Polished Flint HatchetFig. 111.—Polished Flint Hatchet, with a Sheath of Stag's Horn fitted for a Handle.
Fig. 111.—Polished Flint Hatchet, with a Sheath of Stag's Horn fitted for a Handle.
The middle of this sheath is generally perforated with a round or oval hole intended to receive a handle of oak, birch, or some other kind of wood adapted for such a use.
Fig. 112, taken from the illustration in Boucher de Perthes' work ('Antiquités Celtiques et Antédiluviennes'), represents this hatchet fitted into a handle made of oak.
Flint hatchetFig. 112.—Flint Hatchet fitted into a Stag's-horn Sheath, having an Oak Handle, from Boucher de Perthes' illustration.
Fig. 112.—Flint Hatchet fitted into a Stag's-horn Sheath, having an Oak Handle, from Boucher de Perthes' illustration.
It is difficult to understand how it was that a hatchet of this kind did not fall out of its sheath in consequence of any moderately violent blow; for it seems as if there was nothing to hold it in its place. This observation especially applies to hatchets, the whole length of which—even the portion covered by the sheath—was polished; for the latter would certainly slide out of their casing with ease. The fact is, that complete specimens are seldom found, and, generally speaking, the flints are separated from their sheaths.
With regard to the handles, the nature of the material they were made from was unfavourable to their preservation through a long course of centuries; it is, therefore, only exceptionally that we meet with them, and even then they are always defaced.
Fig. 113 is given by Boucher de Perthes, in his 'Antiquités Celtiques,' as the representation of an oaken handle found by him.
A number of these sheaths have been found, which were provided at the end opposite to the stone hatchet with strong and pointed teeth. These are boar's tusks, firmly buried in the stag's horn. Theseinstruments therefore fulfilled a double purpose; they cut or crushed with one end and pierced with the other.
Sheaths are also found which are not only provided with the boar's tusks, but are hollowed out at each end so as to hold two flint hatchets at once. This is represented in fig. 114 from one of Boucher de Perthes' illustrations.
Hatchet-handleFig. 113.—Hatchet-handle made of Oak.
Fig. 113.—Hatchet-handle made of Oak.
Stag's-horn SheathFig. 114.—Stag's-horn Sheath, open at each end so as to receive two Hatchets.
Fig. 114.—Stag's-horn Sheath, open at each end so as to receive two Hatchets.
The hatchet fitted into a sheath of stag's horn which we here delineate (fig. 115), was picked up in the environs of Aerschot, and isan object well worthy of note; it is now in the Museum of Antiquities at Brussels. Its workmanship is perfect, and superior to that of similar instruments found in the peat-bogs of the valley of the Somme.
Polished Flint HatchetFig. 115.—Polished Flint Hatchet from Belgium, fitted into a Stag's-horn Sheath.
Fig. 115.—Polished Flint Hatchet from Belgium, fitted into a Stag's-horn Sheath.
Stag's horn was often used alone as a material for the manufacture of tools which were not intended to endure any very hard work; among these were instruments of husbandry and gardening.
We here give representations (figs. 116, 117, 118) from Boucher de Perthes' illustrations, of certain implements made of stag's horn which appear to have had this purpose in view. It is remarked that they are not all perforated for holding a handle; in some cases, a portion of the stag's antler formed the handle.
Gardening ToolFig. 116.—Gardening Tool made of Stag's Horn (after Boucher de Perthes).
Fig. 116.—Gardening Tool made of Stag's Horn (after Boucher de Perthes).
Gardening ToolFig. 117.—Gardening Tool made of Stag's Horn (after Boucher de Perthes).
Fig. 117.—Gardening Tool made of Stag's Horn (after Boucher de Perthes).
Gardening toolFig. 118.—Gardening Tool made of Stag's Horn (after Boucher de Perthes).
Fig. 118.—Gardening Tool made of Stag's Horn (after Boucher de Perthes).
In the course of his explorations in the peat-bogs of Abbeville, M. Boucher de Perthes found numerous flakes of flint of irregular shapes, the use of which he was unable to explain. But there have also been discovered in the same deposits some long bones belonging to mammals—tibia, femur, radius, ulna—all cut in a uniform way,either in the middle or at the ends; he was led to imagine that these bones might have been the handles intended to hold the flints. In order to assure himself that this idea was well founded, he took one of the bones and a stone which came out of the peat, and, having put them together, he found he had made a kind of chisel, well-adapted for cutting, scooping-out, scratching and polishing horn or wood. He tried this experiment again several times, and always with full success. If the stone did not fit firmly into the bone, one or two wooden wedges were sufficient to steady it.
