Fig. 58.—Spoon of Reindeer Horn.
In various caves—at Les Eyzies, Laugerie-Basse, and Chaffant, commune of Savigné (Vienne)—whistles of a peculiar kind have been found (fig. 59). They are made from the first joint of the foot of the reindeer or some other ruminant of the stag genus. A hole has been bored in the base of the bone, a little in front of the metatarsal joint. If one blows into this hole, placing the lower lip in the hollow answering to the above-named joint, a shrill sound is produced, similar to that made by blowing into a piped key. We ourselves have had the pleasure of verifying the fact, at the Museum of Saint-Germain, that these primitive whistles act very well.
Fig. 59.—Knuckle-Bone of Reindeer's Foot, bored with a hole and used as a Whistle.
The settlements at Périgord have also furnished a certain number of staves made of reindeer horn (figs. 60, 61), the proper functions of which no one has succeeded in properly explaining. They are invariably bored with one or more holes at the base, and are covered with designs to which we shall hereafter refer. M. Lartet has thought that they were perhaps symbols or staves of authority.
Fig. 60.—Staff of authority in Reindeer's Horn, found in the Cave of Périgord.