The Man They Ate for Dinner

In an election year, most politicians are content to let buried skeletons lie. Not Washington's Democratic Senator Warren Magnuson--although he is up for re-election in November. Last week, with Magnuson's blessing, two scientists announced in his Senate office that they had dug up the remains of a nomadic hunter who lived near what is now Washtucna, Wash., some 12,000 years ago. The human skeleton, believed to be the oldest ever discovered in the Western Hemisphere, was promptly dubbed the "Cro-Magnuson man" by Washington reporters.

During a geological survey in the Palouse River canyon in 1965, Washington State University Geologist Roald Fryxell and Archaeologist Richard Daugherty explained, a bulldozer they were using scraped bare some bone fragments. Forgetting their survey, they began digging carefully at the site and uncovered other bones, some animal and some that were finally identified in 1967 as human skull fragments. Still picking away in a 10-ft.-deep shaft last month, the scientists found two additional major skull fragments, finger and wrist bones, rib fragments, an eye socket and what is probably a leg bone, enabling them to confirm that the early human was similar to modern man and had died around the age of 20.

Time Is Running Out. To determine the age of the fossilized "Marmes man" (named after the rancher who owns the site), the W.S.U. scientists radiocarbon-dated mollusk shells lying in a stratum above the bone remnants and decided that they were nearly 11,000 years old. Thus, they reasoned, the bones lying in the stratum below must be between 11,000 and 13,000 years old. This gives Marmes man paleontologic seniority over such previously discovered Western Hemisphere relics as "Minnesota Minnie," the Midland (Texas) man and the Tepexpan (Mexico) man, all estimated to be some 10,000 years old.

There was also evidence that the early Washingtonian had suffered a grisly fate. Both human and animal bones found at the site were blackened--probably by fire--and some were split as if someone had tried to get at the bone marrow. "I think that it's entirely possible that the Marmes man was consumed by his buddies," says Geologist Fryxell. "In other words, they had him for dinner." From the fragmented condition of the skull, it was plain that Marmes man had also suffered from Excedrin Headache No. 1.

For more evidence about Marmes man and how he lived, the W.S.U. scientists are digging farther into the site. But time is running out. In December, a new dam across the nearby Snake River will begin creating an artificial lake that will eventually flood the site. Although digging for Marmes man has already cost more than $100,000 in grants from the National Science Foundation and the National Park Service, the scientists have asked for another $70,000 to continue their digging until the waters rise.

They will probably get it, says Magnuson, who makes no bones about supporting archaeology and sponsored a bill that became law in 1960 requiring the National Park Service to explore any archaeological sites threatened by dam building. The Senator can speak with some confidence. He is chairman of the Senate subcommittee that controls appropriations for the National Science Foundation.

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