After this, Boucher de Perthes entertained no doubt whatever that these bones had been formerly employed as handles for flint implements. The same handle would serve for several stones, owing to the ease with which the artisan could take one flint out and replace it with another, by the aid of nothing but these wooden wedges. This is the reason why, in the peat-bogs, flints of this sort are always much more plentiful than the bone handles. We must also state that it seems as if they took little or no trouble in repairing the flints when they were blunted, knowing how easy it would be to replace them. They were thrown away, without further care; hence their profusion.
These handles are made of extremely hard bone, from which we may conclude that they were applied to operations requiring solid tools.Most of them held the flint at one end only; but some were open at both ends, and would serve as handles for two tools at once.
Figs. 119 and 120 represent some of these flint tools in bone handles—the plates are taken from those in Boucher de Perthes' work.
Flint toolFig. 119.—Flint Tool in a Bone Handle.
Fig. 119.—Flint Tool in a Bone Handle.
Flint toolFig. 120.—Flint Tool with Bone Handle.
Fig. 120.—Flint Tool with Bone Handle.
Generally speaking, these handles gave but little trouble to those who made them. They were content with merely breaking the bone across, without even smoothing down the fracture, and then enlarging the medullary hollow which naturally existed; next they roughly squared or rounded the end which was intended to be grasped by the hand.
In fig. 121, we delineate one of these bone handles which is much more carefully fashioned; it has been cut off smooth at the open end, and the opposite extremity has been rounded off into a knob, which is ornamented with a design.
Ornamented Bone HandleFig. 121.—Ornamented Bone Handle.
Fig. 121.—Ornamented Bone Handle.
During the polished-stone epoch, as during that which preceded it, the teeth of certain mammals were used in the way of ornament. But they were not content, as heretofore, with merely perforating them with holes and hanging them in a string round their necks;they were now wrought with considerable care. The teeth of the wild boar were those chiefly selected for this purpose. They were split lengthwise, so as to render them only half their original thickness, and were then polished and perforated with holes in order to string them.
In the peat-mosses of the valley of the Somme a number of boars' tusks have been found thus fashioned. The most curious discovery of this kind which has been made, was that of the object of which we give a sketch in fig. 122. It was found in 1834, near Pecquigny (Somme), and is composed of nineteen boars' tusks split into two halves, as we before mentioned, perfectly polished, and perforated at each end with a round hole. Through these holes was passed a string of some tendinous substance, the remains of which were, it is stated, actually to be seen at the time of the discovery.A necklace of this kind must have been of considerable value, as it would have necessitated a large amount of very tedious and delicate work.
NecklaceFig. 122.—Necklace made of Boars' Tusks, longitudinally divided.
Fig. 122.—Necklace made of Boars' Tusks, longitudinally divided.
In the peat-bogs near Brussels polished flints have likewise been found, associated with animal bones, and two specimens of the humanhumerus, belonging to two individuals.
The peat-bogs of Antwerp, in which were found a human frontal bone, characterised by its great thickness, and its small surface, have also furnished fine specimens of flint knives (fig. 123), which are in no way inferior to the best of those discovered at Grand-Pressigny.
Flint knifeFig. 123.—Flint Knife, from the Peat-bogs near Antwerp.
Fig. 123.—Flint Knife, from the Peat-bogs near Antwerp.
On none of the instruments of bone or horn, of which we have been speaking, are to be found the designs which we have described as being the work of man during the reindeer epoch. The artistic instinct seems to have entirely vanished. Perhaps the diluvial catastrophe, which destroyed so many victims, had, as one of its results, the effect of effacing the feeling of art, by forcing men to concentrate their ideas on one sole point—the care of providing for their subsistence and defence.
A quantity of remains, gathered here and there, bear witness to the fact that in the polished-stone epoch the use of pottery was pretty widely spread. Most of the specimens are, as we have said, nothingbut attempts of a very rough character, but still they testify to a certain amount of progress. The ornamentation is more delicate and more complicated. We notice the appearance of open-work handles, and projections perforated for the purpose of suspension. In short, there is a perceptible, though but preliminary step made towards the real creations of art.
In the caves of Ariége, MM. Garrigou and Filhol found some remains of ancient pottery of clay provided with handles, although of a shape altogether primitive. Among the fragments of pottery found by thesesavants, there was one which measured 11 inches in height, and must have formed a portion of a vase 20 inches high. This vessel, which was necessarily very heavy, had been hung to cords; this was proved by finding on another portion of the same specimen three holes which had been perforated in it.
