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SECRETS OF EARTH AND SEA
DIMETRODON GIGAS, AN EXTINCT LIZARD, SEVEN FEET LONG
SECRETS OF EARTH AND SEA
BY
Sir RAY LANKESTER
K.C.B., F.R.S.
WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS
NEW YORK
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
1920
PREFACE
THE present volume is, like its predecessors, "Science from an Easy Chair" (Series I and Series II) and "Diversions of a Naturalist"—mainly a revision and reprint—with considerable additions—of articles published in daily or weekly journals. The first chapter appeared originally in "The Field." The Chapters VI, XX, XXI, and XXII were published in the "Illustrated London News," under the title "About a Number of Things." The rest are some of the articles which, as "Science from an Easy Chair," I contributed, during seven years, to the "Daily Telegraph." That, to me very happy, conjunction was, like so many other happy things, necessarily interrupted by the Great War.
One result of that terrible cataclysm is that not a few thoughtful writers have been led to deny the existence of what they call "Progress," meaning by that word the development of mankind from a less to a more complete attainment of moral and physical well-being. The question raised is obscured by the arbitrary use of the word "progress," since by it any movement from point to point—whether advantageous and desirable or the reverse—is described, as, for instance, in the familiar titles given by Bunyan to his book "The Pilgrim's Progress" and by Hogarth to his pictures "The Rake's Progress." Those who to-day despair of man's future limit their outlook on the past to the conventional history of some three or four thousand years. The only solid ground upon which we can base the supposition that mankind has moved from a less to a more complete attainment of moral and physical well-being and will continue to do so, exists in the ascertained facts of the past history of living things on this Earth, and of man since his earliest emergence from among the man-like apes made known to us by his stone-implements and fossilized bones. That there has been a development from lower, simpler structure to higher, more complex, more efficient structure is demonstrable, and so is the proposition that there has been in the human race a continuous development in the direction of increased adaptation to the conditions of social life and an increased control by man of those natural agencies which he can either favour when conducive to his prosperity, or on the other hand can arrest when inimical to it. "The continuous weakening of selfishness and the continuous strengthening of sympathy" (to adopt the words of the American philosopher, Fiske) are, in spite of numerous lapses and outbursts of savagery, patent features of the long history of mankind. We have no reason to doubt their continuation, whilst at the same time we must be prepared for and accept, without desponding, the ups and the downs, the disasters as well as the triumphs, which inevitably characterize the natural process of evolution. One thing, above all others, we as conscious, reasoning beings can do which must tend to the further development and security of human well-being: we can ascertain ever more and more of the truth, or in other words, "that which is." We can discover the actual conditions of natural law, under which we exist and promote the knowledge of that truth among our fellows. To do that which is right, we must know that which is true. To act rightly, we must know truly.
We possess, a vast heritage of knowledge handed on to us in tradition and in writings from our father-man in the past. But there are yet immense fields of knowledge to be explored and yet a greater task to be accomplished in spreading the knowledge which we possess, and in persuading all men that it is their right and their duty to acquire it and to enjoy the power and the pleasure which it gives. All must also help, directly or indirectly, in the making of new knowledge. Whilst mankind is still so backward in knowledge and the worship of wisdom, it is idle to indulge in despair of the future. A chief way to increased welfare is still open and untrodden.
These are big speculations and problems with which to preface a small book. But I am content to offer the small book as a contribution, however restricted, to the spread of a desire for further knowledge of the things about which it tells—a possible incitement to serious study of some one or other among them.
E. RAY LANKESTER
June 2nd, 1920
CONTENTS
CHAP. PageI.
The Earliest Picture in the World1
II.
Portraits of Mammoths by Men Who Saw Them26
III.
The Art of Prehistoric Men35
IV.
Vesuvius in Eruption55
V.
Blue Water74
VI.
The Biggest Beast84
VII.
What is meant by "a Species"?92
VIII.
More about Species100
IX.
Species in the Making108
X.
Some Specific Characters118
XI.
Hybrids131
XII.
The Cross-breeding of Races139
XIII.
Wheel Animalcules157
XIV.
More about Wheel Animalcules165
XV.
Suspended Animation173
XVI.
More about Suspended Animation182
XVII.
The Swastika191
XVIII.
The Origin of the Swastika200
XIX.
The Tomoye and the Swastika209
XX.
Coal217
XXI.
Boring for Oil223
XXII.
The Story of Lime-Juice and Scurvy229
Index239
EXPLANATION OF THE FRONTISPIECE
THIS plate shows the restoration of the extinct lizard, Dimetrodon gigas (Cope), lately made by Mr. Charles W. Gilmore of the United States National Museum, by whose kind permission it is here reproduced from the Proceedings of the U.S. National Museum, vol. 56, 1919. It is based upon the study of a very fine skeleton and some hundred bones of allied species, collected by Mr. Sternberg from "the Permian formation" exposed in the vicinity of Seymour, Texas, U.S.A. It is selected for illustration here because its most striking feature—the high dorsal fin-like crest along the middle of the back formed by the elongation of the neural spines of the vertebræ—is a puzzle to the conscientious Darwinian. Professor Case says of it: "The elongate spines were useless, so far as I can imagine, and I have been puzzling over them for several years. It is impossible to conceive of them as useful either for defence or concealment, or in any other way than as a great burden to the creatures (terrestrial non-aquatic animals) that bore them. They must have been a nuisance in getting through the vegetation, and a great drain upon the creature's vitality, both to develop them and keep them in repair." The reader is referred to pp. 127, 128, where a brief discussion of such exuberant growths will be found. The excessive growth of the median fins in the fish Pteraclis allied to the Dolphin which displays changing floods of surface colour as it dies—and in the Australian Blenny called Patæcus—both figured on p. 130—should be compared with that of the strange crest of the grotesque Dimetrodon.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Dimetrodon Frontispiece FIGS. PAGE1, 2.
Engraved Cylinder of Red-Deer's Antler, from the Azilian (Elapho-Tarandian) Horizon of the Cavern of Lortet1
3.
A. Perforated Harpoon of the Azilian or Red-Deer Period. B. and C. Imperforate Harpoons or Lance Heads3
4.
Rolled Impression or "Development" of the Engraving on the Lortet Antler12
5.
Restoration (or Completion) of the Engraving on the Lortet Antler13
6.
Fragment of a Roughly-painted Vase of the Dipylon Age (circa 800 b.c.) from Tiryns23
7.
Engraving of a Mammoth drawn upon a Piece of Mammoth Ivory26
8.
Outline Engravings of Mammoths on the Wall of the Cavern known as the "Font de Gaume," near Eyzies (Dordogne)32
9.
Similar Engravings from the Neighbouring Cave of Combarelles32
10.
A, Similar Engraving from the Cave of Combarelles. B, Mammoth enclosed by Plank-like Structure–supposed to be either a Cage or a Trap33
11.
Horse (Wall Engraving), Cave of Marsoulas, Haute Garonne43
12.
Horse (Wall Engraving) Outline in Black, Cave of Niaux (Ariège)43
13.
Horses: A, Wall Engraving (Cave of Hornos de la Péna). B, Wall Engraving from Cavern of Combarelles. C, engraved on reindeer Antler (Mas d'Azil)43
14.
Drawing (of the Actual Size of the Original) of a Flat Carving in Shoulder-bone of a Horse's Head, showing Twisted Rope-bridle and Trappings45
15.
Drawing (of the Actual Size of the Original) of a fully rounded Carving in Reindeer's Antler of the Head of a Neighing Horse45
16.
Reindeer (Engraving on Schist)46
17.
Rhinoceros in Red Outline46
18.
Bison from the Roof of the Cavern of Altamira48
19.
Bison: Wall Engravings48
20.
Bear: Engraved on Stalagmite, from the Cave of Teyjat near Eyzies48
21.
Bear: Engraved on Stone, Massol (Ariège)48
22.
Wolf: Engraved on Wall of the Cave of Combarelles48
23.
Wall Engraving of a Cave Lion (Combarelles)48
24.
Goose: Small Engraving on Reindeer Antler49
25.
Female Figure carved in Oolitic Limestone from Willendorf, near Krems, Lower Austria (1908)50
26.
Drawing (of the Actual Size of the Original) of an Ivory Carving (fully rounded) of a Female Head51
27.
Seated Figure of a Woman holding a Bovine Horn in the Right Hand51
28.
Male Figure represented in the Act of drawing a Bow or throwing a Spear51
29.
A Piece of Mammoth Ivory carved with Spirals and Scrolls from the Cave of Arudy (Hautes Pyrénées)54
30.
Vesuvius as it appeared before the Eruption of August 24, a.d. 7957
31.
Five Successive Stages in the Change of Form of Vesuvius (from Phillips' "Vesuvius," 1869)61
32.
The Upper-arm Bone or Humerus of the Great Reptile (Gigantosaurus) of Tendagoroo88
The Gigantic Reptile Diplodocus on Land91
33.
The Rudimentary Gill-plume of a Crayfish from that Part of the Body-wall to which the First Pair of Jaw-legs (Maxillipedes) is articulated122
Strangely-shaped Fishes130
34.
Diagram of Rotifer vulgaris–The Common Wheel Animalcule–One Hundred and Twenty Times as long as the Creature itself158
35.
The Rotifer Pedalion mirum–seen from the Right Side, magnified 180 Diameters161
36.
The Rotifer Pedalion mirum–seen from the Ventral Surface161
37.
The Rotifer Noteus quadricornis–to show its curious Four-horned Carapace163
The Larval or Young Form of Crustacea known as "the Nauplius"164
37 (
bis).
Three Tube-building Wheel Animacules169
Young Stages of Growth or Veliger Larvæ of Marine Snails181
38.
The Swastika in its simplest Rectangular Form191
39.
Three Simple Varieties of the Swastika192
40.
Footprint of the Buddha192
41.
Vase from Cyprus (Mykenæan Age, circa 1200 b.c.); Painted with Lotus, Bird and Four Swastikas194
42.
