Pre-historic Races of the United States of America ... Fourth edition

Front matter

CkarUs Sullivan, Del. Baker & Co^ Fn£r Sketch. — Ancient Works at Marietta. Ohio. PRE-HISTORIC RACES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. BY J. W. FOSTER, LL.D., ACTHOR OF THE "rHYSO \L f.EOUKAPHY OP THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEV ' ETr. .11)1X7 AITItmt OF FOSTER AMU WHITNEY'S REPORT OF THE "jTjEOXAClY OF THE lake scperioi: beobos;' 1 late president of the amxrican 18301 iation FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE • PRESIDENT OF THE CHICAGO ACADEMT OF SPIENTE- ; AMJ MEMBER OF OT1IEII LEAKXED SOCIETIES. FOURTH EDITION. CHICAGO: S. C. GRIGGS AND COMPANY. LONDON: TRURNER & CO. 1878. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1873, by SAMUEL -C. GRIGGS, in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.

Preface

. TN early manhood, when for the first time I gazed -1- upon the works of that mysterious people known as the Mound-builders, my mind received a class of im pressions which subsequent years have failed to efface. These works are in the vicinity of Newark, Ohio ; and although not the most stupendous, are the most elabo rate in the whole series. It was a bright summer's morning, and the sunlight, streaming through the open ings of the dense canopy of foliage above, fell upon the ground in flickering patches. A slumberous silence filled the air ; and I confess that, as I traced out the labyrinthine system of eartljnVflfks here displayed, with its great circles and squares, its octagons, gateways, parallel roads, and tumuli, the whole spread over an area of several square miles ; and as I speculated upon the purposes of their construction, and on the origin and extinction of the people by whom they were reared, I was profoundly impressed.

Gibbon relates that it was among the ruins of the Roman capital he first conceived the idea of writing the history of the decline and fall of that empire. I PBEFACE. IV cannot say, "comparing small things with great," that it was amid the sepulchres of a vanished race, I con ceived the idea of writing this work; but I can say, that, in after life, I have never passed one of their monuments, however humble, without experiencing feelings akin to my first impressions. In exploring the physical geography of the Missis sippi Valley and the Lake Region, I have had abundant opportunities for examining the most notable of the Mound-builders' works. At various times I have pub lished papers on the Archæology of this Continent, among which I may enumerate the following : A Chapter on ancient Copper-mining.

(Foster and Whitney's Report on the Geology of the Lake Superior Region. Washington, 1850. Printed for the House of Representatives.) Description of Samples of Cloth, from the Mounds of Ohio. (Transactions of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1852.) On the Antiquity of Man in North America , and Descriptions of certain Stone and Copper Implements used by the Mound-builders. (Transactions of the Chicago Academy of Sciences, vol. i, part ii. 1869.) On recent Discoveries in Ethnology as connected with Geology: — An Address delivered at Troy, New York, as the retiring President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. (Transactions, etc., for 1870.) On certain Peculiarities in the Crania of the Mound- PEEFACE V builders. (Transactions of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. 1872.)

On the Pottery of the Mound-builders. (American Naturalist, February Number, 1873.) I have also written for the magazines of the day, several articles relating to American Archæology which I do not deem of sufficient importance to enumerate in this connection. The substance of these papers has been incorporated in the following pages, without the desig nation of quotation marks, and the fact that they were published at different intervals, will account* for the repetition, in some instances, of the same ideas. It will thus be apparent that I enter upon this work, not as a mere compiler, but as an original observer. Most of the illustrations have been derived from materials now for the first time brought together. As this volume is intended only as a Compendium of our Antiquities, to be restricted to a given number of pages, I have been compelled for the most part to represent groups by a single illustration, and on a greatly reduced scale, and to discuss many questions relating to our Ethnology in a summary, .and in what some may consider a superficial, manner.

