188 WORKS OF ART FOUND IN THE GROTTO. CHAP. x. 



Mixed with the human bones inside the grotto fii'st re- 

 moved by Bonnemaison, were eighteen small, round, and flat 

 plates of a white shelly substance, made of some species of 

 cockle (Cardmm), pierced through the middle as if for being 

 strung into a bi'acelet. In the substratum also in the interior 

 examined by M. Lartet was found the tusk of a young Ursus 

 spelceus, the crown of which had been stripped of its enamel, 

 and which had been carved perhaps in imitation of the head 

 of a bird. It was perforated lengthwise, as if for suspension as 

 an ornament or amulet. A flint knife also was found in the in- 

 terior, which had evidently never been used; in this respect 

 unlike the numerous worn specimens found outside, so that it 

 is conjectured that it may, like other associated works of art, 

 have been placed there as part of the funei-al ceremonies. 



A few teeth of the cave-lion, Felis spekea, and two tusks 

 of the wild boar, also found in the interior, were memorials, 

 perhaps, of the chase. No remains of the same animals were 

 met with among the external relics. 



On the whole, the bones of animals inside the vault oflfer a 

 remarkable contrast to those of the exterior, being all entire 

 and uninjui'ed, none of them broken, gnawed, half eaten, 

 scraped, or bui-nt, like those lying among the ashes on the 

 other side of the great slab which formed the portal. The 

 bones of the interior seem to have been clothed with their 

 flesh, when buried in the layer of loose soil strewed over the 

 floor. In confirmation of this idea, many bones of the 

 skeleton were often observed to be in juxta-position, and in 

 one spot nearly all the bones of an Ursus spelceus were lying 

 together uninjured. Add to this the entire absence in the 

 interior of cindei-s and charcoal, and we can scarcely doubt 

 that we have here an example of an ancient place of sepul- 

 ture, closed at the opening so effectually against the hyenas 

 or other carnivora that no marks of their teeth appear on 

 any of the bones, whether human or brute. 



