QUATERNARY &amp;lt; 



SKELETAL REMAINS SUGGESTING OR ATTRIBUTED 

 TO EARLY MAN IN NORTH AMERICA 



By ALES HRDLICKA 

 I. INTRODUCTION 



According to current classification of geological time, the Ceno- 

 zoic era (the era of modern life) is divided into two periods, the 

 Tertiary and the Quaternary. The former, which is the older, 

 comprises three subdivisions, Eocene, Miocene, and Pliocene, and 

 the latter two subdivisions, Pleistocene and Recent. These periods 

 are indicated in figure 1 in the order of the formations representing 

 them.* 



Man made his appearance in the Old World probably during the 

 Tertiary period through differentiation from the primates, the class 

 of animals to which he presents 

 the closest structural analogies. 

 Primates of the higher forms w r ere 

 not found in America ; they ex 

 isted only in the warmer parts of 

 Asia, Africa, and Europe, and it 

 is there that we must look for the 

 first traces of man s appearance. 

 Accepting this view, it follows 

 that America was peopled by im 

 migration from the Old World, 

 which could not have taken place until after great multiplication and 

 wide distribution of the human species and the development of some 

 degree of culture. This implies a vastly later date than that Avhicli 

 must be assigned to man s origin. A wide dispersion of the race over 

 the earth could hardly have taken place before the later stages of the 

 Cenozoic era. 



In considering the question of the appearance of man in America, 

 special interest attaches to the Pleistocene, during several phases of 

 which period man is known to have existed in central and w r estern 

 Europe ; there is absolutely no indication that he reached the Ameri 

 can continent before that time. The American Pleistocene, which is. 

 synchronous Avith the Glacial period, is marked by certain well-known 

 geological deposits, which are particularly abundant and character- 



9 



i. Geological formations concerned in 

 human history. 