Terra-Cotta Spindle-Whorl marked with Swastikas194
43.
Ornament from an Archaic (pre-Hellenic) Bœotian Vase, showing Several Swastikas, Greek Crosses and Two Serpents195
43 (
bis).
Swastikas in Bronze Repoussé195
44.
Silver-plated Bronze Horse Gear from Scandinavia, showing two Swastikas, and below a Complex Elaboration of a Swastika195
45.
Anglo-Saxon Urn from Shropham, Norfolk, Ornamented by Twenty Small Hand-made Swastikas stamped into the Clay195
46.
Piece of a Ceremonial Bead-worked Garter, showing Star and Two Swastikas197
47.
A Stone Slab from the Ancient City of Mayapan (Yucatan, Central America), on which (Right Side) a Curvilinear Swastika is carved198
48.
Diagram to show the Derivation of the Swastika from a Greek Cross enclosed by a Circle199
49.
The Greek Key Pattern in A Rectangular, and B Curvilinear or "Current" Form202
50.
Diagrams of the "Triskelion"203
51.
Four Stages in the Simplification of a Decorative Design–The Alligator205
52.
Simplification (grammatizing) of Decorative Design206
53.
Spindle-Whorl from Troy (Fourth City), with Three Swastikas206
54.
The "Tomoye"–The Japanese Badge of Triumph209
55.
Symbols of the History of the Universe used by the Ancient Chinese Philosopher Chu-Hsi209
56.
Diagrams to show the possible Derivation of the Swastika from the Inscription of Two S-like Lines (or "Ogees") within a Circle so as to divide the Circle into Four Bent Cones209
57.
Terra-cotta Cone with a Seven-armed Sun-like Figure211
58.
Scalloped Shell Disk, from a Mound near Nashville, Tennessee, showing in the Centre a Tetraskelion with Four Curved Arms211
59.
An Altar-stone of Prehistoric Age213
60.
Diagrams of Arbeli214
SECRETS OF EARTH AND SEA
CHAPTER I
THE EARLIEST PICTURE IN THE WORLD
IN Figs. 1 and 2 on the next page a cylindrical piece of the antler of a red deer is represented of half the natural size. On it are carved by in-sunk lines certain representations of animals. It was found in the cavern of Lortet, near Lourdes, in the department of the Hautes Pyrénées, in the south of France, together with many other remains of prehistoric man. This cavern was excavated and all its contents of human origin carefully preserved by M. Edouard Piette in 1873 and the following years. Drawings of this and other remarkable carved pieces of bone and antler, many in the form of harpoon heads, and of small chipped flint implements, all found in this cave, were published by him. [1] He excavated also several other caverns with great care, and his collections were bequeathed by him on his death to the great Museum of National Archæology at St. Germain, near Paris, where I have had the advantage of studying them.
Figs. 1 and 2.–Engraved cylinder of red-deer's antler, from the Azilian (Elapho-Tarandian) horizon of the cavern of Lortet. Drawn of a little more than half the actual size of the specimen.
The age assigned to this carving is that called by Piette "Elapho-Tarandian." At this period the reindeer (Tarandus), which previously abounded, is giving place to the red deer (Elaphus). The layer in which this carving was found belongs to the latest of the Palæolithic cave deposits, and was followed by a warmer period, in which the red deer and the modern fauna entirely replaced the old fauna of the Glacial period. The deposits in Pyrenean caves of the Elapho-Tarandian age are characterized by an abundance of large flat harpoons serrated on both sides. In this latest horizon of the Reindeer period the art of engraving in outline on bone and stone had attained the highest pitch of excellence which it reached in the prehistoric race of South-West Europe.
Fig. 3.–A. Perforated harpoon of the Azilian or Red-Deer period, made from antler of red deer, found in quantity in the upper layers of deposit in the cavern of the Mas d'Azil (Arriège). B and C. Imperforate harpoons or lance heads made from reindeer antler of the Magdalenian period (Reindeer epoch). B from Bruniquel Cave (Tarn-et-Garonne). C from a cavern in the Hautes Pyrénées. Same size as the objects.
A very natural tendency among those who hear from time to time something of what is being discovered about primitive man is to confuse all the periods and races of prehistoric man together, and so picture to themselves one ideal "primitive man." My friend Mr. Rudyard Kipling does this, although it would be no further from a true conception were he to blend his ancient Britons, his Phenicians, his Romans, his Saxons, his Normans, and a few Hindoos into one imaginary man and represent him as taking a coloured photograph of the Druids of Stonehenge on a piece of Egyptian papyrus. Here is Mr. Kipling's vision of primitive man:
Once on a glittering icefield, ages and ages ago,
Ung, a maker of pictures, fashioned an image of snow.
Later he pictured an aurochs, later he pictured a bear–
Pictured the sabre-tooth tiger dragging a man to his lair–
Pictured the mountainous mammoth, hairy, abhorrent, alone–
Out of the love that he bore them, scribing them clearly on bone,
Straight on the glittering icefield, by the caves of the lost Dordogne,
Ung, a maker of pictures, fell to his scribing on bone.
The fact is that several prehistoric races have succeeded one another in Western Europe during the immensely long period—amounting to hundreds of thousands of years—during which man existed before the dawn of history. The "lost" or "prehistoric Dordogne" was like the present historic Dordogne in regard to the fact that many races and dynasties successively held possession of it and left their work in its soil and caves.
Passing back through the historic age of iron and the sub-historic age of bronze, we come to a time, about four thousand years ago, when there were no men in the west of Europe who made use of metals at all, although, for a thousand or two years earlier, men were using bronze and copper in the East. European races immediately before the first use of metals made beautiful implements of stone (chiefly flint), and finished them by grinding and polishing them. These men are spoken of as Neolithic men, or men of the Neolithic period. They had herds and cultivated crops, and they built after a fashion rough houses in wood and tombs and temples with great slabs of stone. They made pottery and woven cloth. The animals and plants of Europe were the same in those late prehistoric times as they are to-day. The Lake dwellings of Switzerland belong to this epoch and yield us their remains as evidence. The men had very nearly the same set of domesticated animals as we have to-day, but they had no skill in carving outlines of animals. Their only decorative work consisted of parallel lines, straight or in zigzags or in circles, graven on the great stone slabs which they erected.
We can trace them back to some seven thousand years B.C. and then comes a huge gap—we do not know how many thousand years—in our evidence as to what was going on in this part of the world. We find convincing proof that before this interval the climate was much colder than it is to-day, and that the land surface of Europe was in many respects very different from what it became later. Britain was continuous with the Continent. There were in that remote period human tribes spread over the less frigid valleys of Europe. They had no fields, no herds; they fed on the roasted flesh of the animals they chased and on the fish they speared, and on wild fruits and roots. They dwelt chiefly, if not wholly, in caves, probably also in skin tents, but they did not build either in wood or in stone. The age which we thus reach is called the Palæolithic, or "ancient" Stone age, because men made use of stone, which they chipped into shape, but, unlike the Neolithic people, never polished it. We find enormous numbers of these rough or Palæolithic stone implements both in caves and in the gravels deposited in the ancient beds of rivers. They are so abundant as to prove the existence of a very considerable human population in the remote ages when they were fashioned and used. The changes which have taken place and the time involved since some of these Palæolithic implements were made and used may be guessed at (but cannot be definitely calculated) from the fact that the beds of the rivers which formed the gravel terraces in which they are found in England were, in many cases, from one to six hundred feet above the level of the present rivers. The land surface has risen and the rivers have simultaneously excavated deep and wide valleys leaving terraces of gravel high up on their sides. These show where the rivers once flowed. The vastness of the excavation of the valley from the level of the old river bed 600 ft. up on the sloping hill-side to its present low-lying bed in the floor of the valley—gives us some measure of the time which has elapsed in the process.
No one can tell, at present, the limit in the past of Palæolithic man. The period of time over which his existence extended, as indicated by the trimmed flints undoubtedly made by human workmanship, is a matter of hundreds of thousands of years. In Western Europe races came and went, succeeded one another and disappeared, either migrating or absorbed or more rarely destroyed by the later invaders. Naturally enough, in the later deposits of rivers and in the higher layers of earth and limestone cake which fill many caves to the depth of 30 or 40 ft. we find the remains of man's workmanship more abundantly than in the older deposits.
We can broadly distinguish in the Palæolithic epoch three (perhaps four) periods, separated by the occurrence of great extensions of the northern or arctic ice cap of such a volume as to cover North Europe and North America, and the simultaneous extension of the glaciers of the mountains of Europe. This period of the alternating extension and retreat of the great northern glaciers is known as the Glacial period, or Ice Age. The latest Palæolithic men are subsequent to it—that is, post-Glacial. We can distinguish several successive ages of these post-Glacial Palæolithic men, altogether distinct from and anterior to the Neolithic men. In the earlier of these ages many of the great animals of the Glacial period—now extinct or withdrawn to other regions—still survived in Europe. The mammoth survived, but was fast dying out in the south and centre of France, and we find its outline scratched on ivory and on bone by the early post-Glacial men. The lion still survived in Europe, also the hyena, the bear and the rhinoceros. The reindeer seems to have been especially abundant, and to have been associated with the men of this period. The horse was very abundant, and was largely eaten by the earlier post-Glacial people. From the first these men show extraordinary artistic skill, and have left in their caves many carvings on ivory, bone and stone. In the oldest deposits of the post-Glacial age the carvings are complete all-round sculptures of small size or carvings in low relief, all of rough primitive workmanship. Larger life-size sculptures in rock are also found. In later deposits we find better sculpture and also engraving on flat pieces of bone and ivory, and also on stone. This art persisted, and attained its greatest perfection in the latest deposits of all in which the work of Palæolithic man is found. The reindeer persisted through this post-Glacial period (hence often called "the reindeer period") until the gradual increase of temperature and change of herbage and forest led to its migration northwards and to the relative abundance of the red deer. It is to this latest period—the Elapho-Tarandian of Piette—that the engraved antler figured here (Figs. 1 and 2) belongs.
