202 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 83 



The sacrum. — Present, the uppermost segment ; it does not appear 

 to have been as yet fully united with the rest of the bone ; belongs 

 doubtless to skeleton No. 2. Nothing very distinctive. 



CONCLUDING REMARKS 



Neither previous publications nor the present volume furnishes a 

 wholly adequate study of the important Spy skeletons. Such a study 

 with extensive comparisons of more recently discovered human ma- 

 terials is still to be made. Furthermore, no endocranial casts of these 

 very instructive skulls have as yet been available. 



The Spy find is without question the most important ever made in 

 relation to the problem of transition from the Neanderthal to the more 

 modern forms of man. Here in practically one grave, certainly at 

 the same level and under the same associations, are found two skele- 

 tons, one of which is in many respects still typically Neanderthal ; 

 but the jaws and the teeth of this skeleton, and the skull of the second 

 subject, are far in advance of the Neanderthal stage and correspond- 

 ingly nearer to modern man. No better demonstration could have 

 been furnished, or could reasonably be wished for, of the transitional 

 potentialities among the later Neanderthal representatives, to which 

 the skeletons evidently beiong, towards the modern human type. 



The cultural conditions found in the terrace may be of significance 

 in this connection. There is a very strong probability that the two 

 skeletons represented regular intentional burials ; and if so, they may 

 well belong to the time of the upper Mousterian, if not even later, 

 deposits. 



Meanwhile, the precious Spy remains are housed in a private 

 residence, where in a few minutes they could be destroyed by fire, 

 which would mean irreparable loss to science. 



THE DILUVIAL MAN OF KRAPINA 



One of the most important finds of the skeletal remains of Quater- 

 nary man is unquestionably that of the Krapina shelter, near Zagreb, 

 in northern Croatia. The discovery comprises a whole series of 

 human bones of well-determined geological age, and the remains were 

 not recovered accidentally or by ignorant laborers, but through pro- 

 longed, painstaking exploration. The bones themselves are for the 

 most part fragmentary, which is much to be regretted, but they 

 represent, as now estimated, over 20 individuals, and they show on 

 one hand such similarities and on the other such variation of structure, 

 that they are of great value to the student of ancient humanity. 



