70 • BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 60 



the high geological antiquity of man in America, the Table Moun- 

 tain find of King taking first rank. 



Of similar import with respect to anticjuity is the so-called Nampa 

 image, a minute clay figurine supposed to represent a female, the 

 body being (juite well modeled, the head hardly more than a crude 

 lump of clay, and the legs broken away, one above and the other 

 below the knee (fig. 31). It is said to have been brought up by an 

 artesian well sand-pump at Nampa, Idaho, in 1889, and derives its 

 archeological interest from the fact that the deposits penetrated are 

 geologically ancient. According to Emmons,^ the formation in 

 which the pump was operating is of late Tertiary or early Quater- 

 nary age; and the apparent improbability of the occurrence of a well- 

 modeled human figure in deposits of such great antiquity has led to 

 grave doubt as to its authenticity. It is interesting to note that the 

 age of this object, sup]K)sing it to be authentic, corresponds with that 

 of the inci[)ieiit man wliose bones were, in 18!)2, reccnered l)y Duboise 

 from the late Tertiary or early Quaternary formations of Java. 

 Like the aui'iferous gravel finds of (^ilifornia, if taken at its face 

 value the specimen establishes an antiquity for Neolithic culture in 

 America so great that we hesitate to accept it without fui-ther con- 

 firmation. AVhile it may have been brought up as reported, there 

 remains the possibility that it was not an original inclusion \mder the 

 lava. It is not impossible that an object of this character could have 

 descended from the surface through some crevice or water course 

 penetrating the lava beds and have been carried through deposits of 

 creeping (|uicksand aided by underground waters to the spot tapped 

 by the drill. 



It should be remarked, however, that forms of art closely analogous 

 to this figure are far to seek, neither the Pacific slope on the west nor 

 the Pueblo region on the south furnishing modeled images of the 

 human figure of like character or of equal artistic merit. The nearest 

 region in Avhich work of corresponding culture grade occurs is in 

 the middle Mississippi Valley, the period being recent. In seek- 

 ing to explain the possible occurrence of this specimen several 

 alternatives are suggested as follows: (1) That the figure is a rare 

 and exceptional work of one of the tribes occupying the locality in 

 recent times; (2) that it is of modern make by some distant aborigi- 

 nal people of advanced culture; (3) that it is of modern make, by 

 some designing j^erson, introduced into the sand-pump out})ut with 

 intent to deceive; (4) that it is of early Quaternary age as indicated 

 by its alleged occurrence, and the work of a people already well ad- 

 vanced in the Neolithic stage of culture progress. 



' Emmons, in Wright, Climatic Condition of the Glacial roriod : Tho Xaniija Image, 

 p. 432. 



