But an interesting fact remains to be considered. Below the two human skeletons, the animal remains are those of the ‘southern’ fauna. All the characteristic representatives were found, viz. Elephas antiquus, Rhinoceros merckii, and Hippopotamus. The Hyaena was also associated with these large animals. It is not clearly stated whether implements of Mousterian type occurred in these, the deepest strata of the cave-floor. Were this so, the contention made in respect of the Taubach implements (cf. supra, p. [67]) would be remarkably corroborated, as would also the somewhat similar suggestion made in regard to Krapina. For the moment, however, it must suffice to attribute these human remains of negroid aspect to the Mousterian period at Mentone. Inasmuch as the reindeer appears in several strata overlying the remains of the Grimaldi race (for so it has been named by Dr Verneau), it is certainly conceivable that the two individuals are Aurignacian or even later. But this is to enter a wilderness of surmise. Human skeletons were actually found in those more superficial strata and also were associated with the Reindeer. But their cranial features are of a higher type (Cro-Magnon) and contrast very clearly with those of the more deeply buried individuals.
South America. The two discoveries mentioned in the preceding chapter were made in the so-called Pampas formation of Argentina. This formation has been subdivided by geologists into three successive portions, viz. upper, middle and lower. The distinction is based partly upon evidence derived from the actual characters of deposits which differ according to their level. But the molluscan fauna has also been used as a means of distinction. The whole formation is stated by some to be fluviatile. Other observers speak of it as Löss. This need not necessarily exclude a fluviatile origin, but speaking generally that term now suggests an aerial rather than a subaqueous deposit. The upper subdivision is designated the yellow löss in contrast to the brown löss forming the middle layer. Opinion is much divided as to the exact geological age of the Pampas formation. Ameghino refers it to the Pliocene period, excepting the lower divisions which he regards as upper Miocene. Professor Lehmann-Nitsche assigns Pliocene antiquity to the lowest sub-division only. Dr Steinmann regards the middle and lower sub-divisions as equivalents of the ‘older’ löss of European Pleistocene deposits. The latter determinations are more probably correct than is the first.
Baradero. The Baradero skeleton was obtained from the middle formation or brown löss, in a locality marked by the presence of mollusca corresponding with modern forms, and contrasted with the Tertiary Argentine mollusca. The skeleton was in a ‘natural’ (i.e. not a contracted) position, the head being depressed on the front of the chest. No associated implements or remains of mammalian skeletons are recorded.
Monte Hermoso. The vertebra and femur were found in the lower subdivision of the Pampas formation. We have seen that Ameghino refers this to the Miocene epoch: Lehmann-Nitsche speaks of it as Pliocene, Steinmann's opinion suggests a still later date, while Scott also declares that no greater age than that of the Pleistocene period can be assigned. The two specimens were obtained at very different times, an interval of many years separating the dates of the respective discoveries. So far as is known, no mammalian or other animal remains have been yielded by the strata in question, so that the whole case in regard to evidence is one of the most unsatisfactory on record. Indeed the whole question of ‘dating’ the Argentine discoveries, whether absolutely or relatively, must be regarded as an unsolved problem.
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.
Galley Hill (Kent). The gravel-pit whence the skeleton was obtained invades the ‘high-level terrace-gravel’ of the Thames valley. Such is the opinion of expert geologists (Hinton[26]). In the gravel-pit a section through ten feet of gravel is exposed above the chalk. The bones were eight feet from the top of the gravel. Palaeolithic implements of a primitive type have been obtained from the same deposit at Galley Hill. No precise designation seems to have been assigned to them. From the published figures, they seem to correspond to the earlier Acheulean or to the Chellean type. One in particular, resembles the implements found at Reculver, and I have recently seen similar specimens which had been obtained by dredging off the Kentish coast near Whitstable. Some of the Galley Hill implements are compared to the high plateau forms from Ightham. These must be of great antiquity. Professor Rutot in 1903 assigned the Galley Hill skeleton to a period by him named Mafflian. This diagnosis seems to have been based upon the characters of the implements. Recently however (1909) Professor Rutot has brought the skeleton down into the Strépyan epoch, which is much less ancient than that of Maffle.
The associated fauna comes now into consideration. From the Galley Hill gravel-pit no mammalian remains other than the human skeleton have been reported, but the fauna of the ‘high-level terrace’ has been ascertained by observations in the vicinity of Galley Hill as well as in other parts of the Thames basin. The mollusc Cyrena fluminalis, indicative of a sub-tropical climate, has been found in these strata. As regards the mammalian fauna, it is interesting to compare the list given by Mr E. T. Newton in 1895, with that published by Mr M. A. C. Hinton in 1910 on the basis of independent observations.