REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 11 



fresh mortar, but on longer exposure hardened to fairly solid rock. Above 

 skeleton No. II there was only muck and irregular sandy patches. 



Skeleton No. I is that of a woman, probably adult ; skeleton No. II that of an 

 adult man of somewhat advanced years. The bones of the former lay close to- 

 gether ; those of the latter were dissociated, though lying within a moderate-sized 

 ellipse. Broken pottery, bone and stone implements, and stone chips were found 

 in the same strata, more particularly in the muck layers, with the human bones. 



Besides the two skeletons, single bones of three additional human bodies — one 

 a child, one a young person, and one adult — were discovered in the vicinity. 



The human bones were considerably mineralized, and in the same strata in 

 which they occurred are found many bones of long-extinct animals, such as 

 mastodons, tapirs, etc. 



Due to the presence of the fossil animal bones in the same strata with the 

 human remains, and to the mineralization of the latter, the opinion was ad- 

 vanced that the human remains were of the same age as the animal bones, 

 which would relegate them to the early part of the Quaternary. 



This is not sustained by an anthropological study of the case and of the 

 remains. The human bones show no signs of weathering, gnawing, or trampling, 

 and the two skeletons were represented by so many parts that the only satis- 

 factory explanation of the conditions can be found in the assumption that the 

 remains are those of intentional burials. 



The pottery and the bone and stone implements are all identical with similar 

 artifacts of the Florida or southeastern Indians, while the human bones them- 

 selves show, without exception, modern features, with numerous characteristics 

 which permit their identification also as Indian. 



The conclusions arrived at are that the Vero finds represent another of those 

 cases, which are bound to occur from time to time, where the circumstances 

 seem to point to antiquity of the human bones, but where a thorough, all-sided 

 inquiry shows that the mass of the evidence is decisively against such an as- 

 sumption. 



Following the visit to Vero, Doctor Hrdlicka made a trip to Fort 

 Myers, Florida, and to several of the outlying keys, where human re- 

 mains were reported. The particular object of this trip was to visit 

 a small island off Fort Myers known as the Demorest or Demere Key, 

 on which, according to information obtained from Mr. Sam L. King, 

 . of Bristol, Tennessee, human bones could be found " imbedded in con- 

 cretionary materials." Concerning these remains Doctor Hrdlicka 

 says: 



Demere Key, the surface of which measures about 15 acres, was originally 

 a low and swampy island, like all of the small keys in the vicinity, but a larger 

 part of its surface was in the course of time artificially elevated by the Indians, 

 by means of shells, sand, and soil, for the purpose of habitation and cultivation. 

 Along the middle of this large artificial elevation runs a remarkable platform 

 about 80 feet long, the eastern boundary of which is supported by a still fairly 

 well preserved, well-made wall of conch shells. This structure has been briefly 

 reported by Cushing and by Mr. Clarence B. Moore, but its origin is in doubt. 

 At a short distance northeast of this elevation there is a low, irregular heap 

 which contains numerous Indian burials. On examining the surface of this 

 heap it was found to consist of shells, detritus, sand, and vegetable matter, and 

 to be everywhere more or less consolidated to the depth of from 6 to 18 inches. 

 The consolidation was such that in many places it was very hard to penetrate 