Agriculture.—We have certain evidence that man, during the polished-stone epoch, was acquainted with husbandry, or, in other words, that he cultivated cereals. MM. Garrigou and Filhol found in the caves of Ariége more than twenty mill-stones, which could only have been used in grinding corn. These stones are from 8 to 24 inches in diameter.
The tribes, therefore, which, during the polished-stone epoch, inhabited the district now called Ariége, were acquainted with the cultivation of corn.
In 1869, Dr. Foulon-Menard published an article intended to describe a stone found at Penchasteau, near Nantes, in a tomb belonging to the Stone Age.[20]This stone is 24 inches wide, and hollowed out on its upper face. It was evidently used for crushing grain with the help of a stone roller, or merely a round pebble, which was rolled up and down in the cavity. The meal obtained by this pressure and friction made its way down the slope in the hollowing out of the stone, and was caught in a piece of matting, or something of the kind.
To enable our readers to understand the fact that an excavation made in a circular stone formed the earliest corn-mill in these primitive ages, we may mention that, even in our own time, this is themode of procedure practised among certain savage tribes in order to crush various seeds and corn.
Primitive Corn-millFig. 124.—Primitive Corn-mill.
Fig. 124.—Primitive Corn-mill.
In the 'Voyage du Mississippi à l'Océan,' by M. Molhausen, we read:—
"The principal food of the Indians consisted of roasted cakes of maize and wheat, the grains of which had been pulverisedbetween two stones."[21]
In Livingstone's Expedition to the Zambesi (Central Africa), it is stated that "the corn-mills of the Mangajas, Makalolos, Landines and other tribes are composed of a block of granite or syenite, sometimes even of mica-schist, 15 to 18 inches square by 5 or 6 inches thick, and a piece of quartz, or some other rock of equal hardness about the size of a half-brick; one of the sides of this substitute for a millstone is convex, so as to fit into a hollow of a trough-like shape made in the large block, which remains motionless. When the woman wants to grind any corn, she kneels down, and, taking in both hands the convex stone, she rubs it up and down in the hollow of the lower stone with a motion similar to that of a baker pressing down his dough and rolling it in front of him. Whilst rubbing it to and fro, the housewife leans all her weight on the smaller stone, and every now and then places a little more corn in the trough. The latter is made sloping, so that the meal as soon as it is made falls down into a cloth fixed to catch it."
Bread-makingFig. 125.—The Art of Bread-making in the Stone Age.
Fig. 125.—The Art of Bread-making in the Stone Age.
Such, therefore, was the earliest corn-mill. We shall soon see it reappear in another form; two mill-stones placed one over the other, one being set in motion above the other by means of a wooden handle. This is the corn-mill of the bronze epoch. This typemaintained its place down to historic times, as it constituted the earliest kind of mill employed by the Roman agriculturist.
In order to represent the existence of agriculture during the polished-stone epoch, we have annexed a delineation of a woman grinding corn into meal in the primitive mill (fig. 125).
In the same figure may be noticed the way of preparing the meal coming from the mill for making a rough kind of cake. The children are heating in the fire some flat circular stones. When these stones are sufficiently heated, they rapidly withdraw them from the fire, using for the purpose two damp sticks; they then place on the stones a little of the meal mixed with water. The heat of the stones sufficed to bake the meal and form a sort of cake or biscuit.
We may here state, in order to show that we are not dealing with a mere hypothesis, that it is just in this way that, in the poor districts of Tuscany, thepolentais prepared even in the present day. The dough made of chestnut-meal, moistened with water, is cooked between flat stones that are placed one over the other in small piles as portrayed in the annexed plate.
In the background of the same sketch we see animals, reduced to the state of domestic cattle, being driven towards the group at work. By this particular feature we have wished to point out that the polished-stone epoch was also that of the domestication of animals, and that even at this early period the sheep, the dog and the horse had been tamed by man, and served him either as auxiliaries or companions.
The traces of agriculture which we have remarked on as existing in the caves of Ariége, are also found in other parts of France. Round the hearths in the department of Puy-de-Dôme, M. Pommerol discovered carbonised wheat intermingled with pottery and flint instruments. The men of the period we are now considering no longer devoted themselves exclusively to the pursuits of hunting and fishing. They now began to exercise the noble profession of agriculture, which was destined to be subsequently the chief source of national wealth.
Navigation.—The first origin of the art of navigation must be ascribed to the polished-stone epoch. With regard to this subject, let us pay attention to what is said on the point by M. G. deMortillet, curator at the Archæological and Pre-historic Museum of Saint-Germain—one of the best-informed men we have in all questions relating to the antiquity of man.
