ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES. 277 



Notice of a Human Skull, recently taken from a Shaft near 

 Angel's, Calaveras County. 



BY J. D. WHITNEY. 



This skull was taken from a shaft sunk on a mining' claim at Altaville, near 

 Angel's, in Calaveras County, by Mr. James Matson. By him it was given to 

 Mr. Scribner, of Angel's, and by Mr. Scribner to Dr. Jones. Mr. Matson 

 states that the skull was found at a depth of about one hundred and thirty 

 feet, in a bed of gravel five feet in thickness, above which are four beds of 

 consolidated volcanic ash, locally known as " lava "; these volcanic beds are sep- 

 arated from each other by layers of gravel, and Mr. Matson gives the follow- 

 ing as the section of the various deposits passed through in sinking the shaft, 

 which is one hundred and fifty-three feet deep, to the bed rock : 



1. Black lava 40 feet. 



2. Gravel 3 " 



3. Light lava 30 " 



4. Gravel 5 " 



5. Light lava 15 " 



6. Gravel 25 " 



7. Dark brown lava 9 " 



8. Gravel 1 5 " 



9. Red lava 4 " 



10. Red Gravel 17 " 



153 feet. 



The skull was found, according to Mr. Matson, in bed number 8, just above 

 the lowest stratum of lava. With the skull were found fragments of silicified 

 wood, the whole being covered and partly incrusted with stony matter, so that 

 the fact of its being a skull was not recognized until after it had passed into 

 Mr. Scribner's hands, by whom it was cleaned and presented to Dr. Jones. 



The skull is said by Mr. Matson to have been taken from the shaft February 

 25th, I860, and it came into my hands in the July following, when I immedi- 

 ately proceeded to the locality; but found the shaft temporarily abandoned and 

 partly filled with water, so that it was impossible at that time to make any far- 

 ther search in the bed from which the skull was procured. A careful inquiry 

 into all the circumstances of the alleged discovery, and an interview with all 

 the persons who had been in any way connected with it, impressed upon my 

 mind the conviction that the facts were as stated above, and that there was 

 every reason to believe that the skull really came from the position assigned to 

 it by Mr. Matson. Still, as it is evidently highly desirable that as large an 

 amount of evidence as possible should be accumulated in regard to a discov- 

 ery of so much importance, I made arrangements that I should be notified 

 whenever the shaft was reopened and the water taken out, and hope at a future 

 meeting to be able to lay before the Academy the results of a personal examin- 

 ation of this interesting locality, and of further excavations in the bed from 

 which the skull was taken. 



Assuming the correctness of Mr. Matson's statements, this relic of human 



