Perforated canine toothFig. 32.—Carved and perforated Canine Tooth of a young Cave-Bear.
Fig. 32.—Carved and perforated Canine Tooth of a young Cave-Bear.
We shall close this account of the valuable discoveries which were made in the sepulchral cave of Aurignac, by giving a list of the species of mammals the bones of which were found either in the interior or at the exterior of this cavern. The first six species are extinct; the others are still living:—
The great cave-bear (Ursus spelæus); the mammoth (Elephas primigenius); the rhinoceros (Rhinoceros tichorhinus); the great cave-lion (Felis spelæa); the cave-hyæna (Hyæna spelæa); the gigantic stag (Megaceros hibernicus); the bison, the reindeer, the stag,the horse, the ass, the roe, the wild boar, the fox, the wolf, the wild-cat, the badger, and the polecat.
We think it as well to place before the eyes of our readers the exact forms of the heads of the three great fossil animals found in the cave of Aurignac, which geologically characterise the great bear and mammoth epoch, and evidently prove that man was contemporary with these extinct species. Figs. 33, 34, and 35 represent the heads of the cave-bear, theRhinoceros tichorhinus, and themegacerosor gigantic stag; they are taken from the casts which adorn the great hall of the Archæological and Pre-historic Museum at Saint-Germain, and are among the most curious ornaments of this remarkable museum.
Head of a cave bearFig. 33.—Head of a Cave-Bear found in the Cave of Aurignac.
Fig. 33.—Head of a Cave-Bear found in the Cave of Aurignac.
Rhinoceros TichorhinusFig. 34.—Head of theRhinoceros Tichorhinusfound in the Cave of Aurignac.
Fig. 34.—Head of theRhinoceros Tichorhinusfound in the Cave of Aurignac.
Head of a great stagFig. 35.—Head of a great Stag (Megaceros hibernicus) found in the Cave of Aurignac.
Fig. 35.—Head of a great Stag (Megaceros hibernicus) found in the Cave of Aurignac.
Of all these species, the fox has left behind him the largest number of remains. This carnivorous animal was represented by about eighteen to twenty individual specimens. Neither the mammoth, great cave-lion, nor wild boar appear to have been conveyed into the cave in an entire state; for two or three molar or incisive teeth are the only remains of their carcases which have been found.
But still it is a certain fact that the men who fed on theRhinocerostichorinusburied their dead in this cavern. In fact, M. Lartet asserts that the bones of the rhinoceros had been split by man in order to extract the marrow. They had also been gnawed by hyænas, which would not have been the case if these bones had not been thrown away, and left on the ground in a fresh state.
The burial-place of Aurignac dates back to the earliest antiquity, that is to say, it was anterior to the European diluvial period. Thus, according to M. Lartet, the great cave-bear was the first of the extinct species to disappear; then the mammoth andRhinoceros tichorhinuswere lost sight of; still later, the reindeer first, and then the bison, migrated to the northern and eastern regions of Europe. Now, thediluvium, that is to say, the beds formed by drifted pebbles and originating in the great derangement caused by the inundation of the quaternary epoch, does not contain any traces of the bones of the cave-bear. It, therefore, belongs to an epoch of the stone age more recent than the cave of Aurignac.[6]All this goes to prove that this sepulchral cave, which has furnished the science of the antiquity of man with so much valuable information, belonged to the great bear and mammoth epoch, which preceded the diluvial cataclysm.
FOOTNOTE:[6]'Nouvelles Recherches sur la Coexistence de l'Homme et des grands Mammifères fossiles.' ('Annales de Sciences naturelles, Zoologie,' vol. xv.)
[6]'Nouvelles Recherches sur la Coexistence de l'Homme et des grands Mammifères fossiles.' ('Annales de Sciences naturelles, Zoologie,' vol. xv.)
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Other Caves of the Epoch of the Great Bear and Mammoth—Type of the Human Race during the Epochs of the Great Bear and the Reindeer—The Skulls from the Caves of Engis and Neanderthal.
Withregard to the bone-caves, which have furnished us with such valuable information as to the men who lived in the epoch of the great bear and the mammoth, we have laid down a necessary distinction, dividing them into caves which served as dens for wild beasts, those which have afforded a refuge for man, and those which were used as his burial-places. In order to complete this subject and set forth the whole of the discoveries which have been made by science on this interesting point, we will say a few words as to the principal bone-caves belonging to the same epoch which have been studied in France, England and Belgium.
We will, in the first place, call attention to the fact that these caverns, taken together, embrace a very long period of time, perhaps an enormous number of centuries, and that hence a considerable difference must result in the nature of the remains of human industry which they contain. Some certainly manifest a perceptible superiority over others in an industrial point of view; but the reason is that they belong to a period somewhat nearer our own, although still forming a part of the epoch of the great bear and mammoth.
