NO. 4 A FOLSOM COMPLEX ROBERTS 5 



museums and institutions inviting them to send representatives to view 

 the point in situ. The writer at that time was attending the first South- 

 western Archeological Conference at Pecos, N. Mex., and, upon re- 

 ceiving notice of the find and travel instructions from Washington, 

 proceeded to Folsom. Arriving at the fossil pit, on September 2, he 

 found Director Figgins, several members of the Colorado Museum 

 board, and Dr. Barnum Brown, of the American Museum of Natural 

 History, New York, on the ground. The point, which became the 

 pattern and furnished the name for the type, had just been uncovered 

 by Dr. Brown. There was no question but that here was the evidence 

 of an authentic association. The point was still embedded in the 

 matrix between two of the ribs of the animal skeleton. In fact it has 

 never been removed from the block, which is now on exhi1)it in the 

 Colorado Museum at Denver. On returning to Raton, N. Mex., that 

 evening, the writer telegraphed to Dr. A. V. Kidder at Pecos and 

 urged that he visit the site. Dr. Kidder arrived 2 days later, and he 

 and the writer drove out to the bison quarry. After the whole situa- 

 tion had been carefully studied, it was agreed that the association could 

 not be questioned. Furthermore, it was ascertained that the points 

 were totally different from the ordinary types scattered over that por- 

 tion of the Southwest. 



At the meeting of the American Anthropological Association held 

 at Andover, Mass., in December of that year Dr. Barnum Brown and 

 the writer re]>orted on the Folsom finds. There was considerable dis- 

 cussion of the subject, and although many agreed that the discoveries 

 were important, there was still a general feeling of doubt. Numerous 

 explanations were offered to show that the points might have gotten 

 into such an association without actually being contemporaneous with 

 the bison remains. Several mentioned that points of that type were 

 numerous in collections from certain mound sites, from village sites in 

 New York State, and elsewhere, and for that reason they could not 

 be very old. Others insisted that, although they accepted the conclu- 

 sions on the genuineness of the finds, there must be some mistake 

 about the antiquity of the animal remains. 



The summer of 1928 saw the American Museum of Natural History 

 and the Colorado Museum cooperating at the Folsom site. The expe- 

 dition was under the leadership of Dr. Barnum Brown, who was 

 assisted by several graduate students in anthropology. The latter were 

 under the general supervision of Dr. Clark Wissler. Additional points 

 and bison skeletons were found, and telegrams reporting the dis- 

 coveries were sent to various institutions. This time numerous special- 



