50 ALES HRDLICKA 



In considering these problems the anthropological characteris- 

 tics of the bones themselves deserve serious consideration. They 

 now lie before the writer, and he has not found as yet a single 

 feature in which they would not agree with recent, more especially 

 Indian, bones. The juvenile or young adult incisor tooth presents 

 in a typical way the highly specialized characteristic form of the 

 Indian middle upper incisor; what there is of the lower jaw is 

 wholly of modern form; the skull of skeleton No. II by its lack of 

 thickness, good size, and subdued supraorbital ridges is actually of a 

 type superior to that of a large majority of the Florida Indians; 

 and the shape and dimensions of the other bones are those of a man 

 of the present day. There is nothing which would remind the 

 anthropologist of early man. 



In conclusion the writer wishes to submit that besides all the 

 foregoing considerations there are broader anthropological and 

 archaeological problems which should receive due attention in all 

 cases of this nature. They are both cultural and anthropological, 

 and their discussion must be reserved for the detailed report. 

 It may, however, be here briefly pointed out that an advanced state 

 of culture such as that shown by the pottery, bone implements, and 

 worked stone (brought from a considerable distance) implies a 

 numerous population, spread over large areas, acquainted thor- 

 oughly with fire, with cooking food, and with all the usual primitive 

 arts. Such a population would surely have left many tangible 

 traces of their presence on the Continent, some of which at least 

 would by this time have been discovered. 



It is the opinion of the writer, as the result of his investigations, 

 that the human bones found at Vero may well be prehistoric, and 

 date from the early part of the occupation of the Florida peninsula 

 by the Indians; but that no proof is furnished by the circumstances 

 of the find, or by the human bones themselves, which would 

 relegate the latter to an antiquity comparable with that of the 

 fossil remains with which they are associated. 



ADDENDUM 



While at Vero the writer obtained from Mr. Weills 20 frag- 

 ments of pottery recovered from the Vero deposits. In addition 

 to this, two fragments were obtained from the sand mound on the 



