578 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1909. 
tinues to be uniform to the top of the section. The female skeleton, 
therefore, found by de Villeneuve at a depth of 1.9 meters from 
the surface is Quaternary, belonging probably to the close of the 
Magdalenian epoch. It has certain negroid characters, such as rela- 
tively long forearms and thighs. The slight parieto-occipital flat- 
tening suggests the Cro-Magnon type, while in some respects it is 
not unlike the neolithic dolichocephals. 
The reindeer is associated with three successive cultural epochs— 
Aurignacian, Solutréan, and Magdalenian, respectively. All three 
epochs are probably represented at the Grotte des Enfants, in which 
case the negroid skeletons might be considered as of Aurignacian age. 
Immediately below were remains of Hlephas antiquus. It may be 
recalled that at Krapina, the latter was associated with a Mousterian 
industry and skeletal remains of the Homo primigenius type. 
The human skeletal remains from the Grotte des Enfants are all 
referable to the reindeer period, the transitional Asylian epoch not 
being represented there. Thanks to the researches of Dr. R. R. 
Schmidt? in the cavern of Ofnet, a number of human skulls dating 
from the Asyhan have been brought to hght. Stratigraphically, 
Ofnet is, after Sirgenstein, one of Germany’s most important paleo- 
lithic stations. An instructive section of the deposits is reproduced in 
plate 18, taken at a point just inside the entrance to the cavern. On 
account of its great weight, the fallen stone at the top had _ pro- 
tected this portion of the floor deposits from earlier exploitation. 
The first two layers are sterile. In the third and fourth, Schmidt 
found an industry typical for the middle and upper Aurignacian in 
association with an Equus fauna, including the lemming. The fifth 
layer marks the appearance of a pure early Solutréan culture, with 
a continuation of Equus fauna. The lemming reappears at the base 
of the sixth deposit, which is surmounted by a characteristic upper 
Magdalenian industry. 
The horizon that interests us most is the seventh, called by Schmidt 
“ Mesolithik,” and coérdinate with the Asylian. The layer is only 
about 5 centimeters: thick except at two points where pockets are 
formed that reach to the level of the Solutréan deposit. The com- 
pact earth in these pockets was impregnated with red ochre, and in 
each was a circular group of human crania covered with powdered 
ochre. All the crania, twenty-seven in one group and six in the other, 
were placed so as to face the setting sun. <A large majority in each 
group were skulls of females and children, there being in all but six 
male skulls. The burials of the heads without the bodies were made 
while the flesh was still on as the lower jaw and one or several cervical 
6 Die vorgeschichtlichen Kulturen der Ofnet. Bericht des naturwissenschaftl. 
Vereins fiir Schwaben und Neuberg (FE. V.), 85, 1908. 
