420 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1944 
itself. The ash deposit has not been correlated with any specific geo- 
logic horizon. The faunal assemblage occurring in it is generally 
considered as Pleistocene, and were it not for the human remains, the 
layer no doubt would have been regarded as of that age. Yet other 
evidence, such as that of the “Bunomastodon” (Cuvieronius) found 
near Alangasi, Ecuador (Uhle, 1930), suggests that the animals con- 
tinued well into the Recent period before becoming extinct. The fact 
that the quantity and variety of animal life in the Punin district has 
been much poorer in modern times than it was in the period when the 
voleanic ash was being laid down indicates some antiquity, yet the 
evidence for early occupation is not as convincing as is desired. 
The Confins man from the highlands of the state of Minas Geraes, ° 
Brazil, was a more satisfactory discovery (Walter, Cathoud, and 
Mattos, 1987). This skeleton was found in 1935 in a cave in the Lagoa 
Santa region where the Danish naturalist Lund made his extensive and 
well-known collections over a century ago. The entrance to the cave 
was uncovered during the course of excavations in an Indian shelter 
and burial ground dating from about the conquest period. As the 
blocks of fallen stone and conglomerate were removed in the search for 
graves, the entrance was gradually exposed and ultimately stood en- 
tirely clear so that the cave was accessible. There were no traces of 
human occupation in the upper alluvial deposit of the floor, and, as 
careful investigation showed that the entrance had been sealed during 
pluvial times, it was quite evident that the existence of the cave was 
not known to the people who used the shelter and buried their dead at 
its mouth. It was not until the fourth year of exploration in the 
interior of the cave that the human remains were found. The bones 
lay beneath approximately 7 feet of alluvial silts that had been sealed 
in by a layer of stalagmite. Natural rather than intentional burial 
was suggested by the position of the remains. The body evidently had 
rested on the surface and gradually was covered by sediments carried in 
by successive floodings from a nearby lake. In the same stratum were 
bones from the giant sloth, large llama, an extinct horse, tapir,. bear, 
giant capybara, peccary, and mastodon. This assemblage constitutes 
what is usually regarded as a typical Pleistocene or pluvial age fauna 
in that area. No artifacts accompanied the skeleton and none were 
found in the deposits in the cave, hence there was no indication of 
cultural affinities. The skull is of the long-headed variety with low 
forehead and, although comparable to the Lagéa Santa type in its 
hypsicephaly, presumably does not belong in that category. Students 
who have examined it consider it one of the most primitive forms of 
Paleo-Indian thus far found in South America. 
Contemporaneity between the human and animal remains is in- 
disputable and appreciable antiquity is indicated both by the depth of 
