The Republican journal., 1873-07-03

the cavern, resting upon the soil by its
left side. The forearms were fixed on the
arms and drawn up toward the neck. The
right hand rested naturally upon the fore
arm, while the left hand appeared to be
supporting the head. The lower extrem-
tiles, partly flexed, were lightly crossed.
The skull was ornamented with a number
OF perforated Mediterranean shells of the
genus Nassa, and by twenty-five canine
teeth of the stag, also perforated. The
whole formed a sort of network about the
head. Near by was bone poniard. (ol
dagger, about seven inches long, cu
from the radius of a stag. Against the
back of the head two triangular flint
fakes were placed, and finally, to com
plete the decoration, forty-one perforated
shells were found in the region of the ham
Of the left leg, and probably formed g
bracelet about the limb. About two inches
from the mouth and nasal fossule was a
furrow seven inches long, and Of breadth
and depth OF one and one-half-inches. 1t
was filled with a specular iron powder.
The surface of the bone and teeth, the
arms, and the ornaments covering the
body. were Redeemed by this substance,
and of metallic lustre. This may be
considered an evidence of the inhumatior
of the fossil man without any displace-
ment of the body, for the natural attitude
of the skeleton is very strong proof thai
the man died where he was discovered
on hearth of ashes, charcoal, and cal
cined stones, surrounded by the refuse
from the life of each day
This skeleton the most perfect and well
preserved of the paleolithic age thus fal
discovered, lacks only an unequal phalanx
of the right hand, small portions OF the
left tibia and tibula, and a few of the
bones of the feet. The Uranium is frac.
tured behind and in front, so as to prevent
exact measurements The thorax is COM
pletelv crushed in, and the ribs more OIL
less broken. The vertebrH are we'll pre-
served. An astragalus OF a stag adheres
to the spine in the lumbar region. The
pelvic bones are fractured. There is a
united fracture of the left radius at its
lowest third, with deformity, and the
osseus deposit about the fracture IS evil
dence that it happened during life. All
of the teeth which should appear are
present and without any decay. 1t is
noticeable that their trturating surfaces
are perfectly smooth-plane, and without
any obliquity. Can the age now advanced
explain this2 Is it characteristic OF
race? That it is not due to a vegetable
diet exclusively is proved by the great
quantity of bones in the cavern which
have been split by man for their marrow
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SKELETON.
The Uranium is elongated or dolcoce-
phalic, arched at the summit, and of less
than Uranium No. found at Gro
Magnon in Perigord, in 1868, which, how
ever, it much resembles. 1t is smaller in
the occipital region, and the forehead is a
little narrower. The sutures are all con-
solidated Hike Negroes skull. There is
no prognathism, or projection of jaw.
The facial of angle is fine, almost So de-
grees The orbit is remarkable for its
form, a noticeable feature in
the Uranium No. from Cro-Magnon. The
transverse diameter is increased and the
vertical diameter contracted. The fenurs
are long and strong. The tibias are
I. e., they present the fiat
tened form of sabre blade, a character
lSllt III SoIllt lOS9il llDlllo. SHill
bones The bones of the lower extremi-
ties furnished attachments for muscres
whose power must have been very great
The foot is large and well developed,
Is IA inches,
THE EPOCH IN WHICH HE LIVED.
From measurement, it is believed that
the stature of the fossil man can be esti-
Of he Of ii
skeleton, which no more resembles that
Of an ape than does modern skeleton,
presents some contradictory characteris-
ties of inferiority and paleolithic antiquity,
such as a marked dolicocephalc type,
great stature, increased length of the "a
dius relatively 10 the humerus 90 3-8-
10 II inches plotyenemic tibia and,
on the other hand, marks of superiority,
viz. a forehead neither low, retreating
nor narrow an absence OF prognathism,
and a facial angle of nearly 50 degrees
In view OF these apparent contradictions,
we could not then fix the age at which the
Man OF Mentone' lived, if the fauna
found in his own hearth, and in superior
and equally undisturbed hearths, had not
furnished us the elements tor this deter
mination. In a layer OF soil about six
inches in depth, Immediately above and
below the skeleton, bones or teeth Of the
following animals were found-mammals
/. Carnivores-The cave lion, cave
bear, common bear, cave hyena, wolf,
2 Pachyderms-The rhinoceros, horse
wild boar.
3. Rodents-The rabbit.
4. Ruminants-The primitive OK, elk,
common stag, Corsian stag, roebuck,
primitive goat, channels.
Mollusks-Six species.
The arms and Instruments found near
the fossil man include the poinard men,
toned above, two pms of bone with
points well preserved and upward of $50
cut tiints in the form of lance and arrow
points, scrapers, TASKS and nuclei. Four
of the animals above enumerated, viz
the cave lion, cave bear. cave hyena and
are assigned to extinct pre-
historic species. Evidence of their pres.
ence near the skeleton proves its high an
tiquity. We may therefore, consider The
MAN of MentOne" as the contemporary OF
extinct animal species, and as belonging
certainly to the paleolithc epoch.
During the researches prior to the dis
covery, the remains of a large fauna were
unearthed, embracing 26 mammals, four
birds, one fish, one crustacean, and &c
mollusks Some of the shells of the lat
ter are perforated to be worn as orna-
ments; others are peculiar in that they
are from the ocean, and not found in the
Mediterranean. How did they then get
into the caves on its shores? Numerous
shells from Cro-Magnon came from the
ocean, and some from Laugerie-B asse are
of Mediterranean origin. The inha BIZ
tants Of these caves must have had com.
munication with each other, and with the
ocean. But few instruments Of bone OF
horn were found, and none of them pre-
sented any traces of drawing or engrav
ing. Stones, arms and instruments are
counted by thousands. They are of fin
OF various shades, generally rudely cut
and must be referred back to the mos
ancient stone epoch. All of the shafts OF
long bones are split lengthwise. There
are only five exceptions to this rule ir
more than 10000 instances. This was
done in order to extract the marrow
which either served as nourishment or t.
anoInt the body. After the bones were
split some of the pieces We're sharpene(
for DSa a ARROWS pipS noodles ubil n