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diff --git a/3309-0.txt b/3309-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..de10dd9 --- /dev/null +++ b/3309-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10644 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Manners and Monuments of Prehistoric Peoples, by The Marquis de Nadaillac + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most +other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of +the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have +to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. + +Title: Manners and Monuments of Prehistoric Peoples + +Author: The Marquis de Nadaillac + +Release Date: July, 2002 [EBook #3309] +[Most recently updated: January 18, 2020] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PREHISTORIC PEOPLES *** + + + + +Produced by Jeroen Hellingman + + + + +[Illustration] + +[Illustration: Fossil Man of Mentone.] + + +Manners and Monuments +of +Prehistoric Peoples + + +By The Marquis de Nadaillac + +Correspondent of the Institute + +Author of “L’Amérique Préhistorique,” “Les Premiers Hommes et les Temps Préhistoriques,” etc. +With 113 illustrations + +Translated by +Nancy Bell (N. D’Anvers) + +Author of “The Elementary History of Art,” “The Life-Story of Our Earth,” “The Story of Early Man,” etc. + +G. P. Putnam’s sons +New York +27 West Twenty-Third Street +London +24 Redford Street, Strand +The Knickerbocker Press +1894 + +Copyright, 1892 by Nancy Bell + +Electrotyped, Printed, and Bound by The Knickerbocker Press, New York +G. P. Putnam’s Sons + +Translator’s Note + +The present volume has been translated, with the author’s consent, from the French of the Marquis de Nadaillac. The author +and translator have carefully brought down to date the original edition, embodying the discoveries made during the progress +of the work. The book will be found to be an epitome of all that is known on the subject of which it treats, and covers ground +not at present occupied by any other work in the English language. + +Nancy Bell (N. D’Anvers). + +Southbourne-On-Sea, +1891. + +Contents. + +Chapter Page +I. The Stone Age, its Duration, and its Place in Time 1 + +II. Food, Cannibalism, Mammals, Fish, Hunting and Fishing, Navigation 47 + +III. Weapons, Tools, Pottery; Origin of the Use of Fire, Clothing, Ornaments; Early Artistic Efforts 79 + +IV. Caves, Kitchen-Middings, Lake Stations, “Terremares,” Crannoges, Burghs, “Nurhags,” “Talayoti,” and “Truddhi” 127 + +V. Megalithic Monuments 174 + +VI. Industry, Commerce, Social Organization; Fights, Wounds and Trepanation +231 +VII. Camps, Fortifications, Vitrified Forts; Santorin; the Towns upon the Hill of Hissarlik 279 + +VIII. Tombs 343 + Index 383 + +Illustrations. + +Figure Page + Fossil man from Mentone. + +_Frontispiece_ +1. Stone weapons described by Mahudel in 1734. 8 + +2. Copper hatchets found in Hungary and now in national museum of Budapest. 20 + +3. Copper beads from Connett’s Mound, Ohio (natural size). 21 + +4. Stone statues on Easter Island. 37 + +5. Fort-hill, Ohio. 39 + +6. Group of sepulchral mounds. 40 + +7. Ground plan of a pueblo of the Mac-Elmo valley. 41 + +8. Cliff-house on the Rio Mancos. 42 + +9. House in a rock of the Montezuma cañon. 43 + +10. 1. Fragments of arrows made of reindeer horn from the Martinet cave (Lot-et-Garonne). +2. Point of spear or harpoon in stag-horn (one third natural size). +3. and 4. Bone weapons from Denmark. +5. Harpoon of stag-horn from St. Aubin. +6. Bone fish-hooks pointed at each end, from Waugen. 61 + +11. Bear’s teeth converted into fish-hooks. 62 + +12. Fish-hook made out of a boar’s tusk. 62 + +13. A. Large barbed arrow from one side of the Plan Lade shelter (Tarn-et-Garonne). +B. Lower part of a barbed harpoon from the Plantade deposit. 65 + +14. Ancient Scandinavian boat found beneath a tumulus at Gogstadten. 73 + +15. Ancient boat discovered in the bed of the Cher. 75 + +16. A lake pirogue found in the Lake of Neuchâtel. +1. As seen outside. +2. and 3. Longitudinal and transverse sections. +Stones used as anchors, found in the Bay of Penhouet. 76 + +17. 1, 2, 3. Stones weighing about 160 lbs. each. +4. and 5. Lighter stones, probably used for canoes. 80 + +18. Scraper from the Delaware valley. 82 + +19. Implement from the Delaware valley. 82 + +20. Worked flints from the Lafaye and Plantade shelters (Tarn-et-Garonne). 83 + +21. 1. Stone javelin-head with handle. 2. Stone hatchet with handle. 89 + +22. 1. Fine needles. 2. Coarse needles. 3. Amulet. 4 and 6. Ornaments. 5. Cut flints. 7. Fragment of a harpoon. 8. Fragments of +reindeer antlers with signs or drawings. 9. Whistle. 10. One end of a bow (?). 11. Arrow-head. (From the Vache, Massat, and +Lourdes caves) 91 + +23. Amulet made of the penien bone of a bear and found in the Marsoulas cave. 92 + +24. Various stone and bone objects from California. 93 + +25. Dipper found in the excavations at the Chassey camp. 95 + +26. Pottery of a so far unclassified type found in the Argent cave (France). 98 + +27. 1. Lignite pendant. 2. Bone pendant. (Thayngen cave). 107 + +28. Round pieces of skull, pierced with holes (M. de Baye’s collection). 110 + +29. +Part of a rounded piece of a human parietal. +Stiletto made of the end of a human radius. +Disk, made of the burr of a stag’s antler. 111 + +30. Whistle from the Massenat collection. 112 + +31. Staff of office. 113 + +32. Staff of office, made of stag-horn pierced with four holes. 114 + +33. Staff of office found at Lafaye. 115 + +34. Staff of office in reindeer antler, with a horse engraved on it (Thayngen). 115 + +35. Staff of office found at Montgaudier. 117 + +36. Carved dagger-hilt (Laugerie-Basse). 118 + +37. The great cave-bear, drawn on a pebble found in the Massat cave (Garrigou collection). 118 + +38. Mammoth or elephant from the Una cave. 119 + +39. Seal engraved on a bear’s tooth, found at Sordes.119 + +40. Fragment of a bone, with regular designs. Fragment of a rib on which is engraved a musk-ox, found in the Marsoulas cave. 120 + +41. Head of a horse from the Thayngen cave. 121 + +42. Bear engraved on a bone, from the Thayngen cave. 121 + +43. Reindeer grazing, from the Thayngen cave. 122 + +44. Head of _Ovibos moschatus_, engraved on wood, found in the Thayngen cave. 123 + +45. Young man chasing the aurochs, from Laugerie. 