Page:Palæolithic Man and Terramara Settlements in Europe.djvu/173

Rh in a dark chamber of considerable dimensions. On the irregular floor of the chamber a mass of fluvial deposits, to the depth of 11 metres, had accumulated. The entrance at present stands 28 metres above the bed of the river, but it was evident from the nature of the débris inside that at some former period the water had free access to the cavern. Subsequently there came a time when it entered only occasionally, supposed to be during abnormally high floods. This inference was based on the fact that intercalated with the stratified beds in its upper portion were seven layers of stalagmite. (Dupont, loc. cit., p. 96.)

Bones were found immediately above the first, second, and seventh of these stalagmitic floors ; and it was over the second, counting from below, or below the fifth, counting from above, at a depth of about 4.50 metres from the surface of the floor of the cave that the famous Naulette jaw (Figs. 2 and 3) was discovered. Scattered through the same horizontal stratum were found three other human bones which might have belonged to the same skeleton— viz., a canine tooth, an ulna, and one of the metatarsal bones :— also a large number of bones representing the following animals among others :— Mammoth (1), rhinoceros (3), horse (2), wild boar (3), small ox (1), goat (5), chamois (2), reindeer (3), stag (2), hare (5), brown bear (3), wolf (3), fox (4), dog (2), etc. (The figures after the names indicate the number of individuals identified.)

M. Dupont states that there can be no doubt that most of these animals formed the food of man in the cave, as their remains consisted mostly of broken skulls and limb-bones— the latter being split longitudinally for the purpose of extracting the marrow. Some of the bones actually showed the marks of the blows by which they had been broken, and one piece had an artificial perforation.

But it is the human jaw which gives to this find its special importance. Though, unfortunately, only a fragment, it presents certain peculiarities which in a very marked degree differentiate it from the corresponding bone in modern races. These may be stated as follows :—

1. Its small height in proportion to the thickness of the body gives it an exceptionally stumpy appearance.

2. The chin, instead of projecting forward, slopes back-