Page:Annualreportofbo1906smitfo.djvu/500

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396
QUATERNARY HUMAN REMAINS IN CENTRAL EUROPE.


OTHER CAVES IN RHINE-WESTPHALIA AND IN THURINGIA.

Remains of human skeletons reported or appearing for a time as of quaternary origin were discovered in the caves "Buchenloch," near Gerolstein; the "Rauberhoehle," near Letmathe; the "Balve," on the Hoenne; the "Bilstein-Hoehlen," near Warstein; and a cave near Poessneck, A critical study has in all these instances shown a doubtful or a comparatively modern age of the specimens.

THE SKULL OF RIXDORF, IN BRANDENBURG.

Rixdorf, which is celebrated for the paleontological remains in its vicinity, has also given a human skull, which Krause held as surely quaternary. E. Friedel demonstrated subsequently that the specimen dates from the commencement of the historic epoch.

THIRD PART.—DISCOVERIES MADE IN SWITZERLAND.

The paleolithic deposits which were thus far discovered in Switzerland are without exception those of the reindeer age—that is, either Solutrean (Kesserloch) or Magdalenian (all the other stations). The investigations of Penck and Brueckner have demonstrated that man did not appear in the country until long after the maximum stage of the last (fourth) glacial period.

Quaternary remains of the human skeleton were found only in the caves of Freudenthal and Kesserloch.

I. Human bones unquestionably quaternary.

THE CAVE OF FREUDENTHAL.

This cavern, situated in the immediate vicinity of Schaffhausen, was explored in 1874 by Dr. H. Karsten, who found under a layer of recent debris and tufa a stratum of fragments of Jurassic limestone (from 40 to 60 centimeters in depth), which lower down gave place to a brownish loam. These two levels gave the remains of Rangifer tarandus, Ursus priscus, Ursus arctos, Cervus alces, Equus caballus, Capra ibex, Cervus elaphus, Cervus capreolus, Elephas primigenius, and others, besides which they revealed a rich Magdalenian deposit. Here Karsten found also remains of man himself. Their stratigraphic position leaves, according to this author, no doubt as to their quaternary age; they belonged to the undisturbed Magdalenian deposits. The bones consist of a fragment of a parietal, which lay in the middle of a fireplace, not far from the lower jaw of an adolescent individual; and of a series of other fragments of skulls, jaws, and pelves. It is very desirable that the objects gathered in this cave be made the subject of a new monograph, more comprehensive than the