Page:Palæolithic Man and Terramara Settlements in Europe.djvu/115

Rh slightest touch, we may from the circumstance assume to them a very high antiquity. . ..

"The custom of burying with their possessors the ornaments and chief utensils of the deceased is evident from the remains of this kind discovered everywhere in the ancient barrows ; and this may explain the circumstance of our finding with the bones of the woman of Paviland the ivory rods, and rings, and nerite shells which she had probably made use of during life. I am at a loss to conjecture what could have been the object of collecting the red oxide of iron that seems to have been thrown over the body when laid in the grave: it is a substance, however, which occurs abundantly in the limestone rocks of the neighbourhood." Dr Buckland's minute description of the interment of the Paviland woman with special sepulchral rites is of exceptional interest in view of the more recent discoveries in the Grimaldi caves of Mentone, the skeletons of Chancelade and Mas-d'Azil (France), of Brünn (Moravia), and other localities throughout Europe. The special feature in these interments which now claims attention, is the fact that though geographically widely separated from each other, the bodies had been covered over with a layer of ochre or peroxide of iron. A variety of this custom was to remove the soft parts (scarnitura) before the application of the ochre, a process which accounts for the occasional displacement of the bones from their natural position. But in the case of the Paviland interment this had not been done, as the associated grave-goods were coloured with the same ochreous matter. Seeing that analogous burials have taken place in so many different localities throughout Europe, which are accepted as belonging to the Palæolithic period, is there any valid reason for rejecting the Paviland burial from being ranked in the same category? It is futile, however, in the absence of the skull, to prolong the discussion; so that we must conclude by simply pointing out the precise similarity of the sepulchral rites associated with the Paviland woman to those elsewhere described in Western Europe, especially those of the Grottes de Grimaldi in Italy. Like the Cromagnon race, the Paviland skeleton was that of a very tall person.

Other Gower Caves.

Dr Falconer and Lieut.-col. E. R. Wood (Antiquity of Man, p. 173) had investigated a number of caves in the line of