The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1908-04-17

duludl IGAdluS.
"The Lake Monroe (Fla.) bones
consisting of jaws with perfect teeth
and portions of foot, were discov-
cred by Count F. de Pourtales in a
bluff on the shores Of Lake Monroe.
Although examined by Professor
Agassiz, information about them is
meagre, and as their fossilized state
means little in Florida, they cannot
be accepted as proofs Of the presence
of early man in NORTH. America.
Information is also lacking as to
the Soda Creek (Col) skeleton I'M
earthed by gold miners twenty-five
feet down in the gravel and powders
of Soda bar. It was not fossilized,
and was apparently modern burial
Likewise the Charleston (S. CO.
bones dug up together with mastodon
remains by Professor f. S. Holmes,
investigating for the Philadelphia
Academy of Sciences, have lost their
weight as evidence of early man. Lit
tie is known about them now, and no
record of chemical or physical ex-
animation of them is left.
A Modern Burial.
"The famous Calaveras skull, on
the other hand, now in the Peabody
Museum, at Harvard, is one of the
most examined and discussed skulls
unearthed. 1t was discovered by a
mine operator in 1866 in a shaft he
had dug $50 feet below the surface
1t is in fossilized condition. 1t
bears very close resemblance to skulls
in the United States National Museum
taken from caves in the same county,
to which no great age can be at
tached.
"The skull from Rock Bluff, ILL.,,
now in the United States National
Museum, claims for the antiquity of
which were based mainly on the long
sloping forehead and generally un-
developed shape, is likewise very sim
liar to more or less modern Indian
skulls in the same collection.
"The man of Penyon was quarried
up in 1884 in the Valley of Mexico.
The skeleton was imbedded in lime
stone, but not far away were found
fragments Of Aztec pottery and roots
of modern plants. 1t can hardly be
very ancient
"The number Of skulls and bones
unearthed near Trenton, some of
which are now in the museum at
Harvard, are believed by some to fur
nish evidence that man was here be-
fore the glaciers came. Although
most of the bones may be positively
identified as Indian, two skulls are
so different from the rest that they
have puzzled many. They are of a
type foreign to any known Indian
heads, and only after several years
search was l able to associate them
with anything yet discovered. De-
scriptions of skulls Of people of the
northwestern coast of Germany and
Holland and on the islands of the
Zuyder Zee finally tailed so well with
these that 1 concluded they are prob
ably the remains of European immi-
grants.
The Trenton Femur.
"The so-called Trenton femur, or
part of thigh bone, was discovered
by an investigator for Professor Put
nam, of Harvard, in a deposit of sand
underneath glacial gravel, which
would tend to show its deposition be-
fore the glacial epoch. A detailed ac-
count of the find, however, has not
yet been published, and present evil
dence is not conclusive of its age.
"The Lansing skeleton was brought
to light by the sons of farmer near
Lansing, Kansas, while they were
digging tunnel for storing apples
and other farm products in one of
the bluffs f1anking the Missouri River.
1t was seventy feet from the face of
the bluff and twenty feet below the
surface, in deposit claimed to be
geologically ancient. In structure,
however, it is practically identical
with the typical skeleton of large
majority Of the present Indians of the
Middle and Eastern States, and for
this reason amy age attributed to it
would not be significant.
what is known as the fossil man
of Western Florida includes num-
Der of finds dating back as far as
1871, most of which are now in the
National Museum. In makeup care
full examination shows they bear
marked likeness to recent Indian
bones,with not single feature indie
ative of zoologically lower or other
wise substantially different type of
humanity. An expert from the
United States Geological Survey, in
going over the ground, found many
pieces of modern shells and other
evidences that the soil is not very