Chapter IX: Early Man in America.1 (1)

Conflicting accounts of the American Aborigines—Recent
discoveries—Climate of California in Tertiary Times—Geological
changes near its close—Description of Table Mountain—Results of
the discoveries there—The Calaveras skull—Other relics—Discussion
of the question—Early Californians Neolithic—Explanation of
this—Date of the Pliocene Age—Other discoveries bearing on the
Antiquity of man—Dr. Koch’s discovery—Discoveries in the Loess of
Nebraska—In Greene County, Ill.— In Georgia—Difficulties in
detecting a Paleolithic Age in this country—Dr. Abbott’s
discoveries—Paleolithic Implements of the Delaware—Age of the
deposits—The race of Paleolithic man—Ancestors of the
Eskimos—Comparison of Paleolithic Age in this country with that
in Europe—Eskimos one of the oldest races in the World.

When the energy and skill of Columbus were crowned with success,
and the storm-tossed Atlantic was found to lave the shores of a
western continent, reflecting minds in Europe were much
interested in the strange stories they heard of the inhabitants
of the New World. On the one hand Spanish adventurers told
scarcely credited stories of populous cities, temples glittering
with gold and silver ornaments, and nations possessed of a
barbaric civilization scarcely inferior to their own. On the
other hand were accounts of morose savages, cruel and vindictive
in nature, depending on fishing and the chase for a livelihood.
Nearly four centuries have elapsed since that time. The
aboriginal inhabitants have nearly disappeared, leaving their
origin and prehistoric life almost as great a riddle to us as it
was to the early colonists.

But in endeavoring to unroll the pages of their history, we have
chanced upon some strange discoveries. The Aztecs, that people
whose culture is to-day such an enigma to our scholars, are known
to be a late arrival in the valley of Anahuac. They were preceded
in that section by a mysterious people, the Toltecs, whose
remains excite our liveliest curiosity, but of which we have yet
learned but little. Yucatan is shown to have been for many
centuries the home of a people whose advancement equated that of
the Aztecs at their palmiest day. Like important discoveries
attended the labors of explorers in the North. The entire valley
of its great river is known to have been the home of a numerous
population, that, from the nature of their remains, we call the
Mound-builders. Who these people were, when and whence they came,
and whither they went, are questions whose solution is by no
means accomplished. Nor are such discoveries the only results. A
study of their institutions has done much in revealing the
constructions of ancient society, and thereby throwing light on
some mysterious chapters of man’s existence.

Of late years interest in the antiquity of man in America has
been reawaked by the discoveries of human remains in Pliocene
deposits in California, and the Glacial gravel of the Delaware at
Trenton, New Jersey. Before this it was supposed that we had no
authentic instance of human remains in America found under such
circumstances that it was necessary to assign to them a profound
antiquity. If these latter day discoveries be true, we can not
escape the conclusion that man lived in America at as early a
date as that indicated by any of the European explorations. Some
hold that the proof of his existence here in Pliocene times is
far more satisfactory than any evidence of his presence in Europe
during this time. There is something fascinating in this belief.
If some of the most eminent scientists of America are not
mistaken, man lived on our Pacific coast before the great
ice-sheets that pulverized the surface of the earth and dispersed
life before them came down from the north. He ranged along the
western rivers before the volcanic peaks of the Sierras were
uplifted, and his old hunting-grounds are to-day buried
underneath the greet lava flow which desolated ancient California
and Oregon. But this assertion has not been allowed to pass
undisputed, nor has it received the assent of all scientists.

We can easily understand why scholars subject all questions
relating to the first appearance of man to very careful scrutiny.
If a competent geologist should assert that he had found, in
undoubted Pliocene formations, bones of some species of animals
not hitherto suspected of living at that date, his statement
would be accepted as proof of the same. But in the case of man,
every circumstance is inquired into. It is but right that the
utmost care should be exercised in this direction. But, on the
other hand, we are not justified in demanding mathematical
demonstration in every case of the accuracy of a reported
discovery. Yet such seems to be the position of a portion of the
scientific world. For, although they willingly admit that man has
lived on the earth for a very long time indeed, they urge all
sorts of objections to extending that time into a past geological
age.

Accordingly, when Professor Whitney states as the result of many
years spent in the investigation of the Tertiary formation of
California, that he finds evidence of the existence of man in the
Pliocene Age, it is not strange that one part of the scientific
world listens incredulously to his statements, and are at once
ready to explain away the facts on which he relies. He may, of
course, be mistaken, for it is human to err, but his proofs are
sufficiently strong to convince some of the best scholars in
America. We can do no more than to lay the facts before the
reader and let him judge for himself.

We have seen what a genial climate prevailed in Europe during the
Tertiary Age. This must also have been true of California. A rich
and varied vegetation decked the land. The great trees of
California of our day then flourished in Greenland, Iceland, and
Western Europe. The cypress of the Southern States was then
growing in Alaska and other high northern latitudes. The climate
probably passed from a tropical one, in early Tertiary times, to
a milder or temperate one in Pliocene times. Amongst the animals
inhabiting America were three species of camels. Rhinoceroses,
mastodons, and elephants trooped over the land. Tigers and other
carnivore prowled in the forests. Herds of horse-like animals,
one scarcely distinguishable from our common horse, grazed in the
valleys, along with several species of deer. From the presence of
the old drainage beds, we know that majestic rivers rolled their
watery burden through the land. Such a country might well afford
a home for man if he were present.

