A Manual of the Antiquity of Man

by J. P. MacLean

CHAPTER IX.

MAN OF THE REINDEER EPOCH.

The Reindeer Epoch, approaching nearer the present age than those already enumerated, presents man under a more favorable aspect, and affords a better view of his traits of character and manner of living. Not only the sturdy climate spurs him to action, but a higher type is supplanting the original savages. The brachycephalic, or round-headed, has penetrated the recesses of that wild country and brought with him the art of making more perfect implements. This new type was of short stature, having small hands and feet. If Asia be the home of man, then from that country, advanced in civilization, came the vanguard who were destined to supplant their predecessors, tame the wild beasts, and conquer the forests. Representatives of this type are found in the Lapps and Fins. Between the two existing races—dolichocephalic and brachycephalic—there may have been a long and bitter strife. The former was large, stout, fearless, and cruel; the latter, small, hardy, and more intelligent. It was a conflict between brute force and intelligence. The more perfect weapons must have told fearfully against the rude axes and arrows of the dolichocephalic. It could not have been a war of extermination, for finally an intermixture took place, producing a medium, as may be judged from the exhumed skulls.

Dwellings.—As in the past ages, man continued to dwell, for the most part, in caves. If the cave was small, he occupied every portion; but if large, only that part near the opening was used. In the centre of this dwelling he made a hearth, out of stones sunk in the floor, and with the fire placed upon it, he cooked his meals and warmed his body. This mode of life did not always satisfy him, for he ventured out, and under the projection of an overhanging rock he built him a booth, or rude hut, out of boughs, and the poles of fallen timber. These dwellings, whether in caves or under the rocks, were near some stream.

Clothing.—The climate being cold, he probably ceased to use the inner bark of trees, and depended solely on the skins of animals. The skins were prepared by the flint scrapers, and then rendered supple by rubbing into them the brains and the marrow extracted from the skulls and long bones of the reindeer. These garments may have been artistically shaped, for they understood the art of sewing. With the bodkin they pierced the skin, and with the needle, end was held to end and side to side, and the same made permanent by the sinew of some animal.

Food.—These people were essentially hunters, and lived principally upon the reindeer, which they attacked with their spears and arrows. The horse, elk, ox, ibex, and the chamois, formed a considerable part of their food. The meat was cooked on the rough hearths, and the skull and the long bones were split open in order to extract the brains and marrow, which formed a delicious dish. To this they also added fish and, occasionally, certain birds, such as the heath-cock, swan, and owl. The chase did not always afford them sufficient food, and at times they were forced to subsist on the water-rat.

Enough evidence has been produced to show that these people were cannibals. Human finger-joints were discovered among the remains of cooking at Solutré in Mâconnais. M. Issel found, at a point on the road from Genoa to Nice, some human bones which had been calcined, and were of a whitish color, light, and friable. The incrustations on their surface still contained small fragments of carbon, and some of them showed notches made by some sharp instrument. In one of the grottos of Northern Italy M. Costa de Beauregard found the small shin-bone of a child, which had been carefully emptied and cleansed. Professor Owen thinks he can recognize the trace of human teeth on some human skulls and children's bones found in Scotland, and promiscuously mixed with sculptured flints and the remains of pottery.

The Arts.—Man had not yet discovered the value of metal, but formed his instruments out of flint, bone, and the horn of the reindeer. The hatchet was but little used, and the principal weapons were the flint-knife, arrow-heads, and occasionally the lower jaw-bone of the cave-bear, with its pointed canine tooth. The articles of domestic use were rough pottery, knives, scrapers, saws, bodkins, needles, and other wrought implements. He had articles for ornamenting his person and pleasing his fancy, such as shells for beads, and the whistle for delighting his ear. The art of engraving was practised to a great extent, and so admirably did he execute his designs that, after the lapse of thousands of years, the figures are easily recognized.

The staff of authority would imply that there were certain individuals who were recognized as chiefs or leaders. Some system must have prevailed, for without it the manufactories at Laugeriè-Basse and Laugerie-Haute could not have been carried on. In the first of these workshops the fabrications were almost wholly spear-heads, and in the second reindeer horn was used for the weapons and implements.