274 NATURAL SCIENCE. 



JUNE, 



Although the skeletons had doubtless been buried, there is nothing 

 to show that any special tomb had been made ; and owing to the 

 removal of almost all superincumbent strata and the remanie character 

 of what is left, it is impossible to say how far the overlying layers 

 had been disturbed. Still, it is not likely that neolithic sextons 

 with flint spades could dig more than five or six feet to dispose of 

 the remains of a fellow-man even of seven feet length, and one may 

 take it as certain that the period that has elapsed since the interment 

 is represented by at least 15 or 16 feet of deposit. 



The outermost skeleton is lying on its back, and measures just 

 2 metres from the end of the toes to the position of the collar-bone. 

 Deducting for the foot and measuring from the heel, with addition 

 for the head and neck, the height must have been seven feet at a low 

 estimate. 3 The arms were lying at the side, the left hand resting 

 over the head of the femur and enclosing a flint implement. By March 

 15th, when the present writer first saw the remains, the skull had 

 been removed ; the arms had disappeared, all but part of the left 

 humerus and ulna, and there was no trace of shoulder bones or ribs. 

 The pelvic bones had also been removed, as well as the sacrum ; but 

 14 vertebrae could be counted in position. 



The other two skeletons are smaller, measuring little over six feet in 

 length, and both lie on the left side, the legs turned forward and bent 

 slightly at the knee. The arms are bent so that the right hands come 

 to a level with the shoulder. The second implement was found in the 

 hand of the middle skeleton, the third under the head of the innermost. 



The left arm of the third was not bent up, but the hand was 

 lying by the ilium of No. 2. This arm has now disappeared. 



As regards the skulls, the middle one has been entirely destroyed, 

 while the others are much damaged. The first (i) is of size 

 proportionate to the skeleton, and enough remains to show some 

 general characters, though the left side, the jaw, and the basis cranii 

 are wanting. The maximum length is 21 cm.; and the greatest 

 width in the parietal region is 15 cm. 



The cephalic indices are therefore 71-5 and 66-5, the former 

 very near that of the 1884 skull, determined by Mr. Wilson4 as 71*35, 

 and near those of Cro-Magnon. The craniofacial angle is not easy 

 to determine, owing to the destruction of the occiput and basis 

 cranii, but it seems to be approximately 90°. There is a distinct 

 prognathism about the former. 



The contour of the two crania is different. The larger skull (i) 



'The height measurement given by M. Riviere, 1-85 (=6 ft. 2 in.), is certainly 

 below the mark, and was calculated from the femur. That given in some papers 

 of 20 metres (or 6 ft. 8 in.) without the skull, is too large, as it is taken from the end 

 of the toes. The exact measure will probably never be known, as the neck and 

 shoulder region is now destroyed. M. Riviere's note on the 1892 skeletons was read 

 to the Paris Academy of Sciences on March 7. I know it only from a newspaper 

 report containing several inaccuracies. 



* Brit. Assoc. Rep., 1885, p. 1218. 



