Primitive Man

by Louis Figuier

"These ancient tribes and all their customs, after having been buried in oblivion for thousands and thousands of years, are again vividly brought before our eyes; and, like the wondrous bird, which, in its ashes, found a new source of life, antiquity lives again in the relics of its former existence.

"We may almost fancy that we can see them in their dark and subterranean retreats, crouching round their hearths, and skilfully and patiently chipping out their flint instruments and shaping their reindeer-horn tools, in the midst of all the pestilential emanations arising from the various animal remains which their carelessness has allowed to remain in their dwellings. Skins of wild beasts are stripped of their hair, and, by the aid of flint needles, are converted into garments. In our mind's eye, we may see them engaged in the chase, and hunting wild animals—their only weapons being darts and spears, the fatal points of which are formed of nothing but a splinter of flint.

"Again, we are present at their feasts, in which, during the period when their hunting has been fortunate, a horse, a bear, or a reindeer becomes the more noble substitute for the tainted flesh of the rat, their sole resource in the time of famine.

"Now, we see them trafficking with the tribes inhabiting the region now called France, and procuring the jet and fossil shells with which they love to adorn themselves, and the flint which is to them so precious a material. On one side they are picking up the fluor spar, the colour of which is pleasing to their eyes; on the other, they are digging out the great slabs of sandstone which are to be placed as hearthstones round their fire.

"But, alas! inauspicious days arrive, and certainly misfortune does not seem to spare them. A falling in of the roof of their cave drives them out of their chief dwelling-place. The objects of their worship, their weapons, and their utensils—all are buried there, and they are forced to fly and take up their abode in another spot.

"The ravages of death break in upon them; how great are the cares which are now lavished upon those whom they have lost! They bear the corpse into its cavernous sepulchre; some weapons, an amulet, and perhaps an urn, form the whole of the funeral furniture. A slab of stone prevents the inroad of wild beasts. Then begins the funeral banquet, celebrated close by the abode of the dead; a fire is lighted, great animals are cut up, and portions of their smoking flesh are distributed to each. How strange the ceremonies that must then have taken place! ceremonies like those told us of the savages of the Indian and African solitudes. Imagination may easily depict the songs, the dances and the invocations, but science is powerless to call them into life.

"The sepulchre is often reopened; little children and adults came in turn to take their places in the gloomy cave. Thirteen times the same ceremonial occurs, and thirteen times the slab is moved to admit the corpses.

"But the end of this primitive age is at last come. Torrents of water break in upon the country. Its inhabitants, driven from their abodes, in vain take refuge on the lofty mountain summits. Death at last overtakes them, and a dark cavern is the tomb of the wretched beings, who, at Furfooz, were witnesses of this immense catastrophe.

"Nothing is respected by the terrible element. The sepulchre, the object of such care on the part of the artless tribe, is burst open before the torrent, and the bones of the dead bodies, disjointed by the water, are dispersed into the midst of the crumbling earth and stones. Their former habitation alone is exempt from this common destruction, for it has been protected by a previous catastrophe—the sinking in of its roof on to the ground of the cave."

Having now given a sketch of the chief features presented by man and his surroundings during the reindeer epoch; having described the most important objects of his skill, and dwelt upon the products of his artistic faculties; it now remains for us to complete, in a scientific point of view, the study of this question, by notifying the sources from which we have been able to gather our data, and to bring home to our minds these interesting ideas. Under this head, we may state that almost all the information which has been obtained has been derived from caves; and it will, therefore, be best to make a few brief remarks on the caverns which have been the scene of these various discoveries.