Primitive Man Part 31

Some of the hatchets seem to have been copied from models belonging to the Stone Age; these are probably the most ancient, and their ornamentation is of a very scanty character. Others are winged or with sockets, and a few have been found perforated with a transverse hole, like those which have long been used by civilised nations. In this hole a wooden handle was inserted, which was fixed by means of a strap, or merely forcibly driven in. The rarely-found specimens of this kind are sharply defined in shape and splendidly ornamented.

Figs. 215 and 216, taken from Sir J. Lubbock's work, represent the probable way in which handles were fitted to the various kinds of hatchets used in the North.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 215.--Mode of fixing the Handle to a Scandinavian Hatchet.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 216.--Another mode of fixing the Handle to a Scandinavian Hatchet.]

The blades of the bronze knives found in Scandinavia are, like those of Switzerland, somewhat curved in their shape, but the handles are much more richly ornamented. Two of these knives have furnished us with the only examples known of any representation of living beings during the bronze epoch. We may notice that on one of these knives, which is represented in fig. 217, taken from Sir J. Lubbock's work, a swan is roughly carved at the offset of the blade.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 217.--Danish Bronze Knife, of the Bronze Epoch.]

In another knife, which is represented in fig. 218, taken from the same work, the handle is formed by a human figure, executed with some degree of fidelity. The figure is in a standing position, and holds in front of it a nearly cylindrical-shaped vessel; the individual is represented as wearing large earrings. There is every reason to believe that this last-mentioned article belongs to the end of the bronze epoch, or else to a transitionary epoch between this and the following, for the blade is straight, like those of all the knives belonging to the iron age.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 218.--Danish Bronze Knife of the Bronze Epoch.]

The same thing may, doubtless, be said of several razors (fig. 219) with straight blades, which appear even overloaded with ornaments; among these embellishments is an attempt to represent a sort of vessel.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 219.--Blade of a Danish Razor of the Bronze Epoch.]

These designs evidently point to some very advanced period in the bronze epoch; and perhaps these objects may belong to the commencement of the iron age.

What, we may ask, was the wearing apparel of man during the period we are describing?

A very important discovery, made in 1861, in a _tumulus_ in Jutland (Denmark), has lately supplied us with the most accurate _data_ respecting the way in which the inhabitants of the north of Europe were clothed during the bronze epoch. In this _tumulus_ MM. Worsaae, and Herbst found three wooden coffins, one of which was smaller than the two others, and was no doubt that of a child. One of the two larger coffins was minutely examined by these _savants_, and measured inside 7 feet in length and 20 inches in width. It was closed up by means of a movable lid. By an extremely rare chance the soft parts of the body had been to some extent preserved, and had become converted into a black greasy substance. The bones were decomposed, and had decayed into a kind of blue powder. The brain had preserved its normal conformation. They found it at one end of the coffin (where the head had lain); it was still covered with a woollen cap, about 6 inches high, to which several black hairs were adhering.

Several woollen garments, in which the body had been buried, were also found in different parts of the coffin. We add a description of these garments.

There was in the first place a coa.r.s.e cloak (fig. 220) which appeared s.h.a.ggy in the inside, and was scalloped out round the neck. This cloak was 3 feet 4 inches long, and wide in proportion. Next there were two shawls nearly square in shape (fig. 221), ornamented with a long fringe, and measuring 4-1/2 feet in length, and 3-1/2 feet in width. Afterwards came a shirt (fig. 222), also scalloped out round the neck, and drawn in at the waist by means of a long narrow band. Lastly, at the feet of the body, two pieces of woollen material were found, which were 14 inches long, by 4 inches wide, and bore the appearance of having been the remains of gaiters. Close to the latter were also found vestiges of leather, evidently belonging to feet-coverings of some kind.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 220.--Woollen Cloak of the Bronze Epoch, found in 1861, in a Tomb In Denmark.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 221.--Woollen Shawl found in the same Tomb.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 222.--Woollen Shirt, taken from the same Tomb.]

The whole body had been wrapped up in the skin of an ox.