At an earlier stage of the post-Glacial period men hunted the bison and other large game in the north of Spain and made coloured drawings of them on the roofs and walls of their caves, drawings which have been copied and preserved: whilst the mammoth, the rhinoceros, the cave lion and bear still inhabited south central France and are pictured on the walls of caves in that region—as described in Chapter II. Later we lose all trace of Palæolithic man and his wonderful artistic skill. He seems either to have migrated or to have been absorbed in the immigrant Neolithic race—a race singularly devoid of any tendency to artistic sculpture or engraving.
The skeletons and skulls of the men of the Reindeer period, or post-Glacial Palæolithic men, have been discovered here and there. They indicate a fine, tall people with well-shaped skulls and jaws, comparable to the nobler modern races. It is convenient to call them Cromagnards, since good skulls of the race have been described from Cromagnon, in France. There is evidence (from skulls) that another race (the negroid so called "Aurignacians") preceded and coexisted to some extent in Western Europe with them, but we have, at present, no evidence as to whence or how the Neolithic race or the Cromagnard race or any of their predecessors came upon the scene!
When we go farther back and reach the actual Glacial period we find a very different state of things. The men who then existed in the caverns are called the Neander men. They were a short, bandy-legged, long-armed, low-browed people, great workers of flints. They had the use of fire, and contended with hyenas and bears and lions for the occupation of their caverns. In their day—the day of European glaciation—the mammoth was in full occupation of the pine forests on the edge of the glaciers. But the Neander men made no sculptures, or carving, or engravings. The gap between them and the Cromagnon men is much greater than that between an Australian black fellow and an average Englishman; indeed, the difference is properly expressed by regarding the Neander man as a distinct species—Homo neanderthalensis.
Passing again farther back over an immense period of time, we find Europe warm again; the glaciers have (for a time) gone or retreated far up the mountains but are found in extension again at a still earlier date. An inter-Glacial set of animals is now found living in a comparatively warm climate in Western Europe. Another elephant (Elephas antiquus) is there (not the mammoth), and another rhinoceros (not the woolly rhinoceros of the later Glacial period); the hippopotamus flourished then in Europe and swam in the Thames and Severn, and there too, at last is the sabre-toothed tiger, which did not exist at all at a later period! Now was the time when a man, if he could, might have "scribed" the image of a sabre-toothed tiger on a piece of bone, but, so far as we know, he did not and could not. This was ages before other succeeding men walked "on glittering ice fields," and they, in turn, were ages earlier than the artistic Cromagnards of the Reindeer period.
The presence of men in the warm inter-Glacial times in Europe is proved by the association of rough but undisputed flint implements with the inter-Glacial animals and by the discovery of a most interesting human jaw (chinless, like that of the Neander men) in what is held to be a præ-Glacial deposit at Heidelberg. We have very little knowledge of Glacial and præ-Glacial man except well characterized flint implements and two skeletons, some detached limb bones, four or five jaws, and as many skulls. [2] But of post-Glacial Palæolithic man we know the skeletons of the Cromagnard race, their sepulture, their decorative necklaces, and their bone and ivory carvings and engravings, and the coloured rock paintings and other work of earlier races (the Aurignacians, and others) belonging to successive epochs or eras, which have been discovered in caves in France, Spain, Belgium, and Austria. It was long after them that the Neolithic people appeared.
The preceding remarks will have made it clear that the engraved antler here figured was carved by a man who was not really at all primitive, although he lived probably between twenty and fifty thousand years ago. It will also have been made clear that hundreds of such engravings, more or less fragmentary, are known. Some are very skilful works of art, others of a much inferior quality. Many, however, show an astonishing familiarity with the animal drawn and a sureness of drawing which is not surpassed by the work of modern artists (see Chapter III). The interest of the particular engraved antler which I am describing is that it is the only carving of its age as yet discovered which is more than a drawing or sculpture of a single animal. It is a "picture" in the sense of being a composition. It is not, it is true, painted—it is engraved; but being a composition it is entitled to be called "the earliest picture in the world." Let me describe it a little more fully with the help of the illustrations.
The engraving has been made on a long cylindrical piece of the red deer's antler. It can hardly be considered as decorative, since the figures of the animals do not show as such on the cylindrical surface (Figs. 1 and 2). Pieces of antler, bone, and ivory carved with spiral scrolls and circles which are really decorative and effective as decoration are found in these caves (Fig. 29). But often such pieces as the present are met with. It has been discovered by French archæologists that the true intent of such engravings may be rendered evident by rolling the cylinder on a plastic substance (soft wax or similar material), when the drawing is "printed off" or "developed" as it is termed. A great number of such line engravings have been thus printed off or developed, and plaster casts made from the flat impressions are preserved in the museum of St. Germain, the engraved lines being rendered obvious by letting them fill with printing ink. They often give us in this way a "printed" drawing of remarkable accuracy and artistic quality. The rolled-off print of our specimen is shown in Fig. 4. The cylinder has been damaged by time, but the print shows, more or less completely, a vigorous outline drawing of three red deer, with six salmon-like fish placed in a decorative way above them and between their legs. Two lozenge-shaped outlines (above the larger stag) are held by good authorities to be the signature of the artist. The group of deer is represented in movement. The largest stag is on the right; his hindquarters are broken away by injury to the cylinder. He is commencing to advance, and turns his head backwards to see what is the thing which has alarmed him and his companions; at the same time his mouth is open, and he is "blowing." The second stag is a younger and smaller animal, and is retreating more rapidly. The cylinder is damaged so that, although all the four legs of this second stag are preserved, the head and neck are gone, though the points of the antlers are preserved. The same damage has removed all but the hind legs of the still younger animal who heads the group. The beauty of the drawing of these hind legs and the extraordinary impression of graceful, rapid movement given by their hanging pose, side by side, is not surpassed, even if it be equalled, by the work of any modern draughtsman. It is clear that the youngest and smallest member of the group is, as is natural, the most timid, and that he has sprung off with a sudden bound on the occurrence of the alarm from the rear, which is setting the whole group into motion with increasing velocity as we pass from right to left.
Fig. 4.—Rolled impression or "development" of the engraving on the Lortet antler.
Fig. 5.—Restoration (or completion) of the engraving on the Lortet antler, as now (1919) suggested by the writer (E. R. L.).
The "printed-off," or "unrolled," or "developed" picture given in Fig. 3 is an exact reproduction of a copy of the cast made and preserved in the Museum of National Antiquities at St. Germain, for which I am indebted to my friend M. Salomon Reinach, the distinguished archæologist who is the director of that museum. It is reproduced here, a little larger than half the size of the original, as are the representations of the carved cylinder itself (Figs. 1 and 2). In Fig. 4 we have my attempt to restore the damaged portions of the design and to present it as it was when the Palæolithic man completed it some 20,000 years ago.
I will return to the question of the correctness of this restoration, but before doing so I wish to mention some extremely interesting points as to the probable use of the cylinder of stag's antler and the purpose of the carving around its axis. In the first place, this and a few other of the pieces of carving of the post-Glacial period were certainly the work of highly gifted and practised artists. It is obvious that this work is far superior both in conception and execution to the more or less clever, often grotesque, carvings and paintings made by modern savages or simple pastoral folk. There is no reason to suppose that the Cromagnards, or men of the post-Glacial or Reindeer period of West Europe, differed from modern races in being universally gifted with artistic capacity. This engraving of three stags is almost certainly the work of a man who belonged to a family or guild of picture-makers who had cultivated such work for centuries and handed it on from master to apprentice. This design is probably one which had been perfected by many succeeding observers and draughtsmen. Its sureness of line and vivacity of movement are not the outcome of the sudden inspiration of an untutored savage, but are the result of the growth, cultivation, and development of artistic perception and the power of artistic execution in successive generations.
It seems in the highest degree improbable, if not impossible, that so excellent a drawing as this should have been cut on the cylindrical piece of antler by an engraver who never saw the flat or rolled-off impress of his design. One is driven to the conclusion that he must, as he worked on the bone, have taken an impress of the growing picture from time to time, using probably animal fat and charcoal as an "ink" and printing on to a piece of prepared skin or on to a birch-bark cloth. How otherwise could he have made his engraving so truly that when, ages afterwards, we print it off the cylinder, we are astonished and delighted by its perfection of design and execution? If this be once admitted—namely, that the artist tested and checked his work by printing it off as he proceeded with it—we gain what appears to me to be the probable solution of the question which has been largely debated, "For what were these carved cylinders or rods used?" Those which are simple cylindrical rods, such as the present one, must be distinguished from others which have one or more circular holes bored in them and others which are curiously bent at an angle. Such specimens are often carved with small unimportant ornament, not requiring development or printing. They as well as the present class have been spoken of as "wands of authority" and "sceptres"; some are considered to be arrow straighteners; others have been supposed to be "divining rods" or "rods of witchcraft"; whilst one of those discovered by M. Piette (others similar to it are known) has been regarded as a "lance thrower" or "propulsor" (such as modern primitive races use), having a notch at one end upon which the lance to be thrown is made to rest. The latest suggestion as to these notch-and-hook-bearing rods, is that they are large crochet hooks used in making nets. It has also been suggested that some of these carved rods were used as "fasteners" of the skins used as clothing.