The .Smithsonian Institution is entitled to much credit for having brought out such admirable works as " The Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley," by Squier and Davis ; " The Antiquities of Wisconsin," by I. A. Lapham ; and " The Archæology of the United States," by S. F. Haven ; to say nothing of the brief

PREFACE.

. VI papers on local antiquities which have appeared in the Annual Reports. It has also caused to be translated and published many valuable papers by foreign authors, which have been essential aids to the American Eth nologist in keeping him advised as to the progress of scientific opinion abroad, and affording him the means of comparison in his individual researches. It is to be hoped that the honored Secretary of this Institution, Professor Henry, will bring out an illustrated catalogue of American Antiquities, not restricted to the Smithsonian Collections, but embracing those of individuals throughout the United States. Before closing this preface, I desire to express my thanks to many private individuals and Scientific Asso ciations for having given me access to their Archæologi' cal Collections, and in many instances for having furnished me with explanatory notes.

These courtesies 1 have endeavored to acknowledge in the body of the work. So great, indeed, has been the profusion ol materials placed at my disposal by the kindness oi friends, that I soon found, after entering seriously upon this work, that to properly figure and describe them, would defeat the object in view, by making a volume too costly and too cumbersome for popular reading. If the public manifest sufficient interest in questions relating to our Pre-historic Archæology to justify the expense, I may hereafter, if life and health are spared, draw more liberally from the materials at my command. Chicago, May 1, 1873. CONTENTS.

Chapter I

. THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN EVIDENCES IN EUROPE. pjn OROGRESS of Ethnology — Retarded by popular dogmas — Epochs in the career of the Pre-historic Man — Contemporary with cave-bear and mammoth — Progress of discovery — In France — In England — Bone -caves — Cave of Aurignac — Climate of the Drift Period — Reindeer Epoch — Character of the Pre-historic Man — Engraving by Cave-men — Epoch of domesticated existing animals — Danish antiquities — Climatic changes — Lacustrine habitations of Switzerland — Era of domesticated animals and plants — Pre-historic remains in Nile Valley — Note : Earliest traces of man 17

Chapter II. Antiquity Of Man Evidences In The United States

TJUMAN relics in gold-drift of California — Calaveras skull — Plummet from San Joaquin Valley — Basket-work at Petit Anse, La. — Human bone in Loess, at Natchez — Arrow-heads in connection with bones of mastodon, in Missouri — Stone-hatchet in Drift, Jersey County, Illinois — Pre-historic remains in Colorado and Wyoming — Pottery found with the remains of megatherium — Human skeleton at New Orleans — In a calcareous conglomerate in Florida — Ancient hearths in the Ohio Valley — Marine shells in the Alluvium of Ohio — The works of the Mound-builders — Parallelism of the Antiquity of Man in the two hemispheres — Contemporary mammals — The elephant and mastodon — Rhinoceros — Musk-ox — The great musk-ox — Reindeer — Irish elk and his American congener — The aurochs — -The bison and his American congener— The great CONTENTS.

VIII FAGB. ox — The horse — The cave-lion and great American lion — The great American tiger — The cave-bear and its American congener — Cave-hyena — The great beaver — Northern types common to both hemispheres — Southern types widely divergent — Probable connection between the two hemispheres in former times — Faunæ of the Miocene and Pliocene compared — Man amid these changes — His fertility in resources — Note : Human remains in the bone-caves of Brazil — Along the Coast of Ecuador 52