124 + +46. Fragment of a staff of office, from the Madelaine cave. 125 + +47. Human face carved on a reindeer antler, found in the Rochebertier cave. 125 + +48. The glyptodon. 128 + +49. _Mylodon robustus_.129 + +50. Objects discovered in the peat-bogs of Laybach, A. Earthenware vase. B. Fragment of ornamented pottery. C. Bone needle. D. +Earthenware weight for fishing-net. E. Fragment of jaw bone. 152 + +51. Small terra-cotta figures found in the Laybach pile dwellings. 153 + +52. Small terra-cotta figures from the Laybach pile dwellings. 154 + +53. Nurhag at Santa Barbara (Sardinia). 168 + +54. “Talayoti” at Trepuco (Minorca). 170 + +55. Dolmen of Castle Wellan (Ireland). 175 + +56. The large dolmen of Careoro, near Plouharnel. 176 + +57. Dolmen of Arrayolos (Portugal). 177 + +58. Megalithic sepulchre at Acora (Peru). 178 + +59. The great broken menhir of Locmariaker with Cæsar’s table. 186 + +60. Covered avenue of Dissignac (Loire-Inférieure), view of the chamber at the end of the north gallery. 189 + +61. Covered avenue near Antequera. 190 + +62. Ground plan of the Gavr’innis monument. 191 + +63. Monoliths at Stennis, in the Orkney Islands. 193 + +64. Cromlech near Bône (Algeria). 196 + +65. Dolmen at Pallicondah, near Madras (India). 201 + +66. Dolmen at Maintenon, with a table about 19½ feet long. 204 + +67. Part of the Mané-Lud dolmen. 208 + +68. Sculptures on the menhirs of the covered avenue of Gavr’innis. 210 + +69. Dolmen with opening (India). 211 + +70. Dolmen near Trie (Oise). 212 + +71. Bronze objects found at Krasnojarsk (Siberia). 237 + +72. Prehistoric polisher near the ford of Beaumoulin, Nemours. 239 + +73. Section of a flint mine. 242 + +74. Plan of a gallery of flint mine. 243 + +75. Picks, hammers, and mattocks made of stag-horn. 245 + +76. Cranium of a woman from Cro-Magnon (full face). 249 + +77. Skull of a woman found at Sordes, showing a severe wound, from which she recovered. 250 + +78. Fragment of human tibia with exostosis enclosing the end of a flint arrow. 252 + +79. Fragment of human humerus pierced at the elbow joint (Trou d’Argent). 253 + +80. Mesaticephalic skull, with wound which has been trepanned. 259 + +81. Trepanned Peruvian skull. 268 + +82. Skull from the Bougon dolmen (Deux-Sèvres), seen in profile. 273 + +83. Trepanned prehistoric skull. 274 + +84. Prehistoric spoon and button found in a lake station at Sutz.287 + +85. General view of the station of Fuente-Alamo. 293 + +86. Group at Liberty (Ohio). 299 + +87. Trenches at Juigalpa (Nicaragua). 300 + +88. Vases found at Santorin. 313 + +89. Vase ending in the snout of an animal, found on the hill of Hissarlik. 325 + +90. Funeral vase containing human ashes. 326 + +91. Large terra-cotta vases found at Troy. 327 + +92. Earthenware pitcher found at a depth of 19½ feet. 328 + +93. Vase found beneath the ruins of Troy. 328 + +94. Terra-cotta vase found with the treasure of Priam. 328 + +95. Vase found beneath the ruins of Troy. 329 + +96. Earthenware pig found at a depth of 13 feet. 330 + +97. Vase surmounted by an owl’s head, found beneath the ruins of Troy. 331 + +98. Copper vases found at Troy. 333 + +99. Vases of gold and electrum, with two ingots (Troy). 334 + +100. Gold and silver objects from the treasure of Priam. 335 + +101. Gold ear-rings, head-dress, and necklace of golden beads from the treasure of Priam. 336 + +102. Terra-cotta fusaïoles. 339 + +103. Cover of a vase with the symbol of the swastika. 340 + +104. Stone hammer from New Jersey bearing an undeciphered inscription. 341 + +105. Chulpa near Palca. 357 + +106. Dolmen at Auvernier near the lake of Neuchâtel. 359 + +107. A stone chest used as a sepulchre. 361 + +108. Example of burial in a jar. 363 + +109. Aymara mummy. 365 + +110. Peruvian mummies. 367 + +111. Erratic block from Scania, covered with carvings. 379 + +112. Engraved rock from Massibert (Lozère). 380 + + + + +CHAPTER I. +The Stone Age: its Duration and its Place in Time. + + +The nineteenth century, now nearing its close, has made an indelible +impression upon the history of the world, and never were greater things +accomplished with more marvellous rapidity. Every branch of science, +without exception, has shared in this progress, and to it the daily +accumulating information respecting different parts of the globe has +greatly contributed. Regions, previously completely closed, have been, +so to speak, simultaneously opened by the energy of explorers, who, +like Livingstone, Stanley, and Nordenskiöld, have won immortal renown. +In Africa, the Soudan, and the equatorial regions, where the sources of +the Nile lie hidden; in Asia, the interior of Arabia, and the Hindoo +Koosh or Pamir mountains, have been visited and explored. In America +whole districts but yesterday inaccessible are now intersected by +railways, whilst in the other hemisphere Australia and the islands of +Polynesia have been colonized; new societies have rapidly sprung into +being, and even the unmelting ice of the polar regions no longer checks +the advance of the intrepid explorer. And all this is but a small +portion of the work on which the present generation may justly pride +itself. + +Distant wars too have contributed in no small measure to the progress +of science. To the victorious march of the French army we owe the +discovery of new facts relative to the ancient history of Algeria; it +was the advance of the English and Russian forces that revealed the +secret of the mysterious lands in the heart of Asia, whence many +scholars believe the European races to have first issued, and of this +ever open book the French expedition to Tonquin may be considered at +present one of the last pages. + +Geographical knowledge does much to promote the progress of the kindred +sciences. The work of Champollion, so brilliantly supplemented by the +Vicomte de Rougé and Mariette Bey, has led to the accurate +classification of the monuments of Egypt. The