HUMAN REMAINS AND ASSOCIATED FOSSILS. 
127 
fauna found in the stream beds and ponds of the Atlanta Coast of 
Florida, therefore, represents that part of the Pleistocene following 
the deposition of the marine shell marl. 
THE DEPOSITS CONTAINING VERTEBRATE FOSSILS. 
The excavations as well as the timber growth show that the 
old stream bed or valley at Vero has a width of from. 350 to 500 feet 
for a distance of about three-fourths of a mile from the Indian 
River, which is itself an inlet from the Ocean. The stream valley, 
however, is very shallow, the material which fills it having at the 
present time a thickness of not more than from four to six feet. 
At the time the canal was cut, a sluggish stream, known as Van 
Valkenburg's Creek, following an ill-defined channel, flowed 
through the valley which had been aggraded to- within three or four 
feet of the surrounding land level. The fill in the stream valley 
includes, as shown in the accompanying sketch (fig. 2), two suc¬ 
cessive fluviatile deposits. From the sketch map (fig. 1) it will be 
seen also that the broad valley is formed, near the place where the 
fossils are found, by two tributaries which enter, one from the 
north and one from the south. These streams originate only a 
few miles inland and their course is controlled by the Pleistocene 
beaches and dunes which here parallel the coast. The position of 
the original stream may have been determined by a natural depres¬ 
sion or inlet from the ocean which possibly accounts for the great 
width as compared to the shallow depth of the valley. The possi¬ 
bility of the stream having in former times been fed by a spring 
also suggests itself, especially as the number of vertebrates found in 
this locality seem to imply some kind of a fresh-water resort. 
SECTION THROUGH THE STREAM VALLEY. 
The section through the stream valley, as exposed in the banks 
of the canal at the place where the human remains are found, is 
represented by text-figure 2. The section as here shown does not 
extend directly across the stream, but as will be seen by referring 
to the sketch map (fig. 1), runs approximately parallel to the gen¬ 
eral course of the valley from the union of the two tributaries to 
the crossing of the Florida East Coast Railroad, a distance of 512 
feet. Number 1 of the section represents the marine shell marl 
which is common to this part of the State, and is cut into by the 
