Primitive Man Part 14

FOOTNOTES:

[13] 'L'Homme Fossile des Cavernes de Lombrive et de Lherm.' Toulouse, 1862. Ill.u.s.trated. 'L'Age de Pierre dans les Vallees de Tarascon'

(Ariege). Tarascon, 1863.

[14] 'Sur deux Cavernes decouvertes dans la Montagne de Kaer a Ma.s.sat'

(Ariege). Quoted by Lyell, Appendix to 'The Antiquity of Man,' p. 247.

[15] 'De l'Existence de l'Homme pendant la Periode quaternaire dans la grotte de Lourdes' (Hautes-Pyrenees). ('Annales des Sciences Naturelles,' 4th series, vol. xvii.)

[16] 'Memoires de l'Academie de Montpellier' ('Section des Sciences'), 1857, vol. iii, p. 509.

[17] 'Sur une Caverne de l'Age de la Pierre, situee pres de Saint-Jean-d'Alcas' (Aveyron), 1864. 'Derniers Temps de l'Age de la Pierre Polie dans l'Aveyron', Montpellier, 1867. Ill.u.s.trated.

CHAPTER II.

The _Kjoekken-Moeddings_ or "Kitchen-middens" of Denmark--Mode of Life of the Men living in Denmark during the Polished-stone Epoch--The Domestication of the Dog--The Art of Fishing during the Polished-stone Epoch--Fishing-nets--Weapons and Instruments of War--Type of the Human Race; the Borreby Skull.

Although cla.s.sed in the lowest rank on account of the small extent of its territory and the number of its inhabitants, the Danish nation is, nevertheless, one of the most important in Europe, in virtue of the eminence to which it has attained in science and arts. This valiant, although numerically speaking, inconsiderable people, can boast of a great number of distinguished men who are an honour to science. The unwearied researches of their archaeologists and antiquarians have ransacked the dust of bygone ages, in order to call into new life the features of a vanished world. Their labours, guided by the observations of naturalists, have brought out into the clear light of day some of the earliest stages in man's existence and progress.

There is no part of the world more adapted than Denmark to this kind of investigation. Antiquities may be met with at every step; the real point in question is to know how to examine them properly, so as to obtain from them important revelations concerning the manners, customs, and manufactures of the pre-historic inhabitants. The Museum of Copenhagen, which contains antiquities from various Scandinavian states, is, in this respect, without a rival in the world.

Among the objects arranged in this well-stocked Museum a great many specimens may be observed which have come from the so-called _kitchen-middens_.

In the first place, what are these _kjoekken-moeddings_, or kitchen-middens, with their uncouth Scandinavian name?

Immense acc.u.mulations of sh.e.l.ls have been observed on different points of the Danish coast, chiefly in the north, where the sea enters those narrow deep creeks, known by the name of _fiords_. These deposits are not generally raised more than about 3 feet above the level of the sea; but in some steep places their alt.i.tude is greater. They are about 3 to 10 feet in thickness, and from 100 to 200 feet in width; their length is sometimes as much as 1000 feet, with a width of from 150 to 250 feet. On some of the more level sh.o.r.es they form perfect hills, on which, as at Havelse, windmills are sometimes built.

What do we meet with in these heaps? An immense quant.i.ty of sea-sh.e.l.ls, especially those of the oyster, broken bones of mammiferous animals, remains of birds and fish; and, lastly, some roughly-wrought flints.

The first idea formed with regard to these kitchen-middens was that they were nothing but banks of fossil sh.e.l.ls, beds which had formerly been submerged, and subsequently brought to light by an upheaval of the earth caused by some volcanic cause. But M. Steenstrup, a Danish _savant_, opposed this opinion, basing his contradiction on the fact that these sh.e.l.ls belong to four different species which are never found together, and consequently they must have been brought together by man. M.

Steenstrup also called attention to the fact that almost all these sh.e.l.ls must have belonged to full-grown animals, and that there were hardly any young ones to be found amongst them. A peculiarity of this kind is an evident indication of the exercise of some rational purpose, in fact, of an act of the human will.

When all the _debris_ and relics which we have enumerated were discovered in these kitchen-middens, when the remains of hearths--small spots which still retained traces of fire--were found in them, the origin of these heaps were readily conjectured. Tribes once existed there who subsisted on the products of fishing and hunting, and threw out round their cabins the remains of their meals, consisting especially of the _debris_ of sh.e.l.l-fish. These remains gradually acc.u.mulated, and const.i.tuted the considerable heaps which we are discussing; hence the name of _kjoekken-moedding_, composed of two words--_kjoekken_, kitchen; and _moedding_, heap of refuse. These "kitchen-middens," as they are called, are, therefore, the refuse from the meals of the primitive population of Denmark.

