326 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN IN NORTH AMERICA. 



BY DB. CHARLES C. ABBOTT. 



r I ^HE claim of satisfactory evidence of the extreme antiquity of 

 -L man in the valley of the Delaware River has been soberly dis- 

 cussed and intemperately ridiculed until the public, both scientific 

 and general, have become tired of hearing the subject mentioned; 

 but this is no valid reason why the truth should not be ascertained. 

 If man in a paleolithic stage of culture did exist on the Atlantic 

 seaboard of North America, then we have a basis upon which to 

 build a tangible starting point from which to date a history of 

 human activities on this continent. As it is, we have but an im- 

 mense array of facts, largely unrelated, and the greater portion 

 sadly distorted and misleading because of the reckless theories set 

 forth with them by their discoverers, and undoubtedly there never 

 has been, in the whole range of scientific agitation of a simple ques- 

 tion, as great a volume of reckless assertion, illogical deduction, 

 and disregard of exact statement. The main question was often 

 wholly lost sight of, and the author's sole purpose that of demon- 

 strating some one else in error. Predetermination on the part of 

 many has been fatal to the value of their field work. Convinced 

 on theoretical grounds, such are necessarily blinded when on the spot 

 where positive evidence occurs. He who does not desire the object 

 searched for seldom finds it; and, later in the day, pride declines 

 to accede to the just demands of candor the admission of having 

 reached a wrong conclusion. 



There probably would not have been as much attention paid 

 to the subject of man's growth in culture on this continent had not 

 the proposition of a sequence from paleolithic to Indian, with an 

 intervening period, seemed to necessitate a dating back to the Gla- 

 cial epoch, which naturally brought geological erudition to bear 

 upon the question, and since then, most surprisingly, there has been 

 confusion worse confounded, rather than a flood of light. Much 

 has been written, but we can not yet be confident which author is 

 most nearly correct; and the latest report, showing sad evidences 

 of haste, is vitiated by evident determination to modernize every 

 trace of man, whether the facts warranted such procedure or not. 



What is held, primarily, to be an evidence of paleolithic man 

 is a wrought stone implement, that in Europe was characteristic of 

 his handiwork. Here, in the valley of the Delaware, this same form 

 of implement has been confidently asserted to be a rejected piece 

 of stone usually argillite that failed to lend itself to reduction 

 to a finished blade or spear point. If this could be established as 



