I08 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 83 



The manager of the mine, Mr. Macartney, remembers clearly the 

 main items relating to the find. He saw the skull shortly after dis- 

 covery and he also saw the place where it was found. He feels certain 

 that the softer spot in which the skull lay contained quantities of 

 detritus with bats' bones. He also remembers a thick layer (about 

 30 feet) of very pure and not very solid lead ore that lay between 

 that part of the crevice or cave that contained the skull and the bulk 

 of the cavity which was filled with more or less mineralized animal 

 bones, detritus, etc. There is uncertainty as to a possible connection 

 of the contents of the two portions of the cave under the ore. 



Dr. Wallace very kindly gave the writer a written account of his 

 recollections. They are as follows : 



I only heard about the skull about two weeks after it was found. It was then 

 at the Mine office, and the General Manager, Mr. Macartney, sent it down to 

 my surgery where I had it for three weeks. I am quite sure that the lower jaw 

 was never found. The skull was sent to me with a few other bones in a box. 

 Amongst these bones was what might have been a human tibia. I did not recog- 

 nize any of the other bones as being of human origin.' 



Mr. Armstrong, who at the time was the metallurgist here, took a great inter- 

 est in the skull. It was he who first told me about it. I think that among the 

 bones sent with the skull were two pieces of what Mr. Armstrong thought was 

 some fossilized material that had been wrapped round the body. Mr. Armstrong's 

 idea was that this had been an animal's skin. I think Mr. Armstrong has a piece 

 of this in his possession but I am not sure. 



One of the teeth in the skull was loose and could be lifted out. When I sent 

 the skull and the other bones back to the Mine Office I sent the tooth with them. 



The writer then wrote to Mr. Armstrong, who meanwhile had 

 moved to Australia, and received from him the following notes : " 



Sydney, 21 st December, 1925 

 Dear Mr. Hrdlicka : 



I was extremely pleased to hear from Dr. Wallace of your visit to Broken Hill, 



and much regret that I was not there I was informed of the find a few 



minutes after the skull had been unearthed, and immediately went to the mine 

 and collected all the bones exposed in the immediate vicinity.' The bones whicli 

 were eventually taken to Kensington Museum proved to be (i) part of a human 

 lower [upperl jaw; (2) a human leg bone; (3) a lion's skull. 



At the time of the discovery I was in charge of the Works only and had no 

 authority at the Mine No systematic search was made for further impor- 

 tant bones and the skull with the bones I had collected was left in the Mines 

 Shelter Office. 



* This is an important statement, made by one well acquainted with human 

 bones. 

 ^ Certain personal references omitted. 

 ' Statements plainly somewhat erroneous. 



