Abstract
ON December 6, 1880, Prof. Schaaffhausen gave a lecture to the Lower Rhine Society in Bonn, on the discoveries made by Prof. Maschke in the Schipka Cavern, near Stramberg, in Moravia. In this cavern were found remains of Bos, Ursus, Elephas, Rhinoceros, Leo, and Hyæna, besides roughly-hewn implements of quartzite, basalt, and flint, and some incisor teeth of Ursus, which were cut into on both sides at the beginning of the crown, perhaps because people did not yet know how to bore a hole into the root. Carbonised animal bones in numerous small fragments were met with. A solitary human relic was found in a protected place at the wall of a side passage of the cavern, and near a fireplace. It was the fragment of a lower iaw, amid ashes and inter-breccia of lime. The same layer contained mammoth remains and stone implements. Of the jaw only the front part with incisors, one canine, and the two pre molars, of the right side remained. The latter three teeth were still in the jaw undeveloped, but were visible, because the front wall of the jaw was wanting. The largeness and thickness of the jaw, first of all, were remarkable. The teeth-development corresponds to the first year of life, but the jaw and the teeth are as large as those of an adult. As is the rule with man, the first pre-molar seemed nearest being cut; next to it came the canine, then the second pre-molar.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Animal Remains in the Schipka Cavern . Nature 23, 446 (1881). https://doi.org/10.1038/023446a0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/023446a0