Primitive Man Part 8

The cave of Moustier, situated about 80 feet above the Vezere, is celebrated for the great number and characteristic shapes of its stone implements, which we have before spoken of. Hatchets of the almond-shaped type, like those of the _diluvium_ of Abbeville and Saint-Acheul, were very plentiful. Bi-convex spear-heads were also found, of very careful workmanship, and instruments which might be held in the hand, some of them of considerable dimensions; but no pieces of bone or of reindeer's horn were discovered which had been adapted to any purpose whatever. The bones were those of the great bear and cave-hyaena, accompanied by separate _laminae_ of molars of the mammoth, the use of which it is impossible to explain. Similar fragments were met with in some of the other Perigord settlements, and M. Lartet also found some at Aurignac.

Next to the cave of Pey de l'Aze, on which we shall not dwell, come the caverns of Bas-Languedoc, which we shall only enumerate. They consist of the caves of Pondres and Souvignargues (Herault), which were studied in 1829 by M. de Christol, who recognised, from the data he derived from them, the co-existence of man and the great extinct mammals; also those of Pontil and La Roque, the first explored by M. Paul Gervais, the second by M. Boutin.

We shall now consider the caves of the department of Ariege, some of which furnish objects of very considerable interest. They consist of the caves of _Ma.s.sat_, _Lherm_, and _Bouicheta_.

Two caves, very remarkable on account of their extent, have been explored by M. Fontan; they are situate in the valley of Ma.s.sat, which contains others of less importance. One is placed at the foot of a limestone mountain, about 60 feet above the bottom of the valley; the opening of the other is much higher up; only the latter belongs to the great bear epoch.

From the results of his explorations, M. Fontan is of opinion that the ground in them has been greatly altered by some violent inundation which has intermingled the remains of various geological epochs. This _savant_ found in the cave of Ma.s.sat the bones of the bear, the hyaena and the great cave-lion, the fox, the badger, the wild boar, the roe, &c., two human teeth, and a bone arrow-head. Two beds of ashes and charcoal were also remarked at different depths.

In the upper cave of Ma.s.sat was found the curious stone on which is designed with tolerable correctness a sketch of the great cave-bear (fig. 36). This singular record marks out for us the earliest trace of the art of design, which we shall find developing itself in a more decisive way during the pre-historic period which follows the one we are now considering.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 36.--Sketch of the Great Bear on a Stone found in the Cave of Ma.s.sat.]

The caves of Lherm and Bouicheta were inspected by MM. Garrigou and Filhol, who found in them bones of most of the great mammals belonging to extinct species, and particularly those of the great bear, many of which are broken, and still show the marks of the instruments which were used for cutting the flesh off them. Some have been gnawed by hyaenas, as proved by the deep grooves with which they are marked. Lower jaw-bones of the great bear, and of the great cave-lion, have been found fashioned, according to a uniform plan, in the shape of hoes. MM.

Garrigou and Filhol were of opinion that these jaw-bones, when thus modified, might have been used as offensive weapons.

The cave of Lherm contained also human bones; namely, three teeth, a fragment of a _scapula_, a broken _ulna_ and _radius_, and the last joint of the great toe; all these remains presented exactly the same appearance and condition as those of the _Ursus spelaeus_, and must, therefore, have belonged to the same epoch.

We have stated that numerous caves have been explored in England, Belgium, and several other countries. We shall not undertake to give with regard to each details which would only be a reproduction of those which precede. We therefore confine ourselves to mentioning the most celebrated of the caverns belonging to the epoch of the great bear and the mammoth.

In England we have the Kent's Hole and Brixham caverns, near Torquay in Devonshire, the latter of which is many hundred yards in extent; the caves of the Gower peninsula, in Glamorganshire (South Wales), which have been carefully studied within the last few years by Messrs.

Falconer and Wood; in these were found flint instruments along with bones of the _Elephas antiquus_ and the _Rhinoceros hemitaechus_, species which were still more ancient than the mammoth and the _Rhinoceros tichorhinus_; those of Kirkdale, in Yorkshire, explored by Dr. Buckland, the geologist; those near Wells in Somersetshire, Wokey Hole, Minchin Hole, &c.

