Cave Hunting

-WESTERN EUROPE, AND THE EVIDENCE OF

and Pal?olithic Men of River-deposits.-Classification of Pal?olithic Caves.-Relation of Cave-dwellers to Eskimos.-Pleistocene animals

ves of

el, for example, the common striped hy?na of Africa (Hy?na striata) has been found by Marcel de Serres, to whom belongs the credit of being the first systematic explorer of caverns in France. In that of Bruniquel, the ibex, now found only in the higher mountains in Europe, the chamois and the Antelope saiga, an animal337 inhabitin

ve of

o M. Gervais,221 along with the horse, ox, wild-boar, elephant, a non-tichorhine species of rhinoceros, the spotted hy?na, and the cave-bear

es of P

te the sides of the valleys of the Dordogne and Vezère at various levels, as may be seen in Fig. 71, and are full of the remains left behind by their ancient inhabitants, which give as vivid a picture of the human life of the period, as that revealed of Italian manners in the first cent

e cases the whole is compacted by a calcareous cement into a hard mass, fragments of which are to be seen in the principal museums of Europe. This strange accumulation of débris marks, beyond all doubt, the place where ancient hunters had feasted, and the broken bones and implements are merely the refuse cast aside. The reindeer formed by far the larger portion of the food, and must have l

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e, Les Eyzies (1/1).

er, Les Eyzies (1/1).

head, Laugerie Haute (1/

gerie Basse, and of Moustier, but the latter certainly did not gain access to the refuse-heaps, because the vertebr? are intact which it is in the habit of eating.340 For the same reason also, M. Lartet infers that the hunters were not aided in the chase by the dog. There is no evidence that

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ead, Laugerie Haute (1/

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, La Madelaine (1/1).

the two latter animals, M. Lartet concludes that they were cut up where they were killed, and the meat stripped from the backbone and the pelvis. Their food was probably cook

ilar instruments used by the Eskimos, there can be but little doubt that they were intended for the preparation of skins (compare Fig. 107 with Fig. 124). The ends of some were chipped to a point for insertion into a handle, while others rounded at both ends were probably used freely in the hand. In the cave of Moustier oval implements were met with, resembling those figured

e compact metacarpals and tarsals of the reindeer224 and the horse, and subsequently rounded on fragments of sandstone, the grooves of which fitted them. In this, therefore,342 we have not merely the evidence that the hunters were in the ha

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s of Antler, La Madelai

rrow-heads, Gorge

wl, Gorge d'Enfe

d carved on both sides of the axis343 (Figs. 111, 112, 113); but in some cases, as in Fig. 114, the barbs are only on one side. M

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of Reindeer Antler (1/

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deer Antler, La Madelaine (

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on Antler, La Madelaine (1

ognition by anyone who had ever seen that animal (Fig. 117). On a fourth the natural curvature of one of the tines has been taken advantage of by the artist to engrave the head, and the characteristic recurved horns of the ibex; and on a fifth are figures of horses (Fig. 118), in which the upright disheveled mane and shaggy ungroomed tail are represented with admirable spirit. At first sight it would344 appear that the artist had drawn the heads out of all proportion to the bodies. A horse's skeleton, however, from the pal?olithic "station" at Solutré, lately set up in the Museum at Lyons, proves that this is not the case, since, as M. Lortet pointed out to me, it is remarkable for its massive head, and small body. In Fig. 119 a group of reind

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of Reindeer, D

hern Siberia, preserved from decay in the frozen cliffs and morasses, has made us acquainted with the existence of the long hairy mane. Had not it thus been handed down to our eyes, we should probably have treated this most accurate drawing as a mere artist's freak. Its peculiarities are so faithfully depicted that it is quite impossible346 for the animal to

