HOLMES] ABORIGINAL AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES PART i 77 



the Trenton gravels and relics ascribed to them, Professor McGee em- 

 ploys the following language: 



(1) The deposits in which tliey (tlie relics) were found are either late aqiieo- 

 glacial accumulations or later accumulations produced by winds or storms; 

 while the depth at which most of the relics were found w'as so limited as to 

 be within reach of surface disturbance. One of the relics, however, is of special 

 significance because found at a considerable depth in apparently undisturbed 

 deposits of later Glacial Age. This is a bone, apparently a human fenuir, 

 which, although so far decomposed as to render the determination in some 

 degree doubtful, appears to have been cut squarely across at one end, sharpened 

 at the other end, and perforated about mid length. The whole appearance of 

 the object suggests that it was artifically shaped for use as a handle for some 

 sort of cutting implement, or for attachment to the shaft as a harpoon head 

 or javelin point. The object is specially noteworthy as affording the most 

 decisive bit of evidence of high human antiquity in America thus far recorded. 

 (2) On the whole the question of the antiquity of man in America must be 

 regarded as far from settlement. So far as occurrences of human relics in 

 geologic deposits of known age are concerned, the evidence of high human 

 antiquity seems less decisive now than a quarter century ago, chiefly by reason 

 of the more critical weighing of details with increasing knowledge.^ 



The alleged evidence of a succes.sion of periods of occupation and 

 attendant progressive stages in culture in the Delaware Valley may 

 be more readily and logically accounted for by reference to the known 

 occupancy of the valley by the Indian tribes. It is claimed that the 

 earlier deposits of the locality in i)laces contain simpler forms of 

 artifacts than do the more superficial, but this alone does not warrant 

 the conclusion that the culture was decidedly lower, that distinct 

 peoples w^ere involved, or that the period was remote. A site may 

 have been occupied at a comparatively early period by implement 

 makers of Algonquian or other stock, who left the refuse of their 

 operations upon the surface to be covered by deposits of soil and 

 wind-blown sand, and later the same site may have been the resort 

 of simple fishermen and hunters, and still later the dwelling place 

 of well-advanced communities of the same or other people. The suc- 

 cessive layers would thus show apparent advance in culture as well 

 as lapse of time, yet the culture of the people as a whole may not 

 have advanced in the least and the elapsed time may have been 

 centuries rather than millenniums. 



The fact that argillite was used exclusively or rarely on certain 

 sites in earlier times can have little significance in its bearing upon 

 problems of age, culture, or people. The most convenient and 

 plentiful local materials would be used first by the occupants in 

 any region, and argillite is the most tractable and readily acquired 

 workable stone of the region. Afterwards through exploitation of 

 resources and intercourse with neighboring peoples the materials 

 used would multiply and the things made would have a wider range. 

 Mercer, wdio conducted exhaustive examinations of the quarries and 



^ McGee, American Archaeology, p. 50. 



