Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 7.djvu/476

342 Certain caves in Aquitaine contain masses and layers of a stalactitic conglomerate, composed of bones of men and carnivora, and fragments of pottery. The origin and formation of this breccia are attributed by M. Desnoyer to the remains of some of the aboriginal Celtic tribes, who frequented these caves, or were buried there, having become blended with the mud, gravel, and debris of the extinct animals, already entombed; the mass, by a subsequent infiltration of stalagmite, having been converted into a solid aggregate.

From what has been advanced, the archæologist will therefore perceive that the occurrence of the remains of man with those of extinct species of animals, in a deposit that is covered by a thick layer of solid rock, must not be regarded as certain proof that the human bones are of as high antiquity as those of the quadrupeds with which they are associated.

But another source of fallacy as to the presumed high antiquity of human skeletons found in sedimentary deposits, requires a brief comment. It not unfrequently happens that, from the subsidence of tracts of country, or the undermining of cliffs and headlands, or by the falling in of the roofs of caverns, the superficial soil is overwhelmed and buried beneath the strata on which it was originally superimposed. The contents of sepulchral mounds and the remains of domestic animals may thus be engulfed in very ancient deposits, at considerable depths beneath the present terrestrial surface. Such was the case described by Sir Charles Lyell, of part of a human skeleton found imbedded in a ravine on the banks of the Mississippi, with bones of the Mastodon.

The following instance, mentioned by Mr. Bakewell, holds out a salutary caution as to the necessity of the most scrupulous investigation of all the circumstances connected with a discovery of this nature. "A thick bed of coal on the estate of the Earl of Moira, in Ashby Wolds, which is covered by strata of ironstone, coal, sandstone, &c., is worked at the depth of 225 yards. In an adjoining locality the same bed was reached at the depth of 97 yards; and in this stratum the skeleton of a man was found imbedded in the solid coal, which apparently had never been disturbed." No traces could be