I venture to suggest that the elaborately carved cylinder which we are considering and others bearing similar carvings, which only show up when a printing of them is taken, were used by the men who made them for this very same "printing" as an end in itself. The picture could be thus impressed on skins, birch bark, and other material. This race was thoroughly familiar with the use of paint formed by mixing grease with charcoal (to produce black), red ochre (to produce red), yellow ochre (to produce yellow), and some preparation of limestone or chalk (to produce white). Coloured pictures representing animals of the chase, coloured with red, yellow, white, and black and outlined by engraving, have been discovered on the rock walls of the caves used by them. Such pictures are found of relatively early as well as of late date within the post-Glacial Palæolithic period (see Chapter III). The rock picture of a single animal is usually from two to five feet long. People who could make those coloured designs and who could draw and compose so admirably as the author of the "Three Red Deer" would have desired to "roll off" and to possess printings of their favourite representations of animal life, whilst we must admit that their skill and ingenuity was assuredly equal to the task of so printing them. If this carving of the "Three Red Deer" were never printed it could not have been executed in the first place, nor seen and admired when completed. If even only half a dozen or a dozen impressions were taken from it for ornamenting the skins or other material used by a chief, or a wizard, or a woman, its production becomes intelligible. It is true that there is nothing known as to the use of such printing from a cylinder among existing primitive people, but it is known in very early times (4500 B.C.), since cylindrical seals were used by the Babylonians. Elaborately grooved blocks used for printing on cloth are known from Fiji and Samoa, and the mere practice of printing on to a flat surface is common enough among savage races in regard to the human hand, impressions or prints of which obtained by the use of a greasy pigment are found upon rocks or stones. Sometimes prints of the hand or fingers are taken in clay.
We must not, however, forget that the primary purpose of savage and primitive mankind in making images or engravings of animals is that of influencing the animals by witchcraft or magic, as has been urged by Reinach. From such magic-working drawings the art of savages has gradually developed just as religious figures and designs have been the initial motive of historic European art.
It seems in any case fairly certain that the artist who engraved our picture of the three deer on to the stag's antler must have worked from and copied a completed flat drawing, and probably printed it in some way on to the prepared antler before engraving its lines thereon and also checked the work, as he proceeded, by successive trial printings or "proofs" on to a flat surface. It is possible though it does not seem very probable, that the drawing was thus committed to perpetual invisibility on a cylindrical rod—for the purpose of exercising "magic" with that rod. It seems to me that the Cromagnard owner of the rod would have wished to see "what the picture really looked like," and so would have on some occasion and more than once have "printed it off" or as we say "unrolled it."
Leaving that question aside I have a few words to say as to the present attempted "completion" of the picture. My difficulty has been in realizing the suggestion of a free, graceful "bounding" action given by the pair of small hind legs which form all that remains of the smallest of the three deer. I have tried various poses of the calf indicated by these legs—bucking and jumping, and with fore legs closely bent to the horizontal or in a more open position. The fact is there is very little in existing drawings or photographs which can help us to a decision of the problem, "How did the prehistoric artist complete that exquisite little pair of hanging legs?" The problem is more obscure even than that of the pose of the arms of the Venus of Melos. One feels sure that the man who made this carving was an artist who must keep a certain rhythm and flow in the action and form of the three successive animals, and it is clear that he was a wonderful observer of the phases of the limbs in movement. It is, perhaps, a presumptuous thing to attempt on such a basis to recall the thought of a man who died twenty thousand years ago, but I set out to do so with the belief that there is a necessary figure determined by those hind legs.
Some years ago, as a step towards a solution of the problem, I published a "restoration" or "completion" of this picture in the "Field" (May 13th, 1911), and asked for criticisms and suggestions from the readers of that journal. I had no difficulty as to the completion of the biggest stag by drawing in his haunches and hind-legs, but the completion of the head and antlers of the smaller stag—and still more the calling into being of the entire calf as an inference from his or her suspended hind-feet and hoofs alone—were not easy tasks. I consulted many authorities and some instantaneous photographs, but I was not satisfied with the pose I finally suggested for the calf nor with the "points" assigned by my draughtsman to the antlers of the smaller stag. Some interesting suggestions were made in reply to my appeal by readers of the "Field." Those which seemed to me of conclusive weight and value were offered by Mr. Walter Winans, who combines the qualifications of a great observer of big game with those of a great artist. In the restoration now given in Fig. 5 I have profited by Mr. Walter Winans' criticism and have been especially glad to make use of the spirited sketch made by him for my benefit, and published in the "Field" of 1911, of a red-deer calf when hopping along with all the feet together, a movement known as "buck-jumping." "Of course," writes Mr. Winans, "this is quite different to the bronco-pony's action when trying to get rid of a rider. In the case of this kind she does not come down with a jar—but as she lands bends her knees and hocks simultaneously and then straightens them, also simultaneously, bounding in the air with bent back, tail curled tight on back, head thrown back, and ears forward; she never puts her fore-legs, either knee or fetlock, beyond her shoulder in this action." These words of Mr. Winans and his outline sketch of the buck-jumping calf precisely realize what the little hanging legs of the rubbed-out calf had been, as it were, urging my tired brain to recall and visualize. I am convinced that Mr. Winans' sketch gives the completion of the picture as drawn by the artist of the Lortet cavern, and satisfies the demand made by the gracefully suspended limbs shown in the incompletely preserved original. And so I have used it in my final restoration here given in Fig. 5.
The following letter by Mr. Winans, giving valuable comments on the Lortet picture, was published in the "Field," and will assist others in appreciating its significance: it enabled me to get the middle stag's antlers correctly drawn. I have omitted a few lines referring to defects in the original restoration—now corrected.
Sir,—As Sir Ray Lankester asks for criticism of this wonderful drawing of three deer, perhaps the following may be of interest. I have known deer all my life, and lived amongst them the last twelve years. I agree that the picture is wonderful—better than anything Landseer or Rosa Bonheur drew, because these latter were only artists: one can see by their pictures (full of faults as to attitudes and actions) that they knew nothing of deer. For instance, Landseer's stags were much too big in the body and their heads too small, and even the shape of their horns was conventional....
"The Lorthet drawings enable one to know all details about the three deer (looking at the original mutilated 'development'). First, the deer have 'got the wind' of an enemy, have come a long way, and are moving leisurely, the big stag, as usual, bringing up the rear and taking a last look round before the herd goes out of sight. The second is the younger stag who generally accompanies the big stag and acts as his sentinel when he is sleeping, a stag too small to give the big stag any jealousy as to his hinds. The third is undoubtedly a calf (Red deer are 'stags,' 'hinds,' and 'calves,' not 'does' and 'fawns'; the latter terms apply to Fallow deer and Roe-deer).
"The deer are typical Red deer, not Wapiti, except that the only tail showing (that of the middle deer) is the short Wapiti tail, not the longer tail of the Red deer, and the ears are shorter than those of any existing species of deer.
"The horns of the big stag are those of typical park Red deer, exactly like the Warnham Park big stag: brow, bay, and tray, with a bunch on top, and the horns are short and straight for their thickness.
"Now as to the short tail. I am trying, by crossing the Wapiti, Red deer, and Altai to get back to the original deer before the various species got separated, and my 'three-cross' deer show these very characteristics, as follows: Red deer or Warnham horns, short Wapiti tail, and the rather Roman nose which this 'development' print shows. The only difference is the short ears. Is it not possible that, as the artist is able to draw the horns in perspective and show the anatomy and proportions so well, that the ears are meant to be drawn fore-shortened?
"The stag's mouth is open because he is big and fat and is blowing (not roaring or bellowing). If it was the rutting season, when stags roar, the stag would be tucked up in the belly and have a tuft of hair hanging under the middle of it. He and the stag in front are moving in the real action (not the conventional action Rosa Bonheur and Landseer drew, but what the ancient Egyptians drew sometimes) of a slow, easy canter.... Now as to the middle stag's horns. I should give him, bearing in mind he is the small sentry stag, brow, tray, and three on top—a ten-pointer, the thin points showing in the original drawing indicating that he had thin horns—in fact, a three-year old.
"In a Scotch forest a ten-pointer is a comparatively old stag, but at Warnham and my place, where the feeding is good (and in my case there is hand feeding all the year round), a spike stag gets six points and can almost be a royal the next year.
"All this shows that the deer at the time this drawing was made must have had very good feeding and come to maturity quickly, like modern park deer. The big stag would never have allowed a ten-pointer in his herd if the latter had been an old stag.
"As to the action of the leading hind. I think she is a hind-calf by her legs, and is jumping with all four legs together, the way young deer do when playing, and, being young, is paying no attention to the danger behind, but is full of life, like a horse playing about when he is fresh. One often sees the calves of a herd playing like this if the herd is moving along steadily....
"From the position of the hind legs of the little calf I judge that she is jumping with all four legs together (the jump from which the expression 'buck jumping' comes); her tail would be curled up tight over her back like a pug dog carries it, only without the curl, and her ears pricked forward. The piece of horn broken off would show the rest of the hinds and calves, led by an old 'yeld' (i.e., barren) hind, who would be leading the herd up wind with her nose and ears forward to 'get the wind' of any danger ahead.
"The day is a hot one in the middle of August, shown by the big stag blowing and his being with the hinds, instead of with other stags by themselves, and by his not having 'run' yet, though his horns are clear of velvet. He is most likely the stag on whose horn this is engraved. The length of the deer's feet shows that they live on ground which is soft and not many stones about to wear down their toes.
"Maybe the fish indicate that the deer are crossing a shallow ford, and the salmon are getting frightened and jumping. The right-hand-most fish is just in the attitude of a hooked salmon trying to leap clear of the fly....
"The picture was most likely first drawn on some flat flexible surface, skin or bark, in a sticky medium, and then transferred to the horn by rolling it round the horn and then rubbing it. This would give a transfer, which would guide the subsequent engraving, otherwise it would be very difficult to engrave direct on the horn, and mistakes could not easily be corrected.
"Walter Winans
"Surrenden Park, Pluckley, Kent
With regard to the six fishes in the picture of "The Three Red Deer," I think that there can be little doubt that they are put in in the same spirit of exuberance which induced early Italian masters to introduce a cherub wherever a space for him could be found. The fish represented are the same in each case, and are undeniably salmonids. Presumably they are drawn on a larger scale than the deer. Their markings and the form of the head are deserving of some criticism and comment by those who are familiar with fish as seen by the fisherman. Probably the artist's friends at Lourdes captured fish in those days by spearing them with serrated bone-headed fish spears or harpoons (Fig. 3). No fish hooks of bone have been found in the cave of Lortet or in others of like age, although needles and whistles of bone and other useful little instruments, as well as serrated spear heads and harpoons have been obtained in several of them.
