November 9, 1893] 



NA TURE 



in which the most recent discoveries have been made. From 

 the dat?. that I was able to gather on the spot from quarrymen 

 who at one time or another had taken part in its excavation, 

 the original floor of the cave, at its mouth, over the spot— that 

 is where the skeletons were found— was 7-50 metres above the 

 stratum in which they lie. But this depth only includes what 

 has been artificially removed from the cave. There are reasons 

 for believing that the deposit had originally been somewhat 

 higher, but that the original level of the floor had been previously 

 lowered by natural agencies. 



In 1884 a discovery of a human skeleton had already been 

 made in this cave by Louis Julien, the foreman of the men ern- 

 ^)loyed in quarrying the cliff ; and so far as the details of this 



Fig. I. 



■find have been preserved, they answer very closely to that of 

 the Barma dou Cavillou. The discovery of 1892 was made 

 •close to the spot where the skeleton ol 1884 had been un- 

 earthed. 



Unfortunately, as in the former case, it was not made by a 

 ■scientific excavator, but by men engaged in quarrying the lime- 

 stone cliff. I visited the spot shortly afterwards on more than 

 •one occasion, but the ornaments and implements had been re- 

 moved by the owner of the quarry to his house, and there was 

 ■some difficulty in ascertaining the exact position in which the 

 ■Several relics were discovered. 



The subjoined sketch (Fig. 2) will give a fair notion of the 

 position in which the bodies were found. They lay across the 

 present mouth of the cave, with their heads to the east. The 



many nassa ncritea, and''on the legs a little below the top of 

 the tibias were two Cyprccas. 



Immediately behind this lay a skeleton, recognised by Dr. 

 Verneau as that of a woman. It rested on the left side with 

 the knees slightly drawn up, and its right hand almost resting 



(^:0 & e^ni 



on the giant's shoulder. It is said to have held another flint 

 knife. This female skeleton was not so richly decked with 

 ornaments as the other two, the bone and tooth pendants being 

 absent in this case. The third skeleton, of a youth, lay in much 



i£ection at A. A. 



F:g. 3 — Flint knife found with first skeleton, i linear (23 :■: s cm.). 



■outermost skeleton was that of a man apparently well on in 

 life. Unfortunately the skull was broken with a blow of a pick 

 at the moment of discovery, and the length of the skeleton can 

 therefore be only approximately given. From his heel to his 

 ■shoulder he measured i "85 metres, so that he was probably at 

 least as tall as the taller of the three adult "-keletons found in 

 '1872-1873, which reached the length, according to M. Riviere, 

 of 2 metres. This gigantic frame was somewhat turned to the 

 •left, but it lay more on its back than the other two. By his left 

 hand, laid close to his femur, lay a long flint knife (Fig. 3). 

 About the neck and on the skull were remains of ornaments of 

 teeth and bone, fish vertebrae and pierced shells, among them 



NO. 1254, VOL. 49] 



the same attitude as the second, with its right hand raised asif 

 to be laid on the shoulder of the individual in front of it. 

 Under or near its head a third flint knife was discovered. Both 

 the two inner skeletons, though of tall stature, were distinctly 

 smaller than the first discovered. 



From the position in which the bodies lay it seems natural to 

 conclude that the two smaller individuals here interred were in 

 a position of dependence on the old giant. Amongst the ob- 

 jects found, chiefly, as far as I could gather, about the heads 

 and necks of the skeletons, were remains of necklaces or head 

 ornaments of shell and bone, amongst which may be mentioned 

 bored shells, fish vertebrae, and teeth— apparently canines of 