To understand fully the course of events which now took place we
must venture on geological ground. The great Pacific Ocean, lying
to the west of America, is constantly exerting a lateral
pressure, which during Tertiary times showed its effect in the
uplifting of the great mountain ranges of the western coast.2
During late Tertiary times, as a counterpart to the upward
movement, a great subsidence commenced in the Pacific region.3
Doubtless many islands, some think an entire continent even,
disappeared beneath the waves. The completion of the various
mountain ranges left the coast firm and unyielding; hence, as it
could not bend before the fiery flood forced upward from below by
the downward motion just mentioned, it broke, and the torrent of
molten rock leaped out as a lava flow. In consequence of this,
near the close of Pliocene times, the surface of California and
Oregon, especially the north of California, became buried under
the lava and ashes of the most desolating volcanic outbreak that
the earth has ever known.

Let us now see what bearing this has on the question of the
antiquity of man. Scattered here and there throughout California
are numerous masses of basaltic lava, which appear as elevated
ridges, the softer strata around having been denuded away. They
have received the general name of Table Mountains. They have not
only been noted for their picturesque beauty, but miners long
since found that the gravels underneath the lava covering were
rich in gold. In Tuolumne County the Table Mountain is a flow of
lava which originated in lofty volcanoes several miles away.

It extends along the north side of the Stanilaus, which is a
small river flowing in a south-westerly course through the
county. The mountain is in the form of a ridge about two thousand
feet above the present level of the river. At one point the river
breaks through this ridge, which has been worn away for a
considerable distance. From this point the ridge appears as a
continuous mountain, stretching away to the south for a distance
of twenty miles, from where it crosses the river. “As seen from a
distance the Table Mountain reveals its origin at once, in the
contrast between the long, straight line of its upper edge and
the broken and curving ones which the eroded hills of the
auriferous strata everywhere exhibit. Its dark color and
comparative absence of trees and shrubs on its top and sides also
indicate very clearly that the materials of which it is composed
are very different from that of the surrounding hills.”4

This is the celebrated Table Mountain of Tuolumne County. It is
simply a vast flow of lava. It must have been a grand sight when
this river of fire came rolling down from its volcanic fount. Its
present position on top of an elevated ridge is a very singular
one. In explanation of that we arrive at some very important
conclusions, and we can not fail to be impressed with the fact
that countless ages have rolled away since that lava flood poured
down the mountain side. “No one can deny that a stream of melted
lava, running for forty miles down the slope of the Sierra, must
have sought and found a depression or valley in which to flow;
for it is impossible that it should have maintained for any
distance its position on the crest of a ridge.” Lava is about as
thick as molten iron, and would as surely seek some valley in
which to flow as would so much water. “The valley of the
Stanilaus, now two thousand feet deep, could not then have
existed; for this flow of lava is clearly seen to have crossed it
at one point.”

“The whole face of the country must, therefore, have undergone an
entire change since the eruption took place, during which this
mass of lava was poured out. The valley of the Stanilaus must
have then been occupied by a range of mountains. The same is true
of the other side, where now is the valley of Wood’s Creek; for
such ranges must have existed in order to form and wall in the
valley in which the current of lava flowed. There has been,
therefore, an amount of denudation during the period since this
volcanic mass took its position of not less than three or four
thousand feet of perpendicular depth, and this surprising series
of changes is not peculiar to one locality, but the whole slope
of the Sierras, through the gold region, is the scene of similar
volcanic outflows and subsequent remodeling of the surface into a
new series of reliefs and depressions.”5

Imaginary Section of Table Mountain.

In order to fully realize the change here spoken of, an imaginary
section of Table Mountains is here presented. Here we see the two
valleys on the sides, and the mass of lava covering the top of
the mountain. The dotted lines represent the position of the old
line of hills, which must once have inclosed the valley down
which coursed the fiery torrent.

We require to dwell on this, fact before we can fully understand
its meaning. The “eternal hills,” two and three thousand feet in
height, have been completely washed away, and where they stood is
now a deep valley. But the old valley, protected by its stony
covering, is now a mountain ridge; and this, we are told, is not
a solitary instance, but the entire surface of the country has
been thus denuded. We stand in awe before the stupendous results,
which nature, working through vast cycles of time, has
accomplished.

But if this lava flow took place in a pre-existing valley, we
ought to find under the rocky covering beds of gravel, rolled
stones, and other _débris_ peculiar to a river bed. Such, in
fact, we do find extended along directly underneath the lava,
about fifteen hundred feet above the general level of the
country. These old river gravels are found to be very rich in
gold, and miners have tunneled into them in numerous places in
search of the valuable metal. In order to determine the
geological age of these gravels, and subsequent lava flow, a
careful examination of portions of plants and bones of animals
found therein has been made. The plants are pronounced by
competent authority6 to be Pliocene, totally distinct from any
specimens now growing in California. The animal remains are
rhinoceroses, camels, and an extinct species of horse. The age of
these gravels is, therefore, pronounced to be Pliocene. We would
say in this connection that the auriferous gravels of California
have been the object of a very careful research by Prof. Whitney.
He adds to his conclusions that of another of the State
geologists. We need not give in detail his arguments, but he
reaches the conclusion that the auriferous gravels of the Pacific
slope represent the whole of the Tertiary Age.7

We have seen that in the ancient gravels of European rivers
archæologists have found the materials wherewith to build a
fascinating story of man’s appearance in Quaternary times. We
have underneath the lava flow of California the gravel beds of
rivers far antedating the gravels of the Somme. It is therefore
not a little interesting to learn from Prof. Whitney that he
finds many proofs of the existence of man in the gravels of the
Pliocene Age in California. Under the solid basalt of Table
Mountain have been found many works of men’s hands, as well as
the celebrated “Calaveras Skull.”

