September, 1933 



FIELD MUSEUM NEWS 



Pages 



THE NEANDERTHAL GROUP IN THE HALL OF THE STONE AGE 



Neanderthal man, represented in the 

 second of the groups in the recently opened 

 Hall of the Stone Age of the Old World 

 (Hall C), was probably the first to seize 

 a woman and protect her from animals and 

 other men. Thus the beginnings of family 

 life may be placed at the time of his existence, 

 or about 50,000 years ago. 



direction. Squatting beside the embers of 

 the fire, the father of the family is watching 

 mussels open as the heat penetrates the 

 shells. His small five-year-old son, anxious 

 to help, is bringing a small twig to replenish 

 the fire. In a cleft in the rock the mother 

 can be seen carrying her youngest baby on 

 her hip. 



The Dawn of Family Life 



Life-size restoration of a Neanderthal family of 50,000 years ago in their rock-shelter at Gibraltar. Hall of 



the Stone Age of the Old World. 



The Museum's group, prepared by the 

 sculptor Frederick Blaschke, shows a Nean- 

 derthal family on the sandy platform outside 

 the entrance to the Devil's Tower rock- 

 shelter at Gibraltar. Silhouetted against 

 the deep blue of the Mediterranean stands 

 a young man with a wooden club in his 

 hand. He is watching intently some move- 

 ment on the beach below, since he and his 

 family are open to attack only from this 



The group was planned by Henry Field, 

 Assistant Curator of Physical Anthropology. 

 Staff Artist Charles A. Corwin painted the 

 background. 



Supplementing the exhibit is a collection 

 of representative cultural objects of the 

 period, some original Neanderthal skeletal 

 fragments, and a series of casts of the more 

 complete Neanderthal skeletons excavated 

 in various localities of Europe. 



CHARMS USED BY THE PAPUANS 



A few shavings of wood scraped from the 

 back of a wooden image and mixed in the 

 food of a person whose love is desired, will 

 exert a charm that will make that person 

 reciprocate one's affections, in the belief of 

 certain natives of New Guinea. Similarly, 

 they believe that shavings from another 

 carved figure, mixed with the food of one's 

 dog, will make him a better and braver 

 hunter, in attacking wild boars. 



These are but two of the many weird 

 charms in which the wild Papuan natives 

 place their faith — superstitions similar to 

 those of many other primitive peoples. 

 Various grotesque wooden figures they carve, 

 a fine collection of which is on exhibition in 

 Joseph N. Field Hall (Hall A), are invested 

 with other specific powers of making different 

 kinds of wishes come true. Some figures are 

 believed to be "the abode of good spirits." 

 Small ones are attached to bags, baskets, 

 and ornaments, hidden in houses, and carried 

 about on one's person. 



A Gypsum Cave Reproduction 



A peek into subterranean depths, into a 

 crystal cave, is made possible by an exhibit 

 in Clarence Buckingham Hall (Hall 35). 

 The exhibit is a reproduction of a gypsum 

 cave, the original of which is located in 

 Wayne County in southeastern Utah. 



The Museum's cave is constructed with 

 large gypsum crystals, remarkable for their 



size, purity, and perfection of form. These 

 were brought from Utah. Some of them are 

 shown projecting from the floor of the cave, 

 others from the sides, and others hang from 

 the roof. This is the manner of their occur- 

 rence in the Utah caves, where they were 

 discovered in comparatively recent years 

 by cowboys. 



Other cave formations from many parts 

 of the world, representing caves in Kentucky, 

 Missouri, Cuba, Italy, and other countries, 

 are shown in an adjoining case. This exhibit 

 includes also a collection of cave specimens 

 presented to the Museum shortly before 

 his death by Floyd Collins, the Kentuckian 

 whose tragic fate, when he became im- 

 prisoned in a cave collapse, engaged the 

 attention of the whole country some years 

 ago. 



Visitors Present Specimens 



Visitors to Chicago from distant places 

 frequently take advantage of the oppor- 

 tunity to have their fossils and geological 

 specimens identified at Field Museum. 

 Others bring specimens to present to the 

 Museum. While many of these duplicate 

 material already in the Museum collections, 

 some unique and valuable specimens from 

 this source are being added to the exhibits. 



A CRYSTAL STAR 



By Henry W. Nichols 

 Associate Curator of Geology 



Five specimens which illustrate the 

 method of cutting a "varnistar" from rock 

 crystal have been presented to the Museum 

 by Stephen Varni of New York. They are 

 now exhibited in Hall 34. Although the 

 primary object of the exhibit is to show 

 the successive stages of shaping and polish- 

 ing which intervene between the rough 

 crystal and the finished star or, for that 

 matter, between the rough and the finished 

 state of any fine gem, most people will 

 be more interested in the demonstration of 

 the remarkable increase of brilliancy and 

 fire imparted to gemstones by the skill of 

 the modem lapidary. 



Gems in the rough never display their 

 maximum brilliancy. This can be developed 

 only by skillful cutting. The surface of 

 most fine gems is formed of many small 

 polished planes called facets. Much of the 

 brilliancy depends on the form, position, 

 and angles of these facets, although much 

 also depends upon the general shape and 

 intrinsic brilliancy of the stone. This 

 star is far more brilliant than the piece of 

 rock crystal shown near-by from which it 

 was cut. This is due in part to the general 

 form of the star and in part to the position 

 and angles of the facets which are so designed 

 as to cause a maximum amount of the light 

 which enters the stone to be caught and 

 thrown back through the front face. Slight 

 changes in the shape of either star or facets 

 would seriously impair the brilliancy. Any 

 light passing into the stone and reaching 

 the lower face strikes a facet at such an 

 angle that it cannot penetrate but is reflected 

 back and forth inside the gem until it leaves 

 from the upper surface. In other words, 

 light penetrating the gem is trapped there 

 and cannot leave except by the front door. 



The skillful cutting which increases the 

 brilliancy of a gem also enhances its fire. 

 "This is a sparkle of flashes of colored 

 light which seems to emanate from the gem. 



Rays of white light passing through a 

 facet are not only bent but are separated 

 into the rainbow colors of which white 

 light is a mixture and flashes of these colors 

 are mixed with the white light thrown out 

 by the gem. The facets on a well-cut gem 

 are placed at such angles that this effect 

 is at a maximum. This brilliancy and fire 

 characterize gems cut in modern times. 

 Compared with these, gems of ancient 

 workmanship seem dull and lifeless. 



Gems are not always cut for maximum 

 brilliance. Various factors such as color 

 and the shape of the rough stone often 

 influence the cutting, and sometimes, as in 

 the cabochon cut, form is preferred to 

 brightness. 



Brilliance and fire cannot be imparted to 

 a stone in which these qualities are lacking. 

 They are inherent in differing degrees in 

 each kind of stone. The lapidary can only 

 develop what is already there. A bit of 

 glass or a topaz cannot be cut to rival a 

 diamond. 



Frankincense 



Frankincense is a resin furnished by 

 trees (Boswellia sps.) of the torchwood 

 family growing in tropical Africa and Arabia. 

 It is used as a drug and in incense. 

 Frankincense is displayed among the resins 

 in Hall 28. 



The Department of Botany has an exhibit 

 illustrating the standard used in grading 

 coffee. 



A simple method that anyone can use to 

 distinguish between true and imitation 

 amber is demonstrated in the collection of 

 amber in Hall 34. 



