The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1899-12-29

s2yS The position in which the bones
were found leave, n d .ubt thcy were
the remnants Of canniIal hanqucts. l
examined many compartments of the
caves and in twelve of them found hui
man homes part Of which comprised
the complete Skel ton of child, skulls
and fragments of skulls. tn gn bones
and arm bones, parts of the human
jaw, shoulder bones and pieces Of the
homes Of the foot They seemed to be
tue remains of at least eight persons.
THE skeleton Of tie child was per
fectly preserved and on the edges Of
the bones were the unmistakable signs
of the teeth that had gnawed at The
bones in the dreadful feast Such
teeth marks could only have been
made by a person biting greedily at
the bone in picking off the flesh. On
all the bones these same significant
marks We're visible. but a more impor.
tant sign of the Use TO which the re-
mains had been put was TO be noted
In tie burned edges Of the bone, which
showed clearly that they had been
cooked over a pile IF ashes. There
was no possibility Of mistaking the
marks for the FIRE " a sacritcial burn
Ing. The marks pointed only TO a
FIRE Of ashes such As would have been
used for slowly cooking flesh destined
for eating purposes. In one case the
skull had been only burned a little
and was in perfect state Of preser-
walton On this SKULL the marks Of
the teeth were plainly to be seen"
Il may be contc.lei that the homes
were buried in the usual way after
death, but the position of the remains,
as well rs the fact that they were IN
such peculiar fragments proved this
idea 10 be erroneous. for the parts Of
the skulls and bones We're only those
that would have been brought to the
cave for cannibaliStic feast. The
small bones that would naturally have
been thrown away by those who pre-
pared the feast We're missing, except
in the case Of the child, whose body
'hH BApbAblg N''N''i NiiAl4t.
Another circumstance that confirms
this view is that the bones and frag-
ments We're found mixed with the re-
mains Of earthenware jars that prehis-
tOric man must have used for eating
utensils. Still additional proof was
found Of the cann.balistic habits of
prehistoric man in the fact that the
skulls in every case had been opened,
evidently with the intention Of extract
Ing the brains, which the eater of hui
man flesh always considers a dainty.
The manner in which the bones were
brok also disclo ell the fact that the
diners had a liking for the marrow
and the bones had been broken with
the intention If extracting His. In
some of the bones this EVIDENCE was
clearer than in others hu i. WA n
every case so clear from close ex-
animation of tho ,ig,S Of the bones
thu there could not be the slightpsr
doubt about the breaking being done
for the purpose Of getting ut the mar.
low. SO much Importance was at
tached 10 this point that the bones
Were submitted to other scientists for
the purpose of getting their opni n
regarding the cause Of the breakage
of the bones aud in every case it was
pronounced TO have been done inten-
tiunally by those who were engaged in
feast of human flesh.
a close study Of the conditions exist.
ing ut tbs time these bones were |, #
as remnants of = cann;ha.istic feast
shows that they were eaten first from
necessity. Food was scarce and the
same motive that impels ship
wrecked mariner to shay his fel uw
castaway to allay tie pIngs OF hun
ger induced these prehistoric canni-
balls to dine off their fellows. In some
nSes The objects Gf lie feast were the
friends and relatives and parents.
When they had outlived their allot
ted span Of life and had become bur.
den upon the younger generation Il
was not at all an unusual thing fol
the old folks to be killed, cooked and
eaten. But the principal supplies fol
such horrible feasts as those Of pre-
historic man were the remains of enc
mics Killed in hattie II was loolxpd nm