We report on the abundance analysis of two red giants in the faint Hercules dwarf spheroidal ( dSph ) galaxy .
These stars show a remarkable deficiency in the neutron-capture elements , while the hydrostatic \alpha -elements ( O , Mg ) are strongly enhanced .
Our data indicate [ Ba/Fe ] and [ Mg/Fe ] abundance ratios of \lesssim -2 dex and \sim +0.8 dex , respectively , with essentially no detection of other n-capture elements .
In contrast to the only other dSph star with similar abundance patterns , Dra 119 , which has a very low metallicity at [ Fe/H ] = - 2.95 dex , our objects , at [ Fe/H ] \sim -2.0 dex , are only moderately metal poor .
The measured ratio of hydrostatic/explosive \alpha -elements indicates that high-mass ( \sim 35 M _ { \sun } ) Type II supernovae progenitors are the main , if not only , contributors to the enrichment of this galaxy .
This suggests that star formation and chemical enrichment in the ultrafaint dSphs proceeds stochastically and inhomogeneously on small scales , or that the IMF was strongly skewed to high mass stars .
The neutron capture deficiencies and the [ Co/Fe ] and [ Cr/Fe ] abundance ratios in our stars are similar to those in the extremely low metallicity Galactic halo .
This suggests that either our stars are composed mainly of the ejecta from the first , massive , population III stars ( but at moderately high [ Fe/H ] ) , or that SN ejecta in the Hercules galaxy were diluted with \sim 30 times less hydrogen than typical for extreme metal-poor stars .