In M. de Mortillet's opinion, navigation, both marine and inland, was in actual existence during the polished-stone epoch.
Earliest navigatorsFig. 126.—The earliest Navigators.
Fig. 126.—The earliest Navigators.
The earliest boats that were made by man consisted simply of great trunks of trees, shaped on the outside, and hollowed out in the interior. They were not provided with any rests or rowlocks for the oars or paddles, which were wielded by both hands. In hollowing out the tree they used both their stone implements and also the action of fire.
In the earliest boats, the trunk of the tree, cut through at the two ends as well as their imperfect tools allowed, preserved its original outward form. The boat, in fact, was nothing but the trunk of a tree first burnt out and then chipped on the inside by some cutting instrument, that is, by the stone-hatchet.
Some improvement subsequently took place in making them. The outside of the tree was also chipped, and its two ends, instead of being cut straight through, were made to terminate in a point. In order to give it more stability in the water and to prevent it from capsizing, it was dressed equally all over, and the bottom of the canoe was scooped out. Cross-stays were left in the interior to give the boat more solidity, and perhaps, also, to serve as a support to the back, or, more probably, to the feet of the rowers, who sat in the bottom of the canoe.
Sails must soon have been added to these means of nautical progression. But it would be a difficult matter to fix any precise date for this important discovery, which was the point of transition between elementary and primitive navigation, and more important voyages. This progress could not have been made without the help of metals.
In an article entitled 'Origine de la Navigation et de la Pêche,' M. de Mortillet passes in review all the discoveries, which have been made in different countries, of the earliest boats belonging to pre-historic man.
After stating that the Museum of Copenhagen contains drawings of three ancient canoes, he goes on to say:—
"The first canoe is the half-trunk of a tree 17 inches wide, cut straight at the two ends, about 7 feet in length, and hollowedout in a trough-like shape. This canoe much resembles that of Switzerland.
"The second was about 10 feet in length, one end terminating in a point, the other more rounded. It was formed of the trunk of a tree hollowed out into two compartments, a kind of cross-stay or seat being left at a point about one-third of the length from the widest end.
"The third canoe, No. 295, likewise made of the trunk of a tree, was much longer, having a length of at least 13 feet, and was terminated by a point at both ends. At the sharpest end, the hollow is finished off squarely, and there is also a small triangular seat at the extremity. Two cross-stays were left in the interior.
"These three canoes are classed in the bronze series; a note of interrogation or doubt is, however, affixed to the two latter.
"Ireland, like Scandinavia, has a history which does not go back very far into the remote past; like Scandinavia, too, Ireland has been one of the first to collect with care not only the monuments, but even the slightest relics of remote antiquity and of pre-historic times. The Royal Irish Academy has collected at Dublin a magnificent Museum, and the praiseworthy idea has also been put in practice of publishing a catalogue illustrated with 626 plates.
"In these collections there are three ancient canoes. The first is about 23 feet long, 31 inches wide, and 12 inches deep, and is hollowed out of the trunk of an oak, which must have been at least 4½ feet in diameter. This boat, which came from the bogs of Cahore on the coast of Wexford, is roughly squared underneath. One of the ends is rounded and is slightly raised; the other is cut across at right angles, and closed with a piece let in and fitted into grooves which were caulked with bark. In the interior there are three cross-stays cut out of the solid oak.
"The interior, at the time the canoe was discovered, contained a wooden vessel, intended to bale out the boat, and two rollers, probably meant to assist in conveying it down to the sea.
"The second is a canoe made of one piece of oak, rather more than 23 feet long, about 12 inches wide, and 8 inches deep. It terminates in a point at both ends, and contains three cross-stays cut out of the solid wood, and a small terminal triangular seat.
"The third, likewise made of one piece, is rather more than 20 feet long and about 21 inches wide. On each side the wood is cutout so as to receive a seat. This boat appears less ancient than the others, although these may not have belonged to any very remote antiquity. In fact, Ware states that in his time there were still to be seen on some of the Irish rivers canoes hollowed out of a single trunk of oak.
"It is also well known that the lacustrine habitations constructed on the artificial islands calledCrannoges, existed to a late period in Ireland. All the boats found round these island-dwellings are canoes made all in one piece and hollowed out of the trunks of large trees.
"The trough-shaped canoe, consisting merely of the trunk of a tree cut straight through at the two ends, and in no way squared on the outside, also exists in Ireland. A very singular variety has been found in the county of Monaghan;[22]at the two ends are two projections or handles, which were probably used for carrying the boat from one place to another, or to draw it up upon the beach after a voyage.
