ANTIQUITY OF MAN IN AMERICA NELSON 485 



ticated form." The final decision about the antiquity of man in 

 America cannot, therefore, be very far off ; but in the meantime the 

 archeologist has taken his last stand in urging that these isolated 

 archeo-paleontologic discoveries may not be as old as the associated 

 faiinal remains and the attending geologic conditions would seem 

 to indicate. This stand the archeologist is forced to take on grounds 

 which will be set forth in the following section. 



ARCHEOLOGICAL DATA 



In turning now to the sphere of archeology proper, namely, the 

 investigation of strictly artificial deposits which testify to the pres- 

 ence and activity of early man, we at once enter the field where the 

 writer is most at home and arrive at the point of view from which 

 the whole subject of the antiquity of man in America is regarded in 

 the present essay. The body of American archeological data already 

 recovered is very large, and, as those things go for the world as a 

 whole, is derived from a notable variety of well-distributed sources. 

 Our collections naturally are not of uniform scientific value, but 

 much of the material excavated during the last 3 or 4 decades com- 

 pares favorably with the best results achieved by foreign workers 

 in their own fields. As a body of evidence illustrative of prehistoric 

 life and culture, this material, when properly arranged with respect 

 to time and analyzed with respect to the forms and functions of its 

 various traits, is at once consistent with itself and also in reasonable 

 agreement, as far as it goes, with the corresponding data from the 

 rest of the world, but at the same time considerably at variance with 

 the summarized claims of paleontology. To make clear the nature 

 of this disagreement it will be necessary to outline briefly both the 

 positive and negative archeological features which bear directly on 

 the antiquity problem. 



POSITIVE EIVIDENCE 



The simplest method of determining the general sequence of devel« 

 opment of past biological phenomena is to observe the natural order 

 in which the fossil remnants of the process are laid down in the 



" Note appended 1035. Since this was written reports have been published demon- 

 strating beyond question the association of cultural and extinct animal remains at 

 Gypsum Cave, Nev. ; Burnet Cave and Clovis (gravel pit), N. Mex. ; and Scottsbluff 

 (loess deposit), Nebr. See respectively. Southwest Mus. Papers, no. 8; Mus. Journ. 

 Univ. Pennsylvania, vol. 24, pp. 61-158 ; and Amer. Anthrop., vol. 37, pp. 306-319. 

 Scarcely less important but only partially described skeletal and cultural finds have been 

 made also at Pelican Rapids and Browns Valley, Minn., and at Dent and Fort Collins, 

 Colo. See, e. g.. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., vol 19, pp. 1-6 ; Science, vol. SO, p. 205 ; Proc. 

 Colorado Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 12, pp. 4-8, and vol. 14, pp. 1-4 ; and Science News Letter, 

 Nov. 2, 1935, p. 277. 



