476 



NA TURE 



[March 17, 1887 



PREHISTORIC REMAINS IN AMERICA 



AT a recent meeting of the Washington Anthropological Society, 

 Mr. G. K. Gilbert described a prehistoric hearth under 

 the Quaternary deposits in Western New York. The speaker 

 described the finding of the remains of a wood fire in the 

 bottom of a well through the drift deposits near Gaines, a few 

 miles south of Lake Ontario. The evidence in the matter rests 

 almost entirely on the statements of a Mr. Tomlinson, a well- 

 known and respected resident of the place, and who, personally, 

 made the find upon his own farm. It was twenty years ago that 

 the discovery was made, but Mr. Tomlinson has stated that his 

 memory of all the essential details was very clear, and the 

 speaker had every personal reason for believing the statements. 

 The story is briefly that in sinking a well through 17 feet of gravel 

 and clay, they found lying upon the rock at its bottom three large 

 stones, partly inclosing a small space in which were about a 

 dozen charred sticks, undoubtedly the remains of a fire started by 

 human hands. Mr. Tomlinson gave some of these remains to 

 neighbours, who still remember the matter, and the remainder he 

 kept himself. In time, however, they have been lost, and the 

 endeavour to find them did not meet with success. 



The speaker then discussed at length the character of the beds 

 under which the remains were found, and their geologic age, 

 illustrating his statements by a map, of which a small copy is 

 here reproduced. 



The line A B shows the approximate southern limit of the lake 

 drainage, and c D the approximate south-eastern extension of 

 the second glacier, which, it will be noted, extends across the 



Map cf the Ontario-Erie Lake Basins, showing their Quaternary history. 

 The prehistoric hearth was found at jr. 



drainage line for a considerable distance. When the front of the 

 glacier began to retreat, successive lake basins were formed, ex- 

 tending toward the drainage line and discharging at the lowest 

 point in the divide. When the front of the glacier had retreated 

 to the line 1-2, a lake extended over the area shown by the fine 

 dotted line bearing small cross lines, and discharged toward the 

 Ohio, near what is now the city of Fort Wayne. When the ice 

 front had retreated to the line 3-4, the lake covered the area in 

 part inclosed by the fine dotted line bearing the small circles. It 

 was on the eastern shore of this lake that this ancient fire was 

 built, and by its shore wash that it was so gently covered as not 

 to be disturbed during the process. 



By further retreat of the glacier toward 5-6, a lower outlet was 

 exposed in the valley of the Mohawk, and the surface of the 

 glacial lake again fell — the Lake Erie portion to the level of the 

 escarpment of Niagara limestone which still dams it back, and 

 the Lake Ontario portion to a somewhat lower level. Further 

 retreat of the icy dam to 5-6, and beyond, opened the St. Lawrence 

 channel, and the present drainage was established. 



From this explanation the comparative age of the hearth and 

 its remains is indicated. It was near the end of the second 

 glacial period, and at the time of separation of Lake Ontario 

 from Lake Erie. At about this time, also, the Niagara River 

 began its work of cutting through the escarpment of Niagara 

 limestone, and at which it has been engaged ever since. Its rate 

 of progress having recently been approximately determined, we 

 are able to estimate the number of years as about 7000 since the 

 lakes were separated and the gorge and falls begun. This estimate 



is based on comparisons of a recent survey by the U.S. Geological 

 Survey with those made by the New York Survey forty years ago, 

 and is open to some qualifications. In the first place, it is 

 possible that some of the gorge was cut before the glacial period ; 

 then it has been found that the hardest stratum through which 

 the river has to cut thins somewhat to the eastward, and thus 

 offered less resistance to wear at an earlier date in the history of 

 the gorge; and then, again, the possibility is presented of the 

 volume of water having been vastly greater toward the close of 

 the glacial period, and it is known that the erosive power of 

 water increases very rapidly with increase of volume. These 

 qualifications tend to redtice the time estimate ; but on the other 

 hand, evidence has been found that at one time the other lakes 

 above Erie emptied by another means, and if this was so for any 

 great length of time after the birth of the Niagara, it would tend 

 to very greatly increase the time. 



In the discussion following this paper, Mr. Murdock, of the 

 Point Barrow Station, gave an account of the finding of a pre- 

 historic relic under somewhat similar circumstances. Their station 

 was near the extreme north-west corner of this continent, on a 

 beach ridge a few yards from the Arctic Sea. This ridge was 

 9 or 10 yards in height, and extended along the coast for some 

 distance. In making an excavation for an earth thermometer, 

 they penetrated a i-foot layer of turf which capped the ridge, 

 and then frozen gravel and earth to a depth of 20 odd feet, 

 where an Eskimo snow-goggle was found embedded in the frozen 

 earth. The goggle w.as identical with those now in use, and 

 consists of a piece of bone covering the eyes and bridging the 

 nose, with small slits to admit a very limited amount of light and 

 protect the eyes from snow-blindness. The specimen foimd 

 had strings of braided sinew attached, but these were broken in 

 removing them from the hard matrix. The speaker believed that 

 the beds inclosing and covering this relic were the results of 

 beach wash. The Eskimo of the region have a tradition that 

 people used to live at the locality of the find, and a few remains 

 of houses are found in the vicinity. 



At the same meeting Mr. W. J. McGee read an informal paper 

 on the finding of a spear-head in the Quaternary beds of 

 Nevada. 



The speaker described the geologic features of the Walker 

 River caiion, in the lacustrine deposits in which the find was 

 made. These deposits are those of the fossil Lake Lahontan, 

 and were deposited in the old caiion during the Quaternary 

 period. Since then the river has cut a new caiion through them, 

 and they are now finely exposed. Beginning above, the beds 

 consist of silt and loose materials for several feet, then comes a 

 layer of calcareous tufa lying upon 20 to 30 feet of white marl, 

 containing remains of extinct mammalia, and resting unconform- 

 ably upon a somewhat similar series of beds of earlier date. 

 It was in the white marl of the upper beds that the implement 

 was found. The spe.aker described in detail the conditions under 

 which the find was made. He was alone at the time, and far 

 distant from camp or party ; he had been carefully examining 

 the face of the marl talus as he rode along, and was searching 

 for occasional bone remains. At one point, 26 feet below 

 the surface, he noticed a small projecting point which looked as 

 if it was caused by a bone. Picking off" some of the surface, he 

 at once recognised the object to be a product of man's handicraft ; 

 and appreciating the importance of the find, and the necessity of 

 a very thorough study of all the circumstances connected with it, 

 framed some working hypotheses before removing the implement. 

 At first it appeared profcable that it was embedded in a superficial 

 coating of the slime which is often washed over the surface of 

 this loose marl. This was at once disproved by examination. 

 Other possibilities were suggested, such as its having fallen into 

 its position down a fissure or been shoved into the face of the 

 cliff by man ; but these were all found to be, if not impossible, 

 extremely improbable, and the speaker had concluded that it 

 was deposited with the marl. Extensive stratigraphic studies 

 have been made of these lacustrine deposits by King, Russell, 

 and Gilbert, and there can be no doubt but that these beds and 

 the flint were deposited toward the close of the glacial period, 

 and about at the same time as those covering the hearth de- 

 scribed by Mr. Gilbert. The implement was a spear-head 3J 

 inches in length, finely made and well preserved. 



In the discussion which followed this paper, several members 

 called attention to the great value of the find from the fact 

 that it was made by a well-trained observer, who appreciated the 

 importance of his discovery before destroying the evidence, and 

 then carefully studied every detail connected with it. 



