792 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IX. No. 281. 



map of the Mobile and Alabama river region 

 and au index accompany the text. 



Some of the copper pendants figured are of 

 exceeding interest. Pipes of earthenware, fish- 

 hooks of shell and bone, disks probably for the 

 ear lobe, incised shell disks and the decoration 

 on the pottery are all worthy of study. 



The author states that although the attention 

 given by him to the Mobile and Alabama rivers 

 does not compare with that accorded by him to 

 the St. Johns river, Florida, and to the Georgia 

 coast, yet it was fully ample to indicate that 

 mounds along these rivers were of rare oc- 

 curence and, as a rule, insignificant in size. He 

 suspects that at many places the people were 

 buried in cemeteries and that these being un- 

 marked have largely escaped notice. The 

 borders of Mobile and Alabama rivers were 

 probably not so thickly settled as the St. Johns. 

 This may be due to the fact that shad, bass and 

 shellfish are less abundant in the former. The 

 shellheaps are insignificant compared with those 

 covering acres along the St. Johns. Swamps 

 and malaria may also have had their influence. 



Quartz is more used than chert for points, a 

 reverse of the facts for Florida and Georgia 

 coast. The earthenware, although good and 

 often tempered with shell, was not striking in 

 type. In some of it Tennessee and Mississippi 

 Valley influence is suggested. 



The gritty ware of lower Georgia and its 

 complicated stamp decorations were rare, but 

 some sherds bearing decorations of the kind 

 found in Georgia, Carolina and upper Florida 

 were found. None of the highest type of gulf- 

 ware was met and perforations for suspension 

 were not common. 



Plural burials of uncremated bones in single 

 urns proved a fact new to science for the south- 

 east, although plural burials of cremated bones 

 may have been known. One case of cremation 

 was found which, while almost totally foreign 

 to this region, is frequently met in Florida and 

 Georgia. 



Mr. Moore's investigations are the flrst of a 

 systematic nature to be carried on along the 

 Mobile and the Alabama. This record of the 

 results is a most happy addition to the already 

 valuable Floridian library from his pen. 



Haelan I. Smith. 



A NEW PALEOLITHIC STATION. 



A DISCOVERY of unusual importance is an- 

 nounced in the Corres^yondenz-Blatt der deutschen 

 Gesellschaft fur Anthropologie, Ethnologic und 

 Urgeschichte for March. The announcement, as 

 well as the discovery, is by Professor Gorjanovic- 

 Kramberger, Director of the National Museum 

 of Geology and Paleontology at Agram, capital of 

 Croatia, Austria-Hungary. The find was made 

 on the bank of the Krapina, a small stream in 

 northern Croatia, and consists of the paleolithic 

 remains of man (pieces of the jaw bone with 

 teeth, isolated teeth, parietal and occipital frag- 

 ments, etc.), and chipped implements of stone, 

 associated with Rhinoceros tichorhinus. Bos 

 primigenius, Ursus spelseus, Sus, Castor fiber, 

 etc. 



These culture-bearing deposits, nine zones in 

 all, occur in what might be called a rock shelter 

 of stratified Miocene sandstone. Of the nine 

 zones, the lowest only shows evidence of stream- 

 action, and that at a time when the water-level 

 was considerably higher than now. The eight 

 superimposed layers are products of weather- 

 ing from the overhanging Micrcene sandstone. 

 The thickness of the entire deposit measures 

 8.5 meters. The above mentioned animal 

 remains occur throughout the series of layers, 

 at the same time, on account of the relative fre- 

 quency of certain remains, three faunal horizons 

 are readily determined : 



1 Castor fiber, 

 3-4 Homo sapiens, 

 9 Ursus spelfeus. 



It is pointed out that horizon 3-4 contains 

 burnt human as well as animal bones. The 

 bones are bright yellow and very friable, the 

 phalanges and teeth alone being well preserved. 

 The station has produced in all, more than one 

 thousand fragments of bone. Unfortunately, 

 the preliminary report gives little idea as to 

 the character of the industry except to say that 

 the implements are angular pieces of jasper 

 and opal. 



The appearance of charcoal, ashes, burnt 

 sand, stone implements and bone fragments all 

 the way from the second to the ninth and top- 

 most layer, and the relatively large proportion 

 of the human to the animal remains, will tend 

 to increase the interest in Dr. Gorjanovic-Kram- 



