and the transverse 140 millimetres. The discoverers maintained that this was a Palæolithic burial contemporary with the strata in which it lay. As such it was brought before the Anthropological Society of Paris in 1896 by M. E. d'Acy, where it gave rise to a long and animated discussion. G. de Mortillet strongly disagreed with this opinion, holding that it was a Neolithic burial (Le Préhistorique, 3rd edition, p. 314).
The Skeleton of Moustier-de-Peyzac.
The announcement of the discovery of a female skeleton in the rock-shelter of Moustier-de-Peyzac was first made by M. Emile Rivière on 1st October 1905, at the Périgueux Meeting of the Prehistoric Congress of France, then held in that town, but few details were given. Subsequently, at a meeting of the same Congress at Chambery (1908, p. 123), he discussed the subject at some length. The portion of ground in which the skeleton was found lies in front of the overhanging rock, and measures about 100 square metres. The ground was partly built upon, and it was in the course of further building operations that the skeleton was exposed (29th August 1896). On being informed of the discovery, M. Rivière visited the locality on 3rd September, but by this time the skeleton had been removed from its original place owing to the exigencies of the works then in progress. In the process of extraction the lower portion of the face became detached from the cranium and had some of the ashes and cinders of the hearth over which it lay still adhering to it.
The body is described as lying on the back, the limbs extended and the mouth wide open, at a depth of 0.55 metre from the surface, in Moustérien débris which M. Rivière positively asserts had not been previously disturbed. The skeleton was nearly entire, and, judging from the length of the femur (0.36 metre), the height of the woman was estimated at 1.60 metres (5 feet 2½ inches). From a photograph, the skull, which was still in its original matrix, was well developed and evidently brachycephalic. Nearly all the teeth were in their sockets, and the chin is especially prominent. In the immediate vicinity of the body, bones of Bos primigenius and reindeer, flint implements of Moustérien types, and a small Chelléen
