Page:Geological Evidences of the Antiquity of Man.djvu/360

340 granted, it might have no claims to a higher antiquity than the human remains which Dr. Schmerling disentombed from the Belgian caverns; but the fact of their occurring in a post-pliocene alluvial deposit in the open plains, would be the first example of such a phenomenon. The top of the hill of Caberg is not so high above the Meuse as is the terrace of St. Acheul, with its flint implements above the Somme, but at St. Acheul no human bones have yet been detected.

In the museum at Maestricht are preserved a human frontal and a pelvic bone, stained of a dark peaty colour; the frontal very remarkable for its lowness, and the prominence of the superciliary ridges, which resemble those of the Borreby skull, figured at p. 86. These remains may be the same as those alluded to by Professor Crahay in his memoir, where he says, that in a deposit in the suburbs of Hocht of a black colour, were found leaves, nuts, and freshwater shells in a very perfect state, and a human skull of a dark colour. They were of an age long posterior to that of the loess containing the bones of elephants, and in which the human jaw now at Leyden is said to have been embedded.

As to the human skeleton, alleged to have been found in ancient loess at the village of Keer on the right bank of the Meuse, opposite Maestricht, I explored the locality in company with M. Bosquet, and we satisfied ourselves that the proofs advanced in support of its antiquity cannot be depended upon.