The Prehistoric World or Vanished races Part 19

(17) "Smithsonian Report," 1860, p. 342.

(18) Ibid.

(19) Mr. Southall, in "Recent Origin of Man," p. 475, quotes, from Dr. Andrews, of Chicago, to the effect that these calculations are very erroneous, as he thinks that M. Morlot forgot that the size of the cone would increase more and more slowly. On the contrary, M. Morlot says as follows: "Only this growth must have gone on at a gradually diminis.h.i.+ng rate, because the volume of a cone increases as the cube of its radius. Taking this fact into consideration, etc." (Smithsonian Report, 1860, p. 341.) There are, however, several objections to this calculation, for which see Lubbock's "Prehistoric Times,"

p. 400; also Quatref.a.ges's "Human Species," p. 138.

(20) Lubbock's "Prehistoric Times," p. 402. For criticisms on this calculation see Southall's "Recent Origin of Man."

(21) British a.s.soc. Rep., 1879.

(22) Quatref.a.ges's "Human Species," p. 139, _et seq._ (23) Nicholson's "Manual of Zoology," p. 535.

(24) Dana's "Manual of Geology," p. 416, note.

(25) Keary's "Dawn of History," p. 382; Morgan's "Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity."

(26) Dawkins's "Early Man in Britain," p. 324.

(27) "Prehistoric Europe," chap. xvi to xxii.

Chapter IX

EARLY MAN IN AMERICA.<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 sh.o.r.es 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 fis.h.i.+ng 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 inst.i.tutions 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 circ.u.mstances that it was necessary to a.s.sign 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 a.s.sertion has not been allowed to pa.s.s undisputed, nor has it received the a.s.sent 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 a.s.sert 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 circ.u.mstance 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 lat.i.tudes. The climate probably pa.s.sed 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 ma.s.ses 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 ma.s.s 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 ma.s.s 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>

Ill.u.s.tration of 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 ma.s.s 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 _debris_ 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 p.r.o.nounced by competent authority<6> 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, p.r.o.nounced 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 archaeologists 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."

Ill.u.s.tration of 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 a.s.sign 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 circ.u.mstances 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 pa.s.s 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 coa.r.s.est 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 furnis.h.i.+ng 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 ill.u.s.tration 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 Phoenicians 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 pa.s.s 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 pa.s.sed 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 archaeologist 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 sh.e.l.l, as far advanced as his descendants were at the time of the discovery of California by the Spaniards."<23>