The Discovery of America Vol. 1 (of 2): with some account of Ancient America and the Spanish ConquestFiske, John
History
The Discovery of America Vol. 1 (of 2): with some account of Ancient America and the Spanish Conquest
Fiske, John
America -- Discovery and exploration; Latin America -- History
Now the traces of the existence of men in North America during the
Glacial epoch have in recent years been discovered in abundance, as for
example, the palaeolithic quartzite implements found in the drift near
the city of St. Paul, which date from toward the close of the Glacial
epoch[6]; the fragment of a human jaw found in the red clay deposited in
Minnesota during an earlier part of that epoch;[7] the noble collection
of palaeoliths found by Dr. C. C. Abbott in the Trenton gravels in New
Jersey; and the more recent discoveries of Dr. Metz and Mr. H. T.
Cresson.
[Footnote 6: See Miss F. E. Babbitt, "Vestiges of Glacial Man
in Minnesota," in _Proceedings of the American Association_,
vol. xxxii., 1883.]
[Footnote 7: See N. H. Winchell, _Annual Report of the State
Geologist of Minnesota_, 1877, p. 60.]
[Sidenote: Discoveries in the Trenton gravel.]
[Sidenote: Discoveries in Ohio, Indiana, and Minnesota;]
The year 1873 marks an era in American archaeology as memorable as the
year 1841 in the investigation of the antiquity of man in Europe. With
reference to these problems Dr. Abbott occupies a position similar to
that of Boucher de Perthes in the Old World, and the Trenton valley is
coming to be classic ground, like the valley of the Somme. In April,
1873, Dr. Abbott published his description of three rude implements
which he had found some sixteen feet below the surface of the ground "in
the gravels of a bluff overlooking the Delaware river." The implements
were in place in an undisturbed deposit, and could not have found their
way thither in any recent time; Dr. Abbott assigned them to the age of
the Glacial drift. This was the beginning of a long series of
investigations, in which Dr. Abbott's work was assisted and supplemented
by Messrs. Whitney, Carr, Putnam, Shaler, Lewis, Wright, Haynes,
Dawkins, and other eminent geologists and archaeologists. By 1888 Dr.
Abbott had obtained not less than 60 implements from various recorded
depths in the gravel, while many others were found at depths not
recorded or in the talus of the banks.[8] Three human skulls and other
bones, along with the tusk of a mastodon, have been discovered in the
same gravel. Careful studies have been made of the conditions under
which the gravel-banks were deposited and their probable age; and it is
generally agreed that they date from the later portion of the Glacial
period, or about the time of the final recession of the ice-sheet from
this region. At that time, in its climate and general aspect, New York
harbour must have been much like a Greenland fiord of the present day.
In 1883 Professor Wright of Oberlin, after a careful study of the
Trenton deposits and their relations to the terrace and gravel deposits
to the westward, predicted that similar palaeolithic implements would be
found in Ohio. Two years afterward, the prediction was verified by Dr.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account