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Miscellanea Anthropologica.

Prize Anthropological Memoir. The Paris Anthropological Society's triennial prize of five hundred francs, founded by Ernest Godard, will be awarded in May 1865. The prize will be adjudged for the best original memoir on a subject connected with anthropology. Manuscripts sent in for competition may be written either in French, English, or Latin, and printed memoirs in either of these languages, or German, Italian, Portuguese, or Spanish. The essays must be sent in before January 5th next year, addressed to the society's secretary, No. 3 Rue de l'Abbaye, Paris.

The Neanderthal Skull. [Extract from a letter received by Mr. C. Carter Blake from Dr. Pruner Bey.] "Regarding the Neanderthal man, it is indeed possible that the rachitism discovered by M. Meyer may have had its influence on the development of the frontal sinuses. The interior cast is remarkable for the right ascension of the frontal lobes of the brain, so that the expansion of the above-mentioned cavities has not at least influenced the human characters of man. There is besides this to be observed on the upper surface of the same lobes what you might call an "affaissement" of the gyri, which you attribute to the age of the individual, because you see the same on the cast of the illustrious Dr. Gall's skull, in my possession. For all the rest, chiefly as regards proportions, this interior cast corresponds nearest, as you observed, to that of a modern Irishman. Only in the last, which belonged to a younger individual, the gyri are more turgescent and the vertex is a little more elevated. Since I had the honour to write you my last, Providence has favoured me with the acquisition of a specimen which completes the proofs of the Celtic origin of the Neanderthal man. It is the frontal bone of a very ancient Celt, obtained from a tumulus in France, and belongs to a very young individual. Still, the frontal sinuses lying open, shew on the exterior and in the interior such a development, that this specimen, with its depressed forehead, may form a link, with others in my possession, to shew the progressive and regressive state of this particularity in ancient Celtic skulls. That this specimen, too, belongs to a highly dolichocephalous person, is evident on the first inspection.

9th July, 1864.

"Yours, most respectfully and truly,
"PRUNER BEY."

Recent Discoveries of Kjökkenmöddings.—The following letters have recently appeared in the pages of a contemporary :

"Halifax, Nova Scotia, June 21. "During the last winter session of the Nova Scotian Institute of Natural Science, the Rev. J. Ambrose, rector of the parish of St. Margaret's Bay, a district lying on the Atlantic seaboard of this colony, brought to the notice of the Institute the existence of extensive beds of refuse

shells and bones, mixed with fragments of rude pottery, and perfect and imperfect flint arrow and spear heads. Gifted with an inquiring mind, the gentleman in question naturally considered that their occurrence was not a matter of chance; and, following up the subject, he ascertained that similar beds had been known to exist on the shores of Denmark and the adjacent isles, and that they had received the name of kjökkenmöddings, or kitchen-middings, from being heaps of refuse shells, bones, etc., thrown aside by the primitive races of men who, in days of remote antiquity, visited annually, or dwelt continuously, in such positions. On perusing an article published in the Report of the Smithsonian Institute for 1860, which gave an interesting account of the kitchen-middings of Europe as surveyed by the Danish archæologists, a perfect resemblance to those of the Nova Scotian coast was at once perceived, in so far at least as the few specimens then obtained from these heaps proved.

"To endeavour to make a thorough search, and prove the nature of these deposits, the Council of the Institute of Natural Science decided upon having a field meeting on the spot where the kitchen-middings lay; and accordingly, on the 11th of June last, a large party proceeded by land from Halifax, the capital of the province, to St. Margaret's Bay, which is distant, in a S.S. W. direction, about twenty-two miles. This bay is exceedingly spacious, runs inland some eight or ten miles, and is in breadth, perhaps, five or six miles. A few islands stand at the entrance as well as at its head, and long low promontories, clothed with spruce, birch, and maple, stretch into the water at the N.E. corner, forming snug coves and sheltered strands. It is on the shore of one of these minor bays, having a sandy beach where canoes could be hauled up easily and safely, that the principal kjökkenmödding, found by Mr. Ambrose, lay, on a rising knoll some 20 feet above the level of the bay at high-water mark. It forms part of a grass field belonging to a farm-house hard by; and according to the statement of the farmer, and the appearace it presents, has been submitted to little, if any, disturbance at the hand of man. The deposit appears to have extended about fifty yards or more in length, by a well defined breadth of eight yards. Its surface is irregularly depressed and dotted over, on its western extremity, with granitic boulders of no great size. The soil which covers the mass is similar to that of the field in which it occurs, though, perhaps, a little darker in colour. It grows common meadow-grass and ordinary field plants, and its depth does not exceed two or three inches when the shell deposit appears, presenting a layer of compact shells, perfect and imperfect, in which lie bones of animals and birds, flint and quartz arrow and spear heads, large and small teeth, and broken pieces of very roughly-made pottery, bearing evident traces of attempt at ornament. This pottery was very dark in colour, and contained in its substance grains of granitic sand and mica in quantity. From the pieces of rim obtained, judging from their curvature, the earthen vessels could scarcely have exceeded the dimensions of a quart bowl. These bowls or cups must have been in common use, as the fragments occur in some plenty. No traces of implements denoting any connexion with the