deciphering of the +cuneiform inscriptions has given us the dates of the palaces of Nineveh +and Babylon; the interpretation by savants of other inscriptions has +made known to us those Hittites whose formidable power at one time +extended as far as the Mediterranean, but whose name had until quite +recently fallen into complete oblivion. The rock-hewn temples and the +yet more strange dagobas of India now belong to science. Like the +sacred monuments of Burmah and Cambodia they have been brought down to +comparatively recent dates; and though the palaces of Yucatan and Peru +still maintain their reserve, we are able to fix their dates +approximately, and to show that long before their construction North +America was inhabited by races, one of which, known as the Mound +Builders, left behind them gigantic earthworks of many kinds, whilst +another, known as the Cliff Dwellers, built for themselves houses on +the face of all but inaccessible rocks. + +Comparative philology has enabled us to trace back the genealogies of +races, to determine their origin, and to follow their migrations. +Burnouf has brought to light the ancient Zend language, Sir Henry +Rawlinson and Oppert have by their magnificent works opened up new +methods of research, Max Müller and Pictet in their turn by availing +themselves of the most diverse materials have done much to make known +to us the Aryan race, the great educator, if I may so speak, of modern +nations. + +To one great fact do all the most ancient epochs of history bear +witness: one and all, they prove the existence in a yet more remote +past of an already advanced civilization such as could only have been +gradually attained to after long and arduous groping. Who were the +inaugurators of this civilization? Who ware the earliest inhabitants of +the earth? To what biological conditions were they subject? What were +the physical and climatic conditions of the globe when they lived? By +what flora and fauna were they surrounded? But science pushes her +inquiry yet further. She desires to know the origin of tire human race, +when, how, and why men first appeared upon the earth; for from whatever +point of view he is considered, man must of necessity have had a +beginning. + +We are in fact face to face with most formidable problems, involving +alike our past and future; problems it is hopeless to attempt to solve +by human means or by the help of human intelligence alone, yet with +which science can and ought to grapple, for they elevate the soul and +strengthen the reasoning faculties. Whatever may be their final result, +such studies are of enthralling interest. “Man,” said a learned member +of the French Institute, “will ever be for man the grandest of all +mysteries, the most absorbing of all objects of contemplation.”1 + +Let us work our way back through past centuries and study our remote +ancestors on their first arrival upon earth; let us watch their early +struggles for existence! We will deal with facts alone; we will accept +no theories, and we must, alas, often fail to come to any conclusion, +for the present state of prehistoric knowledge rarely admits of +certainty. We must ever be ready to modify theories by the study of +facts, and never forget that, in a science so little advanced, theories +must of necessity be provisional and variable. + +Truly strange is the starting-point of prehistoric science. It is with +the aid of a few scarcely even rough-hewn flints, a few bones that it +is difficult to classify, and a few rude stone monuments that we have +to build up, it must be for our readers to say with what success, a +past long prior to any written history, which has left no trace in the +memory of man, and during which our globe would appeal to have been +subject to conditions wholly unlike those of the present day. + +The stones which will first claim our attention, some of them very +skilfully cut and carefully polished, have been known for centuries. +According to Suetonius, the Emperor Augustus possessed in his palace on +the Palatine Hill a considerable collection of hatchets of different +kinds of rock, nearly all of them found in the island of Capri, and +which were to their royal owner the weapons of the heroes of mythology. +Pliny tells of a thunder-bolt having fallen into a lake, in which +eighty-nine of these wonderful stones were soon afterwards found.2 +Prudentius represents ancient German warriors as wearing gleaming +_ceraunia_ on their helmets; in other countries similar stones +ornamented the statues of the gods, and formed rays about their heads.3 + +A subject so calculated to fire the imagination has of course not been +neglected by the poets. Claudian’s verses are well known: + +Pyrenæisque sub antris +Ignea flumineæ legere ceraunia nymphæ. + +Marbodius, Bishop of Rennes, in the eleventh century, sang of the +thunder-stones in some Latin verses which have come down to us, and an +old poet of the sixteenth century in his turn exclaimed, on seeing the +strange bones around him + +Le roc de Tarascon hébergea quelquefois +Les géants qui couroyent les montagnes de Foix, +Dont tant d’os successifs rendent le témoignage. + +With these stones, in fact, were found numerous bones of great size, +which had belonged to unknown creatures. Latin authors speak of similar +bones found in Asia Minor, which they took to be those of giants of an +extinct race. This belief was long maintained; in 1547 and again in +1667 fossil remains were found in the cave of San Ciro near Palermo; +and Italian savants decided that they had belonged to men eighteen feet +high. Guicciadunus speaks of the bones of huge elephants carefully +preserved in the Hôtel de Ville at Antwerp as the bones of a giant +named Donon, who lived 1300 years before the Christian era. + +In days nearer our own the roost cultivated people accepted the remains +of a gigantic batrachian4 as those of a man who had witnessed the +flood, and it was the same with a tortoise found in Italy scarcely +thirty years ago. Dr. Carl, in a work published at Frankfort5 in 1709, +took up another theory, and, such was the general ignorance at the +time, he used long arguments to prove that the fossil bones were the +result neither of a freak of nature, nor of the action of a plastic +force, and it was not until near the end of his life that the +illustrious Camper could bring himself to admit the extinction of +certain species, so totally against Divine revelation did such a +phenomenon appear to him to be. + +Prejudices were not, however, always so obstinate. For more than three +centuries stones worked by the hand of man have been preserved in the +Museum of the Vatican, and as long ago as the time of Clement VIII. his +doctor, Mercati, declared these stones to have been the weapons of +antediluvians who had been still ignorant of the use of metals. + +During the early portion of the eighteenth century a pointed black +flint, evidently the head of a spear, was found in London with the +tooth of an elephant. It was described in the newspapers of the day, +and placed in the British Museum. + +In 1723 Antoine de Jussieu said, at a meeting of the _Académie des +Sciences_, that these worked stones had been made where they were +found, or brought from distant countries. He supported his arguments by +an excellent example of the way in which savage races still polish +stones, by rubbing them continuously together. + +A few years later the members of the _Académie des Inscriptions_ in +their turn, took up the question, and Mahudel, one of its members, in +presenting several stones, showed that they bad evidently been cut by +the hand of man. “An examination of them,” he said, “affords a proof of +the efforts of our earliest ancestors to provide for their wants, and +to obtain the necessaries of life.” He added that after the re-peopling +of the earth after the deluge, men were ignorant of the use of metals. +Mahudel’s essay is illustrated by drawings, some of which we reproduce +(Fig. 1), showing wedges, hammers, hatchets, and flint arrow-beads +taken, he tells us, from various private collections.6 + +Bishop Lyttelton, writing in 1736, speaks of such weapons as having +been made at a remote date by savages ignorant of the use of metals,7 +and Sir W. Dugdale, an eminent antiquary of the seventeenth century, +attributed to the ancient Britons some flint hatchets found in +Warwickshire, and thinks they were made when these weapons alone were +used.8 + +[Illustration: 1.] + +Stone weapons described by Mahudel in 1734. + +A communication made by Frère to the Royal Society of London deserves +mention here with a few supplementary remarks.9 + +This distinguished man of science found at Hoxne, in Suffolk, about +twelve feet below the surface of the soil, worked flints, which had +evidently been the natural weapons of a people who had no knowledge of +metals. With these flints were found some strange bones with the +gigantic jaw of an animal then unknown. Frère adds that the number of +chips of flint was so great that the workmen, ignorant of their +scientific value, used them in road-making. Every thing pointed to the +conclusion that Hoxne was the place where this primitive people +manufactured the weapons and implements they used, so that as early as +the end of last century a member of the Royal Society formulated the +propositions,10 now fully accepted, that at a very remote epoch men +used nothing but stone weapons and implements, and that side by side +with these men lived huge animals unknown in historic times. These +facts, strange as they appear to us, attracted no attention at the +time. It would seem that special acumen is needed for every fresh +discovery, and that until the time for that discovery comes, evidence +remains unheeded and science is altogether blind to its significance. + +But to resume our narrative. It is interesting to note the various +phases through which the matter passed before the problem was solved. +In 1819, M. Jouannet announced that he had found stone weapons near +Périgord. In 1823, the Rev. Dr. Buckland published the “Reliquiæ +Diluvianæ,” the value of which, though it is a work of undoubted merit, +was greatly lessened by the preconceived ideas of its author. A few +years later, Tournal announced his discoveries in the cave of Bize, +near Narbonne, in which, mixed with human bones, he found the remains +of various animals, some extinct, some still native to the district, +together with worked flints and fragments of pottery. After this, +Tournal maintained that man had been the contemporary of the animals +the bones of which were mixed with the products of human industry.11 +The results of the celebrated researches of Dr. Schmerling in the caves +near Liège were published in 1833. He states his conclusions frankly: +“The shape of the flints,” he says, “is so regular, that it is +impossible to confound them with those found in the Chalk or in +Tertiary strata. Reflection compels us to admit that these flints were +worked by the hand of man, and that they may have been used as arrows +or as knives.”12 Schmerling does not refer, though Lyell does, and that +in terms of high admiration, to the courage required for the arduous +work involved in the exploration of the caves referred to, or to the +yet more serious obstacles the professor had to overcome in publishing +conclusions opposed to the official science of the day. + +In 1835, M. Joly, by his excavations in the Nabrigas cave, established +the contemporaneity of man with the cave bear, and a little later M. +Pomel announced his belief that plan had witnessed the last eruptions +of the volcanoes of Auvergne. + +In spite of these discoveries, and the eager discussions to which they +led, the question of the antiquity of man and of his presence amongst +the great Quaternary animals made but little progress, and it was +reserved to a Frenchman, M. Boucher de Perthes, to compel the +scientific world to accept the truth. + +It was in 1826 that Boucher de Perthes first published his opinion; but +it was not until 1816 and 1847 that he announced his discovery at +Menchecourt, near Abbeville, and at Moulin-Quignon and Saint Acheul, in +the alluvial deposits of the Somme, of flints shaped into the form of +hatchets