Page:Palæolithic Man and Terramara Settlements in Europe.djvu/222

 162 or sewn on a garment. No colouring matter and no grave-goods of any sort were along with these interments.

The sixth cavern measured 16 metres in breadth and 12 metres in depth, and, being close to the sea, was only 16 metres above its level. Blocks from the roof, successive hearths, shells, etc., were intermingled together, and among this heterogeneous debris three skeletons were discovered. The first lay on its back on a hearth, with the feet towards the back of the cave, and at a depth of 3.75 metres. Some of the bones were awanting, and of those that remained some were not in their anatomical position. The femur appeared to have been gnawed by a wild animal. Numerous perforated shells, one canine tooth of a deer, a flint knife and a flint pebble, lay about the upper part of the body-all of which had been covered with peroxide of iron. Its height was estimated to be about 2 metres. (J. Dechelette, Archéologie Préhistorique, vol. i., p. 298.)

A little lower, and to the right of the former, a second skeleton was met with, lying on uneven soil. Over the head was quite a network of perforated shells of various species, and teeth, all of which were coloured with peroxide of iron. A little higher up was a third skeleton, apparently that of a young person of about fifteen years of age. The body lay stretched out, back upwards, with no ornaments or objects of any kind near it.

The conclusions of M. Rivière may be thus briefly stated all the deposits belonged to the Palæolithic period the Moustérien below and the Solutréen above. The skeletons were true burials contemporary with the strata in which they were found. The dead, wearing their apparel and ornaments, were buried wrapped in skins, with their weapons beside them. No attention was paid to orientation, and the body was sometimes left in the position it occupied at death. A layer of ferruginous powder was strewn over the remains, except in the case of children, who appear to have been buried without the rites observed in the case of adults. The early cave-men used stones in the manufacture of implements before they discovered suitable flint deposits, and among their contemporary fauna were a species of elephant, the woolly-haired rhinoceros, hyæna, cave-lion, and cave-bear.