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Announced as such, it deserves consideration, for it is one of the better 
class of examples of the old method. 
The nucleus of the article consists of a statement by Mr. Sam 
Huston, a surveyor and collector, under date of August 13, 1895, of 
the finding, over three years previous to that date, of a rude stone 
implement, in a gravel terrace near Brilliant, on the Ohio River. The 
terrace ranges from 65 to 80 feet above low water, and consists of 
interstratified sand, fine gravel, and clay in small quantities, all with 
rare exceptions cross-bedded. “Indian mounds and intrusive burials 
occur at numerous places on the terrace, but the stratification and the 
cross-bedding of the sands and gravels of it are such that intrusive 
burials or excavations cannot be made without leaving evidence so 
distinct as to be readily seen, and at the face of the excavation a slip 
or talus is easily detected.” The flint implement was found “under 
- about eight feet of undisturbed cross-bedded stratification, only the 
point of the implement showing on the perpendicular face of the 
excavation. ‘The condition of the stratification in all of the superin- 
cumbent eight feet, which was closely examined by me, was such as to 
convince me that the implement was not intrusive, but had been 
deposited with the remainder of the material of the terrace” (Huston). 
Mr. Huston’s observations may fairly be accepted as excluding 
intrusive burial by Indians, but they do not seem to exclude intrusion 
by modes which do not notably disturb the stratification, for these do 
not appear to have been in mind at the time of his observations and 
would not naturally obtrude themselves upon attention. These 
neglected modes of intrusion were discussed at the meeting of the 
American Association for the Advancement of Science at Madison, 
but this was some time after Mr. Huston’s observations were made, and 
he obviously could not avail himself of the suggestions there offered. 
Particularly applicable to the present case is the mode of intrusion 
offered by the decay of tree roots, as this is not only a forest region, 
but the elevation of the terrace, the porosity of the sand and gravel, 
and the low water level especially invited the deep penetration of large 
roots. Allowing a hundred years for a generation of trees, there falls 
within the conventional historical period of 6000 years, the possibility 
of sixty successive forests. ‘This may serve to suggest in a rude way 
the large number of root-tubes which may have been opened by decay 
and afterwards filled in relatively modern times. It is a well-known 
fact that decay commonly starts at the surface and proceeds down- 
