hrdliCka] skeletal REMAINS OF EARLY MAN 209 



serves careful consideration, that the date of the final extinction of 

 some of these animals is still an unsolved problem. 



9. Finally, it was seen that the anatomic features of the human 

 bones are not incompatible with a recent date for the skeleton. The 

 excessive wear of the teeth, the manj^ signs of "dry arthritis," the size 

 of the specimens, are all features well known among the Indians. As 

 to the stature of less than 1.51 meters, the estimate was made in the 

 absence of any of the long bones and may be too low, as the meas- 

 urements of the metacarpal and metatarsal bones seem to indicate. 

 However, individual females below 1 .50 meters in height, especially 

 among the aged, are really common among the Peruvian, Bolivian, 

 and numerous Brazilian tribes. The feature has no weight as an 

 indication of antiquity of the human remains under consideration. 



The unavoidable conclusion regarding the antiquity of the Arroyo 

 de Frias finds of human bones, reached after due consideration of all 

 the above-outlined fragmentary and, in the main, inexpert evidence, 

 is that they contribute practically nothing that can be relied on as 

 decisive toward the solution of the vexed question of man's antiquity 

 in Argentina. 



THE SALADERO SKELETON 



Historical Notes and Previous Reports 



The remains known as the Saladero skeleton were found in 1876 by 

 Santiago Roth, at that time a young collector of fossils. 



According to his account, there are frequently seen in the pampas 

 areas where the humus layer is wanting and the eolian loess appears 

 upon the surface. These patches are called desplayadas or comede- 

 ros. In course of time some of these areas become covered with 

 vegetation while others remain barren. 



It was in one of these desplayadas, less than 10 km. from Pergamino, 

 and near the saladero of Seiior R. Otero, that Roth found his first fossil 

 man. He was collecting bones of fossil animals, being accompanied 

 by Jose Mayorotti. Roth ^ says that after having searched for some- 

 time this denuded locality he saw "in a gidly about 3 meters deep 

 protruding from the loess, a portion of a skull. We dug this out and 

 also the skeleton, which was exceedingly well preserved. Unfortu- 

 nately it was afterward nearly all destroyed through bad handling; 

 some small fragments only were sent by me much later to Seiior Bur- 

 meister in Buenos Aires. " 



Further details regarding the find are given in Roth's letter to Pro- 

 fessor Kollmann.2 In this we read that Roth, after exploring the 



1 Roth, S., BeobachtimgeniiberEntstehung und Alter der Pampasformation in Argentinien;inZei<scftn/< 

 der deutschcn geologischen Gcsellschaft, xl, Berlin, 1888, pp. 448-449. 



2 Ueber den Schiidel von Pontimelo (richtiger Fontezuelas); in Mitth. anat. Inst. VesaUanum zu Basel, 

 1889, pp. 1-4; also in Lehmann-Nitsehe, Nouvelles recherches, etc., pp. 470-487. 



21535°— Bull. 52—12 14 



