ANTIQUITY OF MAN IN AMERICA NELSON 489 



are also personally known on both the Atlantic and Pacific shores 

 of the United States ; and, curious as it may seem, they agree in reg- 

 istering a subsidence of about 17 feet.-" As to evidence of shore 

 elevation, such has been reported recently from the Hudson Bay 

 region, where occur culturally distinct Eskimo habitation sites lined 

 up on successive raised beaches.^^ 



Some of these archeo-geologic facts are impressive enough con- 

 sidered chronologically; but, unfortunately, the time involved is in 

 nearly every case difficult if not impossible to gage. The most 

 conspicuous instances of geologic action, as, for example, the coastal 

 subsidences indicated, might have happened in a moment — at least 

 in California ; the flood plain deposits covering the hearth sites men- 

 tioned might have resulted from a single torrential rainstorm. 

 Stalagmitic formations depend upon a variety of unstable factors; 

 and even the growth of a superficial layer of vegetable mold might 

 have been affected by climatic fluctuations. To the writer, the most 

 convincing phenomenon would be the covering accumulation of 

 sterile floor debris derived solely from the disintegrating walls and 

 ceiling of a dry cave ; but, unfortunately, no precise figures are read- 

 ily available on the subject. 



Broadly considered, the cited geologic relationships of the cultural 

 deposits agree with the vertical dimensions attained by the artificial 

 debris heaps as such in arguing for a really considerable period of 

 time to account for what has taken place. But, after all has been 

 said, we have nothing in America to compare with the similar arche- 

 ological occurrences, for example, in the travertine deposits at 

 Ehringsdorf , Germany, in the loess formations at Achenheim, Alsace, 

 and in the gravel terraces of the Somme at St. Acheul and at many 

 other places up and down western Europe where hearth sites are 

 preserved in situ. The Gypsum Cave looks promising; but, so far 

 as now known, the sterile rock and cave earth stratum here covering 

 the lowermost culture-stratum is thin in comparison with the similar 

 accumulations found in many of the European caves. 



Fossil contents of culture deposits. — When we examine the zoologi- 

 cal contents of our stratified culture deposits we find other sugges- 

 tions of age. In the case of some of the great shell-heaps it has 

 been repeatedly observed that the shells making up the lower por- 

 tion of the debris are more broken up and disintegrated than those 

 of the upper part of the heap.^^ It has also been observed, for 



-'« Abbott, C. C, Primitive industry, p. 449, quoting G. H. Cook; Nelson, N. C, The 

 Ellis Landing shellmound, Univ. California Publ. Amer. Archaeol. and Ethnol., vol. 7, no. 

 5, pp. 364-6 and pi. 49, 1910. 



27 Mathiassen, T., Archajology of tbe Central Eskimos. Rep. Fifth Thnle Expedition, 

 1921-24, vol. 4, pt. 1, pp. 6 seq., 86, 129, 226 seq., Copenhagen, 1927. 



28Wyman, J., Amer. Nat., vol. 1, p. 571, 1868; Kau, C, Smithsonian Rep. 1864, p. 372, 

 1865 ; Nelson, N. C, op. cit., p. 374, pi. 39. 