We must mention, in the north of Italy, the caves of Chiampo and Laglio, on the edge of the Lake of Como, in which, just as at Vergisson, fragments of rough pottery have been discovered, indicating some degree of progress in the manufacture; also the caves in the neighbourhood of Palermo, and especially those of San Ciro and Macagnone.

In the last-mentioned cave, in the midst of an osseous _breccia_ which rose to the roof, Dr. Falconer collected flint instruments, splinters of bone, pieces of baked clay and wood charcoal mixed up with large land-sh.e.l.ls (_Helix vermiculata_), in a perfect state of preservation, horses' teeth, and the excrements of the hyaena, all cemented together in a deposit of carbonate of lime. In a lower bed were found the bones of various species of the hippopotamus, the _Elephas antiquus_, and other great mammals.

Lastly, Spain, Algeria, Egypt, and Syria also present to our notice caves belonging to the Stone Age.

In the New World various bone-caverns have been explored. We must especially mention Brazil, in which country Lund searched no less than eight hundred caves of different epochs, exhuming in them a great number of unknown animal species. In one of these caves, situated near the Lake of Sumidouro, Lund found some human bones which had formed a part of thirty individuals of different ages, and were "in a similar state of decomposition, and in similar circ.u.mstances to the bones of various extinct species of animals."

Thus far we have designedly omitted to mention the Belgian caves. They have, in fact, furnished us with such remarkable relics of former ages that, in dealing with them, we could not confine ourselves to a mere notice. The caves in the neighbourhood of Liege, which were explored in 1833 by Schmerling, deserve to be described in some detail.

Schmerling examined more than forty caves in the Valley of the Meuse and its tributaries. The access to some of these caves was so difficult that in order to reach them it was necessary for the explorer to let himself down by a cord, and then to crawl flat on his face through narrow galleries, so as to make his way into the great chambers; there he was obliged to remain for hours, and sometimes whole days, standing up to his knees in mud, with water dripping from the walls upon his head, while overlooking the workmen breaking up with their pick-axes the layer of stalagmite, so as to bring to light the bone earth--the records on which are inscribed the palpable evidences of the high antiquity of man.

Schmerling was compelled to accomplish a perilous expedition of this kind in his visit to the cave of Engis, which has become celebrated by the two human skulls found there by him.

Nearly all the caves in the province of Liege contain scattered bones of the great bear, the cave-hyaena, the mammoth, and the rhinoceros, intermixed with those of species which are still living, such as the wolf, the wild boar, the roe, the beaver, the porcupine, &c. Several of them contained human bones, likewise much scattered and rubbed; they were found in all positions, and at every elevation, sometimes above and sometimes below the above-mentioned animal remains; from this it may be concluded that these caves had been filled with running water, which drifted in all kinds of _debris_. None of them, however, contained any gnawed bones, or the fossil excrement of any animal species, which puts an end to the hypothesis that these caves had been used as dens by wild beasts. Here and there bones were found belonging to the same skeleton, which were in perfect preservation, and lying in their natural juxtaposition; they were probably drifted into the cave by gently flowing water, while still covered with their flesh, and no movement of the ground had since separated them. But no complete skeleton has as yet been discovered, even among the smaller species of mammiferous animals, the disjunction of which is generally less complete.

In almost all the caves Schmerling met with flint implements chipped into the form of hatchets and knives, and he calls attention to the fact "that none of them could have been introduced into the caves at a posterior epoch, as they were found in the same position as the animal remains which accompanied them." In the cave of Clokier, about two and a half miles from Liege, he picked up a polished bone in the shape of a needle, having an eye pierced at the base; in the cave of Engis he likewise found a carved bone, and also some worked flints.

We here close our enumeration of the various sources of the archaeological records which have served to reconstruct the history of primitive man during that period of the stone age which we have designated under the name of the epoch of the great bear and the mammoth. Before concluding our remarks as to this period, there is one question which we must enter upon, although there is a great deficiency in any positive records by which it might be solved. What was the organic type of man during this epoch? Could we, for instance, determine what amount of intellect man possessed in this earliest and ancient date of his history?

The answer to this question--although a very uncertain answer--has been supposed to have been found in the caves of Engis and Engihoul, of which we have just spoken as having been explored by Schmerling with such valuable results.

