Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1885-12-12
and prevent it from vaporiz-
MAN AND THE MAsTODON.
Interesting Speculations Concerning Dis
coyeries Near Worcester, Mass.

coveries Near Worcester, Mass.
Professor F. w. Putnam, of the Archeo-
| logical Museum at Cambridge, has made a
preliminary report on the fossil bones
1 found IN peat meadow near the dividing
| line between the Massachusetts towns of
Marlborough and Shrewsbury, not far
| from Worcester, and which he has been
| examining. Professor Putnam is not yet
prepared TO pronounce confidently upon
the race affinities shown by the human
skull, which, being unfortunately mot a
| typical one" must be subjected to a more
| careful examination before verdict, even a
! hesitating one, can be pronounced as to its
character and age. The question is an in
teresting one, since the skull was found a
| few feet from that of the mastodon, and both
rested upon the hardpan of that neighbor-
hood, which is hard blue clay underly-
| ing an ancient peat bed. Hence the ques-
ton arises, was this person a contemporary
| of the mastodon? archaeological science
| may or not be able to decide that question
| Alright. In any event it will be interesting
| to see what conclusion the Cambridge
| scientists come to.
The mastodon tusks. teeth, ETC., were
| found one year ago this month in digging
| a ditch for drainage through the peat bed
They lay on the hardpan at a depth of
eight feet below the surface of the peat.
1t was believed after some investigation
| that other parts of the mastodon skeleton
could be found, and last month there were
further excavations, under the direction of
DR.. Raymenton, President of the Worces-
ter Natural History Society. While digging
eighteen feet to the southwest from the
spot where the mastodon skull was found
eleven months before the workmen ex-
posed the top of human skull. This was
taken up by Dr. Raymenton. That gentle
man says he worked it out of the fine peat
and clay with his fingers; that
it rested on its basal portion "di-
recty on the blue clay and
stones" The under jaw was found
teeth downward, about eight inches to the
south of the skull, and in immediate con-
tact with the clay. The evidence of several
witnesses is conclusive on these points. Prof.
Putnam, being notified of the discovery,
visited the spot and made careful study
of the peat formation and the underlying
clay, which he declares TO be the boulder
clay covering the bottom of the ancient
basin or pond, q tract Of perhaps five acres
On this hard blue clay, full of rounded and
split stones referabe to the glacial period,
rests the slowly accumulated mass of peat
very fine at the bottom, indicating its
deposition under water, and growing gradu-
ally coarser toward the top. Says the Cam
The two skulls-mastodon and human
were unqueStionably at the bottom of this
peat. both resting on the blue clay, but owing
to the inclination of the basin toward the
northeast from the spot where the human
skull was found, there were two feet less
of peat over the skull than there was over
the mastod0n. The qualification of the
peat was quite marked and the lower por-
ton Immediately covering the two skulls is
very fine, and evidently a deposit made
entirely under water. Above this the peat
is slightly coarser which character in
creases to the surface While few small
pieces of wood were found at the bottom of
the peat, several large logs and what seems
to be the remains of partially burned
stump were found in the layer about two
feet above the human skull. To this
depth heavy objects could have read
lily sunk through the coarse or more
open formation above, but | question the
possibility of so light an object as
human skull sinking through the
lower two feet to the hardpan at any time
subsequent to the formation of that STRAIT
UNI. That both skulls were transported
seems to be proved by the fact that no other
bones of the two skeletons were found in
the immediate vicinity, and that they were
transported by water before the peat depos-
its began seems probable. The broken por-
tons of the human skull have the appear
ance of having been worn by water action,
and the dissertation of the jaw and Uranium
would also indicate the method of removal
from the rest of the skeleton. Had it been
a setting of heavy body through the peat
We could hardly expect that the skull and
jaw alone would have settled to hardpan
and the rest of the bones of the skeleton
! to have been nowhere near them, and the
| orir 10 10 &c
the mastodon."
This seems to be good reasoning In re-
gard to the human remains the professor
says: The skull has been placed in my
| hands for careful study and comparison
and | hope soon to be able to give definite
| information III regard to it. Unfortunately
| the skull is not a typical one, and the
| averaging and careful balancing of its
characters will have to be made before the
| race affiuities can be determined. In re-
gard to its color | may add that it is as
F., deep if not deeper brown than the bones
| of mastodon. Its comparatively perfect
preservation when compared with the mas
todon skull is, however, remarkable; but
this could be easily accounted for by the
| longer exposure of the mastodon bones on
| the surface of gravel deposit before being
washed into the BASIN"
| If these fossil human and animal re-
mains were washed down by the glacial
| food, from some point to the northwest,
until they found their long resting place
where they have now been discovered, the
| fact affords another indication of the prey
alence of warm climate that once ex-
! tended up to Hudson's Bay and beyond
But the m st interesting question that is
| first suggested by the antediluvian remains
| is not an inquiry whence they came, but
wEe.h man was really contemporary
with the mastodon?
Other questions are perhaps more Gu
rious than practical. One is question of
the time period that must have elapsed
SINCE these dry bones lived and another
is What caused that vast cataclysm by
which world of water and ice came rush
ing southeastward over the northern tenn
perate zone? The change of climate was
apparently sudden. There seems to have
been a time when the plane of the earth
was plumb with the eciptic Now it is
tilted back 2Slo, producing the vicssitudes
of the seasons. Did the mastodon live in
that far-away time when the cataclysm
occurred that brought down the long-con-
tinuing flood with its rush of icebergs !?
And was man his contemporary ?-[ Hart
ford Times.
THEVERY LAST SHOT BY LEES MEN-Joe
Deadwyler says that Nap. Cosby fired the
last gun of the war on the Confederate side