264 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



The question as to the antiquity of the Omori deposits naturally 

 arises, and the evidences all point to a considerable antiquity, suggested 

 by the entire absence of worked metals, as well as of finished or pol- 

 ished stone implements, the few implements found being of the rudest 

 character. 



The change which has taken place in the coast-line by upheaval, 



since the deposits were made, has 

 not the importance which would 

 be ascribed to it in a more stable 

 country. 



The next question arises as to 

 whether the deposits are Aino or 

 pre-Aino. The race who left these 

 remains were pot-makers par excel- 

 lence. It is generally admitted by 

 ethnologists that the art of pottery 

 once gained is never lost. It is 

 a fact, however, that neither the 



Fig. 24. 



Fig. 26. 



Fig. 29. 



Figs. 20 to 26 represent a number of implements made out of horn, -with the exception of Fig. 

 '25, which is worked out of a boar's tusk. Figs. 23, 24, and 26, are respectively 60, 62, and 125 mm. 

 in length. Fig. 21 is worked out of the end of a deer's metatarsal. Fig. 22 is a bird's bone, proba- 

 bly a humerus, with two holes worked in it. 



Fig. 27 is a portion of deer's antler cut at both ends and broken, 



FiM. 28 and 29 are two stone implements, worked out of soft lava-rock. They are respectively 

 50 and 70 mm. in length. 



Esquimaiix, Aleutians, Kamtchadales, nor the Ainos, are essentially 

 earthen-pot makers, their vessels being usually wrought out of stone or 

 wood, and their ancient stone vessels are often met with in various 

 parts of Japan. 



If the unquestionable resemblance between the ornamentation of 

 some of the fragments and similar styles of ornamentation among the 

 present Ainos be looked upon as indicating a community of origin, 

 what shall be said of the following figures of knobs found in a shell- 

 heap on the Upper Amazon by the lamented Prof. Hartt ? The knobs 

 themselves are so unlike anything figured heretofore, and yet so pre- 

 cisely do they resemble similar knobs which are most common in the 

 Omori deposits, that were they mixed with the collection it would be 