If we consider the heaps of oyster-sh.e.l.ls and other _debris_ which acc.u.mulate in the neighbourhood of eating-houses in certain districts, we may readily understand, comparing great things with small, how these Danish kitchen-middens were produced. I myself well recollect having noticed in the environs of Montpellier small hillocks of a similar character, formed by the acc.u.mulation of oyster-sh.e.l.ls, mussels, and clams.

When the conviction was once arrived at that these kitchen-middens were the refuse of the meals of the primitive inhabitants, the careful excavation of all these heaps scattered along the Danish coast became an extremely interesting operation. It might be justly expected that some data would be collected as to the customs and manufactures of the ancient dwellers in these countries. A commission was, in consequence, appointed by the Danish Government to examine these deposits, and to publish the results of its labours.

This commission was composed of three _savants_, each of whom were eminent in their respective line--Steenstrup, the naturalist, Forchhammer, a geologist, and the archaeologist, Worsaae--and performed its task with as much talent as zeal. The observations which were made are recorded in three reports presented to the Academy of Sciences at Copenhagen. From these doc.u.ments are borrowed most of the details which follow.

Before proceeding to acquaint our readers with the facts brought to light by the Danish commission, it will be well to remark that Denmark does not stand alone in possessing these kitchen-middens. They have been discovered in England--in Cornwall and Devonshire--in Scotland, and even in France, near Hyeres (Bouches-du-Rhone).[18]

MM. Sauvage and Hamy have pointed out to M. de Mortillet the existence of deposits of this kind in the Pas-de-Calais. They may be noticed, say these naturalists, at La Salle (Commune of Outreau) at certain parts of the coast of Portel, and especially a very large heap at Cronquelets (Commune of Etaples.) They chiefly consist of the _cardium edule_, which appear to abound in the kitchen-middens of the Pas-de-Calais.

Messrs. Evans, Prestwich, and Lubbock observed one of these deposits at Saint-Valery, near the mouth of the Somme. Added to this, they have been described by various travellers as existing in different parts of the world. Dampier studied them in Australia, and Darwin in Tierra del Fuego, where deposits of the same character are now in the course of formation. M. Pereira da Costa found one on the coast of Portugal; Sir C. Lyell has testified to the existence of others on the coasts of Ma.s.sachusetts and Georgia, in the United States; M. Strobel, on the coasts of Brazil. But those in Denmark are the only deposits of this kind which have been the subject of investigations of a deliberate and serious character.

Almost all these kitchen-middens are found on the coast, along the _fiords_, where the action of the waves is not much felt. Some have, however, been found several miles inland; but this must be owing to the fact that the sea once occupied these localities, from which it has subsequently retired. They are not to be met with on some of the Danish coasts, as those of the western side; this, on the one hand, may be caused by their having been washed away by the sea, which has there encroached on the land, or, on the other hand, by the fact that the western coast was much less sheltered than the other parts of the Danish peninsula. They are not unfrequently to be found in the adjacent islands.

These kitchen-middens form, in a general way, undulating mounds, which sink in a gentle incline from the centre to the circ.u.mference. The spot where they are thickest indicates the site of the habitations of man.

Sometimes, we may notice one princ.i.p.al hillock, surrounded by smaller mounds; or else, in the middle of the heaps, there is a spot which must have been the site of the encampment.

These refuse deposits are almost entirely made up of sh.e.l.ls of various kinds of molluscs; the princ.i.p.al species are the oyster, the c.o.c.kle, the mussel, and the periwinkle. Others, such as whelks, _helices_ (edible snails), _na.s.sa_, and _trigonella_, are also found; but they are comparatively few in number.

Fishes' bones are discovered in great abundance in the kitchen-middens.

They belong to the cod, herring, dab, and eel. From this we may infer that the primitive inhabitants of Denmark were not afraid of venturing out to brave the waves of the sea in their frail skiffs; for the herring and the cod cannot, in fact, be caught except at some little distance from the sh.o.r.e.

Mammalian bones are also plentifully distributed in the Danish kitchen-middens. Those most commonly met with are the remains of the stag, the roe, and the boar, which, according to M. Steenstrup's statement, make up ninety-seven hundredths of the whole ma.s.s. Others are the relics of the urus, the wolf, the dog, the fox, the wild-cat, the lynx, the marten, the otter, the porpoise, the seal, the water-rat, the beaver and the hedgehog.

The bison, the reindeer, the elk, the horse, and the domestic ox have not left behind them any trace which will permit us to a.s.sume that they existed in Denmark at the period when these deposits were formed.

