Page:The Journal of geology (IA journalofgeology11893univ).pdf/176

At Warsaw, in Coshocton county, fifty miles west of Newcomerstown I visited an exposure of gravels in a railway cutting, the conditions being almost identical with those at Newcomerstown. The terrace, as in the other case, has been occupied by Indian flint workers, and being in the proximity of extensive flint quarries, there is much refuse of manufacture. I gathered a peck of turtle-backs and rude objects of paleolithic types from the level ground above, and in the wall of the gravel pit found several pieces, descended from the surface, that would be freely admitted into the paleolithic family by its sponsors. Work in the excavation had ceased several months before, and the face of the bluff, nearly thirty feet high and two hundred yards long, was well veneered more or less deeply with talus deposits, through which in places and especially near the top, the normal gravels could be seen. The redistributed deposits along the base of the steep slope were well reset, and from these I obtained a number of flaked flints; several of which were firmly imbedded, and two of them were removed from the gravel with some difficulty and with the aid of a pick, one twenty-five and the other twenty-seven feet beneath the surface of the terrace. The latter specimen is shown in the accompanying plate.

In studying this section at Warsaw I was led to realize the folly of hastily using inexpert evidence regarding the finding of relics of art in gravels. In a case like this even the experienced scientific observer, whose attention had not been definitely called to the nature and far reaching significance of such finds, might from a casual observation have recorded the recovery of one or more of these objects from the gravels. The danger would be greatly increased if the observer were only a relic hunter, or if he were convinced that the gravels at any depth might be expected to contain such objects. These specimens were in the gravels, firmly imbedded, and to all appearances this particular portion of the deposit was in a normal condition. Any one could here have dislodged a portion of the mass with his walking-stick, with fair prospect of finding a flaked stone of paleolithic type. I doubt very much if we are justified in using the casual obser-