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on Ivory, La Madelaine (1

s shown, not merely by the negative evidence of its not having been discovered, but also by the fact that the bones which it invariably eats, such as the vertebr?, are preserved. They did not possess any domestic animals, and there is no evidence that they were acquainted with the potter's ar

agmentary portions of human skeletons, which, however, were no

of B

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ent of Reindeer Antler,

of Dinant-sur-Meuse, on behalf of the Belgian Government. His results, based upon the examination of upwards of twenty caves and rock-shelters, are published in a series of papers read before the Royal Academy of Belgium and subsequently in a separate work. Besides the remains of the animals living in Belgium within the historic period, he met with the ibex, chamois, and marmot, which are now to be found only in the mountainous districts of Europe, the tailless hare, lemming, and arctic fox, of the northern regions, the Antelope saiga, grizzly bear, lion, hy?na, and others. Most of these species occurred in r

de Na

nk of the Lesse, in association with the broken remains of the rhinoceros, mammoth, reindeer, chamois, and marmot, are undoubte

rey and yellow

y with stones and bone

Stala

T

of clay alternati

h human bones at the

Stala

th with bones g

amy, is greater than that which350 has been observed in any living races.

s of Swi

om the Dordogne, in a cave in the Canton of Schaaffhausen,229 along with the bones of hy?na, reindeer, and mammoth. In that of Veyrier,230 carved implements were found along with the remains of the ox, horse, chamois, and ibe

th as Belgium. And since Prof. Fraas has obtained similar implements from a refuse-heap at Schussenreid in Würtemberg, they wandered as far to the ea

5

Pal?olithic Men of

int implements found in the caves, as compared with a series found in the river-strata, although some forms are common to the two; as for instance some of those found in Brixham and Kent's Hole. This difference can scarcely be explained on the supposition that the small things would be less likely to be preserved in the fluviatile deposits, because it leaves the rari

on of Pal?ol

d woolly rhinoceros, of the352 age of the reindeer, and of the age of bison. Dr. Hamy follows Sir John Lubbock,233 in considering the age of the cave-bear to be co-extensive with that of the m

ea. The difference between the contents of one pal?olithic cave and another, is probably largely due to the fact that man could more easily catch some animals than others, as well as to the preference for one kind of food before another. And the abundance of the reindeer, which is supposed to characterise the reindeer period, may reasonably be accounted for by the fact, that it

etween those of two different tribes of Eskimos, while the general resemblance is most striking. The principle of classification by the relative rudeness, assumes that the progress of man has been gradual, and that the ruder implements are therefore the older. The difference, however

Cave-dweller

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imos Spear-he

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straightener of Walrus T

y Captain Beechey and Lieut. Harding from West Georgia, as well as those in the British Museum, are almost identical in shape and design with those from the caves of Aquitaine and Kent's Hole; the only difference being that some of the latter have grooved barbs. The heads of the fowling and fishing spears, darts, and arrows, as well as the form of their bases for insertion into the shafts, are also identical (Fig. 122), as may be seen from a comparison of Fig. 122 with Figs. 99 and 114. The355 curiously carved instrument, Fig. 123, which the Eskimos use for straightening their arrows is variously ornamented with designs of animals, analogous to those cut on the reindeer antlers in Aquitaine; and if it be compared with the so-called "baton de commandement," Fig. 121, it will be seen, that the latter also was probably int

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ne or Scraper (1/1).

British Museum are of the same type as that fi

ooning walrus and catching seals; on a third the seals are being dragged home. The huts in which they live, the tethered dogs, the boat supported on its platform, and their daily occupations are faithfully represented. One bow is ornamented with a large number of porpoises, while on another is a reindeer hunt in which the animals are being attacked while they are cross

knew, and the whale, walrus, and seal were unknown to the inland dwellers in Aquitaine, just as the mammoth, bison, and wild horse are unknown to the Eskimos. The reindeer, which they both knew, is represented in the same way by both. The West Georgians made their dirks of walrus tooth, and ornamented357 them with carvings of the back

