98 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



well known, were a comparatively recent arrival in that country. 

 They may have been preceded in the region along the Missouri north 

 of Omaha by the Mandan, the Pawnee, or the Arikara, or possibly 

 by some offshoot of the Sioux. East of this region were the Oto and 

 the Iowa, while little-known tribes of the Algonquian confederacy 

 were settled in what is now the state of Illinois." 



(/<) Besides all preceding considerations, it should be remembered 

 that the ridge of Long's hill contained also at least one other mound 

 which yielded human bones, and still another aboriginal burial. 

 Such high places were the favorite locations for burials with the 

 Indians on both sides of the Missouri, and it appears probable that 

 the Gilder mound belongs simply to this category of Indian mortuary 

 structures. 



XVIII. GENERAL CONCLUSION 



The various finds of human remains in North America for which 

 geological antiquity has been claimed have been thus briefly pas-ed 

 under review. It is seen that, irrespective of other considerations, in 

 every instance where enough of the bones is preserved for compari- 

 son the somatological evidence bears witness against the geologic:) I 

 antiquity of the remains and for their close affinity to or identity 

 with those of the modern Indian. Under these circumstances but 

 one conclusion is justified, which is that thus far on this continent 

 no human bones of undisputed geological antiquity are known. This 

 must not be regarded as equivalent to a declaration that there was 

 no early man in this country; it means only that if early man did 

 exist in North America, convincing proof of the fact from the stand- 

 point of physical anthropology still remains to be produced. 



Referring particularly to the Nebraska " loess man," the mind 

 searches in vain for solid ground on which to base an estimate of 

 more than moderate antiquity for the Gilder Mound specimens. The 

 evidence as a whole only strengthens the above conclusion that the 

 existence on this continent of a man of distinctly primitive type and 

 of exceptional geological antiquity has not as yet been proved. 



There may be discouragement in these repeated failures to obtain 

 satisfactory evidence of man's antiquity in America, but there is in 

 this also a stimulus to renewed, patient, careful, scientifically con- 

 ducted and checked exploration; and, as Professor Barbour says in 

 one of his papers on the Nebraska find, "' the end to be attained is 

 worth the energy to be expended." A satisfactory demonstration 

 of the presence of a geologically ancient man on this continent 

 would form an important link in the history of the American race. 

 and of mankind in general. The Missouri and Mississippi drainage 

 areas offer exceptional opportunities for the discovery of this link of 

 humanity if such really exists. 



Bee Bulletin SO of the Bureau of American Ethnology, pt. 1, 19O7. 



