ANCIENT REMAINS OF MAN HRDLICKA. 529 



flows 82 feet (25 meters) below the cave. Before and while the 

 shelter was being filled up it was utilized by the early man of the 

 region, at first but occasionally, later for some time perhaps con- 

 tinuously, and the accumulations in the cave were augmented by the 

 remains of fireplaces, by refuse including many primitive stone im- 

 plements and rejects as well as animal bones, and also by numerous 

 human bones in more or less fragmentary condition. 



The locality became known in 1895, after two Croatian teachers 

 discovered in the superficial deposits of the cave some teeth of rhi- 

 noceros and fragments of other fossil bones. These finds were 

 brought to the attention of some of the scientific men at Zagreb 

 (Agram), but no thorough examination of the site was undertaken 

 until 1899. In that year the place was visited by Dr. K. Gorjanovic- 

 Kramberger, professor of geology and paleontology in the Univer- 

 sity of Zagreb and the director of the geological division of the 

 Narodni Muzej of Zagreb, Croatia; and on excavation it was soon 

 found that the Krapina hollow was in all probability one of the 

 stations of early man and as such deserved a thorough exploration. 

 Such exploration was begun without delay and was carried on, with 

 some interruptions, until 1905, when the contents of the shelter 

 became exhausted. 



The careful explorations just referred to yielded quantities of 

 precious paleontological and paleoanthropological material, which 

 now fill several cases of the "National Croatian Museum; and much 

 of this material has since been thoroughly described by Prof. Gor- 

 janovic-Kramberger and reported in numerous publications.^ 



The collections consist of several thousands of various fossil animal 

 bones, mostly fragmentary, but some well preserved ; of hundreds 

 of stone flakes the rejects of stone manufactiire, and of stone imple- 

 ments; and of parts of human bones proceeding from at least 14 

 skeletons. 



The animal bones represent either totally extinct forms or spe- 

 cies now extinct in Croatia. The most common are those of Rhinoc- 

 eros Merckii, Ursus spelaeus, and Bos primigenius. By these re- 

 mains the age of the deposits has been determined as earlier Diluvial 

 (i. e. inter glacial) . corresponding in all probability to the latter part 

 of the Mousterian culture epoch in western Europe. The stone im- 

 plements belong to the Mousterian and earlier types. 



Due to the courtesy of Prof. Gorjanovic-Kramberger and Dr. F. 

 Sulje, of the Geological Division at the Narodni Muzej in Zagreb, 

 the writer was privileged, in June, 1912, to examine the Krapina 

 originals. This was not done with any need or hope of adding any- 



1 Particularly in the large monograpb, by K. Gor.ianovi<}-Kraaiberger : " Der Diluviale 

 Menscb von Krapina in Kroatien," 4°, Wiesbaden, 1906, pp. 1-277, 52 figs., 14 pis. This 

 memoir includes all literature on the subject up to 1906. 



44863°— SM 1913 34 



