Page:Early Man in Britain and His Place in the Tertiary Period.djvu/255

] earth with flint flakes and fragments of charcoal (l), in the upper part of which was a thin layer of soil, black with charcoal (2), replaced on the inner side by a yellow loam, in which no less than forty canine teeth of bear, and three canine teeth of lion, perforated for suspension, were found lying side by side, in such a manner as to prove that they had formed part of a necklace (B). On this layer rested a crushed human skull (A of figure). Then succeeded a thick accumulation of refuse (3), composed of broken bones of horses, oxen, stag, and reindeer, large quantities of ashes, and various flint implements, scrapers, flakes, and the like, of the usual Palæolithic types, as well as a few scattered human phalanges. This in its turn was covered by a thick talus (4), which had fallen from the cliff above, and completely masked the rock-shelter. In it the large blocks of stone fallen from the cliff, and which were to be observed also in No. 3, had evidently been arranged on the inner side so as to form a barrier, and on the removal of this a sepulchral vault (D) was exposed to view, containing numerous skulls and skeletons, proved to be of Neolithic age by beautifully chipped implements, one of which bore marks of grinding. There were also rude fragments of pottery, and various implements of bone of the usual Neolithic type. The bodies also had been buried in the crouching posture so universal in interments of that age, and the entrance had been blocked up with large slabs of stone obtained from the neighbouring cliff. The talus had accumulated during the long series of ages separating the Neolithic age from the time of the discovery. The strata below were undisturbed, and the Palæolithic age of the human skull at A was established by its position, as well as by its association with the implements of that period.