Early man in South America

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SMITHSONIAN DEPOSIT

Preface

Between the years 1899 and 1907 the writer carried on a series of investigations with regard to the various skeletal remains which suggested or were attributed to ancient man in North America. These studies resulted in a number of publications, 1 culminating in a general treatise comprehending the whole subject, which appeared as Bulletin 33 of the Bureau of American Ethnology. The results of the investigations seemed at first to lend support to the theory of considerable antiquity for some of the remains presented as evidence, as, for example, the two low skulls discovered at Trenton, New Jersey. Subsequent researches however, cleared up most of the uncertain points and the entire inquiry appeared to establish the fact that no specimen had come to light in the northern continent, which, from the standpoint of physical anthropology, represented other than a relatively modern man.

The possibility of discovering osseous remains of man of geologic antiquity in North America still exists, but, as was brought out in the studies referred to, any find to be accepted as establishing the existence of such man would have to be unequivocally authenticated by the anthropologist and the geologist working in cooperation. The various conclusions reached in these studies seem to have been quite generally accepted and no further discoveries of osseous remains pointing to the presence of early man in this part of the world have been made.

While occupied with the subject of man's antiquity in North America, the writer became more directly interested in the reports of related discoveries in South America, particularly in Argentina. It was soon found, however, that these reports, or at least those dealing with the finds of human remains up to 1907, were singularly incomplete and unsatisfactory. The records of the many cases were full of defects and uncertainties which, owing to the distance of the field and other difficulties, seemed insurmountable obstacles preventing the formation of a definite opinion as to the merit of any of the finds.

1 The Crania of Trenton, N. J., and their Bearing upon the Antiquity of Man in that Region; in Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, xn, pp. 23-62, New York, 1902.

The Lansing Skeleton; in American Anthropologist, N. s., v, 323-330, Lancaster, Pa., June, 1903.

A Report on the Trenton Femur (written in 1902), published with E . Volk's The Archaeology of the Delaware Valley; Papers ofthePeabody Museum, v, Cambridge, Mass., 1911.

Skeletal Remains Suggesting or Attributed to Early Man in North America; Bulletin S3 of the Bureau of American Ethnology, pp. 1-113, pis. i-xxi, figs. 1-16, Washington, 1907.

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But before the close of the year which marked the conclusion of the writer's inquiries relating to ancient man in North America (1907), there appeared in Argentina an important resume of the evidence relating to the man of the Pampean formations in that country, by Lehmann-Nitsche and a number of Ins associates, and this was soon followed by the reports on the apparently epoch-making discoveries of the Tetraprothomo (1907), Diproihomo (1909), and Homo pampseus (1909), by F. Ameghino, all of which stimulated to a high point the writer's interest in the question of early man in the southern continent. Then, with the earnest aid of Prof. W. H. Holmes, who has always had much at heart the impartial solution of the problem of man's antiquity in America, and through the good offices of the present Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, it became possible for the writer to visit Argentina. In recognition of the importance of expert geologic evidence in studies of this kind, it was arranged that the writer should be accompanied by a competent geologist, acquainted with formations in other parts of the world allied to those of the pampas. The selection for this service fell on Mr. Bailey Willis, of the United States Geological Survey, who had done important work on the loess and related formations in North America and in China.

The chief objects of the expedition were the examination of the skeletal remains relating to early man that are preserved in Brazil and in Argentina; the study of at least the principal localities and of the deposits from which the finds were reported to proceed ; and the discovery, if possible, and the collection of osseous, archeologic, or other specimens bearing on man's antiquity.

It was hoped that the work on the ground, carried to such extent as the circumstances might allow, would make it possible to form more definite conclusions concerning the individual finds than the literature on these warranted, and that possibly by means of new discoveries additional light might be shed on the whole subject of early man in South America, particularly in Argentina.

The journey was undertaken, it should be explicitly stated, with no prejudice or preconceived opinions, though in view of the defective reports skepticism concerning certain details or finds was unavoidable.

