6o SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 63 



this polished stone epoch had been preceded by a paleoHthic stone age 

 not represented, so far as is known, in America. The ethnology and 

 archeology of our Indians therefore form only a chapter, and that a 

 brief one, or a segment of a much more extended racial evolution, as 

 illustrated in Asia. Europe, and Africa. 



It is profitable to compare the neolithic stone ages in the New 

 World and the Old in order to appreciate rightly the position of the 

 American Indian in the advance of human history, and his relation to 

 the dawn of human history. 



In order to carry on comparative studies of the stone age of 

 aboriginal America and the corresponding age in the Old World, Dr. 

 Fewkes spent six months in field and museum work in Europe and 

 Africa. He visited the prehistoric mounds, dolmens, and megalithic 

 monuments at Stendal and Stockheim in Altmark, a short distance 

 from Berlin, and examined the finely installed collections from these 

 localities in local museums. He also visited the island of Riigen, in the 

 North Sea, where there are many prehistoric mounds, Huns' graves, 

 workshops, and megalithic and other remains of the neolithic inhabit- 

 ants. The many antiquities from this island in the museum at Stral- 

 sund furnished considerable data for a comparative study of arti- 

 facts from tliis part of Europe with similar objects from North 

 America. 



Dr. Fewkes believes that the time is past when the great ruins in 

 our Southwest shotdd be left to destruction bv the elements, after 

 smaller objects have been extracted from them. In order to protect 

 these ruins he has inaugurated, under the direction of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution, at Casa Grande, Spruce-tree House, and Cliff 

 Palace, a scientific method of excavation and repair. In order to 

 improve his methods by becoming better acquainted with excavation 

 and repair work adopted by the ablest European archeologists, he 

 visited Egypt, ( Ireece, and Italy (Pompeii). 



He found in some cases that whereas rei)air work in the ( )ld World 

 is often neglected and cannot be called very scientific, and some of 

 the excavated ruins have been left in very bad condition for future 

 students, the majority are being carefully protected after excavation, 

 in a manner well worth stud)- by those who aspire to the most ad- 

 vanced standards. 



The best archeological repair work in Egypt may be seen on the 

 Temple of Amen Ra at Karnak, and the mortuary temples, the 

 Ramesseum, Medinet-Habu, and the Seteum, from which were ob- 

 tained valuable suggestions. The admirable repair of the hypo-style 



