The most interesting feature of the investigations was the discovery of upwards of a hundred interments at various depths in the shell-mounds; but it does not appear that any grave-goods had been associated with the bodies. The osseous remains were much decayed and the skulls distorted, probably by the pressure of the débris. Enough, however, remained to show that they represented two races—one dolichocephalic and the other brachycephalic. Of the latter only two specimens were in the series (the cephalic index of one being 86–90), while all the others were dolichocephalic, with cephalic indices of 71⋅11 to 75⋅56. A reasonable inference from these archæological data is that the constructors of the shell-mounds were a mixed community, the great majority of which belonged to the old Palæolithic people of Europe; while the minority formed part of the advanced immigrants of the Neolithic races into Europe.
Turning now to Britain, we shall see there is also within its borders similar evidence of a transition period during which it was inhabited by a primitive population who may have been descendants of its original Palæolithic people.
The MacArthur cave was discovered in 1894 by quarrymen while removing stones for building purposes from a cliff facing the bay of Oban, and long regarded as marking the line of an old sea-beach. The contents of the cave consisted (1) of a superficial layer of black earth in which human remains were
