NEW WORLD PALEO-INDIAN—ROBERTS 419 
a type of ware found only in the earliest ceramic horizon in Guatemala 
and El Salvador. This argues for a relatively ancient population in 
the Managua district. As the footprints occur at a much greater 
depth and must be considerably earlier, it is possible that they consti- 
tute the oldest trace of human presence thus far noted in Middle 
America and that they will establish the period of migration at a date 
some millennia prior to that hitherto postulated. 
SOUTH AMERICA 
The situation in South America is somewhat different. Numerous 
discoveries have been proposed as evidence for an early occupation, 
but there is much disagreement over their actual import. Several 
factors contribute to conflicting opinions about the problem. In many 
portions of the continent there is difficulty in identifying and correlat- 
ing deposits. Certain animal forms appear to have survived longer 
than in the north, with a corresponding lessening of the significance 
of faunal associations. Other complications have resulted from a 
rather common tendency to place undue reliance on the typology of 
implements, picking and choosing those that suggest antiquity while 
failing to consider the remaining components in a complex. Further- 
more there has frequently been complete disregard of the situs of the 
finds, resulting in anachronic and wholly misleading conclusions. 
At the time of its discovery the Punin calvarium from Ecuador 
aroused considerable interest, and it is often mentioned as an example 
of “early” man from that area. Only the skull was found. It came 
from a deposit of volcanic ash in which also were bones from the extinct 
Andean horse, a large ground sloth, a so-called camel (the Protauch- 
enia), the Andean mastodon (Cordillerion, a “Bunomastodont” not 
to be confused with the North American mastodonts), and those from 
present-day animals (Sullivan and Hellman, 1925). There was not 
an actual association, the nearest animal bones being 50 to 100 feet 
from the skull. The discoverer, however, expressed the opinion that 
serious consideration should be given to the implied contemporaneity. 
The skull falls into the category of one of the three types generally 
believed to be characteristic of the oldest stratum of New World 
peoples. This particular form has been designated Australoid (Sulli- 
van and Hellman, 1925), Pseudo-Australoid (Hooton, 1930), Proto- 
* Australoid (Dixon, 1923), and Fuégido (Imbelloni, 1937). The ques- 
tions of nomenclature, identifications, somatological inferences, and 
true significance of the type are too varied and complex for considera- 
tion in this presentation. The Punin calvarium is admittedly an 
archaic Indian form and could be relatively ancient but, as in the case 
of the North American skeletal material, the age must be based on 
geologic—paleontologic evidence and not on the nature of the skull 
