Man in the Miocene.[57]—M. Bourgeois has found, in a stratum of miocene near Pontlevoy, numerous worked flints, and other flints which have been subjected to the action of heat. These works of man were associated with the remains of the acerotherium (an extinct species allied to the rhinoceros), and beneath five distinct beds, one of which contained the rolled bones of rhinoceros, mastodon, and dinotherium.[58]
M. Tardy found a flint-flake of undoubted workmanship in the miocene beds of Aurillac (Auvergne), together with the remains of dinotherium giganteum, and machaerodus latidens.[59]
M. Bourgeois reports that Abbé Delaunay had found near Pouance (Maine-et-Loire), fossil bones of a halitherium (an herbivorous cetacean of the miocene), with evident signs of having been operated upon by cutting instruments.[60]
In the miocene gravel beds of Colorado and Wyoming territories, chert-flakes, hammers, chisels, knives, and wrought shells have been found.[61]
Eocene.—As yet geologists have failed to discover any traces of man in the Eocene epoch.
CHAPTER V.
CONDITION OF MAN IN THE EARLIEST TIMES.
Of the first appearance of man on the globe there is no precise knowledge. His origin is a mystery. The place of his birth is generally supposed to be in Central Asia. There the geologist looks with a longing eye, and hopes ultimately to unravel, not only the hidden mystery of the birth-place of his race, but also, how or through what natural process he sprang into existence.