FERASSIE SKELETONS, LA

hominid fossils found in a rock shelter gravesite north of Bugue, Dordogne, Fr., by R. Capitan and D. Peyrony between 1909 and 1921, but not fully reported until 1934. The fossils of La Ferassie are estimated to date from about 60,000 years ago and are associated with the Mousterian stone tool industry. The remains include six skeletons: a man, a woman, one child thought to be about ten years old, and three infants. The skulls have large brows, flat, sloping foreheads, protruding jaws, and small teeth. The feet were similar to those of modern man. A relatively large brain, plus tools found at the site, place these remains definitely within the classic Neanderthal species, considered a subspecies of Homo sapiens. The site also provides evidence that Neanderthal man took considerable pains with burial of the dead. One grave on a slope contains the separated skull and lower skeleton of a child. The skull was covered with a limestone slab with markings on its underside. All the graves are artificially dug trenches cut in half spheres and covered with nearly equal parts of black earth and gravel. This evidence indicates a fairly complex system of belief among Neanderthals. The remains are held in the Muse de l'Homme in Paris and at the Muse des Eyzies in Les Eyzies, Dordogne.