The coffin also contained a box, tied up with strips of osier or bark, and in this box was a smaller one, in which were found two woven woollen caps (fig. 223, 224), a comb (fig. 225), and a bronze razor.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 223.--First Woollen Cap found in the same Tomb.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 224.--Second Woollen Cap found in the same Tomb.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 225.--Bronze Comb found in the same Tomb.]

We must not forget to mention a bronze sword, placed on the left side of the body, in a wooden sheath; this sword measured about 26 inches in length.

There is no doubt that all these relics were those of a warrior of the bronze epoch; there is the less reason to doubt this, owing to the fact, that the objects taken from the two other coffins most certainly belonged to that period. These were a sword, a knife, a bodkin, an awl, a pair of tweezers, a double b.u.t.ton, and a small bronze bracelet; also a double tin b.u.t.ton, a ball of amber and a flint spear-head.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 226.--Warriors during the Bronze Epoch.]

The shape of the swords and knives shows that this burial-place in Jutland must be referred to the latter part of the bronze epoch--to a time, perhaps, when iron was first used.

Following out the _data_ afforded by these records, and all the discoveries which have been made in other tombs, we have given in fig.

226, a representation of _warriors of the bronze epoch_.

The accoutrements of the horseman of pre-historic ages are composed of a bronze sword, like those found in the tombs in Denmark, and a bronze hatchet and sword-belt. His horse is decked with round bronze discs, which, in after times, formed among the Romans the chief ornament of this faithful and intrepid auxiliary of man in all his combats. The horseman's head is bare; for no helmet or metallic head-covering has ever, at least, to our knowledge, been discovered in the tombs of the bronze epoch. The spear and bronze hatchet are the weapons of the foot-soldiers.

Next to the Scandinavian regions, Great Britain and Ireland occupy an important place in the history of the civilisation of the bronze epoch.

The same type of implements are found in these countries as in Denmark and Switzerland.

Hatchet-moulds (fig. 227) are also found there--a circ.u.mstance which proves that the founder's art was known and practised in these countries. The Dublin Museum contains a beautiful collection of various objects belonging to the bronze epoch.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 227.--Bronze Hatchet-mould found in Ireland.]

Some of the departments of France have also furnished objects belonging to the same period; but there is nothing peculiar among them which deserves mention.

Did any kind of religious worship exist among the men of the bronze epoch? Nothing would be more interesting than any discovery bearing on this point; but up to the present time no vestiges of anything in the shape of an idol have been found, nor anything whatever which authorizes us unhesitatingly to answer this question in the affirmative. The only thing which might prove the existence of any religious feeling, is the discovery, in various lacustrine settlements, of a certain number of crescent-shaped objects, most of them made of very coa.r.s.e baked earth and some of stone.

The dimensions of these crescents vary considerably; there are some which measure as much as 16 inches from one point to the other. They are ornamented with perfectly primitive designs, as shown in fig. 228, drawn at the Museum of Saint-Germain from one of the numerous specimens of this cla.s.s of objects.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 228.--Stone Crescent found in one of the Swiss Lakes.]

Several archaeologists consider these crescents to have been religious emblems or talismans which were suspended either outside or inside the habitations. Dr. Keller is of opinion that they bear some relation to the worship of the moon--an hypothesis which is not at all an impossible one; for all nations who have not attained to a certain degree of moral and intellectual culture adore the heavenly bodies as the sources of light and heat.

M. Carl Vogt, in considering the crescents which have been discovered in such large quant.i.ties in the lacustrine habitations, cannot admit that they indicate that any religious belief existed among these ancient nations. He attributes to these objects a very different kind of use, and, as we shall presently show, rather an odd one.

