hrdciOkaI discoveries ATTEIBUTED TO EARLY MAN 49 



locality showed the presence of similar sand but in small and angular 

 grains. Bones of Skeleton I yielded a mixture of the two kinds, 

 while in stratum No. 3 above Skeleton II the nature of the sand 

 varied according to the place from Avhich secured. 



In support of the antiquity of Skeleton II and of the impossi- 

 bility of introduction of the bones through burial, Dr. Sellards speaks 

 of the "undisturbed" condition of the lamination in stratum No. 3, 

 above the bones. This lamination where exposed in vertical sections 

 is irregular (pi. 6, fig. 2) and limited to bands of varying length — 

 the cross sections of irregular pockets or patches of wind-blown or 

 water-borne sand and marl. There is no complete or regular stratifi- 

 cation. Owing to these conditions little if any value can attach to 

 the bands. If portions of the deposits were thrown out as in making 

 a gi'ave and then thrown back, a rearrangement might occur which 

 in time, after seepage and thorough settling, would not be distin- 

 guished from the surrounding undisturbed parts. In old graves, ex- 

 cept under unusual conditions, all signs of disturbance of the ground 

 are absent or obscured. That a secondary lamination readily takes 

 place in moved deposits is best shown right at Vero in the deposits 

 thrown out by the dredges, which show Avherever exposed sectionally 

 a more or less marked banding (pi. 7). 



There is another consideration in connection w4th Skeletons I and 

 II which well deserves attention. The chance of one human skeleton 

 becoming accidentally buried would be a rare one, but nevertheless 

 might occur; but what infinitely smaller chance there would be of the 

 accidental occurrence repeating itself at nearly the same depth, in 

 another formation, 150 feet av/ay.^ as in this instance. As already 

 suggested, a number of human bodies might be left lying exposed 

 after a battle or a massacre, but what chance, even then, would there 

 be of two such bodies 50 yards apart becoming inclosed in distinct 

 deposits, so compactly and in so good a state of preservation as were 

 the Vero skeletons ? 



Thus from whatcA^er point of view we approach the subject, if we 

 seek to establish the great age of the Vero remains as Dr. Sellards and 

 one or two of his friends have tried to do, w^e meet with very serious 

 difficulties. How much more reasonable it is to consider both these 

 occurrences as ordinary intentional interments, made in the fos.-,il- 

 bearing Vero deposits long after the extinction of the many animal 

 species whose bones are found in the same muck and other materials. 

 That some of these old bones would lie near or even come to be asso- 

 ciated with the human remains is only natural. 



OTHER HUMAN SKELETAL REMAINS FROM VERO 



Besides the two skeletons discussed, a tooth representing one indi- 

 vidual, and two small bones representing two other persons, were dis- 

 90522°— 18— liull. G6 4 



