1876.] Antiquity of the Indians of North America. Tl 
tion with laborious examination of the surroundings and circum- 
stances of the finding of nearly every fragment, — thousands in 
number, — makes it evident that a very gradual improvement 
was acquired in this art by the Indians during their occupancy of 
this territory. 
It is unnecessary to give additional facts indicating that the 
duration of the occupancy of this country by the Indian was 
marked by a considerable improvement in his condition, as 
shown by the vast superiority in workmanship of much of the 
stone-implement work over the rest (exclusive of paleolithic im- 
plements), and therefore of necessity that that occupancy was of 
long duration. 
The question now naturally arises, How old are the oldest In- 
dian relics? Only comparative antiquity can be determined. 
There is no starting-point from which to begin a positive calcula- 
tion, and I purpose only to show that the antiquity is real and 
great, without endeavoring to’ determine its limits by an array 
of figures. I have already done this in reference to the arrow- 
heads and axes. There are, however, one or two considerations 
which have some bearing on this question. 
There occasionally are brought to light traces of human habita- 
tions which, judging from their contracted limits, were sites of 
dwelling-places of a single family, or at most a small group of 
people. The hearth, readily recognized by the charcoal and 
ashes, the fact of subsistence on animal food by the bones of 
` mammals, birds, and fishes, and the occupation, if an arrow- 
maker, by abundance of flakes and chips, — all are there. There 
is nothing wanting to tell the story of the lives of the former 
occupants of the place. Such habitation-traces, if I may call 
them thus, differ among themselves in two ways: by the greater 
or less depth beneath the existing surface of the soil, and by the 
character of the finish of the contained relics. There is in this 
case, too, a repetition of what has been thrice stated already, nearer 
the surface, finer the finish ; but the depth of soil above these 
ancient hearths can, I think, be measured so as to give an approx. 
imation to the age of the inhumed relics, whether in the case of 
deposition from the muddy waters of the semi-annual freshets, or 
of the slow decomposition of forest leaves. The freshets of the 
Delaware River, occurring usually twice a year, deposit about 
one two hundred and fifty-sixth (tz) of an inch per annum, and 
hearths and shell-heaps occur as deep as two feet below the present 
Meadow surface. Such traces of human habitations, if there have 
