Hugo Obermaier

“ As scientific men manifested a great desire for human bones, it was not long before some one produced a whole skull, which was declared by Virchow to proceed in all probability from some neolithic burial of the region and by no means from the quaternary deposits. ”

“ These fragments were at the base of the rocks in a fossa, and near them were found broken bones of a rhinoceros, as well as the remains of a fireplace.
The supposed implements of stone and bone, all of which I have carefully examined, are not beyond doubt the work of man. The former are without exception fragments of quartzite, limestone containing quartz, and pure quartz, and resemble the fragments which are produced naturally within caves of this nature without the intervention of man. ”

“ 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. ”

“ A human femur has been discovered in a cave named "Hohlefels," near Schelklingen, in the valley of the Ach, and the same cave yielded bones of quaternary mammals, but it is not certain that the human specimen came from undisturbed quaternary deposit, and hence its age must remain uncertain. ”

“ The human remains found by Gorjanović-Kramberger in the quaternary, diluvial deposits near Krapina, in Croatia, consisted of the fragments of 10 or 12 skulls, a large number of teeth, and many more or less defective other parts of the skeleton. They were in undisturbed layers, and with them were bones of a hot climate fauna (Rhinoceros Mercki) , as well as a quantity of typical Mousterian implements. Some of the pieces of human bones are calcined; in general they are in a bad state of preservation. ”

“ It may not be without interest to state here that later there was found at Cannstatt, in the vicinity of Uffkirche and near the locality where the excavations were carried on in 1700, a Roman cemetery from the early part of the middle ages, while in 1816 there was unearthed in the same neighborhood a tomb with a collective neolithic burial. This tomb was in the tufa and was decorated with fossil tusks of the mammoth. It is easy to see that one may attribute to the skull posing as that of Cannstatt almost any origin he desires. ”

“ In a similar way, there is not one of the bone objects which could not be attributed to natural breaks and rubbing. The presence of a fireplace and of human bones in proximity with those of a rhinoceros at the foot of the rocks do not justify any far-reaching conclusion. ”

“ These bones were transported to the Cabinet of Natural History at Stuttgart, where they excited the highest interest and became the object of a series of publications. Dr. Solomon Ressel, aulic physician and a good osteologist, wrote the first report of the explorations (published in the year of the discovery) , and in this he insists on the complete absence of the remains of man, which he searched for with care. The second scientific man who speaks of the Cannstatt finds. Doctor Spleissius, declares equally that no human bone has been recovered. ”

“ This find consists of the remains of at least eight human skeletons recovered from the upper part of the earth and debris in front of a cave. In the same layer were found numerous flint implements and bone of mammoth. The whole formed probably a part of the former contents of the cave. The age of the human bones is uncertain.
In a neighboring cave were found remains of paleolithic as well as of neolithic culture, and even of the age of metals. Fragments of human bones were dispersed nearly everywhere, but their age can not be established. ”

“ Precise data are wanting. It is only known that the specimen was extracted from among the bones of quaternary animals. Even this statement, however, lacks proper confirmation. What is certain is that the whole country offers numerous prehistoric burials of a more recent age, the fossæ of which were dug deep enough to penetrate into the layer which bears remains of quaternary fauna.
Much the same uncertainties exist about the skeleton found at Husovice, 4 kilometers north of Brno. The bones were found by workmen at the depth of at least 2 meters below the actual level of a sandpit. ”

“ According to mine warden R. Pfeifer, the ax lay underneath 2 feet of surface loam and 11/2 feet of the quaternary sand, whereas the skeleton to which the Most skull belonged was 2 feet lower. The explorations of the locality by Woodřich have shown the sand to be modern. If greater antiquity were assigned to the bones, then it would have to be accepted that they were carried from the quaternary loess into the sand. Luschan, who studied the question, arrived at no conclusion. The subject of the antiquity of the skull remains undecided. ”