We shall divide the caves in France into three groups—those of the east, those of the west and centre, and those of the south.
In the first group, we shall mention theTrou de la Fontaineand theCave of Sainte-Reine, both situated in the environs of Toul (Meurthe). These two caves have furnished bones of bears, hyænas, and the rhinoceros, along with the products of human industry. That of Sainte-Reine has been explored by M. Guérin, and especially by M. Husson, who has searched it with much care.
The second group includes the grottosdes Fées, of Vergisson, Vallières, and La Chaise.
The Grotte des Fées, at Arcy (Yonne), has been searched and described by M. de Vibraye, who ascertained the existence of two distinct beds, the upper one belonging to the reindeer epoch, the lower one to the great bear epoch. These two beds were divided from each other by matter which had formed a part of the roof of the cave, and had fallen down on the earlier deposit. In the more ancient bed of the two, M. de Vibraye collected fractured bones of the bear and cave-hyæna, the mammoth, and theRhinoceros tichorhinus, all intermingled with flints wrought by the hand of man, amongst which were chips of hyaline quartz (rock-crystal.) His fellow-labourer, M. Franchet, extracted from it a humanatlas(the upper part of the vertebral column).
The cave of Vergisson (Saône-et-Loire), explored by M. de Ferry, furnished the same kind of bones as the preceding cave, and also bones of the bison, the reindeer, the horse, the wolf, and the fox, all intermixed with wrought flints and fragments of rough pottery. The presence of this pottery indicated that the cave of Vergisson belonged to the latter period of the great bear epoch.
The cave of Vallières (Loir-et-Cher), was worked, first by M. de Vibraye, and subsequently by the Abbé Bourgeois. There was nothing particular to be remarked.
The cave of La Chaise, near Vouthon (Charente), explored by MM. Bourgeois and Delaunay, furnished bones of the cave-bear, the rhinoceros, and the reindeer, flint blades and scrapers, a bodkin and a kind of hook made of bone, an arrow-head in the shape of a willow-leaf likewise of bone, a bone perforated so as to hang on a string, and, what is more remarkable, two long rods of reindeer's horn, tapering at one end and bevelled off at the other, on which figures of animals were graven. These relics betray an artistic feeling of a decided character as existing in the men, the traces of whom are found in this cave.
Among the caves in the south of France, we must specify those of Périgord, those of Bas-Languedoc, and of the district of Foix (department of Ariége).
The caves of Périgord have all been explored by MM. Lartet and Christy, who have also given learned descriptions of them. We willmention the caves of theGorge d'EnferandMoustier, in the valley of the Vézère, and that ofPey de l'Azé, all three situate in the department of Dordogne (arrondissement of Sarlat).
The two caves of theGorge d'Enferwere, unfortunately, cleared out in 1793, in order to utilise the deposits of saltpetre which they contained in the manufacture of gunpowder. They have, however, furnished flints chipped into the shapes of scrapers, daggers, &c., a small pebble of white quartz, hollowed out on one side, which had probably been used as a mortar, and instruments of bone or reindeer's horn, three of which showed numerous notches. Bones of the great bear clearly indicated the age of these settlements.
The cave of Moustier, situated about 80 feet above the Vézère, is celebrated for the great number and characteristic shapes of its stone implements, which we have before spoken of. Hatchets of the almond-shaped type, like those of thediluviumof Abbeville and Saint-Acheul, were very plentiful. Bi-convex spear-heads were also found, of very careful workmanship, and instruments which might be held in the hand, some of them of considerable dimensions; but no pieces of bone or of reindeer's horn were discovered which had been adapted to any purpose whatever. The bones were those of the great bear and cave-hyæna, accompanied by separatelaminæof molars of the mammoth, the use of which it is impossible to explain. Similar fragments were met with in some of the other Périgord settlements, and M. Lartet also found some at Aurignac.
Next to the cave of Pey de l'Azé, on which we shall not dwell, come the caverns of Bas-Languedoc, which we shall only enumerate. They consist of the caves of Pondres and Souvignargues (Hérault), which were studied in 1829 by M. de Christol, who recognised, from the data he derived from them, the co-existence of man and the great extinct mammals; also those of Pontil and La Roque, the first explored by M. Paul Gervais, the second by M. Boutin.
We shall now consider the caves of the department of Ariége, some of which furnish objects of very considerable interest. They consist of the caves ofMassat,Lherm, andBouicheta.
Two caves, very remarkable on account of their extent, have been explored by M. Fontan; they are situate in the valley of Massat, which contains others of less importance. One is placed at the foot of a limestone mountain, about 60 feet above the bottom of the valley;the opening of the other is much higher up; only the latter belongs to the great bear epoch.
