56 FOSSIL MEN. 



found the tooth of a mastodon. Perhaps no American 

 interment can lay claim to greater antiquity, and the 

 bones of the buried corpses had been resolved almost 

 entirely into dust. Yet earthen vessels found with 

 them showed the high Alleghan type of features, and 

 the only skull secured was of the same type. I have 

 in my own collection a tooth of the mastodon, and a 

 human skull, probably of a woman, which were found, 

 as I am informed, together, in river alluvium, near 

 Kankakee, Illinois, and the statement is corroborated 

 by the state of preservation of the remains. The skull, 

 while of decided American type, is of a short and high 

 form, more allied to the Toltecan head than to that of 

 the more barbarous Indian races. In North America, 

 therefore, a comparatively civilised and well- developed 

 race would seem to have precedence of all others, a 

 statement which we shall find may apply to Europe 

 also, notwithstanding the mythical notions of a palaeo- 

 lithic age of barbarism. 



It is remarkable, however, that two types of head 

 are represented in these old monuments, one short 

 and high, with a respectable frontal development; 

 another low-browed, and retreating in the frontal 

 aspect. According to Foster both these types appear 

 in the burial mounds of the Alleghans. This may 

 indicate different castes or tribes, or conquering and 

 subject or servile races. It is certain, however, that 

 similar differences exist among the modern Indians, 

 and that those with low foreheads, even when not 

 artificially compressed, are not deficient in intelligence. 



