36 THE JOURNAL OF GEOLOGY. 



quainted with the true nature of the objects collected and 

 discussed, and little skilled in the observation of the phe- 

 nomena by means of which all questions of age must be deter- 

 mined, have undoubtedly made grievous mistakes and have thus 

 misled an expectant and credulous public. 



The articles themselves, the so - called gravel finds, when 

 closely studied are found to tell their own story much more 

 fully and accurately than it has heretofore been read by students 

 of archeology. This story is that the art of the Delaware valley 

 is to all intents and purposes a unit, that there is nothing 

 unique or especially primitive or ancient and nothing un- Indian 

 in it all. All forms are found on demonstrably recent sites of 

 manufacture. The rude forms assigned by some to glacial times 

 are all apparently "wasters" of Indian manufacture. The large 

 blades of "Eskimo" type are only the larger blades, knives and 

 spear points of the Indian, separated arbitrarily from the body 

 of the art -remains to subserve the ends of a theory, certain 

 obscure phenomena of occurrence having been found to give 

 color to the proceeding. To place any part of this art, rude or 

 elaborate, permanently in any other than the ordinary Indian 

 category will take stronger proofs than have yet been developed 

 in the region itself. 



The question asked in the beginning, "Are there traces of 

 glacial man in the Trenton gravels ? " if not answered decisively 

 in the negative, stands little chance, considering present evi- 

 dence, of being answered in the affirmative. In view of the fact 

 that numerous observations of apparent value have been made 

 in other sections, there is yet sufficient reason for letting the 

 query stand, and we may continue to cherish the hope that pos- 

 sibly by renewed effort and improved methods of investigation, 

 something may yet be found in the Trenton gravels clearly 

 demonstrative of the fascinating belief in a great antiquity for the 

 human race in America. 



The evidence upon which paleolithic man in America depends 

 is so intangible that, unsupported by supposed analogies with 

 European conditions and phenomena, and by the suggestions of 



