The period of the Solutrean industry is one of the most difficult to interpret in the whole prehistory of western Europe. The remains of this industry in several localities lie directly between those of the Aurignacian and the Magdalenian; in others, as at Solutré, they directly follow the Aurignacian. There is no doubt that this represents a very long and a very important epoch in Upper Palæolithic development. From the cultural standpoint it represents a climax in the flint industry, but a period of suspension or of arrested development in art.

A glance at the maps of the Mousterian (Fig. 125), the Aurignacian (Fig. 153), and the Solutrean (Fig. 167) culture stations shows that the geographic distribution of the Solutrean is entirely unique; whereas the Aurignacian culture may be said to girdle the Mediterranean, both on its southern and northern coasts, the Solutrean culture is absent in this entire region. The interpretation of this strange phenomenon offered by Breuil, that the Solutrean culture entered Europe directly from the east and not from the south, may be connected with the theory that toward the end of Aurignacian times a new race from the central east was working westward through Hungary and along the Danube—a race of inferior mental type, but extremely expert in fashioning the flint spears and lances with what is known as the Solutrean 'retouch.' This may be the race of Brünn, Brüx, and Předmost, the remains of which are found in two localities associated with these highly perfected flint spear heads. Either by the invasion of this race or, more probably, by the invasion of the highly perfected spear-head industry itself, the type station of Solutré, on the Saône, was established and the region of Dordogne reached, where this industry progressed at twelve different stations.

[Larger Image]

Fig. 167. Geographic distribution of the principal Solutrean industrial stations in western Europe.

There is no doubt whatever that the new and entirely distinct Brünn race penetrated the Danubian region at this time, but there is no evidence from skeletal remains that it reached France. It is quite possible that some of the flint workers adept in the Solutrean 'retouch' migrated into the far western stations of Dordogne, bringing with them their beautiful technique, but without leaving traces of their skeletal remains through ceremonial burial. This unsettled problem affords one of the many reasons why the anatomy of all the Upper Palæolithic men of western Europe should be most carefully studied and compared.

Another mystery of Solutrean times is the arrest of the artistic impulse which had animated the Crô-Magnons throughout the entire Aurignacian. Evidences of artistic work in Solutrean times are very rare, and some drawings which have been attributed to the Solutrean, as at Altamira, have now been referred to the Magdalenian. Is it possible that the Crô-Magnon race for a time suspended its artistic endeavor only to renew it under the different conditions of environment of Magdalenian times? Unfortunately, the Solutrean burials afford very little evidence on this point. One interpretation which may be offered is that the Solutrean was evidently a period of open-air life, and that the new implements of the chase of Solutrean type absorbed the industrial energies of these people, for the weapons were fashioned in enormous numbers. Consistent with this theory of climatic influence is the fact that the return of the severe climate of Magdalenian times, which crowded the men again into the shelters and grottos, was accompanied by a renewal of the artistic development continuing from the point where it had been interrupted in closing Aurignacian times. That Aurignacian and Magdalenian art is the work of one race there can be no question whatever; that this race was the Crô-Magnon is now absolutely demonstrated.

The climate of Solutrean times is generally believed to have been cold and dry. In the region of Dordogne throughout this period the reindeer was still far more numerous than any other animal; so we may safely conclude that this was the principal object of the chase and of food; in fact, it would appear that the reindeer were resident forms in the valley of the Vézère, hunted and consumed throughout the year.[(40)] Here we also occasionally find the northern steppe or Obi lemming, an animal which at the same time extends along the borders of the Volga River toward southern Russia. It would appear that in Solutrean times in southwestern France there prevailed a dry, cold continental subarctic climate like that of the Caspian, Volga, and Ural steppes of the present day. With the mammoth and the reindeer occur a great variety of northern European forest forms—the true fox, the hare, the stag, the brown bear, the wolf, the bison, and the urus. Most interesting is the identification of the jackal belonging to the ancient species C. neschersensis. In the type industrial locality of Solutré the reindeer is very abundant in the fire-hearths associated with the lower Solutrean industry, but less abundant in the upper levels; an antelope, perhaps the saiga antelope, is said to be found among the crude engravings on bone.

Solutrean Races

There were certainly two distinct races of men in Europe during Solutrean times, to the east the race of Brünn and to the west the race of Crô-Magnon. Remains attributed to the Crô-Magnons have been found in the Departments of Charente, Gironde, Lot, Haute-Garonne, Tarn, and Dordogne. But most of these remains are very fragmentary and cannot readily be determined racially. The fragments of ten skulls and a few other bones found in the Grotte du Placard, Charente, are attributed to late Solutrean and to early Magdalenian times and constitute one of the most exceptional discoveries which have thus far been made in France; the interments probably date from the early Magdalenian (p. 380), but are probably of a race surviving from the Solutrean. The section of the cave deposit is from 23 to 26 feet in thickness and is highly instructive; it shows eight cultural layers, separated by layers of débris and succeeding each other in the following order: