hrdliCka] skeletal, REMAINS OF EARLY MAN 299 



sufficiently high, as shown by the tosca formation, to reach the bones 

 of even a shallow burial. The deposition of lime takes place rapidly,^ 

 and, as we know from numerous specimens from the California caves, 

 the Cuba and Isle of Pines caves, and from the shell-mounds, it does 

 not affect merely the surface, but infiltrates parts of the bones, 

 giving them the appearance of great age. 



Skull. — The Miramar skull was restored from a number of pieces and 

 partially reconstructed in mastic. The filling in the frontal comprises 

 about one-fourth of the squama on the right side and extends from the 

 supraorbital ridges to the coronal suture and beyond into the parietal. 

 The restoration is near to nature, yet the forehead may have been a 

 trace less sloping than it now appears. Some of the pieces from 

 which the skull was reconstructed show signs of artificial beveling 

 of the borders, evidently done by those who restored the specimen and 

 because the pieces did not fit exactly. A slightly similar superficial 

 beveling, besides other defects, is seen also over the mid-region of 

 the frontal squama. 



The surface of the vault of the Miramar specimen is for the most 

 part worn and peeled off (as in the Chocori skull). The same state- 

 ment is especially applicable to the ridges of the frontal bone; that 

 on the right appears as if partially cut off. In consequence of these 

 defects the minimum frontal diameter can not be accurately deter- 

 mined and the front appears narrower than it really was. 



The skull has been artificially deformed, showing mild frontal 

 with moderate occipital compression; it bears also, perhaps partially 

 corrected, a post-mortem deformation, the whole right side below 

 the parietal eminence being somewhat pressed in, more so in front, 

 less so over the posterior part of the parietal. This latter deforma- 

 tion still exists to an extent sufficient to diminish the breadth of the 

 skull by approximately 2 mm. to 4 mm. 



Of this double deformation of the skull, which was equally recog- 

 nized by Lehmann-Nitsche but not by Ameghino, the alteration 

 produced in life proves to be a very weighty indication against any 

 great antiquity of the Miramar specimen. 



As described above, the life-deformation in the Miramar skull is 

 mainly in evidence on the frontal bone and on the occiput. Not- 

 withstanding this, careful inspection shows that it is not of the 

 ''flathead" type but represents a lighter grade of the Aymara 

 variety of intentional deformation, produced not by pressure of a 

 plank or pad on the forehead but by the application of a bandage 

 about the head. 



In the "flathead" type of deformation, the skull in compensation 

 invariably grows wider, and there is no such effect in this case; in 



> "The rapidity with which caliche [Mexican term equivalent to tosca.— A. H.] may be formed under 

 experunental conditions out-of-doors may be remarkable— 2 inches in two years." — Tolman, C. F., in 

 Carnegie Institution Publication No. US, Washington, 1909; also reference in Science, June, 1910, p. 865. 