Calaveras Skull.

This skull was taken from a mining shaft at Altaville, at a depth
of one hundred and thirty feet from the surface, beneath seven
different strata of lava and gravel. Prof. Whitney was not
present when it was found. He, however, made it his business to
examine into the facts of the case, and he thus speaks of it:
“That the skull was found in these old, intact, cemented gravels
has been abundantly proved by evidence that can not be gainsaid.”
And again: “So far as human and geological testimony can at
present be relied on, there is no question but that the skull was
found under Table Mountain, and is of the Pliocene Age.”8

This would seem to be pretty explicit, but, as we have said
before, Prof. Whitney, in his formal report as the State
geologist of California, reaches the conclusion that the
auriferous gravels of the Pacific are all of the Tertiary Age. It
is therefore not a little interesting to learn that numerous
instances are recorded of the finding of human remains or the
works of man in these gravels. Prof. Whitney mentions twenty such
instances.9 Mr. Bancroft furnishes us a list of such discoveries,
giving as his authority Mr. C. D. Voy, of the California
Geological Survey, of Oakland, California. He states that Mr. Voy
personally visited most of the localities where the discoveries
were made, and took all possible pains to verify their
authenticity, and in many cases obtaining sworn statements from
the parties who made them.10

Two stone mortars and spear-heads, six and eight inches long,
were found in the gravel under Table Mountain, just mentioned.
These relics were found about three hundred feet from the
surface. A hundred feet and more of this depth was of solid lava.
At another place a stone bead was found three hundred feet from
the mouth of the tunnel, under a thick layer of lava. Many other
instances might be given of such discoveries, not always under
lava coverings, but always in such instances that we are
compelled to assign to them an immense antiquity. As, for
instance, at San Andreas, according to a sworn statement in Mr.
Voy’s possession, large stone mortars were taken from a layer of
cemented gravel, overlain by one hundred and twenty-five feet of
volcanic and gravel materials. Many similar instances are on
record, but enough have been mentioned to serve the purpose of
the chapter.11

As we have briefly gone over the ground on which the antiquity of
man in America is, by some, referred to the Pliocene Age, it is
but fair to notice some of the objections that have been raised.
It is not necessary to point out that the only questions worthy
to be considered are of a scientific nature.

We must deny either the age of the gravels themselves or that the
objects of human handiwork were found as claimed, or else that
they are of the same age as the gravels. Prof. LeConte thinks,
from the nature of the gravels and the peculiar circumstances
which surround them, that they are not older than the close of
the Pliocene Age. He thinks they, in fact, belong to the
transitory period between that age and the Quaternary.12 But as
we are considering the question of Pliocene man, it makes but
little difference if the gravels do belong to the very close of
that period. They may still be called Pliocene.

One great trouble with those remains is that they were not
discovered by professed geologists. We have to depend upon the
statements of miners. But if their statements can be believed
(and why should they not?), there is no doubt about their
genuineness. The testimony, as Mr. Whitney says, “all points in
one direction, and there has never been any attempt made to pass
off on any member of the survey any thing out of keeping, or—so
to speak—out of harmony with what has been already found, or
might be expected to be found. It has always been the same kind
of implements which have been exhibited to us, namely, the
coarsest and the least finished, which one would suppose could be
made, and still be implements at all.”13 This result would hardly
be possible, where so many parties are concerned in furnishing
the evidence, if the objects were not genuine.14

In opposition to this conclusion it has been urged that the stone
mortars, pestles, etc., have become imbedded in the gravel by the
action of streams, or slips from the mountain side in modern
times, or are the results of interments or mining operations.15
As an illustration of how they might become buried by the action
of streams, reference is made to somewhat similar discoveries in
the tin-bearing streams of Cornwall (Wales). We know with
considerable certainty that at a very early date the Phœnicians
worked in the gravels of these streams for tin ores. Implements
made use of by them and others—such, for instance, as shovels,
mortars, pick-axes, stone bowls, and various dishes—have been
found at all depths in this gravel, by more modern miners.16

This may explain the presence, in some instances, of similar
remains in California, but it utterly fails to do so, where the
remains have been buried underneath a lava flow or a bed of
volcanic materials, as is the case in many of the instances we
have cited. Manifestly no water has disturbed their strata since
the volcanic materials were laid down. Neither can we think of a
land-slide carrying these remains into the heart of a mountain,
or burying them underneath a hundred feet of lava. The peculiar
position in which they were often found is surely lost sight of
by those who think they might have been placed there by
interment. We can not think of a savage people digging a grave in
such a position.

