Page:Annualreportofbo1906smitfo.djvu/492

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388
QUATERNARY HUMAN REMAINS IN CENTRAL EUROPE.

among the parts of a well-preserved skeleton of a reindeer, it is best to adhere to the opinion of Maška, who believes that the soil has been disturbed. A similar state of preservation in bones of man and quaternary animals does not prove that they are of identical age, for fossilization and discoloration do not depend exclusively on the antiquity of bones, but also on the nature of the soil. Even the breccia spoken of by the authors can not be relied upon, for it can form at all times in caves that are humid constantly or periodically.

THE CAVE OF BALCAROVA SKÁLA.

This cave is a portion of the group of caverns known as Sloup, to the southeast of the Moravian village Ostrov. It was explored originally by Wankel and Kříž, without positive result. Subsequently J. Knies determined the existence of four quaternary fireplaces and found about them 280 flint implements and 25 objects from worked bone or reindeer horn. The rich quaternary fauna of the upper layers was that of the arctic-alpine climate. Mr. Knies wrote the author in 1902 that he possessed 4 pieces of human lower jaws and 3 teeth from the quaternary deposit, and hence surely diluvial. In a later note, of 1905, he thought only one of the pieces and the three teeth to be of quaternary origin.

(c) OTHER DISCOVERIES IN AUSTRIA-HUNGARY.

With the exception of the Gudenus-Hoehle discovery and that of Willendorf, no human bones were found thus far in Upper or Lower Austria which could be considered as quaternary, and the same is true of the littoral of the Empire.

HUNGARY.

Hungary itself has also thus far yielded no quaternary remains of the human skeleton.

At Barathégy were found bones of Elephas primigenius with fragments of pottery, knife blades, poignards, and several human skulls. It is also reported that in a cave named Nándor human bones were found with those of the great stag, while 2 human skulls were exhumed in the cave Nagy-Sáp. Regarding the two first-named discoveries, O. Herman pronounces himself with good reason against a quaternary age of the human bones; the reports of these explorations show plainly that there must have been a mixture of ancient with more recent objects. Besides this the observations of the explorers are insufficient and can not be utilized scientifically. As to the skulls from Nagy-Sáp, it is well established that they proceed from the loess; Luschan, and Hungarian scientists are nevertheless of the opinion that it is impossible to give a definite conclusion