went to the place of the discovery and secured the fragments of the skeleton and brought them to Kansas City. Both Mr. Long and Mr. Butts are enthusiastic over the discovery. From the appearance of the skull and its position in the earth they are convinced it is that of a glacial man. If this fact is established, it will be the first proof of the kind found on the North American continent. Were there Neanderthals in North America?

The find was made on the farm of Thomas and M. Cohncannon. They were digging

a tunnel into a great hill on their farm with the purpose of using the excavation as a 

storage place for apples and other fruits. They dug directly into the side of the hill. The 

skull was found about sixty-five feet in. Other bones of the skeleton were beside it. 

One of the farmers drove a pickax through the skull in loosening it from its stony bed, 

and later bones fell on it, so that it was broken into half a dozen pieces, but Mr. Long has

cemented it together. The skull is that of a man with hardly any forehead. Directly back from

the eyes recedes the frontal bone. The fragments found show he had a big jaw. The skull is very thick and strong, and its back part is broad and well developed. The phrenologist averts that this development at the back shows an abnormal nature. But there is no noble dome,no high and rounding forehead, that shows the development of intelligence.

The skull practically intact, a portion of the lower jaw, a part of a thigh bone, and several other fragments were found. The bones indicate the man to have been large. The head is small. The orbits for the eyes are close together and appear exceptionally large. Over the orbits are well-developed ridges that probably denote perceptive faculties. The bones were found huddled together. They lay partially imbedded in hardpan. A close and exhaustive investigation showed that the various strata of rocks and soils and the “watermarks” had never been disturbed vertically and neither had there been a unilateral disturbance of the hill. The skeleton evidently had been deposited there before the great mass of rock and soil above and about it. Had mound builders or Indians ever dug deep into the hill

they could not have avoided leaving traces of their excavation.

“When we first heard of the find, we deemed it the usual story of a ‘mound burial,’

said Mr. Long the other day. “our investigation shows beyond all doubt that is a skeleton of a

 man of the glacial period.. After a most exhaustive investigation, Mr. Butts and I reached the conclusion the skeleton was deposited there during the glacial period or drift. How long ago the ice period was is not definitely known; 50, 00 years, perhaps much longer.