It has been urged with considerable force that these relics have
been left behind by ancient miners when they mined for gold. Dr.
Wilson is cited as authority for the statement that the Mexicans
obtained “silver, lead, and tin from the mines of Tasco and
copper was wrought in the mountains of Zacotollan by means of
galleries and shafts, opened with persevering toil where the
metallic veins were imbedded in the solid rock.” Prescott, the
historian, also testifies to the same fact.

We need only add to this, that wherever these ancient galleries
were opened in the solid rock, they still exist. Schoolcraft
mentions finding one two hundred and ten feet deep.17 The chances
are not worth considering, that these old mines would be
overlooked. If, for instance, the Calaveras skull is that of a
prehistoric miner, killed in an old mining gallery only a
thousand years or so ago, it is inconceivable that all evidence
of this mine should have disappeared. Or, if in one case it
should have done so, it would surely have been detected in other
instances. The variety and explicitness of the testimony brought
forward makes all such supposition improbable.18

It is best, in this matter, to hold the judgment in suspense. We
have stated Mr. Whitney’s position, and the objections that have
been raised to it. The amount of thought bestowed on the
antiquity of man will doubtless soon clear up the whole matter.
We can not do better than to consider his surroundings, supposing
that he was really present. The country must have been very
different from the California of to-day. Dr. Cooper says, “The
country consisted of peninsulas and islands, like those of the
present East Indies; resembling them also in climate and
productions.”19 The probabilities are that to the west and
southwest of California, instead of watery expanse of the
Pacific, only broken here and there by an ever-verdant islet,
there was either a continental expanse of land or, at any rate, a
vast archipelago. We know that over a large part of the Northern
Pacific area the land has sunk not less than six thousand feet
since late Tertiary times.20

We are certain the ocean area must have presented a vastly
different aspect before that depression commenced. It is not
unreasonable to suppose that communication between North America
and Asia was much easier than in subsequent epochs. It might have
been an easy matter for man to pass back and forth without losing
sight of land. It is therefore reasonable to suppose that if
Pliocene man was in existence, he would have occupied both sides
of the Pacific at this early time.21 These last conclusions are
very important ones to reach, and as there is reasonable
foundation for them, we must bear them in mind in the subsequent
pages.

It will be remembered that the races of men who inhabited Europe
in the Paleolithic Age had only very rudely formed, unpolished
implements. It is not until we arrive at the Neolithic stage of
culture that we meet with specimens of polished stone implements.
To judge from the specimens of early Californian art, the
beautifully polished pestles, beads, plummets or sinkers,
spear-heads, etc., Pliocene man in California must have been in
the Neolithic stage of culture. Though they were not acquainted
with the potter’s art, yet from their skill in working vessels of
stone, they had undoubtedly passed entirely through Savagism, and
had entered the confines of Barbarism,22 as far advanced, in
fact, as many of the Indian tribes the Spaniards found in
possession of the country.

It must be confessed this seems very singular. It is this
statement that causes many to shut their eyes to what would be
otherwise at once admitted and refuse to believe the genuineness
of the discovery. If the implements brought to light had been of
the rude River Drift type—celts but little removed from nodules
of flint—scholars would not be so cautious about accepting them.
But when we learn they are Neolithic, we at once see why they
hesitate, and ask for more conclusive proofs; yet this is no
reason to disregard the discoveries. They may be a great
surprise, they may be an unwelcome discovery to the holder of
some theories, yet the only question is, whether they are true or
not, and if true, theories must be modified to fit the facts.
Prof. Putnam thus speaks, in reference to them: “As the
archæologist has no right to be governed by any pre-conceived
theories, but must take the facts as he finds them, it is
impossible for him to do otherwise than accept the deductions of
so careful and eminent a geologist as Prof. Whitney, and draw his
conclusions accordingly, notwithstanding the fact that this
Pliocene man was, to judge by his works in stone and shell, as
far advanced as his descendants were at the time of the discovery
of California by the Spaniards.”23

Perhaps a partial explanation of this matter may be found when we
consider all the circumstances of the case. The origin of man is
generally assigned to some tropical country. Sir John Lubbock
thus speaks of it: “Our nearest relatives in the animal kingdom
are confined to hot, almost tropical climates; and it is in such
countries that we are, perhaps, most likely to find the earliest
traces of the human race.”24 This is also the opinion of other
eminent scholars. M. Quatrefages thinks that man probably
originated in Asia. He points out, however, that, during Tertiary
times, the climate was much milder, and man might have originated
in Northern Asia.25 Now, if it be true that a great mass of land
has disappeared beneath the waves of the Pacific, why may we not
suppose that, if this sunken land was not the original home of
man, it was at a very early time inhabited by him; that here he
passed through his experience in savagism?26 We know how suited
the islands of the Pacific are to the needs of a savage people;
and we must not lose sight of the probable ease with which they
could reach the coast of California—and also of what Dr. Cooper
has told us of the climate and geographical surroundings of
California at that early time. So it may not be unreasonable to
suppose that man reached California long ages before he wandered
into Europe, and so reached the Neolithic stage of culture much
earlier than he did in other parts of the world.27

It might be objected, that if a people in the Neolithic stage of
culture lived in California in the Pliocene Age, they ought to
have reached a very high stage of culture indeed when the
Spaniards invaded the country. This is what we would expect had
they been left to develop themselves. The great geographical
changes that took place near the close of the Pliocene would cut
off the primitive Californians from the Asiatics. Not only was
the land connection—if it indeed existed—now destroyed, but
causes were changing the climate. Ice and snow drove from the
north life of both animals and plants, and for an entire
geological period communications with Asia by way of the north
must have been very difficult, if not cut off altogether. Who can
tell what changes now came to the Asiatic branch of these people?
We are but too familiar with the fact that nations and races
sicken and die: many examples could be given. The natives of the
Sandwich Islands seem doomed to extinction. In a few centuries,
the Indians of America will live only in tradition and song.

