Calaveras Skull

History

The provenance of the Calaveras Skull is one of the aspects of the Calaveras skull that is debated. There are two main trails of ownership that seem to be the most widely accepted. The first starts February 25, 1866 when workers for James Mattison removed a skull from a mining shaft in Bald Mountain, Calaveras County, CA. James Mattison then gave the skull to R. C. Scribner who was a merchant and agent for Wells, Fargo and Company at Angel’s Camp. Scribner then passed the skull on to William Jones, a physician at Murphy’s, who, upon receiving the skull, notified J D Whitney, the State Geologist of California and a Professor of geology at Harvard University. The skull was encrusted with sediment so Whitney cleaned the skull with the help of Jefferies Wyman a comparative anatomist at Harvard.

Timeline One

The skull had been found 130 ft below surface and beneath a stratum of lava. Chemical analysis proved that the skull was fossilized.