Page:Annualreportofbo1906smitfo.djvu/501

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QUATERNARY HUMAN REMAINS IN CENTRAL EUROPE.
397

previous publication. They are in the possession of the Joos family in Schaffhausen.

THE CAVE OF KESSERLOCH.

It is not necessary to dilate on the paleontological and archeological importance of this station, which is located in the immediate neighborhood of the village of Thayngen, 8 kilometers northwest of Schaffhausen. The cave was explored in exemplary manner in 1874 by K. Merk, and again in 1893 by M. J. Nuesch, and since 1903 by J. Heierlei. The quaternary fauna consisted of Felis leo, Fells manul (s. catus), Lyncus lynx, Canis lagopus, Gulo borealis, Ursus arctos, Elephas primigenius, Rhinoceros tichorhinus, Equus caballus, Equus hemionus, Sus scrofa, Ranngifer tarandus, Cervus elaphus, Bos priscus, Bos primigenius, etc. Flint implements were very numerous, and the same applies to those of bone and reindeer horn; some of the specimens were partly carved or engraved. They are characteristically Solutrean. As to skeletal remains of man, Merk declares expressly that he encountered in the deposit from the Reindeer epoch only a single clavicle, belonging to a young individual. A skeleton of an infant, exhumed from near the surface of the modern debris, can not be considered.

In view of the above exact old reports it is surprising that J. Nuesch found, several years ago, in the Schatffhausen Museum a skeleton of a young adult of small stature (the femur measured but 28 centimeters in length), which, according to an old label, came from Kesserloch. In the vicinity of these human bones were those of deer and pig, and fragments of pottery. They are not to be regarded as quaternary, but rather belong to the so-called Switzerland "pygmies."

II. Indications to be discarded.

THE STATION OF SCHWEIZERSBILD.

This celebrated shelter near Schaffhausen gave to J. Nuesch 22 tombs containing the remains of 27 persons, of whom 14 were adults and 13 were children below 7 years of age. Among the children's skeletons 3 were apparently of a recent date. Of the adult bodies several indicated people of small stature, and were classed by Kollmann as pygmies, but may merely represent the shorter individuals of a small race. The burials, excepting those of more recent age, must be attributed to the neolithic period of culture in the country. This opinion, which is shared by Nuesch, is confirmed by the discovery of neolithic burials—in which occurred individuals of very small stature—by Doctor Mandach, in 1874, in the cave Dachsenbuehl, Canton Schaffhausen.