August 19, 1921] 



SCIENCE 



147 



AN ANCIENT SKELETON DISCOVERED 

 IN ECUADOR 



During the month of May, while engaged 

 in archeological work on the Ecuadorian coast, 

 for the Museum of the American Indian Heye 

 Foundation, the writer discovered, in situ, a 

 complete human skeleton under conditions 

 which indicate considerable antiquity. The 

 find was made in the province of Esmeraldas, 

 along the beach at a place 40 miles north of 

 the equator called Tomsupa. This was the 

 writer's third visit to the site, which he dis- 

 covered in 1907. A brief account was pub- 

 lished in his pax)er, " Archeological research 

 on the coast of Esmeraldas, Ecuador," in the 

 proceedings of the XVI. Internationalien 

 Amerikanisten-Kongresses, Wien, 1909. In 

 this paper attention was called to the character 

 of the deposits, accompanied by a photograph 

 of the same. 



The skeleton recently uncovered was found 

 in the bank a few hundred yards north of the 

 place shown in the photograph, at a point 

 where the alluvium is considerably deeper. 

 All along the beach in the vicinity for some 

 distance one finds deposits of human artifacts 

 in the bank. 



The region here is a plain bounded on the 

 north by low hills which terminate at the sea 

 in a point called Punta Chevele. To the 

 south just below where the Atacames River 

 empties into the sea there are also hills, and 

 at the ocean is a rocky point called Punta 

 Sua. From appearances it would seem that 

 this plain, three or four miles wide, was for- 

 merly the dwelling place of numerous people, 

 as we not only find here the Tomsupa deposits, 

 but they are even more extensive at the south- 

 ern limit along the banks of the Atacames 

 River, and they also extend inland for some 

 distance. It would seem that this plain later 

 became the course of a great river, which 

 gradually deposited gravel and alluvium to a 

 depth of fifteen feet. Then came a washing 

 away of the alluvium, more extensive to the 

 south, as at present more than half of the 

 plain along the beach is only slightly above 

 high water mark. 



In the paper above referred to are the fol- 

 lowing data about the Tomsupa deposits: 



The layer of pottery along the beach varies 

 from 20 to 24 inches, and the measurements are 

 as follows: alluvium and light earth, 16 inches; 

 dark soil, ashes containing pottery and shells, 2 

 feet; sand to present line of beach, 1 foot. 



At other places during our last trip deposits 

 were found covered with 3 feet, and even 5 

 feet of alluvium. Skeletal remains were dis- 

 covered nearby at a depth of 4 feet 7 inches 

 under undisturbed alluvium. 



Near the northern extremity of the plain 

 is a ridge of alluvium running at right angles 

 to the beach, which abruptly terminates at 

 the north toward Punta Chevele, and from 

 here on to the point the same conditions pre- 

 vail as at Atacames, the plain being only 

 slightly above high water mark. In this al- 

 luvial ridge there is a layer of stratified coarse 

 gravel 12 feet from the surface, and this de- 

 posit extends southward for several hundred 

 yards terminating with a covering of alluvium 

 of three or four feet. This gravel deposit 

 averages 2J feet in thickness. 



The skeleton to which attention is called 

 in this communication was discovered at the 

 deepest part of the ridge and under the gravel, 

 being covered by 12 feet of alluvium, and 2J 

 feet of gravel. It was discovered by the wri- 

 ter's assistant, his son, Winthrop L. Saville, 

 whose attention was drawn to a reddish knob 

 just visible under the undisturbed gravel and 

 alluvium. After the writer and his assistant 

 excavated for a few minutes it was found to 

 be a human leg bone. As night was coming 

 on, a photograph was taken of the locality; 

 the remains were carefully covered to protect 

 them from rain and the carelessness of passers- 

 by, for in this part of Ecuador the beach is the 

 only highway. The next day the excavation 

 was continued with some difiiculty due to the 

 extreme fragility of the bones and the nature 

 of the high bank above, for the writer had 

 far too little time at his disposal to permit 

 of first cutting down the bank, and no laborers 

 could be obtained at this place. We finally 

 uncovered the remains of a young man just 

 cutting his wisdom teeth. He had been buried 



