The station is also interesting on account of the stratigraphical position of the débris representing the different archæological epochs, which succeed each other without a break in continuity. Among the Solutréen deposits some human remains (fragments of skulls, etc.) have been noted, but they were too mutilated to be of any scientific value. On the 24th March 1881, M. Maret exhumed from a blackish deposit, interspersed with hearths, the remains of a female skeleton, of which the skull was almost perfect. According to Herve (R.E.A., 1893, p. 178), the stratigraphical position of the bed in which the skull lay did not allow of any doubt as to its being contemporary with the hearths. Moreover, its associated relics—implements of flint in all their varied forms, bâtons de commandement, darts, barbed harpoons, needles, whistles, etc.—fixed precisely the epoch as Magdalénien. In
FIG. 44. Skull of a Skeleton found by M. Julien in the Barma Grande Cave.
FIG. 45. Brachycephalic Skull from Placard. (After Maret.)
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comparing the skull (Fig. 45) with others of the period, it presented a remarkable difference, viz., the comparative shortness of antero-posterior diameter, which measured only 175 millimetres, whereas the transverse amounted to 140 millimetres (a cephalic index of 80)—thus apparently contradicting the generally accepted opinion that Palæolithic skulls were dolichocephalic. M. Herve, however, contends that, notwithstanding the high cephalic index, the Placard skull was no exception to the above rule, as it possessed all the other features of dolichocephalic skulls of the Magdalénien epoch. M. Hamy (C.A.P., 1889, p. 437) holds much the same opinion as Herve, adding that sex partly accounted for the shortness
