1 16 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [x. s. f x, 1899
show that early steps in culture are hesitating and slow, that the various steps which, in the normal order of culture progress, precede the era of polished stone, must have been of very great length ; and should we adopt the conclusion of Whitney that no considerable advance in culture took place in California between Tertiary times and the present, and take this as a reasonable index of the rate of progress, we should have to look for the cradle of the race somewhere in the remote ages of the Mesozoic.
It may further be noted that the biologist, accustomed to re- gard animate nature from the point of view of the theory of evolution, will find it difficult to accept conclusions that would place the perfected man, the highest type of the highest order of animal life, the mammalia, too near the beginning of a series that ought in the natural order of things to show definite indications of progressive change.
EXAMINATION OF THE IMPLEMENTS PRESERVED
Turning now to the objects of art described by Whitney and others and preserved in the museum of the University of California and elsewhere (plate Vl), we inquire more fully into their char- acter and appearance. Whitney has said that the gravels were deposited by streams having violent currents, that the bones of animals were torn asunder and scattered, and that all objects were necessarily more or less worn ; but it is observed that not one of the art objects attributed to the gravels shows the least sign of rough usage or wear ; the marks they display of the tools used in flaking, pecking, grinding, and polishing are as fresh as in the implements and utensils found on modern Indian sites. This fact is so significant that it cannot be passed over without consideration.
Glancing again at the numerous implements, utensils, and ornaments attributed to the Auriferous gravels, we may inquire, What materials are represented ? There are several varieties of stone, including granite, andesite, rhyolite, slate, obsidian, etc.
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