AURIFEROUS GRAVEL MAN IN CALIFORNIA. 423 



being- so clearly detined that the courses of many of . the Tertiary 

 streams have been traced and laid down on the maps and the old river 

 systems practically restored. 



Those who cret little idea of the lapse of time not expressed in years 

 must fail to comprehend what vast ages are suggested to the geologist 

 ])y the terms P^ocene, Miocene, Pliocene, Pleistocene, and Recent, but 

 the magnitude of the events involved— the entire obliteration of the 

 old topography and the carving out of a new California, including 

 such gorges as the Yosemite and the still more sublime Hetch-Hetchy — 

 will readily be appreciated, and must make a deep impression on every 

 mind and lead to hesitation in accepting the propositions that man 

 matured before these events were initiated and that he has witnessed 

 and survivvnl their consummation. (See Plate XVI.) 



CATEGORIES OF GRAVEL FINDS. 



Having reached satisfactory and apparentl}" final conclusions respect- 

 ing the age of the auriferous gravels themselves, it is in order to 

 examine the various groups of associated phenomena with which 

 archeologists must concern themselves. There are four categories 

 of data to be considered. 



^1. The animal remains (lower orders). 



B. The plant remains. 



C\ The remains of man. 



I). The remains of human handiwork, 

 ^•i. The animal remains found in the gravels in fossil state represent 

 a large number of species, chiefly mammals, identified by Dr. Joseph 

 Leidy. A^'hitney enumerates the following forms: Mastodon, elephant, 

 rhinoceros, horse, camel, tapir, ox, llama, deer, wolf, and dog. These 

 are all of extinct species, and although some nm' have existed down 

 to Post-Pliocene time, as indicated by Dr. Becker.^ they fall as a group 

 natui'ally within the Neocene (Miocene-Pliocene) age. 



B. The fossil plants of the gravels secured in Whitney's time were 

 studi(xl ])y Dr. Leo Lesquereux, and by this eminent authority w(>i'(^ 

 called Pliocene, although he found manj^ forms that could wdth ecjual 

 justice be assigned to the Miocene. Extensive collections obtained in 



.more recent years have been identified l>y Ward and Knowlton. and it 

 is agreed that on the whole they represent onrXy rather than late Neo- 

 cene forms; that they are clearly of Middle Tertiary age. According 

 to Professor Knowlton, there is not one species which can uiidou])t- 

 edly be identified with living forms. - 



C. Human remains reported from the gravcds are not plentiful, and 

 all that appear to have been preserved are an imperfect human cranium, 



'George F. Becker, Antiquities from under Tiiolnmno Talile ^foinitain in Califor- 

 nia. Bull. Geol. Roc. of America, Vol. II, p. 189. 



^Lindgren and Knowlton, Age of tlu- auriferon.s gravel.s. Journal of (Jeology, \'oi. 

 I V, No. 8, p. 905. 



