The human species

by A. de Quatrefages

But this tendency to breadth does not extend to the medial regions or to the inferior portion of the face. The nose, the bones of which are boldly projected forward and constitute a strongly marked protuberance, is narrow; from its index, 45·09, it places the old man of Cro-Magnon amongst the lepthorhini of M. Broca. The superior maxillary bone is equally narrowed relatively to the face which it terminates, and the alveolar arch is projected outward in such a manner as to produce a very decided prognathism. The inferior maxillary bone is especially remarkable for the breadth of its ascending branches which, according to the investigation of M. Broca, surpass in this respect all other known human jaw-bones. The breadth in question is 49 m.m. (1·93 inch). Far from being obliterated and retreating, as in the Canstadt race, the slightly triangular chin projects forwards.

The cephalic characters of the old man of Cro-Magnon are to be found more or less strongly marked in all the men of the same race. They are generally modified in the women. Thus, even in that specimen, the head of which, unfortunately incomplete, was discovered not far from that of the old man, we see the beautiful lines of the skull preserved, and the forehead even rising a little higher still. But the posterior surface is less pronounced, the dysharmony is less strong between the skull and the face. The latter is relatively longer, the orbits are higher, the nose is broader, and the prognathism is modified. We cannot, however, deny the ethnical relation of the two heads which were found together, and which thus constitute definite terms of comparison for the two sexes.

The Cro-Magnon race was tall. The mean height deduced from the measurements taken by M. Hamy upon a skeleton and the isolated bones of five men is 1·78 m. (5 feet 10 inches). With the old man of Cro-Magnon it was about 1·82 m. (5 feet 11·6 inches), and with the Mentone man, whose skeleton was found by M. Rivière entire and in situ, it was as much as 1·85 m. (6 feet 0·8 inches). The Cro-Magnon woman measured 1·66 m. (5 feet 5·3 inches). These bones and all those which have been connected with them, moreover, give indications of a remarkably strong race. They are thick and solid. In all cases the muscular impressions are very strongly marked. In the old man of Cro-Magnon the femurs are also the broadest and thickest that M. Broca has ever measured, as we have already remarked. The linea aspera is also of an unusual breadth and thickness, and forms a sort of prominent column or buttress.

Finally, in the Cro-Magnon men, a fine open forehead, a large, narrow, and aquiline nose, must have compensated for any strangeness which the face may have acquired from the probable smallness of the eyes, from very strong masseters, and from a slightly lozenge-shaped contour. With these features, the type of which is in no way disagreeable, and allows of real beauty, this magnificent race combined a high stature, powerful muscles, and an athletic constitution. It seems to have been fitted in every way for struggling against the difficulties and perils of savage life.

II. We have already seen that the Cro-Magnon race was discovered immediately above that of Canstadt in the alluvial deposits of Grenelle. It is therefore very old, and was contemporary with the great mammals, now either extinct or emigrated. More sociable, doubtless, and more settled than the preceding race, it inhabited caverns where it left numerous specimens of its handiwork; it buried its dead under the shelters where they are now found. A great number of eminent investigators have explored these scientific quarries. I cannot enumerate them all here, but there is one name, the omission of which would be unpardonable, that, namely, of Edouard Lartet. It is well known with what persevering intelligence, sometimes alone, sometimes accompanied by his friend Christy, this man, as modest as he is learned, has explored these caves, what treasures he has obtained from them, and the prudence and sagacity which he showed in the interpretation of his splendid discoveries, and only justice was done to him in awarding him the title of founder of human palæontology.

Thanks to him, and to those who have followed in his steps, we possess the essential elements of a history of the Cro-Magnon race. Almost without leaving this valley of the Vézère, the name of which stands so high in anthropology, we can, as M. Broca has done, follow it step by step. In fact, from the village of Les Eyzies to the rock-shelter of Moustier, within a distance of from seven to eight miles we meet with no less than eight human settlements, all of which have become more or less celebrated from the different records which they have furnished. They are the Moustier cavern, the Moustier shelter, the shelter of La Madeleine, the Cro-Magnon shelter and burial-place, the Laugerie-Haute shelter, the Laugerie-Basse shelter, the Gorge d’Enfer cavern, and the Les Eyzies cavern.

The most ancient, that of Moustier, is connected by its fauna with the lower alluvium (bas niveaux) of Grenelle, and dates at least from the close of the age of the bear; that of La Madeleine cannot be placed much before the present epoch. Between these two extremes are ranged the other six, and altogether they mark out, so to speak, the two last periods of the quaternary ages. Yet to obtain a clear idea of the social and intellectual development of the race, to learn how far it complied with the modifications of the climate, and what progress or what decadence these modifications imposed upon it, we must consult the evidences which it has left in many other localities, and especially in the caves and shelters of Bruniquel, in the burial-places of Solutré, in the caves of Gourdan, Duruty, and of L’Homme-Mort, etc.

The men who frequented the Moustier cavern do not seem to have been much superior to the Canstadt race, with which they were perhaps associated, and whose industries they closely imitated. Their conditions of existence were almost identical with those of the preceding age. They lived among the great mammals which served them for food. The horse and the aurochs were the general objects of their sport. But they fed upon the mammoth, the bear, and even the lion and the cave hyæna. To meet such enemies as these they employed a species of spear-head and small lance, smooth upon one side, cut upon the other, and sharp at the edges, constituting undoubtedly a formidable weapon. This special form characterises the Moustier type of M. de Mortillet. The hunters of this epoch cut their arrows upon the same model, but rarely made use of them; they seem to have despised birds and small game; the other implements remained almost the same as in the preceding age.

At Cro-Magnon, the progress is evident. Our fine old man and his companions had arms and implements of flint, which were more numerous, more varied and less massive. To judge from the remains of their kitchen, they must have made frequent use of the bow, to obtain birds and small mammals, while they still attacked large animals, and especially the horse, with the lance, spear-head, and perhaps the dagger.

At Laugerie-Haute, on the Vézère, at Solutré, in the Mâconnais, and other contemporary settlements, the cutting of the flints reached a degree of perfection which was truly marvellous. Sometimes undoubtedly old types reappeared side by side with forms modified by intelligent experience, and by perfected workmanship. Still the predominance of the latter is so marked, that it distinctly characterises this epoch. The points of the lances and javelins are tapered off more or less in the shape of a walnut, laurel, or plantain leaf. They are very pointed, and become perfectly symmetrical. The arrow-heads are the object of most particular care. M. de Ferry has very well shown that the general form, the weight, the angle, etc., were calculated in such a manner as to be adapted to the different distances of flight, to the necessities of the chase. All these tools, finely cut upon both sides, present, moreover, a much more remarkable finish than what we meet with in any of the other implements. They were worthy of being taken for one of the terms of comparison admitted by M. de Mortillet, and constitute his Solutré type.