The cave of Engis contained the remains of three human beings, among which were two skulls, one that of a youth, the other that of an adult.

The latter only was preserved, the former having fallen into dust while it was being extracted from the ground. Two small fragments of a human skull were likewise found at Engihoul; also a great many of the bones of the hands and feet of three individuals.

The Engis skull has been a subject of protracted argument to the palaeontologists and anatomists of the present day. Floods of ink have been spilt upon the question; discussions without end have taken place with respect to this piece of bone, in order to fix accurately the amount of intellect possessed by the inhabitants of Belgium during the epoch of the great bear and the mammoth. Up to a certain point the development of the brain may, in fact, be ascertained from the shape of the cranial envelope, and it is well known that a remarkable similarity exists between the cerebral capacity and the intellectual development of all mammiferous animals. But in a question of this kind we must carefully avoid a quicksand on which anthropologists too often make shipwreck; this danger consists in basing a theory on a too limited number of elements, and of generalising conclusions which are perhaps drawn from one special case. Because we find a portion of a skull--not even a whole skull--belonging to a human being contemporary with the great bear, we a.s.sume that we can determine the amount of intellect possessed by man during this epoch. But what proof have we that this skull is not that of an idiot, or, on the contrary, the skull of an individual possessing a superior degree of intelligence? What deduction can be logically drawn from the examination of one single skull? None whatever! "_Testis unus testis nullus_;" and what is said by jurisprudence, which is nothing but good sense in legal matters--science, which is nothing but good sense in learned questions, ought likewise to repeat. If we found ten or twelve skulls, each presenting the same characteristics, we should be justified in thinking that we had before our eyes the human type corresponding to the epoch we are considering; but, we again ask, what arguments could be based on a few fragments of one single skull?

These reservations having been laid down, let us see what some of our great anatomical reasoners have thought about the Engis skull.

The representation which we here give (fig. 37) of the Engis skull was taken from the cast in the Museum of Saint-Germain, and we may perceive from it that the skull is not complete; the entire base of the skull is wanting, and all the bones of the face have disappeared. Consequently it is impossible either to measure the facial angle or to take account of the development of the lower jaw.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 37.--Portion of a Skull of an Individual belonging to the Epoch of the Great Bear and the Mammoth, found in the Cave of Engis.]

We shall not, therefore, surprise any of our readers when we state that the opinions on this subject differ in the most extraordinary degree.

In the eyes of Professor Huxley, the English anatomist, this skull offers no indication of degradation; it presents "a good average," and it might just as well be the head of a philosopher as the head of an uncivilised savage. To others--for instance, to Carl Vogt--it indicates an altogether rudimentary degree of intellect.

Thus Hippocrates-Huxley says _yes_, Galen-Vogt says _no_, and Celsus-Lyell says neither _yes_ nor _no_. This causes us but little surprise, but it induces us not to waste more time in discussing a question altogether in the dark, that is, upon altogether incomplete data.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 38.--Portion of the so-called Neanderthal Skull.]

We will now turn our attention to another skull, equally celebrated, which was found in 1857 by Dr. Fuhlrott, near Dusseldorf, in a deep ravine known by the name of Neanderthal. This skull (fig. 38) was discovered in the midst of a small cave under a layer of mud about 5 feet in thickness. The entire skeleton was doubtless buried on the same spot, but the workmen engaged in clearing out the cave must have inadvertently scattered a great portion of the bones, for the largest only could be collected.

It is well to call attention to the fact that no animal remains were found near these bones; there is, therefore, no certain proof that the latter can be a.s.signed to the epoch of the great bear: they might, in fact, be either more recent or more modern. Most geologists are, however, of opinion that they ought to be referred to the above-named early date.

The Neanderthal skull, of which we possess even a smaller portion than of the preceding, differs from the Engis skull. It is characterised by an extraordinary development of the frontal sinuses; that is, by an enormous projection of the superciliary ridges, behind which the frontal bone presents a considerable depression. The cranium is very thick, and of an elongated elliptical shape; the forehead is narrow and low.