associated with the remains of extinct animals such as the +mammoth, the cave lion, the _Rhinoceros incisivus_, the hippopotamus, +and other animals whose presence in France is not alluded to either in +history or tradition. The uniformity of shape, the marks of repeated +chipping, and the sharp edges so noticeable in the greater number of +these hatchets, cannot be sufficiently accounted for either by the +action of water, or the rubbing against each other of the stones, still +less ply the mechanical work of glaciers. We must therefore recognize +in them the results of some deliberate action and of an intelligent +will, such as is possessed by man, and by man alone. Professor Ramsay13 +tells us that, after twenty years’ experience in examining stones in +their natural condition and others fashioned by the hand of man, he has +no hesitation in pronouncing the flints and hatchets of Amiens and +Abbeville as decidedly works of art as the knives of Sheffield. The +deposits in which they were found showed no sins of having been +disturbed; so that we may confidently conclude that the men who worked +these flints lived where the banks of the Somme now are, when these +deposits were in course of being laid down, and that he was the +contemporary of the animals whose bones lay side by side with the +products of his industry. + +This conclusion, which now appears so simple, was not accepted without +difficulty. Boucher de Perthes defended his discoveries in books, in +pamphlets, and in letters addressed to learned societies. He had the +courage of his convictions, and the perseverance which insures success. +For twenty years he contended patiently against the indifference of +some, and the contempt of others. Everywhere the proofs he brought +forward were rejected, without his being allowed the honor of a +discussion or even of a hearing. The earliest converts to De Perthes’ +conclusions met with similar attacks and with similar indifference. +There is nothing to surprise us in this; it is human nature not to take +readily to anything new, or to entertain ideas opposed to old +established traditions. The most distinguished men find it difficult to +break with the prejudices of their education and the yet more firmly +established prejudices of the systems they have themselves built up. +The words of the great French fabulist will never cease to be true: + +Man is ice to truth; +But fire to lies. + +One of the masters of modern science, Cuvier, has said14: “Everything +tends to prove that the human race did not exist in the countries where +the fossil bones were found at the time of the convulsions which buried +those bones; but I will not therefore conclude that man did not exist +at all before that epoch; he may have inherited certain districts of +small extent whence he re-peopled the earth after these terrible +events.” Cuvier’s disciples went beyond the doctrines of their master. +He made certain reservations; they admitted none, and one of the most +illustrious, Élie de Beaumont, rejected with scorn the possibility of +the co-existence of man and the mammoth.15 Later, retracting an +assertion of which perhaps he himself recognized the exaggeration, he +contented himself with saying that the district where the flints and +bones had been collected belonged to a recent period, and to the +shifting deposits of the slopes contemporary with the peaty alluvium. +He added—scientific passions are by no means the least intense, or the +least deeply rooted—that the worked flints may have been of Roman +origin, and that the deposits of Moulin-Quignon may have covered a +Roman road! This might indeed have been the case in the _Département du +Nord_, where a road laid down by the conquerors of Gaul has completely +disappeared beneath deposits of peat, but it could not be true at +Moulin-Quignon, where gravels form the culminating point of the ridge. +Moreover, the laying down of the most ancient peats of the French +valleys did not begin until the great watercourses had been replaced by +the rivers of the present day; they never contain, relics of any +species but such as are still extant; whereas it was with the remains +of extinct mammals that the flints were found. + +It was against powerful adversaries such as this that the modest savant +of Abbeville had to maintain his opinion. “No one,” he says, “cared to +verify the facts of the case, merely giving as a reason, that these +facts were impossible.” Weight was added to his complaint by the +refusal in England about the same blue to print a communication from +the Society of Natural History of Torquay, which announced the +discovery of flints worked by the hand of man, associated, as were +those of the Somme, with the bones of extinct animals. The fact +appeared altogether too incredible! + +But the time when justice would be done was to come at last. Dr. +Falconer visited first Amiens and then Abbeville, to examine the +deposits and the flints and bones found in them. In January, 1859, and +in 1860, other Englishmen of science followed his example; and +excavations were made, under their direction, in the massive strata +which rise, from the chalk forming their base, to a height of 108 feet +above the level of the Somme. Their search was crowned with success, +and they lost no blue in leaking known to the world the results they +had obtained, and the convictions to which these results lead led.16 In +1859 Prestwich announced to the Royal Society of London that the flints +found in the bed of the Somme were undoubtedly the work of the hand of +plan, that they had been found in strata that lead not been disturbed, +and that the men who cut these flints bad lived at a period prior to +the time when our earth assumed its present configuration. Sir Charles +Lyell, in his opening address at a session of the British Association, +did not hesitate to support the conclusions of Prestwich. It was now +the turn of Frenchmen of science to arrive at Abbeville. MM. Gaudry and +Pouchet themselves extracted hatchets from the Quaternary deposits of +the Somme.17 These facts were vouched for by the well-known authority, +M. de