340 HUMAN REMAINS NEAR MAESTRICHT. CHAP. xvr. 



granted, it might have no claims to a higher antiquity than 

 the human remains which Dr. Schmerling disentombed from 

 the Belgian caverns ; but the fact of their occurring in a 

 post-pliocene alluvial deposit in the open plains, would be 

 the first example of such a phenomenon. The top of the hill 

 of Caberg is not so high above the Meuse as is the terrace of 

 St. Acheul, with its flint implements above the Somme, but 

 at St. Acheul no human bones have yet been detected. 



In the museum at Maestricht are preserved a human 

 frontal and a pelvic bone, stained of a dark peaty colour ; 

 the frontal very remarkable for its lowness, and the promi 

 nence of the superciliary ridges, which resemble those of the 

 Borreby skull, figured at p. 86. These remains may be the 

 same as those alluded to by Professor Crahay in his memoir, 

 where he says, that in a deposit in the suburbs of Hocht of a 

 black colour, were found leaves, nuts, and freshwater shells 

 in a very perfect state, and a human skull of a dark colour. 

 They were of an age long posterior to that of the loess con 

 taining the bones of elephants, and in which the human jaw 

 now at Leyden is said to have been embedded. 



As to the human skeleton, alleged to have been found in 

 ancient loess at the village of Keer on the right bank of the 

 Meuse, opposite Maestricht, I explored the locality in com 

 pany with M. Bosquet, and we satisfied ourselves that the 

 proofs advanced in support of its antiquity cannot be de 

 pended upon. 



