Page:Palæolithic Man and Terramara Settlements in Europe.djvu/235

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
FOSSIL MAN (ITALY AND OTHER COUNTRIES)
175

chambers, 20 metres long, 12 metres broad, and from 2 to 3 metres high, Herr Szombathy, in 1881, discovered a human skull to which he attached great importance. In the upper bed of the cave-earth, underlying a sheet of stalagmite, bones of reindeer, Bos primigenius, Ursus spelæus, wolf, fox, etc., were met with. Along with them were small fragments of human skulls, indicating two individuals one an adult and the other a young person. All the bones found in the cave were petrified and covered with calcareous matter of a greyish colour, which caused them to adhere to each other when they happened to be in contact. The archæological objects in this bed consisted of blades of flint, perforated teeth of reindeer and beaver, and a

figure(s): 56

FIG. 56. Side and top view of Cranium from Fürst Johanns Hole. (After Szombathy.)

.

dagger made of a mammoth rib. In a side niche, about a metre distant from where the above-mentioned discoveries were made, a nearly complete human cranium, minus the lower jaw, was disinterred from the same cave-earth at a depth of about a foot (Fig. 56). A fragment of a reindeer rib was adherent to its right side, and portions of other bones were lying in its vicinity. Like all the osseous remains in this part of the cave the skull was encrusted with the same greyish calcareous deposit, proving that it was contemporary with the reindeer. The first and second molars on each side were the only teeth in their sockets. The third molars had not yet appeared, but they were in the course of formation in the alveolar groove. The cranium was well developed, as will be seen from the accompanying outlines. The antero-posterior and transverse