268 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 83 



exposed rock-shelter M. Peyrony with some associates discovered in 

 September, 1909, a human skeleton of Neanderthal affinities. The 

 discovery was announced before the Academic des Inscriptions, 

 Nov, 10, 1909, and was shortly afterward published in the Revue de 

 rficole d' Anthropologic.' 



M. Peyrony had been exploring- the rock-shelter with its prehistoric 

 deposits for ten years. The excavations showed that the spacious 

 shelter had been inhabited for a very long time by successive pre- 

 historic populations, and that each group of these left behind a layer 

 of its kitchen refuse with its special stone industry. From its top to 

 the base it was possible to identify the following horizons : 



1. Upper Aurignacian ; 



2. Middle Aurignacian ; 



3. Lower Aurignacian ; 



4. Mousterian ; 



5. Acheulian. 



After the middle Aurignacian the roof of the shelter fell down, and 

 between and on the rocks accumulated the debris of the upper Aurig- 

 nacians. Above this was a layer of over 12 feet of humus and gravel, 

 to the surface. 



The first skeleton was discovered by M. Peyrony in the lower part 

 of the Mousterian deposits. The explorer, with Professor Capitan 

 and another companion, removed just enough of the bones to satisfy 

 themselves that they were human and then notified Professors Boule, 

 Cartailhac and Breuil, with several more local prehistorians, of the 

 find ; and it was in the presence of these, on September 27, that the 

 skeleton was carefully uncovered and disengaged from its deposits. 

 The deposits and the condition of the skeleton in situ, when cleaned, 

 are shown in plate 72. 



The several cultural layers of the shelter were easily distinguished 

 at sight, owing to their different coloration, and definitely so by their 

 fauna and industry. The Mousterian layer, besides its characteristic 

 stone industry, yielded an abundance of the bones of the bison, the 

 stag, and the horse, with occasional parts of other later Quaternary 

 animals. 



As the explorers removed the upper layers and most of the Mous- 

 terian deposit, they found three flat stones, placed one above the skull, 

 the two others over the shoulders or chest of the skeleton. Over the 

 whole space enclosing the skeleton the deposits contained a consid- 



^ Capitan and Peyrony, Deux squelettes humains au milieu de foyers de 

 I'epoque mousterienne. Rev. ficol. Anthrop. Paris, Vol. 19, pp. 402-409, 1909. 