"According to Mr. John Buchanan, quoted by Sir C. Lyell,[23]at least seventeen canoes have been found in the low ground along the margin of the Clyde at Glasgow. Mr. Buchanan examined several of them before they were dug out. Five of them were found buried in the silt under the streets of Glasgow. One canoe was discovered in a vertical position, with the prow upwards, as if it had foundered in a tempest; it contained no small quantity of sea-shells. Twelve other canoes were found about 100 yards from the river, at the average depth of about 19 feet below the surface of the ground, or about 7 feet below high-water mark. A few only of them were found at a depth of no more than 4 or 5 feet, and consequently more than 20 feet above the present level of the sea. One was stuck into the sand at an angle of 45°; another had been turned over and lay keel upwards; the others were in a horizontal position, as if they had sunk in still water.
"Almost every one of these ancient boats had been formed of a single trunk of oak, and hollowed out with some blunt instrument, probably stone hatchets, assisted also by the action of fire. A few of them presented clean-made cuts, evidently produced by a metallic tool. Two of them were constructed of planks. The most elaborate of thenumber bore the traces of square metal nails, which, however, had entirely disappeared. In one canoe was found a diorite hatchet, and at the bottom of another, a cork bung, which certainly implies relations with southern France, Spain, or Italy.
"The Swiss lakes, with their lacustrine habitations, have furnished numerous specimens of canoes. Dr. Keller, in his fifth Report on Lake-Dwellings (plate X. fig. 23), represents a canoe from Robenhausen; it is the half trunk of a tree 12 feet long and 29 inches wide, hollowed out to a depth of from 6 to 7 inches only. Taking the centre as the widest part, this trunk has been chipped off so as to taper towards the two points which are rounded. It is, however, very probable that the whole of this work was executed with stone implements; for the primitive settlement of Robenhausen, situated in a peat-bog near the small lake Pfæffikon in the canton of Zurich, although very rich in many kinds of objects, has not, up to the present time, furnished us with any metal instruments.
"In his first report (plate IV. fig. 21), Dr. Keller had given the sketch of another canoe which came from the Lake of Bienne. Like the first, mentioned by M. Worsaae, it is the half of the trunk of a tree cut almost straight through, its two ends hollowed out inside in the shape of a trough, the exterior being left entirely unwrought.
"Professor Desor mentions several canoes found in the Lake of Bienne. One of them, near the island Saint-Pierre, was still full of stones. According to M. Desor the builders of the lacustrine habitations during the polished-stone epoch, in order to consolidate the piles which were intended to support their dwellings, were accustomed to bank them up with stones which they fetched in boats from the shore; the bottom of the lake being completely devoid of them. The canoe found at the isle of Saint-Pierre had therefore sunk to the bottom with its cargo, and thus may be dated back to the polished-stone epoch. M. Troyon[24]gives some still more circumstantial details as to this canoe. It is partly buried in the mud at the northern angle of the isle, and is made of a single piece of the trunk of an oak of large dimensions; it is not much less than 49 feet long with a breadth of from 3½ feet to 4 feet.
"M. Desor, in hisPalafittes, informs us that the Museum of Neuchâtel has lately been enriched by the addition of a canoe whichwas discovered in the lake; unfortunately, it was dreadfully warped in drying.
"Also M. Troyon, in his 'Habitations Lacustres,' speaks of several canoes at Estavayer and Morges.
"Estavayer is situated on the Lake of Neuchâtel. There are two settlements near it, one of the Stone Age, and one of the bronze age. One canoe is still lying at the bottom of the lake, near these settlements. Another was brought out of the water by the fishermen some years ago; it was about 10 feet in length, and 2 feet in width. The end which had been preserved was cut to a point and slightly turned upwards.
"Morges is on the Lake of Geneva, in the Canton of Vaud. M. Forel discovered there two interesting settlements of the bronze age. Two canoes were found. According to M. Troyon, one of them which had been carried up on to the bank was not long before it was destroyed. It was formed of the trunk of an oak, hollowed out like a basin. The other still lay near some piles in 13 to 15 feet of water. One portion of it is buried in the sand, the other part, which is not covered, measures about 10 feet in length by 2 feet in width. It terminates in a point and has been cut out so as to provide a kind of seat, taken out of the thickness of the wood at the end, just as in the third canoe represented in the catalogue of the Copenhagen Museum.
"In France, too, several canoes have been found which date back to pre-historic times.
