422 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1944 
with the polished edges on the stone artifacts, points to a later horizon 
than that indicated for some of the complexes previously considered. 
Further investigations are desirable to establish more precisely, if pos- 
sible, the exact status of these manifestations because finds farther 
south furnish a basis for the assumption that a relatively old culture 
may have existed in this region. 
In Argentina there has been active interest in the subject of “early 
man” ever since the discovery of bones from extinct animals and 
stone implements in the Mar del Plata region and the announce- 
ment of a Homo pampaenus (Ameghino, 1909). This area is very 
productive archeologically. There are many sites where house re- 
mains, pottery, and metal objects are found, but in addition there is 
an older horizon which is characterized by a different human physical 
type and an implement complex containing only stone and bone tools. 
Furthermore there are sporadic occurrences of artifacts, presumably 
in association with extinct faunal material, and human skeletons that 
have been presented as evidence for varying degrees of antiquity. 
Arguments over their validity have flourished for many years, and 
they still furnish a fertile field for debate. It is not within the scope 
of the present paper, however, to review and discuss all these finds. 
Efforts to demonstrate that the cradle of the human race was in South 
America stirred a controversy that produced a voluminous literature. 
Information on the subject may be found in the numerous publica- 
tions detailing both sides of the question. Consensus is that in the 
beginning entirely too great an antiquity was proposed for these 
remains, but that some of the theories advanced in explaining them 
may have some justification when adapted to a more conservative time 
scale, 
Geologic evidence in Argentina, as elsewhere in South America and 
in many portions of North America, tends to be confusing and to 
promote errors in correlation and cross dating. Finds frequently 
are made in dune districts where artifacts are uncovered by wind 
action and are left exposed in the bottoms of large depressions or 
playas (Greslebin, 1930). The situation is comparable to that in 
the so-called blow-outs of the western plains in the United States. 
The relationship between objects lying on the top of a hard sub- 
stratum is always problematical because they may have been at 
different levels before they were dropped to a common surface when 
the surrounding earth was blown away. Also, some of the specimens 
may have weathered from the top of the lower layer, as often happens 
in the case of animal bones, and there may seemingly be an associa- 
tion between artifacts and an extinct fauna when the man-made 
objects actually belong in a later horizon. For that reason such oc- 
currences are properly open to doubt. That the degree of minerali- 