The tool used by the prehistoric man in engraving the cylinder of stag's antler was undoubtedly a suitable chipped-out piece of flint—a flint graving tool, in fact a "burin," such as are abundant in these caves.
Fig. 6.—Fragment of a roughly-painted vase of the Dipylon age (circa 800 B.C.) from Tiryns, figured by Schliemann and cited by Hörnes in his "History of Pictorial Art in Europe." Compare the fish between the horse's legs with the fish in the Lortet picture of the Three Deer; also note the lozenge-shaped designs (similar to the pair above the big stag in the Lortet picture) near the fish and near the man's head (d); and, further, the swastika (s).
Attention has been drawn by Hörnes in his "History of Pictorial Art in Europe" to the resemblance of the Lortet picture to a fragment of a roughly painted vase of the Dipylon age (circa 800 B.C.) found at Tiryns and figured by Schliemann in his account of excavations made at that ancient Mykenæan fortress of the Peloponese. The fragment (Fig. 6) shows very roughly drawn figures of a man and of a horse. Between the fore and hind legs of the horse a large elaborately ornate fish is represented, reminding us of the fishes between the deer's legs in the Lortet picture. Two other similar fragments of pottery, showing a fish in this position, are recorded by Schliemann. The drawing is conventional and careless. It is of a debased decorative character, and is very far removed from the careful nature-true work of the Lortet cave-man. It is not possible to trace by any known line of transmission a connection between the engraving executed 20,000 years ago in the caves of the Pyrénées and the figures rapidly knocked off in black paint on the Tiryns vase some 17,000 years later by the local dealers in cheap pottery. Yet we cannot avoid the suggestion that there is some connection between the two designs. For the Tiryns painting shows not only the curious upright fish between the horse's legs, but also diamond-shaped figures—one marked d in Fig. 6, another near the fish's tail, and another between the man's feet—closely resembling the pair of diamond-shaped figures engraved above the neck of the big stag in the Lortet picture (see Figs. 4 and 5). As we do not know what these diamond-shaped figures or "lozenges" are intended to signify in either case, we do not get, at present, beyond the bald fact of their coincidence. The Tiryns painting also shows (at s in Fig. 6) a "swastika" (see Chapter XVII), and below the man's arm a carelessly drawn bit of the ancient wave-fret or key-pattern. It is, of course, possible that the tradition of an ancient design—even dating so far back in origin as many thousands of years—may be preserved in the use made in the Tiryns decoration of the fish and the diamond-shaped lozenges, though associated with the swastika and the bit of wave-fret which are probably of later origin and are not known in the decorative work of the cave-men. The Mykenæan decorative assimilation of geese to the ship's barnacle exercised its influence over three thousand years and led to the mediæval belief in the hatching of young geese from barnacles attached to floating timber, and even from the buds of trees (see my "Diversions of a Naturalist": Methuen, 1915). Nevertheless it must not be supposed that the connection of the Lortet engraving and the vase-painting of Tiryns is probable or more than a very remote possibility. The gap in time is too vast, and our present ignorance of what took place in that interval too complete, to warrant us in regarding the resemblance as more than a coincidence.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] "L'Age du Renne," a posthumous work, with one hundred coloured quarto plates of objects in the Piette collection, is published by Masson, of Paris, and gives the complete list of Piette's numerous earlier papers, issued as his excavations proceeded.
[2] Seven years ago the ape-like lower jaw and thick walled brain-case called "Eoanthropus" were discovered in a sparse gravel near Lewes in Sussex. It is probably of older date than either the Neander men or the Heidelberg men. See on this subject the chapters on "The Missing Link" in my "Diversions of a Naturalist" (1915) and those on "The Most Ancient Men" and "The Cave-men's Skulls" in "Science from an Easy Chair. First Series" (1910).
[1] "L'Age du Renne," a posthumous work, with one hundred coloured quarto plates of objects in the Piette collection, is published by Masson, of Paris, and gives the complete list of Piette's numerous earlier papers, issued as his excavations proceeded.
[2] Seven years ago the ape-like lower jaw and thick walled brain-case called "Eoanthropus" were discovered in a sparse gravel near Lewes in Sussex. It is probably of older date than either the Neander men or the Heidelberg men. See on this subject the chapters on "The Missing Link" in my "Diversions of a Naturalist" (1915) and those on "The Most Ancient Men" and "The Cave-men's Skulls" in "Science from an Easy Chair. First Series" (1910).
IN Figs. 1 and 2 on the next page a cylindrical piece of the antler of a red deer is represented of half the natural size. On it are carved by in-sunk lines certain representations of animals. It was found in the cavern of Lortet, near Lourdes, in the department of the Hautes Pyrénées, in the south of France, together with many other remains of prehistoric man. This cavern was excavated and all its contents of human origin carefully preserved by M. Edouard Piette in 1873 and the following years. Drawings of this and other remarkable carved pieces of bone and antler, many in the form of harpoon heads, and of small chipped flint implements, all found in this cave, were published by him. [1] He excavated also several other caverns with great care, and his collections were bequeathed by him on his death to the great Museum of National Archæology at St. Germain, near Paris, where I have had the advantage of studying them.
The presence of men in the warm inter-Glacial times in Europe is proved by the association of rough but undisputed flint implements with the inter-Glacial animals and by the discovery of a most interesting human jaw (chinless, like that of the Neander men) in what is held to be a præ-Glacial deposit at Heidelberg. We have very little knowledge of Glacial and præ-Glacial man except well characterized flint implements and two skeletons, some detached limb bones, four or five jaws, and as many skulls. [2] But of post-Glacial Palæolithic man we know the skeletons of the Cromagnard race, their sepulture, their decorative necklaces, and their bone and ivory carvings and engravings, and the coloured rock paintings and other work of earlier races (the Aurignacians, and others) belonging to successive epochs or eras, which have been discovered in caves in France, Spain, Belgium, and Austria. It was long after them that the Neolithic people appeared.
CHAPTER II
PORTRAITS OF MAMMOTHS BY MEN WHO SAW THEM
SOME fifty-five years ago pieces of reindeer's antler were discovered in the cave known as "La Madeleine" in the Dordogne (a department of France some eighty miles east of Bordeaux), upon which were engraved the outlines of various animals such as reindeer and horses. They and the bone spear-heads and needles, and the flint knives found with them, were the first revelation to later man of the existence of the prehistoric cave-men. Among the carvings was a piece of ivory which excited the profoundest interest. Partly hidden by a confused mass of scratches it showed the well-drawn outline of the great extinct elephant, thus scratched or "engraved" on a bit of its own tusk (Fig. 7). The engraving was barely 5 in. long, and has been reproduced in many books. The specimen is now in Paris, and was for long the only known representation of the Mammoth by the ancient men who lived with it in Western Europe.
Fig. 7.—Engraving of a mammoth drawn upon a piece of mammoth's ivory, found in the cave of La Madeleine in the Dordogne, in 1864. The specimen is in the Museum of Natural History, Paris. The engraving is here represented of the actual size.
During the last fifteen years, however, our knowledge of the works of art executed by these ancient men has increased to an extraordinary extent, chiefly owing to the energy and skill of the French explorers of the caverns in the south central region of that country. As long ago as 1879 a little girl, the daughter of Señor Sautuolo—a proud woman she should be if alive to-day—when visiting the cavern of Altamira, near Santander, in the north of
Spain, with her father, drew his attention to a number of "pictures of animals," painted on the rocky vault or roof of the cave. At first no one believed that these pictures were more than a few hundred years old, whilst some held them to be modern and made with fraudulent purpose. In 1887 Piette, the distinguished French investigator of the remains of human work in the caverns of the French Pyrénées (whose great illustrated book of carved and engraved portions of reindeer antler, ivory, and stones discovered by his excavations, is a classic), declared that in his opinion the pictures of the Altamira cave were of the same age as the bone and ivory carvings of the Madeleine cave—that is to say, dated from what "prehistorians" call the later Palæolithic age, an age when the mammoth, the bison, the cave lion, and the reindeer still existed in Western Europe, and when the British Isles were not yet separated by sea from the Continent. The age indicated is probably from 25,000 to 50,000 years ago. Still, the opinion prevailed that the "wall-drawings" and "roof-drawing" of the Altamira cave were either mediæval or modern until the French explorers discovered wall-paintings in some of the caves of the Dordogne. Then they proceeded to a careful investigation of the Altamira cave, and discovered conclusive evidence of the great age of the paintings by the removal of some of the undisturbed deposit in the cave, in which were found flint implements and small engravings on bone, proving the deposit to be of the late Palæolithic age. When this deposit was removed, pictures of animals, partly engraved and partly completed in colour (black, red, yellow, and white), were found on the wall of the cave previously covered up by the deposit. M. Cartailhac, who had been a leading opponent of the view that the Altamira wall-pictures were very ancient, now renounced his former position and became an enthusiastic investigator and exponent of these pictures. M. Breuil, who had discovered wall-pictures, including those of the mammoth, in French caves, and had been met by disbelief and even suspicion, now received due recognition, and joined Cartailhac in preparing a complete account of the wall and roof pictures of the Altamira cave. The Prince of Monaco, who had carried out, with the aid of French experts, an investigation of the caves on his property at Mentone, on the Mediterranean "Riviera," undertook the expense of producing a splendid volume, giving coloured reproductions of the Altamira pictures. To him the world is indebted, not only for most important discoveries of human skeletons and objects of human workmanship in the caves of Mentone (there are no wall-pictures there), but for the publication in illustrated form of the Mentone discoveries and of those obtained in the Altamira cave. He has not rested at this stage of accomplishment, but has produced at his own expense large volumes by MM. Breuil, Capitan, and Peyrony, illustrating and describing the discoveries made by them of wall-paintings and engravings of animals in the cave known as the "Font de Gaume," in the Dordogne. The Prince has also published a volume, by MM. Breuil, de Rio, and Sierra, reproducing the drawings found in a whole series of caves and rock-shelters in various parts of the Spanish peninsula, where the rock-painting race seems to have persisted to a somewhat later period and to have painted, more frequently, pictures of human beings as well as of animals. These, whilst less artistic and truthful than those of the North Spanish and South French area, yet have surpassing interest, since they have special similarity to ancient rock-paintings found in North Africa and to the rock-paintings of the Bushmen of South Africa.
