A. MAN (pre-glacial and palnolithic in culture) B. Irrritst.Cutast. MAN , (neolithic in culture but absense of polished stone C. Hisioarc The so-called Indian of this continent has been so closely studied and his handiwork, whether of stone, bone, metal or clay, scruti nized so exhaustively by ethnologists that everything relating to him is familiar to all. But our knowledge is not as definite and free from contradiction as might be wished. Theo ries beyond count have been elaboratety, set forth, each claiming to fix finally the career of these people. The literature of the subject is enormous and stands quite as much a monu ment to our ignorance as to our erudition. That the Indian is a descendant of the man who reached the continent in pre-glacial time or during an immediately succeeding period is in all probability true. That the variations in his degree of culture and all that he has suc ceeded in accomplishing are due to his environ ment on this continent — are an unfolding of his faculties uninfluenced except by Nature — may be accepted as in all probability true of *him; even such advanced outreaching toward our own conception of civilization as was found in Mexico, Central America and in Peru does not call for the incoming of a superior people. The Indian of North America, in possession when the country was invaded by the Euro pean, has been denied any 'significant antiquity and not a trace of his labors, whether earth work; shell-heap or deeply-buried implement has been admitted to possess an age at all sug gestive. All the uniounds° have been declared to be of Cherokee origin and not one dating so far back that the years may not be easily counted. Here the pendulum swung teo far toward the craze for modernity. As well con fuse the Aztec and the Eskimo. There ate mounds and mounds = mounds proper, the history of which had faded from the traditions of the Indians; and earthworks that were not beyond the capabilities of the various tribal groups or tribes known to the Jesuit fathers who saw the people to such excellent advantage.
It is to the careful examination of our coast shell-heaps that we must look for those evidences of prolonged occupation of the coun try which admit practically of no dispute. These accumulations of clam and oyster shells in many localities show that they were begun when the shore level was not what it now is: the base of the heaps being now several feet below the water's surface at low tide. These
shell-heaps are to be judged by the traces of handiwork found in them and likewise by a careful study of the shells themselves. The im plements and pottery have been found in some instances to be of the rudest description, while in others the traces are of workmanship that was reached only in the ;mintiest days of Indian time. This might prove a snare to the archmol ogist if all considerations were not kept in view, for not a one-time village site in the land hut shows a curious commingling of crude and elaborate implements, weapons and orna ments; but it has been found — on the North Atlantic coast, at least — that shell-heaps that are apparently older are really such from the fact that argillite and basalt implements, and no pottery, are found. This significance of argillite and basalt unassociated with objects of other material has already been pointed out. But more full of meaning than all else is the fact that the same species of mollusk has gradually undergone a change during the time that elapsed between the laying down of the base of the shell-heap and the day of its final abandonment. Evolution is as slow as it is sure, and the change mentioned is alone suffi cient to indicate beyond cavil the antiquity of the sea-coast dweller, who must be considered strictly post-glacial, but impressively prehis toric. An overlooked feature of the subject is that of the marked difference in the traces of man found in different village sites scattered over a limited area, as of 10 or 20 square miles. It has not infrequently happened that traces of human occupation have been brought to light wherein nothing but the rudest forms of implements and coarsest grade of pottery occur. Such have been found, too, remote from present watercourses, deeply buied, and the spot still retaining evidences of being buried ily forested after the site was abandoned by man. No one can unearth such evidences of one-time human presence without being im pressed with their antiquity as counted by years; but of far greater significance is the occurrence of such a village site finally abandoned, overgrown and buried by drifting sands, and then, when not a vestige of it remained visible, the spot being reoccupied by an Indian of greater skill in handicraft. Ex posing the relics of the two occupa is and placing them side by side, the difference s eloquent of the lapse of time beyond the skill of pen to picture.