630 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1888. 



They have been discovered iu almost every State of the United States, 

 and if they be accepted as such, their presence would prove the occu- 

 j)ation of America by man during that period. This presence and oc- 

 cupation, and the consequent antiquity seems to have been established 

 by the discovery of implements of human manufacture which it is not 

 l)ossible to avoid calling paleolithic, at various localities in the United 

 States. These implements have been found to the number of several 

 hundred by Dr. Abbott iu the gravels of the Delaware Eiver, as they 

 were washed from the glacial terminal moraine and deposited at Tren- 

 ton, ]S[ew Jersey ; also by Miss Franc E. Babbitt, in the gravels of one 

 of the terraces of the Mississippi River, at Little Falls, Minnesota. 

 Similar implements have also been found in the gravels of the Little 

 Miami River, at Loveland, Ohio, in White River, Indiana, and in the 

 Columbia gravels of the railway cuts south of Chester, Pennsylvania. 

 The association and condition of these finds would seem to satisfacto- 

 rily establish the antiquity of man's occupation in this country. Simi- 

 lar implements have been discovered on the surface in almost every 

 State. 



A circular, No. 36, was issued by the Smithsonian Institution in 

 January, 1888, in which the following questions were put for informa- 

 tion concerning these implements: 



Question 1. — How many of these rude stone implements have you in your collec- 

 tion ? 

 Question 2. — Of what material are they made ? 

 Question 3, — Where have they been found ? 



(1) As to locality. 



(2) Position, condition and associated with what objects. 



(3) Whether on or under the surface, and if so, at what depth, and in what kind 



of geologic formation. 



(4) Were they found in mounds, tombs, or other ancient structures. 



(5) Were any other ancient implements found with them, and if so, of what kind. 



(6) Did their deposit seem to be accidental or intentional. 



(7) Have they been described in any publication, and if so in, what, and where 



can it be obtained. 



(8) Can you forward specimens (as many as possible) to this Museum in exchange 



for publications or duplicate specimens. 



Answers and information responding to these questions not hereto- 

 fore given are still desired, to the end that the record may be kept up.* 



Cuts of certain paleolithic implements were given for information 

 and comparison, among which were the following : 



* The information received up to date in reply to this inquiry is embodied in a 

 paper in this report entitled "Results of an inquiry as to the existence of man in 

 North America during the paleolithic period of the stone age." 



