72 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. (50 



been placed for safe keeping in the U. S. National Museum by its 

 owner, Mr. M. C. Long, of Kansas City, Mo. 



As the geologists who examined the site when a deep trench, cut 

 under the direction of the writer, was open for in- 

 Different interpre- spcctiou, hold widely divergent opinions with respect 

 ^'^^'""^ to the age of the formation inclosing the remains, 



further investigation is necessary before the question of antiquity 

 can be safely regarded as settled. The literature of the subject is 

 extensive and can not be more than cited in this place. Of the 

 geologists referred to, those favoring glacial antiquity are Upham,^ 

 Winchell, Williston,- and Erasmus Haworth, professor of geology, 

 University of Kansas. Those favoring a comparatively recent date 

 are Chamberlin,'^ Holmes,* R. D. Salisbury, professor of geology. 

 University of Chicago; Samuel Calvin, State geologist of Iowa; 

 and Gerard Fowke, who conducted the excavations on the site. 



Professor Chamberlin concludes a lengthy and most critical review 

 of the Lansing evidence and refers also to his equally noteworthy 

 discussion of certain discoveries at I^ittle Falls, JNIinn., as follow^s: 



The discovery of human remains under 20 foot of deliris nonr T.nnsins. 

 Kans., has revived interest in the antiquity of man in 

 [Chamberlin's View] ^^"i<'i"i'^'fi' ^"'^ fortunately on more hopeful lines than here- 

 tofore, since the mode of occurrence at Lansing is more 

 dehnilely determinate than in most previous cases of the kind, and the geologic 

 elements of the problem are more declared, though, as it happens, they belong 

 to a much overlooked yet very connnon type. The recent studies of Brower 

 and Winchell on the quartz chips at Little Falls have brought that case into 

 more definite form. 



There remain altout the same differences of interpretation as heretofore, 

 but these will pass away as the specitic identification of glacio-fluvial, alluvial, 

 and sub-aerial adjustment deposits become more familiar and precise, and as 

 their interpretation is at once given greater latitude and made more strictly 

 dependent on discriminative criteria. 



In the judgment of the writer, neither of the al)ove cases affords any sub- 

 stantial ground for affirming the presence of man in America during the 

 glacial period ; but they do afford a strong presumption that man in this coun- 

 try has witnessed very notable progress in the deepening of the chamiels of 

 the Missouri and Mississippi rivers. In time there may be found means for 

 estimating the rate at which these rivers are lowering their channels, but at 

 present these are wanting, and there is no trustworthy method of estimating 

 in years the time consumed in the deepening which has taken place since the 

 human relics were buried.^ 



1 Fpham, Man in the Ice Age at Lansing, Kansas. 



" Williston, A Fossil Man from Kansas. 



3 Chamberlin, The Geologic Relations of the Human Relics of Lansing, Kansas, p. 715. 



* Holmes, Fossil Human Remains found near Lansing, Kansas. 



5 Chamberlin, Editorial, p. 793. 



