Fig. 119.—Group of Reindeer, Dordogne. (Broca.)
The most striking figure that has been discovered is that of the mammoth,[225] [Fig. 120], engraved on a fragment of its own tusk, the peculiar spiral curvature of the tusk and the long mane, which are not now to be found in any living elephant, proving that the original was familiar to the eye of the artist. The discovery of whole carcases of the animal in northern Siberia, preserved from decay in the frozen cliffs and morasses, has made us acquainted with the existence of the long hairy mane. Had not it thus been handed down to our eyes, we should probably have treated this most accurate drawing as a mere artist’s freak. Its peculiarities are so faithfully depicted that it is quite impossible for the animal to be confounded with either of the two living species. These drawings probably employed the idle hours of the hunter, and perpetuate the scenes which he witnessed in the chase. They are full of artistic feeling, and are evidently drawn from life. The mammoth is engraved on its own ivory, the reindeer generally on reindeer antler, and the stag on stag antler.
Fig. 120.—Mammoth engraved on Ivory, La Madelaine (1/2). (Lartet and Christy.)
From all these facts we must picture to our minds, that these ancient dwellers in the caves of Aquitaine lived by hunting and fishing, that they were acquainted with fire, and that they were clad with skins sewn together with sinews or strips of intestines. That they did not possess the dog is shown, not merely by the negative evidence of its not having been discovered, but also by the fact that the bones which it invariably eats, such as the vertebræ, are preserved. They did not possess any domestic animals, and there is no evidence that they were acquainted with the potter’s art. M. de Mortillet’s view, that the art of making pottery was unknown in the palæolithic age, seems to me to be probably true, the reputed cases of the discovery of potsherds being always connected with suspicious circumstances, which render it probable that they were subsequently introduced.
Besides the remains of the animals in the refuse-heaps were fragmentary portions of human skeletons, which, however, were not scraped or broken so as to imply the practice of cannibalism.
Caves of Belgium.
Fig. 121.—Carved Implement of Reindeer Antler, Goyet (1/2). (Dupont.)
The researches of Dr. Schmerling[226] into the caves of Belgium, in 1829–30, revealed the fact that the animals so abundant in the caves of Germany, were equally numerous in those in the neighbourhood of Liége, and the flint flakes, and the fragments of human bones, which he found may possibly be of palæolithic age. He also discovered the remains of the porcupine, a species no longer living north of the Alps and Pyrenees. The systematic exploration, however, of the palæolithic caves in that district was not carried out until, in the year 1864, M. Dupont[227] began the investigation of those in the neighbourhood of Dinant-sur-Meuse, on behalf of the Belgian Government. His results, based upon the examination of upwards of twenty caves and rock-shelters, are published in a series of papers read before the Royal Academy of Belgium and subsequently in a separate work. Besides the remains of the animals living in Belgium within the historic period, he met with the ibex, chamois, and marmot, which are now to be found only in the mountainous districts of Europe, the tailless hare, lemming, and arctic fox, of the northern regions, the Antelope saiga, grizzly bear, lion, hyæna, and others. Most of these species occurred in refuse accumulations, their remains being in the fragmentary condition of those of the French caves. The associated implements are of the same type as those of Périgord, and some of them are ornamented in the same manner as, for example, that from the cavern of Goyet, [Fig. 121], termed a “bâton de commandement,” but which, from its analogy with similar articles in the British Museum, is most probably an arrow-straightener. Those of flint are also of the same kind, and in several of the caves there was the same association of fragmentary human remains with the relics of the feasts as in the French refuse-heaps.