"On the 6th of January, 1860, the labourers who were working at the fortifications which the engineers were making at Abbeville found a canoe in the place called Saint-Jean-des-Prés, on the left bank of the canal; it was discovered in the peat, 36 feet below the road and about 220 yards from the railway station. It was made out of a single stick of oak and was about 22 feet in length; its ends were square and cut in a slope, so that its upper surface was 8 feet longer than its bottom, which was flattened off to a width of about 14 inches. The greatest width of its upper surface, the widest part being placed at about one-third of its length, measured nearly 3 feet; from this point the canoe contracted in width, and was not more than 18 inches in width at the furthest end. Now, as no tree exists which diminishes to this extent in diameter on so short alength, we must conclude that the trunk which formed the canoe must have been shaped outside.
"Two projections about 4 inches in thickness, placed 6½ feet from the narrowest end, and forming one piece with the sides and the bottom, which in this part are very thick, left between them an empty space which was probably intended to fit against the two sides of a piece of wood cut square at the bottom and meant to serve as a mast. The deepest internal hollow had not more than 10 inches in rise, and the side, which at the upper part was not more than an inch in thickness, followed the natural curve of the trunk, and united with the much thicker portion at the bottom. This canoe, although it was completely uncovered and still remained in a very good state of preservation, has not been got out from the place in which it lay.
"In 1834, another canoe was discovered at Estrebœuf, 33 feet long, about 21 inches wide, and 18 inches deep. The bottom was flat, the sides cut vertically both within and without, which gave it nearly the shape of a squared trough. In its widest part it bore some signs of having carried a mast. It was conveyed to the Museum at Abbeville and became completely rotten; nothing now is left but shapeless remains.
"The Abbé Cochet relates that between 1788 and 1800, during the excavation of the basin ofLa Barre, at Havre, at 11 feet in depth, a canoe was discovered, more than 44 feet in length, and hollowed out of one trunk of a tree. The two ends were pointed and solid, and the interior was strengthened with curved stays formed out of the solid wood. This canoe was found to be made of elm and was hollowed out to a depth of nearly 4 feet. It was in so good a state of preservation that it bore being carried to a spot behind the engineer's house on the south jetty; but when it was deposited there, it gradually wasted away by the successive action of the rain and sun.
"The same archæologist also mentions another canoe, with a keel of from 16 to 20 feet long, which was discovered in the year 1680, at Montéviliers, in the filled-up ditches known under the name of La Bergue.
"The Archæological Museum of Dijon also contains a canoe found in the gravel in the bed of the Loue, on the boundaries of the departmentof Jura, between Dôle and Salins. It is made of a single colossal trunk of oak, shaped, in M. Baudot's opinion, by means of fire. Its present length is 17 feet, and its width, 2 feet 4 inches; but it has become much less in the process of drying. Some iron braces which were fixed to keep the wood in position plainly showed that the width had diminished at least 6 inches. In the interior, the traces of two seats or supports, which had been left in the solid wood in order to give strength to the canoe, might be very distinctly seen. The first was about a yard from one end, the other 5½ feet from the other. Both extremities terminate in a point, one end being much sharper and longer than the other.
"At the Museum of Lyons there is a canoe which was found in the gravel of the Rhone, near the bridge of Cordon, in the department of Ain. It is 41 feet in length, and hollowed out of a single trunk of oak tapering off at the two ends. The middle of it is squared, and the interior is strengthened by two braces left in the solid wood.
"Lastly, we must mention the canoe that was dug out of the bed of the Seine in Paris, and presented by M. Forgeais to the Emperor. It is now in the Museum of Saint-Germain. It was made of a single trunk of oak and had been skilfully wrought on the outside, terminating in a point at both ends. This canoe was bedded in the mud and gravel at the extremity of theCité, on the Notre-Dame side. Close by a worked flint was met with, and various bronze weapons; among others, a helmet and several swords were also found. In the beds of rivers objects belonging to different epochs readily get mixed up. This flint appears to have accidentally come thither; the bronze arms, on the contrary, seem to mark the date of the canoe."[25]
We have previously spoken of theprimitive workshop of human industry, of which, indeed, we gave a design. In contrast to this peaceful picture, we may also give a representation of the evidences which have been preserved even to our own days of the earliest means of attack and defence constituting regular war among nations. War and battles must have doubtless taken their rise almost simultaneously with the origin of humanity itself. The hatred and rivalry which first sprung up between individuals and families—hatred and rivalry which must have existed from all time—gradually extended to tribes,and then to whole nations, and were outwardly expressed in armed invasions, pillage and slaughter. These acts of violence were, in very early days, reduced to a system in the art of war—that terrible expedient from which even modern nations have not been able to escape.
