372 PALEOLITHIC PERIOD, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA WILSON. 



independent evidence. No mere theory governing this conclusion in 

 Europe should govern in America ; but if the evidence that has proved 

 the proposition iu Europe is found in America, then it should be enti- 

 tled to the same weight. 



It is a fact, important in this discussion, that in those European 

 countries most occupied by palaeolithic man implements kindred to those 

 found in the river gravels and belonging to the same epoch have been 

 found on the surface associated with objects of subsequent periods. 



In investigating evidence of the existence of a palaeolithic period in 

 America the first question is — admitting, as we must, the existence of 

 such a period iu Europe — do we know any reason why it might not have 

 existed in America ? I can see no reason. If similar implements are 

 found in America and in Europe, if they are found in similar positions 

 and under similar conditions, I know of no reason why they should not 

 establish, or at least point to, the same conclusion in America as in 

 Europe. 



Iu America, as in Europe, our only knowledge concerning the palaeo- 

 lithic period is necessarily derived from the implements themselves and 

 from their position and surroundings when found. We have neither 

 oral nor written evidence, nor have we tradition, concerning the imple- 

 ments or the people who made and used them. They belong to a period 

 of geologic time which our most definite knowledge in America con- 

 nects, as at Trenton, with the second glacial epoch. 



Palaeolithic implements have been found in the United States which 

 correspond in every particular with those of Western Europe — corre- 

 spond in form, appearance, material, mode of manufacture; in short, 

 they are the same implements iu every essential. They have been 

 found under substantially the same conditions — sometimes on the sur- 

 face, sometimes deep in the river gravels. We have heard from Mr. 

 McGee how these implements were embedded in the river gravels at 

 Trenton, and his opinion is that their antiquity dates to the glacial 

 epoch.* Little Falls, Minnesota; Jackson county, Indiana; Claymont, 

 Delaware; Loveland, Ohio, and other localities tell the same story and 

 furnish the same evidence. 



These finds of proved antiquity are in great numbers, and they dem- 

 onstrate both the existence and the antiquity of a palaeolithic period 

 in America. This can not longer be doubted. It is the conclusion of 

 all the scientists who have studied the question. I have mentioned 

 Professor McGee. It goes without saying that Dr. Abbott believes it. 

 Professor Putnam was one of its earliest believers. Professors Wright 

 and Haynes have given it their adhesion, and so have all the geolo- 

 gists who have examined the localities where the implements have been 

 found. Professor Haynes, of Boston, prepared Chapter vi, entitled 

 "The Prehistoric Archaeology of North America," and just published in 

 the Narrative and Critical History of America, page 329. He, with Pro- 



. *See also his article in Popular Science Monthly, xxxiv, 1S88. 