Chapter III. The Mound-builders The Geographical

DISTRIBUTT?***' OF THEIR WORKS. ' I 'HEIR works as distinctive as those of the Pelasgi — Ancient works in the Northwest — Animal mounds in Wisconsin — Works at Aztalan — On the Upper Mississippi — In the Lower Valley of the Missouri — At St. Louis and in the American Bottom — Great mound at Cahokia — Ancient cemeteries on the Merrimac River — -At Chester, Illinois — In Perry County, Missouri — In Southern Indiana — In Tennessee — Similar mode of burial practised in Great Britain — Ancient works on the Lower Mississippi — At New Madrid — At Florence, Ala. — Along the Yazoo — The great mound at Seltzertown, Miss. — Works in Arkansas — In Louisiana — On the Gulf Coast — On the Etowah River — At the Falls of Little River — At Macon — Ancient works in the Ohio Valley — At Newark — At Marietta — Great mound at Grave Creek — Near Miamisburg — Grottoes occupied by Mound-builders — Walled fort in Illinois ■ — Mounds on the Wabash — At Vincennes — At Merom — On the Kankakee — Ancient works in Northern Ohio and Western New York — In New Mexico — On the Atlantic Coast — Burial cases used in North Carolina — Ancient works on Pacific Coast — In the Montanic Region — Colorado — Upper Missouri — Garden-beds. 97

Chapter IV. Shell-banks Their Geographical Distribution

]\ /TARINE accumuhations — Gnathodon beds on the Gulf Coast — On the Teche — On the Alabama River — Shell-heaps of Florida — On the waters of the Chesapeake — In Nova Scotia — In Maine — In Massachusetts — On the Pacific Coast — Fresh- CONTENTS. IX I-AOB. water shell-heaps — Tn the American Bottom of Illinois — At New Harmony and other points in Indiana — In Tennessee — On the banks of the Yazoo, Mississippi — In Florida — Their antiquity — Character of the crania found in this association 156

Chapter V. Mounds And Enclosures

HPHEIR situation in reference to topographical features — Classification of mounds and enclosures — For defence — Altar or sacrificial mounds — Their structure — Human sacrifices probably offered up — False inferences drawn from their stratification — The British barrows often stratified — Temple mounds — The truncated pyramidal form predominant — No analogy between them and the Egyptian pyramids — The teocallis of Mexico — Sepulchral mounds — Mode of burial — Position of the corpse — Both cremation and inhumation practised — Exploration of the Grave Creek mound — Scythian customs similar to those of the Mound-builders — Exploration of a mound at Vincennes — -Of the great mound at St. Louis — Of Lick Creek mound, Tenn. — Universality of mounds among primitive nations — Urn burial — Cave burial — Mounds of observation 171 C HAPTER VI.

THE MOUND -BUILDERS THEIR ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. OTRIKING similarity in implements of barbarous races — Of little value in tracing ethnic affinities — Flint and greenstone well adapted to the manufacture of crude implements — Arrow-heads, how made — Their classification — Rimmers and borers — Agricultural implements — Celts — Axes — Fleshers — Scrapers — Pipes — Tobacco, indigenous — Pestles — Bark-peelers — Discoidal stones — Their uses — The game of " Chungke " — Textile fabrics, regularly spun and woven — Gaugers — Weights — Shuttles — Spindle-whorls — Shell-work — Beads — Pottery — Water-jugs — Statuettes — Vases — Drinking cups — Pipes — Sepulchral urns — Kettles — Colored pottery — Copper implements — Chisels — Axes — Daggers — Spear and arrow - heads — Knives — Awls — Bracelets — Implements showing marks of moulds CONTENTS. X

Chapter VII. Ancient Mining By The Mound

- BUILDERS. PAGE. f EOLOGICAL structure of the southern shore of Lake Superior, with its associated veins of native copper — The Jesuits unacquainted with the true source of the copper boulders — The Indians also ignorant, holding them in superstitious reverence — The region resorted to by a Pre-historic race — Character of their mining — Its antiquity — Implements employed — The wide distribution of copper in the mounds — Mica extensively mined — The ancient mines in the mountain region of North Carolina — Galena mined, but seldom reduced — Specular ores of Missouri employed as a stone — Ribbon-marked slate mined — Greenstone and porphyry everywhere abundant — Chert extensively used in arrow-heads — Seats of their manufacture — Eras of human progress — Position of the Mound-builders in the scale of humanity — 261