In order to find the still existing evidence of the wars which took place among men in the Stone Age, we must repair to that portion of Europe which is now called Belgium. Yes, even in the Stone Age, at a date far beyond all written record, the people of this district already were in the habit of making war, either among themselves or against other tribes invading them from other lands. This fact is proved by the fortified enclosures, orentrenched camps, which have been discovered by MM. Hannour and Himelette. These camps are those of Furfooz, Pont-de-Bonn, Simon, Jemelle, Hastedon, and Poilvache.
All these different camps possess certain characteristics in common. They are generally established on points overhanging valleys, on a mass of rock forming a kind of headland, which is united to the rest of the country by a narrow neck of land. A wide ditch was dug across this narrow tongue of land, and the whole camp was surrounded by a thick wall of stones, simply piled one upon another, without either mortar or cement. At the camp of Hastedon, near Namur, this wall, which was still in a good state of preservation at the time it was described, measured 10 feet in width, and about the same in height. When an attack was made, the defenders, assembled within the enclosure, rained down on their assailants stones torn away from their wall, which thus became at the same time both a defensive and offensive work (fig. 127).
Earliest regular conflictsFig. 127.—The earliest regular Conflicts between Men of the Stone Age; or, the Entrenched Camp of Furfooz.
Fig. 127.—The earliest regular Conflicts between Men of the Stone Age; or, the Entrenched Camp of Furfooz.
These entrenched positions were so well chosen that most of them continued to be occupied during the age which followed. We may mention, as an instance, the camp of Poilvache. After having been a Roman citadel it was converted in the middle ages into a strongly fortified castle, which was not destroyed until the fifteenth century.
The camps of Hastedon and Furfooz were likewise utilised by the Romans.
Over the whole inclosure of these ancient camps worked flints and remains of pottery have been found—objects which are sufficient to testify to the former presence of primitive man. The enormous ramparts of these camps also tend to show that pre-historic man musthave existed in comparatively numerous associations at the various spots where these works are found.
If we were to enter into a detailed study of the vestiges of the polished-stone epoch existing in the other countries of Europe, we should be led into a repetition of much that we have already stated with regard to the districts now forming France and Belgium. Over a great portion of Europe we should find the same mode of life, the same manners and customs, and the same degree of nascent civilisation. From the scope, therefore, of our present work, we shall not make it our task to take each country into special consideration.
We will content ourselves with stating that the caves of Old Castille in Spain, which were explored by M. Ed. Lartet, have furnished various relics of the reindeer and polished-stone epochs. Also in the provinces of Seville and Badajos, polished hatchets have been found, made for the most part of dioritic rocks.
Numerous vestiges of the same epoch have, too, been discovered in various provinces of Italy.
We give in fig. 128 the sketch of a very remarkable arrow-head found in the province of Civita-Nova (the former kingdom of Naples).It is provided with a short stem with lateral grooves, so as to facilitate the point being fitted into a wooden shaft.
Flint Arrow-headFig. 128.—Flint Arrow-head, from Civita-Nova (Italy).
Fig. 128.—Flint Arrow-head, from Civita-Nova (Italy).
Elba, too, was surveyed by M. Raffaello Foresi, who found in this Mediterranean isle a large quantity of arrows, knives, saws, scrapers, &c., formed of flint, jasper, obsidian, and even rock crystal. There were also found in the Isle of Elba workshops for shaping flints. Great Britain, Wurtemburg, Hungary, Poland, and Russia all furnish us with specimens of polished stone instruments; but, for the reason which we stated above, it would be superfluous to dwell upon them.
We shall now pass on to an examination of the type of the human race which existed among the northern nations of Europe during the polished-stone age.
There is a cavern of Ariége which belongs to the polished-stone epoch, and has been explored by MM. Garrigou and Filhol—this is the cavern ofLombrive, ordes Echelles; the latter name being given it because it is divided into two portions placed at such very different levels that the help of five long ladders is required in order to pass from one to the other. This cave has become interesting from the fact that it has furnished a large quantity of human bones, belonging to individuals of both sexes and every age; also two entire skulls, which M. Garrigou has presented to the Anthropological Society of Paris.
These two skulls, which appear to have belonged, one to a child of eight to ten years of age, the other to a female, present a somewhat peculiar shape. The forehead, which is high in the centre, is low at the sides; and the orbits of the eyes and also the hollows of the cheeks are deep.
We shall not enter into the diverse and contrary hypotheses which have been advanced by MM. Vogt, Broca, Pruner-Bey, Garrigou and Filhol, in order to connect the skulls found in the cave of Ariége with the present races of the human species. This ethnological question is very far from having been decided in any uniform way; and so it will always be, as long as scientific men are compelled to base their opinions on a limited number of skulls, which are, moreover, always incomplete; eachsavantbeing free to interpret their features according to his own system.
