THE GRAVES. 5 I 



The skull and lower jaw (Ost. Coll. 3210) of a child about seven years of age, from 

 this grave, are chiefly interesting pathologically, the destructive process of inflammatory 

 disease having resulted in two perforations of the frontal bone. Views of this skull are 

 shown on Plate XXIII, figures i and 2. One lesion is situated low on the frontal, a little 

 to the left of the mid-line, and the other on the right near the coronal suture. In both 

 these lesions the destruction of the inner table has advanced widely beyond the limits of 

 the perforations; in fact the two lesions are thus connected endocranially. There is also 

 to be noted a similar destruction of the inner tables of the parietal bones along the anterior 

 part of the sagittal suture. 



Of the rest of the skeleton, a few fragments of decayed long bones, cervical vertebras and 

 podials were all that could be saved. None of these fragments or the lower jaw exhibited 

 any signs of disease. 



Cave 52. 



The cave or place of burial designated by this number was at the foot of an overhanging 

 crag or bowlder, the projecting portion of which was about 30 feet long and 20 feet high. 

 Low side walls constructed of large irregular rocks were continued around to and along 

 the front, so as nearly to enclose an area that was roughly floored off with pieces of rock 

 of various sizes up to about 75 pounds in weight. On entering the cave no bones, either 

 human or of lower animals, were visible. A few potsherds of little value and a six-faced 

 hammer-stone (M. P. 1887) were the only articles exposed on the floor of the cave. The 

 individual graves were beneath the floor and approximately at the locations denoted in the 

 accompanying diagram by the letters A, B, C, D and E. As was usually the case where the 

 remains had been actually interred or buried in the ground, most of the skeletons were sadly 

 decayed, the vertebrae and pelvic bones especially being so poorly preserved that but little 

 could be saved. The long bones of the lower limbs were nearly upright in the ground, 

 in most instances the proximal ends of the femora and the distal ends of the tibiae and 

 fibulae being disintegrated, while the ends of these same bones articulating to form the knee 

 joints were much better preserved, because they rested nearer the surface and in dryer 

 ground. This seems to have been almost invariably the case where human remains were 

 buried with the knees raised in the contracted position. The depth of these graves was such 

 that the skulls which were in place with reference to the rest of the skeletons were found 

 from 15 to 18 inches below the floor of the cave. 



The human skeletal material obtained from this cave is as follows : 



Skull and jaw (Ost. Coll. 321 1). female (?), with long bones (most of them fragmen- 

 tary), including the femora, tibiae and humeri. The skull is not entirely female in its 

 characteristics, being a trifle coarse in type, but the femora that accompany it are well 

 within the range of female variation and could hardly be regarded as male. The same is 

 true of the humeri. 



A few fragments of the pelvis, not serving to determine the sex, yet very light and 

 apparently female. 



Skull (Ost. Coll. 3212), male, showing Aymara deformation. The skull, however, is 

 defective : the entire facial portion with part of the frontal is gone, the fractured edges of 

 the bone indicating a very old injury, though it is not clear that this was posthumous. 



The long bones of this skeleton were badly decayed and were taken out in fragments. 

 The interment was in the contracted position. 



