Page:Annualreportofbo1906smitfo.djvu/487

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QUATERNARY HUMAN REMAINS IN CENTRAL EUROPE.
383

The supposed implements of stone and bone, all of which I have carefully examined, are not beyond doubt the work of man. The former are without exception fragments of quartzite, limestone containing quartz, and pure quartz, and resemble the fragments which are produced naturally within caves of this nature without the intervention of man. In a similar way, there is not one of the bone objects which could not be attributed to natural breaks and rubbing. The presence of a fireplace and of human bones in proximity with those of a rhinoceros at the foot of the rocks do not justify any far-reaching conclusion. They may have fallen with the talus from the plain above.

THE DISCOVERIES AT JIČÍN.

Several decades ago L. Schneider collected a great quantity of animal bones in five small caves situated in the slopes of the elevation known as Prachové, not far from the city of Jičín. These were sent to Woldřich, who reached the belief that a part of the bones showed the work of man. They resemble some from Zuzlavice, which are believed to have been worked. Conclusive proofs of the presence of man, such as fireplaces and real stone implements, are absolutely wanting; and I am not able to utilize a publication concerning some human bones sent to Woldřich from these caves at that same time, for the note contains no stratigraphic information.

THE CAVE OF PROKOPI. NEAR JINONICE.

In 1888 R. Ebenhoech sent to Woldřich animal remains from a cave situated near Praha (Prague) and at that time demolished. Woldřich saw among these again a series of primitive implements, which I can not admit.

The same deposit was examined a little later by J. Kořenský, who discovered the remains of bones of Elephas primigenius, Rhinoceros tichorhinus, Hyæna spelæa, Rangifer tarandus, and other species, with some fragments of a human skull, all cemented in a form of breccia. Kořenský did not believe this breccia to be very ancient, but Woldřich, basing his opinion on the same data, thought that the formation should be relegated to the diluvial epoch of the quaternary. I partake of the opinion of Kořenský. The human remains, mixed with animal bones, were found in a cleft in the rock, and it is impossible to be sure of how they came there. They may have reached the cleft already dissociated, and the travertin which cemented the bones may have formed much later.

THE SKULL OF MOST (BRÜX).

The Most skull was found, according to Woldřich, with some fragments of human bones and a very handsome neolithic ax in