From the results of his explorations, M. Fontan is of opinion that the ground in them has been greatly altered by some violent inundation which has intermingled the remains of various geological epochs. Thissavantfound in the cave of Massat the bones of the bear, the hyæna and the great cave-lion, the fox, the badger, the wild boar, the roe, &c., two human teeth, and a bone arrow-head. Two beds of ashes and charcoal were also remarked at different depths.
In the upper cave of Massat was found the curious stone on which is designed with tolerable correctness a sketch of the great cave-bear (fig. 36). This singular record marks out for us the earliest trace of the art of design, which we shall find developing itself in a more decisive way during the pre-historic period which follows the one we are now considering.
Great bear sketchFig. 36.—Sketch of the Great Bear on a Stone found in the Cave of Massat.
Fig. 36.—Sketch of the Great Bear on a Stone found in the Cave of Massat.
The caves of Lherm and Bouicheta were inspected by MM. Garrigou and Filhol, who found in them bones of most of the great mammals belonging to extinct species, and particularly those of the great bear, many of which are broken, and still show the marks of the instruments which were used for cutting the flesh off them. Some have been gnawed by hyænas, as proved by the deep grooves with which they are marked. Lower jaw-bones of the great bear, and of the great cave-lion, have been found fashioned, according to a uniform plan, in the shape of hoes. MM. Garrigou and Filhol were of opinion that these jaw-bones, when thus modified, might have been used as offensive weapons.
The cave of Lherm contained also human bones; namely, three teeth, a fragment of ascapula, a brokenulnaandradius, and the last joint of the great toe; all these remains presented exactly the same appearance and condition as those of theUrsus spelæus, and must, therefore, have belonged to the same epoch.
We have stated that numerous caves have been explored in England, Belgium, and several other countries. We shall not undertake to give with regard to each details which would only be a reproduction of those which precede. We therefore confine ourselves to mentioning the most celebrated of the caverns belonging to the epoch of the great bear and the mammoth.
In England we have the Kent's Hole and Brixham caverns, near Torquay in Devonshire, the latter of which is many hundred yards in extent; the caves of the Gower peninsula, in Glamorganshire (South Wales), which have been carefully studied within the last few years by Messrs. Falconer and Wood; in these were found flint instruments along with bones of theElephas antiquusand theRhinoceros hemitæchus, species which were still more ancient than the mammoth and theRhinoceros tichorhinus; those of Kirkdale, in Yorkshire, explored by Dr. Buckland, the geologist; those near Wells in Somersetshire, Wokey Hole, Minchin Hole, &c.
We must mention, in the north of Italy, the caves of Chiampo and Laglio, on the edge of the Lake of Como, in which, just as at Vergisson, fragments of rough pottery have been discovered, indicating some degree of progress in the manufacture; also the caves in the neighbourhood of Palermo, and especially those of San Ciro and Macagnone.
In the last-mentioned cave, in the midst of an osseousbrecciawhich rose to the roof, Dr. Falconer collected flint instruments, splinters of bone, pieces of baked clay and wood charcoal mixed up with large land-shells (Helix vermiculata), in a perfect state of preservation, horses' teeth, and the excrements of the hyæna, all cemented together in a deposit of carbonate of lime. In a lower bed were found the bones of various species of the hippopotamus, theElephas antiquus, and other great mammals.
Lastly, Spain, Algeria, Egypt, and Syria also present to our notice caves belonging to the Stone Age.
In the New World various bone-caverns have been explored. We must especially mention Brazil, in which country Lund searched no less than eight hundred caves of different epochs, exhuming in them a great number of unknown animal species. In one of these caves, situated near the Lake of Sumidouro, Lund found some human bones which had formed a part of thirty individuals of different ages, and were "in a similar state of decomposition, and in similar circumstances to the bones of various extinct species of animals."
Thus far we have designedly omitted to mention the Belgian caves. They have, in fact, furnished us with such remarkable relics of former ages that, in dealing with them, we could not confine ourselves to a mere notice. The caves in the neighbourhood of Liége, which were explored in 1833 by Schmerling, deserve to be described in some detail.
Schmerling examined more than forty caves in the Valley of the Meuse and its tributaries. The access to some of these caves was so difficult that in order to reach them it was necessary for the explorer to let himself down by a cord, and then to crawl flat on his face through narrow galleries, so as to make his way into the great chambers; there he was obliged to remain for hours, and sometimes whole days, standing up to his knees in mud, with water dripping from the walls upon his head, while overlooking the workmen breaking up with their pick-axes the layer of stalagmite, so as to bring to light the bone earth—the records on which are inscribed the palpable evidences of the high antiquity of man. Schmerling was compelled to accomplish a perilous expedition of this kind in his visit to the cave of Engis, which has become celebrated by the two human skulls found there by him.