The Prince of Monaco has finally established the great study in which he has played so valuable a part by founding in Paris an "Institute of Human Palæontology"; that is, "of the study of prehistoric man," which he has endowed with a magnificent building, comprising laboratories and residences for professors, together with funds to pay for its maintenance and the proper publication of results. This he has done in addition to founding entirely at his own expense a similarly complete Institute for the study of "oceanography"—the study of the living contents and history of the great seas.
The illustrations in this chapter are (with the exception of Fig. 7) copies, greatly reduced in size, of faithful representations of the great hairy elephant or mammoth which still survived in southern France in the days when the caves were occupied and decorated by men. I am indebted to the valuable little book "Repertoire de l'Art Quatermaire," by M. Salomon Reinach, for these outlines carefully drawn by him from various large illustrations by the use of a tracing and reducing instrument. In the next chapter I have given examples from the same source of similar drawings of other animals.
There are five kinds of artistic work of Palæolithic age found in the caverns of France and Spain; namely (1) small solid carvings (complete all round) in bone, ivory, or stone; (2) small engravings in sunk outline on similar material, rarely with relief of the outlined figure; (3) large stone statues, 2 ft. to 6 ft. across, in high relief, with complete modelling of the visible surface; (4) rock engravings and paintings on the walls and roofs of caverns or rock shelters, often partly outlined by engraving and scraping of the surface, and then completed in black or red paint or in several colours (black, red, yellow, white); they are of large size, from 2 to 5 ft. in cross measurement; (5) models in clay, one side only shown, the other resting on rock; a few incomplete clay models of this nature representing the bison of about 2 ft. in
length, have recently been discovered in one of the French caverns, and are the only examples of modelling in clay by the Palæolithic men yet discovered.
Fig. 8.—Outline engravings of mammoths on the wall of the cavern known as the "Font de Gaume," near Eyzies (Dordogne). Each figure is about 2 ft. long.
Our figures of the mammoth are (excepting Fig. 7) all of the fourth class—namely, rock-paintings in one colour (black or red) partly engraved and scraped. The originals are from 1-1/2 ft. to 2-1/2 ft. long. The mammoths given in Fig. 8 are carefully copied from engravings discovered, reproduced, and described by M. Breuil and his fellow-workers. They are on the walls of the cavern known as the "Font de Gaume," in the commune of Tayac in the Dordogne. Those copied in Fig. 9 and Fig. 10, A, were discovered on the walls of the cave of Les Combarelles in the same district.
Fig. 9.—Similar engravings from the neighbouring cave of Combarelles. The lower figure is an enlargement of the smaller of the two above it.
Fig. 10, B, is from a cave at Bernifal, near les Eyzies, in the Dordogne, and shows a mammoth enclosed in a triangular design, which is believed to represent a trap, or else a cage. Such triangular figures with upright and also bent supports are found in various degrees of elaboration on both small and large engravings of this period, and are generally accepted as representing huts or enclosures supported by wooden poles. They are called "tectiforms" by the French explorers.
Fig. 10.—A, similar engraving from the cave of Combarelles. B, Mammoth enclosed by plank-like structure—supposed to be either a cage or a trap. (Called tectiform structures, and often seen in these wall engravings.) From the cave of Bernifal, five miles from Eyzies.
The bones and teeth of the mammoth are very common in the river gravels and clays of Western Europe and England, and a complete skull, with its tusks, dug up at Ilford, in the east of London, is in the Natural History Museum. Frozen carcasses of this animal are found in Northern Siberia, and two showing much of the skin and hair are in the museum of Petrograd. There is no tradition or knowledge of the mammoth among living races of men. The natives of Siberia, who have from time immemorial done a large trade in the ivory, regard the tusks as "horns," and have stories about the ghosts of the mammoth, but no tradition of it as a living beast. The mammoth was closer to the Indian elephant of to-day than to the African one. It had, as these drawings show, a pelt of long hair. Indian elephants from upland regions often have a good deal of hair all over the body: and the newborn young of both the Indian and African elephant has a complete coat of hair. The drawings here reproduced are not only of thrilling interest because they are the work of remotely ancient men who lived with and observed mammoths in the south of France, but also because they show an extraordinary skill in "sketching"—in giving the essential lines of the creature portrayed and in reproducing the artist's "impression." These artists were "impressionists"—the earliest and most sincere—without self-consciousness or other purpose than that of making line and colour truly register and indicate their vivid impressions. It is interesting to note that (as in other works of art showing true artistic gift) actual error in drawing (for instance, in the size and shape of the eye and the placing of the two tusks on the same side of the trunk—possibly due to the unfinished state of the drawing) sometimes accompanies the most penetrating observation and skilful delineation of the characteristic form and pose of the animal. Probably mammoths were getting rare in the south of France when these drawings were made, and were not so familiar in all their details to the artist as were bison, horse, and deer.
CHAPTER III
THE ART OF PREHISTORIC MEN
THE works of art produced by the cave-men are, as we have already seen, of five kinds or classes—(1) All-round small statuettes, or "high-relief" carvings, in ivory, bone, or stone (examples of which are shown in Figs. 14, 25, 26, 27, 28 of the present chapter); (2) small engravings on bits of ivory, deer's antler, bone, or stone (examples are shown in Figs. 15, 16, 20, and 24); (3) large statues, hewn in rock, and left in place; (4) drawings of large size—two to five feet in diameter (partly engraved and partly coloured) on the rocky walls and vaults of limestone caverns (shown in Figs. 11, 12, 13, 17, 18, 19, 23, as well as in the figures of mammoths in the last chapter); (5) models (high relief) worked in clay. I give reproductions in the present chapter of several samples of this art, showing how skilfully these men of 50,000 years ago could portray a variety of animals.
Who were these men, and why did they make these remarkable carvings and drawings? First, as to their age. We now know of a long succession of human inhabitants of this part of the world, namely, Western Europe. The earliest reach back to an antiquity never dreamed of fifty years ago. We cannot fix with any certainty the number of thousands, or hundreds of thousands, of years which is represented by this succession, but we can place the different periods in order, one later than the other, each distinguished chiefly by the character of the workmanship belonging to it, though in a few instances we have also the actual limb-bones, skulls, and jaw-bones of the men themselves, which differ in different periods. It is practically certain that these prehistoric successive periods of humanity do not represent the steps of growth and change of one single race belonging to this part of the world, but that successive races have arrived on the scene of Western Europe from other parts, and it is usually very difficult even to guess where they came from and where they went to!
It is convenient to divide the human epoch, the time which has elapsed since man definitely took shape as man—characterized by his large brain, small teeth, upright carriage, and large opposable thumb and still larger and more peculiar non-opposable great toe—into the historic and the prehistoric sections. In this part of the world (Europe) the first use of metals (first of all copper, then bronze, and then iron), as the material for the fabrication of implements and tools of all kinds, occurs just on the line between the historic and the prehistoric sections; that is to say, between those times of which we know something by tradition and writing, and those earlier times of which we have no record and no tradition, but concerning which we have to make out what we can by searching the refuse heaps and ruins of man's dwelling-places and carefully collecting such of his "works" as have not utterly perished, whilst noting which lie deeper in the ground, which above and which below the others.
Practically the men of the prehistoric ages in Europe had not the use of metals (though our quasi-historical records go back to a less remote time in many parts of Europe than they do in Greece, Assyria, and Egypt). The prehistoric peoples are spoken of as the men of the Stone Age, because they used stone, chiefly flint, as many savage races do to-day, as the material from which they fabricated by means of deftly struck blows all sorts of implements. Undoubtedly they also, by aid of stone knives, saws and planes, made weapons and other implements of wood and of the horns, bones, and teeth of animals. But these latter substances are perishable, and have only been preserved from decay under special circumstances, such as their inclusion in the deposits on the floors of caverns.
The Stone Age is itself readily and obviously divisible into two periods. The latter is a comparatively very short and recent period, when great skill in chipping flints and other stones was attained, and the implements so shaped were often rubbed on large stones of very hard material (siliceous grit), so as to polish their surfaces. This is the "Neolithic," or later Stone, period, and extends back in Europe certainly to 7000 B.C., and probably a few thousand years further. Passing further back than this, we leave what are called "recent" deposits, and come to those associated with great changes of the earth's surface. We enter upon "geological" time, and vastly changed climatic and geographical conditions. We are in the older Stone period, called the "Palæolithic period." It is not really comparable to the "Neolithic," since it comprises many successive ages of man, and, although called the "Palæolithic" or "ancient Stone" period, has no unity, but, whilst readily divisible into several sub-periods or epochs of comparatively late date, stretches back into immense geologic antiquity indicated by flint implements of special and diverse types, which are found in definitely ascertained geologic horizons.
The Pleistocene strata—the latest of the geologists' list—are the river gravels of existing river valleys, the deposits in many caves, and the sands and clays piled up by ice action during the repeated glacial extensions or epochs of glaciation which alternated with milder climate for many thousands of years over north and middle Europe. It is identical with the Palæolithic period, which, however, probably extends beyond it into the Pliocene and even further back. In the later deposits of the Pleistocene, which necessarily have been less frequently disturbed and re-deposited than the older ones, we find more numerous remains of man's handwork, and in less disturbed order of succession, than in the older deposits. Lately we have obtained in East Anglia beautifully-worked flint implements—the rostro-carinate, or eagle's beaks—from below shelly marine deposits—the Red Crag of Suffolk and the Norwich Crag—the oldest beds of the Pleistocene. They were made by men who lived in the Pliocene period, and carry the ancient Stone period of man back to a much earlier period than was admitted nine years ago.
