6 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 94 



ists — archeologists, paleontologists, and geologists — rushed to see the 

 evidence. The consensus of the informal conference held at the site 

 was that this constituted the most important contribution yet made to 

 American archeology. Some of the most skeptical critics of the year 

 before became enthusiastic converts. The Folsom find was accepted 

 as a reliable indication that man was present in the Southwest at an 

 earlier period than was previously supposed. 



In subsequent years there has been considerable activity on the part 

 of those interested in tracing the distribution of the type of point 

 found there. Some have endeavored, without marked success, to find 

 new locations where further evidence could be obtained in situ. 

 Others have been content to make surveys showing the occurrence of 

 the type. There have been a few significant discoveries, but most of 

 the information thus far available concerns material found on the sur- 

 face. The latter is of value from the standpoint of distributional 

 studies, as an indication of likely spots for intensive work, and in 

 showing local variations in the type. Yet, so far as chronological 

 significance is concerned, it has added little to the knowledge gained at 

 Folsom. The most important contributions have come from sites in 

 New Mexico, where E. B. Howard, of the University of Pennsylvania 

 Museum, has been engaged in a series of investigations. In a cave in 

 the Guadalupe Mountains in the southeastern part of the State he 

 found a Folsom point in conjunction with musk ox and an animal of 

 the musk ox group.^ The musk ox is a cold-climate animal and when 

 found as far south as New Mexico, is generally considered good 

 evidence of an ice-age fauna. The association was of further signifi- 

 cance because it occurred in a stratum underlying a level containing 

 Basket Maker material. The latter belongs to the oldest definitely 

 established horizon in the culture-pattern sequence in the Pueblo area 

 of the Southwest. This is a good indication that the points antedate 

 the Basket Makers. 



Near Clovis, N. Mex., Mr. Howard has been exploring a site where 

 large numbers of chipped implements, including Folsom specimens," 

 and bones of extinct species of animals are found together. The chief 

 difificulty at this location, however, is that the material occurs in what 

 are known as " blow-outs," places where all of the top soil has been 

 carried away by action of the wind. For that reason accurate indica- 

 tions on associations are hard to obtain. The finds are in old lake beds, 

 and the geologic evidence is of significance. At the time of the pres- 



^ Howard, 1932. 



* Anonymous, 1932; 1933. Howard, 1933; 1934, fig. i. 



