﻿420 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS [VOL. 47 



is nothing so unique that it might not belong to known tribes or 

 their immediate ancestors. It has been sought to differentiate a 

 paleolithic culture and period in America but without tangible result. 

 So far as the use of the terms " paleolithic " and " neolithic " are 

 concerned they may both be omitted from the nomenclature of Amer- 

 ican archeology without loss, if not to possible advantage. The 

 simplest forms of stone implements occur everywhere in association 

 with the most highly developed forms, and neolithic forms are re- 

 ported from formations of nearly all periods back to the earliest 

 that have been observed. 



In America, especially in North America, we have sought almost 

 in vain to establish a definite chronology of man and culture. 

 Evidence of antiquity is not wanting, but when we try to adjust the 

 phenomena to the geological time scale we meet with indifferent 

 success. Hundreds of ancient caves have been searched, with only 

 negative results ; glacial gravels have been examined with great 

 care, but the returns are exceedingly meager; river terraces, and 

 kitchen midden deposits yield nothing of particular value, and the 

 results, when viewed as a whole, instead of enlightening the mind, 

 fill it rather with confusion. It is within the bounds of possibility 

 that this confusion may in a measure be due to the presence in 

 America of an autochthonous race element. The contributions of 

 American archeology in this department are not to be compared with 

 those of the Old World where definite chronological results are forth- 

 coming on all hands. That America may yet furnish contributions 

 of importance in this branch of enquiry, however, lies well within 

 the bounds of possibility. 



It is thus seen that there are in America numerous questions await- 

 ing solution, and there is vagueness in many places, but, notwith- 

 standing this, the results of our archeological investigations are on 

 the whole most gratifying ; each year the areas of the uncertain and 

 the unknown are being reduced ; and when the results achieved are 

 supplemented by the rich materials derived from the study of the 

 living peoples they must go far toward illuminating the pages of 

 the story of humanity in general which the Old World has been 

 gradually but surely revealing. 



Viewing the whole field of prehistorical research, we are struck 

 by the fact that the past of man is rapidly disclosing itself to our 

 vision, so that presently we shall be able to look backward through 

 the biological and cultural vistas of his coming and connect the 

 present with the vanishing point of the human perspective with an 

 insight and comprehension little dreamed of until now. 



