76 GEOLOGICAL POSITION OF NEANDERTHAL SKELETON. CHAP. v. 



hundred feet below the top of the cliff. The accompanying 

 section will give the reader an idea of its position. 



^-./-i^ 





Section of the Neanderthal Cave near Diisseldorf. 



a Cavern 60 feet above the Diissel, and 100 feet below the surface of 



the country at c. 

 h Loam covcrinj,' the floor of the cave near the bottom of which the 

 human skeleton was found. 

 ?;, c Rent connecting the cave with the upper surface of the country. 

 d Superficial sandy loam, 

 e Devonian limestone. 

 / Terrace, or ledge of rock. 



When Dr. Fuhlrott of Elberfeld first examined the cave, 

 lie found it to be hio-h enough to allow a man to enter. 

 The width was seven or eight feet, and the length or depth 

 fifteen. I visited the spot in 1860, in company with Dr. 

 Fuhlrott, who had the kindness to come expressly from 

 Elberfeld to be my guide, and who brought with him the 

 original fossil skull, and a cast of the same, which he pre- 

 sented to me. In the interval of three j^ears, between 1857 

 and 1860, the ledge of rock, /, on which the cave opened, 

 and which was originally twenty feet wide, had been almost 

 entirely quarried away, and, at the rate at which the work 

 of dilapidation was proceeding, its complete destruction 

 seemed near at hand. 



In the limestone are many fissures, one of which, still 

 partially filled with mud and stones, is represented in the 

 section at a c as continuous from the cave to the ^ upper 



