142 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 83 



when hyenas and other animals would occupy it, then probably by humans 

 again for a period and so on for ages. 



A/[r. Chubb : Among the bones examined by me and which have now gone to 

 the British Museum there was one at least which appeared to show evidence of 

 having been gnawed by hyena ; I suggest that for a certain period the cave may 

 have formed a hyena den. This would account for a certain amount of the larger 

 bones found in the cave. But to account for the small mammal remains I think- 

 that the cave might possibly have provided a roosting place for owls and the 

 pellets of bones which these birds throw up, accumulating for years would yield 

 a great quantity of remains. On the other hand it may be that a large area of 

 surrounding country had been subjected to sudden flooding, in which case all the 

 smaller terrestrial animals would be drowned and carried away by the torrent 

 which might have led into the cave ; and the water then draining through would 

 leave the bones behind. It is well known that in the valleys of some of the large 

 South American rivers all the small mammals are often killed in this way. 



Mr. Mennell : The paper is of much interest as dealing with the first in- 

 stance out of Europe and the Mediterranean region of stone implements being 

 found in association with extinct animal remains. Besides the rhinoceros de- 

 scribed by Mr. Chubb the jaws of lion and hyena from the deposit did not alto- 

 gether agree with modern examples and it is quite possible that a number of 

 extinct species will be found. 



APPENDIX II 

 THE FINDING OF THE BROKEN HILL SKULL' 



THE MYSTERY OF THE GREAT BONE CAVE 



The ancient skull which has just recently arrived from Rhodesia and has 

 excited the keenest interest in scientific circles, was unearthed at a depth of 

 60 feet below water level in the Rhodesia Broken Hill Development Company's 

 mine at Broken Hill, Northern Rhodesia and has been presented by the pro- 

 prietors of the mine to the British Museum. 



No little excitement was caused in the far-away mining camp when it was 

 known that a skull had been found in the mine, and many heated discussions 

 took place among the miners, as to whether it was a large ape's skull or that 

 of a human being. The native laborers were not so interested, however ; so after 

 the native foreman had sent the skull to the " white boss " they went on with 

 their digging, and so broke into pieces what would have been a far more impor- 

 tant discovery, that of the complete skeleton of this early ancestor of man. It 

 was after the manager of the property had seen the skull that it was decided to 

 put it aside and make a search for further remains, and so we were able to re- 

 cover a leg bone, a collar bone, portion of shoulder blade, also portion of the 

 pelvis with coccyx attached, and part of a lower jaw, together with various parts 

 of other bones not identified, and most of the pieces of the mineralized cast of 

 the body. The only other large bone found near these human remains was a 

 smashed skull of an animal similar to a lion ; also a round stone similar in shape 

 and size to the stones the present-day natives use for various grinding purposes. 



^ By William E. Harris, The Illustrated London News, Nov. 19, p. 680, 1921. 



