Abstract
Bulletins de la Société d' Anthropologie de Paris, tome vii. fasc. 2, 1884.—This number contains several more than usually interesting communications regarding French palteontological inquiry.—M. D'Acy's paper on the silex of the Chelles Station, which was begun in a previous number, shows that we must regard the Chelles deposits as belonging to two distinct formations: the old Quaternary, or true Chellcan, containing remains of Elefijuis Antiquus and Rhinoceros merckii, and the later Quaternary, or mousterian period, represented as usual by Ekphns primigfnius. —Baron de Baye communicates the discovery in the Neolithic caverns at Petit Morin (Marne) of transversely cut arrow-heads similar to those found in large quantities in Denmark, but hitherto undetected in France. They were intermixed with numerous ordinarily shaped arrow-heads, fragments of Neolithic pottery, and roughly-cut flints, and deposited in a cavity on the summit of a hill, while a vertebral bone (apparently of a badger), which was found in a grotto at a distance of 250 m. from the deposit, still retained a portion of a similarly shaped arrow-head.—M. Gustave Chauvet announced the discovery, in a tumulus on the right bank of the Charente, of a curiously ornamented bronze chariot, similar lo those found in Mecklenburg and in Scandinavia. The tumulus, which is situated near Charroux (Vienne), and locally known as “le Gros-Guignon,” contained a vaulted recess in which the body had rested, and on cither side of which lay wheels with detached ornaments, as circles and spheres, and bronze and iron nails, together with two urns undoubtedly Gallic.—M. Nicaise reported the discovery of another chariot-bier in a tumulus at Septaulx (Marne), on which the body had been laid. In front of the right wheel lay the skeleton of a boar, between whose ribs a long knife was embedded. To this report the writer has added, many interesting details in regard to several funeral chariots found in other parts of Marne, more especially in the Gallic cemetery of Varilles, where three skeletons (one adult and two children) had been interred in the same chariot. The weapons, horse-bits, bronze rings, &c., inclosed in these tumuli indicate their Gallic origin.—On the sepulchral grotto of Rousson, near Alais, by M. Charvet. This cave, which was opened in 1883, was found to contain a large number [of skulls, mostly dolichocephalic, together with other human bones, and pins and beads of a metal regarded by French palæontologists as copper rather than bronze, and similar to that of various objects found in the Baume des Morts Cavern of Durfort, first explored in 1869, and regarded as belonging to a mixed Celto-Ligurian race.—On a series of explorations at Plouhinec, by M. Gaillard. Four tumuli opened in March 1884 contained cinerary urns, four human skulls, and other bones, flint lance and arrowheads, and broken pottery.—A communication by M. Kerck-hoffs concerning the lacustrine station lately brought to light near the alluvial beds, in which the notable Maestricht jaw was discovered in 1823. The recent explorations of this interesting site have been conducted by M. Ubaghs, who has found a well-preserved dolichocephalic cranium, together with the bones of Bos primigenius, the horse, stag, beaver, dog, &c., with bone instruments, remains of coarse pottery, &c.— On human sacrifices and anthropophagy among the Vaudous or serpent-worshippers of Haiti, by M. Dehoux.—On the settlements of the Canadian Redskins, and the fluctuation in their numbers, by M. Petitot. The author considers that the solar and demon worship, and the chief social institutions of the Sioux, Hurons, and other North American tribes indicate their affinity with the Dravidian races of India.—The report of a discussion raised by M. Beauregard on the correctness of his views regarding the Dardous, which had been called in question by M. de Ujfalvy.—On the Cachmiris and Pandits, by M. de Ujfalvy. The former he regards as a mixed Mongol and Aryan race, while in the latter he believes we have the representatives of a primitive North-West Indian Aryan type.—On the pretended Eastern origin of the Algonquins, by M. Petitot; and on the diffusion of analogous myths in different lands, by M. Luys.—On dynamo-metric errors, by Dr. Manouvrier, having special reference to the inexactness of instruments, and the discrepancies between the modes of gradation observed by different instrument-makers.— On the ethnographic researches of M. Quesde in the Antilles, by M. Hamy. The presence of cut flints, although there are no indications of any siliceous rock-formations, points to primitive commercial relations with the mainland.—On the methods of measuring the circumference of the head, by M. le Bon.—Anew classification of the pelvis considered from an obstetric point of view, and with special reference to racial distinctions, by Dr. Verrier.—On the traditions and tribal divisions of the Somalia, by M. Bardey. Their legends include one in which Abel is represented as the black and evil brother, while Kahil is white-skinned and good, while the people profess to derive their descent from two men miraculously saved with their wives from an inundation which ingulfed all the inhabitants of the lands near the Mount Taizz, sixty miles east of Mocha, on the summit of which they remained till the waters subsided.
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Scientific Serials . Nature 30, 650 (1884). https://doi.org/10.1038/030650a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/030650a0