204 " BUEEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 52 



those of a Hoplophorus ornatus from the same excavation; also the 

 cavities of both are filled with the same Pampean earth. "If the 

 bones had not remained from the beginning interred in this soil this 

 phenomenon could not have occurred." 



In 1889 Ameghino pubHshed his large work on the fossil mammals 

 of Argentina in which also he treats of tlie "fossil" man, referring, 

 among other matters, to the finds at Arroyo de Frias.^ This refer- 

 ence, while brief, contains one or two interesting new points. The 

 human bones are classed as belonging to the Superior Pliocene (pp. 

 65-66). 



The first note in tliis work regarding the Arroyo de Frias (p. 50) 

 reads as follows: 



"One human site from this epoch [the mesoliiTiic epoch of the 

 Superior Quaternar}''!, quite large in extent, is found near Mercedes 

 along the small Arroyo de Frias, approximately 1 league from its 

 mouth. The barranca, quite low here, shows: 



"1. A layer of black vegetal earth 10-35 cm. tliick; 



"2. A layer of black earth, somewhat ashy, 25-30 cm. in thickness, 

 with vestiges of infusoria, small mixture of carbonate of lime, and 

 some Ampullarias and Planorhis; 



"3. A layer of whitish soil, quite hard and compact, of some 40 

 cm. in thickness, with a strong proportion of lime; and 



"4. The Pampean soil of yellowish-green color, corresponding to 

 the Lujanean stratum. 



"From an exposure of the hard layer No. 3, there appear on the sur- 

 face over a stretch of more than 200 meters slivers of long bones parted 

 longitudinally for the purpose of extracting the marrow, mingled with 

 ashes, carbon, small fragments of nearly unbaked pottery, pestles, 

 mortars, polishing stones and fragments of holas made of diorite, as 

 well as crude flakes of quartzite. The bones which I was able to 

 determine belonged to three existing species, namely, Auchenia 

 guanaco, Cervis campestris, and Rhea americana, mingled with the 

 extinct species of Paleolama mesolithica." 



This note is very interesting in showing clearly the tendency of 

 Professor Ameghino to attribute too great age to his finds of human 

 remains, making them contemporaneous with the deposits in wliich 

 they occur. The antiquity of these deposits, compared with the age 

 ascribed to them by other observers, also appears very generally over- 

 estimated. Here we have, on the same Arroyo de Frias, near Mer- 

 cedes, plainly an extensive site of occupancy of the modern Indian, 

 with his pottery, mortars, and even bolas; but because the remains 

 do not occur in what is regarded as the only Recent layer and 

 exposure, that is the present-day black vegetal layer, the}'- are 

 referred to the Quaternary. 



1 Ameghino, F., Contribucidn al conocimiento de los mamlferos fosiles de la Republica Argentina, 

 Buenos Aires, 1889, pp. 50-65, 66, 83-84. 



