REPORT ON THE DEPARTMENT OF PREHISTORIC ANTHROPOLOGY 

 IN THE U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1892. 



By Thomas WILSON, Curator. 



GENERAL REVIEW OF THE YEAR'S WORK. 



The general character of the work of the past year is not greatly dif- 

 ferent from that of other years. There is the same reception of speci 

 mens, their classification, entering, numbering, and cataloguing; they 

 then have to be marked and put in the display cases assigned to the 

 State to which they belong, or if not classified geographically, among 

 other specimens of the same kind. 



The curator was engaged during the first part of the fiscal year upon 

 the preparation of a work which he considered was needed in the I Jmted 

 States — a gathering or collection of the evidences of high antiquity of 

 man in America. Later on, he took up a particular chapter of that 

 work, to wit, that on arrow- and spear-heads or knives. Before the lat- 

 ter was entirely completed, he was called upon to prepare an exhibit 

 for the Exposition Historic©- Americano, held at Madrid,* Spain, in 

 celebration of the fourth centenary of the discovery of America by 

 Christopher Columbus. 



It was believed that the display made for Madrid could be utilized 

 for the Chicago Exposition, and the work thus done in the current year 

 would serve equally well for the display to be made in the subsequent 

 year, but that hope has not been realized. 



The number of specimens received during the past year is about equal 

 to the average of former years, amounting to nearly ten thousand speci- 

 mens. 



IMPORTANT ACCESSIONS RECEIVED DURING THE YEAR. 



From Dr. Edward Palmer: A collection of objects from an ancient 

 Indian village site.'U miles X\V. by N". from Manzanillo, Mexico. A large 

 obsidian implement, 3 polished hatchets, a hammer stone, a rubbing 



Mr. Wilson sailed from New York for Madrid on the 27th of July. The exposition 

 was to open iu that city on the 13th of September, though it did not actually do so 

 until the 30th ofOctoher. It closed on the 1st of February, and the display has not 

 returned at the time of writing this report, although Mr. Wilson did not remain dur- 

 ing the entire period of the exposition. 



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