242 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 83 



been reported upon and the specimens described by Nehring." The 

 permanent molar is preserved in the museum of Jena. 



The site of Taubach, close to the village of the same name, lies in 

 a terrace bordering the Ilm valley, not far from Ehringsdorf and but 

 a few miles from Weimar. The terrace is built up of calcareous tufas 

 alternating with sand. As early as 1874, excavations for the sand and 

 stone began to disclose an ancient fauna, and with it traces of paleo- 

 lithic human remains. 



The fauna is characterized by EIcpJios antiquus and Rhinoceros 

 merckii, and is believed to date from a warm interglacial period. The 

 artifacts comprise articles in stone, bone, and horn. The implements 

 of flint, quartz, and other stone, lack characteristic forms ; they are 

 indefinite as to type, some approaching Mousterian forms, others 

 appearing more primitive. Among the bone implements are numerous 

 axes [or scrapers?] made of bear mandibles, scrapers of beaver jaws, 

 a bone knife or disk, horn clubs or hammers, and other forms. 



DESCRIPTION OF THE TEETH 



The first human tooth was found in 1892, in the " Mehlhorn trench," 

 at a depth of 5.10-5.25 m. (nearly 17 ft.), by Dr. A. Weiss, while 

 the latter was collecting fossil animal skulls. The tooth showed 

 similar alterations as did animal bones from the same layer. The 

 specimen is described in 1895 by Nehring." It has been identified as 

 the anterior left lower milk premolar. A question arose at first as 

 to whether the tooth was human, but the identification as such has 

 been generally accepted. 



The crown of the tooth shows some wear. It measures 8.8 mm. in 

 length (ant. -posteriorly) ; 7.5 mm. in breadth (linguo-labially) ; the 

 length is much the same as that of corresponding teeth in uncivilized 

 modern races, the breadth is slightly greater. The drawing of the 

 crown that accompanies Dr. Nehring's report is a rather poor one 



^ Gotze, A., Die palaolitische Fundstelle von Taubach bei Weimar (with 

 earlier literature). Verb. Berl. Ges. Anthrop., pp. 366-377, 1892. Schotensack, 

 O., Diluviale Funde von Taubach. Verb. Berl. Ges. Anthrop., pp. 92-95, 1895. 

 Nehring, A., Uber einen fossilen Menschenzahn aus dem Diluvium von Taubach 

 bei Weimar. Verb. Berl. Ges. Anthrop., Zeit. Ethn., pp. 338-340, 425-433, 1895. 

 Same author, tlber einen menschlichen Molar aus dem Diluvium von Taubach 

 bei Weimar. (Ibid., pp. 573-577-) See also Adloff, Das Gebiss des Menschen 

 und der Anthropomorphen, Berlin, 1908; Schmidt, R. R., Die diluvial Vorzeit 

 Deutschlands, Stuttgart, 191 2; and Festschrift Anthropologische Versammlung 

 Weimar, 191 2. 



' Op. cit., pp. 338-340, I fig. 



