SKELETONS FROM SHANIDAR CAVE—SOLECKI 619 
angle to his chest. The lower jaw was dislocated to the front and 
left side of the cranium and broken against a flat stone. 
The many broken and split mammal bones over and around and in 
direct contact with the skelton have been mentioned. ‘Two especially 
thick concentrations are noteworthy: one directly over and slightly 
to the east of the pelvic area, and another over the left shoulder and 
left upper arm. ‘These masses of bones could have been rodent nests. 
The eccentric position of some of the individual’s bones and the ap- 
parent absence of others might be laid to rodents. Thus, animal 
action was very likely responsible for the strange displacement of the 
left fibula and for the absence of the left femur from its normal 
position. The shifting of soils and stones could not have produced 
this effect. 
I believe that survivors of the rockfall returned after a while, and 
seeing what had happened, heaped some loose stones, the closest at 
hand, over the unfortunate’s remains. Some of the loose mammal 
bones lying on top of and among these stones may have been part of 
a funeral feast. Some of the mammal bones crushed under the stones 
were certainly not the result of rodent action. Eventually a few 
centimeters of occupational deposit accumulated over the heap, fol- 
lowed by another rockfall, which sealed off the Mousterian deposit in 
this quarter. Thus ended a people and an age at Shanidar Cave. 
Although he was born into a savage and brutal environment, Shani- 
dar I provides proof that his people did not lack in compassion. 
Here was an armless cripple, a pre-sapiens individual, who could 
barely forage and fend for himself. We must assume that he was 
accepted in his society and supported by his companions throughout 
his lifetime. That he made himself useful around the hearth is 
evidenced by the unusual wear on his front teeth. It indicates pre- 
sumably that in lieu of a right arm he used his jaws for grasping. The 
stone heap over his remains shows that even in death his person was an 
object of some esteem, if not respect, born out of close relationship 
against a hostile environment. 
Two flints were found close to the skeleton (pl. 6, left; fig. 7), but 
these were not necessarily part of Shanidar I’s tool kit. One was an 
oblong gray chert flake measuring 3.3 cm. long, 3.1 cm. wide, and 0.3 
em. thick. It has a beveled edge on one long side showing use retouch. 
This specimen was found 15 cm. to the north of, and slightly lower 
than, the left shoulder. On the opposite side of the skeleton, touch- 
ing the inner side of the ribs, was another flint. It was a black flint 
flake showing no retouch. 
As the skeleton was exhumed and cleaned of earth, the bones were 
coated with a solution of Nicol cement (pl. 8). Since our field obser- 
vations on the remains in situ could never be as thorough as under 
controlled conditions in the laboratory, it was thought that the entire 
