October 27, 1916] 



SCIENCE 



615 



HUMAN REMAINS FROM THE PLEIS- 

 TOCENE OF FLORIDA 



In a paper recently issued the writer has 

 given an account of the occurrence at Vero on 

 the Atlantic coast in central-eastern Florida, 

 of fossil human remains in association with 

 extinct vertehrates. 1 Human remains have 

 heen found at this locality in two separate 

 strata which differ in age, the one being 

 superimposed upon the other. The older of 

 these two beds is unmistakably of Pleistocene 

 age, and it is from this bed that the new ma- 

 terial now to be described has been obtained. 

 By this new evidence, as well as by that pre- 

 viously given, it is definitely established that 

 man was present in America in association 

 with a Pleistocene vertebrate fauna. Of the 

 mammalian species of this fauna a few, in- 

 cluding chiefly small inconspicuous animals, 

 have persisted to the present time, while the 

 larger animals, including the elephant, mas- 

 todon, camel, horse, bison, tapir and sloth have 

 suffered extinction. With the exception of 

 bison, which are native to North America, and 

 horses which have been reintroduced from Eu- 

 rope and canids which are common to the old 

 and the new world, the nearest existing rela- 

 tives of these extinct species are now found 

 in Central and South America, in Asia or 

 in Africa. 



The vertebrate fossils at Vero are found 

 chiefly in an old stream bed and were discov- 

 ered as a result of the construction of a drain- 

 age canal which extends from the coast some 

 miles inland. The canal was made in 1913 

 and a number of vertebrate fossils, which had 

 been thrown out by the dredge while exca- 

 vating through the stream valley, were ob- 

 tained at that time. Human bones, however, 

 were not found until two years later, October, 

 1915, the first bones obtained having been ex- 

 posed as the result of the lateral caving of the 

 canal bank. A second discovery of human re- 

 mains was made in April, 1916, and a third in 

 June, 1916. The present paper relates to the 

 latest of these discoveries, the earlier finds 

 having been described in the publication to 

 which reference has been made. 



lAmer. Jour. Sci. (4), XLII., pp. 1-18, July, 

 1916. 



At the time of the discovery of the verte- 

 brate fossils at Vero, the writer suggested to 

 those who were collecting there the importance 

 of keeping a close watch for associated human 

 remains. The subsequent discoveries are to be 

 credited very largely to the patience and per- 

 sistence of Messrs. Frank Ayers and Isaac M. 

 Weills, to whose careful observations at this 

 locality during the past three years are due 

 chiefly the important results that have been 

 obtained. 



A section through the stream bed at Vero is 

 indicated in the accompanying text-figure. 

 Number 1 of the section represents a marine 

 shell marl which underlies a large area in 

 eastern and southern Florida and is known 

 from its invertebrate fauna to be of Pleisto- 

 cene age. 2 Number 2 of the section consists 

 of cross-bedded sand which at the top grades 

 into a fresh-water marl, the whole stratum 

 having an average thickness of from three to 

 five feet. Vertebrate and fresh-water inverte- 

 brate fossils occur throughout this bed from 

 the cross-bedded sands at the base to the marl 

 rock at the top. The sand includes also par- 

 tially decayed wood, and in places muck and 

 plant fragments. It is from this bed that the 

 human and other vertebrate fossils here de- 

 scribed, as well as a part of those previously 

 described, were taken. Number 3 of the section 

 represents an alluvial deposit consisting largely 

 of loose sand and muck which in places grades 

 into a fresh-water marl. The average thick- 

 ness of this later bed is about two feet, al- 

 though in places it reaches a maximum of five 

 or six feet. 



Between the marine marl, number 1 of the 

 section, and the sand and marl stratum hold- 

 ing human and other vertebrate fossils, num- 

 ber 2 of the section, there exists no persistent 

 well-marked break in deposition. There is, 

 however, a change from marine to fresh-water 

 conditions, and accompanying this change one 



- To this extensive deposit of marine shell marl 

 bordering the Atlantic coast, the writer in 1912 

 applied the term Anastasia formation, this name 

 having been selected because of the fact that the 

 shell marl was first quarried and described on 

 Anastasia Island near St. Augustine, where it is 

 known as "Coquina. " (Fla. Geol. Surv. Fourth 

 Annual Eeport, p. 18, 1912.) 



