Riv. Bas. Siir. 

 Pap. No. 25] 



JOHN H. KERR RESERVOIR BASIN — ^MILLER 



49 



Figure 2. — ^Two views of a flake of flint chipped on one face and retouched along the edges. 

 (To remove the tiny lateral chips, it was probably held with the smoother side against 

 a hammerstone.) (After de Mortillet, 1881; MacGowan, 1950, p. 69.) 



so indecisive that no conclusion of geological age of the remains can legitimately 

 be based thereon. Impartially weighed, the probabilities are in every instance 

 against rather than for geologic antiquity. . . . 



If man had originated in America and spread thence to other continents, or 

 if he had come here hundreds or even scores of thousands of years ago, there 

 should by this time have been found some evidence of his antiquity which could 

 be freely acceptable to all, as are the remains of European early man. Wherever 

 man has lived for any length of time he has invariably left behind him imple- 

 ments, utensils, and refuse containing shells and bones of contemporaneous mol- 

 lusks, fish, birds, and mammals, with remains of fire. If there is no such evidence, 

 or at least none that the most thorough students of the subject can conscientiously 

 accept, then assuredly we are not justified at the present time in accepting the 

 theory of any geological antiquity of the American race. [HrdliCka, 1928, 

 pp. 48&-487.] 



Artifacts from the Trenton gravels caused quite a commotion and 

 resulted in considerable literature. Sellards (1952) has indicated 

 that, at the present time, they have been vindicated of their taint and 

 are now accepted as positive proof that Early Man once occupied this 

 portion of the Delaware Valley. 



