154 THE JOURNAL OF GEOLOGY. 



admit the possibility of such deception. I have examined 

 the specimen, now in the Peabody Museum, and find it to be 

 identical in every essential feature with typical rejects of the 

 modern blade-maker, lacking the least indication of specializa- 

 tion. It is not safe to call it an implement, no matter what its 

 age, and to present it as evidence of paleolithic culture- is little 

 short of folly. 



The discovery of a number of ancient hearths on the banks 

 of Little Miami river was announced several years ago, arrd may 

 be referred to in this place, since they were associated with 

 deposits of ancient-appearing gravel. Professor Putnam gives 

 the following information in regard to them : An exploring 

 party "discovered five ancient hearths half a mile down the river 

 from the Turner group of earthworks. These hearths were 

 exposed by the river cutting away its bank. The lowest of the 

 five ... is thirteen feet below the surface of the bottom 

 land, and rests upon a layer of gravel seven inches thick, upon 

 which rest ten feet of alluvial deposit. This is by far the lowest 

 and most ancient of the many hearths which from time to time 

 have been exposed by the action of the river, as first noticed sev- 

 eral years ago by Dr. C. L. Metz, who has examined a number 

 of these ancient fire-places, and on one found fragments of pot- 

 tery, which he sent to the Museum last year. These hearths are 

 made of small boulders, in each case covering an area of several 

 square feet. These stones are burnt, and many are splintered by 

 heat. Upon the stones forming this oldest hearth was a consid- 

 erable quantity of ashes and charcoal, but no other evidence of 

 the work of man. These hearths furnish evidence of the occu- 

 pation of the bottom land at different intervals during the form- 

 ation of this deep deposit, filling the valley for miles in extent. 

 That in this lowest hearth we have a considerable antiquity is 

 self-evident ; but how long after the formation of the glacial 

 moraine, from which the gravel overlying it was derived, will 

 only be determined by a careful study of the geology of the 

 whole valley.^ 



^ Putnam, F. W., 23d and 24th Annual Reports of Peabody Museum, p. 92. 