Nearly all the caves in the province of Liége contain scattered bones of the great bear, the cave-hyæna, the mammoth, and the rhinoceros, intermixed with those of species which are still living, such as the wolf, the wild boar, the roe, the beaver, the porcupine, &c. Several of them contained human bones, likewise much scattered and rubbed; they were found in all positions, and at every elevation, sometimes above and sometimes below the above-mentioned animal remains; from this it may be concluded that these caves had been filled with running water, which drifted in all kinds ofdébris. None of them, however, contained any gnawed bones, or the fossil excrement of any animal species, which puts an end to the hypothesis thatthese caves had been used as dens by wild beasts. Here and there bones were found belonging to the same skeleton, which were in perfect preservation, and lying in their natural juxtaposition; they were probably drifted into the cave by gently flowing water, while still covered with their flesh, and no movement of the ground had since separated them. But no complete skeleton has as yet been discovered, even among the smaller species of mammiferous animals, the disjunction of which is generally less complete.
In almost all the caves Schmerling met with flint implements chipped into the form of hatchets and knives, and he calls attention to the fact "that none of them could have been introduced into the caves at a posterior epoch, as they were found in the same position as the animal remains which accompanied them." In the cave of Clokier, about two and a half miles from Liége, he picked up a polished bone in the shape of a needle, having an eye pierced at the base; in the cave of Engis he likewise found a carved bone, and also some worked flints.
We here close our enumeration of the various sources of the archæological records which have served to reconstruct the history of primitive man during that period of the stone age which we have designated under the name of the epoch of the great bear and the mammoth. Before concluding our remarks as to this period, there is one question which we must enter upon, although there is a great deficiency in any positive records by which it might be solved. What was the organic type of man during this epoch? Could we, for instance, determine what amount of intellect man possessed in this earliest and ancient date of his history?
The answer to this question—although a very uncertain answer—has been supposed to have been found in the caves of Engis and Engihoul, of which we have just spoken as having been explored by Schmerling with such valuable results.
The cave of Engis contained the remains of three human beings, among which were two skulls, one that of a youth, the other that of an adult. The latter only was preserved, the former having fallen into dust while it was being extracted from the ground. Two small fragments of a human skull were likewise found at Engihoul; also a great many of the bones of the hands and feet of three individuals.
The Engis skull has been a subject of protracted argument to thepalæontologists and anatomists of the present day. Floods of ink have been spilt upon the question; discussions without end have taken place with respect to this piece of bone, in order to fix accurately the amount of intellect possessed by the inhabitants of Belgium during the epoch of the great bear and the mammoth. Up to a certain point the development of the brain may, in fact, be ascertained from the shape of the cranial envelope, and it is well known that a remarkable similarity exists between the cerebral capacity and the intellectual development of all mammiferous animals. But in a question of this kind we must carefully avoid a quicksand on which anthropologists too often make shipwreck; this danger consists in basing a theory on a too limited number of elements, and of generalising conclusions which are perhaps drawn from one special case. Because we find a portion of a skull—not even a whole skull—belonging to a human being contemporary with the great bear, we assume that we can determine the amount of intellect possessed by man during this epoch. But what proof have we that this skull is not that of an idiot, or, on the contrary, the skull of an individual possessing a superior degree of intelligence? What deduction can be logically drawn from the examination of one single skull? None whatever! "Testis unus testis nullus;" and what is said by jurisprudence, which is nothing but good sense in legal matters—science, which is nothing but good sense in learned questions, ought likewise to repeat. If we found ten or twelve skulls, each presenting the same characteristics, we should be justified in thinking that we had before our eyes the human type corresponding to the epoch we are considering; but, we again ask, what arguments could be based on a few fragments of one single skull?
These reservations having been laid down, let us see what some of our great anatomical reasoners have thought about the Engis skull.
The representation which we here give (fig. 37) of the Engis skull was taken from the cast in the Museum of Saint-Germain, and we may perceive from it that the skull is not complete; the entire base of the skull is wanting, and all the bones of the face have disappeared. Consequently it is impossible either to measure the facial angle or to take account of the development of the lower jaw.
Portion of a skullFig. 37.—Portion of a Skull of an Individual belonging to the Epoch of the Great Bear and the Mammoth, found in the Cave of Engis.
Fig. 37.—Portion of a Skull of an Individual belonging to the Epoch of the Great Bear and the Mammoth, found in the Cave of Engis.
We shall not, therefore, surprise any of our readers when we state that the opinions on this subject differ in the most extraordinarydegree. In the eyes of Professor Huxley, the English anatomist, this skull offers no indication of degradation; it presents "a good average," and it might just as well be the head of a philosopher as the head of an uncivilised savage. To others—for instance, to Carl Vogt—it indicates an altogether rudimentary degree of intellect.
