PRE-MOUSTERIAN MAN 
207 
beneath the surface, in a deep stratum of blue clay — a 
deposit formed in the floor of an ancient lake. That 
the skull lay in this stratum there can be no doubt. It 
is still preserved in the Geological Museum of Florence, 
its cavity being filled — as when found — by a mass of the 
blue clay. Over the blue clay of the railway cutting 
were deposits — about 12 feet in thickness — which Cocchi 
regarded as of late Pleistocene and also of recent 
formation. The blue clay in which the skull was 
embedded he assigned to the older Pleistocene deposits. 
The remains of the mammoth, and of an early form 
>/- o \m--^ ^ 
OLMO. (pRoriueJ olmo C^ull face) 
Fig. 72. — The Olmo cranium viewed from the side and from the front. 
of Pleistocene horse (Equus larlett)^ occurred at the same 
horizon as the skull. Near the skull, charred wood 
marked the site of an ancient hearth. The culture of the 
period is represented by a Palaeolithic implement which 
may well belong to the Chellean period. The exact 
cultural horizon to which the skull should be assigned 
cannot be fixed with any degree of certainty, but for our 
present purpose it is sufficient to be convinced that the 
skull is older than the period of Mousterian culture. Of 
that, I think, there can be no doubt. 
The skull is clearly a variant of the modern type. A 
few years ago, my friend. Professor Sera, was good 
enough to obtain for me an exact cast of the Olmo skull, 
and it is from that cast that the accompanying drawings 
have been made. When viewed in profile, the skull is 
