Prehistoric manDuckworth, W. L. H. (Wynfrid Laurence Henry)
History
Prehistoric man
Duckworth, W. L. H. (Wynfrid Laurence Henry)
Prehistoric peoples
_Combe Capelle_ (_Dordogne_). The circumstances of this discovery were as
follows. The skeleton lay in an extended position, and it had been placed
in an excavation made for the purpose of interment. This excavation
entered a stratum distinguished as Mousterian. But the interment is
considered to be later, and of Aurignacian antiquity. Stone implements of
Aurignacian type were disposed around the skeleton: in addition to these,
a number of molluscan shells were arranged about the skull. This
suggestion of ornament would of itself suggest the later period to which
the skeleton is assigned. No remains of animals are mentioned in the
accounts accessible to me.
_Brüx_ (_Bohemia_). The Brüx skeleton was discovered in 1871. It lay some
five feet beneath the surface in a deposit which seems to be an ancient
one of fluviatile origin. The Biela river is not far from the spot. The
bones were very fragmentary, and in particular the skull-cap has been
reconstructed from no less than a dozen fragments. The limb bones were
also fractured. Near the skeleton, some remains of an Ox were found on
the same level. Two feet above the skeleton, a stone implement, seemingly
a Neolithic axe, was brought to light.
The information is thus meagre in the extreme, and when the condition of
the skull is taken into account, it is evident that the Brüx skeleton is
not one upon which far-reaching arguments can be successfully based. The
interest of the specimen depends above all upon the results of the
careful analysis of its characters made by Professor Schwalbe[25] (1906).
_Brünn_ (1871). This discovery was made at a depth of 4·5 metres in red
löss. Close to the human bones lay the tusk and the shoulder-blade of a
Mammoth. The same stratum subsequently yielded the skull of a young
Rhinoceros (_R. tichorhinus_): some ribs of a Rhinoceros are scored or
marked in a way suggestive of human activity: other ribs of the same kind
were artificially perforated. More noteworthy, however, is a human
figurine carved in ivory of a Mammoth tusk. Several hundreds of the shell
of _Dentalium badense_ lying close to the human remains were truncated in
such a way as to suggest that they had once formed a necklace.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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