Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1899-12-02

were found leaves no doubt they were
the remnants of cannibal banQuets.
examined many compartments Of the
caves and in twelve of them found hui
man homes. part of which comprised
the complete skeleton of child, skulls
and fragments of skulls. thigh bones
and arm bones, parts of the human
jaw. shoulder homes and pieces of the
bones of the foot. They seemed to be
the remains of at least eight persons.
1.-THE skeleton of the child was per-
fectly preserved and on the edges OF
the bones were the unmistakable signs
of the teeth that had gnawed at the
homes in the dreadful feast. Such
teeth marks could only have been
made by person biting greedily at
the bone in picking off the flesh. On
all the bones these same significant
marks were visible, but a more impor-
tant sign of the use to which the re-
mains had been put was to be noted
in the burned edges of the bone, which
showed clearly that they had been
cooked over pile of ashes. There
was no possibility of mistaking the
marks for the fire Of a sacrificial 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 little
and was In perfect state of preser-
walton. On this skull the marks of
the teeth were plainly to be SEEN"
1t may be contended that the bones
were buried in the usual way after
death, but the position of the remains,
as well as the fact that they were in
such peculiar fragments proved this
idea to be erroneous, for the parts of
the skulls and bones were 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 were missing. except
in the case of the child, whose body
was probably cooked entire.
Another circumstance that confirms
this view is that The bones and frag-
ments were 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 canni5alistic 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 hu.
man flesh always considers a dainty.
The manner In which the bones were
broken also disclosed the fact that the
diners had liking for the marrow
and the bones had been broken with
the intention of extracting this. In
some of the bones this evidence was
clearer than in others, but 1t was in
every case so clear from close ex-
animation of the edges of the bones
that there could not be the slightest
doubt about the breaking being done
for the purpose of getting at the mar
row. So much Importance was at
tached to this point, that the bones
were submitted to other scientists for
the purpose of getting their opinion
regarding the cause of the breakage
of the bones and in every case 1t was
pronounced to have been done inten-
tionally by those who were engaged In
a feast of human flesh.
A close study of the conditions exist
ing at the time these bones were left
rs remnants of a cannibalistic feast
shows that they were eaten first from
necessity. Food was scarce and the
same motive that inlpels a ship
wrecked mariner to slay his fellow
castaway to allay the pangs of hum
ger induced these prehistoric canni-
balls to dine of their fellows. In some
cases the objects of the feast were the