496 THE AGE OF MAMMALS 



'intrusive burial/ in whicli a grave was dug down through the earth to the 

 salt. Another case of obviously artificial or accidental association is that 

 reported in a sulphur spring at Afton, Indian Territory, by Holmes^ (1901), 

 where flint arrowheads and other implements were fomid in association 

 with teeth and other remains of mammoth (probably E. primigenius, E. 

 imperalor), fossil bison, and the horse. The most plausible explanation of 

 this accumulation is that the spring was regarded as magical by the Indians, 

 who threw into it not only such fossil bones as were exposed m the vicinity, 

 but also their most precious possessions, including their various weapons and 

 implements. 



By far the most authentic case is that reported by Clarke ^ in 1903. 

 A small tusk, ribs and other bones of a young mastodon were found at 

 Attica, Wyoming County, New York, in unlaminated clay overlaid by muck, 

 etc., at a depth of two to three feet. Several pieces of charcoal were dis- 

 covered under these bones, and in another part of the same swamp and 

 one foot below the level of the bones, some bits of broken pottery and a 

 considerable quantity of charcoal were discovered. 



Man and Megalonyx. — At Natchez, Mississippi, a human pubic bone 

 was found in 1846 in association with a true Megalonyx fauna. The bones 

 were reported to be in the same condition of preservation as the larger bones, 

 and hence may be considered contemporary.'' Leidy considered that this 

 pelvic bone might have fallen in from one of the Indian graves above it. 

 Wilson,^ however (1892), reported that a chemical investigation of the human 

 bone showed it was more advanced in fossilization than that of the asso- 

 ciated Mylodon, and hence might be considered as old or older. Cope 

 (1895) ^ rejected the previous evidence, stating that no trace of man had 

 been found in the Megalonyx fauna. 



In 1896, however, Mercer ^ expressed the opinion that the remains of 

 Megalonyx found in the Big Bone Cave, Van Buren County, Tennessee (Fig. 

 194, 10), were not appreciably older than the associated human remains. 

 This is by far the most significant of these associations, and is more fully 

 described below (p. 498). 



The most recently discovered associations of Megalonyx with supposed 

 artifacts of human manufacture are in the Potter Creek and Samwel caves, 



1 Holmes, W. H., Flint Implements and Fossil Remains from a Sulphur Spring at Afton, 

 Indian Territory. Ann. Rept. U.S. Nat. Mus., 1901, pp. 233-252. 



^ Clarke, J. M., Mastodons of New York. A List of Discoveries of their Remains, 1705- 

 1902. N.Y. State Mus. Bull., 69, Palisontology, 9, 1903, p. 932. 



3 Leidy, 1869. 



* Wilson, T., Man and the Mylodon. Their Possible Contemporaneous Existence in the 

 Mississippi Valley. Amer. Natural., Vol. XXVI, no. 307, July, 1892, pp. 628-631. 



^ Cope, E. D., The Antiquity of Man in North America. Amer. Natural, Vol. XXIX, 

 1895, pp. 593-599. 



* Mercer, H. C, Cave Exploration by the University of Pennsylvania in Tennessee. 

 Amer. Natural., Vol. XXX, no. 355, July, 1896, pp. 608-611; also. Cave Exploration in the 

 Eastern United States, Preliminary Report. Dept. Amer. Prchist. Archoeol. Univ. Pa., 1896. 



