deposit bore artifacts without hiatus to the bottom where 
it rested upon a layer of water-washed gravel. 
Dating. Dr. Ernst Antevs, who is preparing a sepa- 
rate report on the geology of Bat Cave and the surround- 
ing region, estimates that the cultural deposits containing 
the maize had their beginning not later than 2500 B.C. 
This estimate is based on the fact that the refuse rests 
upon a layer of windblown sand and dust which repre- 
sents a period decidedly drier than the present. Antevs 
believes the sand and dust were deposited between 5500 
B.C. and 2500 B.C. The level representing this very dry 
age rests upon old beach gravels which were laid down 
during a preceding pluvial period. The gravel rests on 
bedrock. The top level of the maize-bearing deposit is 
dated by pottery as 500 A.D. to 1000 A.D. Thus, the 
deposit containing maize covers a span of not less than 
3000 years. Exact dating of the site is not, for our pur- 
pose, of overwhelming importance. Much more signifi- 
cant is the fact that the characteristics of the maize from 
Bat Cave are such as to make it the most primitive which 
has so far been discovered; and, even with conservative 
dating, it is the most ancient. 
Maize Remains. The maize remains isolated from the 
refuse comprised a total of 766 specimens of shelled cobs, 
125 loose kernels, eight specimens of husks, ten of leaf 
sheaths, and five of tassels and tassel fragments. Most of 
the specimens, even those from the lowest stratum, were 
extraordinarily well-preserved, with the long plant hairs 
on the epidermis of the glumes and the surface of the 
cupules still intact. Indeed, most of the vegetal material 
isin such an excellent state of preservation that botanists 
would be inclined to question the geologists’ estimates 
of its antiquity did not the specimens of maize from the 
different strata exhibit a distinct evolutionary sequence. 
[ 217 ] 
