606 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1959 
included Baradostian flints.” Smith’s notes record the following 
data: “In afternoon while cleaning off east profile just over B 7, found 
human skull under rocks at depth 4.84 meters. No signs of burial 
except for thin dark streak on west side of skull. Skull faces south 
slightly tilted on right side. Large stone resting on top of skull when 
found (not photographed at this period). Surrounding earth yellow- 
ish brown clayey dirt. Heavy rocks above and all around—possibly 
the individual was crushed in rockfall, or lay in very shallow grave 
on which rocks fell. All cranial bones seem present although crushed. 
Rather heavy brow ridges.” 
Further facts regarding this discovery are as follows. In order to 
trim the bulge in the excavation wall, Smith put two of our most 
powerful workmen to cleaning away some overhanging stones and 
earth. They took to this task with great energy, recklessly tearing 
out huge chunks of soil and letting them fall down into the pit. Smith 
noted this with disapproval] and assigned Adai, our Arab Shergati 
archeological assistant, to this job. The two pick wielders were given 
another task where they could not harm themselves, their neighbors, 
or anything in the ground. 
The assistant had been at work about 5 minutes, when at 1:30 p.m. 
he struck a bone with his light pick. Putting this bone aside carefully 
and taking up his trowel, he cleared an area to see where the bone 
came from. In so doing, the top of the skull vault or calvarium 
emerged. This was the moment of discovery. He cleaned it off 
enough to be sure that it was not a stone, then beckoned to Smith, who 
had been watching his actions closely, to look at what he had un- 
earthed. It was a reddish-brown dome of bone, with a natural, flat, 
loaf-shaped limestone slab resting on its top rear. The stone was 
roughly triangular in shape, measuring 25 by 25 em. and 10 em. thick. 
There was a thin layer of earth between the stone and the skull cap. 
Smith cleaned around the skull and at the day’s end, covered the 
exposed calvarium with a small hand screen and a burlap sack as pro- 
tection for the night. Our two night guards were instructed to keep 
careful watch over the specimen till the next day. When Smith 
casually mentioned that evening that a skull had been discovered at 
the cave, we were somewhat skeptical. It was a very great surprise, 
as well as a new responsibility. 
The following morning, April 28, the expedition staff, including 
Rose Solecki, Philip Smith, George Maranjian, and our guest, Michael 
Moullin, and I went up to the cave to see the find. The representative 
of the Directorate General of Antiquities, Sabri Shukri, was away 
at the time. My initial impression of the discovery as entered in my 
notes that day were, “A Neanderthal if I ever saw one.” We had a 
lively discussion about it during supper. 
