Men of the Old Stone Age: Their Environment, Life and ArtOsborn, Henry Fairfield
History
Men of the Old Stone Age: Their Environment, Life and Art
Osborn, Henry Fairfield
Art, Primitive; Prehistoric peoples; Stone age
In northern Croatia, near the small town of Krapina, in the valley of the
Krapinica River, is the now famous cavern of Krapina, where in 1899 was
made the fourth discovery of the remains of men of the Neanderthaloid race
in western Europe, twelve years after the discovery of the men of Spy, in
Belgium, and forty-three years after the discovery of the man of
Neanderthal. Even now opinion is divided as to the age of the human
remains found in this cavern. The discoverer, Professor
Gorjanovič-Kramberger of Agram considered that the stone implements and
chips were of Mousterian age, and Breuil still refers them to the early,
or so-called warm, Mousterian period; this opinion is shared by
Déchelette. Schmidt, however, regards Krapina as a true Acheulean station,
lacking in some of the typical implements, and of the same age as the
'loess' station of Ehringsdorf.
[Illustration: FIG. 90. The grotto of Krapina, overlooking the valley of
the Krapinica River, near Krapina, Croatia, in Austria-Hungary. After
Kraemer.]
The mammals found in the cavern certainly belong to the very late
Acheulean period and include Merck's rhinoceros, the cave-bear, the urus,
a species of horse, the giant deer (_Megaceros_), the beaver, and the
marmot (_Arctomys marmotta_).
The cavern was originally washed out by the river, but now it is 82 feet
above the present water-level. When found it was completely filled with
sand and gravel deposits, weathered fragments from the roof and walls, and
loose stones and boulders.(42) Enclosed in this mass, in separate strata
which are perfectly distinguishable, there lay, variously distributed
through the different layers, thousands of animal bones, mingled with
hundreds of human bones, and hundreds of stone implements and chips.
[Illustration: FIG. 91. Cross-section of the valley traversed by the
Krapinica River showing the location of the grotto known as the Krapina
recess on the bank to the left. Drawn by C. A. Reeds.]
During the years 1899-1905 Gorjanovič-Kramberger made a thorough
exploration of the contents of this cavern, and published a complete
account of his researches in 1906.(43) There were about three hundred
pieces of human bones, among them many small fragments, also many sizable
pieces of skull and several entire limb bones perfectly preserved. The
bones are of a strongly characterized type, and the lower jaws, face
bones, bones of the thigh and arm, the teeth, and the bones of many
children establish the Krapina race as belonging unquestionably in the
same group with that of Neanderthal and of Spy.
[Illustration: FIG. 92. Detail showing the interior contents of the
Krapina grotto before its excavation in the years 1899 to 1905. After
Gorjanovič-Kramberger.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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