Thus Hippocrates-Huxley saysyes, Galen-Vogt saysno, and Celsus-Lyell says neitheryesnorno. This causes us but little surprise, but it induces us not to waste more time in discussing a question altogether in the dark, that is, upon altogether incomplete data.
Neanderthal skullFig. 38.—Portion of the so-called Neanderthal Skull.
Fig. 38.—Portion of the so-called Neanderthal Skull.
We will now turn our attention to another skull, equally celebrated, which was found in 1857 by Dr. Fuhlrott, near Dusseldorf, in a deep ravine known by the name of Neanderthal. This skull (fig. 38) was discovered in the midst of a small cave under a layer of mud about 5 feet in thickness. The entire skeleton was doubtlessburied on the same spot, but the workmen engaged in clearing out the cave must have inadvertently scattered a great portion of the bones, for the largest only could be collected.
It is well to call attention to the fact that no animal remains were found near these bones; there is, therefore, no certain proof that the latter can be assigned to the epoch of the great bear: they might, in fact, be either more recent or more modern. Most geologists are, however, of opinion that they ought to be referred to the above-named early date.
The Neanderthal skull, of which we possess even a smaller portion than of the preceding, differs from the Engis skull. It is characterised by an extraordinary development of the frontal sinuses; that is, by an enormous projection of the superciliary ridges, behind which the frontal bone presents a considerable depression. The cranium is very thick, and of an elongated elliptical shape; the forehead is narrow and low.
These remarks were made by Professor Schaaffhausen, who also established the fact of the identity in length of the femur, the humerus, the radius, and the ulna, with the same bones of a modern European of equal size. But the Prussiansavantwas surprised at the really remarkable thickness of these bones, and also at the large development of the projections and depressions which served for the insertion of the muscles.
Fig. 38 represents this skull, which is drawn from the cast in the Museum of St. Germain.
Professor Schaaffhausen's opinion with regard to this skull is, that it manifests a degree of intelligence more limited than that of the races of negroes who are least favoured by nature, in other words, it approaches the nature of the beast more nearly than any other known human skull. But, on the other hand, Mr. Busk and Dr. Barnard Davis look upon this skull as very closely allied to the present race of men; and Professor Gratiolet produced before the Anthropological Society of Paris an idiot's head of the present day, which showed all the osteological characteristics peculiar to the Neanderthal skull. Lastly, an anthropologist of great authority, Dr. Pruner-Bey, has brought forward all requisite evidence to prove that the Neanderthal skull is identical, in all its parts, with the cranium of the Celt.
We see, therefore, that the opinion propounded by Dr. Schaaffhausen at the commencement of his studies was not able to stand its groundbefore the opposition resulting from subsequent labours on the point; and that this head of a man belonging to the epoch of the great bear and mammoth, which he regarded as manifesting the most limited amount of intelligence, differed in no way from the heads belonging to Celts of historic times, whose moral qualities and manly courage make Frenchmen proud to call themselves their descendants.
We need scarcely add that the examination of this latter skull, which dated back to the first origin of mankind, is sufficient to set at naught all that has been written as to the pretended analogy of structure existing between primitive man and the ape, and to wipe out for ever from scientific phraseology the improper and unhappy termfossil man, which has not only been the cause of so many lamentable misunderstandings, but has also too long arrested the formation and the progress of the science of the first starting-point of man.
Other remains of human skulls, appearing to date back to a very ancient epoch, have been found in various countries, since the discovery of those above-named. We will mention, a jaw-bone found by M. Édouard Dupont in the cave of Naulette, near Dinant, in Belgium—a frontal and parietal bone, extracted from theLehmin the valley of the Rhine, at Eggisheim near Colmar, by Dr. Faudel—a skull found by Professor Bocchi, of Florence, in the Olmo pass, near Arezzo—lastly, the celebrated jaw-bone from Moulin-Quignon, near Abbeville, found in 1863 by Boucher de Perthes, in thediluvium, of which bone we have given an illustration in the introduction to this volume. It is acknowledged by all anthropologists that this portion of the skull of the man of Moulin-Quignon bears a perfect resemblance to that of a man of small size of the present age.
From the small number of skulls which we possess, it is impossible for us to estimate what was the precise degree of intelligence to be ascribed to man at the epoch of the great bear and mammoth. No one, assuredly, will be surprised at the fact, that the human skull in these prodigiously remote ages did not present any external signs of great intellectual development. The nature of man is eminently improvable; it is, therefore, easily to be understood, that in the earliest ages of his appearance on the earth his intelligence should have been of a limited character. Time and progress were destined both to improve and extend it; the flame of the first-lighted torch was to be expanded with the lapse of centuries!
II.
Epoch of the Reindeer, or of Migrated Animals.
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Mankind during the Epoch of the Reindeer—Their Manners and Customs—Food—Garments—Weapons, Utensils, and Implements—Pottery—Ornaments—Primitive Arts—The principal Caverns—Type of the Human Race during the Epoch of the Reindeer.