In the lectures on _pre-historic man_ which were delivered by Prof. Carl Vogt at Antwerp, in 1868, and have been reported by the Belgian journals,[37] when speaking on the subject of the crescents belonging to the bronze epoch, he expresses himself as follows:--

"My opinion is that these crescents were used as resting-places for the head during the night. Among many savage tribes we find the attention paid to the dressing of the hair carried to a high pitch, especially among the men; it was not until a later period that woman also devoted her cares to the culture of her _coiffure_. Now this care is, by many nations, carried out to a really curious extent. They inflict the most severe tortures on themselves in order to satisfy their vanity. Everyone has seen, in the 'Magasin Pittoresque' and other ill.u.s.trated journals, the strange head-dresses of the Abyssinian soldiers. They really seem to form a kind of fleece, and it may be noticed that each soldier carries in this hairy construction a large pin.

"Well, all this tends to explain the use of these crescents. In Abyssinia, as soon as a young girl is married it becomes her duty to devote herself to her husband's head of hair. This head of hair is made to a.s.sume a certain shape, which it has to retain during his whole lifetime. The labour which this process necessitates lasts for three years. Each hair is twisted round a stem of straw, and remains so until the straw perishes. The man's head is thus covered with a whole system of spirals, the top of which is a foot from the surface of his head.

During the whole remainder of his life this _coiffure_ must never be again disturbed. When asleep, the Abyssinian rests the nape of his neck on a triangle which he carries about everywhere with him. He has also a long pin, as it would be impossible for him to reach the skin of his head with the end of his finger.

"The same custom exists among the New Zealanders, who also have an apparatus upon which they rest their necks, in order, when asleep, to save their _coiffures_. They wear an enormous chignon, two feet high and ornamented with ribbons, of which they are very proud. The only difference between this chignon and certain others which I need not mention is, that the former cannot be removed at will. This object, thus adorned, rests, during the sleep of its owner, on a sort of framework.

"The Chinese and j.a.panese sleep, in the same way, on a bedstead bevelled off at the head; and in the Egyptian hieroglyphical drawings we find instruments evidently meant for the same use.

"It is very probable that during the bronze epoch great attention was devoted to the hair, and this is the more probable as in every tomb belonging to this period we find pins from 2 feet to 2-1/2 feet in length, furnished with large k.n.o.bs, and of the same shape as the pins used by the Abyssinian soldiers; and also, because during the Stone Age, as well as the Bronze Age, a kind of comb is found which is similar to that which is now used by the New Zealanders to scratch, rather than to comb, their heads. The heads of the pins are often very richly ornamented; they are of the most varied shapes, and are extremely common both in the tombs and also in the lacustrine dwellings.

"We have the less right to be astonished at our ancestors sleeping with their heads resting on such a machine as we have just described, knowing, as we do, that the hussars of Frederick the Great used to spend the whole night in arranging their _coiffures_!"

Thus, while Dr. Keller and many other archaeologists ascribe the _crescents_ found in the Swiss lakes to some kind of religious worship, M. Vogt, whose idea is of a much more prosaic character, does not attribute them to any other worship but that of _self_ as represented by the hair! The reader can take his choice between these two explanations.

We shall only remark, in corroboration of Dr. Keller's opinion, that certain Gallic tribes used for a religious symbol this very crescent which M. Vogt would make out to be a pillow--a stone pillow which, as it seems to us, must have been very hard, even for primitive man.

Various objects found in the dwellings of man belonging to the bronze epoch appear to have been religious symbols. Such, for instance, are the designs so often met with on swords, vases, &c. These drawings never represent objects in nature; they seem rather to be cabalistic signs or talismans. Most of them bear some relation to a circle; sometimes they are single circles, and sometimes combinations of circles. Many authors have had the idea of attributing them to the worship of the sun.

Another sign was still more often used, and it was known even as early as the Stone Age--we speak of the cross. It is one of the most ancient symbols that ever existed. M. G. de Mortillet, in a work ent.i.tled 'La Croix avant le Christianisme,' has endeavoured to establish the fact, that the cross has always been the symbol of a sect which contended against fetishism. This much is at least certain, that it is one of the most ancient symbolical signs; for it is found depicted on objects belonging to the Stone Age, and on some of the earliest relics of the Bronze Age. At the time of the Etruscans the cross was generally prevalent as a sign. But at a later period Christianity exclusively monopolized this religious symbol.