Chapter VIII. Crania Of The Mound-builders

TDERMANENCE of type in crania — Those of the Mound-builders unique — Skulls from the region of Chicago — Figures — Low type — Skulls from the region of Merom, Ia. — Lew type maintained — " Ossa Wormensia " — Skull from Kankakee Valley — Skulls from the region of Dubuque — Previous descriptions of Mound-builders' skulls — Classification of skulls — Flatheads — Distinctive characters of Mound-builders' skulls — Their mental traits contrasted with those of the Indian — As to the former existence of an autochthonous race — Preponderance of the brain-case the mark of mental activity — Artificial compression, how far practised — The Peruvian skull — Contours of the most anomalous skulls — Cranial measurements — NOTE : Mound-builders' crania from Kentucky — Flattened tibiæ characteristic of the inferior races 275

Chapter IX. Manners And Customs As The Basis Of Ethnic Relations

OIMILARITY of manners and customs an uncertain guide in tracing ethnic relations — Manners and customs of the Mound-builders, how far identical with those of other nations — Sacred observances — Sun-worship — Probably practised by the Mound- CONTENTS. XI PAGE. 310 builders — Burial ceremonies — Consecrated offerings traced back to the highest antiquity — Human sacrifices probably made bythe Mound-builders — Its prevalence among other races — Scalping the dead not peculiar to the Indian — Flint and stone implements, their similarity in form the world over — Language — That of the Indians distinct, and of a primitive character — Picture-writing of the Indians and Aztecs — Hieroglyphics used by Central Americans — American language shows no trace of the " Lost Tribes " — The form of the crania an authentic guide — Morton's views as to the separate and peculiar character of the Indian type — Controverted by Retzius — Both types, Doli cocephali and Brachycephali, found — The artificial deforma tion of skull not peculiar to the people of this country — Civil ization, manifested in the higher forms of art, a valuable guide — The ancient civilizations of this Continent distinct from those of the Old World — The outgrowth of a people domesticated to the soil — Iron, its use once known always retained — Known in the Old World before the Historic Period — Unknown to the Pre-historic peoples of this Continent — No domesticated animals — No domesticated cereals, except maize — Stability of manners among an isolated people — Effects of culture in modifying the physiognomy — The great problem of the first origin of man incapable of solution

Chapter X. Who Were The Mound

- BUILDERS? '"T'HEIR origin to be sought in the tropics, rather than in a migration from the Old World — Identity in their crania with those ofthe ancient races of Brazil and Central America — The early civilizations of both hemispheres probably originated in the tropics — Are due to the prodigality of nature — Historical evidence — The Aztecs, their origin — Not an indigenous race — Their proficiency in astronomy — Ancient Mexican records — The Toltecs, or Nahuas, identical with the Mound-builders — The empire of Huehue Tlapalan — The migration of the people southward — The date of this migration —They attain supreme power — Colhuan civilization — The people of Central America, found in possession of the country at time of the Spanish Conquest, a part of the dismembered Toltecan empire — Tyranny of the Governing power — That power based on slavery — The ancient civilizations 0/ the Old World indicate a similar con- CONTENTS.

XII PAGB. dition of society — The Mound-builders' Empire undoubtedly based on slavery — An efficient government, the subjugation of the masses, and cheap food, presupposed to account for the magnitude of their structures — Maize the national food — Evi dences of methodical agriculture — Shiftless habits of the Indian Their democratic form of government — Character of the people who erected the mounds — Ethnology of the Mound builders — Summary of their predominant traits 338

Chapter XI. The Unity Of The Human Race

TMPERFECTION of the received chronological record — The remote antiquity of man as indicated by geology — Permanence of types — Views of Dr. Prichard — Of Dr. Thompson on Egyptian antiquities — Of Mr. Smith on Assyrian monuments — Of the author of " Genesis of Earth and Man " — Of Sir Charles Lyell — Of Mr. Darwin, as to the value of specific characters applied to the races of man — Arguments for and against the unity of the race — Points of resemblance in body and mind — Primitive condition of man — Slight influence of the direct action of the conditions of life — Sexual selection the allimportant agency — Humboldt on the unity of the race — His protest against the assumption of superior and inferior races 353

