22 E. H. SELLARDS 



implements add support to the evidence obtained from the bones 

 themselves. 



The place of the human bones in the formation affords a strong 

 argument for their contemporaneity with the associated fossils. 

 Those human bones found in the south bank of the canal, 330 feet 

 west of the bridge, lie beneath 18 inches of marl rock. The human 

 bones found in the same bank, 462 feet west of the bridge, lie 

 beneath 4 feet of stratified deposits consisting of alternating 

 layers of sand and muck, which could not have been dug through 

 and replaced without interrupting the continuity of the strata. 

 Moreover, the presence of the muck, as well as the conditions of 

 preservation of the plant remains, indicates that this locality has 

 been continuously moist since the materials of both Nos. 2 and 3 

 were deposited. Aside from the improbability of locating a grave 

 in a muck bed, it is probably impossible without special appliances 

 to dig a grave through an undrained muck bed on account of the 

 presence of ground-water. If it be suggested that the human 

 remains in stratum No. 2 represent a burial, it must be recognized 

 that the reference is not to a recent burial, but to a burial ante- 

 dating the deposition or existence of stratum No. 3 of the section, 

 and hence to an event that occurred probably within the Pleisto- 

 cene period of time. There is, however, strong evidence that the 

 human remains in this deposit do not represent a burial by human 

 agency, but are fossils normal to the stratum, having been included 

 in the earth in the same way and at the same time that the other 

 bones were buried in the accumulating deposits. 



The manner of occurrence of the human bones is entirely 

 similar to that of the other vertebrate fossils. Whole skeletons 

 are not found, and, indeed, complete bones are by no means com- 

 mon. On the contrary, the human bones as well as the bones of 

 the other animals are scattered, imperfectly preserved, and fre- 

 quently broken. The breaks in the bones are as a rule sharp- 

 edged, and it would seem that in the case both of the human and 

 of the other vertebrates the bones were more or less disturbed after 

 they had lost enough of the organic matter to become sufficiently 

 brittle to break as they were moved about by water before reaching 

 their final resting-place. An illustration of the way in which the 



