Page:Annualreportofbo1906smitfo.djvu/494

390

The finds of Taubach (near Weimar) are well known. The base of the deposit at this locality was formed of gravel and sands, partly of glacial origin. Above this was a layer of tufas, having in its lower part remains of fauna contemporary with the Elephas antiquus and Rhinoceros Mercki, as well as an archeological deposit, with Mousterian, for the most part atypical implements, broken and burned bones, and fireplaces; while the upper layers showed fauna of cold climate (Elephas primigenius, Rhinoceros tichorhinus, Rangifer tarandus), but no traces of man. The uppermost stratum consisted of typical loess.

A. Weis found in the archeological deposit, in 1892, a tooth of a child. The specimen lay at the depth of 5.25 meters, and the authenticity of the find is beyond question. The discovery of an adult human molar was reported as having been made in the same layer, but the specimen was obtained by a workingman in the absence of scientific explorers. The writer would not dare to consider this tooth as of quaternary origin, particularly in view of the fact that frauds have been committed at this station since the commencement of its exploration. As scientific men manifested a great desire for human bones, it was not long before some one produced a whole skull, which was declared by Virchow to proceed in all probability from some neolithic burial of the region and by no means from the quaternary deposits. Neolithic flints have also been sold at this place to amateurs for truly paleolithic.

The station of Andernach is located about 20 kilometers north of Coblenz, on a terrace elevated 30 meters above the actual niveau of the Rhine. The archeological deposit was found in a layer of loam which covered an ancient and partly disintegrated flow of lava. The quartzite implements recovered show types such as are known from the upper paleolithic. With the stone objects were found numerous points—chisels, needles, and harpoons of bone and reindeer horn— some of which were decorated. The fauna was composed of Equus caballus, Rangifer tarandus, Bos primigenius, Canis lagopus, Cervus elaphus, Lagopus albus, Lepus variabilis, etc. With the archeological objects were discovered also two incisors of a child and seven pieces of human ribs. Their quaternary age is established beyond a doubt. The whole deposit was as if sealed up by the products of a posterior eruption of pumice stone; this layer was 5 to 6 meters in depth and covered with vegetal earth.