Chapter XII. Chronometric Measurements As Applied To The Antiquity Of Man

' I 'HE Historical Period but an inconsiderable part in the career of man — Antiquity of the Mound-builders — Inferences drawn from the condition of the skeletons — From the character of the arborescent vegetation covering the mounds — Unreliability of Indian traditions — Age of the gorge of the Niagara River — Man's existence under greatly changed conditions of climate — Due probably to astronomical causes — The excentricity of the earth's orbit — Periods of glaciation in remote times — Conclusion __ — - 3°8 Appendix - 387 Index LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAOJV I. Ancient works at Marietta, Ohio, from a sketch by Charles Sullivan, prefixed to " Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley." (Frontispiece.) 2. Plummet from the Modified Drift of the San Joaquin Valley, California _ _ 5"; 3. Hatchet? from the Modified Drift, Jersey County, Illinois 67 4.

Elephas primigenius and Mastodon giganteus, restored 82 5. Animal mounds in Wisconsin 99 6. " " " 101 7. Plan of ancient works at Aztalan, Wisconsin, from a survey by Dr. I. A. Lapham, "Antiquities of Wisconsin" 102 8. Plan of ancient works in Madison Parish, Louisiana, from a survey by James Hough, "Ancient Monuments," etc 120 9. Plan of ancient works near Newark, Ohio, from a survey by Col. Charles Whittlesey, " Ancient Monuments," etc. 125 to. Plan of Fort Azatlan, Indiana, by J. H. Emerton, " Bulletin of Essex Institute " -- - 134 loa. Plan of ancient works at Hutsonville, Illinois, from a plan by J. H. Emerton, " Boston Natural History Society" 139 II. Gnathodon cuneatus, illustrative of the shell-heaps on the Gulf Coast _ __ 156 12. Plan of an altar or sacrificial mound 179 13. Section of a sacrificial mound in the Scioto Valley, " Ancient Monuments," etc. 180 14.

View of Grave Creek Mound, West Virginia, " Ancient Monuments," etc. -- igo 15. Different forms of arrow-heads 205 16. " " " 206 17. Rimmer or borer 207 18. Spades for cultivating the soil, from near Alton, Illinois. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. XIV FAGS 19. Axes or hatchets, creased 210 20. " " not creased 212 21. Double-edged axe, from Wisconsin 213 22. Fleshers . — 215 23. Scrapers _ 2ID 24. Porphyry pipe, polished, from a mound at Laporte, Indiana — 217 25. Pestles for pulverising maize - 218 26. Discoidal stone 222 27. Sculptured stone, ornamental 222 28. Implement, use unknown - 222 29. Textile fabrics 225 30. Gauges? employed in spinning 229 31. Weights? for keeping taut the thread - 230 32. Shuttle? used in weaving 233 33. Button? for spindle-whorl _ _ 234 34. Hemispherical implement. Use unknown -234 35.

Busycon perversum, used in shell-work — 234 36. Discs from the same — - 235 37. Marginella apicina, used as beads 235 38. Water-jugs, from Missouri 237 39. Water-jug, front and profile views, from a mound in Missouri .. 239 40. Statuette, profile and back view, from a mound in Missouri — 241 41. Water-jug, from an ancient cemetery on the Wabash River, Ind. 243 42. Water-jug, from Belmont, Missouri 244 43. Ancient vessel , from San Jose, Mexico 244 44. Chevron markings of the Bronze Age of Switzerland 245 45. Drinking cup, from Perry County, Missouri 246 46. Pipe, female head and body, from a mound at Laporte, Indiana, 246 47. Sepulchral urn, from Laporte, Indiana 247 48. Two urns from the same locality 247 49. Vessel of pottery, from near the mouth of Big Sandy River, Ky. 248 50. Ancient pottery, from Merom, Indiana 250 " " " New Mexico 250 51.

