LIBRARY 



RIM I F T I Kl ^^"^ ^^^^ 



L) U L L L I I IN BOTANECAL 



OF THE Q^RDE 



SootHern Galilornia flcadeniy of SclenGcs 



VOL. I LOS ANGELES, CAL, JULY I, 1902. NO. 7 



231 West Firsx Street. 



PREHISTORIC CALIFORNIA. 



Its TopogracpKv. Flora. a.nd Fauna. — With the Evidence of 

 the Time of the Advent of Man, a.nd His Development, 

 Fronn the Records of His Pa.st Found in the Soil. 



BY DR. LORENZO GORDIN YATES. 



In the following- pages an attempt will be made to present 

 to the mind of the reader some idea of the appearance and con- 

 ditions prevalent in what is now known as California, previous 

 to ,and at the time of the first appearance of its human inhabi- 

 tants. 



And later to illustrate and describe a sufficient number and 

 variety of the unique and interesting' implements and other evi- 

 dences of man's occupancy of the region, to assist the student in 

 unravelling- the mythical history of the aboriginal tribes and peo- 

 ples who have become, or soon will be extinct. And, further, to 

 preserve the records of some of the most characteristic forms of 

 the handiwork of the vanishing- race, or races of Prehistoric 

 California, especially as' many of these forms have been selected 

 from the few collections with us which are liable to be removed 

 from the State, unless more interest is taken to retain them than 

 has been in the past. 



Many of the originals from which the illustrations to be 

 used in the following pages were made, have, since the writer 

 executed the drawings, been removed to other States and coun- 

 tries. 



As to the success of the writer's efforts to throw light on 

 the dark pages of the history of the former inhabitants of Cal- 

 ifornia, each reader must decide for himself, for where so few 

 reliable data are available and such widely different opinions 

 prevail, no one writer can be expected to decide satisfactorily 

 upon the relative merits of so many diverse theories. 



To the pursuit of material for the elucidation of the objects 

 herein specified, the writer has, during the past forty years, de- 

 voted much time and study. 



This line of research has been carried out by systematic and 

 thorough exploration of aboriginal village sites, mounds, burial 

 places, shell heaps, islands, caves, rock shelters, ancient trails, 



