64 BUREAU OF AMEEICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 66, hrdliCka] 



fresh for specimens of "geologic'" aiitiqnit3\ The bone implements 

 show little if any effects of weathering, are clear and sharp in out- 

 lines, and for the greater part exhibit exactly the same coloration and 

 seemingly also the same partial mineralization as do the bones of 

 Skeleton II. This is a fact of considerable importance, because it 

 demonstrates that the skeleton belonged to the same layer (the muck 

 laj'^er, No. 3). 



Had the artifacts not been found in a layer which bears also the 

 bones of long-extinct animals, no one could have thought for a 

 moment of attributing them to any people other than the ordinary 

 American Indian. 



Professor Holmes's report on the pottery, which he subjected to a 

 special examination, follows: 



Repoiit on the Pottery, by W. H. Holmes 



" I haA'e examined with great care the pottery fragments obtained 

 from the site of the discovery of human remains associated with 

 Pleistocene deposits near Vero, Florida. They represent small and 

 moderately large vessels, ranging in form from simple cups to deep 

 bowls and shallow, wide-mouthed pots — forms in common use among 

 the Indian tribes of Florida. Compared with corresponding ware 

 from the Florida sand mounds and from occupied sites generally 

 throughout Florida and southern Georgia, no significant distinctions 

 can be made in material, shape, indications of use, or embellishment. 

 Many of the fragments bear traces of use over fire, being coated quite 

 thickly with hardened soot. The decorated pieces show impressions 

 of checkered paddles or stamps identical in character with the pre- 

 vailing decoration of the Indian earthenware of Florida. The pot- 

 tery as well as the bone implements from this place indicate clearly 

 that it is the site of an ordinary Indian village and the archeologist 

 acquainted with Indian customs would expect to find burials at usual 

 depths beneath and about the site. The reference of these artifacts 

 to a people of geological antiquity can but illustrate the lack of 

 appreciation of the ordinary conditions and phenomena of Indian 

 occupancy on the part of those who first brought these finds to the 

 attention of the public." 



AV. H. Holmes. 



Sic transit gloria hoinlms Veroeiisis. 



