SKELETONS FROM SHANIDAR CAVE—SOLECKI 623 
Like the bones of Shanidar I, those of Shanidar II were fairly well 
preserved, although crushed. None was mineralized. This is char- 
acteristic of all the bone remains from Shanidar Cave (with the pos- 
sible exception of the bones encased in the stalagmitic lenses). Actu- 
ally they looked fairly fresh, but with some dark staining on the outer 
surfaces. The soil peeled away from them very easily. When fully 
exposed the configuration of the skull left little doubt that this was 
another Neanderthal find. 
The stratigraphy in which the skull was found illustrated particu- 
larly well a succession of quiet occupational periods broken by large 
and small rockfalls. Shanidar II was found about 1.5 m. below the 
contact of layers C and D, and thus in the top part of the latter. The 
skull rested on a bed of dark-brown sandy loam measuring 20 em. thick. 
This bed, contemporary with the skull, was streaked with charcoal. 
Thirty cm. to the south was the edge of a large, thick, widespread 
hearth between 5 and 20 cm. thick, which was compressed into a U- 
shape by a boulder. The same bed of dark occupational soil extended 
about 1.5 m. eastward in squares D 8 and D 9 where at the 7.2 to 7.5 m. 
level it was bounded by a large concentration of rockmeal and crushed 
stones. This occupational horizon yielded an abundance of charcoal 
flecks, mammal bone fragments, one bear(?) tooth, flint flakes, and 
two long Mousterian-type points of flint. At the same level in square 
D 9 was found a large boulder, presumably part of the rockfall that 
killed Shanidar II. 
The Shanidar II occupational layer extended over a sterile bed of 
limestone fragments and rockmeal, undoubtedly due to an earlier 
rockfall. This rockfall sloped from east to west, conforming to the 
general slope of the cave deposits, and measured 30 cm. thick beneath 
the skull. It appeared as an intrusive layer in an occupational hori- 
zon, to the north overlapping some stones and a lens of brown sandy 
soil. 
The rockfall that killed Shanidar IT was the forerunner of a larger 
fall of rocks, the main force of which came to within about 25 cm. of 
the skull. However, since a full exhumation of the postcranial skele- 
ton was not made, the possibility cannot be ruled out that the skull was 
caught on an uneven rock surface. In any case, the situation was 
fortunate, because if the skull had received the full brunt of the rock- 
fall, it would have been destroyed. The loose brown soil, containing 
charcoal flecks, found between the skull and the heavy rocks above, con- 
ceivably could have filtered in from the sides through cracks and crev- 
ices in the stones. 
Following this rockfall, the cave was reoccupied in this quarter, as 
evidenced by a superposed occupational horizon. A circular hearth 
was found at a depth of 7.05 m. in the center of square D 8. It meas- 
ured 20 by 25 cm. and was 10 cm. thick. Mammal bone fragments, 
