92 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 33 
No animal bones of any kind have been found in the excavation, 
unless they are represented by one specimen which does not resemble 
a normal human bone, but may be the proximal half of a human 
clavicle,* pathologically altered. What were mentioned in one of the 
recent publications relating to these finds as “ presumably the bones 
of a young wolf, with SDN wanting,” are the long bones of a 
very young child. 
(¢) The principal support for the notion of the great antiquity 
of the deeper-lying remains from the Gilder mound is the low type 
of several of the skulls, especially those numbered 6 and 8. The 
particular features indicative of low type are a remarkably low 
forehead and pronounced supraorbital ridges. The size of the crania, 
as indicated by their external measurements, their form in general, 
as well as in particular parts, and the thickness of their walls, show 
considerable uniformity among themselves and present no excep- 
tional features when compared with those of Indians. Notwithstand- 
ing the low foreheads, the skulls do not impress one as those of 
idiots or imbeciles, although the possibility that one or more of them 
are remains of such defectives can not be excluded. Imbecility occurs 
among probably all peoples. The writer is inclined to regard these 
low-browed crania as examples of individual peculiarities. Their 
special features, which are really exaggerations of definite sexual 
characters, may indicate degeneration or they may possibly be rever- 
sions. The fact that several of the same type are found in one 
locality will be readily understood by those acquainted with the 
principles of heredity; besides, it will be remembered that only one 
of the skulls shows the inferior features in a very pronounced form. 
Exceptional cases of this nature are known to occur among all 
peoples with which we are acquainted; they are met with even 
among civilized whites. Skulls with low foreheads and pronounced 
ridges certainly do occur among the Indians, and it is very suggest- 
ive that the majority of the crania of this type thus far observed 
have been discovered in mounds of the general region in which are 
located the present finds. This region extends, so far as we may 
now judge, over portions of Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin, reaching 
the Dakotas, and the burials from which they are derived have no 
claim to geological antiquity. The better-known instances of these 
finds are as follows: 
In The American Naturalist (xxii, 185-188, 1889), Clement L. 
Webster reports in brief on the exploration of ancient mounds at 
Floyd, Iowa.’ The mounds were three in number and were sit- 
« Another exception is the pocket-gopher teeth mentioned in the footnote on p, 91. 
> Abstracts of this, as well as of the following Webster paper, may be found in 
F. Starr’s ae ae of the Archeology of Iowa, Proceedings of the Davenport Academy 
of Sciences, V1, 78, 1895. 
