6 PREHJSTOKIO TllErHINllSG. 



in color, tliickness, and density of structure showing, beyond a doubt, that 

 it had formed part of another cranium. 



At various times simihir pieces of bone were discovered, in some of 

 which holes had been drilled or grooves cut, as if for the purpose of sus- 

 pending the fragments from the person. The name of "rondelles" has 

 generally been applied to these fragments, although some archaeologists, 

 accepting the theory of M. Prunieres, have termed them amulets. (Plate I, 

 figs. 3, 4, and 5.) 



The use of amulets, as is well known, comes down from tlie very ear- 

 liest period, and M. Prunieres was of opinion that the extreme care bestowed 

 in polishing these fragments, together with the fact that no other purpose 

 could be divined for them, was sufficient evidence as to the use for which 

 they were intended. The latter reason, it must be admitted, is not strikingly 

 convincing. 



As early as 1868, M. Prunieres discovered, in a large dolmen near 

 Aiguieres, a skull of which a large part of the side liad been removed. 

 This operation had evidently been effected l)y a cutting or sawing jirocess, 

 although one portion of the edge appeared smooth and polished. Many 

 "rondelles" were discovered in the same spot, and M. Prunieres formed the 

 theory that they were pieces removed in converting a skull into a drinking 

 cup To drink fi-om the skull of a dead enemy Avas a refined enjovment 

 not exclusively practiced in the Walhalln of the Norsemen. Livy tells us 

 that the Gauls celebrated their victories in that manner,^ and M. Prunieres 

 supposed that the skull and fragments which he had unearthed were relics 

 of a similar custom. He made known his views to the Paris Society of 

 Anthropology in 1874,* accompanying his communication with specimens 

 of perforated skulls and rondelles. 



These pieces were examined by Professor Broca, who at once observed 

 that the smooth or polished condition of parts of the edges of the rondelles 



'A Clip made from a, human skull was exhumeil by Mr. E. R. Quick, in 18t0, from an aborij;iual 

 cemetery near Brookville, Franklin County, Indiana. From its size, and from Ihe distinctness of (he 

 sutures, it was evidently the sknll of a young ])ersou. The base had been removed, and both the inside 

 aud outside had been scraped, as the scratches on the bone indicated. Two small holes had been drilled 

 at one spot near the edge, evidently for the insertion of tendons or strings to check au incipient crack, 

 just as the modem housewife saves a bowl or teacup. Journal Cincinnati Soc. Nat. Hist., 1880-'81, iii, 

 2'J6. Plate of same in vol. iv, p. 257. 



■•Bull. Soc. d'authrop. dc Paris, 1874, '.;""' sci'., ix, 18.j-i05. 



