640 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1913. 



flakes of quartz and flint, some fragments of ochre, broken animal 

 bones, etc., much as in the rest of the archeological stratum above 

 the skeleton. 



There was no indication that the deposits in the cave have been 

 moved in any way since the l)urial of the human body. To the right 

 of the fossa containing the skeleton there was an abundance of large 

 fragments of various animal bones, of jaws and vertebra? of the rein- 

 deer, and vertebrae of a large Bovid, with some well-made implements 

 of flint. The last-named vertebra^ and the flint implements were 

 covered by two large blocks of stone; and above these stones, at the 

 side wall of the cave, the earth showed the effects of fire, but it was 

 not possible to determine whether this was of the same date as the 

 deposits or the human burial beneath. 



Notwithstanding the care taken in the excavation some parts of 

 the human skeleton were lost. What remains comprises the skull, 

 almost complete, with the lower jaw; 21 vertebrae or pieces of same; 

 20 ribs or their fragments; an incomplete left clavicle; the two 

 humeri, almost complete ; the two radii and the two ulna?, all more or 

 less defectiA'e; a few bones of the hands and feet; portions of the 

 pelvic bones, fragments of the right femur ( from which it is possible 

 to reconstruct the bone) and the lower half of the left femur; the 

 two patella?^ and parts of the tibiae. 



The state of preservation of the specimens is exactly like that of 

 the animal bones recovered from the deposits above the burial fossa. 

 They are ferruginous in color, heavier than any corresponding recent 

 human bones and very perceptibly mineralized. 



Due to the kindness of Prof. Boule the writer was enabled in 1912 

 to see the originals of the Chapelle-aux-Saints skeleton. At that 

 time, however. Prof. Boule's investigations on the specimens were 

 not yet completed, in consequence of which it was not possible to 

 undertake any detailed study on the bones, but even a brief examina- 

 tion was sufficient to impress one deeply, particularly in the case of 

 the skull, with the great scientific value of the remains. They repre- 

 sent unquestionably another precious addition to the rapidly aug- 

 menting material evidence of the highly interesting type of ancient 

 man, the Homo neandertlialensis. 



Since the writer's visit to the Paris Museum, Prof. Boule's reports 

 on the La Chapelle skeleton have been published in full. With these 

 well-illustrated reports as well as a plaster model of the slmll, and 

 with what it was feasible to observe on the originals, it is possible to 

 give the following brief notes on these specimens. 



The La Chapelle skull, notwithstanding its many peculiarities, is 

 plainly a normal specimen, not affected (except in the dental arches) 

 by any disease or by an}^ premature closure of sutures (pis. 35, 36). 



