with him I learned that in 1855 and 1856 he was engaged with other miners in running drifts into Table Mountain in Tuolumne County at the depth of about two hundred feet from its brow, in search of placer gold. He states that in a tunnel run into the mountain at the distance of about fifty feet from that upon which he was employed, and at the same level, a complete human skeleton was found and taken out by miners personally known to him, but whose names he does not now recollect. He did not see the bones in place, but he saw them after they were brought down from the tunnel to a neighboring cabin. All the bones of the skeleton apparently were brought down in the arms of miners and placed in a box, and it was the opinion of those present that the skeleton must have been perfect as it laid in the drift. He does not know what became of the bones, but can affirm to the truth of this discovery, and that the bones were those of a human skeleton, in an excellent state of preservation. The skull was broken in on the right temple, where there was a small hole, as if a part of the skull was gone, but he cannot tell whether this fracture occurred before the excavation or was made by the miners. . . . He thinks that the depth from the surface at which this skeleton was found was two hundred feet, and from one hundred and eighty to two hundred feet from the opening cut or face of the tunnel. The bones were in a moist condition, found among the gravel and very near the bed rock, and water was running out of the tunnel. There was a petrified pine tree, from sixty to eighty feet in length and between two and three feet in diameter at the butt, lying near this skeleton. Mr. Akey went into the tunnel with the miners, and they pointed out to him the place where the skeleton was found. He saw the tree in place and broke specimens from it. He cannot remember the name of this tunnel, but it was about a quarter of a mile east of the Rough and Ready tunnel and opposite Turner’s Flat, another well known point. He cannot tell the sex of the skeleton, but it was of medium size. The bones were altogether, and not separated, when found.”
Winslow (1873, p. 258) added: “On the same level at which this skeleton was found, but from other tunnels, Mr. Akey saw many bones of animals taken, but no other human remains. Among those remains were mastodon’s teeth and bones of animals smaller than mastodons, the names of which he does not know. . . . Overlying these placer deposits and organic remains was volcanic matter consisting of lava or of ‘honey-combed’ material.” Akey swore to the truth of these statements before a notary at Bear Gulch (Winslow 1873, p. 259).
The gravel just above the bedrock at Tuolumne Table Mountain, where thesk seleton was found, is said to be between 33 and 55 million years old (Slemmons 1966, p. 200). This must be the age of the skeleton unless it was introduced into the gravels at a later time, and we are not aware of any evidence indicating such an intrusion. The reported presence of mastodon teeth “on the same level . . . but from other tunnels” is interesting. Mastodons are generally thought to have appeared in North America during the Miocene, but if mastodon teeth were in fact found near the bedrock at Tuolumne Table Mountain, they would be considerably older — Early Oligocene or Eocene.
6.2.6.3 The Hubbs Skull Fragment
In 1868, J. D. Whitney reported on the Calaveras skull to the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Soon thereafter, Dr. J. Wyman informed him that in the collection of the Museum of the Natural History Society of Boston there was a skull fragment that Wyman, one of America’s leading craniologists (Holmes 1899, p. 456), said was human. The fossil was labeled as follows: “From a shaft in Table Mountain, 180 feet below the surface, in gold drift, among rolled stones and near mastodon debris. Overlying strata of basaltic compactness and hardness. Found July, 1857. Given to Rev. C. F. Winslow by Hon. Paul K. Hubbs, August, 1857.” Another fragment, from the same skull, and similarly labeled,