" " " Aztalan, Wisconsin 251 52. Copper implements — chisels, axes and daggers 253 53. " " of warfare and the chase LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. XV 54- Copper implements — knives, awls and bracelets 256 55- showing marks of moulds 258 56. Stone mauls, from Lake Superior _ 267 57. Skull, from Stimpson's mound, near Chicago 277 58. Frontal bone, from Kennicott's mound, near Chicago.. 280 59. Child's skull, from Haas's Park, near Chicago. 281 60. Skull, from Merom, Indiana 282 6l- " " " " 283 62- " - 284 &3- " " " " 285 64. Posterior view, showing " Ossa Wormensia" 286 65. Skull, from Dunleith, Illinois 289 66. " " Tennessee 291 67. " " the Upper Mississippi 292 68. Vertical view of skull, from Merom, Indiana 293 69. " " " " - " 293 70. 294 71 Skull of a Flafhead 295 72 Comparative scale of skulls

Chapter I. The Antiquity Of Man

— EVIDENCES EST EUROPE. THE combined investigations of geologists and ethnologists, prosecuted during the last quarter of a century, have thrown much light upon the origin of the human race, and developed facts which require us to essentially modify our pre-existing views as to the length of time during which it has occupied our planet. That man lived at a time far too remote to be embraced in our received system of chronology, sur rounded by great quadrupeds which have ceased to exist, and under a climate very different from what now prevails, has been so clearly demonstrated that the fact must now be accepted as a scientific truth. Revelations so startling, have been received with disquietude and distrust by those who adhere to the chronology of Usher and Petavius, which would bring the various migrations of men, the confusion of tongues, the peopling of continents, the development of types, and everything relating to human history, within the short compass of little more than four thousand years.

Those great physical revolutions in the face of Europe, such as the contraction of the glaciers within narrow limits, the gradual change of the Baltic from salt to brackish water, the submergence and subsequent ele vation of a larger portion of Southern Russia and b Northern Germany, the conversion of a portion of the bed of the Mediterranean Sea into the desert of Sahara, the severance of France from England, Europe from Africa, and Asia from Europe, by the straits of Dover, Gibraltar, and the Dardanelles, and the dying out of the volcanic fires of Auvergne — all these great physi cal changes which geologists, by universal consent, admitted were infinitely older than any authentic history or tradition, must now be comprehended in the Human Epoch. "Ethnology," remarks Sir John Lubbock, "in fact, is passing through a phase from which other sciences have safely emerged, and the new views in reference to the Antiquity of Man, though still looked upon with distrust and apprehension, will, I doubt not, in a few years, be regarded with as little disquietude as are now those discoveries in astronomy and geology, which at one time excited even greater opposition."* A brief glance at the progress of scientific inquiry will show how vastly our views of the grandeur of the universe have been enlarged by casting aside the dogmas of former ages.

The battle-field on which Science and Popular Belief were the contending hosts, has been repeatedly fought over, in which the former has always come off victorious; not as against Christianity, but against the narrow and bigoted views of the times. In the fourth century, to believe in the Antipodes was deemed heretical. In 1430, Copernicus completed his immortal work on the Revolution of the Heavenly Bodies, and for thirteen years retained it in his possession ; and when he put it forth, as a safeguard against oppression, he propounded his theory in the form of an hypothesis. It was permitted to slumber for nearly eighty years, and * Sir John Lubbock, " Pre-historic Times," preface. POPULAR DOGMAS. 19 when Galileo revived it in explanation of the phases of Venus, the Italian astronomer was silenced.

