484 ARCHEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS—II [BTH. ANN, 44 
to this the entire area had probably been covered avith post-glacial 
loess deposits that were removed later by erosion. As the ridge is 
very narrow there could not have been any considerable thickness of 
it even when it was heaviest. Had such not been the conditions the 
body could not have been placed where it was found—against the 
shale bank and covered with a large slab which had loose earth above 
and around but not beneath it. 
The nature and origin of the present deposit has not been fully 
determined. It is certainly not loess in the original stage, but seems 
to be made up of loess which has been carried in by wind and running 
water from the place where it was first laid down, mingled or mixed 
more or less with other material, and redeposited in quiet or slightly 
moving water. 
A hypothetical explanation will be attempted. 
With its swift current, the Missouri River is imperceptibly but 
steadily lowering the level of its bottom; consequently, in the far 
past its average elevation was much greater than it is at present, with 
a corresponding velocity of its current. This removed the loess from 
the point at the mouth of the little creek and kept the rock clean. 
While this higher general level prevailed the rock platform was 
occasionally exposed during low water, and it was at one such period 
that the burial occurred. In flood times the stream reached high up 
on the bluffs. With a shift in the current, such as is constantly 
happening in this river, slack water would then prevail on this side, 
mud would settle from the backwater, and the soil from the upland 
would accumulate instead of being carried away. Thus, in time, the 
present formation was built up to a height of possibly 35 to 40 feet; 
the ridge is so narrow that it could not attain a greater elevation. 
There are as yet no data from which can be accurately calculated 
the rate at which the Missouri is cutting downward. I¢ this can be 
known, it will be easy to estimate the length of time that has elapsed 
since low-water mark was at the level of the rock platform, inasmuch 
as the crest of the great flood of 1884 barely reached its top. Making 
abundant allowance for erosion, it is not probable that the highest 
part of the spur was greater than the estimate just given. 
If, as some geologists believe, a foot in a century may fairly repre- 
sent the rate of lowering, then the age of the Lansing skeleton may 
be placed at somewhere between thirty-five and forty centuries. 
THE ELEPHANT BED AT KIMMSWICK, MO. 
Some years ago an extensive deposit of mastodon bones was dis- 
covered in the valley of Rock Creek near the town of Kimmswick, 
Mo. One collection made at the site was estimated to contain re- 
mains of not less than a hundred different animals. They occurred 