Such may have been the fate of the early inhabitants of the
Pacific continent: certainly it would not be surprising, if the
immense climatic and geographical changes which then took place
would produce that result. Or it may be that but a scanty remnant
lived on, absorbed by more vigorous, though less highly
cultivated stocks of the same people, whose homes had been on the
main-land of Asia—and the remnant left along the Pacific coast
must have lived on under vastly different circumstance. The
interior of North America was largely a dreary expanse of ice and
snow down to the 39th parallel of latitude. It is quite true,
this great glacier did not reach the Pacific Slope; but it must
have exerted a powerful influence on the climate: and the
evidence points, that the Sierra Nevada were occupied by local
glaciers which reached down into the fertile expanse of the
plains.

This was certainly a far different climate, and a far different
country, than that which sustained a vegetation of a tropical
growth. It may well be that the people should, as a result of
their changed conditions, have deteriorated in culture; or, at
any rate, their progress toward civilization may have been
stopped, and many thousands of years may have passed with no
perceptible improvement. It may be objected, that man will
improve under any state of existence, give him time enough. This
is, doubtless, in the main true. But a race may early reach its
limit of culture; in which case, as a race, it will not improve:
we may do much with the individual, but nothing, or but very
little, for the race.

In these considerations which have been advanced we may find some
reason for the early appearance of Neolithic man, as well as the
fact that he advanced no farther in culture. But whether man
first arrived in California in Pliocene times or not, he
continued to inhabit the land to the present day. He would,
however, be exposed to assault after assault from invading
tribes. We do not wish to examine the question of the origin of
the native Americans. It is held, by the best authorities, that
at least a portion of them came from Asia, using the Kurile
Islands as a stepping stone. Reaching the main-land of America,
and passing down the coast, they would, sooner or later, reach
the Valley of the Columbia—which has been characterized as the
most extraordinary region on the face of the earth in the variety
and amount of subsistence it afforded to tribes destitute of a
knowledge of agriculture. At certain seasons of the year the
rivers are crowded with fish, and they are then caught with the
greatest ease. As a mixture of forest and prairie, the country is
an excellent one for game. A species of bread-root grew on the
prairies; and, in the Summer, there was a profusion of berries.
To these advantages must be added that of a mild and equable
climate.28

These combined advantages would make this valley one of the
centers of population, from whence would issue successive bands
of invading people. A portion of these, passing over into
California, would come in contact with the descendants of
Pliocene man. The result would be, that the primitive
inhabitants, unable to escape to the west, would come in contact
with wave after wave of invading tribes. This is not altogether
theory. All inquirers into the customs, arts, and languages of
the primitive Californians have been struck with the remarkable
commingling of the same. We are driven to the conclusion that
here has been the meeting ground of many distinct tribes and
nations. “From such a mixture, and over-population of the most
desirable portions of the country, would naturally result the
formation of the hundreds of petty tribes that existed in both
Upper and Lower California when first known to the Spaniards.”29

In view of these facts, it is not strange that no advance in
culture is noticeable; and the grounds just mentioned may go far
to explain why we catch sight, here and there, of bits of
customs, habits, and manners of life which strangely remind us of
widely distant people—though it will not explain the presence of
words of Malay or Chinese origin which are claimed to exist.30
What is known as the Eskimo trace is quite marked in the physical
characters and in the arts of the Californians.31 It is,
probably, the continuance of the type of the primitive American
race.

It would naturally be interesting to know whether any date can be
given for the Pliocene Age, and so give us some ideas as to the
antiquity of man, if he were really here during that epoch. This,
however, is one of the most difficult questions to answer, and in
the present state of our knowledge incapable of solution.
Approximations have, of course, been made, and, as might be
expected, vary greatly in results. When it was acknowledged on
all hands that on geological grounds the age of the earth was
certainly very great, many times the few thousand years hitherto
relied on, it is not strange that popular thought swung to the
other extreme, and hundreds of millions of years were thought
necessary to explain the series of changes which the geologists
unfolded. This demand for a greatly extended time was
strengthened when the law of the gradual evolution of life was
expounded by the modern school of naturalists, and as great a
lapse of time as five hundred millions of years was not deemed an
extravagant estimate. Sir William Thompson has, however,
demonstrated that the time that has elapsed since the crust of
the earth became solidified can not be far from one hundred
millions of years, and consequently we know the time since the
appearance of life must be greatly less than that number of
years.

