Scene 23

Mammoth Ravine; Exhuming of Fossil Bones

During his stay in Natchez, Mississippi, Dickeson excavated the bones of prehistoric animals, including mastodons and ground sloths, in addition to Native American artifacts. In this scene, two men, one of whom may be Dickeson himself, watch as African Americans remove bones from the walls of a ravine. Though these events occurred about 300 years later than the previous scene, they are presented as part of a continuous view along the same river.