KV FRITZ NOETLING, M.A., PH.D. 103 



clusively dispel the view that the aborigines ever manufac- 

 tured implements from bone. 



When excavating together with Mr. T. Stephens the 

 great shell deposit in a cave near Rocky Cape, I collected 

 a fairly large number of bones, mostly consisting of 

 kangaroo, opossum, wombat, seal, and numerous bones of 

 birds. The bones were mostly in a fragmentary state, and 

 the larger ones, apparently femur and humerus of kan- 

 garoo, were evidently intentionally broken. None of the 

 splinters showed even the slightest trace of use. I had, 

 however, the good luck of finding several of the "scoops," 

 and their appeai'ance seemed to exclude the view of an 

 artificial origin. As these specimens show considerable 

 length, I was pretty certain that they could not come from 

 any other part of the body but the extremities, pi-obably 

 the posterior ones, of a kangaroo ; I, therefore, compared 

 the leg bones of a kangaroo, and I could prove the com- 

 plete identity of the so-called "scoops" and the fibula of 

 the kangaroo. 



From PI. XVI. it will be seen that the fibula of the 

 kangaroo is rather a thin, slender bone, which closelv lies 

 on the tibia. The distal end of the fibula is cylindrical, 

 but it becomes deeply concave in the pi'oximal -part- The 

 thinnest and most fragile portion of the fibula is almost 

 in the middle of its length, about there where the concave 

 rather broad pi'oximal portion contracts very quickly, and 

 becomes flat, before merging into the cylindrical distal 

 portion. 



It can, therefore, hardly be surprising that when a 

 kangaroo comes to grief it is usually the fibula that breaks 

 first. I have seen man}' a kangaroo hunted, and if they fell 

 over a cliff, the fibula was regulai'ly broken, and always at 

 the same place, that is to say, where the bone was weakest. 

 The bone was, therefore, broken into two parts, the cylin- 

 drical distal, and the hollowed out, concave proximal part. 

 The concave part, formed the "scoop," so highly treasured 

 by amateur collectors, and its shape was the more sugges- 

 tive of artificial work, particularly because it was strongly 

 attenuated. 



Once more the well-known fact that an actual observa- 

 tion, however simple it may be, is worth more than all the 

 finest theories, is shown to be true. The numerous ama- 

 teurs who collected these specimens jumped at once to the 

 conclusion that these were "scoops" manufactured by the 

 aborigines, but not one of them did look at the leg bones 

 of a kangaroo. 



