190 G. F. BECKER — ANTIQUITIES FROM TABLE MOUNTAIN. 



The assertion that human remains or implements of any kind are found 

 with such fossils is surprising enough to provoke skepticism ; but when it 

 must be added that the implements said to have been discovered in these 

 deposits are most unquestionably neolithic, on a level so far as workmanship 

 is concerned with those in use by the California Indians during the present 

 century, and that the famous Calaveras skull is of no lower type than that 

 of the living Indians of the northwest, it cannot be wondered that many 

 European naturalists and some American authorities refuse to accept as 

 genuine the discoveries announced. 



If such an association of remains actually occurs, theories must be modified 

 to fit the fact; but novel facts require evidence as strong as their apparent 

 improbability is great. 



I have come into possession of proofs of the occurrences in question which 

 are in some respects more convincing than any yet brought forward. I pro- 

 pose to lay these before the Society and then to make a suggestion as to the 

 method of reconciling these facts with those observed elsewhere. 



Geology of Table Mountain. — The history of the Tuolumne Table mountain 

 is briefly as follows: Long before glaciation began in the Sierra the Stanis- 

 laus river pursued a course nearly parallel to its present bed, but some three 

 miles further southward. It filled a broad channel with coarse gravels which 

 have since become compact and partially indurated. After these gravels 

 had reached a thickness of some 200 feet there was an eruption of basalt 

 which ran down the channel and covered it with an even-topped sheet of 

 lava often 150 feet thick. The glaciation of the Sierra began after this flow, 

 and seemingly soon after it. During the glacial period of California the 

 Stanislaus, displaced from its former bed, cut a new and far deeper one, so 

 that the river now' runs a couple of thousand feet below the top of Table 

 mountain. It must clearly have eroded this great depth since the lava flow, 

 and the lava sheet remains as the cap of a relatively elevated mass. 



The gravels of Table mountain have yielded and still yield much gold, and 

 very numerous tunnels have been driven into the mass for the purpose of 

 finding the precious metal. In the course of these explorations fossils, in- 

 cluding mastodon remains, have certainly been found. It is also asserted 

 that human relics have been discovered beneath the lava cap. 



Instances of the Occurrence of Relics beneath the Lava Cap. 



Relics recorded by Whitney. — The following is a brief resume of the dis- 

 coveries of human relics reported by Professor J. D. Whitney : * Dr. Perez 

 Snell of Sonora picked from a car-load of gravel, as it was coming out from 

 under Table mountain, a stone grinding implement which was examined by 

 Professor Whitney. Dr. Snell also possessed many other implements and a 



*Auriferous Gravels, 1880, p. 264. 



