proceedings: anthropological society 203 



tends over vast areas from Labrador and Canada to Tierra del Fuego. 

 Which of these two types is the older on the Continent has not yet 

 been determined. The answer will doubtless differ in different lo- 

 calities. Besides these two, which may be called fundamental physical 

 types of the American population, we now recognize a third group 

 which, though closely related to the first or "Toltec," seems of much 

 more recent introduction and development; this is the Athapascan. 

 A fourth type, also of fairly recent introduction, is the Eskimo. Out- 

 side these four strains, all of which are related and proceed probably 

 from one ancient stratum, we have discovered as yet in America no 

 trace of any other Pre-Columbian population. 



Dr. Truman Michelson, speaking on the linguistics of the Indians, 

 said, "There is no single type of language, no fundamental structure 

 that is the same in all linguistic stocks, though we find resemblances 

 among them." The speaker stated that resemblances occur between 

 the languages of northeastern Asia and those of certain North Ameri- 

 can Indians. "An important problem in linguistics," said Dr. Michel- 

 son, "is to determine whether resemblances between languages are 

 genetic or borrowed." The distribution of linguistic stocks was in- 

 dicated on maps. 



Prof. William H. Holmes spoke briefly of the probable origin of 

 the human race in southern Asia and the gradual spread from this 

 cradle over wide areas through increase in numbers and intelligence. 

 In passing northward the culture would be gradually modified and on 

 reaching the Arctic it would be reduced to the hunter-fisher state ex- 

 clusively known throughout the Arctic. In passing to America by 

 the Behring Route migrating groups would carry with them only 

 this single culture stage, but advancing southward changes would take 

 place according to environment. Culture would take on one phase 

 in the Great Plains region, another in the Mississippi Valley, still 

 another in Mexico, and so on; and there would follow interchanges 

 of culture elements between peoples and areas without end. We 

 thus explain the complex conditions and great diversity of the Colum- 

 bian period. 



Dr. J. Walter Fewkes stated that the two great forces which have 

 influenced the distribution of population in North and South America 

 are (1) geographic, the course of migration being somewhat deter- 

 mined by the mountain ranges and rivers, and (2) the food supply, which 

 depended on the climate. Dr. Fewkes called attention to the fact 

 that language does not represent the cultural distribution of a people. 

 Languages shrink and change, but archeology often represents culture 

 in its highest manifestation and affords a permanent basis of study. 

 Thus archeology indicates that two types of people once lived in the 

 southwest. There were two foci of distribution, one in the San Juan 

 valley and the other in the Gila valley. The food quest broadened 

 the outlines of these groups and at the point of juncture there arose 

 a mixed type which we now find along the Little Colorado, while in 

 the original places the culture has entirely disappeared. Dr. Fewkes 