The Pleistocene series or "system " of strata—also called the "Quaternary" to mark its distinction from the underlying long series of "Tertiary" strata—does not comprise the actual surface-deposits in which the remains of Neolithic man are found. It is usual, though perhaps not altogether logical, to separate these as "Recent" and to begin the long enumeration of "geologic" strata after a certain interval when the relative levels of land and sea and the depth of river-valleys were not precisely what they are to-day, and the human inhabitants of Western Europe were hunters using rough unpolished flint implements—in fact, when the "Palæolithic" period of human culture had not given place to the "Neolithic," which was after some ten thousand years itself to be superseded by the age of metals. "Prehistorians," the students of prehistoric man—divide the Pleistocene series of deposits with a view to a systematic conception of the successive changes of man and his surroundings during the period occupied by their deposition, into an upper, a middle and a lower group—and further have distinguished certain successive "horizons" in these groups—characterized by the remains of man and animals which they contain. They are exhibited in the tabular statement here given in the ascertained order of their succession, and are represented in the southern part of Britain as well as in France.
HORIZONS OR EPOCHS OF THE PLEISTOCENE OR QUATERNARY SYSTEM
A. Upper Pleistocene (post-glacial; also called epoch of the Reindeer).
1. The Azilian: (Elapho-Tarandian of Piette) nearest to the Neolithic section of the Recent Period and more or less transitional to that period; named after the cavern of the Mas d'Azil in the department of the Ariège. The Reindeer had largely given place to the great Red Deer (Cervus elephus).
2. The Magdelenian: named after the cave of La Madeleine in the Dordogne.
3. The Solutrian: after Solutré near Macon.
4. The Aurignacian: after the grotto of Aurignac in the Haute Garonne.
B. Middle Pleistocene (period of the last great extension of glaciers).
1. The Moustierian: so named after the cave of Le Moustier in Dordogne; the epoch of the Neander men. Also called the "epoch of the Mammoth," whilst the upper Pleistocene is called the epoch of the Reindeer, though the Mammoth still survived then in reduced numbers.
C. Lower Pleistocene (inter-glacial and early glacial, also called period of the Hippopotamus and of Elephas antiquus and Rhinoceros Merckii).
1. The Chellian: named after Chelles on the upper Seine, river gravels and sands earlier than the Moustierian. Large tongue-shaped flint implements, flaked on both surfaces—the later and better-finished classed as "Acheulæan," after St. Acheul, near Amiens.
2, 3, 4 ... various fluviatile and lacustrine gravels, sands and clays divisible into separate successive horizons, as well as marine deposits, some of glacial origin—including the mid-glacial gravel, the boulder clays and shelly Red Crag and Norwich Crag (but not the underlying "Coralline" Crag, which must be classed with the Pliocene). The relations of the marine deposits to the older river-gravels and fresh-water deposits, and to the earlier periods of glacial extension indicated by the glacial moraines of central Europe, have not been, as yet, satisfactorily determined.
The amount of the sedimentary deposits of the earth's crust belonging to the Pleistocene or Quaternary Period—about 250 feet in thickness—is exceedingly small, and represents a surprisingly short space of time as compared with that indicated by the vast thickness of underlying deposits. It has nevertheless been possible to study and classify the "horizons" of this latest very short period minutely because the deposits are easily excavated, and having been more recently "laid down" have not suffered so much subsequent breaking up and destruction as have the older strata; and further, because they embed at certain levels and in favourable situations an abundance of well-preserved bones and teeth of animals and the implements and carvings in stone and bone made by man. It is worth while to look at this matter a little more exactly.
The total thickness of sedimentary deposits—that is, deposit laid down by the action of water on the earth's surface, and now estimated by the measurement of strata lying one over the other in various parts of the globe—tilted and exposed to view so that we can trace out their order of super-position—is about 130,000 feet. The lower half of this huge deposit contains no fossilized remains of the living things which were present in the waters which laid it down; they were soft, probably shell-less and boneless, and so no fossilized trace of them is preserved. Thus we divide the sedimentary crust into 65,000 feet of "archaic" non-fossiliferous deposit, and an overlying 65,000 feet of fossil-containing deposits.
The earliest remains of living things known are not very different from marine creatures of to-day; they are the strange shrimp-like Trilobites and the Lingula-shells found in the lower Cambrian rocks of Wales. Over them lie 65,000 feet of sedimentary deposit teaming with fossils—the petrified remains of animals and plants. The Trilobites and the Lingulas must have had a long series of ancestors leading up to them from the simplest beginnings of life—for they are highly organized creatures. But no trace of those ancestors is preserved in the 65,000 feet of sedimentary rock underlying the earliest fossils.
This great basal mass of non-fossiliferous deposit is called "the Archæan series." The 65,000 feet of deposit above it are divided by geologists into three very unequal series. The first and lowest is the Primary or Palæozoic series, occupying the enormous thickness of 52,000 feet; above these we have the Secondary or Mesozoic series of 10,000 feet, and lastly, bringing us to recent time, we have the Tertiary or Cainozoic of only 3000 feet. These three series amount in all to 65,000 feet. The Palæozoic series is more than five times as thick as the Mesozoic, and these two taken together are twenty times the thickness of the Tertiary. Each series is divided by geologists into a series of systems, distinguished by the fossils they contain, which, on the whole, indicate animals of a higher degree of evolution as we ascend the series.
The Palæozoic series include the vast thicknesses of the Cambrian, the Ordovician, the Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous and Permian systems. The first "trilobite" is found in the lowest Cambrian rocks, and the last or most recent existed in the Permian period—after 50,000 feet of rock had been deposited. None are known of later age. The first fossil remains of a vertebrate are found in the uppermost beds of the Silurian—in "beds" (that is to say, stratified rocks) which are just half-way in position so far as the measurable thickness of the deposits are concerned, between the earliest Cambrian fossils and the sediments of the present day. To put it another way, 34,000 feet of fossiliferous rock precede the stratum (upper Silurian) in which the earliest remains of vertebrates are found. These first vertebrates to appear (others soft and destructible preceded them) are fishes—a group which, apart from this fact, are shown by their structure to present the ancestral form of all the vertebrate classes. In later Palæozoic beds we find the remains of four-legged creatures like our living newts and salamanders. The Secondary or Mesozoic series is divided into the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous systems. It ends with the familiar chalk deposit of this part of the world, and is often called the age of Reptiles, because large reptiles abounded in this period. The Tertiary or Cainozoic series are divided into the Eocene, Oligocene, Miocene, Pliocene and Pleistocene systems. The huge reptiles disappear and their place is taken by an endless variety of warm-blooded, hairy animals—the Mammals—small at first, but in later beds often of great size. As we pass upwards from the Eocene we can trace the ancestry of our living Mammals such as the horse, rhinoceros, pig and elephant in successive forms. Complete skeletons are preserved in the rocks and show a gradual transition from the more primitive Eocene kinds—through Miocene and Pliocene modifications—until in the Pleistocene strata many of the species now inhabiting the earth's surface are found. A number of horizons, characterized by the special mammalian and other animal remains preserved in them, are distinguished by geologists in each of the "systems" of sands, clays and harder beds known as Eocene, Oligocene, Miocene and Pliocene. At last we arrive at the latest or most recent 250 feet of deposit, consisting of sand, clay and gravel. This is called "Pleistocene." It is only a very small fraction (1/260th) of the thickness of the whole fossil-bearing sedimentary crust of the earth—about the proportion of the thickness of a common paving-stone to the whole height of Shakespeare's cliff at Dover. This Pleistocene or post-glacial Tertiary—often now called Quaternary—has been so carefully examined that we divide it as shown on page 39 into upper, middle and lower, and each of these divisions into successive horizons (only a few feet thick) characterized by the remains of different species of animals and often by the differing implements and carvings as well as the bones of successive races of men.
When we are concerned with written history, ancient Egypt seems to be of vast and almost appalling antiquity; on the other hand, if we study the cave-men, ancient Egypt becomes relatively modern, and the first cold period and extension of glaciers, which 500,000 years ago marked the passage from Pliocene to Pleistocene, becomes our familiar example of something belonging to the remote past—beyond or below which we rarely let our thoughts wander. That is a natural result of concentration on a special study. But it has had the curious result, in many cases, of making students of ancient man unwilling to admit the discovery of evidences of the existence of man at an earlier date than that which belongs to the deposits and remains to which their life-long studies have been confined and upon which their thought is concentrated. The last 500,000 years of the earth's vicissitudes, which resulted in the 250 feet of "Pleistocene" deposit and the marvellous treasures of early humanity embedded in them, form but a trivial postscript to the great geological record which precedes it.
Fig. 11.—Horse (wall engraving), cave of Marsoulas, Haute Garonne. The drawing suggests the Southern less heavy breed as compared with Figs. 12 and 13.
Fig. 12.—Horse (wall engraving) outlined in black, cave of Niaux (Ariège).
Fig. 13.—Horses: A, wall engraving (cave of Hornos de la Péna). B, wall engraving from cavern of Combarelles. C, engraved on reindeer antler (Mas d'Azil). Note the halter in A and in C; also note the heavy head and face of B like that of Prejalvski's horse.
No estimate can be made of the time represented by the 65,000 feet of fossiliferous strata known to us and the same thickness of non-fossiliferous deposit which precedes them. There are no facts known upon which a calculation of the related lapse of time can be based. But most geologists would agree that whilst we have good ground for assigning half a million years to the formation of the Pleistocene strata, it is not an unreasonable supposition that the period required for the formation of the fossiliferous rocks which precede them in time, is not less and probably more than five hundred million years.
Fig. 14.—Drawing (of the actual size of the original) of a flat carving in shoulder-bone of a horse's head, showing twisted rope-bridle and trappings. a appears to represent a flat ornamented band of wood or skin connecting the muzzling rope b with other pieces c and d. This specimen is from the cave of St. Michel d'Arudy, and is of the Reindeer period. This, and others like it are in the same museum of St. Germain.
