On February 25, 1866, workers in Calaveras County, California, found a seemingly ancient skull buried 130 feet deep and under a stratum of lava in a mine that came to be known as the “Calaveras Skull” (Dexter, 1986). The archaeological find was believed to be from the Pliocene age, which would mean evidence of Pre-columbian contact. It is important to point out that the skull also resembled that of a Native American (Archaeological Institute of America, 2009). A description of the skull stated it was hollow inside but filled with various bone fragments, an ornament, and snail shell that were cemented together and to the skull by a deposit of calcareous tufa (Blake, 1899). The skull received mixed reactions from the start, as some scientists took it for face value while others believed it was a “plant” (Dexter, 1986). After being passed through many hands, the skull ended up with J. D. Whitney, who cleaned off the encrusted sediment and determined the skull was fossilized (Dexter, 1986). On July 18, 1866, Whitney presented a paper on the skull to the California Academy of Natural Sciences (Archaeological Institute of America, 2009). Despite immediate upheaval by scientists, Whitney still held that the skull was genuine and in fact record of the first humans in North America (Dexter, 1986).  Years later, local confessions were made that the skull was taken from an ancient indian burial ground and placed in the mine as a joke. Despite the confessions, many still believed the skull was of ancient origin even if it was purposely placed in the mine. Among the believers were followers of theosophy and Frederic Putnam at Harvard’s Peabody Museum ( Archaeological Institute of America, 2009). Some still stand behind the validity of the skull being prehistoric, despite carbon dating done in 1992 that suggests the find was about 1,000 years old. 

Over the semester, we discussed pre-columbian contact and the settlement of North America. Those who saw the Calaveras cranium as factual argued that it must have been part of the first habitants of North America and was estimated to have dated back to the Pliocene age, therefore concluding its existence to be not only pre-columbian but also pre-Native American. In class we discussed the concept of an American genesis and the theory that Native Americans evolved here as their own population about 500,000 years ago and all humans evolved from here. This theory would pose the idea that it was Native Americans who evolved from the civilization responsible for the Calaveras skull’s origin. The Calaveras skull hoax was believed to date back all the way to the Pliocene age, so it would be the oldest known record of humans and was assumed to be the origin of the current civilizations. After Whitney’s announcement, the San Francisco Alta reported, “The skull is, therefore, not only the earliest pioneer of this State, but the oldest known human being” (Archaeological Institute of America, 2009).This theory also touches on the idea of lost civilizations, as there is no other evidence of a civilization existing in North America in the Pliocene Age. If there truly were habitats of Calaveras County, California in that age, there would have to have been an abrupt ending resulting in all evidence becoming “lost”. 

Sources:

Blake, Wm P. “The Pliocene skull of California and the flint implements of Table Mountain.” The Journal of Geology 7.7 (1899): 631-637.

Dexter, Ralph W. “Historical Aspects of the Calaveras Skull Controversy.” American Antiquity, vol. 51, no. 2, 1986, pp. 365–369. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/279949.

“The Notorious Calaveras Skull.” Archaeology Archive , Archaeological Institute of America , 2009, archive.archaeology.org/online/features/hoaxes/calaveras.html.