2/4 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 83 



CRITICAL REMARKS 



Eighteen years have elapsed since the discovery of the La Ferrassie 

 skeletons, yet they remain in general but very imperfectly known, for 

 what has been reported on them by M. Boule is scattered in his reports 

 on the La Chapelle skeleton and on those of the Neanderthal man in 

 general. There are no adequate photographs, and no casts of the re- 

 mains. Professor Boule has kindly and repeatedly shown the originals 

 to the writer and other scientific men ; but this is insufficient for the 

 student of early man and could readily result in erroneous impressions. 

 The causes of the regrettable delays are not known. They cannot, 

 it seems, be due to Professor Boule who knows thoroughly, as shown 

 in his work on the La Chapelle skeleton, the great value to all serious 

 students of early man of reliable photographs and casts, and of the 

 ready availability of such originals for scientific study. 



The two La Ferrassie skeletons are of especial importance, on one 

 hand through their many characteristics which connect them clearly 

 with the Neanderthalers, and on the other hand through a series of 

 features in which they approach more modern man. 



The burials themselves are of importance. M. Boule suggests 

 (" Fossil Men," p. 190, 1923) that " It would appear there are present 

 here the bone remains of a whole family, killed by accident, perhaps 

 beneath a land-slip." This opinion is apparently not borne out by the 

 details reported by Capitan and Peyrony. There were no signs of any 

 such fall as could have killed the whole family ; the infant burials 

 were apart from those of the adults and near each other ; the adults 

 lay in a line, with heads near each other ; the three flat stones over 

 the male skeleton were evidently selected and lay in a definite order ; 

 both the bodies were flexed, as at La Chapelle — a feature that pre- 

 vailed from the paleolithic to neolithic and even later burials ; their 

 positions otherwise indicate a laying down of a body rather than an 

 accidental burial ; and the skeletons were not covered with the debris of 

 a fall, but with intentionally broken bones, implements, and human 

 refuse. 



Neither can the opinion of Capitan and Peyrony, that the bodies 

 were placed superficially in the corner of the cave, covered with only 

 skins and branches, and left thus until covered by new refuse of 

 habitation, be reasonably sustained. The decomposition of the bodies 

 in a shelter of this nature would have made the stay of their relatives 

 impossible, and if they left, the bodies would have been devoured or 

 torn to pieces by the hyenas or other animals. 