“ Layers of charcoal and bones incrusted with ashes exist, as Mr. Makovský mentions. Similar finds were made in many of the brickyards about Brno; Maška equally affirms their existence. The writer himself has seen them at Brno and in the loess at Krems (Lower Austria) ; E. Schumacher encountered them in the loess of Alsace. They occur, as here, at points where there is no other reason to affirm the presence of man. These phenomena are explainable by fires of the steppes, caused either by the quaternary man or by lightning. ”

“ The mammoth is extraordinarily abundant, the bones of at least 800 or 900 individuals having been discovered. Archeological specimens were found in large numbers. The number of flint implements exceeds 25,000; they represent very diverse and often beautiful types of the superior paleolithic culture. The collection of objects from bone, ivory, and reindeer horn is also rich, and includes a series of real objects of art, approaching closely the chefs-d'œuvre of the glyptic period in France. ”

“ Among the parts better preserved is a calvarium of an adult. A skull of an adult and one of a young subject, which lay a little to one side and deeper, are almost wholly shattered. Besides the preceding the excavation yielded a lower jaw, ulna, humerus, radii, parts of the pelvic bones, a femur, tibia, clavicles, vertebræ, and pieces of ribs. Of animal bones the same layer showed, according to Knies and Maška, those of Canis vulpes, Canis lagopus, Canis lupus, Ursus spelæus, Lepus variabilis, Lagomys pusillus, Rangifer tarandus, Cervus alces, and Bos priscus. ”

“ It is certain that man lived at Předmost contemporaneously with the mammoth. The bones of these animals are found not only below and at the same levels with the remains of man, but also above them.
The explorations at Předmost have been carried on in a thorough and scientific manner. The fauna discovered is composed of Felis spelæa, Hyæna spelæa, Canis lagopus, Gulo borealis, Myodes torquatus, Elephas primigenius, Rhinoceros tichorinus, Bos primigenius and priscus, Capra ibex, Ovibos moschatus, Rangifer tarandus, Cervus elaphus, Cervus alces, Equus caballus, and other less typical species. ”

“ The great scientific value of the Předmost finds is augmented by the discoveries of human bones. Wankel found a portion of a human lower jaw, belonging apparently to an adult female. It is preserved in the museum in Olomouc, and is undoubtedly of quaternary age. It is figured by Wankel in the Časopis Musejní Společnosti, Olomouc, 1884, page 96, and by Maška in his Der diluviale Mensch in Maehren, 1886, page 103. ”

“ No other discovery has been so much discussed as that of the Neander valley. The latest controversy concerning this find was carried on between the geologists C. Koenen and H. Rauffe. The latter has published three studies which utilize in a masterly manner all the information that can be had from the earlier reports and from our actual geological knowledge. ”

“ 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. ”

“ J. Babor, the calvarium in question came from the loess deposits in Libeň, the eighth ward of Praha, and was found in the loess immediately above the underlying Silurian formation. In the brickyards of this ward discoveries of quaternary animal bones (Rangifer tarandus, Arctomys marmotta, Hyæna spelæa, etc.) are quite frequent. In the immediate vicinity of the Libeň skull, but at a higher level, were, it is said, pieces of other skulls and fragments of pottery. No specialist examined these finds, and their stratigraphic conditions were never thoroughly inquired into. ”

“ Makovský regarded this coloration as incontestably artificial, and Virchow expressed the opinion, based on these data, that such coloration could be produced only after the bones have become devoid of flesh, wherefore it is necessary in this case to suppose a secondary burial. As a similar feature was several times observed with skeletons from the neolithic period, the Brno bones also were attributed to this epoch. In 1902 I had occasion to examine the skeleton preserved in the Brno polytechnic school, and it was still possible to see samples of the loess which had surrounded the bones. ”

“ This cave contained the remains of a rich quaternary fauna and various products of the reindeer culture, but no remains of the human body. A lower jaw of an infant was found underneath an artificial platform in front of the cave, but as it came from a disturbed layer its age can not, according to Hochstetter and Szombathy, be determined. ”