hedliCka] skeletal REMAINS OF EARLY MAN" 197 



Deputies and one of the most deserving men of Argentina, does not 

 regard them, judging by expressions conveyed in conversations with 

 him, as of great antiquity. The writer's visit to the valley of the 

 Rio Negro resulted in confirmed skepticism as to any considerable 

 age of any of the remains from that region. The present low, broad, 

 flat, alluvial valley of the lower course of the river is evidently of 

 recent formation; it is subject to occasional great inundations and 

 in all probability its superficial deposits have been repeatedly dis- 

 turbed or even wholly rearranged. 



The incomplete condition of the two crania under consideration 

 and their isolated position indicate a reinterment. The depth at 

 which the}" were found, in the unstable deposits of a powerful river, 

 is a factor of but little chronologic value. The artificial deforma- 

 tions of the crania are evidently only varieties of one form, the 

 Aymara, and connect them with the native group which occupied the 

 region and practiced similar deformations up to historic times. ^ The 

 alterations in color and other marks of mineralization of the speci- 

 mens distinguish them but slightly from those of the shallow burials 

 in mud at the Laguna de Juncal, south of Viedma. Numerous skulls 

 and bones from the latter place were collected by the writer and are 

 mentioned in some detail in another part of this paper (see p. 298). 



The unstable nature of the deposits of the Rio Negro and the great 

 power of the river in periods of flood, were well illustrated during its 

 last great inundation, somewhat more than 10 years ago. The 

 waters destroyed the town of Viedma, washed out and carried away 

 bodies from cemeteries, and caused many changes in the surface of 

 the valley. 



In view of the facts presented above, it seems that the two "fossil" 

 Patagonian skulls have no solid claims to geologic antiquity, the 

 probability being strong that these crania belonged to relatively 

 recent Indian occupants of the region. 



THE ARROYO DE FRIAS FINDS 



HISTORICAL NOTES AND PREVIOUS OBSERVATIONS 



In 1875 F. Ameghino reports the second find of fossil human bones 

 in Argentina.^ He says: 



"In the small brook of Frias, on the outskirts of Mercedes, at the 

 distance of 20 leagues from Buenos Aires, I found numerous fossil 

 human bones, which lay at a depth of 4 meters in undisturbed Quater- 

 nary terrane. I found some of these in the presence of Prof. G. Ra- 

 morino and of many other persons, mingled with a great quantity of 

 charcoal, baked earth, burned and striated stones, arrow points, flint 



1 Compare chapter on Homo pampxus, p. 289. 



2 In his Notas sobre algunos fdsiles nuevos encontrados en la formacion pampeana, Mercedes, 1S75, and 

 in the Journal deZoologie, Paris, 1875, pp. 527-528. 



