Discovery of Calaveras Skull

Date: February 25, 1866 • Location: Calaveras County, United States

Miners in Calaveras County, California, discovered a human skull that was taken to show that humans had existed during the Pliocene, a thesis that was later disproved.

Calaveras County, officially the County of Calaveras, is a county in both the Gold Country and High Sierra regions of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 45,292. The county seat is San Andreas. Angels Camp is the county's only incorporated city. The county was reportedly named for the remains of Native Americans discovered by the Spanish explorer Captain Gabriel Moraga in 1806.