hrdliCka] discoveries ATTRIBUTED TO EARLY MAN 55 



Skeleton II 



The second skeleton, though its parts as found were more segre- 

 gated, is even better represented than the first. The parts saved 

 are as follows : 



Skull : Sixteen pieces ; also part of the lower jaw and a tooth. 



Upper limbs: Lower half of left humerus; both uln.ip, lacking <listal ends; 

 upper half of left radius ; two phalanges ; part of a metacarpal. 



Trunk and pelvis : Part of right scapula ; 6 fair-sized pieces of ribs ; part 

 of left ilium, with articular surface for sacrum; part of left pubes, with part 

 of the acetabulum. 



Lower limbs : About one-third of right and three-fourths of left femur 

 (shaft) ; part of right tibia; part of left fibula; right astragalus; right third 

 cuneiform ; and parts of three metatarsals. 



The bones differ considerably in color as well as in consistency 

 from those of Skeleton I. With the exception of three of- the pieces 

 which fell out of the bank and were more or less bleached by exposure, 

 the bones are of a uniform brown color, the brown of vegetal 

 origin as found in many stagnant waters as well as running streams 

 in Florida. It is a color derived from the muck, and permeates the 

 bones throughout their structure. It is the exact color of nearly all 

 the bone implements and other bone artifacts recovered from stratum 

 No. 3 (^he muck layer) at Vero, and indicates that the human bones 

 belong to the same layer. 



The bones, or what is left of them, are in a remarkably good state 

 of preservation. They show no signs of weathering, Avashing, or of 

 cutting or gnawing, with the exception of a few marks of the teeth 

 of a small rodent on the left femur. 



The fractures in the bones are as a rule transverse, none of the 

 specimens being split. Some of the fractures are very recent, others 

 older ; but whatever the age of the fracture, the edges are invariably 

 sharp, without signs of wear. These conditions point on the one 

 hand to fractures produced at the time of, or subsequent to, the 

 dredging, and on the other hand to breaks due to stress, probably 

 after the bones were already partly mineralized within the deposits. 



Anthropologically, the skeleton is quite interesting, not because 

 of indications of antiquity, which may be said at once to be entirely 

 absent, or aberrance in type, but because of its rather superior mod- 

 ern characteristics, particularly as regards the cranium. The skull 

 and bones are Indian, but they seem to belong to a type such as can 

 occasionally be found among the Eastern Algonquian, or among the 

 Sioux, rather than in Florida. At first it seemed that the skeleton 

 might be that of a mixed blood (Indian- white), or even of a white 

 man, but a detailed study of the bones has definitely removed this 

 impression. 