later iron age occurred; and the only objects on which the art of man had been practised beyond the pottery and flint weapon heads, were bones sharpened into awls, one of which was obtained in a very perfect state.

"In the midst of, but more abundantly at the bottom of the refuse deposit, occurred rounded stones, from the size of a man's clenched hand upwards, bearing evident traces of having undergone the action of fire. These stones are precisely similar to those found on the

beach beneath.

"At the bottom of the refuse heap, which occurred at a distance of eighteen inches from the surface, a layer of black soil came, two inches thick; then a layer of white-brown sand of the same thickness; then came a reddish-coloured earth, getting lighter as the spade went down, until the original foundation of hardened drift proclaimed no further investigation necessary in that direction. Taking a general view of the surface, the observer naturally supposed that the rounded granite boulders which lie scattered on the heap had afforded seats for a primitive people, who rudely cooked their food at this encampment on the edge of the wild forest; nor was the supposition incorrect; for, on digging around these boulders, greater masses of shells, and more evident traces of fire, were apparent than in other parts of the heap. The charcoal, in some instances, had lost but little of its former consistency, while, in others, it powdered into dust on being handled. This probably arose from the nature of the wood, some kinds affording a hard charcoal, and others soft.

The fauna of this Nova Scotian kjökkenmödding, so far as could be ascertained, was as follows. Of mammals, the moose (Cervus alces), the bear (Ursus Americanus), the beaver (Castor Canadensis), and the porcupine (Hystrix dorsata), were noticed; the beaver and porcupine by their teeth, which, from their brightness and compactness, might just have been taken from the jaw. A beaver's tooth had the root part rubbed, and smoothed to a head, giving, with its chisel-like point, the appearance of an instrument for cutting. Some of these teeth were jagged on their edges, as if by artificial means. The bones of the animals had been broken, and, with the exception of a few very small ones, none were obtained whole. Of birds, there were the bones of different species, some very large, and evidently belonging to a bird much larger than the great northern diver (Colymbus glacialis), which is one of the largest wild birds in the colony at the present day. The bird bones were also more or less broken, and one in particular had been opened by means of a cutting instrument down the side. Of fishes, the vertebræ of two or three species, the largest measuring about an inch in diameter; while two or three specimens of the opercular spines of the Norway haddock (Sebastes Norvegicus) were procured among the débris in a perfect state, which led to the supposition that they were used for some purpose, such as pricking holes. Of mollusks, the most common were the quahog (Venus mercenaria), clam (Mya arenaria), scallop (Pecten Islandicus), Crepidula fornicata, and Mytilus edulis. Of the two former species nearly the whole mass of shell consisted. The mussel shells had become so friable that the slightest touch was sufficient to break them.

"Time did not permit, however, a closer examination to be made on this first visit to the mounds; but some members of the Institute, aware of the interest attaching to the subject, have decided upon camping out during the ensuing summer in the vicinity of other deposits known to exist in various places, and hope, by thoroughly excavating the several mounds, to bring to light specimens which will doubtless help to prove the age in which they were constructed, and the similarity which existed between the manners and customs of the race who formed them and the constructors of those placed in like positions on the shores of Denmark and Northern Europe.

"J. M. JONES, President of the Institute of Natural Science.'

