NO. II ARCHEOLOGICAL RESEARCH IN PYRENEES RUSSELL 3 



Adhering to the right wall, along the fault which caused the forma- 

 tion of the cave, partially inside the mouth and covered by Levels i 

 and 2, was a deposit of travertine. This deposit, white and porous, 

 was due to one of two causes : infiltration of water down the face 

 of the fault or a blocking of a stream once flowing out of the cave 

 at this level.* There are three phases in its formation : the oldest, at 

 the bottom, is compact and sterile ; the second, relic-bearing and 

 grayish, with charcoal ; the third and uppermost, sterile and friable. 

 The flint and bone extracted from the relic-bearing level have a water- 

 rolled appearance. Flint is extremely rare as, owing to the chemical 

 action of the deposit it had so disintegrated as to be indistinguishable 

 from the travertine. The bone presented the usual features of splin- 

 tered bone coming from Paleolithic levels. 



The relic-bearing level (pi. i, Level 2) contained two small hearths. 

 That found in the sounding proved to be but a vestige, yielding nothing 

 but a small collection of flint and bone tools typical of the Aurignacian 

 culture. A second hearth, slightly outside the cave entrance, was 

 located at plus 20 centimeters and sloped out and upward to plus 

 60 centimeters. It was thin and reddish in color and yielded only a few 

 flint flakes and splinters of bone. Although there were no other hearths 

 in this level, a sufficient quantity of splintered bone and artifacts was 

 recovered to show that it composed the terrace of Paleolithic times, 

 while the artifacts themselves have distinct Aurignacian affinities. 

 Only four of these objects are worthy of note : Two scrapers, one 

 of rock crystal (pi. 2), and the other a fragment of bivalve shell 

 much used and too small for identification of species ; a shell of the 

 species Capuliis hungaricus Linne, perforated for suspension and 

 having the inner surface of its lip decorated with incisions ; and an 

 unusually large conch of the species Triton nodifenim Lamarck 

 encountered at plus 1.60 centimeters (pi. 3). This mollusk, belonging 

 to a warm-water fauna, occurs in the Atlantic as far north as the 

 Charante Inferieure and is rare in the Mediterranean. It inhabits 

 the coral zone at 25 to y^ meters depth and is therefore seldom thrown 

 up on the shore. The species averages 230 to 250 millimeters long, 

 sometimes reaching a length of 300 millimeters, while the width 

 averages 170 millimeters. The Marsoulas specimen measures 310 by 

 180 millimeters. It had remained on a beach for a considerable length 

 of time, as the test shows attack by Algae clione. The cone of the shell 

 had broken and healed during its lifetime. Except for an ancient 



Idem, p. I, footnote r. 



