Page:Annualreportofbo1906smitfo.djvu/480

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376
QUATERNARY HUMAN REMAINS IN CENTRAL EUROPE.

and presents a flat summit and steep precipices, contains numerous caves, the most spacious of which on the north is called Šipka. Up to the time of the explorations of Karel Maška this cave consisted of a simple room meters long, 6 to 12 meters broad, and 1.50 to 2.50 meters high, the rear being completely filled with large pieces of calcareous débris. The researches of Maška show that this debris was the result of caving in of parts of the roof dating from the end of the quaternary period, and that behind the mass of fallen rock the cavern ran 55 meters more into the mountain. The following account of this station is based on the publications of Maška and personal information in the autumn of 1902:

Šipka is divided into three parts—an anterior portion already mentioned; a middle portion, 9 to 12 meters broad and 10 meters long, filled up to Maška's excavations with pieces of the fallen roof, and a posterior portion behind the great pieces of rock, about 30 meters long and ending in a narrow fissure, which prevents farther advance. In the left side of this last portion is a narrow and low lateral chamber, known as the "badger-hole," which runs 15 meters and opens on the outside of the mountain. Explorations in this compartment have shown that it also was closed before the end of the quaternary.

The deposits found in the cave and their stratigraphic relations were as follows:

Cave Šipka.

Anterior part. Middle part. Posterior part. Badger hole.
(a) Modern deposits. Caved-in rock.
(b) Cave loam (yellowish brown). Archeological remains scarce. Same as (b). Cave loam. Archeological remains (superior paleolithic).
(c1) Gray layer, with archeological remains. (inferior paleolithic). Same as (c1). Same as (c1).
(c2) Gray layer, without traces of man. Same as (c2). Same as (c2): deposit more greenish.
(d) Greenish layer. The principal repository of archeological specimens. Same as (d). Same as (d): layer more brownish. Archeolgical deposit (inferior paleolithic).
(e) Gray and greenish sand. Same as (e). Sand and rubbish. Sand and rubbish.

As high up as layer (b) the quaternary fauna was intact, showing no mixture with the modern. Layer (b) showed, in the anterior portion of the cave, remnants of Rangifer tarandus, Elephas primigenius, and Rhinoceros tichorhinus, with two fireplaces and some flint chips. In the middle compartment this layer yielded bones of