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THE FOSSIL SLOTH AT BIG BONE CAVE, TEXN. [Jan. 15, 



THE FINDING OF THE REMAINS OF THE FOSSH. 

 SLOTH AT BIG BONE CAVE, TEN- 

 NESSEE, IN 1896. 



By Henry C. Mercer. 



{Read January 15, 1897.) 



The fossil sloth bones found in Big Bone cave, Tennessee, illus- 

 trate an investigation at one of the points of contact between 

 paleontology and archaeology. They explain an effort made during 

 the last several years by the Department of Archasology and Paleon- 

 tology of the University of Pennsylvania to settle the question of 

 man's antiquity in North America through a study of the associa- 



FlG. I. — Big Bone cave, at the head of Beech cove, one mile from the left bank of 

 Caney Fork river, and one mile above the mouth of Dry Branch, Van Buren county, 

 Tennessee. On the west slope of the Cumberland table-land, about 1000 feet above 

 the sea. Site of the discovery of the remains of the fossil sloth with attached cartilage. 



tion of human with animal remains in caves. Turning away, for a 

 time, from mounds, village sites and buried cities, we have sought 



