EARLY MAN IN AMERICA 



THIRTY YEARS OF EXPERIENCE IN SEARCHING FOR EVIDENCES OF THE 

 ANTIQUITY OF MAN IN THE DELAWARE VALLEY^ 



Bil Enii'sf \'i)!l: 



FOR the hist hiiU'-century the (luestion of man's antiquity in America 

 has kept the scientific wovhl busy. In the first place the pioneers 

 of prehistoric arch.ieology made \ery important finds in England 

 and France in the shape of artificially fractured flints. These were found in 

 glacial gravel and upon claiming them as the handiwork of man, the dis- 

 coverers were vigorously assailed as to their veracity, (iradually however, 

 evidence of such overi)owering weight accumulated that it finally triumphed 

 over criticism. 



Exactly the same unpleasant experience was in store for archfeologists 

 in America, hut fortunately in this as elsewhere in life, patience and perse- 

 verance are ^•alual)le capital. It is this capital that has drawn a large 

 interest in the search for traces of early man in the Delaware Valley, where 

 indeed unlimited patience was needed, day in and day out during weeks 

 and months barren of result. Thousands of feet of eartli, sand and gravel 

 were removed with the trowel and carefully searched for specimens. Each 

 day's work was l)egiui with a new hope, which li\ed only to he buried at 

 evening and resiuTected again each following morning. Thus the archieolo- 

 gist becomes a veritable " Micawber," always hoping "for something to 

 turn up." 



Thirty years of a man's life seem a long time to look for a certain thing, 

 l)ut when a subject becomes so well established that it fills his mind, years 

 ffy like days. The last twenty-two of my thirty years' search were under 

 the direction of Professor E. W. Putnam of Harvard University, who with 

 untiring interest and love for the work has always succeeded in soliciting 

 new funds for the explorations which have finally brought results. 



The glacial deposits are a \ery prominent fe;iture at Trenton, the city 

 actually being built upon the glacial drift Avhich forms a bank of from forty 

 to sixty feet high near the Delaware, extending southeast and then south 

 for miles until finally lost. Of these deposits the Trenton gravel has a 

 thickness of thirty to forty feet near the river and gradually thins out as 

 it extends eastward. It is composed of coarse and fine sand and gravel 

 with large boulders both water-worn and angidar, \arying froni six to forty 



'Editor's note. — The Arch.kology of the Dei,\waiu: Vai.i.ey. By Ernest Volk. 

 8vo.. ijp. 2o8, plate 127. Published by the Peabody Mviseuni, Harvard Tniversity, 1911. 



Mr. Ernest Volk. field archanilotrist, has i)ul)]ished in this volume with faseinatins detail 

 and clearness many notes from his field journal. Tliese to^etlier with his eonelusions are 

 ol' exceedinu;ly t;reat interest not only to the tcchnieally trained arclurologist but also to the 

 average reader interested in the liisiory ol' the human race in America. 



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