Wehave now arrived at that subdivision of the stone age which we designate by the name of theReindeer Epoch, or theEpoch of migrated animals. Many ages have elapsed since the commencement of the quaternary geological epoch. The mighty animals which characterised the commencement of this period have disappeared, or are on the point of becoming extinct. The great bear (Ursus spelæus) and the cave-hyæna (Hyæna spelæa) will soon cease to tread the soil of our earth. It will not be long before the final term will be completed of the existence of the cave-lion (Felis spelæa), the mammoth, and theRhinoceros tichorhinus. Created beings diminish in size as they improve in type.
To make up for these losses, numerous herds of reindeer now inhabit the forests of western Europe. In that part of the continent which was one day to be called France, these animals make their way as far as the Pyrenees. The horse (Equus caballus), in no way different from the present species, is the companion of the above-named valuable ruminant; also the bison (Biso europæus), the urus (Bos primigenius), the musk-ox (Ovibos moschatus), the elk, the deer, the chamois, the ibex, and various species of rodents, amongst others, the beaver, the hamster-rat, the lemming, the spermophilus, &c.
After the intense cold of the glacial period the temperature has become sensibly milder, but it is still much lower than at the present day in the same countries; as the reindeer, an animal belonging to a hyperborean climate, can both enjoy life and multiply in the comparatively southern part of Europe.
The general composition of thefaunawhich we have just described is a striking proof of the rigorous cold which still characterised the climate of central Europe. Animals which then inhabited those countries are now only met with in the high northern latitudes of the old and new worlds, in close proximity to the ice and snow, or on the lofty summits of great mountain-chains. To localities of this kind have now retired the reindeer, the musk-ox, the elk, the chamois, the wild-goat, the hamster-rat, the lemming and the spermophilus. The beaver, too, is at the present day confined almost entirely to Canada.
Mr. Christy, an English naturalist, has remarked with much acuteness that the accumulations of bones and other organic remains in caves actually imply the existence of a rigorous climate. Under the influence of even a merely moderate temperature, these accumulations of bones and animal remains would, in fact, have given forth putrid exhalations which would have prevented any human being from living in close contiguity to these infectious heaps. The Esquimaux of the present day live, in this respect, very much like the people of primitive ages, that is, close by the side of the most fetiddébris; but, except in the cold regions of the north, they would be quite unable to do this.
Man of the reindeer epochFig. 39.—Man of the Reindeer Epoch.
Fig. 39.—Man of the Reindeer Epoch.
What progress was made by the man of the reindeer epoch (fig. 39) beyond that attained by his ancestors? This is the question we are about to consider. But we must confine the sphere of our study to the only two countries in which a sufficient number of investigations have been made in respect to the epoch of the reindeer. We allude to that part of Europe which nowadays forms France and Belgium.
During the reindeer epoch, man wrought the flint to better effect than in the preceding period. He also manufactured somewhat remarkable implements in bone, ivory, and reindeers' horn. In the preceding period, human bones were found in caves, mixed up indiscriminately with those of animals; in the epoch we are now considering, this promiscuous intermingling is no longer met with.
We shall first pass in review man as existing in this epoch, in respect to his habitation and food. We shall then proceed to speak of the productions of his industry, and also of the earliest essays of his artistic genius. Lastly, we shall briefly consider his physical organisation.
With respect to his habitation, man, during the reindeer epoch,still took up his abode in caves. According to their depth and the light penetrating them, he either occupied the whole extent of them or established himself in the outlet only. About the centre of the cavern some slabs of stone, selected from the hardest rocks, such as sandstone or slate, were bedded down in the ground, and formed the hearth for cooking his food. During the long nights of winter the whole family must have assembled round this hearth.
Sometimes, in order the better to defend himself against the various surprises to which he was exposed, the man of the reindeer epoch selected a cavern with a very narrow inlet which could only be entered by climbing.
A cave formed naturally in the deepest clefts and hollows of some rock constituted, in every climate, the earliest habitation of man. In cold climates it was necessary for him to find some retreat in which to pass the night, and in warmer latitudes he had to ward off the heat of the day. But these natural dwellings could only be met with in districts where rocks existed which offered facilities for cover in the way of clefts and holes. When man took up his abode in a level country, he was compelled to construct for himself some place of shelter. By collecting together stones, brought from various directions, he then managed to build an artificial cavern. Choosing a spot where some natural projection overhung the ground, he enlarged, as far as he was able, this natural roof, and, bringing art to the assistance of nature, he ultimately found himself in possession of a convenient retreat.
We must not omit to add that the spot in which he established his dwelling was always in the vicinity of some running stream.
In this way, therefore, the inhabitants of the plains formed their habitations during the epoch which we are considering.