Fig. 15.—Drawing (of the actual size of the original) of a fully rounded carving in reindeer's antler of the head of a neighing horse. The head resembles that of the Mongolian horse. This is one of the most artistic of the cave-men's carvings yet discovered. It is of the Palæolithic age (early Reindeer period), probably not less than 50,000 years old. It was found in the cavern of Mas d'Azil, Ariège, France, and is now in the museum of St. Germain.
The pictures and carvings with which we are for the moment concerned all belong to the later Pleistocene or Reindeer epoch. None have been found in the middle and earlier Pleistocene, though finely-chipped flints of several successive types are found in those earlier beds. So that it is clear that many successive ages of man had elapsed in Western Europe before these pictures—immensely ancient as they are—were executed. The men who made these works of art had ages of humanity, tradition, and culture (of a kind) behind them. Yet they were themselves tens of thousands of years earlier than the ancient Egyptians!
Fig. 16.—Reindeer engraving on schist, small size (cavern of Laugerie basse).
Fig. 17.—Rhinoceros in red outline (2-1/2 feet long), drawn on the wall of the cavern of Font de Gaume.
Our illustrations show a variety of drawings and carvings. It appears probable that the primitive intention of ancient man in depicting animals was "to work magic" on those which he hunted. This is the case at the present day among many "savage" races. The drawings of bisons in Fig. 19 are from the walls of the cavern of Font de Gaume, in the Dordogne, and are about 5 ft. long, partly engraved and scraped, partly outlined in black, and coloured. The body is often coloured in red, white and black, so as to give a true representation of the masses of hair and surface contours. A specially well preserved painting of this kind—from the cavern of Altamira—is shown in Fig. 18, where the colours of the original—black, red, and brown, and white are indicated by the varied shading. These drawings, like those of the mammoths figured in the last chapter, are found in the recesses of caverns where no daylight reaches them, and must have been executed and viewed by aid of torch or lamp-light. They probably were exhibited as part of a ceremony connected with witchcraft and magic. These, like the mammoths and all the specimens figured here, were executed in the Reindeer, or later Pleistocene period. The exact "horizon" of each is, as a rule, well ascertained, but there is uncertainty as to whether some specimens should be attributed to the Aurignacian or to the Magdalenian horizon—and as to whether work by men of the Magdalenian race is not in some cases associated in the cave deposits with that by the earlier negroid Aurignacians.
Fig. 18.—Bison from the roof of the cavern of Altamira: engraved, and also painted in three colours (5 feet long).
Fig. 19.—Bison: wall engravings (5 feet long) filled in with colour (Font de Gaume).
Fig. 20.—Bear: engraved on stalagmite, from the cave of Teyjat near Eyzies. (Small size.)
Fig. 21.—Bear, engraved on stone, Massol (Ariège).
Fig. 22.—Wolf, engraved on wall of the cave of Combarelles.
Fig. 23.—Wall engraving of a Cave Lion (Combarelles).
The horses shown are from various caves. Fig. 12 is drawn in black on the wall of a cave at Niaux (Ariège), and Fig. 11 is a similar drawing from a cave in the Haute Garonne. Both are remarkable for the exact representation of natural poses of the horse. Figs. 13, A and B, are also from the walls of caves. The latter is remarkable for the large head, short mane, and thick muzzle, which closely correspond with the same parts in the existing wild horse of the Gobi desert in Tartary (to be seen alive in the Zoological Gardens in London). The horse drawn in Fig. 11 seems to belong to a distinct race, suggesting the Southern "Arab" horse rather than the heavier and more clumsy horse of the Gobi desert. Fig. 13, C, is engraved of the size here given, on a piece of reindeer's antler. It is remarkable for the halter-like ring around the muzzle. A similar cord or rope is seen in Fig. 12 and in Fig. 13, A.
Fig. 24.—Goose: small engraving on reindeer antler (Gourdan).
The most remarkable horses' heads obtained are those drawn (of the actual size of the carvings) in Figs. 14 and 15. Fig. 14 is from the cave of St. Michael d'Arudy, engraved on a flat piece of shoulder-bone. It shows what can only be interpreted as some kind of "halter," made apparently of twisted rope (b, c, d), disposed about the animal's head, whilst a broad, flat piece ornamented with angular marks is attached at the regions marked "a." This and other drawings similar to Fig. 13, C (of which there are many), go far to prove that these early men had mastered the horse and put a kind of bridle on his head. Fig. 15 is a solid all-round carving in reindeer's antler from the cave of Mas d'Azil, Ariège (France). The original is of this size, and is supposed to be one of the oldest and yet is the most artistic yet discovered, and worthy to compare with the horses of the Parthenon.
In Fig. 20 we have a wonderful outline of a bear engraved on a piece of stone, from the cave of Teyjat, in the Dordogne; Fig. 22, the head of a wolf on the wall of the cave of Combarelles, Dordogne; Fig. 23, lion (mane-less), engraved on the wall of the same cave; Fig. 21, small bear, engraved on a pebble; Fig. 24, a duck engraved on a piece of reindeer's antler (Gourdan, Haute Garonne); Fig. 17, the square-mouthed, two-horned rhinoceros, drawn in red (ochre) outline on the wall of the cavern of the Font de Gaume. This drawing is 2-1/2 ft. long. In successful characterization the bear (Fig. 20), the wolf (Fig. 22), and the feline (Fig. 23) far surpass any of the attempts at animal drawing made by modern savages, such as the Bushmen of South Africa, Californian Indians, and Australian black fellows.
Fig. 25.—Female figure carved in oolitic limestone from Willendorf near Krems, Lower Austria (1908). Half the size (linear) of the original.
Fig. 27 is an outline sketch of a rock-carved statue, 18 in. high, proved by the kind of flint implements found with it to be of Aurignacian age. It was discovered on a rubble-covered face of a rock-cliff at Laussel, in the Dordogne, by M. Lalanne. The woman holds a bovine horn in her right hand. The face is obliterated by "weathering." Four other human statues were found in the same place, one a male, much broken, but obviously standing in the position taken by (Fig. 28) a man throwing a spear or drawing a bow. [3] Near these were found a frieze of life-sized horses carved in high relief on the rock. These are the only statues of any size, executed by the Reindeer men, yet discovered.
Fig. 26.—Drawing (of the actual size of the original) of an ivory carving (fully rounded) of a female head. The specimen was found in the cavern of Brassempouy, in the Landes. It is of the earliest Reindeer period, and the arrangement of the hair or cap is remarkable.
The representations of men are rare among these earliest works of art, and less successfully carried out than those of animals. But several small statuettes of women in bone, ivory, and stone of the early Aurignacian horizon are known. They suggest, by their form of body, affinity with the Bushmen race of to-day (Fig. 25). The all-round carving of a female head (Fig. 26) also suggests Ethiopian affinities in the dressing of the hair. Some regard this hair-like head-dress as a cap. Here and there badly executed outline engravings of men, some apparently wearing masks, have been discovered.
The fact that the "Reindeer men" were skilful in devising decorative design—not representing actual natural objects—is shown by the carving drawn in Fig. 29 and in many others like it.
Fig. 27.—Seated figure of a woman holding a bovine horn in the right hand; high relief carved on a limestone rock; about 18 inches high. Discovered at Laussel (Dordogne) in a rock-shelter in 1911, by M. Lalanne.
Fig. 28.—Male figure represented in the act of drawing a bow or throwing a spear. Carved on limestone rock; about 16 inches high. Discovered by M. Lalanne with that drawn in Fig. 27.
The later horizons of the Reindeer period or Upper Pleistocene yield some beautiful outline engravings of red deer and reindeer (Fig. 16) on antler-bone, as well as of other animals. One celebrated carving I have described in the first chapter of this book. It is now regarded as probable that whilst the art of the Aurignacians persisted and developed in the South of France and North-West of Spain until and during the time of the Magdalenian horizon, yet a distinct race, with a different style of art, spread through South-East Spain and also from Italy into that region, and affected injuriously the "naturalistic" Aurignacian art, and superseded it in Azilian and Neolithic times. We find late drawings (Azilian age?) in some of the east Spanish caves of a very much simplified character, small human figures armed with bow and arrow, and others reduced to geometric or mere symbolic lines derived from human and animal form (see Fig. 52, p. 206). The latest studies of Breuil on this subject tend to throw light by aid of these simplified inartistic and symbolic drawings on the migrations of very early races in the south and south-east of Europe, and to connect them perhaps with North African contemporary races. The subject is as difficult as it is fascinating. Those who wish to get to the original sources of information should consult the last ten years' issues of the invaluable French periodical called "L'Anthropologie," edited by Professor Marcelin Boule.
Fig. 29.—A piece of mammoth ivory carved with spirals and scrolls from the cave of Arudy (Hautes Pyrénées). Same size as the object.
FOOTNOTE:
[3] M. Reinach relates ("Repertoire de l'Art Quatermaire") that two of these statues were in 1912 deliberately stolen by the German Verworn professor of Physiology in Bonn, who repaid the hospitality of M. Lalanne by bribing his workman and secretly carrying off these valuable specimens to Germany, where (it is stated) they were sold to the museum of Berlin for a large sum.
[3] M. Reinach relates ("Repertoire de l'Art Quatermaire") that two of these statues were in 1912 deliberately stolen by the German Verworn professor of Physiology in Bonn, who repaid the hospitality of M. Lalanne by bribing his workman and secretly carrying off these valuable specimens to Germany, where (it is stated) they were sold to the museum of Berlin for a large sum.
Fig. 27 is an outline sketch of a rock-carved statue, 18 in. high, proved by the kind of flint implements found with it to be of Aurignacian age. It was discovered on a rubble-covered face of a rock-cliff at Laussel, in the Dordogne, by M. Lalanne. The woman holds a bovine horn in her right hand. The face is obliterated by "weathering." Four other human statues were found in the same place, one a male, much broken, but obviously standing in the position taken by (Fig. 28) a man throwing a spear or drawing a bow. [3] Near these were found a frieze of life-sized horses carved in high relief on the rock. These are the only statues of any size, executed by the Reindeer men, yet discovered.