196A, Piccadily, July 11, 1864. "The general description of Mr. Jones in your last number of the Shell-Mounds in the Halifax district corresponds with one on a much larger scale that I have identified at Smyrna. This is known to residents and the old travellers as the fossil oyster-beds, but later travellers and geologists have ascertained that the oyster-shells are of late period. "They form a bed on the side of Mount Pagus, below the Acropolis and above the theatre, constituting a stratum extending for above half a mile. Just above the theatre the deposit is cut through by a road leading to a quarry, and is there, I should say from memory, about sixteen feet deep. The deposit, like that near Halifax, is covered with soil and débris, and is also composed of a layer of compact shells, perfect and imperfect, in which lie bones of animals and birds and broken pieces of pottery. I found what appeared to me flint implements, but I have not yet had time to make a satisfactory examination. The pottery is not like that at Halifax, but is red, and like the common pottery of the country. I have invited the attention of the members of the Academy of Anatolia to this deposit, as belonging to a city of the Iberian or pre-Iberian epoch. Various hypotheses have been put forward to account for the oyster-shells and pottery, but there has been an unwillingness to refer them to a remote date, the general opinion being in accordance with the fable that ancient Smyrna was not on the present site, and that the inhabitants dispersed in villages on the plain of Boornabat were concentrated at Smyrna by Alexander the Great, whose followers began the Acropolis. To my mind, and I have been confirmed by several archæologists, the corner of the Acropolis next the city shews decided traces of so-called Pelasgian work. Thus, according to my view, the Acropolis was the Iberian or pre-Hellenic city, and the deposit on the hill the site of a still more ancient city. My impressions have been confirmed by comparison with the new collections in the British Museum.

"HYDE CLARKE." [We understand that the Anthropological Society of London are making inquiries at Smyrna, with a view to elicit further information on this most interesting subject. EDITOR.]

Description of the Cavern of Bruniquel, and of its Organic Contents. Part I. Human Remains. By Professor RICHARD OWEN, F.R.S., &c. (Abstract of paper read before Royal Society of London, June 1864.)

In this communication the author gives an account of the Cavern of Bruniquel, Department of the Tarn and Garonne, France, in the state which it presented when visited by him in January 1864, and a description of the human remains discovered therein by the proprietor, the Vicomte de Lastic St. Jal, in 1863, and subsequently by the author in January 1864. The circumstances under which these discoveries were made are minutely detailed, and the contemporaneity of the human remains with those of the extinct and other animals with which they are associated, together with the flint and bone implements, is shown by the evidences of the plastic condition of the calcified mud of the breccia at the time of interment, by the chemical constitution of the human bones, corresponding with that of the other animal remains, and by the similarity of their position and relations in the surrounding breccia. Among the principal remains of the men of the flint-period described are the following:-1st, the hinder portion of the cranium, with several other parts of the same skeleton, which were so situated in their matrix as to indicate that the body had been interred in a crouching posture, and that, after decomposition and dissolution of the soft parts, the skeleton had yielded to the superincumbent weight; 2nd, an almost entire. calvarium, which is described and compared with different types of the human skull, shown to be superior in form and capacity to the Australian type, and more closely to correspond with the Celtic type, though proportionally shorter than the modern Celtic, and the form exhibited by the Celtic cranium from Engis, Switzerland; 3rd, jaws and teeth of individuals of different ages. After noticing other smaller portions of human cranium, the author proceeds to describe minutely the lower jaw and teeth of an adult, and upper and lower. jaws of immature individuals, showing the characters of certain deciduous teeth. The proportions of the molars are not those of the Australian, but of other races, and especially those of ancient and modern Europeans. As in most primitive or early races in which mastication was little helped by arts of cookery or by various and refined kinds of food, the crowns of the molars, especially of m 1, are worn down beyond the enamel, flat and smooth to the stumps, exposing there a central tract of osteodentine without any sign of decay. The paper is illustrated by a view and plans of the cavern, and by figures of the principal human remains, and of two implements of bone on which the Vicomte de Lastic had discovered, on removal of the breccia, outline figures of the head of a reindeer, and the head of a horse in profile. The description of the various remains of the animals killed for food, and of the flint- and bone-implements applied to that and other purposes, will be the subject of a future communication.

Proportion of Female to Male Steps. By Dr. FECHNER. The proportion was found by Dr. Fechner to be 100,00 115.76. To determine this proportion, Dr. Fechner observed from his window how many steps the by-passers, male and female, took to go over a certain distance (some twenty odd steps); 1258 females made on the whole 31,142.54 steps; males 1796, 38,409.05 steps. The observations were made on week- and Sundays at different times of the day

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