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Hunting-scene (1/1

ones for the sake of the marrow, is the same in both. Their hides were prepared by the same sort of instruments and in the same manner, and the needles with which they were sewn together are of the same pattern. The few remains of man among the relics of feasts in the caves of Belgium and France

deer folk does not prove that they belong to the same race, the answer may be made, that there are no two savage tribes now living which use the same set of implements, without being connected by blood. The agreement of one or two of the more common and ruder instruments may be perhaps of no value in classification, but if a whole set agree, fitted for various uses, and some of them rising above the most common wants of savage life, we mus

of that area. The enormous distance, therefore, of southern France from the northern shores of America,359 cannot be considered as an obstacle to this view, for, to say the least, pal?olithic man would have had the same chance of retreating to the north-east as the musk sheep. The mammoth and bison have also been tracked by their remains in the frozen river gravels and morasses through Siberia, as far to the north-east as the American side of the Straits of Behring. Pal?olithic man appeared in Eur

iving to the North of

in Europe, are given in the following table, which shows that the fauna of the region to the north of the Alps and

6

e of

Cave Kirkdale V

Bosco's Den Crow Hole Ravenscliff Spritsail Tor Long Hole Bla

x x

x

x

x x x x x x x

x

x

?

x x x

x x x x x x x

x x x x x x x

x x x x x x x

x

x x x x

x x

x x

x x x x

x x x x x x

x x x x x

x x

x x

x x

x x x x x x x

x x x

6

e of

am Kent's Hole Moustier La Madelaine Laugerie Haute Laugerie Basse Gorge d'Enfer C

x x x x x

x x

x

x x x x x x?

x x x

x

x x x

x

x x x x x x

? x

x

x x x x x x x x

x

x

x x x x

x x x

x x x x

x x x x x x x

x x x x x x x

x x x x x x x

x x x x x x x x

x x x x x

x

x x x x

x x ? x x x

x

x x

x

x x x x

x x x x x x

x

x x x

x x x x x x +

(?)

6

e same as Riv

seen that the same fauna is present in both, and that they are therefore of the same geological age.238 This was the conclusion

oast-line of Nort

el. Immediately to the westward of this line the sea deepens so suddenly, that there is scarcely any difference between the lines of 100 and of 200363 fathoms, and the depth rapidly increases to 2,000. Were this plateau elevated above the sea to an extent of 100364 fathoms, the tract shaded in the map (Fig. 126) would unite the British Isles to the continent, and the Thames and other rivers on the eastern coast would unite with the Elbe and the Rhine to form a river debouching on the North Sea, somewhat after the manner which I have represented by taking the deepest line of soundings. The Straits of Dover would then be the watershed between this valley of the German

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y of Great Britain in

bmerged; dotted area = re

region occupi

d in the river gravels and brick-earths on the land. The quantity of teeth and bones belonging to the mammoth, woolly rhinoceros, horse, reindeer, and spotted hy?na, and other animals, dredged up by the fishermen in the German Ocean is almost incredible. Mr. Owles, of Yarmouth, informed me in 1868 that off that place there is a bank on which the fishing nets are rarely cast without bringing up fossil remains. It seems most probable, that these accumulations have been formed under subaerial conditions near the drinking

at Selsea, near Chichester, in Sussex; and remains of the mammoth have been dredged up in several places off the coast, as for example in Torbay and in Holyhead harbour, or found in gravel beds near low-water mark, as in the Isle of Wight, and

tain, and of the adjacent parts of the continent in the pleistocene age. The fertile valleys of the English Channel, Bristol Channel, and the German Ocean, would afford sustenance to a large and varied fauna, and numerous herbivores, such as the reindeer, bison, and horse, would supply food to the pal?olithic hunters, who followed them in their annual migrations. And it must be remarked on this hypothesis, that the valley of the

al?olithic Implem

erous. These are of the same type in northern France, Sussex, Hampshire, Kent, and as far north as the Wash; and were therefore used by the same race of men. The difference between them and those of the cave-dwellers in the south and west, may be due to their possessors occupying different hunting grounds. Each tribe of American Indians at the present time has its own territory for hunting, which is jealously guarded agains

enees will be treated in the eleventh chapter, after the exam