HKDLicKA] SKELETAL/ REMAINS OF EARLY MAN 207 



[which Ameghino's iUiistration shows to have been 1.75 meters from 

 the surface. — A. H.] and lower, in the hist hiyer, up to 1 meter below 

 the base of the channel," this base corresponding exactly to 3 meters 

 from the surface. The discrepancies in the statements are not limited 

 to this important item only. 



3. The find was made in the channel of a stream, a fact well calcu- 

 lated to weaken the evidence as to the bearing on antiquity. The 

 geologist is well aware of the varied changes to which stream beds 

 are liable. The waters, especially at periods of flood, remove, 

 mingle, fill, cover, undermine, and cause subsidences or even the 

 gouging out of great sections of the banks. The bed of earth in which 

 the human bones lay had evidently been considerably disturl)ed and 

 moved. This is indicated by the breaking, dissociation, and disper- 

 sion of the human remains, by the absence of many parts of the 

 skeleton, and by the presence of the dilFerently-colored bone from 

 another body, pointed out by Leboucq. However, some degree of 

 association still remained, as a score of separated parts of one skeleton 

 and a considerable quantity of charcoal were found together. The 

 conditions in general are suggestive of a burial or burials which had 

 been disturbed by some such agency as the sinking or sliding of por- 

 tions of the bank from pressure or undermining.^ 



4. The burial or burials, the remains of which were found by Doctor 

 Ameghino, ma}^ have been made, however, in the incline of the bank 

 or at its base, or even in the dry bed of the stream, and not m the 

 flat surface of the pampa. In Ai-gentina streams of the size of the 

 Arroyo de Frias occasionally run dry, and at such time a burial 

 might be made without hindrance at or even below the level of the 

 bed of the stream, which would possibly offer less resistant ground. 



5. A majority of the stone im])lemeiits found with the human bones 

 are of the same specialized worked-on-one-face-only type so charac- 

 teristic of the work of the Indian tribes of Argentina, as shown in 

 other sections of this report. 



6. The state of f ossilization of the bones, notwithstanding the numer- 

 ous statements on this point by those who handled the specimens, 

 has not been accurately determined, so far as can be found from the 

 printed data on the subject. The statement that the human bones 

 show the same color, consistency, and fossilization as those of extinct 

 animals found in the same strata, lacks confirmation b}^ a micro- 

 photographic and chemical demonstration. Mere appearances in 

 instances of this nature are often deceptive, and can not be taken as 



1 Displacements of masses of earth bj- this agency are common along all streams running through uncon- 

 solidated formations. Instances of this kind in Argentina came more than once under the observation of 

 Mr. Willis and the writer. Similar displacements were seen to occur in banks of reddish Pampean even 

 far from running water. And the earth does not fall only in sections, but, in banks, also in circumscribed 

 masses that leave large, irregular, deep gaps or holes, which offer good opportunities for introduction into 

 lower levels of many obiects from higher points in the surface. 