Quatrefages, who had already constituted himself their advocate. +All that was now needed was the test of a public discussion, and the +meeting of the Anthropological Society of Paris supplied a suitable +occasion. The question received long and searching scientific +examination. All doubt was removed, and M. Isidore +Geoffroy-Saint-Hilaire was the mouth-piece of an immense majority of +his colleagues, when he declared that the objections to the great +antiquity of the human race had all melted away. The conversion of men +so illustrious was followed of course by that of the general public, +and, more fortunate than many another, Boucher de Perthes bad the +satisfaction before his death of seeing a new branch of knowledge +founded on his discoveries, attain to a just and durable popularity in +the scientific world. + +It must not, however, be supposed that popular superstition yielded at +once to the decisions of science, and it is curious to meet with the +same ideas in the most different climates, and in districts widely +separated from each other:18 Everywhere worked flints are attributed to +a supernatural origin; everywhere they are looked upon as amulets with +the power of protecting their owner, his house or his flocks. Russian +peasants believe them to be the arrows of thunder, and fathers transmit +them to their children as precious heirlooms. The same belief is held +in France, Ireland, and Scotland, in Scandinavia, and Hungary, as well +as in Asia Minor, in Japan, China, and Burn lap; in Java, and amongst +the people of the Bahama Islands, as amongst the negroes of the Soudan +or those of the west coast of Africa,19 who look upon these stones as +bolts launched from Heaven by Sango, the god of thunder; amongst the +ancient inhabitants of Nicaragua as well as the Malays, who, however, +still make similar implements. + +The name given to these flints recalls the origin attributed to them. +The Romans call them _ceraunia_ from κεραυνός, thunder, and in the +catalogue of the possessions of a noble Veronese published in 1656, we +find them mentioned under this name.20 Every one knows Cymbeline’s +funeral chant in Shakespeare’s play: + +Fear no more the lightning flash +Nor the all dreaded thunder-stone. + +In Germany we are shown _Donner-Keile_, in Alsace _Dormer-Axt_, in +Holland _Donner-Beitels_, in Denmark _Tordensteen_, in Norway +_Tordenkeile_, in Sweden _Thorsoggar_, Thor having been the god of +thunder amongst northern nations; while with the Celts21 the +_Mengurun_, in Asia Minor the _Ylderim-tachi_, in Japan the +_Rai-fu-seki-no-rui_, in Roussillon the _Pedrus de Lamp_, and in +Andalusia the _Piedras de Rayo_ have the same signification. The +inhabitants of the Mindanao islands call these stones the teeth of the +thunder animal, and the Japanese the teeth of the thunder.22 In +Cambodia, worked stones, celts, adzes, and gouges or knives, are known +as thunder stones. A Chinese emperor, who lived in the eighth century +of our era, received from a Buddhist priest some valuable presents +which the donors said had been sent by the Lord of Heaven, amongst +which were two flint hatchets called _loui-kong_, or stones of the god +of thunder. In Brazil we meet with the same idea in the name of +_corsico_, or lightnings, given to worked flints; whilst in Italy, by +all exception almost unique, they are called _lingue san Paolo_. + +May we not also attribute to the worship of stones some of the +religious and funeral rites of antiquity? According to Porphyry, +Pythagoras, on his arrival on the island of Crete, was purified with +thunder-stones by the dactyl priests of Mount Ida. The Etruscans wore +flint arrow-heads on their collars. They were sought after by the Magi, +and the Indians gave them an honored place in their temples. According +to Herodotus, the Arabs sealed their engagements by making an incision +in their hands with a sharp stone; in Egypt the body of a corpse before +being embalmed was opened with a flint knife; a similar implement was +used by the Hebrews for the rite of circumcision; and it was also with +cut stones that the priests of Cybele inflicted self-mutilation in +memory of that of Atys. At Rome the stone hatchet was dedicated to +Jupiter Latialis, and solemn treaties were ratified by the sacrifice of +a pig, the throat of which was cut with a sharp flint. According to +Virgil, this custom was handed down to the ancient Romans by the +uncouth nation of the Equicoles. At the beginning of the Christian +era., the heroes commemorated by Ossian still had in the centre of +their shields a polished stone consecrated by the Druids, and a saga +maintains that the _ceraunia_ assured certain victory to their owners. +On the other side of the Atlantic, the Aztecs used obsidian blades for +the sacrifices, in which hundreds of human victims perished miserably; +and similar blades are used by the Guanches of Teneriffe to open the +bodies of their chiefs after death. At the present day, the Albanian +Palikares use pointed flints to cut the flesh off the shoulder-blade of +a sheep with a view to seeking in its fibres the secrets of the future, +and when the god Gimawong visits his temple of Labode, on the western +coast of Africa, his worshippers offer him a bull slain with a stone +knife. Lumholtz,23 in the second of his recent explorations in +Queensland, tells us that the natives still use stone weapons, varying +in form and in the handles used, and that the weapons of the +Australians living near Darling River, as well as those of the +Tasmanians, are without handles. + +During the first centuries of the Christian era, strange rites were +still performed in honor of dolmens and menhirs. The councils of the +Church condemned them, and the emperors and kings supported by their +authority the decrees of the ecclesiastics.24 Childebert in 554, +Carloman in 742, Charlemagne by an edict issued at Aix-la-Chapelle in +789,25 forbid their subjects to practise these rites borrowed from +heathenism. But popes and emperors are alike powerless in this +direction, and one generation transmits its traditions and +superstitions to another. In