October 15, 1915] 



SCIENCE 



543 



panzee, to Africa, and the orang and gibbon to the 

 Far East. The presumption is strong, therefore, 

 that the human race also originated in the Old 

 World. 



To the Paeifie area belong the well-known fossil 

 ape-man from Java, Pithecanthropus erectus, which 

 according to the associated fauna and flora is of 

 lower Pleistocene age. 



The Selenka Trinil Expedition of 1907-08, one 

 of whose results was to reduce the age of Pithe- 

 canthropus remains from Pliocene to lower Pleisto- 

 cene, secured a tooth that is said by Dr. WalkofE to 

 be definitely human. It is a third lower molar 

 found not at the Trinil site, but in a neighboring 

 stream bed and in deposits older (Pliocene) than 

 those in which Pithecanthropus occurred. Should 

 this prove to be the case. Pithecanthropus could 

 no longer be regarded as a precursor of man; It 

 would give us instead the cross section of a dif- 

 ferent limb of the Primate tree from the limb 

 whose branches represent the various types of 

 Hominidse. 



The principal event of the Australian meetings 

 of the British Association for the Advancement of 

 Science one year ago was the presentation of a 

 fossilized human skull from Darling Downs on the 

 border between New South Wales and Queensland. 

 Unfortunately this specimen was not found in 

 situ; but is in the same state of fossilization as 

 are the remains of extinct animal species from the 

 same locality. The latter are said to be of Pleis- 

 tocene age. The ' ' solidly fossilized' ' human skull 

 (that of a youth) is evidently not of Neandertal 

 type; nevertheless the authorities present were of 

 the opinion that it represents an extremely primi- 

 tive type. When archeologists become thoroughly 

 awake to the possibilities of China a new chapter 

 in the antiquity of occupation of the Pacific area 

 will in all probability be recorded. 



Passing to the American Pacific shores a good 

 deal has already been accomplished especially in 

 California; but the results do not point to a great 

 antiquity of occupation. Man probably entered 

 the Americas by way of Bering Strait after the 

 final retreat of the last maximum glaciation. 

 Bearing directly on this point is the discovery in 

 1912 by Dr. Hrdlicka of vestiges of an ancient 

 population in northeastern Asia persisting there 

 perhaps since late Paleolithic times, and which 

 possibly gave rise to the American Indian. This 

 is in line with the results of the Jesup North Pa- 

 cific Expedition, and future archeologioal discov- 

 eries may confidently be expected to support the 

 same point of view. As a seat of human occupa- 



tion, therefore, China probably antedates Mexico 

 and Peru. 



Antiquity of Man in California from the Point of 



View of the Paleontologist : John 0. Merriam. 



In working over the collections of the state 

 geological survey of California in 1894, the 

 writer 's attention was particularly attracted by a 

 collection of mortars and other objects of human 

 manufacture, which, according to the accompany- 

 ing labels, had been found in the Pleistocene 

 gold-bearing gravels of California. Accompany- 

 ing these collections were other objects of a similar 

 nature reported by reputable observers to have been 

 obtained in formations not younger than Pleisto- 

 cene. Although the objects in question were not 

 unlike implements manufactured by the Indians 

 of California within very recent time, the evi- 

 dence favoring their antiquity appeared so re- 

 markably definite that it seemed worth while at- 

 tempting to secure all the facts bearing on the 

 question of the occurrence and age in order to 

 obtain some explanation of the evident inconsist- 

 ency. Numerous inquiries among intelligent ob- 

 servers of good repute regarding the occurrences 

 of human remains and relics in the auriferous 

 gravels of California brought out a considerable 

 amount of information as to the finds already 

 known, and added several important occurrences 

 to the list available. At this time there were 

 known to the writer not less than eleven cases in 

 which, from the point of view of the unprejudiced 

 observer there seemed no question but that arti- 

 ficially fashioned objects had been found to be 

 original constituents of Pleistocene or earlier 

 formation of the California region. 



The plan of work thus outlined was beginning 

 to furnish small results when the organization of 

 the department of anthropology at the University 

 of California, through the generosity of Mrs. 

 Phoebe A. Hearst, made it possible to carry out 

 the whole scheme of investigation, only a small 

 portion of which it had seemed possible for the 

 writer to undertake individually up to that time. 



While it is evident that the human race did not 

 originate in America, its occupation of the west- 

 ern hemisphere has apparently covered a long 

 period measured in years, if it does not ac- 

 tually extend back to an earlier geological 

 period. At any rate, the advent of man far ante- 

 dated the beginning of the American historic 

 period and the approximate determination of the 

 date of his arrival, whenever it may have occurred, 

 furnishes an important field for investigation in 

 American history. 