We have, also, certain proofs that primitive tribes, during this period, did not take up their abode in natural caverns exclusively, but that they were able to make for themselves more convenient sheltering-places under the cover of some great overhanging rock. In various regions of France, especially in Périgord, numerous ancient open-air human settlements have been discovered. They must have been mere sheds or places of shelter, leaning against the base of some high cliff, and protected against the inclemency of the weather by projections of the rock which, more or less, hung over them, forming a kind ofroof. The name ofrock-sheltershas been given to these dwellings of primitive man.
These wild retreats are generally met with in the lower part of some valley in close proximity to a running stream. They, like the caverns, contain very rich deposits of the bones of mammals, birds and fishes, and also specimens of hatchets and utensils made of flint, bone, and horn. Traces of hearths are also discovered.
One of the most remarkable of these natural shelters belonging to the reindeer epoch has been discovered at Bruniquel, in the department of Tarn-et-Garonne, not far from Montauban.
Rock-shelter at BruniquelFig. 40.—Rock-shelter at Bruniquel, a supposed Habitation of Man during the Reindeer Epoch.
Fig. 40.—Rock-shelter at Bruniquel, a supposed Habitation of Man during the Reindeer Epoch.
On the left bank of the river Aveyron, under the overhanging shelter of one of the highest rocks of Bruniquel and in close proximity to achâteau, the picturesque ruins of which still stand on the brow of the cliff above, there was discovered, in 1866, a fire-hearth of the pre-historic period; this hearth and its surroundings have afforded us the most complete idea of one of the rock-shelters of man during the reindeer epoch.
This rock, known by the name of Montastruc, is about 98 feet high, and it overhangs the ground below for an extent of 46 to 49 feet. It covers an area of 298 square yards. In this spot, M. V. Brun, the Director of the Museum of Natural History at Montauban, found a host of objects of various descriptions, the study of which has furnished many useful ideas for the history of this epoch of primitive humanity.
By taking advantage of the photographic views of the pre-historic settlement of Bruniquel, which M. V. Brun has been kind enough to forward to us, we have been enabled to compose the sketch which is presented in fig. 40 of a rock-shelter, or an open-air settlement of man in the reindeer epoch.
Men during the reindeer epoch did not possess any notion of agriculture. They had not as yet subdued and domesticated any animal so as to profit by its strength, or to ensure by its means a constant supply of food. They were, therefore, like their forefathers, essentially hunters; and pursued wild animals, killing them with their spears or arrows. The reindeer was the animal which they chiefly attacked. This mammal, which then existed all over Europe, in the centre as well as in the south (although it has now retired or migrated into the regions of the extreme north), was for the man of this period all thatit nowadays is to the Laplander—the most precious gift of nature. They fed upon its flesh and made their garments of its skin, utilising its tendons as thread in the preparation of their dress; its bones and its antlers they converted into all kinds of weapons and implements. Reindeer's horn was the earliest raw material in the manufactures of these remote ages, and to the man of this epoch was all that iron is to us.
The horse, the ox, the urus, the elk, the ibex, and the chamois, all formed a considerable part of the food of men during this epoch. They were in the habit of breaking the long bones and the skulls of the recently-killed animals, in order to extract the marrow and the brain, which they ate all steaming with the natural animal heat, as is done in the present day by certain tribes in the Arctic regions. The meat of this animal was cooked on their rough hearths; for they did not eat it raw as some naturalists have asserted. The animal bones which have been found, intermingled with human remains, in the caverns of this epoch bear evident traces of the action of fire.
To this animal prey they occasionally added certain birds, such as the great heath-cock, willow-grouse, owl, &c. When this kind of game fell short, they fell back upon the rat. Round the hearthstone, in the cave of Chaleux, M. Dupont found more than twenty pounds weight of the bones of water-rats, half roasted.
Fish is an article of food which has always been much sought after by man. By mere inference we might, therefore, readily imagine that man during the reindeer epoch fed on fish as well as the flesh of animals, even if the fact were not attested by positive evidence. This evidence is afforded by the remains of fish-bones which are met with in the caves of this epoch, intermingled with the bones of mammals, and also by sketches representing parts of fishes, which are found roughly traced on a great number of fragments of bone and horn implements.
The art of fishing, therefore, must certainly have been in existence during the reindeer epoch. We cannot assert that it was practised during that of the great bear and the mammoth; but, as regards the period we are now considering, no doubt can be entertained on the point. In an article on the 'Origine de la Navigation et de la Pêche,' M. G. de Mortillet expresses himself as follows:
"The epoch of the reindeer presents to our notice several specimens of fishing-tackle. The most simple is a little splinter of bone, generally about one to two inches long, straight, slender, and pointed at both ends. This is the primitive and elementary fish-hook. This small fragment of bone or reindeer horn was fastened by the middle and covered with a bait; when swallowed by a fish, or even by an aquatic bird, it became fixed in the interior of the body by one of the pointed ends, and the voracious creature found itself caught by the cord attached to the primitive hook. At the museum of Saint-Germain, there are several of these hooks which came from the rich deposits of Bruniquel, near Montauban (Tarn-et-Garonne).