Fifty years ago, no popular belief was more fixed than that the work of creation was accomplished in six days, each occupying a period of twenty-four hours. Geologists, in investigating the structure of the earth, saw that, to account for all the mutations which it had undergone, required the lapse of an indefinite period of time, stretching back so far remote as to defy computation. To this requirement, every intelligent investigator at this day assents. Geologists now find that the Antiquity of Man far antedates the era assigned to his creation by the received system of chronology, and submit the evi dences of their belief to an enlightened public sentiment. Thus, within the present generation, has been opened a sphere of investigation which has enlisted an able body of observers, whose labors have thrown a flood of light upon the questions relating to our common humanity.

Ethnography has been raised to the rank of the noblest of sciences. However strange these new views with regard to the origin and history of our race may appear, they can not be disregarded. We must weigh the value of observations, and press them to their legiti mate conclusions. The investigator at this day must not be trammeled, in the language of Humboldt, by " an assemblage of dogmas bequeathed from one age to another," — -"by a physical philosophy made up of popular errors." A summary of the facts on which the Antiquity of Man is based will form an appropriate introduction to this work ; for if the geologist demands time to account for the formation of the successive deposits in which the vestiges of the human race are preserved, the eth nologist is equally imperative in his demand for time to enable him to account for the migrations of men, their physical peculiarities as manifested in types, and the diversities in their written and spoken languages, in their civilizations, and in their manners and customs.

The historical period of 4,000 years, they claim, is inadequate to explain these diversities. M. Lartet, whose discoveries in ethnography have placed him in the front rank of observers, divides the period of the Pre-historic Man into two ages, and sub divides the first age into three epochs, and the second into two. ' Epochs. I. That of the extinct animals, such as the mammoth and cave-bear. < 2. That of the migrated existing animals (Rein deer Epoch). 3. That of the domesticated existing animals s (Polished stone Epoch). I. STONE AGE. 1. That of Bronze. 2. That of Iron. II. METAL AGE. Sir John Lubbock divides Pre-historic Archæology into four periods. I. " That of the Drift ; when man shared the possession of Europe with the mammoth, the cave-bear, the wooly-haired rhinoceros, and other extinct animals."

This he calls the " Palæolithic " period. 2. " The later or Polished stone Age ; a period characterized by beautiful weapons and instruments made of flint and other kinds of stone, in which, however, we find no trace of the knowledge of any metal, excepting gold, which seems sometimes to have been used for ornaments." This he calls the " Neolithic" period. 3. " The Bronze Age ; in which bronze was used for arms and cutting instruments of all kinds." PROGRESS OF DISCOVERY. 21 4. " The Iron Age ; in which that metal superseded bronze for arms, axes, knives, etc. ; bronze, however, still being in common use for ornaments, and frequently also for the handles of swords and other arms, but never for the blades." * 1. Man as the contemporary of the extinct animals, such as the mammoth and cave-bear. — Up to a recent time, it was the belief of geologists that the remains of man were restricted to the most superficial deposits, such as are now accumulating on the face of the earth, and little significance was attached to discoveries which served to unsettle this belief.

As early as 1823, M. Boue, an accomplished French geologist, found human bones in the undisturbed Loess, at Lahr, in the valley of the Rhine, which were shown to Cuvier, who, while admitting that they were human, insisted that they came from a modern burial-ground. Thus the dictum of the great comparative anatomist was sufficient to override the careful observations of the painstaking geologist. In 1828, Christol and Tournal, in investigating the cavern of Bize, in the south of France, observed human bones and teeth and fragments of pottery, intermixed with the bones of mammals now extinct, the whole cemented by stalagmite, and exhibiting the same degree of fossilization ; but the scientific world failed to recognize the just value of these observations. In 1833, Schmerling found in the cave deposits of Liege, human bones and rude implements of stone, commingled with the remains of the elephant, rhinoceros, etc. ; and, resisting the full force of the evidence before his eyes, he suggested that the bones of the extinct species might have been washed out of the older alluvium which exists in the vicinity. * " Pre-historic Times," p. 3.