the seventeenth century a Protestant +missionary called in the aid of the secular arm to destroy a +superstition deeply rooted in the minds of his people; in England, +sorcerers were proceeded against for having used flint arrow-heads in +their pretended witchcraft; in Sweden, a polished hatchet yeas placed +in the bed of women in the pangs of labor; in Burmah, thunder-stones +reduced to powder were looked upon as an infallible cure for +ophthalmia; and the Canaches have a collection of stones with a special +superstition connected with each. But why seek examples so far away and +in a past so remote? In our own day anti in our own land we find men +who think themselves invulnerable and their cattle safe if they are +fortunate enough to possess a polished flint. + +Prehistoric times are generally divided into three epochs—the _Stone +Age_, the _Bronze Age_, and the _Iron Age_. We owe this classification +to the archæologists of Northern Europe.26 It is neither very exact nor +very satisfactory, and fresh discoveries daily tend to unsettle it.27 +Alsberg maintained that iron was the first metal used, founding his +contention on the scarcity of tin, the difficulty of obtaining alloys, +and on the sixty-one iron foundries of Switzerland which may date from +prehistoric times. The rarity of the discovery of iron objects, he +urged, is accounted for by the ease with which such objects are +destroyed by rust. There has never been a Bronze or an Iron age in +America, so that it would seem very doubtful whether all races went +through the same cycles of development. I myself prefer the division +into the _Palæolithic_ period, when men only used roughly chipped +stones, and the _Neolithic_ period, when they carefully polished their +stone weapons. “There may,” says Alexander Bertrand,28 “be one +immutable law for the succession of strata throughout the entire crust +of the earth, but there is no corresponding law applicable to human +agglomerations or to the succession of the strata of civilization. It +would be a very grave error to adopt the theory according to which all +human races have passed through the same phases of development and have +gone through the same complete series of social conditions.” + +[Illustration: 2.] + +Copper hatchets found in Hungary, and now in the National Museum of +Budapest. + +It may perhaps be convenient to introduce a fourth period when copper +alone was used and our ancestors were still ignorant of the alloys +necessary for the production of bronze. Hesiod speaks of a third +generation of men as possessing copper only, and although it does not +do to attach undue importance to isolated facts, recent discoveries in +the Cevennes, in Spain, in Hungary, and elsewhere, appear to confirm +the existence of an age of copper (Fig. 2). We may add that the mounds +of North America contain none but copper implements and ornaments, +witnesses of a time when that metal alone was known either on the +shores of the Atlantic or of the Pacific29 (Fig. 3). + +[Illustration: 3.] + +Copper beads, from Connett’s Mound, Ohio (natural size). + +It is impossible to fix the duration of the Stone age. It began with +man, it lasted for countless centuries, and we find it still prevailing +amongst certain races who set their faces against all progress. The +scenes sculptured upon Egyptian monuments dating from the ancient +Empire represent the employment of stone weapons, and their use was +continued throughout the time of the Lagidæ and even into that of the +Roman domination. A few years ago, on the shores of the Nile, I saw +some of the common people shave their heads with stone razors, and the +Bedouins of Gournah using spears headed with pointed flints. The +Ethiopians in the suite of Xerxes had none but stone weapons, and yet +their civilization was several centuries older than that of the +Persians. The excavations on the site of Alesia yielded many stone +weapons, the glorious relics of the soldiers of Vercingetorix. At Mount +Beuvray, on the site of Bibracte, flint hatchets and weapons have been +discovered associated with Gallic coins. At Rome, M. de Rossi collected +similar objects mixed with the _Æs rude_. Flint hatchets are mentioned +in the life of St. Éloy, written by St. Owen, and the Merovingian tombs +have yielded hundreds of small cut flints, the last offerings to the +dead. William of Poitiers tells us that the English used stone weapons +at the battle of Hastings in 1066, and the Scots led by Wallace did the +same as late as 1288. Not until many centuries after the beginning of +the Christian era did the Sarmatians know the use of metals; and in the +fourteenth century we find a race, probably of African origin, making +their hatchets, knives, and arrows of stone, and tipping their javelins +with horn. The Japanese, moreover, used stone weapons and implements +until the ninth and even the tenth century A.D. + +But there is no need to go back to the past for examples. The Mexicans +of the present day use obsidian hatchets, as their fathers did before +them; the Esquimaux use nephritis and jade weapons with Remington +rifles. Nordenskiöld tells us that the Tchoutchis know of no weapons +but those made of stone; that they show their artistic feeling in +engravings on bone, very similar to those found in the caves of the +south of France. In 1854, the Mqhavi, an Indian tribe of the Rio +Colorado (California), possessed no metal objects; and it is the same +with the dwellers on the banks of the Shingle River (Brazil), the +Oyacoulets of French Guiana, and many other wandering and savage races. +Père Pelitot tells us that the natives living on the banks of the +Mackenzie River are still in the stone age; and Schumacker has given an +interesting example of the manufacture of stone weapons by the Klamath +Indians dwelling on the shores of the Pacific. It has been justly said: +“The Stone age is not a fixed period in time, but one phase of the +development of the human race, the duration of which varies according +to the environment and the race.”30 + +In thus limiting our idea of the stone age, we may conclude that alike +in