Neither in the Danish kitchen-middens nor in the lower beds of the peat-bogs have any human bones been discovered; but the tombsin Denmark belonging to the polished-stone epoch have furnished a few human skulls which, up to a certain point, enable us to estimate the intellectual condition and affinities of the race of men who lived in these climates. We may particularly mention the skull found in thetumulusat Borreby in Denmark, which has been studied with extreme care by Mr. Busk.
This skull (fig. 129) presents a somewhat remarkable similarity to that of Neanderthal, of which we have spoken in a previous chapter. The superciliary ridges are very prominent, the forehead is retiring, the occiput is short and sloped forward. It might, therefore, find its origin among the races of which the skulls of Neanderthal and Borreby are the representatives and the relics, and the latter might well be the descendants of the former.
Borreby SkullFig. 129.—The Borreby Skull.
Fig. 129.—The Borreby Skull.
Anthropologists have had much discussion about the question, to what particular human race of the present time may the skulls found in thetumulusat Borreby be considered to be allied? But all these discussions are deficient in those elements on which any serious and definite argument might be founded. It would, therefore, be goingbeyond our purpose should we reproduce them here. If, in the sketch of the Borreby skull, we place, before the eyes of our readers the type of the human cranium which existed during the period of the Stone Age, our only object is to prove that the primitive Northerner resembles the present race of man, both in the beauty and in the regularity of the shape of his skull; also, in order once more to recall to mind how false and trivial must the judgment be of those short-sightedsavantswho would establish a genealogical filiation between man and the ape.
As we stated in the Introduction to this volume, a mere glance cast upon this skull is sufficient to bring to naught all that has been written and propounded touching the organic consanguinity which is asserted to exist between man and the ape, to say nothing of the objects produced by primitive man—objects which, in this work, we are studying in all necessary detail. An examination of the labours of primitive man is the best means of proving—every other consideration being set aside—that a great abyss exists between him and the animal; this is the best argument against our pretendedsimialorigin, as it is called by those who seek to veil their absurd ideas under grand scientific phrases.
FOOTNOTES:[18]'Note sur un Amas de. Coquilles mélées à des Silex taillés, signalé sur les Côtes de Provence,' by M. A. Gory ('Revue Archéologique'). Quoted in the 'Matériaux de l'histoire positive de l'Homme,' by M. de Mortillet, vol. i. p. 535.[19]See J. Evans, 'On the Manufacture of Stone Implements in Pre-historic Times,' in Trans. of the International Congress of Pre-historic Archæology (Norwich, 1868), p. 191; and C. Rau, 'Drilling in Stone without Metal,' in Report of Smithsonian Institution, 1868.[20]'Les Moulins Primitifs,' Nantes, 1869. Extract from the 'Bulletin de la Société Archéologique de Nantes.'[21]'Tour du Monde,' p. 374, 1860.[22]Shirley's 'Account of the Territory of Farney.'[23]J. Buchanan, 'British Association Reports,' 1855; p. 80. Sir C. Lyell, 'Antiquity of Man,' p. 48.[24]'Habitations Lacustres des Temps anciens et modernes,' pp. 119, 159, 166.[25]'Origine de la Navigation et de la Pêche,' pp. 11-21. Paris, 1867.
[18]'Note sur un Amas de. Coquilles mélées à des Silex taillés, signalé sur les Côtes de Provence,' by M. A. Gory ('Revue Archéologique'). Quoted in the 'Matériaux de l'histoire positive de l'Homme,' by M. de Mortillet, vol. i. p. 535.
[19]See J. Evans, 'On the Manufacture of Stone Implements in Pre-historic Times,' in Trans. of the International Congress of Pre-historic Archæology (Norwich, 1868), p. 191; and C. Rau, 'Drilling in Stone without Metal,' in Report of Smithsonian Institution, 1868.
[20]'Les Moulins Primitifs,' Nantes, 1869. Extract from the 'Bulletin de la Société Archéologique de Nantes.'
[21]'Tour du Monde,' p. 374, 1860.
[22]Shirley's 'Account of the Territory of Farney.'
[23]J. Buchanan, 'British Association Reports,' 1855; p. 80. Sir C. Lyell, 'Antiquity of Man,' p. 48.
[24]'Habitations Lacustres des Temps anciens et modernes,' pp. 119, 159, 166.
[25]'Origine de la Navigation et de la Pêche,' pp. 11-21. Paris, 1867.
[Pg 184]