"Hooks belonging to the reindeer epoch have also been found in the caves and retreats of Dordogne, so well explored by MM. Lartet and Christy. Along with those of the simple form which we have just described, others were met with of a much more perfect shape. These are likewise small fragments of bone or reindeer's horn, with deep and wide notches on one side, forming a more or less developed series of projecting and sharp teeth, or barbs. Two of them are depicted inPlate B, VI. of the 'Reliquiæ Aquitanicæ.' M. Lartet is in possession of several of them; but the most remarkable specimen forms a part of the beautiful collection of M. Peccadeau de l'Isle, of Paris."[7]
There are strong reasons for believing that man during this epoch did not confine himself to a diet of an exclusively carnivorous character, for vegetable food is in perfect harmony with the organisation of our species. By means of wild fruits, acorns, and chestnuts, he must have introduced some little variety into his ordinary system of sustenance.
From the data which we have been considering, we furnish, in fig. 41, a representation ofa feast during the reindeer epoch. Men are engaged in cleaving the head of a urus, in order to extract and devour the smoking brains. Others, sitting round the fire in which the flesh of the same animal is being cooked, are sucking out the marrow from the long bones of the reindeer, which they have broken by blows with a hatchet.
Feast during the reindeer epochFig. 41.—A Feast during the Reindeer Epoch.
Fig. 41.—A Feast during the Reindeer Epoch.
It becomes a very interesting question to know whether the men of these remote periods practised cannibalism or not. On this point wehave as yet no certain information. We will, however, state some facts which seem to make in favour of this idea.
Human skulls have been found in Scotland mixed up promiscuously with sculptured flints, remains of pottery, and children's bones; on the latter, Professor Owen thinks that he can recognise the trace of human teeth.
At Solutré, in Mâconnais, M. de Ferry has discovered human finger-joints among the remains of cooking of the epoch of the great bear and mammoth, and of that of the reindeer.
The appearance of certain bones from the caves of Ariége, dug up by MM. Garrigou and Filhol, has led both thesesavantsto the opinion "that pre-historic man may have been anthropophagous."
The same conclusion would be arrived at from the explorations which have been undertaken in the grottos and caves of Northern Italy by M. Costa de Beauregard. This lattersavantfound in the caves the small shin-bone of a child which had been carefully emptied and cleansed, leading to the idea that the marrow had been eaten.
At a point near Finale, on the road from Genoa to Nice, in a vast cave which was for a long period employed as a habitation for our race, M. Issel discovered some human bones which had evidently been calcined. Their whitish colour, their lightness, and their friability left no room for doubt on the point. Added to this, the incrustations on their surface still contained small fragments of carbon. Moreover, many of the bones showed notches which could not have been made without the help of some sharp instrument.
It is, therefore, probable that men in the stone age practised anthropophagy; we have, really, no cause to be surprised at this; since, in our own days, various savage tribes are addicted to cannibalism, under a considerable diversity of circumstances.
Not the least trace has been discovered of animals' bones being gnawed by dogs in any of the human settlements during the reindeer epoch. Man, therefore, had not as yet reduced the dog to a state of domesticity.
How did primitive man dress himself during this epoch? He must have made garments out of the skins of the quadrupeds which he killed in hunting, and especially of the reindeer's hide. There can be no doubt on this point. A large number of reindeers' antlersfound in Périgord have at their base certain cuts which evidently could only have been produced in flaying the animal.
It is no less certainly proved that these men knew how to prepare animals' skins by clearing them of their hair, and that they were no longer compelled, like their ancestors, to cover themselves with rough bear-skins still covered with their fur. To what purpose could they have applied the flint scrapers which are met with everywhere in such abundance, except for scraping the hair off the skins of wild beasts? Having thus taken off the hair, they rendered them supple by rubbing them in with brains and the marrow extracted from the long bones of the reindeer. Then they cut them out into some very simple patterns, which are, of course, absolutely unknown to us; and, finally, they joined together the different pieces by rough sewing.
The fact that man at this epoch knew how to sew together reindeer skins so as to convert them into garments, is proved by the discovery of numerous specimens of instruments which must have been used for this work; these are—and this is most remarkable—exactly the same as those employed nowadays by the Laplanders, for the same purpose. They consist of bodkins or stilettoes made of flint and bone (fig. 42), by means of which the holes were pierced in the skin; also very carefully fashioned needles, mostly of bone or horn (fig. 43).