Fig. 5.—Etching of Reindeer on Bone, Kesslerloch Cavern.
Evidences of the Palæolithic men have been found in the Mendip Hill caves in Somerset, and at Kent’s Hole, near Torquay, Devon. Harpoons of deers’ antlers, barbed on one or both sides, also hammer stones, half spherical in shape, have been brought to light from these places.
Fig. 6.—Etching of Reindeer on Slate.
Fig. 7.—Etching of Mammoth on a piece of Mammoth Ivory.
The River-drift men preceded the Cave-men, as two different sets of implements found at different depths testify. Those found at the greatest depths are rougher, rounder, and more massive in character, with the outer surface of flint or quartzite nodule still remaining, as seen in some wedge-shaped hâches and hammer stones, they consequently belong to the Older Drift period; while the oval carefully chipped all round, and occasionally polished implements, belong to a much later and higher cultured state of the Palæolithic period. Both the River-drift men and the Cave-men lived in caverns in this country and in France, as some savages do now. Implements of the Palæolithic age have been found in Europe, North Africa, Asia Minor and India. The earlier River-drift man was a savage and lived by hunting, as no evidence of culture has been found that can be ascribed to him. After unknown ages perhaps had elapsed the Cave-men appear with more perfect instruments, and at least cultured in the knowledge of drawing and carving, which they did, as can be judged by the illustration given, with astonishing ability. The accurate forms of animals, as horses, mammoths, bears, aurochs, elks, reindeers, fish, seals, &c., and even attempts at the human figure, are evidences of this.
Fig. 7A.—Human and Animal Form, drawn by Bushmen of South Africa.