The San Francisco call., 1898-01-09

lll0 ISIldlIS Ol d 1IIciIi4IAAONAA have been dug up out of the .. earth in the Sierra foothills
 near Coulterville. The best
 known local scientists are busy
 Investigating them, foraH the signs and
 Surroundings indicate that they are of
 fncalculable value to the scientific
 world.
 s.s In character the skulls closely re-
 semble the famous Java skull, the most
 remarkable skull ever found, skull
 which the best authorities claim to be :over 10000 years old and to be the near lest approach to remains of the miss ling link"
 e :: It was only a lucky accident that * preserved the remains of these Coulter : 3>ville bones. Chinese miners uncovered -.::them near bedrock, and to allay their .:superstitiOus fears began to throw :: ::,them into the river. Before they had # @cleaned them all out their white over :" seer happened along. He did not real :. ize the true value Of the bones but he : thought they'd make good-looking '" 2uriosities, so he carried home a num-
 #ber of skulls and what was left of the :: Skull and tusks of a mammoth. Later :. .Qn a scientist happened to pass that .:way. He instantly saw the value of %:> the remains from a scientific point of .@sYiew, and obtained them for the Acad- : eTny of Sciences. Those Chinese never .* knew it. but the bones they so zea- <. 4ously pitched into the river were of
 more value than any ordinary pocket ::of gold they could have found They 'sewere worth nearer IO,OO0 than the bit 20; of gold in the gravel near them. . i' To the ordinary observer there would t be little about these fractured bones to
 attract attention, for there are lots of
 other bones in the world that look like
 them. But the fact that the human
 skulls were found together with the
 mammoth bones, in the same bed of .- auriferOus gravel, makes them at once
 of the greatest importance as tending
 to throw light on the existence of man
 in this vicinity during the pliOcene age
 A number of scientific men who have
 seen these remains declare them to be 2 of the greatest importance to paleon-
 :tclOgy; in fact, it is a close question
 whether they are not of greater impor-
 tance than any remains that have ever
 been found in California. not even bar
 ring the famous Calaveras skull.
 While scientists do not generally place " 3 money value on their specimens it is .!:f1LC Ao soc1y LilclL tIlOQSdIluS Ol QOIldTS . could not buy those specimens. "::>@ :: =. :. The skull just received by the Acad- ::... .efny of Sciences will be called the -=.".<':Coulterville =. skull"
 >~.:. Although the CoulterviIle skull was :: discovered last summer it was unearth- =; ed many years ago. Its true value was :. <not discovered till a quick witted sci : *<<entist caught sight of it recently. ,r-J,o =: is now a ranch owned by C. L. Mast, :: but at one time it was a gravel mine /: owned by William Curtis, who recol- = lects perfectly the day the skulls were :+ .unearthed- The exact location of the :: Spot is about three miles from Coulter =. vile, and in the banks formed by a {: i. bend Of the Merced River
 T: According to MT. Curtis story, he . had a number of Chinese working for : him at hydraulic mining. One morn F. ing his foreman came to him and told :. ...*hEnI that there was great excitement :. :.antong the Chinese, as they had struck = "a. stratum of human remains. Their su- =: :peFstttious natures were naturally ex- *-e3ted, and some of them wanted to quit =: the spot at once. Others were for get Hing rid"of the bones as fast as possi- :. #ble
 - .Mr. Curtis hurried to the scene, and :: ::]1ere found the Chinese engaged in :. :throwing human bones and skulls into : *:: 1he river. Fortunately, all had not = Peen washed out of the gravel deposit, ::> go ne was able to secure a few which =, ne kept as curiOsities. At that time he :: :: had TO idea of their real value. :.: .: The mammoth bones were badly ; :broken All the pieces were secured 2. .:and placed in position, and it was >. found that the tusks were about eight =. feet long, indicating that the man. = moth was young one.
 =. his one fact is of the greatest inn .portance
 @:": By questioning the Chinese Mr. Cur .: . ts learned that there were over a hl1n- s:e:Iqred skulls and any number of other
 Pones in the stratum. Most of these had
 peen thrown into the river, where they could not be recovered.
 :Neologically, the bones were found " embeddedina stratum of gray clay and
 gravel. They were not more than a
 foot above bedrock and about twenty feet below the surface line when \ the mining commenced. This surface une' however, at this point is no in- .alcation of where it once was The
 river had been cutting through there *. for ages, and the surface must have been constantly washing down. so it