92 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 



graver's points, large choppers and hand hammers, pigments in the 

 form of hematite and red and yellow ochers, bone punches and awls, 

 pieces of decorated bone of unknown function, and tubular bone 

 beads. An interesting feature in the material from this portion of 

 the site is the large number of channel flakes and the quantity of chip- 

 per's debris. These suggest proximity to the place where points were 

 made, probably to the actual habitation area of some of the group. 

 There are several new types of knives and scrapers in the collection 

 and the beads (fig. 97) are the first to be found in the Folsom com- 

 plex. They were made from shafts from long bones. Unfortunately, 

 the process of manufacture removed the criteria for identification, 

 but they seem to be rabbit and bird. One of the specimens is 

 decorated with a series of short, parallel lines cut into its surface. 



Because most of the bone material of the 1939 season is the residue 

 from meals, it is too scrappy to permit recognition of all of the ani- 

 mals represented. There is no question, however, of the presence of 

 bison, antelope, deer, and rabbit. The basal portion of one bison skull 

 was found with the horn cores still intact. The distance between the 

 tips of the cores is 36 inches (914.4 mm.). This measurement, as 

 well as the size and contour of the cores, shows the animal was one 

 of the extinct species. Modern buffalo skulls from this general area 

 range from 2$ to 24 inches (584.2 to 609.6 mm.) between the tips 

 of the cores. The older form was aho much larger in all other respects. 



The digging in the ravine bank, across from the main excavations, 

 demonstrated that the horizon was the same although more deeply 

 buried (fig. 98). The 20 feet of overburden is due to the fact that 

 here the surface of occupation was farther down the slope toward 

 the valley bottom and the deposition of eroded debris was greater 

 than that at higher levels. The material was still on the south slope 

 of the old valley, however, as has been the case in all previous finds. 

 As the dark soil zone approaches the old bottom it becomes thicker 

 and takes on the appearance of silt, such as occurs in bogs and 

 meadows. Bone fragments found there are better preserved than 

 those from higher up the slope. This condition is attributable to their 

 having fallen into muck where they were sealed from the air and 

 other agents contributing to rapid disintegration. The various test 

 pits indicated the location of other concentrations of archeological 

 material and helped to delimit the area of occupation. 



The 1939 season, like its predecessors, failed to produce any human 

 bones, and the physical nature of Folsom man is still unknown. There 

 is no satisfactory explanation for the lack of skeletal material. It 

 probably is present and simply has not been found in the digging. 



