A. Hrdlldha — Early Man in America. 549 



of ancient human or of any prehuman forms in South America. 

 The evidence obtained attests nothing more than the presence 

 in the south, as similar evidence has formerly shown in the 

 north, of the already differentiated and relatively modern 

 American Indian. 



The bibliography of the subject, the historic data, the details 

 which led to the above conclusions, will be found in a volume 

 recently published by the Bureau of American Ethnology* and 

 need not be here repeated. The only question which requires 

 to be dealt with in this place is that of the causes which have 

 led to the remarkable conclusions concerning the antiquity of 

 man in South America reached by Ameghino and other South 

 American men of science who have occupied themselves with 

 the problem. How has it come about that a number of inves- 

 tigators, including Ameghino, the foremost exponent of South 

 American paleontology, have arrived at, maintained and even 

 strenuously defended conclusions, which after a serious and 

 allsided research into the subject, cannot be accepted and must 

 in fact be entirely subverted by other students. 



The causes may never be fully analyzed but comprise, in 

 the main, defective collection, imperfect criteria of comparison, 

 a lack of experience in anthropology, and finally, in at least 

 some cases, the allure of the new and wonderful. 



As to defective collection, it may be said that with the sole 

 exception of the Lagoa Santa material, not one of the speci- 

 mens advanced as representing early man in South America 

 was gathered in a way to satisfy the requirements of science. 

 Let us turn to the records : 



The " Rio Carcarana " bones were brought to Buenos Aires 

 by F. Seguin, a collector and dealer in fossils. No written 

 report was ever made regarding the circumstances of the find 

 bv Seguin, his oral information was very deficient in details, 

 and the stratum from which the bones came, their association, 

 and even the place where the discovery was made are uncertain. 

 The first " Arroyo de Frias" find was made about 1871 by 

 F. Ameghino, at that time less than 18 years old, acting as a 

 " snbpreceptor" at a nearby school and beginning to interest 

 himself, while searching to regain lost health, in fossil bones.f 

 The " Saladero " skeleton was found in 1876 by Santiago Roth, 

 at that time a young collector of fossils, and was not even men- 

 tioned in literature until twelve years later. At the time of its 

 discovery the bones were thought nothing of and were given to 



* Early man in South America, by Ales' HrdliSka, with the collaboration 

 of W. H. Holmes, Bailey Willis, Fred. Eugene Wright and Clarence N. 

 Fenner. Bull. 52, Bureau American Ethnology, Smithsonian Institution, 

 Washington, D. C, 1912, 8vo, pp. i-xv, 1-405, with 68 plates and 51 figures. 



t See " Dr. Florentino Ameghino," por Juan B. Ambrosetti, Anales de 

 Museo Nacional, etc., Buenos Aires, xxii, page xii. 



