172 BUREAU OF AMEEICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 52 



and incontestable. However, although I do not wish to express 

 myself except with reserve on a question of geology, I must neverthe- 

 less acknowledge that I range myself more with the naturalists who 

 do not feel authorized to reach positive conclusions on the relative 

 age of bones, objects, utensils, etc., whiclx are found in caves, and 

 .which belong to different anthropologic and geologic epochs. It is a 

 .fact fully acknowledged by the explorers of caves, that very often 

 there are found in such localities most ancient remains occupying a 

 more elevated position than those from more recent periods, and that 

 the grade of petrifaction of the bones may differ even in the two 

 extremities of the same specimen according to whether it had been 

 exposed or covered, more or less subjected to the action of water, etc. 

 This shows what could have taken place, especially in such a cave as 

 that of Sumidouro, which derives its name from the periodic penetra- 

 tion into it of tlie waters of the neighboring lake ... It will be 

 easily perceived that bones from different formations and periods 

 could, under such circumstances, have become intimately mixed and 

 could have assumed in the course of time, after having been exposed 

 to the same influence of water, a similar aspect and the same degree 

 of petrifaction." 



In the remaining part of his communication, Liitken speaks of tlie 

 fact that teeth worn as are those in the Lagoa Santa skulls are found 

 in different primitive races. And in conclusion he says: ''The ques- 

 tion of the contemporaneity of man and extinct animals in Brazil 

 would probably not be very much cleared by new excavations in tlie 

 caves of that countr}^; it is necessary in advance, that the relations 

 between the extinct and the living fauna of Brazil be well fixed, and a 

 solution of tliis important question will probably be found much more 

 in the layers of the pampas than in the caves of the limestone hills." 



In 1884 there appeared a communication on the subject of the 

 Lagoa Santa skulls, by Kollmann,^ who was able to examine tlie col- 

 lection at Copenhagen and measured four of the best-preserved 

 crania. These belonged to strong men; they are dark-brown in color, 

 and heavy, owing to petrifaction. They resemble one anotlier com- 

 pletely. Another skull, that of a female, presents the same charac- 

 teristics and the same is true of six additional calvaria. 



The skuUs do not show very strong muscular ridges, with the excep- 

 tion of the crista infra-temporalis, which in all four of the male speci- 

 mens is of an extraordinary development. The brain part of the crania 

 is very weU developed. "The old Lagoans are in this respect equally 

 as well developed as our old long-headed Germans." The outline of 

 the norma verticalis is a long oval. The forehead is vertical (!). 

 The region of the greater wings of the sphenoid is in toto more 

 depressed than usual. All the five skulls (including the Rio de 



1 Die Schadeln von Lagoa-Santa; in Zeitschrift fiir FAhnologie. xvi, Berlin, 1884, pp. 194-199. 



