282 THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN 
made some distance further to the north. The city of 
Omaha is situated on the west bank of the Missouri, 
about a hundred and fifty miles above Lansing. Some 
ten miles north of Omaha, the State of Nebraska, 
on the west side of the Missouri, " presents some rather 
bold elevations composed of accumulations of loess, 
modified in contour by the action of wind and rain. 
The southern portion of one of the most prominent of 
these elevations, known as Long's Hill, consists of a 
ridge, about 600 yards long, running parallel with the 
Missouri. The ridge is covered with timber of recent 
growth."^ 
In 1906, Mr Robert F. Gilder, of the Omaha M^orld 
Herald J commenced a series of excavations in a mound 
on Long's Hill. The mound had, at a previous date, 
been excavated by a party in search of the remains of the 
famous Indian chief. Black Hawk. Beneath the level of 
the mound, Mr Gilder's excavations revealed the remains 
of a number of human skeletons. With or near the 
bones several stone implements were found. Amongst 
these were two flint blades of the ordinary type. When 
a question subsequently arose as to the antiquity of these 
human remains. Professor E. H. Barbour, of the 
University of Nebraska, undertook the conduct of all 
further excavations. The result of his exploration was 
to show that fragments of the human skeleton were 
found at a depth of 1 1^ feet in loess which had apparently 
never been disturbed since its deposition. Professor 
Barbour was convinced that the deeper human remains 
were as old as the deposit in which they were embedded. 
In his original excavation, Mr Gilder encountered, at a 
depth of 5 feet below the surface of the mound, a layer 
of clay, hardened by fire. Above this layer of baked clay 
were found remains of at least twelve individuals, 
representing men, women, and children. Beneath the 
baked clay stratum the remains of eight or nine bodies 
were unearthed, some of the fragments lying as much as 
1 1-| feet below the overlying surface of the land. Dr 
^ Quotation from Dr Hrdlicka's description. 
