Page:Excavations at the Kesslerloch.djvu/59

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AMULETS, ORNAMENTS.
45

on the contrary (Plate XIV. fig. 85), has on its upper convex side a number of neatly-engraved lines formed of very small dots. The work is charming, and so well executed that it would require considerable expertness to imitate it.

An earring executed with similar dexterity is drawn, Plate IX. fig. 59. Instead of being ball-shaped, it takes a longer form, and gradually narrows from top to bottom. On the front, or narrower side, there are two lines gradually approximating, and, like the specimen last mentioned, formed of dots.

An amulet not quite finished and not perforated was also found (Plate IX. fig. 60), of a flattish cylindrical form. A specimen exactly similar was subsequently found in the rubbish from the cave. Some other similar earrings are drawn, Plate IX. figs. 52, 61, and Plate XIII. figs. 75, 79, and 81.

The ornaments are not all made of bone and coal; some are of stone or are petrifactions (ammonites), as may be seen from the specimens drawn, Plate VII. figs. 37, 38, 39, and 40; and Plate XIV. fig. 95.[1]

Even shells were used as ornaments. Several were found in our cave: one of them has been ground down near the hinge, till a hole was made; another has been twice perforated artificially (Plate XIV. fig. 84), together with these worked shells; others were found in their natural state. Professor Karl Meyer of Zürich has had the kindness to determine them for me, and I return to him many thanks for so doing. The following species are mentioned by him:—Pectunculus glycymeris, Ostrea cucullata, Pectunculus Fichteli, and Cerithium margaritaceum. He considers the two first named to be recent shells; but the others he believes to be fossil.

The last group of implements to be mentioned are the larger portions of bone with holes bored through them. Most strangely, not a single specimen is entirely perfect. All are broken off at one end, and on this account have been thrown aside as useless into the rubbish of the ca.ve. No less than twenty-three bones of this kind were found with a single perforation, and four of the same sort with two holes. They vary in length from more than 12 inches to 31/3 inches, and in thickness from 7/10 to 1/7 of

  1. Amongst the things found in the rubbish-heap after the excavation was finished was a very beautiful fossil tooth of the Ceratodus, apparently the C. serratus of Agassiz, from the 'Muschelkalk,' two inches across. It must have been brought to the cave as a curiosity; but its presence there shows that the inhabitants roamed to a considerable distance, or they must have had a barter trade with the neighbouring races, for the nearest point where the 'muschelkalk' occurs is said to be three leagues distant from the cave.