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Other Fossils
The next and last skeletal find takes us another quantum leap in geologic time and plunges us even deeper into the earth's strata. A Scientific American article published in 1880 reprinted the particulars of a discovery made in the spring of that year, reported in the St. Louis Republican. Dr. R.W. Booth, who operated an iron mine about 3 miles from Dry Branch in Franklin County, Missouri unearthed from a depth of 18 feet a human skull, portions of ribs, vertebrae and a collarbone. With them were two barbed arrowheads of flint and pieces of charcoal. Dr. Booth realised the significance of all this, but he was frustrated when at just a touch the skull crumbled to dust and the other bones likewise broke into pieces. But these pieces nevertheless stated their story: Later analysis showed they were definitely human.
Two and a half weeks later Dr. Booth reached a level of 24 feet, and found more of the same skeleton. A thigh bone, vertebrae, and more charred wood. What is more, the remains were found resting on a layer of iron ore which bore the impressions of coarse matting. One could still see the marks of criss-crossing fibres. What astounded Booth was that the layer in which both portions were dug up was the second or saccharoidal sandstone of the Lower Silurian, dated an incredible 425 million years old.