184 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOG'f [boll. 52 



But it is apart from the Eskimo, who form a distinct subtype of the 

 yellow-brown strain of humanity. Outside of the features assimilat- 

 ing them with the American dolichocephalic Indian t3^pe, the Lagoa 

 Santa crania appear to present no characteristics whatever that 

 could be regarded as more than individual variations. 



Of the other parts of the skeletons there is unfortunately only the 

 brief description of Hansen, but what he has said agrees with the 

 prevalent holocene American type and suggests no geologic antiquity. 



The assumption of racial kinship between the Lagoa Santa crania 

 and the negroid Papuans is not justifiable. Resemblance of the 

 vault is a character the value of which is as yet imperfectly under- 

 stood, but within certain limits is not great; it alone, save in ver}'' 

 exceptional circumstances, can not be regarded as decisive in racial 

 differentiation. 



In view of all the above facts and considerations, it seems quite 

 evident that the human remains from the Lagoa Santa caves can 

 not be accepted, without further and more conclusive proofs, as 

 belonging to a race wliich lived contemporaneously with the extinct 

 species of animals found in the same caves ; and there is no rehable 

 foundation in the remainder of the data relating to the specimens on 

 which such geologic antiquity could be based. 



THE CARCARANA BONES 



Historical Notes and Previous Observations 



In 1864 F. Seguin, a collector of and dealer in fossils, brought to 

 Buenos Aires some fragments of human bones, wliich he said were 

 found in the Pampean deposits of the banks of the Rio Carcarana, 

 about 25 leagues north of Rosario in the northern part of the Province 

 of Buenos Aires, together with bones of the fossil bear and horse. 



The find is mentioned for the first time in. 1865 by Burmeister.^ 

 who, however, was not permitted by Seguin to see the specimens. A 

 little later they were sent to France and were eventually bought, with 

 the rest of the Seguin collection, by the Museum d'Histoire Naturelle 

 in Paris. In 1869 they were mentioned, and 1873 briefly described, 

 by Gervais;^ in 1874 the find was discussed by Moreno;^ in 1875 and 

 again in 1879 by Burmeister;* in 1881 they were reported with further 



1 Burmeister, G., Lista de los mamiferos fosiles del teireno diluviano; in Anales del Museo Publico de 

 Buenos Aires, i, 1864-65, p. 298. See also, Ameghino, F., La antigiicdad del hombre en El Plata, n, 

 Paris-Buenos Aires, 1881, pp. 374-377; Lelimann-Nitsche, R., Nouvelles recherches sur la formation 

 Pampeeime, etc., in Revista del Museo de La Plata, xrv, Buenos Aires, 1907, pp. 209-213. 



2 Gervais, P., Zoologie et paleontologie generates; Premiere s^rie, Paris, 1867-69, p. 114; by same author, 

 Debris humains recueUlis dans la Confederation Argentine avec desossements d'animaux appartenant a 

 des especes perdues, in Journal de Zoologie, n, Paris, 1873, pp. 231-234, figs. 1-4, pi. v. 



3 Moreno, F. P., Noticias sobre antigiiedades de los Indios, del tiempo anterior k la Conquista, etc.; in 

 BoleUn de la Academia Nacional de Cicncias de Cdrdoba, i, Buenos Aires, 1874, pp. 130-149. 



* Burmeister, G ., Los caballos f6siles de la Repiiblica Argentina; Buenos Aires, 1875, pp. 76-78; and, by 

 same author, Description physique de la Republique Argentine, Buenos Aires, m, 1879, pp. 41-42. 



