Men of the Old Stone Age: Their Environment, Life and Art

by Henry Fairfield Osborn

Central Origin of the Broad-Headed (Alpine?) Races

The affinity of the broad-headed Azilian-Tardenoisian tribes of the Danube to those found in the Upper Palæolithic of northwestern Europe seems to be clearly established. The latter are sometimes known as the Grenelle race and sometimes as the Furfooz race. Boule[(15)] observes in regard to the skeletal remains of Grenelle which were found in the alluvium near Paris, in 1870, that it is quite impossible now, forty years after their discovery, to demonstrate their geologic antiquity. This is not the case with the Furfooz broad-heads, the age of which we regard as well established, but since the head type appears to be the same in both cases, we may speak of this race as the Furfooz-Grenelle.

In a cave near Furfooz, in the valley of the Lesse, Belgium, sixteen skeletons were discovered by Dupont in 1867. With the bones were found implements of reindeer horn and remains of the late Pleistocene fauna of northern Europe.[(16)] The reindeer and the tundra fauna of Belgium were contemporaneous with the early Tardenoisian culture and with the stag and forest fauna of southern France, so that the skeletons of Furfooz may safely be referred to Azilian-Tardenoisian times.

Fig. 256. Broad-headed skull of uncertain archæologic age, either Palæolithic or Neolithic, discovered at Grenelle, near Paris, in 1870. After de Quatrefages and Hamy. One-quarter life size.

Fig. 257. Opening of the grotto of Furfooz on the Lesse, a tributary of the Meuse, near Namur, Belgium, where the skeletal remains of 16 individuals and the type skulls of the broad-headed Furfooz race were discovered in 1867. After Dupont.

Only two of the Furfooz skulls were preserved in good shape; they are of brachycephalic or sub-brachycephalic form, and, following the suggestion of de Quatrefages and Hamy, these skulls have been spoken of as belonging to the 'brachycephalic Furfooz race.' The men of this race may certainly be regarded as belonging to Upper Palæolithic times, whereas the brachycephalic race found at Grenelle, near Paris, is probably Neolithic. This by no means prevents the Furfooz and the Grenelle types belonging to the same general brachycephalic race; it is altogether probable that they do, and that with them may be included the Ofnet broad-heads.

Fig. 258. Section of the grotto of Furfooz, showing the burial of 16 skeletons of the Furfooz race and the entrance of the grotto blocked by a mass of stone. After Dupont.