THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN IN NORTH AMERICA. 329 



is not at all improbable; but how does this modernize the object, 

 when the gravel extends quite to the surface? The pebbles and 

 bowlders at the top of the bank are clearly as much a part of the 

 deposit as are those at its base, and while the surface may be — is, in 

 fact — less ancient than the deeper gravels, still they can not be dis- 

 sociated; and it is a significant fact that we find, on the gravel at 

 the foot of the bluff or other exposure, only the rude argillite ob- 

 jects at the water's edge or on the fiat laid bare at low tide, and not 



Fig. 1. — Wasting River Shore due to Tidal Flow. 



a general assortment of the Indian's handiwork, including pottery; 

 and we must not overlook the fact that the " gravel-bed " imple- 

 ments bear evidence of all the conditions to w^hich the gravel itself 

 has been subjected — this one stained by manganese, that incrusted 

 with limonite; this fresh as the day it was chipped, because lost 

 in sand and water and not subsequently exposed to the atmosphere; 

 that buried and unearthed, rolled, scratched, and water-worn until 

 much of its artificiality has disappeared. The history of almost 

 every specimen is written upon it, and not one tells such a story 

 as has been told about it by the advocates of the " Indian-reject " 

 theory. 



Much has been written on the natural history of the gravel that 

 is so marked a feature of the river valley, particularly at the head 



VOL. LV. — 25 



