AUEIFEROUS GRAVEL MAN IN CALIFORNIA. 



465 



miles east of the locality assigned to the more ancient relic. The 

 modern skull undoubtedly belongs to the people now occupyinu- the 

 region and in all probability to the occupants of a vilhige located 

 within half a mile of the cave. It was obtained, with other human 

 bones, from a slide or cone of loose debris just beneath the narrow, 

 nearly vertical mouth of the cave, by W. J. Mercer, of Murphys, who 

 owns the property. It still retains small portions of the lank black 

 hair and of the partially desiccated fleshy parts, the latter still emit- 

 ting- an offensive odor, indicating recent inhumation. 

 Dr. Dorsey's report is as follows: 



''A comparison of the skull of a Digger Indian of Calaveras County, 

 California, forwarded by Professor Holmes, with a fossil skull from 

 the same locality, described l)v Professor Whitney, has been made from 

 the two views of the skulls published by Whitney and from the follow- 

 ing description by Dr. Wyman, quoted by Professor AVhitney on pages 

 :^7^-278 of the 'Auriferous Gravels of the Sierra Nevada: ' ' The volume 

 of the frontal region is large, so that if the skull w^ere viewed from 

 above the zygomatic arches would be nearh' concealed. As a large 

 part of the occiput is destroyed, it is uncertain whether the head was 

 long or broad. The face is somewhat deformed, the left orbit ])eing 

 smaller and the left cheek higher than the right, thus giving the 

 whole an imsymmetrical appearance. The ridges over the orbits are 

 strongly marked, and the lower border of the opening of the nostrils is 

 not sharp, but, as in some of the crania of man}^ savage races, is 

 rounded, and the malar bones are prominent. The strongly marked 

 borders of the orbits are the most striking features of the fragment.' 



"Dr. Wyman also made six measurements of the fossil skull. These 

 I also quote, placing beneath them in tabular form similar measure- 

 ments made on the skull of the Indian (Digger): 



"It will be seen at a glance that the Digger agrees in its measure- 

 ments with the fossil skull more closely than does any of the other 

 skulls measured, which were placed bv Dr. Wyman side l)y side with 

 the Calaveras skull. There is a considerable discrepancy m the 

 measurements of the frontal arc, but as the skull measured by Dr. 

 Wvman was fragmentary, this measurement would be hard to take 

 with accuracy on the fossil skull, and hence the opportunity for terror 

 would be greatest. In all other respects there is no greater discrep- 

 ancv between the Digger and the fossil skull than might l)e found in 

 any two skulls of the same tribe. When one compares the Digger 

 skiill with the pictures of the fossil skull there is a pronounced resem- 

 blance. Both are male skulls, having a pronounced supraorliital ridge, 

 prominent glabellas and mastoid proces.ses, and sliarj) and i^roiiouiiced 

 temporal crests. Both skulls are of a rather marked prognathic type; 

 in both skulls also the entire orbital rim is hea\y and pronounced. 



SM U9- 



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