Fig. 1.—Horse, Upper Cave Earth, Robin Hood Cave.
Fig. 2.—Ibex Carved on Antler.
From the drawings of animals which have been found etched and carved on bone, horn, and stones, we can judge of the high qualifications of the Cave-men as artists. Their work in animal drawing ranks higher than that of any historic savage race, and as artists they were infinitely of a higher order than their more scientific successors, the Neolithic men, or the men of the Bronze age.
Fig. 3.—Prehistoric Carving.
Fig. 4.—Esquimaux Carving.
It was owing to the discovery of these bone and ivory etchings that geologists were able to definitely connect the Cave-men of the Thames Valley with those of France, Belgium, and Switzerland. At Cresswell Crags, in Derbyshire, in the caves, caverns, and fissures known as the Pin Hole, Robin Hood’s Cave, Mother Grundy’s Parlour, a great quantity of bones have been found, some of which were broken by the hand of man, and amongst these some flint implements in the lower cave earth. Above this in the stalagmatic breccia more bones were found and implements made of quartzite and flint, together with fragments of charcoal. Lance heads, flint borers, a bone awl, and a fragment of bone ornamented with a zigzag or chevron pattern—probably the oldest bit of ornament known—were found together with the most important find of all, namely, a piece of rib bone with an etching of a horse’s head and neck with a hogged mane (Fig. 1), the first instance of an animal form found in England. These objects may be seen in the British Museum.