Posted on 03/09/2013 3:07:58 PM PST by SunkenCiv
Probably the most interesting story yet, concerned a Chicago broker named Christopher Janus who was determined to solve the case of the missing fossils. Janus offered a $5,000 reward for the recovery of the Peking Man in the mid-1970s. He received an unusual response from an unidentified woman who claimed she had the fossils and demanded that they meet on the top of the Empire State Building in New York City.
Janus curiosity was aroused and he met the woman at the designated spot. The woman claimed that her deceased husband, a Marine during World War II, returned home after the war with a box containing fossils, thought to be the Peking Man. She showed Janus a photograph of the bones to support her claim and told him that she would hand the bones over for a staggering $500,000.
Janus managed to persuade the woman to loan him the photo so he could show it to an expert. Professor of Anthropology Harry L. Shapiro examined the photo to see if fossil casts matched the bones in the picture. He found only one interesting piece in the entire lot, a skull that resembled one found at Chou Kou Tien. However, it was difficult to be certain if it was actually one of the fossils because the picture was not very clear. Janus also showed the picture to several other experts in the field, some of whom were convinced that it was a skull excavated from Chou Kou Tien.
The incident gained a great deal of attention from the press and some scientists who were eager to study the actual skull up close. However, the anonymous woman became spooked by all the publicity and was never seen again. There is no telling if what she had was the real thing.
(Excerpt) Read more at trutv.com ...
THAT'S the news story I rememberr reading at the time, nice to see someone found it again.
Report from Former U.S. Marine Hints at Whereabouts of Long-Lost Peking Man Fossils
Scientific American ‘blogs ^ | March 22, 2012 | Kate Wong
Posted on 03/29/2012 9:18:28 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2865789/posts
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GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach | |
Just adding to the catalog, not sending a general distribution. |
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This is pretty fake.
Another interesting episode...out of Alabama in the 1950s...there’s this kid who finds an Italian coin in a field. The coin? Minted around 450 B.C. How it got to the field? No can speculate or explain. Italian travelers from two thousand years ago? Maybe. But you can’t prove that.
There’s thousands of stories like this.
Coincidentally, I recently read this novel set about American marines in China, December 1941.
If the taking of the barracks occurred as related in the story, it is doubtful the bones ever left China.
Whatever happened, I doubt that they will ever be found.
The chinese had a habit of grinding bones for use as ‘medicine’.
I suggest that it is more likely that one of several million chinese did that, than one of a few hundreds of marines took it, AND survived WWII.
According to that book, the Marines at the Peking barracks were so outnumbered and out gunned that they were forced to surrender. They ended up Japanese POW camps.
> “..theres this kid who finds an Italian coin in a field. The coin? Minted around 450 B.C. How it got to the field? No can speculate or explain. Italian travelers from two thousand years ago? Maybe. But you cant prove that.”<
As a teenager in Miami, I had an ancient Roman bronze coin that — dope that I was — I decided I’d start carrying as a lucky charm. It wasn’t lucky for me. I lost it in a few days, probably on a field where we used to play pick-up football. If anybody finds it, it’s mine!
The bones were also the treasure in an old “Hawaii 5-0” episode.
I read somewhere that Roman coins are not particularly valuable as there are still a lot of them around.
I suspect certain ones would be tho.
A friend of mine found an 1482 English coin in a playground in Hayward, California in 1980`s with his metal detector.. This had been part of San Leandro Bay before it was drained and used for houses etc in 1800`s. The playground would have been the bottom of the bay then coz it was shallow enough for a vessel to enter- My hunch is that Drake used San Leandro Bay to repair his ship coz it is very quiet there and the waters are still enough for such work and the Ohlone Indians were there...
I knew McGarrett would come through!
It could be, as Drake’s logs were kept by the Crown upon his return, and lost in the 1666 Great Fire (apparently; lots of stuff apparently was). Various summaries of his voyage have survived, but they lack both exactness and the kind of persistence that would have come from repeat voyages.
Of course, coins tended to stay in circulation for a very long time, so it may have been lost long after, as well. Might be worth another look, for artifacts.
http://www.google.com/search?q=francis+drake+landfalls+site%3Afreerepublic.com
None of the article about the Peking Man fossils is “fake” or “pretty fake”. Your mention of that coin find (which was one of many, not just in North America) seems like a good idea for a topic though. :’)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2084791/posts?page=13#13
But his description of the “bay” survives, and it matches San Leandro Bay, not Inverness.
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