202 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XL. No. 1023 



the present day. The giant Teratornis, and 

 possibly several other extinct forms in this 

 fauna, may indicate that the asphalt in these 

 chimneys was trapping animals at a time re- 

 moved by some thousands of years from the 

 present. On the other hand, it may be that 

 these species were living here within historic 

 time. A third possibility is that the bones of 

 such extinct species as are found here have 

 been removed in some way from an older de- 

 posit, and found a resting place in the chim- 

 neys in comparatively recent time. Still more 

 remote is a fourth possibility that in Pleisto- 

 cene time these chimneys connected with an 

 open pool far above the present surface of the 

 ground; that bones of a few animals trapped 

 at that time sank to the position in which they 

 were found in the excavations; and that after 

 the removal of the upper deposits by erosion, 

 the later or younger fauna was trapped and 

 mingled with the few bones of earlier date. 



The Human Remains 



The human bones were all found in the 

 north chimney, where the history of accumu- 

 lation is more complicated than in the south 

 vent. The pit containing the human remains 

 also contains all of the presumably associated 

 specimens representing extinct animals. 



The human remains were found rather 

 widely scattered between a depth of about six 

 feet and nine feet. The whole collection of 

 human bones seems to represent one individ- 

 ual. The bones are generally very much worn. 

 The wear in some eases suggests movement 

 within the pit in such a manner that sand in 

 the tar, or resting against the wall of the chim- 

 ney, has cut away the bone by long-continued 

 rubbing. 



Enough of the human skeleton was found in 

 the pit to give a fairly satisfactory idea as to 

 the characteristics of the individual it repre- 

 sents. The sljull is that of a small person of 

 middle age, possibly a woman. The brain ease 

 is relatively as large as that in some of the 

 living native races of America. According to 

 Dr. A. L. Kroeber the racial characteristics do 

 not differ decidedly from those of people whose 

 remains have been excavated in mounds on 

 Santa Rosa Island off the coast of southern 



California. So far as the characteristics of 

 the skeleton are concerned, it is not necessary 

 to suppose that we have here an individual who 

 lived at a remote time when the human fam- 

 ily was in a relatively low stage of evolution. 

 This skull is not comparable to those of an- 

 cient races of the Neanderthal or earlier 

 types. On the other hand, one must not for- 

 get that people of a fairly advanced stage of 

 brain development were already in existence 

 at the beginning of the present or Recent geo- 

 logical period. 



The characters of the human remains taken 

 by themselves indicate that this person lived 

 either within the present or Recent period, or 

 at a time not earlier than the end of the 

 Pleistocene period immediately preceding it. 



Conclusions 

 A summary of available information re- 

 garding the age of the human skeleton found 

 in pit ten at Raneho La Brea is as follows: 



1. The evidence of geologic occurrence in 

 the asphalt chimney taken by itself counts for 

 relatively little owing to the peculiar condi- 

 tions under which these deposits are formed. 

 In so far as this is of value it suggests an age 

 later than that of the tar pits containing the 

 typical Raneho La Brea fauna. 



2. The fauna associated with the human re- 

 mains in pit ten is quite different from the 

 typical Pleistocene Raneho La Brea fauna, 

 and must have inhabited this region at a dif- 

 ferent period. The fauna in pit ten is closely 

 related to that of the present or Recent period. 

 It is distinctly later in age than the typical 

 Raneho La Brea fauna. 



3. The characters of the human remains, 

 taken by themselves, show a stage of develop- 

 ment similar to that of man of the present day 

 and not eailier than man of the latest Pleisto- 

 cene time. 



4. The evidence as a whole indicates that 

 the human skeleton from pit ten is of a period 

 much later than that of the typical Raneho La 

 Brea fauna, the time being either within the 

 Recent period or not earlier than the very 

 latest portion of Pleistocene time. The pos- 

 sible association of the human remains with 



