Immediately above this cave is the Trou Rosette, in which the bones of three persons were found, mingled with those of the reindeer and beaver. It also contained fragments of a blackish kind of pottery, which were hollowed out in rough grooves and hardened by fire. Dupont is of opinion that the three men were crushed to death by masses of rock at the time of the inundation of the valley of the Lesse.
In the Trou des Nutons, situated one hundred and sixty-four feet above the Lesse, were found a great many bones of the reindeer, wild bull, and many other species. In the cave, indiscriminately mixed up with these bones, were one hundred and fifty worked reindeer horns, knuckle-bones of the goat, polished on both sides, a whistle made from the tibia of a goat, fragments of very coarse pottery, and fire-hearths.
Fig. 15.
Earthen Vase, found in the Cave of Furfooz, Belgium.
The cave of Chaleux was buried by a mass of rubbish caused by the falling in of the roof, consequently preserving all its implements. There were found the split bones of mammals and the bones of birds and fishes. There was an immense number of objects, chiefly manufactured from reindeer horn, such as needles, arrow-heads, daggers, and hooks. Besides these, there were ornaments made of shells, pieces of slate with engraved figure, mathematical lines, remains of very coarse pottery, hearth-stones, ashes, charcoal, and last but not least, thirty thousand worked flints mingled with the broken bones. In the hearth, placed in the centre of the cave, was discovered a stone, with certain but unintelligible signs engraved upon it. M. Dupont also found about twenty pounds of the bones of the water-rat, either scorched or roasted.
In a cave at Furfooz, Dupont found an urn, or specimen of rough pottery (Fig. 15) intermingled with human bones. It was partly broken; by the care of M. Hauzeur it has been put together again.
France and Belgium are not alone in their monuments of the reindeer epoch, for settlements of this epoch have been discovered in Germany, Switzerland, and Poland.
In the cave of Thayngen, near Schaffhausen, Switzerland, have been discovered a few remains of the mammoth, rhinoceros, and cave-lion; the remains of two hundred and fifty reindeer, four hundred and thirty Alpine hares; also the remains of the brown bear, stag, elk, auroch, glutton, wolf, and several kinds of fox. The large bones invariably appeared in fragments, and the pebbles used for breaking them were found in the refuse. Among birds, the bones of the swan, grouse, and duck predominate. The implements consisted chiefly of needles, piercers, and arrow-heads made of the antlers of the reindeer. The art of engraving and carving was carried to quite a degree of perfection. The most notable of these objects is the delineation of a reindeer in the act of browsing, drawn on a piece of the horn of that animal.
Not far from Cracow (Poland), a cavern has been recently discovered and examined by Count Zawisza. In the upper part of the floor (four feet in depth), consisting of vegetable earth, mould, and débris, occurred ashes, flint implements, and the split bones of the cave-bear, reindeer, horse, elk, and other animals. Beneath this layer appeared the broken bones of the mammoth, an ornament of ivory, and the perforated teeth of the cave-bear, stag, elk, wolf, and fox. Two thousand flint implements were obtained; and from the frequent occurrence of flint the cave was used by the troglodytes, or cave-men, as a dwelling; and by the remains of the fauna, it must have been occupied during the inter-glacial, and at the beginning of the reindeer epoch.