541 A. Hrdlidka — Early M<*n in America* 



South America. In -the latter continent skeletal remains of 

 man. which came to be regarded as of geological antiquity, 

 have been accumulating since the forties of the past century, 

 and by the end of the last decade had multiplied to such an 

 extent and had become so important, as to call for the closest 

 attention on the part of anthropologists. Moreover, frequent 

 reports were made of finds of fossil animal bones charred, 

 striated, perforated or broken by human agency in the far 

 past; of burnt earth and scoriae showing human activities deep 

 in the Pampean times ; and we were even told of whole cul- 

 tures, represented by numerous archaeological objects, belong- 

 ing to the Quaternary or even the Tertiary. Finally, the scien- 

 tific world was startled by an announcement of remains of not 

 merely a number of distinct ancient species of man, but also of 

 several human precursors, supposed to be connected, some- 

 where in the Eocene, with the little South American primates 

 of that period. 



It will be useful to introduce a condensed chronologically 

 arranged account (pp. 546-548) of at least the skeletal mate- 

 rial upon which rests the contentions that geologically ancient 

 man existed in South America. 



It was principally on the basis of the finds shown in this chart 

 that Professor Florentino Ameghino, the Argentinian paleon- 

 tologist and author who was in the largest degree respon- 

 sible for these reports, has formulated a far-reaching theory 

 regarding not only the presence of early man in South America, 

 but also man's descent and his migrations, which, if definitely 

 established, would greatly enlarge and modify our scope of 

 vision. 



On close inspection, however, the records of the finds of the 

 supposedly ancient remains, the descriptions of the specimens 

 themselves and the deductions drawn from the material, as a 

 rule were found to be unsatisfactory. They were full of 

 defects and uncertainties which, in view of the importance of 

 the subject, were most perplexing and owing to the remoteness 

 of the held and other difficulties, appeared as insurmountable 

 obstacles to the formation of a definite opinion on the merits 

 of the evidence ; indeed the whole subject threatened to 

 become a tangle which might never be unraveled. 



It was under these conditions that the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion in 1910 sent to South America, and particularly Argentina, 

 an expedition consisting of the writer and of Mr. Bailey Willis, 

 a geologist of much experience with formations such as were 

 to be met with in the course of the investigation. The objects 

 of this expedition were to gain as far as possible a clear view 

 of the whole problem of early man in the southern conti- 

 nent ; to examine the original specimens relating to the sub- 

 ject; to study at least the principal localities and deposits from 



