556 Sot ice* respecting New Books. 



the stations at La Madelaine and Laugerie Basse, the bones of 

 which were in the same state of preservation as those of the rein- 

 deer associated with them, and were imbedded in the same medley 

 of chipped flints and animal bones of which the bed of the cave is 

 composed ; but though the nature of the remains was undoubted, 

 great reserve was exhibited in theorizing on the subject until the 

 important discovery of the Cro-Magnon cave placed it beyond a 

 doubt that the Cave Polk buried their dead in places that had been 

 habitations. 



The Cro-Magnon cave, or rather rock shelter, was discovered 

 during the formation of a railway, which led to the removal 

 of the talus which hid the mouth of the cave, and the con- 

 sequent unexpected discovery of another " station." Several 

 successive layers of hearth-stuff and worked flints, covered by 

 intermediate layers of debris which had falleD, in weathering, 

 from the roof, indicated that the shelter was not always per- 

 manently occupied, and that finally, when the height of the cave 

 had been considerably lessened by the accumulation of rubbish and 

 detritus, the back part was used as a place of sepulture, where the 

 skeletons of an old man, a woman, an infant not fully developed, 

 and other bones, surrounded by shells pierced for necklaces, ivory 

 pendants, worked reindeer-horn, and chipped flints, were exhumed. 



The skulls were all of the dolichocephalic type ; and the skeletons 

 were those of persons of large stature, their platycnemic bones cha- 

 racterizing them as a peculiar race existing here in the Reindeer 

 period. 



One peculiarity connected with the woman's remains is that the 

 skull bears the mark of a violent death, there being a clear oval hole 

 in the left temple which corresponds in shape and size with that 

 which could be made by one of the flint lance-heads found in the 

 caves. Whether this was the result of an accident or to an in- 

 judicious and excessive exercise of marital authority in this ancient 

 dwelling is of course a matter of conjecture ; but Dr. Pruner-Bey's 

 conclusion as to the appearance of the members of this family 

 deserves quotation. 



"As to his exterior, a heavy frame was managed by a powerful 

 muscular apparatus, which has left its traces in the hollows and ridges 

 of the bones. A robust but flattish foot bore the body, and was 

 fitted for running by its elongated heel. Of a sombre aspect, with 

 an imposing stature, and conscious of his strength, ignorant of 

 moderating his passions by a cultivated morale, he could be violent 

 and turn against the weaker sex the weapon intended to kill his 

 prey. Indeed, whether we regard the wound inflicted on the woman 

 described above as the result of a family quarrel, or of a combat 

 between hostile tribes, it must be noted that as yet nothing parallel 

 has been found among the human remains dating from that distant 

 period." 



It is exceedingly difficult to assign a definite age to these 

 ancient remains. Cro-Magnon, from the presence of bones of 

 Bear, Mammoth, great Cave-lion, and Eeindeer, has apparently some 



