Evening star., 1898-12-03

encountered when we come to consider the
physical characteristics and culture OF
auriferous gravel man. The human crea-
ture Of period SO remote might bs expect
ed to betray some characteristics suggestive
of his connection with the lower forms, for
the race of mammals was then young. but
the Calaveras skull, about which such
marvellous chapter in history has bsen con-
Structed, belonged to a man quite equal TO
the average man of today in genealogical
development, and the evolutionist, If we
accept the antiquity of the specimen. must
receive q shock from this fact quite as
stunning as does the ordinary descendant
of Adam and Eve. Perhaps. as Bret Harte.
planet, giving thee an air that's somewhat
In addressing this skull, forcibly suggests
The professor slightly antadated by
some thousand years thy advent on this
better fitted for cold-blooded creatures
Perhaps the most striking feature of
this strange story Of early tertiary hu-
manity IS that the traces of his activities,
so plentifully brought to light. indicate not
that he was struggling with the beginnings
OF the most elementary arts. as We might
reasonably expect but that he had reached
the ripe state of culture known as neolithic,
and ground his acorns in well-rounded and
neatly decorated stone mortars, with SYM
metric, artistically shaped pestles, shaped
f1n3 obsidfan blades for use in the chase,
decorated his person with well-wrought
beads and employed fancifuly shaped
stones of various kinds IN his arts or cere-
monies. Along with these things went, no
doubt, the appropriate accompaniments of
advanced society, institutions and customs,
and whan we come to compare these varied
objects with the tools and utensils of the
tribes of men now living in California
are forcibly struck with the resemblancss,
and, indeed, In many cases with the abso-
lutte identity of the forms. This again
caused the cautious Investigator to pause
and ask, Is it not possible that some mis-
take has been made and that auriferous
p n &c :, I,,f
the evidence, to the writings of Whitney,
Becker and others and to the statements
OF many miners and mining people, and
are compelled to acknowledge its force.
The AMdsvIts.
M. Thomas Matteson found the Gala
veras skull in his shaft ON Bald mountain
at the depth of 10 feet, and the following
affidavit is furnished by Professor Whitney,
who took the trouble to visit the mine and
secure it:
san ANDREAS, Calaveras county, Cal,
January g. 1874.
This is to certify that I, the undersigned,
dld, about the year 1855 dig out of some
mining claims known as the Stanislaus
Company. situated in Table mountain. Tuo-
lumne county, opposite O'Byrn's Ferry, on
the Stanislaus river. a stone hatcnet, SIM
liar in shape to this Chere is inscribed a
r"uSn drawing of a cutting implement of a
triangular shape) with hole through it
for a handle, near the middle Its size was
four Inches across the edge and length
about six inches. 1t had evidently been
made by human hands. The above relic
was found from sixty to Scyenty-iye feet
from the surface gravel, under the basalt
and about 800 feet in from the mouth of the
tunnel. There We're also some stone NOR
tars found Tt about the same time and
place and ut various times where there
Were also found numerous fossil bones OF
different animals, and fossil wood.
'tSigned JOHN CAROM.
Subscribed and sworn to before me,
Nv NJ. o. SWANSON, Justice of Peace,
'Calaveras county, Cal.
And, again. there is the sworn statement
Of Mr.. J. H. Neale of Sonora, given by DR..
Becker:
"SENORA. August 2 1890.
In 1871 Mr.. J. II. Neale was superntend-
cnt of the Montezuma Tunnel Company and
ran the Montezuma tunrel into the gravel
underlying the lava of Table mountain,
Tunlumne county. The mouth of the tun-
erly direction from Rawhide camp, and
about three miles from that place. The
mouth Is approximately loo feet from the
present edge of the solid lava cap of the
mountain. The course of the tunnel is a
little north of east.
AT a distance of 1 400 and 800 feet from
the mouth of the tunnel or of between 300
and 800 feet beyond the edge of the solid
lava, Mr.. Neale saw several spear heads of
some dark rock and nearly one foot in
length. On exploring further, he himself
found small mortar three or four inches
in diameter and OF irregular shape This
was discovered within foot or two of
spear heads. He then found a large, WELL
formed pestle, now the property of DR.. r.
l.. Bromley. and near by large and very
irregular mortar, also at present the prop
erty of DR.. Bromley.
IAN Of these relics We're found the same
afternoon. and were within a few feet of
one another and close to the bed rock, per-
haps within one foot of 1t.
Mr.. Neale declares II utterly imposSihIa
that these relics can have reached the posi-
ton in which they We're found excepting at
the time the gravel was deposited and be-
fore the lava cap formed There was not
the slightest trace of any disturbance OF the
mass of any natural fissure into it by which
access could have been obtained either
there or in the neighborhood
And Mr.. J. II. Neale declares upon his
oath that the foregoing statement is in
every respect true.
''(SignedD JOHN H. NEALE
Subscribed and sworn to before me this
second day of August, 1890
"CSignedD RDWJN A. ROGERS,
Notary Public
And still more authoritative than these
is the find by Mr. Clarence King of pestle
well-shaped, though fragmental, in the old
gravels underlying the lava cap of Table
mountain.
When we consider the amount of this