■f-Calaveras Man. During the early days 
of gold mining in California many relics 
of man and his implements and utensils 
were found embedded in the ancient river 
gravels from which the gold was washed. 
These remains were 
especially plentiful 
in Calaveras co., 
whence the name 
“Calaveras man,” 
here employed. The 
gold-bearing gravels 
are largely of Tertiary 
age, although the 
conditions have been 
such that in places frontal view of the fragmen- 
accum Illations uni- tart Calaveras skull 
form in character with the older deposits 
have continued to the present time. Ow- 
ing to this fact expert geologic discrim- 
ination is necessary in considering ques- 
tions of age. The evidences of great 
antiquity, in many cases apparently al- 
most conclusive, were accepted as satis- 
factory by J. D. Whitney, formerly state 
geologist of California; but the lack of 
expert observation or of actual record of 
the various finds reported makes extreme 
caution advisable, especially since the 
acceptance of the evidence necessitates 
conclusions widely at variance with the 
usual conception of the history of man, 
not only in America but throughout the 
world. The need of conservatism in 
dealing with this evidence is further em- 
phasized by the fact that the human 
crania of the auriferous gravels are 
practically identical with the crania 
of the present California Indians, and 
it is also observed that the artifacts — 
the mortars and pestles, the implements 
and ornaments — found in the same con- 
nection correspond closely with those of 
the historic inhabitants of the Pacific 
slope. It is held by many students of 
human history that man already existed 
in some parts of the world in the late 
Tertiary — a period believed by conserva- 
tive geologists to have closed hundreds 
of thousands of years ago. But few are 
ready to accept the conclusion, made 
necessary if the California testimony is 
fully sustained, that man had then reached 
the stage of culture characterized by the 
use of implements and ornaments of 
polished stone. In view of the somewhat 
defective nature of the testimony fur- 
nished, as well as the vast importance of 
the deductions depending on it, it is per- 
haps wise to suspend judgment until 
more systematic investigations can be 
made. The “Calaveras skull,” which 
has had exceptional prominence in the 
discussion of this subject, is preserved in 
the Peabody Museum of Archselogy and 
Ethnology, at Cambridge, Mass. Not- 
withstanding the well-fortified statements 
of early writers to the effect that this 
relic came from the gravels of Bald mtn. 
at a depth of about 130 feet, there are 
good reasons for suspecting that it may 
have been derived from one of the lime- 
stone caves so numerous in the Calaveras 
region. It thus appears that the impor- 
tance of this specimen, as a feature of the 
evidence, has probably been greatly over- 
estimated. 
For details relating to the auriferous- 
gravel testimony consult Becker in Bull. 
Geol. Soc. Am., n, 1891; Blake in Jour, 
of Geol., Oct.-Nov., 1899; Dali in Proc. 
Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1899; Foster, Pre- 
hist. Paces, 1878; Hanks, Deep Lying 
Gravels of Table Mtn., 1901; Holmes in 
Smithson. Rep. 1899, 1901; Lindgren and 
Knowlton in Jour, of Geol., iv, 1896; 
Putnam in University of Cal. Publ., 
Dept, of Anthrop., 1905; Skertchley in 
Jour. Anthrop. Inst., May, 1888; Whit- 
ney in Mem. Mus. Comp. Zool., Harvard, 
vi, no. 1, 1879; Wright, Man and the 
Glacial Period, 1895. See Antiquity, Arch- 
eology. (w. H. H.) 
