638 ANNUAL REPOET SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1913. 



THE FOSSIL MAN OF LA CHAPELLE-AUX-SAINTS. 



One of the most interesting, best authenticated, and thanks to 

 Prof. Marcellin Boule now best-known skeletons of Early Man, is 

 that of " the fossil man of La Chapelle-Aiix-Saints. 



La Chapelle-Aux-Saints is a small village in the Department of 

 Correze, near the small railroad station of Vayrac and south of the 

 town of Brive, in southern France. A little over 200 yards from the 

 village and beyond the left bank of the small stream Sourdoire, in the 

 side of a moderate elevation, is located a cave, now known as that of 

 La Chapelle-Aux-Saints (pi. 34). In 1905 archeological exploration 

 of this €ave was undertaken by three Correze priests, the abbes A. and 

 J. Bouyssonie and L. Bardon. These explorations which from the 

 beginning were successful, resulting in the recovery of numerous in- 

 dustrial and other vestiges of paleolithic man, progressed gradually 

 until the uniform archeological stratum was nearly exhausted, when, 

 on the 3d of August, 1908, the excavators came across a shallow arti- 

 ficial fossa in the floor of the cave in which lay the bones of a remark- 

 able human skeleton. 



The human bones were carefully gathered and sent to Prof. Boule, 

 of the Museum d'Histoire Naturelle, in Paris, where they were 

 cleaned and, as far as possible, restored ; and the following December 

 Prof. Boule demonstrated the skull, giving at the same time the first 

 account of the find, before the Paris Academy of Sciences.^ One 

 week later Messrs. Bouyssonie and Bardon presented before the Acad- 

 em}^ their own observations, and these reports were followed at short 

 intervals by several others before the same scientific body.- 



Subsequently the skull and other parts of the skeleton were sub- 

 jected by Prof. Boule to a thorough study and comparison, and the 

 results of his work are published in a series of communications ex- 

 tending through the sixth, seventh and eighth volumes of the An- 

 nales de Paleontologie.^ 



The various reports show that the cave of La Chapelle-Aux-Saints 

 is a moderate-sized and rather low cavity, about G meters (6.5 yards) 

 long, 2 to 4 meters (2.2 to 4.4 yards) broad, and 1 to 1.50 meters (1.1 

 to 1.6 yards) high (fig. 9). When first approached it was seen to be 

 nearlj^ filled with accumulations, which later disclosed numerous 

 traces of man, and by debris of the rock from the roof and sides. 

 The deposits bearing traces of the presence of man were found to 



1 Boule, M. L'Hoinme fossile de La Chapelle-Aux-Saiuts. (C. R. Acad. sc. 14 Dec, 

 1908 ; also L'Anthropologie vol. 19, 1908, pp. 513 and 519 ; vol. 20, 1909, p. 257 ; and 

 vol. 22, 1911, p. 129.) 



2 Bouyssonie, A. J., and L. Bardon. D6couverte d'un squelette humain moust^rien a la 

 bouffla de La Chapelle-Aux-Saints. (C. R. 21 Dec, 1908.) Boule, M. Sur la capacity 

 ci-anienne des Hommes fossiles'du type dit de Neanderthal. (C. R. 17 May, 1909.) 

 La squelette du tronc et des membres de I'Homme fossile de La Chapelle-Aux-Saints. 

 (C. R. 7 June, 1909.) 



3 Paris, 1911 to 1913. Also published as a separate volume. 



