Pleistocene Man in Jersey.
The cave known as La Cotte is situated in a cleft of the cliff which bounds St Brelade's Bay. This cleft is about 200 feet high, 40 feet wide, and some 150 in depth. The cave approximately measures 20 feet wide and 25 feet high, as measured from the floor reached by the recent excavations, which may not, however, be exactly the true floor. It has been partially excavated by the Societe Jersiaise and several gentlemen interested in the discovery. A full report of the excavations and relics found in this cave, together with notes on a second cave in another part of the island, is published in vol. Ixii. of Archæologia, by Mr R. R. Marett, M.A. The following abstract of the Jersey discoveries was submitted by the author to the Anthropological section of the British Association held at Portsmouth (1911), and is here reproduced by Mr Marett's consent :—
(1) "A cave named La Cotte de St Brelade, on the south coast of Jersey, has yielded (a) osteological remains, identified by Drs Smith-Woodward and Andrews, as those of a pleistocene fauna, woolly rhinoceros, reindeer, two kinds of horse, bovines, and deer; (b) nine human teeth, which Dr Keith regards as those of an adult individual of the Neanderthal type, and indeed as being in certain features more primitive than any hitherto known ; (c) numerous implements of well-marked Moustérian facies, amongst which none are of the coup-de-poing type, with secondary chipping on both faces. These finds were all close together amongst the remains of a hearth not far from the cave entrance, under about 20 feet of accumulations, consisting of clay and rock-rubbish. Various interesting problems arise in regard to the geological cause of these accumulations, the source of the flint that served to make the implements, the connection of Jersey with the Continent implied by the fauna, and so on. The cave is at this present moment undergoing further excavation, and much remains to be done.
(2) "A cave named La Cotte de St Ouen, on the north coast, near the N.W. corner, has yielded implements of a Moustérian facies, but of a coarser workmanship, one of these being a heart-shaped coup-de-poing, whilst three others approximate to the same form. It is suggested that this cave belongs to an older Moustérian horizon than the other. Two separate hearths have been found here, the site having been recently searched completely, The stratification of the floor, which is about 4 feet deep, raised some important points.
(3) "Other evidence concerning pleistocene man in Jersey is scarce and uncertain ; (a) sporadic flint implements have been assigned to the Moustérian and other palæolithic horizons ; (b) a human skull, and elsewhere the bone of