Attempts have been made to estimate the length of time required
to form the sedimentary crust of the earth. The results are so
divergent on this point that it is best not to adopt any standard
at present. Our views on this matter are also dependent on the
time that has elapsed since the close of the Glacial Age, which,
as we have seen, is not yet a settled point. If it be true that
the islands of the Pacific commenced to sink during late Tertiary
times, then we have a measure of that time in the growth of
coral, which has required at least four hundred thousand years to
form reefs the thickness of some that are known to exist.32

But here, again, it seems we are not certain when this depression
commenced.33 In a previous chapter we have gone over the Glacial
Age, and have seen when, according to Mr. Croll’s theory, it
commenced. This was probably not far from the close of the
Pliocene Age. We might as well leave the matter here. There are
so many elements of uncertainty that it is doubtful if we will
ever be able to assign satisfactory dates to the epoch.34

In bringing to a conclusion this somewhat extended notice of
early man in California we have to admit that much of it is
speculative; still it is an endeavor to explain known facts. The
main statement is that man lived in California in the Pliocene
Age, in the Neolithic stage of culture. Whether the arguments
adduced in support of this statement are sufficient to prove its
accuracy must be left to the mature judgment of the scientific
world. There is no question but that the climate and geography,
the fauna and the flora, were then greatly different from those
of the present. Starting with these known facts, so strange and
fascinating, it need occasion no surprise, if the pen of the
enthusiastic explorer depict a scene wherein facts and fancy are
united.

In this case truth is certainly stranger than fiction, and when,
in imagination, we see the great Pacific archipelago emerge from
the waves, and, in place of the long swell of the ocean, we
picture the pleasing scenes of tropic lands, the strange floral
growth of a past geological age, the animal forms which have
since disappeared, with man already well advanced in culture:
when we recall all this, and picture forth the surprising changes
which then took place, the slowly subsiding land, the encroaching
waters, and the resultant watery waste, with here and there a
coral-girt island, the great volcanic uplift on the main-land,
the flaming rivers of molten lava, which come pouring forth,
followed by the night of cold, ice, and snow: when we consider
these, and the great lapse of time necessary for their
accomplishment, how powerless are mere words to set forth the
grandeur and the resistless sweep of nature’s laws, and to paint
the insignificance and trifling nature of man and his works!

The discoveries in California are not the only instances of the
relics of man and his works found under such circumstances that
they are relied on by some to prove the great age of man in
America. But on account of the rarity of these finds, and the
contradictory statements and opinions respecting them, the
scientific world has until lately regarded with some distrust the
assertion of a great antiquity for man on this continent; but a
review of the evidence on this point, and especially of Dr.
Abbott’s discoveries in New Jersey, must impress on all the
conclusion that tribes of men were living here at the close of
the Glacial Age, and probably long before that time.

It need occasion no surprise to learn that several of the
discoveries of former years, relied on in this connection, have
since been shown to be unreliable. They have not been able to
stand a careful examination at the hands of later scholars. They
were made when European savants were first communicating to the
world the results of the explorations of the river gravels and
caves of that country. The antiquity of man being amply proven
there, may afford some explanation why more discriminating care
was not employed. Of this nature were some of the discoveries in
the valley of the Mississippi; such, for instance, as the portion
of the human skeleton found mingled with the bones of extinct
animals a few miles below Natchez, and the deeply buried skeleton
at New Orleans, in both of which cases a simple explanation is at
hand without the necessity of supposing a great flight of years.

Some of these discoveries yet remain an unsettled point. Such is
the discovery of flint arrow-heads in connection with the bones
of a mastodon found in Missouri. Dr. Koch, who made the
discovery, draws from the facts of the case such a suggestive
picture that we will give his own words. After describing where
found, he says: “The greater portion of these bones had been more
or less burned by fire. The fire had extended but a few feet
beyond the space occupied by the animal before its destruction,
and there was more than sufficient evidence that the fire had not
been an accidental one, but, on the contrary, that it had been
kindled by human agency, and, according to all appearance, with
the design of killing the huge creature which had been found
mired in the mud, and in an entirely helpless condition. All the
bones which had not been burned by the fire had kept their
original position, standing upright and apparently quite
undisturbed in the clay, whereas those portions which had been
extended above the surface had been partially consumed by the
fire, and the surface of the clay was covered, as far as fire had
extended, by a layer of wood ashes, mingled with larger or
smaller pieces of charred wood and burnt bones, together with
bones belonging to the spine, ribs, and other parts of the body,
which had been more or less injured by the fire. It seemed that
the burning of the victim and the hurling of rocks at it had not
satisfied the destroyers, for I found also, among the ashes,
bones, and rocks, several arrow-heads, a stone spear-head, and
some stone axes.”

