NO. ly SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, I916 25 



face. The deposits above the first skeleton consisted partlv of 

 somewhat inchirated and partly of ordinary sands, overlaid by a 

 layer of marl. The marl when freshly exposed was found to be 

 of the consistency of fresh mortar, but on longer exposure hardened 

 to fairly solid rock. Above skeleton II, there was only muck and 

 irregular sandy patches. 



Skeleton No. I is that of a woman probably adult, skeleton Xo. II 

 tliat of an adult man of somewhat advanced years. The bones of 

 the former lay close together, those of the latter were dissociated 

 though lying" within a moderate-sized ellipse. I^roken pottery, bone 

 and stone implements, and stone chips, were found in the same 

 strata, more particularly in the muck layers, with the human bones. 



Fk;. jS. — The locality of the Vero finds. 



Besides the two skeletons, single bones of three additional human 

 bodies — one a child, one a young person and one an adult — were dis- 

 covered in the vicinity. The human bones were considerably miner- 

 alized and in the same strata in which they occurred are found many 

 bones of long extinct animals such as mastodons, tapirs, etc. 



Due to the presence of the fossil animal bones in the same strata 

 with the human remains, and to the mineralization of the latter, the 

 opinion \vas advanced that the human remains were of the same age 

 as the animal bones, which would relegate them to the early part 

 of the Quaternary. 



This was not sustained by an anthropological study of the case and 

 of the remains. The human bones show no signs of weathering, 

 gnawing, or trampling, and the two skeletons were represented by 

 so many parts, that the only satisfactory explanation of the conditions 

 can be found in the assumption that the remains are those of inten- 

 tional burials. 



