430 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1944 
lated for the latter are too great, although the former estimate for 
Patagonia may be somewhat too conservative. 
There is nothing in the human physical types that would conflict 
with a 10,000- to 15,000-year age for the first occupation of the New 
World. In Upper Paleolithic times throughout the Near East and 
Europe, as well as in eastern Asia, several races of modern-type man 
were in existence at an earlier stage than any thus far suggested for 
the New World. Consequently: the fact that the earliest arrivals did 
not differ greatly from modern Indians and have shown only sporadic 
primitive features should not be regarded as denying the possibility 
for such an age. However, the situation is somewhat different archeo- 
logically. Thus far there is scant information about the late Paleo- 
lithic in eastern Asia beyond the fact that there was such a stage and 
that certain types of implements correlate with it. There is little that 
compares with these older forms in the New World material, but there 
is much that is like the Neolithic artifacts of the period just preceding 
the appearance of pottery and various polished-stone tools. Because 
of this some argue, with considerable logic (Spinden, 1937), that the 
New World complexes could not possibly have originated prior to 
5,000 to 6,000 years ago, while others are willing to concede a maxi- 
mum of 8,000. The answer probably is to be found in Asia in the 
transition stage between the end of the Paleolithic and the appearance 
of the full Neolithic. At present there is no available information on 
that cultural phase, and until the results of future investigations are 
at hand there can be no decision in the matter. This seeming discrep- 
ancy between geologic dates and archeological evidence emphasizes 
the need for further study of the problem. 
Thus far there is not much basis for correlations between the older 
types of remains with those of later Indian groups. With the excep- 
tion of the Cochise, and possibly also of some of the manifestations 
in the Abilene district, all the early complexes were followed by a 
definite break. They are separated from subsequent assemblages by 
a sterile layer. The later manifestations, however, in all cases appear 
to continue through a series of cultural horizons down to historic 
times. The break in continuity is unmistakable in the Folsom sites, 
Gypsum Cave, Sandia Cave, Ventana Cave, and numerous other North 
American occurrences not described in the present article, and also at 
Fell’s Cave in South America. In view of this and because of the rela- 
tionship between some of the Ventana Cave and Cochise materials, as 
well as the difference between the oldest Cochise and other early com- 
plexes, it is possible that the bottom level of the Cochise may have been 
placed one stage too early and that it actually belongs in the phase 
beginning just after the interval which is characterized, in all other 
locations where such remains are found, by an absence of traces of 
