A WORKER IN THE STONE AGE
Making an axehead of flint, like that photographed [on the opposite page]. From the painting by F. Cormon.
LARGER IMAGE
From the occurrence, in the deposits of the Somme, of reindeer that contain the stone implements of Drift Man, we can not, as we saw, exactly settle in what part of the Drift Era man lived there, whether in the Interglacial Period, to which numerous animal remains found there doubtless belong, or not until the “Reindeer” Period, as the last Glacial and early Postglacial Periods were called, when the reindeer was most largely distributed over France and Central Europe. One is inclined to date man’s habitation of the Somme valley back to the Interglacial Period; but it is certain that the relic-bed near Taubach is the first, and, as far as I can see, the only one hitherto, that has given sure proof of Interglacial Man in Europe. There the oldest vestiges of man in Europe were found that have yet been absolutely proved. We have not hitherto succeeded in Europe in tracing man farther back than the Interglacial Period. Relics of him are hitherto as absent in the older Drift as they are in the Tertiary.
A WORKMAN’S TOOL IN THE STONE AGE
Flint implement found in Gray’s Inn, London; now in British Museum.
The Taubach relic-bed also furnished no bones of Drift Man among all the parts of skeletons of Drift animals that we have mentioned. Here, too, as in the Somme valley, the proof of the presence of man is based on the works of his hand and mind. Here, too, stone implements and stone weapons are the chief things to be mentioned. But whereas, in the chalk district of France, flints of every size were to be had in the greatest abundance for the preparation of weapons and tools, corresponding stones are not exactly wanting at the two standard German places, though they occur in limited number and size. It is due to this that the larger forms of flint implements, which are most in evidence in the Somme valley, are absent at Taubach. On the other hand, smaller “knives and flakes”—Lyell’s third form of Drift flint implements—occur here with comparative frequency and variety of form. Next to the usual lancet-shaped knife, worked flint flakes, of triangular prismatic form, with sharp corners, are most numerous at Taubach, and scrapers, chisels, awls, and the chipping-stones with which the stone implements were produced may also be distinguished among other things. The material for the implements was supplied by the older Drift débris of the valley—namely, flint, flinty slate, and quartz porphyry.
Besides the stone implements which alone were observed in the Somme valley, still further important relics were found here in their primary situs. Above all, numerous finds of charcoal and burnt bones prove that the Drift Men of Taubach not only knew how to kindle fire, but were also accustomed to roast the flesh of the animals they killed in the chase. Stones and pieces of shell limestone also occur which have become reddish and hard from the action of heat. These are to be regarded as the floors and side-walls of the fireplaces on which the food was then and there prepared. The animal bones, especially those that were taken up from around the fireplace, appear in most cases to be remains of meals. This is shown at once by the fact that bones of young representatives of the large beasts of the chase—such as the rhinoceros, elephant, and bear—are very frequent as compared with the rare occurrence of full-grown animals.
Hunters of the Stone Age