2'2 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BI-I.I.. : 



about 130 feet from (he surface, win-re there \v;is a layer of gravel. " 

 This gravel lay beneath seven alternate layers of lava and gravel, 

 and dates from about the middle Tertiary period. The skull had 

 adhering to it, or at least to the lower part of its face and to it^ ICIM-. 

 a "conglomerate mass of ferruginous earth, water-worn pebbles of 

 much altered volcanic rock, calcareous tufa, and fragments of bone-." 

 and "a thin calcareous incrustation appears to have covered the 

 whole skull when found/' (Whitney, page 208.) On chemical exam- 

 ination by Mr. Sharpies, the specimen was found to * k have lost nearly 

 all its organic matter," and " a large portion of the phosphate of 

 lime had been replaced by the carbonate (phosphate of lime 33.70, 

 carbonate of lime 02.03 parts in 100). In other words, it was in a 

 fossilized condition." 



After the lapse of more than two years from the date of its <li-- 

 covery the skull came indirectly into the possession of Profes-or 

 Whitney, at that time State Geologist of California, and was finally 

 placed in the Peabody Museum. The specimen has received much 

 attention in the pi-ess. The archeplogical aspect of the find has been 

 dealt with by Prof. W. II. Holmes in two reports,'' which give ac- 

 counts not only of the skull, but of all the reported California gravel 

 finds indicating the presence of early man, and their well-substan- 

 tiated conclusions should be consulted in this connection. As to the 

 physical characteristics of the skull, the only original data extant are 

 thoKe of Professor Wyman, included in the report of J. 1). Whitney. 

 There are three subsequent accounts, by E. Schmidt," J. Kollmann,'' 

 and George A. Dorsey, c respect ively; but all of these are based on 

 Wyman's measurements and on study of the illustrations of the skull, 

 not on personal examination of the specimen. This deficiency will be 

 remedied in this paper so far as possible. 



PHYSICAL CHARACTERS 



The specimen (plate i) is rather heavy (15$ ounces=44f> grains), 

 though its weight is due mainly to adhering mineral matter. It is a 

 very defective skull, lacking nearly the whole occipital, both parietals, 

 the right temporal, parts of the left temporal, sphenoid, and superior 



" It is nowhere stated on the authority of the finder or of Professor Whitney that the 

 sknll was actually dug out from the gravel. Mr. Mattison, who found It In the mine, 

 states simply (Whitney, p. 268) that "he took the skull from his shaft, In February, 

 1HGO, with some pieces of wood found near it." 



5 Preliminary Revision of the Evidence relating to Auriferous Crave! Man in Califor- 

 nia, American Anthroitolot/M, n. s., I, 107-llM. i'.l I tit:,. IS'.W; Review of the Kvi-l.-nc.- 

 relating to Auriferous Oravel Man in California, Smithsonian Hcport for ls!i!t. !'. I7J. 

 Washington, IftOl. 



r /ur Urgeschichte Nordamerikas, An-h. f. Anthrui>.. v. IT..", U.V.. 1S71-7L': also in Die 

 illfesten Spuren dt-s Mcnschen In Nordamerika, 4.". H SM|.. Hamburg. 1SS7. 



Holies Alter <I'M- Mdisclicurasscti. Xi-itxrlii: f. Ktluntl.. xvi. IS". I'M. l*sl. 



' In Holmes's Review of the Evidence relating to Auriferous Cravol Man in California. 

 465-400. 



