Christol excavated of the caverns of Pondres and Souvignarges, northeast of Montpellier in the department of Gard. These caverns, which showed no evidence of accidental disturbance, contained human remains intermixed with pottery and the remains of antediluvian mammals such as the rhinoceros, cave bear and hyena. Christol depicted seven of these human fossil bones in the plate accompanying his work; this plate probably represents the first intentionally published identified illustration of fossil human bones. Despite the obvious implications of his discovery, Christol was very much aware of Cuvier’s refutations of previous evidence for fossil man, mentioning Cuvier frequently in his text. Probably because of this, Christol shied away from drawing a definite conclusion.