Early Man in America

Abstract

IT is a not infrequent occurrence in America for discoveries to be announced which, it is said, afford indubitable evidence of the existence of man on that continent in very early times. Usually this evidence takes the form of one or more stone implements associated with the bones of extinct mammals, such as an elephant, in deposits held to be Pleistocene and in conditions which are claimed to justify the conclusion that the implements and fossils are contemporary. Usually it appears on further investigation that it is either impossible to verify the exact position, relative or absolute, of the finds, or an application of the strict canon of evidence reveals some flaw which vitiates the conclusion. American palaeontologists and archæologists, however, continue to examine with patient determination every claim that is reported, and at the same time to examine diligently areas in which the deposits are such as might well afford the evidence which is sought. One such area is the State of Nebraska, which, in view of its geographical relation to the glacial area of the ice age, is regarded by American geologists as of great promise in this respect. Three discoveries have been reported in this State recently, according to Science Service of Washington, D.C. In two instances, students of the University of Nebraska have discovered flint implements in association with the bones of fossil bison under some sixteen feet of loess which, it is claimed, is earlier than the last glaciation. These two discoveries lie about sixty miles apart. The third discovery was near the town of Angus, where, it is claimed, a flint implement was found under the scapula of a mammoth. The sites have been visited by Dr. W. D. Strong, of the Bureau of American Ethnology, who regards the discoveries with very considerable reserve.