PROBLEM OF THE RHODESIAN FOSSIL MAN 575 



interest, and, as they are encrusted with the ores of zinc and 

 lead, all such bones have in later years been thrown into the 

 smelting furnace with the ores from the surrounding rock. 

 The smaller bones were probably introduced by owls, but 

 most of the larger specimens are the broken remains of the 

 food of hyaenas and man. 



Man clearly occupied the cave at times, for from the begin- 

 ning of the exploration rude implements both of stone and 

 bone have been continually met with. Among these are pieces 

 of vein-quartz and close-grained rock chipped for cutting and 

 scraping ; large round pebbles of quartzite used for crushing 

 seeds and breaking marrow-bones ; and pieces of bone and 

 ivory conveniently shaped for digging roots. Some of the 

 implements are peculiar, but most of them might have been 

 made by the existing Bushmen. Their discovery therefore at 

 first excited little more interest than that of the bones, and 

 it was not until the remains of the cave-man himself were 

 found in 1921 that the importance of the accumulation was 

 realised. 



The human remains occurred in the deepest and remotest 

 part of the cave which had been reached at the time, but 

 there was nothing in their situation to suggest that they were 

 older than the broken bones and implements which had already 

 been found. According to Mr. Franklin White, indeed, there 

 was originally a vertical fissure above the spot where the 

 skeletons lay, and they may not even have been introduced 

 through the cave itself, but may have accidentally fallen from 

 above. The discovery affords an interesting illustration of the 

 difficulties with which geologists are often confronted when 

 they attempt to determine the age of a fossil. 



Two individuals at least are represented by the remains 

 recovered. One nearly complete skull may be assigned to the 

 same individual as a shin-bone (tibia), and the two ends of a 

 thigh-bone (femur). Part of the upper jaw of a slightly smaller 

 individual may be associated with the shaft of a more slender 

 thigh-bone. A sacrum may belong to either of the two. All 

 the bones are remarkably fresh in appearance, and when the 

 skull was first cleaned it adhered to the tongue in the same 

 way as a buried bone which had only lost its animal m.atter 

 without becoming mineralised. While they lay buried in the 

 cave-earth most of the bones became encrusted with a layer 

 of minute crystals, chiefly of hemimorphite (silicate of zinc), 

 and some of their cavities are partially filled with the same 

 mineral. 



The general appearance of the skull is now familiar from 

 the many photographs of it which have appeared in the news- 

 papers. The brain-case shows very little that is unusual, but 



