74 StTRK.vr OF VMK.mrAN KTI! N< >!.<><; \ |nn.i.. : 



I'.\KI:M K. \rlii-nxkii Uniloiiirnl NH/TC//. H. part ',. I'.xiT. Km- the nio*t p:ii-t the 

 same \vinls :is in Nc/Vm-r. January IS. 



Addition*. Page .'{">. " Respecting the antiquity of the remains, the chief evi- 

 dence paleontologically must lie derived from the skulls, which seem to be of 

 the Neanderthal type. Evidences from other skeletal parts are subject to error. 

 owing to the wide range of variation in human l>ones. The association of 

 loess fossils is significant, and when even a remnant of any extinct species N 

 found it will he final. No sign of stratification, which would he valuable evi- 

 dence, can be reported." 



Page 346. "The skulls are of the Neanderthal tyie, with thick protruding 

 brows, low forehead devoid of frontal eminences, large parietal eminences, nar- 

 row temples, thick skull walls, and small brain capacity." "They ;ire higher 

 in the human scale than Neanderthal man, but lower than the mound builder. 

 They resemble the man of Spy." 



Page .">47. " Skull S scarcely varies in size and sha|>e from I'itlim <itlironu* 

 erectiw." 



As to the age of the man in the Nebraska loess. Professor Barlnnir rei>eats. 

 with but slight modifications, his conclusions on the subject published in Nr/Vir 

 of January 18. The discovery is believed to carry " man in America back to 

 Glacial times." But he adds that " In several places adjacent to (illder's 

 mound exposures of human bones in supposed loess are already known, and 

 investigation promises to extend the present known limits of the supjtosed 

 human bone bed." 



BLACKMAN, Records of the I'axt, March, 19O7. No personal observations on 

 Gilder mound or specimens from the same. Quotes Professor BarlKMir as fol- 

 lows: "From a geologist's standpoint there is scarcely a iK>ssihility -that these 

 bone fragments were ever buried by human hands. Instead, the lumen were 

 doubtless deposited with the loess, the age of which may be safely reckoned at 

 ten thousand to twenty thousand years or more." 



Further on (page 77) Professor Blackmail records the following interesting 

 observation: "I suggested to Doctor Barbour the possibility that gophers may 

 have worked the bones from the higher to the lower level. I have found buf- 

 falo bones 10 feet deep in gopher holes. It was very difficult to observe the 

 moved loess which filled the hole, as all the hill was the same kind of deposit. 

 But the Doctor assured me that this could not possibly be the ease." 



Professor Blackmail finishes by giving brief notes on several other finds which. 

 may have bearing on the question of man's antiquity in Nebraska and the 

 neighboring States. 



Toward the end of January, 1007, the writer was directed by the 

 Chief of the Bureau of American Ethnology to visit the University 

 of Nebraska and examine the Gilder Mound bones. The specimens 

 were placed at the Avriters disposal in the most lil>eral manner by 

 Professors Barbour and Ward, and every needed assistance was 

 accorded. When the examination was completed these gentlemen, as 

 well as Mr. Gilder, accompanied him to the mound, which, fortu- 

 nately, was almost wholly free of snow and could l>e fairly well 

 observed. In the following pages is given a brief account of I lie 

 mound and its examination. 



I)K,S< 1MITION OK THE MoiND 



North of the small town of Florence, and to the west of the Mis- 

 souri, the country presents some rather bold elevations, composed of 