These remarks were made by Professor Schaaffhausen, who also established the fact of the ident.i.ty in length of the femur, the humerus, the radius, and the ulna, with the same bones of a modern European of equal size. But the Prussian _savant_ was surprised at the really remarkable thickness of these bones, and also at the large development of the projections and depressions which served for the insertion of the muscles.

Fig. 38 represents this skull, which is drawn from the cast in the Museum of St. Germain.

Professor Schaaffhausen's opinion with regard to this skull is, that it manifests a degree of intelligence more limited than that of the races of negroes who are least favoured by nature, in other words, it approaches the nature of the beast more nearly than any other known human skull. But, on the other hand, Mr. Busk and Dr. Barnard Davis look upon this skull as very closely allied to the present race of men; and Professor Gratiolet produced before the Anthropological Society of Paris an idiot's head of the present day, which showed all the osteological characteristics peculiar to the Neanderthal skull. Lastly, an anthropologist of great authority, Dr. Pruner-Bey, has brought forward all requisite evidence to prove that the Neanderthal skull is identical, in all its parts, with the cranium of the Celt.

We see, therefore, that the opinion propounded by Dr. Schaaffhausen at the commencement of his studies was not able to stand its ground before the opposition resulting from subsequent labours on the point; and that this head of a man belonging to the epoch of the great bear and mammoth, which he regarded as manifesting the most limited amount of intelligence, differed in no way from the heads belonging to Celts of historic times, whose moral qualities and manly courage make Frenchmen proud to call themselves their descendants.

We need scarcely add that the examination of this latter skull, which dated back to the first origin of mankind, is sufficient to set at naught all that has been written as to the pretended a.n.a.logy of structure existing between primitive man and the ape, and to wipe out for ever from scientific phraseology the improper and unhappy term _fossil man_, which has not only been the cause of so many lamentable misunderstandings, but has also too long arrested the formation and the progress of the science of the first starting-point of man.

Other remains of human skulls, appearing to date back to a very ancient epoch, have been found in various countries, since the discovery of those above-named. We will mention, a jaw-bone found by M. edouard Dupont in the cave of Naulette, near Dinant, in Belgium--a frontal and parietal bone, extracted from the _Lehm_ in the valley of the Rhine, at Eggisheim near Colmar, by Dr. Faudel--a skull found by Professor Bocchi, of Florence, in the Olmo pa.s.s, near Arezzo--lastly, the celebrated jaw-bone from Moulin-Quignon, near Abbeville, found in 1863 by Boucher de Perthes, in the _diluvium_, of which bone we have given an ill.u.s.tration in the introduction to this volume. It is acknowledged by all anthropologists that this portion of the skull of the man of Moulin-Quignon bears a perfect resemblance to that of a man of small size of the present age.

From the small number of skulls which we possess, it is impossible for us to estimate what was the precise degree of intelligence to be ascribed to man at the epoch of the great bear and mammoth. No one, a.s.suredly, will be surprised at the fact, that the human skull in these prodigiously remote ages did not present any external signs of great intellectual development. The nature of man is eminently improvable; it is, therefore, easily to be understood, that in the earliest ages of his appearance on the earth his intelligence should have been of a limited character. Time and progress were destined both to improve and extend it; the flame of the first-lighted torch was to be expanded with the lapse of centuries!

II.

EPOCH OF THE REINDEER, OR OF MIGRATED ANIMALS.

CHAPTER I.

Mankind during the Epoch of the Reindeer--Their Manners and Customs--Food--Garments--Weapons, Utensils, and Implements-- Pottery--Ornaments--Primitive Arts--The princ.i.p.al Caverns-- Type of the Human Race during the Epoch of the Reindeer.

We have now arrived at that subdivision of the stone age which we designate by the name of the _Reindeer Epoch_, or the _Epoch of migrated animals_. Many ages have elapsed since the commencement of the quaternary geological epoch. The mighty animals which characterised the commencement of this period have disappeared, or are on the point of becoming extinct. The great bear (_Ursus spelaeus_) and the cave-hyaena (_Hyaena spelaea_) will soon cease to tread the soil of our earth. It will not be long before the final term will be completed of the existence of the cave-lion (_Felis spelaea_), the mammoth, and the _Rhinoceros tichorhinus_. Created beings diminish in size as they improve in type.