NEW WORLD PALEO-INDIAN—ROBERTS 423 
zation in human and animal bones is not a reliable criterion for 
antiquity apparently has been overlooked or disregarded by some of 
the advocates for an early occupation of this area. Reliance on the 
typology of implements also is misleading because, as has been dem- 
onstrated elsewhere, some tool forms persisted over long periods, and 
similarities between Old and New World specimens do not constitute 
proof of their contemporaneity. Artifacts may be paleolithic in type 
but not in age, a factor that has been forgotten by many arguing 
considerable age for certain specimens in this locale. However, some 
discoveries indicate that occupation of this area was not wholly a 
recent event. This is particularly true of a number made in late years, 
which suggest that while the antiquity is not as great as earlier claims 
would make it, the age probably compares favorably with that gen- 
erally recognized for North America. Because of finds made in 
southern Patagonia, evidence from future investigations in Argen- 
tina will be studied with considerable interest. 
A definite association between human remains, an extinct fauna, and 
an interesting series of artifacts has been reported from southern 
Patagonia, in Chile just south of the Argentine border (Bird, 1938). 
The evidence was found in caves and a rock shelter. One of the caves, 
named Palli Aike, was located in an old volcanic crater and contained 
deposits which in places attained a depth of 8 feet 6 inches. The upper 
5 feet of the deposits was composed of fine, dry dust with an admix- 
ture of broken and burned bones and some stones. This stratum 
rested on a layer of volcanic ash that had a maximum thickness of 2 
feet. Throughout the ash and scattered: over the original rock floor 
were large blocks of lava that had been erupted into the cave at the 
same time as the ash. The upper 18 inches of the deposits contained 
stemmed arrow points, knives, various kinds of scrapers, and bolas. 
Among the points from the top 6 inches were finely made specimens 
of the type attributed to modern Ona Indians. Larger and cruder 
stemmed forms occurred throughout this 18-inch level. Stemless 
points and other kinds of implements came from the next layer, 18 
inches to 3 feet below the top. Various types of scrapers and other 
stone and bone implements, but no points of stone (the few found 
were made of bone), came from the stratum between 3 feet and 5 feet. 
On the surface of the underlying layer of volcanic ash were tools of 
stone and bone, debris of occupation, fireplaces, and broken and burned 
bones from the ground sloth and native horse. Embedded in the top 
of the ash was the stem from a different type of stone point. Toward 
the back of the cave three cremation burials were found along the 
base of the wall in hollows in the top of the ash. This provided im- 
portant evidence of contemporaneity between human remains, extinct 
animal bones, and artifacts in what probably is the first well-authenti- 
619830—45-—28 
