NO. 13 SOVIET ANTHROPOLOGY FIELD 243 



wise well-preserved skeleton has been left in the position in which 

 it was found, the right side partly embedded in the earth. Only the 

 left arm and leg bones and the skull could be examined. 



The skeleton was flexed ; the head pointed south-southeast. It was 

 covered with large stones. Dcbcts expresses the opinion that the 

 highly flexed position may indicate that the corpse had been ham- 

 strung. 



The pit, lying under two unbroken strata containing implements 

 of Upper Tardenoisian type, was dug in another stratum containing 

 the same type of implements. No artifacts were found, however, in 

 direct association witii the skeleton. In the underlying stratum a 

 hearth was associated with implements of the Shan-Koba type (.-Vzilian 

 stage). Debets concludes that the stratum containing the skeleton 

 and the uppermost cultural deposit belong to about the same period, 

 a late facies of the Tardenoisian stage. 



He suggests that the skeleton was that of a man approximately 

 40 years of age. The sutures of the skull were open except for a slight 

 obliteration of the sagittal suture. A few teeth were well worn, but 

 caries was absent. The enamel remained only on the crown of the 

 molars and the incisors were approximately half eroded. 



Debets records almost 200 measurcment%on the skull and skeleton. 

 He states that the Fatma-Koba skeleton has all the characteristics of 

 Homo sapiens. The full development of a large number of traits dis- 

 tinguish it from Homo ncandcrthalcnsis. 



Debets enumerates the following points in which tiiis skeleton 

 differs from the Neanderthal type : cranial height, slant and convexity 

 of forehead, development of browridges, occipital projection, slant of 

 the main portion of the occipital bone, facial height, breadth of the 

 ascending ramus, size of teeth, condylo-diaphysial angle of the 

 humerus, bowing of the radius, platycnemic index, bowing of the 

 femur, popliteal index, retroversion of the tibia, and tibio-femoral 

 inflcx. The chin and fossa canina were moderately developed. Trog- 

 nathism was present but within the range of Homo sapiens. The situa- 

 tion of the radial tuberosity in relation to the volar plane, although 

 not highly characteristic of man, was also within this range. 



In a few points concerning massiveness of bones, that is, in the 

 index of robusticity and the size of the epiphyses of the long bones, 

 and in the development of muscular attachments, the Fatma-Koba 

 skeleton resembled Homo neanderthalensis. 



The only cranial trait approaching that of Homo neanderthalensis 

 was the angle of the plane of the foramen magnum. 



On account of its low face, pronounced horizontal profile, high 



