ORIGIN OF AMERICAN INDIAN HRDLICKA 487 



was or is to be reared vanish as evidence, and the residue is supported 

 by testimony so indecisive that no conclusion of geological age of 

 the remains can legitimately be based thereon. 4 Impartially weighed, 

 the probabilities are in every instance against rather than for geo- 

 logic antiquity. So far, then, the subject may be summarized by the 

 statement that, while we now possess numerous and in some instances 

 great anthropological collections from this continent, and while 

 many old caves, rock shelters, and other sites, some of which have 

 yielded remains of Quaternary or earlier animals, have been care- 

 fully explored, there is to this day not a single American human 

 bone in existence or on record the geological antiquity of which can 

 be demonstrated beyond doubt. It is in fact impossible for us to 

 produce, though they might reasonably be expected, any specimens 

 that can demonstrably compare in antiquity with the remains of, for 

 instance, the predynastic Egyptians, unless it is the most recently 

 found but not yet definitely determined bones of Los Angeles. 5 



As the question stands, therefore, even if we were inclined to accept 

 man's geological antiquity on this continent on the basis of some 

 a priori consideration (for which, however, there is no adequate 

 ground) , we should seek in vain for support of the theory from mate- 

 rial evidence ; and we can not possibly have recourse to the personal 

 opinions of those who, because of religious beliefs, temperamental 

 inclination, other bias, or imperfect observation, have claimed and 

 in some instances still claim the presence of man here in times far 

 antedating the recent or even the Glacial period. 



It stands to reason that if man had originated in America and 

 spread thence to other continents, or if he had come here hundreds 

 or even scores of thousands of years ago, we should by this time 

 have found some evidence of his great local antiquity which could 

 be freely acceptable to all of us, as are the remains of European 

 early man. Wherever man has lived for any length of time, he has 

 invariably left behind him implements, utensils, and refuse con- 

 taining shells and bones of contemporaneous mollusks, fish, birds, 

 and mammals, with remains of fire. If there is no such evidence, 

 or at least none that the most thorough students of the subject can 

 conscientiously accept, then assuredly we are not justified at the 

 present time in accepting the theory of any geological antiquity of 

 the American race. 



1 Detailed treatment of this question from various aspects will be found in Bulletins 

 33, 52, and 66, of the Bureau of American Ethnology. By " Geological age " is meant 

 age greater than that of the recent or postglacial period. 



5 In a preliminary report on these remains before the National Academy of Science by 

 Dr. John C. Merriam (Apr. 29, 1924), it was shown that they also probably are postglacial 

 and that their age, while doubtless considerable, is to be estimated in thousands, rather 

 than in tens of thousands of years. See Science, July 4, 1924. 