Amongst other animals, we have mentioned the dog. By various indications, we are led to the belief that this intelligent creature had been at this time reduced to a state of domesticity. It has been remarked that a large number of the bones dispersed in these kitchen-middens are incomplete; exactly the same parts are almost always missing, and certain bones are entirely wanting. M. Steenstrup is of opinion that these deficiencies may be owing to the agency of dogs, which have made it their business to ransack the heaps of bones and other matters which were thrown aside by their masters. This hypothesis was confirmed, in his idea, when he became convinced, by experience, that the bones which were deficient in these deposits were precisely those which dogs are in the habit of devouring, and that the remaining portions of those which were found were not likely to have been subject to their attacks on account of their hardness and the small quant.i.ty of a.s.similable matter which was on or in them.

Although primitive man may have elevated the dog to the dignity of being his companion and friend, he was, nevertheless, sometimes in the habit of eating him. No doubt he did not fall back upon this last resort except in cases when all other means of subsistence failed him. Bones of the dog, broken by the hand of man, and still bearing the marks of having been cut with a knife, are amongst the remains found, and place the fact beyond any question.

We find, besides, the same taste existing here which we have seen manifested in other ages and different countries. All the long bones have been split in order to extract their marrow--the dainty so highly appreciated by man during the epochs of the reindeer and the mammoth.

Some remains of birds have been found in the kitchen-middens; but most of the species are aquatic--a fact which may be readily explained by the seaboard position of the men who formed these deposits.

As the result of this review of the various substances which were made use of for food by the men of the polished-stone epoch, we may infer that they were both hunters and fishermen.

Animals of rapid pace were hunted down by means of the dart or arrow, and any more formidable prey was struck down at close quarters by some sharp stone weapon.

Fishing was practised, as at the present day, by means of the line and net.

We have already seen that men, during the reindeer epoch, probably used hooks fastened at the end of lines. These hooks, as we have before remarked, were made with splinters of bone or reindeer horn. During the polished-stone epoch this fishing instrument was much improved, and they now possessed the real hook with a recurvate and pointed end. This kind of hook was found by Dr. Uhlmann in one of the most ancient lacustrine stations of Switzerland. But a curved hook was both difficult to make and also not very durable; instead of it was used another and more simple sort--the straight skewer fixed to serve as a hook. This is a simple fragment of bone, about an inch long, very slender and pointed at the two ends (fig. 77). Sometimes it is a little flattened in the middle, or bored with a hole, into which the line was fastened.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 77.--Bone Skewers used as Fish-hooks.]

This little splinter of bone, when hidden by the bait and fastened to a line, was swallowed by the fish and could not be disgorged, one of the pointed ends being certain to bury itself in the entrails of the creature.

Some of our readers will perhaps be surprised to learn that men of the polished-stone epoch were in the habit of fishing with nets; but it is a fact that cannot be called into question, for the very conclusive reason, that the remains of these nets have been found.

How could it possibly come to pa.s.s that fishing-nets of the polished-stone epoch should have been preserved to so late a period as our times? This is exactly the question we are about to answer.

On the lakes of Switzerland and of other countries, there used to exist certain habitations of man. These are the so-called _lacustrine dwellings_ which we shall have hereafter to consider in some considerable detail, when we come to the Bronze Age. The men who lived on these lakes were necessarily fishers; and some traces of their fishing-nets have been discovered by a circ.u.mstance which chemistry finds no difficulty in explaining. Some of these lake-dwellings were destroyed by fire; as, for instance, the lacustrine settlements of Robenhausen and w.a.n.gen in Switzerland. The outsides of these cabins, which were almost entirely constructed of wood, burnt, of course, very readily; but the objects inside, chiefly consisting of nets--the sole wealth of these tribes--could not burn freely for want of oxygen, but were only charred with the heat. They became covered with a slight coating of some empyreumatic or tarry matter--an excellent medium for insuring the preservation of any organic substance. These nets having been scorched by the fire, fell into the water with the _debris_ of the hut, and, in consequence of their precipitate fall, never having come in actual contact with the flame, have been preserved almost intact at the bottom of the lakes. When, after a long lapse of centuries, they have been again recovered, these _debris_ have been the means of affording information as to the manufacture both of the fishing-nets, and also as to the basket-work, vegetable provisions, &c., of these remote ages.

In one of Dr. Keller's papers on these _lacustrine dwellings_, of which we shall have more to say further on, we find a description and delineation of certain fishing-nets which were recovered from the lake of Robenhausen. In the Museum of Saint-Germain we inspected with curiosity several specimens of these very nets, and we here give a representation of one of them. There were nets with wide meshes like that shown in fig. 78, and also some more closely netted. The mesh is a square one, and appears to have been made on a frame by knotting the string at each point of intersection. All these nets are made of flax, for hemp had not yet been cultivated.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 78.--Fishing-net with wide Meshes.]

These nets were held suspended in the water by means of floats, made, not of cork, but of the thick bark of the pine-tree, and were held down to the bottom of the water by stone weights. We give a representation here (fig. 79), of one of these stone weights taken from a specimen exhibited in the Museum of Saint-Germain.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 79.--Stone Weight used for sinking the Fishing-nets.]