came frequent reports of the finds of fossil animal bones striated, 

 perforated or broken by human agency in the far past; of burnt 

 earth and scoriae showing human activities deep in the Pampean 

 times; and eventually we were told of whole cultures, represented by 

 numerous archeological objects, dated from the early part of the 

 quaternary or even from the Tertiary. 



In order to show the scope of the subjects it will be useful to 

 introduce here a condensed chronologically arranged account of at 

 least the skeletal material upon which rest the contentions that 

 geologically ancient man and his forerunners existed in South America. 



(Table see next page.) 



It was principally on the basis of the above mentioned finds, 

 shown in the charts, that Professor Florentino Ameghino, the Argen- 

 tinian paleontologist, aud the author who was in the largest degree 

 responsible for these reports, has formulated a far reaching theory 

 regarding not only the presence of early man in South America, but 

 of man's descent and his migrations, which, if definitely established, 

 would greatly enlarge and modify our scope of vision. 



Unfortunately, on close inspection the records of the finds of 

 the supposedly ancient remains, skeletal or other, the descriptions of 

 the specimens themselves, and the deductions drawn from the material, 

 as a rale were found to be more or less unsatisfactory. They 

 presented defects and uncertainties which, in view of the importance 

 of the object, were most disturbing and owing to the remoteness of 

 the field and other difficulties, appeared as insurmountable obstacles 

 to the formation of a definite opinion on the merits of the evidence; 

 indeed towards the last the whole subject threatened to become a 

 tangle wbich might never be unraveled. 



It was under these conditions that the Smithsonian Institution 

 in 1910 sent to South America and more particularly to Argentina, 

 an expedition consisting of the writer, and of Mr. Bailey Willis, a 

 geologist of much experience with formations such as were to be 

 met with in the course of the investigation. The objects of this 

 expedition were to gain as far as possible a clear view of the whole 

 problem of early man in the southern continent; to examine the 

 original specimens relating to the subject; to study at least the 

 principal localities and deposits from which ancient human remains 

 had been reported and ascertain on the spot, if still practicable, the 

 exact circumstances of the finds; and to discover if possible and 



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