1 6 Report of the President. 



ination of the glacial gravel as it is removed by the railroad com- 

 pany, or of the underlying sand as it is dug away for the use of 

 the potteries, or with his trowel to enlarge his trenches inch by 

 inch. During this careful work numerous stone implements have 

 been found in situ in what is admitted by several competent geolo- 

 gists to be the deposit made at the closing of the glacial period. 

 He has also secured a portion of the scapula of a musk ox which 

 was found in the sand layer underlying the true glacial gravel. 

 On the first day of December last, Mr. Volk himself discovered 

 and removed with his own hands a fragment of a human femur, 

 which was in situ seven feet from the surface in the sand layer 

 beneath the undisturbed glacial gravel, the true Trenton gravel of 

 all geologists. Photographs and careful observations bearing on 

 this most important discovery were made ; and there seems to be no 

 reason to doubt that this bone is as old as the deposit in which 

 it was found. The bone is very white and chalky, and upon its 

 surface can still be traced a number of striae having the appear- 

 ance of glacial scratches, like those on a highly polished pebble 

 taken from the same layer a few feet distant. On December 

 6th Mr. Volk found three fragments of a portion of a human 

 parietal in the talus about twenty-five feet from the spot where the 

 femur was discovered in situ. These pieces of a human skull were 

 lying on the recently fallen talus in such a position that it was 

 evident they had been dislodged from the sand layer under the 

 gravel. Like the femur, they are chalky, striated and slightly 

 stained by iron derived from the gravel. The three pieces fit 

 together and form part of a parietal bone. Mr. Volk has also dis- 

 covered in one of his deep trenches, at about six feet from the sur- 

 face, fragmentary remains of portions of three skeletons lying near 

 together and below an unbroken, unmixed thin stratum of sand. 

 The geological conditions relating to this discovery are not yet 

 fully understood ; but that the age of these skeletons is very great 

 there can be no doubt. Mr. Volk has also been able to carry on 

 an exploration of an Indian site on the lowlands near Trenton, 

 from which he has obtained several skeletons in good condition, 

 as well as a large quantity of artifacts of various kinds. It is 

 hoped that Mr. Volk's employment in archaeological researches 

 in various parts of the upper Delaware valley may be continued. 



