Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 7.djvu/471

Rh Fossil Human Skeletons.—About forty years ago, great interest was excited by the unexpected discovery of several human skeletons, male and female, in hard limestone, on the north-east coast of the Isle of Guadaloupe; and a specimen found on board a French vessel, captured by one of our cruizers, and presented to the British Museum, afforded English naturalists an opportunity of investigating the nature and age of this first known example of the bones of Man in a fossil state. An excellent memoir by the eminent mineralogist and geologist, Charles König, Esq., of the British Museum, published in the "Philosophical Transactions for 1814," fully elucidated the nature of these relics.

The annexed sketch, fig. 1, represents this celebrated fossil; and fig. 2, another and more interesting specimen, which is preserved in the Museum at Paris. In the latter, the skeleton is in a bent position; and part of the lower jaw with teeth, together with a considerable portion of the upper and lower extremities of the left side, are preserved.

These fossil remains were extracted from a sloping bank of limestone, that extends from the base of the steep cliffs of the island to the sea-shore, and is almost wholly submerged at high tides, as shown in the annexed diagram.

This limestone is composed of consolidated sand, and