376 



KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 



raising for their existence. The Government makes no provision for the Pueblo 

 Indians in the regular appropriation bills. — N. Y. Evening Post. 



ANTIQUITY OF MAN IN AMERICA. 



PROF. F. W. PUTNAM. 



{Repriiited, with slight changes and addition of note, from Proceedings of American Antiquarian 

 Society, at Semi-Annual 3feeting, AprilSO, 1884.] 



Frederick W. Putnam, Curator of the Peabody Museum of American Archae- 

 ology at Cambridge, made a few remarks bearing upon the antiquity of man in 

 America, based upon objects recently received at the Museum. 



He presented photographs of four blocks of tufa each containing the imprint 

 of a human foot. These blocks were cut from a bed of tufa sixteen feet from the 

 surface, near the shore of Lake Managua, in Nicaragua, and were obtained by 

 Dr. Earl Flint, who has been for several years investigating the archaeology of 

 Nicaragua for the museum and has forwarded many important collections from 

 the old burial mounds and shellheaps of that country. The volcanic materials 

 above the foot-prints probably represent several distinct volcanic eruptions fol- 

 lowed by deposits of silt. In one bed, apparently of clay and volcanic-ash, six 

 and one-half feet above the foot-prints, many fossil leaves were found. Speci- 

 mens of these are now in the museum and their specific determination is waited 

 for with interest. While there can be no doubt of a great antiquity for these 

 foot-prints, only a careful geological examination of the locality and a study of 

 the fossils in the superimposed beds will determine whether that antiquity is to be 

 counted by centuries or by geological time. ^ 



1 Since this notice was printed in the volume of Proceedings the Museum has received 



from Dr. Flint a representation of a vertical section of the quarry 300 yards from L&ke Managua, 



as follows : 



Surface soil, . . . 12 to 18 inches. 



Hard Tufa, .... 20 " 



Seam, . . . . . — " 



Hard Tufa 20 " 



Seam, . . . . . — " 



Hard Tufa 17 " 



Seam of black mould, . . — " 



Compact Tufa used for building 



purposes, .... 28 " 



Seam of black mould, . . — " 



Hard Bluish-ash and Clay, con- 

 taining fossil leaves, . . 14 " 



Hard yellow Clay (native name 



Tal-petate), . . .12 " 



Scattered Pumice, . . .' 2 " 



Sand, . . . . . 7 " 



Compact Tufa used for building, 47 " 



Seam, . . . . . — " 



Compact Tufa, . . . 6 " 



Dark Sand, . . . . 1 " 



Hard Tufa, dark, . . . 2 " 



Sand, 1 «' 



This layer increases to 15 feet to the South 

 and South- West. 



Variable. 



"Variable, 5 to 7 inches. 