Argentina was reached early in May, 1910, and the stay of the writer in the country lasted two months and that of Mr. Willis somewhat longer ; almost all of this time was given to the researches here recorded. The Argentine men of science, Srs. Ameghino, Ambrosetti, Lehmann-Nitsche, Moreno, Outes, Roth, and others, received Mr. Willis and the writer very cordially and facilitated their work with a liberality that has left a lasting impression and has placed thenz under many obligations. Senor Moreno and Professor Ameghino, with his brother Carlos, were particularly helpful; without their aid a large portion of the work could not have been accomplished. The specimens which it

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was important to examine, even those the descriptions of which had not yet been published, were placed freely at the disposal of the writer and his colleague ; Professor Ameghino and his brother accompanied them, notwithstanding the inclement season, for nearly three weeks from point to point along the coast where vestiges of ancient man or his forerunners were believed to have been discovered; H. Santiago Roth visited Alvear with Mr. Willis; and de Carles, at the instance of Professor Ameghino, accompanied the party to the distant Ovejero. Finally, through the good offices of Senor Moreno, the writer received most valuable aid from the provincial authorities of Patagonia and from several prominent citizens of the city of Carmen. Sincere thanks are due to all of these gentlemen and to many others by whom assistance was rendered.

The first weeks of his stay were given by the writer to the study of the available skeletal material attributed to ancient man or his forerunners, in the Museo Nacional, the Facultad de Filosofia y Letras, and the Museo de La Plata; while Mr. Willis devoted his time to the examination at the same institutions of the many samples of baked earth, scoriae, and other objects, believed to exhibit the activities of ancient man. Besides this, spare time was utilized by visits to places in Buenos Aires which show exposures of the local formation, and especially to the docks where the Diprothomo skull had been discovered, in search of first-hand information concerning this find.

On May 24 Mr. Willis and the writer set out for the coast, along which the more important specimens had been discovered, and a few days after, at Mar del Plata, were joined by Professor Ameghino and his brother Carlos. Examinations were made of the coast from north of Mar del Plata to the Barrancas de los Lobos (see maps, pis. 1, 21 ; figs. 1, 2), a section very important from the standpoint of archeology and geology; of the more inland Laguna de los Padres, the neighborhood of which was occupied up to late historic times by a small body of Indians; of the coast about and to the northeast of Miramar, a region interesting archeologically, geologically, and because of finds, slightly farther to the south, of two "fossil "human crania; of the Necochea and the Arroyo delMoro parts of the coast, highly interesting because of recent finds there of a number of ' 'fossil " human skeletons; and finally of the Monte Hermoso barranca, which yielded the Tetraprothomo.

On the completion of the foregoing work, Professor Ameghino and his brother returned to Buenos Aires, the writer set out for the valley of the Rio Negro, whence came many years ago the "fossil" Patagonian crania, while Mr. Willis proceeded to visit certain of the inland hills for the purpose of supplementing his geologic observations on the coast, thence to the localities of Arroyo Siasgo and Alvear, the former the site of a recent find of "fossil" man, and the other a well-known place

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that has given many examples of baked earth and other apparent evidences of man's antiquity. Early in July Mr. Willis and the writer returned once more to Buenos Aires, completed as far as possible the work of research there, and then started with Sr. de Carles for Ovejero, a locality in the northwestern part of Argentina, which in the last few years has yielded a relatively large quantity of "fossil" human bones. Subsequently this trip was extended, for geologic as well as anthropologic purposes, to Tucuman, San Juan, and Mendoza. From the last-named place Mr. Willis returned to Buenos Aires, while the writer crossed the Andes on his way to Peru.

The writer left Argentina feeling that the time at his disposal there, though utilized to the utmost, was all too brief. The country abounds in anthropologic problems and material and large sections as yet have not been explored. But the opportunities suggested by these considerations belong to the future. The writer and his colleague were not able to visit some of the places where remains of presumably ancient man were found, because, the discoveries having been made many years ago by men no longer among the living, the exact localities are not known. There was no time to conduct more extensive excavations, and even the examinations of some of the specimens could have been made with advantage more detailed. The main objects of the journey had been accomplished, however, so that further particulars could not be expected to change or augment materially the essentials of the evidence. Whatever doubts remain are of such nature that only by justifiable inference and strictly scientific field work can it be hoped to effect their final solution.

Unfortunately the general results of the inquiry here outlined are not in harmony with the claims of the various authors who reported the several finds. As will be seen by the details, the evidence is, up to the present time, unfavorable to the hypothesis of man's great antiquity, and especially to the existence of man's predecessors in South America; and it does not sustain the theories of the evolution of man in general, or even of that of the American man alone, in the southern continent. The facts gathered attest everywhere merely the presence of the already differentiated and relatively modern American Indian.

A.H.