Page:Palæolithic Man and Terramara Settlements in Europe.djvu/234

174 obsidian, as well as a number of objects made of ivory and bone. The geometric ornaments and figures engraved on mammoth ribs, on ivory, on reindeer horn, and on small plaques of schist, he regarded as of much importance. Other ornaments consisted of Tertiary shells, perforated teeth of animals, and rude human statuettes fashioned from the phalanges of the mammoth. These and other objects were exhibited at the meeting as having been found on the habitable site, for no objects which could be regarded as grave-goods were found in the sepulchre.

But the most important discovery was a grave containing fourteen human skeletons, huddled together in a space measuring 4 metres in length by 2.50 metres in breadth, and protected by a covering of stone. The grave was 2 metres beneath the surface, in the same archæological stratum as the bones and relics. Other six skeletons were indicated by fragments of bone found close by, and it is significant that they were gnawed by carnivorous animals whose teeth-marks were still visible on some of the bones.

The human skulls in the sepulchre were so much broken that only one could be reconstructed. This specimen was dolichocephalic, like all the others found at Predmost, and showed a retreating forehead, prominent superciliary ridges, and much-worn teeth. From the measurement of the long bones the man was judged to be 1.80 metres in height (nearly 5 feet 11 inches). G. de Mortillet summarily rejects Dr Maska's idea that the sepulchre was the burial-place of the Palæolithic people who hunted the mammoths, which appear to have been formerly in great numbers in this part of Europe. Mortillet concludes his remarks as follows :—

"En tout cas l'homme de 1 m. 80 s'écarterait fortement de la taille normale de la race de Néanderthal" (Le Préhistorique, 3rd ed., p. 277).

Skull from Fürst Johanns Hole.

The cavern named after Prince John is situated near the town of Littau (Moravia), among a series of hillocks of Devonian limestone, and though not of very large extent it contains quite a labyrinth of chambers and galleries. In one of the first