552 THE UNITY OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 



are the sepulcliers of a family, often of a tribe. At each new inhnma- 

 tion they make place for the skeleton by pushing -away the bones of 

 his predecessor. It is not possible to explain otherwise the mixture 

 that is found among the bones reposing in the sepulcher of such a 

 community. 



The sepulchral grottoes of the Clarenne and Misy are ossuaries in 

 which are mingled the stripped bones of numerous generations.^ 



In the first of these grottoes, situated in the Department of Marne, 

 the debris has been treated with a sort of respect due to an elevated 

 sentiment, and possibly a desire that the dead should not return to 

 trouble the living. The grotto measures (> feet each way. It is paved 

 with rude calcareous slabs. A staircase of six steps is at the entrance, 

 and the rock which forms the ceiling is upheld by eleven pillars. The 

 bones were arranged in a circle, and each pile, belonging to a separate 

 individual, was surmounted by his skull. The funeral furniture indi- 

 cated an epoch more ancient than the disposition of the sepulcher 

 would lead us to suppose. It comprised a vase of rude pottery fabri- 

 cated without the wheel, blades of flint and a collar of beads of shell 

 and certain isolated unios and mussels. 



The prehistoric shelter of Sandron, the trou du Frontal at Furfooz, 

 the grottoes of Ohaveau near Kamur, are, according to MM. Fraipont 

 and Tihon, neolithic ossuaries. M. Cartailhac is of the same opinion in 

 regard to the grotto of Baumes Chaudes and that of Challes in Savoy. 

 Other archcieologists have the same opinion as to the grotto de I'Homme 

 Mort and of Boundalaou in Aveyron.'^ The learned Professor Pigorini 

 is of the same opinion in regard to certain neolithic sepulchers in Italy. 

 Similar ossuaries have been recognized in Germany and Spain.^ 



In 1833, Bruzelius admitted that the bones from the sepulchral mound 

 of Asa, in Scanie, Sweden, had been stri])ped of their flesh before 

 burial/ and he compares the mode of burial with the modes in usage 

 at Tahiti and in the kingdom of Siam. The same fact has been stated 

 of ISTew Zealand by the Baron de Diiben of Luttra.'' 



I have said that this funeral rite, which so much wounds our sensi- 

 bilities and sentiments, has endured for many centuries among even 

 the most civilized races, and that it persists to our own day. One 

 could cite many facts demonstrating this, but I will present only a few. 

 The bones of St. Louis, who died in 1270, at Carthage, were brought to 

 St. Denis while the flesh and viscera were deposited in the abbey at 

 Montreal; it was the same thing for the Duke Leopold, of Austria, 



1 Mat6riaux pour I'Histoire de I'Homme. 1881, page 178. 



2 These have been studied by Dr. Prunieres and by M. Eiviere (Assn. Franc. 

 Cong, de Besanfon, 1893). Among the objects found was a cylinder made of a jjiece 

 of human femur (Acad, des Sciences, June 19, 1893). Was it an amulet or a trophy? 



^Materiaux, 1885, page 299. 



* Iduna. Vol. 9, 1832, page 285. 



" Antiquarisk Fidskrift for Sverige, I, pages 255 et seq. 



