The human species

by A. de Quatrefages

This semi-stationary life did not exclude travels by land or even by sea. Among the fossil shells found at Laugerie-Basse, there are some which could only have come from the Isle of Wight. Now, in the age of the reindeer, there was no longer land communication between France and England. As M. Fischer has remarked, the presence of these shells in a continental station proves the existence of navigation.

But, can it really have been the man of the Vézère who went to seek these objects of adornment on the other side of the channel? It is difficult to believe that these mountain tribes could have crossed the sea. It is much more likely that this voyage was accomplished by contemporaries, who, by long residence on the sea coast, had developed navigating instincts. They, doubtless, would bring from the English island those shells regarded as precious jewels, which would then pass in exchange from hand to hand, till at length they reached the valleys of Périgord. Traffic of this kind can alone explain this existence of an oyster-shell from the Red Sea in the Thayngen grotto explored by M. C. Mayer, near to Schaaffhausen. We know, moreover, that shells of the Pacific Ocean are in our day brought, by a perfectly similar commerce, as far as the tribes of Red-Skins inhabiting the shores of the Atlantic.

VIII. The history of the Cro-Magnon race, founded upon the industrial remains which it has bequeathed to us, still presents many questions answered in various ways by savants of the most different opinions. I shall only point them out cursorily.

Did the quaternary tribes confine themselves to hunting those animal species which are subject to us, and by which they were then surrounded. Did they never domesticate the horse, or the reindeer?

M. Toussaint has answered the first question in the affirmative, and M. Gervais the second. The accumulation, often prodigious, of the bones of these animals is thus explained by all. At Solutré, a kind of bone hollow, formed almost exclusively of the bones of the horse, surrounds, so to speak, the space occupied by hearths and sepultures. It comprises the remains of at least forty thousand horses, amongst which we only occasionally meet with either foals or old animals. The immense majority were killed at the age of from four to eight years. This strange accumulation of remains furnished by one species, and the choice of animals in their prime, are, in the opinion of M. Toussaint, inexplicable facts, unless we admit the existence of great herds from which man could draw supplies at will. The arguments brought forward in favour of the domestication of the reindeer are almost of the same nature. M. Piette, however, admits that the latter, long hunted in a wild state, was only domesticated towards the close of the quaternary period. His opinion rests upon the proportion of reindeer bones which increase in number almost suddenly in the upper layers of the Gourdan grotto. M. Piette also draws attention to certain drawings in which reindeer are represented, having upon the neck the appearance of a halter.

To these arguments, which are evidently not devoid of value, it has been objected that man may very well have been able to tame some individuals, without necessarily domesticating the species; that the multiplication and utilisation of certain kinds of game under general and better understood conditions, readily account for the preference accorded to them at certain periods; and that a practised hunter would, without difficulty, choose from among the herd the one he wished to kill. All the facts brought forward by MM. Gervais, Toussaint, and Piette with regard to France, are thus explained without much difficulty. As to countries situated more to the north, the facts obtained by M. Fraas from the grottoes of Suabia, and his philological researches seem to support the opinions of these savants. It is evident that the problem of the domestication of the horse and the reindeer by quaternary man demands further study, and may assume an entirely local character.

I should say almost the same with regard to social organisation. We cannot doubt but that the tribes of La Madeleine and of Bruniquel recognised chiefs, and that it was for them those daggers of mammoth ivory were carved, of which I have spoken above. They were evidently state arms. But was this universally the case? Was there, even amongst these tribes, a true hierarchy, every grade of which was marked by certain insignia? Certain large portions of reindeer antlers, presenting a tolerably uniform appearance, diminished in size by hand, and invariably decorated with special care, have, it has been thought, offered sufficient proof for these facts. In some cases they are whole, in others they are pierced at one extremity with from one to four round holes, which sometimes encroach upon the original drawing. These singular objects are certainly not arms. They have been regarded as commanders’ bâtons, an interpretation which appears to be plausible. Is it not, however, going rather too far, when the number of holes are regarded as indicating the dignity of the possessor, from which it would follow that these tribes recognised five district grades of chiefs?

Had the quaternary man in question any belief in another life? Had he a religion?

There can be no doubt as to the answer to the first of these questions. The care bestowed upon burial places shows that the hunters of Mentone, as also those of Solutré and Cro-Magnon, believed in the wants of their dead beyond the tomb. Our acquaintance with the customs of so many savage nations of the present epoch forbids any other interpretation of the interment of food, arms, and ornaments with the body.

The difficulty is greater in solving the problem of religion. It is very probable that the man of this age had a belief similar to that which we know to exist among nations leading almost the same kind of life. We can scarcely help regarding a great number of small objects, pierced so as to enable them to be worn round the neck, as amulets, nor doubt that the troglodytes of the Vézère or the Pyrenees attributed to them virtues analogous to those which are even now ascribed to them by many savage tribes. M. Piette discovered one of these amulets consisting of a plate pierced in the centre, from which diverging lines took their rise; he found a similar emblem repeated three times upon a commander’s bâton. He admits that they are so many representations of the sun, and I very willingly accept this interpretation. But does he not exceed the limits of legitimate induction, when he concludes from this fact that the man of Gourdan worshipped this heavenly body, and invented the Sun God, afterwards discovered by the Egyptians and Gauls.