Such is Dr. Koch’s very interesting statement of this find. “It
was received by the scientific world,” says Foster, “with a sneer
of contempt,” and, it seems to us, for very insufficient reasons.
It is admitted that his knowledge of geology was not as accurate
as it should have been. He made some mistakes of this nature,
which have been clearly shown.35 Still, he is known to have been
a diligent collector, and we are told “no one who knew him will
question but that he was a competent observer.”36 It seems to us
useless to deny the truth of his statements. There is, however,
nothing to necessitate us believing in an immense age for these
remains. This is not to be considered a point against them, for
there is no reason for supposing that the mastodon may not have
lingered on to comparatively recent times, and that comparatively
recent men may not have intercepted and destroyed helpless
individuals. Indeed, we are told there are traditions still
extant among the Indians of these monsters.37

We have other facts showing that, in this country as in Europe,
man was certainly living not far from the time when the land was
covered with the ice of the Glacial Age, whatever may be true of
still earlier periods. We are told that, when the time came for
the final breaking up of the great glaciers, and while they still
lingered at the head waters of the Platte, the Missouri, and the
Yellowstone rivers, a mighty lake—or, rather, a succession of
lakes—occupied the greater portion of the Missouri Valley. The
rivers flowing into them were of great size,38 and heavily
freighted with sediment, which was deposited in the still waters
of the lakes, and thus was formed the rich loess deposits of
Nebraska.

From several places in this loess have been taken rude stone
arrows, buried at such depths and under such circumstances, that
we must conclude they were deposited there when the loess was
forming. But this requires us to carry them back to a time when
elephants and mastodons roamed over the land, for bones of these
huge creatures39 are quite frequently found. This arrow-point
—or, it may be, spear-head—was found twenty feet from the
surface; and almost directly above it, and distant only thirteen
inches, was a vertebra of an elephant. “It appears, then, that
some old races lived around the shores of this lake, and,
paddling over it, accidentally dropped their arrows, or let them
fly at a passing water-fowl;” and, from the near presence of the
elephant’s bone, it is shown that man here, as well as in Europe,
was the contemporary of the elephant, in at least a portion of
the Missouri Valley.40

Implement found in Loess.

Other examples are on record. In Greene County, Illinois, parties
digging a well found, at the depth of seventy-two feet, a stone
hatchet. Mr. McAdams carefully examined the well, to see if it
could have dropped from near the surface. He tells us the well
was dug through loess deposits; and from the top down was as
smooth, and almost as hard, as a cemented cistern.41 The loess
was, as in Nebraska, deposited in the still waters of the lake
which once occupied the Valley of the Illinois.42 And we need not
doubt but that it dates from the breaking up of the glacial ice.
The position of this hatchet, then, found at the very bottom of
the loess deposits, shows that, while yet the glaciers lingered
in the north, and the flooded rivers spread out in great lakes,
some tribes of stone-using folks hunted along the banks of the
lakes, whose bottoms were to form the rich prairies of the West.

Previous to this discovery, Mr. Foster had recorded the finding
in this same formation, distant but a few miles, a rude hatchet.
There was in this case a possibility that the stone could have
been shaped by natural means, and so he did not affirm this to be
a work of man; but he says, “had it been recovered from a plowed
field, I should have unhesitatingly said it was an Indian’s
hatchet.”43 We think it but another instance of relics found
under such circumstances, that it points to the presence of man
at the close of the Glacial Age.

No doubt many similar discoveries have been made, but the
specimens were regarded as the work of Indians; and though the
position in which they wore found may have excited some surprise,
they were not brought to the attention of the scholars. Nor is it
only in the prairie regions of the West where such discoveries
have been made. Col. C. C. Jones has recorded the finding of some
flint implements in the drift of the Chattahooche River, which we
think as conclusively proves the presence of man in a far away
time as do any of the discoveries in the river gravels of Europe.
It seems that gold exists in the sands of this river, and the
early settlers were quick to take advantage of it. They dug
canals in places to turn the river from its present channel—and
others, to reach some buried channel of former times. These
sections passed down to the hard slate rock, passing through the
surface, and the underlying drift, composed of sand, gravel, and
bowlders. “During one of these excavations, at a depth of nine
feet below the surface, commingled with the gravels and bowlders
of the drift, and just above the rocky substratum upon which the
deposit rested, were found three [Paleolithic] flint
implements.”44

He adds that, “in materials, manners of construction, and in
general appearance, so nearly do they resemble some of the rough,
so-called flint hatchets, belonging to the drift type, as
described by M. Boucher De Perthes, that they might very readily
be mistaken, the one for the other.” “They are as emphatically
drift implements, as any that have appeared in the diluvial
matrix of France.” On the surface soil, above the flints, are
found the ordinary relics of the Indians. The works of the Mound
Builders are also to be seen. Judging from their position, the
Paleolithics must be greatly older than any of the surface
remains. Many centuries must go by to account for the formation
of the vegetable soil above them.

Speculating on their age, Mr. Jones eloquently says, “If we are
ignorant of the time when the Chattahooche first sought a highway
to the Gulf; if we know not the age of the artificial tumuli
which still grace its banks; if we are uncertain when the red
Nomads who, in fear and wonder, carried the burdens of the
adventurous DeSoto, as he conducted his followers through
primeval forests, and, by the sides of their softly mingling
streams, first became dwellers here, how shall we answer the
question as to the age in which these rude drift implements were
fashioned and used by these primitive people?”45

The examples we have quoted, even though the case of California
be not considered, are all suggestive of a great antiquity for
man, taking us back in time to when the glaciers still “shone in
frigid splendor” over the northern part of the United States.
When European savants had established the science of Archæology,
and shown the existence of separate stages of culture, it was but
natural that those interested in the matter on this side of the
Atlantic should turn with renewed energy to investigate the
archæology of this country, to see if here, too, they could find
evidence of a Paleolithic Age. But the scholar in this country is
confronted with a peculiar difficulty. Owing to the very
multiplicity and variety of relics of prehistoric times, it is
difficult to properly classify and understand them. The field is
of great extent, the time of study has been short, and the
explorers few; so it is not strange that but few localities have
been thoroughly searched. But, until this is done, we can not
hope to reach definite conclusions.

