FOSSIL HUMAN REMAINS FOUND NEAR LANSING, KANSAS. 461 



is stroiio-ly suo-gestccl by the apparent leecntness of the i-iUtin^- and 

 the fact that the Cowarnion liench, the surface of which was at one 

 time continuous with tlT,e floott-plain surface, is truncated on the face 

 uniformly with the nmin Iduti'. This return of the channel to the 

 west side would give the little stream the opportunity of lowering- its 

 channel to the present perfect adjustment with the river, and especially 

 so since, as the centuries passed, the loess deposits had been largely 

 removed from the slopes of the valley above and rapid accunudation 

 about its mouth by creep and wash had necessarily ceased. 



The preferred interpretation of the phenomena, then, is that the 

 relic-bearing deposits of the Concannon bench were not laid down in 

 Glacial times by the silt-charged waters of the Missouri, ])ut that they 

 are a remnant of delta-like accumulations formed in comparatively 

 recent times within and about the mouth of the tributary valley by 

 local subaerial agencies, all save the more protected portions having 

 been removed by late encroachments of the ever-changing river. 



The time involved would not be that required by the Missouri to 

 lower its flood plain from the upper level of the bench to the present 

 high-water mark, a descent of 3U or 35 feet, but the period re<[uired 

 to depress the flood plain from a little al)ove the surface of tlie lime- 

 stone floor on which the l)odies rested to its present level, a descent of 

 from 5 to 10 feet. The measure of this amount of erosion in years is 

 the measure of the age of the Lansing man; this may be thousands of 

 years, but at most it can lie but a fraction of the time re(juired by the 

 other view, for, according to that view, the river, after burying the 

 human bodies, filled its channel with glacial deposits until it over- 

 flowed the highest blufl's, and then descended again to tlie present 

 level. The time required to All up the valley, 8 or more miles in 

 width and nearly 200 feet in depth, and then to cut this filling all out 

 again can never l)e determined, since chronologic criteria are largely 

 wanting; but it might well reach ten, twenty, or even thirty thousand 

 years. On the other hand, the time recpured by the river to lower its 

 bed 5 or 10 feet might possibly l)e expressed in hundreds rather than in 

 thousands of years. It may be of importance to note, however, that 

 even this amount of lowering need not be assumed in accounting for 

 the facts. The high-water mark to-day along the Concaiuion blufl', 

 with the river a mile or two away across a wooded plain, might well 

 be several feet lower than the highest level reached l>y a strong cur- 

 rent driven dir(>ctly or even obliquely against the blufl.'. 



The anthro] ologist may readily find other than pui-ely geological 

 criteria to aid him in reaching his conclusions. It is a part of our 

 common knowledge that men have occupied the AnuM-ican continent 

 for a long period, but that they occupied it during the (Jlacial ei)och, 

 or ev(Mi at the period when the (ilacial front linsdly receded northward, 

 is not demcuist rated. Besides, as alr(>adv mentioned, the ciaiiiuni is 



