Probably the most dramatic events of Henri-Martin's excavations at Fontéchevade were the discoveries of two fragments of human skull. A bit of frontal bone lacking a supraorbital torus (Fontéchevade I) was found in apparent association with a more archaic-looking partial calotte (Fontéchevade II). (Henry-Martin [1957] referred to these as Homo I and Homo II, respectively.) Both came from the upper parts of her Bed E, which she dated to the last interglacial (OIS 5) or earlier. Because of this date, the modern appearance of Fontéchevade I has posed a problem for paleoanthropologists. Although these are the most famous of the Fontéchevade human remains, the site also contained Bronze Age burials, and during the 1994–1998 excavations more human remains were recovered. In this chapter, the various interpretations and descriptions of the Fontéchevade I and Fontéchevade II specimens are summarized, followed by descriptions of the other human remains from the cave.

THE “TAYACIAN” REMAINS

The fragment of frontal bone was discovered on August 13, 1947. A block of breccia coming from Henri-Martin's Bed E0 in her Sector 1, 2.40–2.60 m below her datum and some 6.5 m in front of the present dripline (Vallois 1958:7–8), was transported to her laboratory in Le Peyrat to permit methodical disengagement of the archaeological material. It was during the course of this work that the fragment of frontal bone appeared. Vallois (1958:7) noted that no trace of fire was observed at this bed. These specimens are housed in the Musée de l'Homme in Paris.