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Unusual life forms called Archaea have been found around traditional oceanic vent systems and these animals have been placed near the bottom of the evolutionary scale. Scientists believe life around Lost City might be even more primitive. Animals around Lost City would be living in temperatures a little more similar to Earth's suspected early climate —around 160 degrees Fahrenheit, compared with the even more scorching temperature at hydrothermal vents. The new vents also have high pH levels - or low acidity - which some have pro- posed was also present when life began on the planet. Finally, the site produces high levels of methane, which the most ancient forms of bacteria are thought to have feasted on billions of years ago. “The area conjures up the origins of life,” says Richard Lutz, an oceanographer at Rutgers University who was among the first oceanographers to explore the first hydrothermal vent system ever discovered in the late 1970s. “There's a good case that this could have been the kind of environment where life began.” The latest news of the progress of the explorations or what is now regarded by scientists as not only the oldest archaeological discovery in the United States, but one of the most valuable in the world, which was mentioned some time ago in the Gazette (see photo at left), was brought to the city yesterday by G.E. Kinkaid, the explorer who found the great underground citadel of the Grand Canyon during a trip from Green River, Wyoming, down the Colorado, in a wooden boat, to Yuma, several months ago. According to the story related to the Gazette by Mr. Kinkaid, the archaeologists of the Smithsonian Institute, which is financing the expeditions, have made discoveries which almost conclusively prove that the race which inhabited this mysterious cavern, hewn in solid rock by human hands, was of orien- tal origin, possibly from Egypt, tracing back to Ramses. If their theories are borne out by the translation of the tablets engraved with hieroglyphics, the mystery of the prehistoric peoples of North America, their ancient arts, who they were and whence they came will be solved. Egypt and the Nile, and Arizona and the Colorado will be linked by a historical chain running back to ages, which staggers the wildest fancy of the fictionist. Under the direction of Professor S. A. Jordan, the Smithsonian Institute is now prosecuting the most thorough explorations, which will be continued until the last link in the chain is forged. Nearly a mile underground, about 1480 feet below the surface, the long main passage has been delved into, to find another mammoth chamber from which radiates scores of passageways, like the spokes of a wheel. Several hundred rooms have been discovered, reached by passageways running from the main passage, one of them having been explored are 854 feet and another 634 feet. The recent finds include articles, which have never been known as native to this country and doubtless they had their origin in the orient. War weapons, copper instruments, sharp-edged and hard as steel, indicate the high state of civilization reached by these strange people. So interested have the scientists become that preparations are being made to equip the camp for extensive studies, and the force will be increased to thirty or forty persons. “Before going further into the cavern, better facilities for lighting will have to be installed, for the dark- ness is dense and quite impenetrable for the average flashlight. In order to avoid being lost, wires are being strung from the entrance to all passageways leading directly to large chambers. How far this cav- 289 Appendix D: Scientific Evidence Lost City Like Earliest Earth? Egyptian Artifacts in the Grand Canyon The Phoenix Gazette - April 5, 1909 Remarkable Finds Indicate Ancient People Migrated From Orient Atlantis, Alien Visitation, and Genetic Manipulation