BULLETIN OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 



Vol. 14, pp. 133-152 April 20, 1903 



WAS MAN IN AMERICA IN THE GLACIAL PERIOD? 



ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT, N. H. WINCHELL 



{Read before the Society December 30, 1902) 

 CONTENTS 



Page 



Introduction 133 



Surface of the country prior to tlie Glacial period 134 



Length of the Tertiary age 135 



Pre-Glacial geest covering 136 



Advent of the ice-sheets 138 



The loess 139 



The hypotheses as to origin 139 



Aqueous origin of the loess 141 



Stratification of the loess 143 



Significance of its fauna 145 



The Lansing skeleton 146 



The matrix of the skeleton 146 



The skeleton itself 149 



Crucial questions 149 



Existence of man during lowan epoch 149 



Alternative hypotheses 150 



Conclusion 152 



Collateral reflections 152 



Introduction 



The problem of the existence of man in America before or during the 

 Glacial period has received fresh impetus by recent discoveries in the 

 Missouri valley. The lively interest which these discoveries have 

 aroused has led me to occupy the hour which is customarily allowed to 

 the retiring President of the Society in a consideration of these new 

 facts. 



Those who investigate the early history of mankind have been com- 

 pared* to explorers in search of the source of one of those great streams 



* Evans : "Ancient stone implements of Great Britain," p. 425. 

 XIX— Bull. Gbol. Soc. Am., Vol. 14, 1902 (133) 



