WHOLE VOL. SKELETAL REMAINS OF EARLY MAN HRDLICKA III 



The skull was an isolated object. It lay upright. There was no 

 lower jaw, nor any other bone in apposition. Beneath it, at some dis- 

 tance, was what looked like a large flattened skin bundle, thoroughly 

 mineralized. This was probably a natural laminar formation of the 

 lead ore. Barring a few fragments it was smelted. 



Somewhere in the vicinity of the lower portion of this " bundle " 

 was found a remarkably straight, but otherwise not peculiar, full- 

 sized male human tibia, and lower at some distance were portions of 

 a mineralized lion's skull. In the vicinity there may have been found 

 also some other human fragments, but here much is uncertain. 



The larger part of the bone contents of the main part of the cave 

 were so mineralized that they passed for a good grade of zinc ore and 

 were smelted as such. A'arious portions of the cave fillings, however, 

 were poorer and were l>rought out and thrown on a dump where, 

 covered by poor rock and debris thrown out subsequently, they still 

 repose. The ground and debris in the dump are still full of fragments 

 and pieces of bone, with teeth, chips of quartz, etc. 



Only traces of the great cave now remain in the mine, and as the 

 work progresses they will disappear. The opposite wall of the mine 

 shows an even larger old cavern, completely filled with less consoli- 

 dated and somewhat darker materials than the surrounding rock. 

 This cave has given no bones. 



ADDITIONAL MATERIAL 



While gathering this information the writer learned casually that 

 some of the loose bones from the bone cave — exact parts unknown — 

 were saved and might i:)Ossibly still be found in some of the offices 

 and tool huts of the mine. Accordingly as soon as possible a search 

 was instituted in company with Mr. Rudyerd, and before long several 

 lots of such bones were located in the main office, in the designer's 

 room, in another small office, and in two small huts near the mine. 

 Those in the main office were in a case with a series of mineral 

 specimens from the mine, and represented especially bones enclosed 

 in mineral matrix ; the bones in the other places were loose and not 

 encrusted, only more or less covered with earth and dust. All the 

 bones, however, showed more or less mineralization. 



In addition the officials of the Company very kindly gave the 

 services of two " boys," with whose help digging was begun into the 

 old dump, with the result that in two days numerous additional bones 

 and teeth were added to those already located. All this material was 

 then washed, dried, spread out on a large designer's table and sorted. 

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