This question has been diligently asked and variously answered. Dr.
John F. Boynton, of Syracuse, a celebrated Geologist, went among
the first to the scene and examined the figure with much care. His
opinion, (which was the first one expressed by any distinguished
scientific authority) has been given decidedly that the body is a
massive and beautiful statue. His own language will best state
his reasons for declining to think it a petrifaction. A letter
of his is subjoined, which was kindly furnished by him for
publication. The letter was written to one of the most scientific
men of America.
SYRACUSE, Oct. 18th, 1869.
Henry Morton, Prof. in Pennsylvania University and Franklin Institute:
DEAR SIR:--On Saturday last, some laborers engaged in digging a
well on the farm of W.C. Newell, near the village of Cardiff,
about 13 miles south of this city, discovered, lying at about three feet
below the surface of the earth, what they supposed to be the
"petrified body" of a human being, of colossal size. Its length
is ten feet and three inches, and the rest of the body is
proportionately large. The excitement in this locality over the
discovery is immense and unprecedented. Thousands have visited
the locality within the last three days, and the general opinion
seems to be that the discovery was the "petrified body" of a human
being.
I spent most of yesterday and to-day, at the location of the
so-called "FOSSIL MAN," and made a survey of the surroundings of
the place where this wonderful curiosity was found. On a careful
examination, I am convinced that it is not a fossil, but was cut
from a piece of stratified sulphate of lime, (known as the Onondaga
Gypsum.) If it were pulverized or ground, a farmer would call it
plaster. It was quarried, probably, somewhere in this county,
from our Gypsum beds. The layers are of different colors--dark
and light. The statue was evidently designed to lie on its back,
or partially so, and represents a dead person in a position he
would naturally assume when dying. The body lies nearly upon the
back, the right side a little lower; the head leaning a little
to the right. The legs lie nearly one above the other; the feet
partially crossed. The toe of the right foot, a little lower,
showing plainly, that the statue was never designed to stand erect
upon its feet. The left arm lies down by the left side of the body,
the forearm and hand being partially covered by the body. The
right hand rests a short distance below the umbilicus, the little
finger spreading from the others, reaching to the pubes. The whole
statue evidently represents the position that a body would
naturally take at the departure of life.
There is perfect harmony in the different proportions of the
different parts of the statue. The features are strictly Caucasian,
having not the high bones of the Indian type, neither the outlines
of the Negro race, and being entirely unlike any statuary yet
discovered of Aztec or Indian origin. The chin is magnificent
and generous; the eyebrow, or supercilliary ridge, is well arched;
the mouth is pleasant; the brow and forehead are noble, and the
"Adam's apple" has a full development. The external genital
organs are large; but that which represents the integuments,
would lead us the conclusion that the artist did not wish to
represent the erectal tissues injected.
The statue, being colossal and massive, strikes the beholder with
a feeling of awe. Some portions of the features would remind one
of the bust of De Witt Clinton, and others of the Napoleonic type.
My opinion is that this piece of statuary was made to represent
some person of Caucasian origin, and designed by the artist to
perpetuate the memory of a great mind and noble deeds. It would
serve to impress inferior minds or races with the great and noble,
and for this purpose only was sculptured of colossal dimensions.
The block of gypsum is stratified, and a dark stratum passes just
below the outer portion of the left eyebrow, appears again on the
left breast, having been chiseled out between the eyebrow and chest,
and makes its appearance again in a portion of the hip. Some portions
of the strata are dissolved more than others by the action of the water,
leaving a bolder outcroping along the descent of the breast toward
the neck. The same may, less distinctly, be seen on the side of the
face and head. I think that this piece of reclining statuary is not 300
years old, but is the work of the early Jesuit Fathers of this country,
who are known to have frequented the Onondaga Valley from 220
to 250 years ago; that it would probably bear a date in history
corresponding with the monumental stone which was found at
Pompey Hill, in this county, and now deposited in the Academy at
Albany. There are no marks of violence upon the work; had it been
an image or idol of worship by the Indians, it could have been easily
destroyed or mutilated with a slight blow by a small stone, and the
toes and fingers could have been easily broken off. It lay in
quicksand, which, in turn, rested upon compact clay.
My conclusion regarding the object of the deposit of the statue
in this place, is as follows:--It was for the purpose of hiding
and protecting it from an enemy who would have destroyed it, had
it been discovered. It must have been carefully laid down, and
as carefully covered with boughs and twigs of trees which prevented
it from being discovered. Traces of this new decomposed vegetable
covering can be seen on every side of the trench, and it is quite
evident this vegetable matter originally extended across and above
the statue.
Above this stratum of decayed matter, there is a deposit of very
recent date, from eighteen inches to two feet in thickness, which
may have been washed in, and likewise turned on by plowing. A
farmer who had worked the land, told me that he had "back furrowed"
around it, for the purpose of filling up the slough where the statue
now lies.
It is positively absurd to consider this a "fossil man." It has
none of the indications that would designate it as such, when
examined by a practical chemist, geologist or naturalist. The
underside is somewhat dissolved, and presents a very rough surface,
and it is probable that all the back or lower portion, was never
chiseled into form, and may have been designed to rest as a tablet.
However, as the statue has not been raised, the correct appearance
of the under surface has not been determined, save by feeling as
I pressed my hand as far as I could reach under different portions
of the body, while its lower half lay beneath the water.
This is one of the greatest curiosities of the early history of
Onondaga county, and my great desire is that it should be preserved
for the Onondaga Historical Society. Efforts are being made by
some of our citizens to secure this in the county where it belongs,
and not suffer it to bear the fate of other archeological specimens
found in this region.
Hoping to be able to write you more in a few days, I remain
yours truly, JOHN F. BOYNTON."