The peculiar culture of the Indians, prevailing among them at the
time of the discovery, proved a hindrance, rather than a help, in
this matter. The Indians are certainly not Paleolithic, many of
their implements being finely wrought and polished; but their
arrow-heads, hatchets, and celts were sufficiently rude to spread
the conviction that all weapons and implements of stone should be
referred to them. This belief has done much to hinder real
progress. It is not to be wondered at that some difference of
opinion has prevailed, among our scholars, whether the different
stages of culture, discovered in Europe, have any existence here.

On one hand, it is denied that different stages can be detected.
Says Prof. Whitney: “It is evident that there has been no
unfolding of the intellectual faculties of the human race on this
continent similar to that which has taken place in Central
Europe. We can recognize no Paleolithic, Neolithic, Bronze, or
Iron Ages.”46 Others assure us, that if present, the ages stand
in reverse order. “The relics last used were by far the rudest,
and the historic races, which are the survivors of the
prehistoric, are the wildest of the two; the lower status
remaining, while the higher has passed away.”47 In still another
place we read: “The Neolithic and Bronze Ages preceded the
Paleolithic, at least in the Mississippi basin.”48

Notwithstanding these quotations, we think it will yet be shown
that in this country, as in Europe, there was a true Paleolithic
Age, and that there was no such inversion as is here spoken of.
In some places sedentary tribes may have been driven away and
their territory occupied by more war-like, but less highly
cultivated tribes. But take the whole Indian race, and they were
steadily advancing through the Neolithic stage of culture. They
were acquainted with copper, and were drawing near to the
discovery of bronze and metals, and, indeed, the discovery had
been made of bronze in the far south. But lying back of the true
Indian Age, long preceding it in time, to which probably belong
the relics mentioned in the preceding discoveries, is a true
Paleolithic Age.

We are indebted for the facts on which the above conclusion rests
more to the writings of Dr. C. C. Abbott, of Trenton, New Jersey,
than any other individual, and his results are based on an
extensive study of the relics themselves and the position in
which found. In a collection of stone implements of this country
arranged in a cabinet, we find rude and unpolished specimens, as
well as those of a finely wrought Neolithic type. Now the
Indians, when first discovered, frequently made use of very
rudely formed implements, and from a knowledge of this fact, it
came about that but little attention was paid to the position in
which the relics were discovered. They were all classified as
Indian relics. But the greatest and most valuable discoveries in
science have occurred as a result of the attention paid to little
things; in this case by carefully scrutinizing the position in
which they occurred.

Dr. Abbott commenced by gathering a very extensive collection,
carefully searching his section of country and gathering all
specimens of artificially shaped stones. These must have existed
there in considerable quantities, as, in three years’ time, he
collected over nine thousand specimens,49 carefully examining
them as they came from the soil.50 As a result of this extensive
and careful research he is able to present us some general
conclusions. The surface specimens, including in this
classification also those specimens turned up by the plow,51 are
characteristically Indian. The material is jasper and quartz, and
they are generally carefully made. They used other varieties of
stone as well. Like the Neolithic people of Europe, they sought
the best varieties of stone for their purpose. But his collection
also included rude Paleolithic forms, and he found by taking the
history of each specimen separately, that just in proportion as
the relics were rude in manufacture and primitive in type the
deeper were they buried in the soil.52 Writing in 1875, he says:
“We have never met a jasper (flint) arrow-head in or below an
undisturbed stratum of sand or gravel, and we have seldom met
with a rude implement of the general character of European drift
implements on the surface of the ground.”53

These are not theoretical opinions, but are deductions drawn from
a very extensive experience. From figured specimens of these
rudest formed implements, we see they are veritable Paleolithic
forms, resembling in a remarkable manner the rude implements of
the old world, whether collected in France or in India. We
learned that the Paleolithic people of Europe utilized the
easiest attainable stone for their implements. They contented
themselves with such pieces of flint as they could gather in
their immediate vicinity. The easiest attainable rock in the
valley of the Delaware is not flint, but argillite, and such is
the material of which the Paleolithic implements are formed. Thus
it is shown that the first appearance of a stone-using folk in
the valley of the Delaware was in the Paleolithic stage of their
culture. Judging from the depths of their buried implements, this
long preceded the Neolithic stage.

Spear-shaped Paleolithic Implement.

These conclusions have been sustained in a very marked manner by
late discoveries in the valley of the Delaware, to which we will
now refer. After reaching the conclusion that the relics of the
Stone Age in New Jersey clearly pointed to a Paleolithic
beginning, when argillite, the most easily attainable stone, was
utilized in the manufacture of weapons and implements, Dr. Abbott
made the further discovery that in the ancient gravels of the
Delaware River Paleolithic implements only were to be found. We
must remember that it was in the gravels of European rivers that
the first discoveries were made which have since resulted in so
wonderfully extending our knowledge of the past of man.