Europe and in America,31 there has been a period when metal was +entirely unknown, when stones were the sole weapons, the sole tools of +man, when the cave, for which he had to dispute possession with bears +and other beasts of prey, was his sole and precarious refuge, and when +clumsy heaps of stones served alike as temples for the worship of his +gods and sepulchral monuments in honor of his chiefs. + +Excavations in every department of France have yielded thousands of +worked flints, and there are few more interesting studies than an +examination of the mural map in the Saint Germain Museum on which are +marked with scrupulous exactitude the dwelling-places of our most +remote ancestors, and the megalithic monuments which are the +indestructible memorials of our forefathers. + +In the Crimea were picked up a number of small flints cut into the +shape of a crescent exactly like those found in the Indies and in +Tunis, and the Anthropological Society of Moscow has introduced us to a +Stone age the memory of which is preserved in the tumuli of Russia. On +the shores of Lake Lagoda have been found some implements of +argillaceous schist, in Carelia and in Finland tools made of slate and +schist, often adorned with clumsy figures of men or of animals. The +rigor of the climate did not check the development of the human race; +in the most remote times Lapland, Nordland, the most northerly +districts of Scandinavia, and even the bitterly cold Iceland, were +peopled. The Exhibition of Paris, 1878, contained some stone weapons +found on the shores of the White Sea. + +On several parts of the coast of Denmark we meet with mounds of an +elliptical shape and about nine feet high, with a hollow in the centre, +marking the site of a prehistoric dwelling. It was not until about 1850 +that the true nature of these mounds was determined. Excavations in +them have brought to light knives, hatchets, all manner of stone, horn, +and bone implements, fragments of pottery, charred wood, with the bones +of mammals and birds, the skeletons of fishes, the shells of oysters +and cockles buried beneath the ashes of ancient hearths. To these +accumulations the characteristic name of _Kitchenmiddings_, or kitchen +refuse, has been given. + +Several caves have recently been examined in Poland, one of which, +situated near Cracow, appears to belong to Palæolithic times. Count +Zawiska has already given an account of his interesting discoveries to +the Prehistoric Congress at Stockholm. In the Wirzchow cave he +identified seven different hearths, and took out of the accumulations +of cinders various amulets, clumsy representations of fish cut in +ivory, split bones, bears’, wolves’, and elks’ teeth pierced with a +hole for threading, and more than four thousand stone objects of a +similar type to those found in Russia, Scandinavia, and Germany. We +meet with similar traces of successive habitation in a cave near Ojcow; +the valuable contents of which included some beautiful flint tools, +some awls, bone spatulæ, and some gold ornaments, mixed, in the lower +of the hearths, with the bones of extinct animals, and in the upper, +with those of species still living. + +The discoveries made in the Atter See and in the Salzburg lakes with +those in the Moravian caves prove what had previously been very stoutly +denied, the existence in those districts of ancient races at a very +remote date. + +The most ancient inhabitants of Hungary, however, cannot be traced +further back than to Neolithic times. In that country have been found, +with polished stone implements, thousands of objects made of stag-horn, +or bone, almost all without exception finely finished off. The +discovery of copper tools and ornaments of a peculiar form in the +Danubian provinces, bears witness to a distinct civilization in those +districts, and confirms what we have just said about a Copper age. + +From the Lake Stations of Austria and Hungary, we pass naturally to +those of Switzerland. We shall have to introduce to our readers whole +villages built in the midst of the waters, and a people long completely +forgotten. In many of these stations, none but stone implements have +been found, and on the half-burnt piles on which the huts had been set +up, it is still easy to make out the notches cut with flint hatchets. + +We meet with similar pile dwellings, as these structures are called, in +France, Italy, Germany, Ireland, and England, for from the earliest +times man was constantly engaged in sanguinary contests with his +fellowmen, and sought in the midst of the waters a refuge from the ever +present dangers surrounding him. + +The discoveries made in Belgium must be ranked amongst the most +important in Europe, and we shall often have occasion to refer to them. +Holland, on the other hand, having much of it been under the sea for so +long, yields nothing to our researches but a few arrow-heads, hatchets, +and knives made of quartz or diorite, and all of them of the coarsest +workmanship. + +No less fruitful in results to prehistoric science are the researches +made in the south of Europe. The congress that met at Bologna, in 1871, +showed us that in the Transalpine provinces man was witness of those +physical phenomena which gave to Italy its present configuration; and +the exhibition in connection with the congress enabled us to get a good +idea of the primitive industry which has left relics behind it in every +district of the peninsula. + +Some hatchets of a similar type to the most ancient found in France +were dug out of a gravel pit at San Isidro on the borders of the +Mançanarès, associated with the bones of a huge elephant that has long +been extinct; and a cave has recently been discovered near Madrid from +which were dug out nearly five hundred skeletons, the greater number +thickly coated with stalagmite. Near the bodies lay several flint +weapons, and some fragments of pottery.32 Cartailhac tells us of +similar discoveries in various parts of Portugal.33 The caves of +Santander have yielded worked bones and barbed harpoons; and those of +Castile, various objects resembling those of the Reindeer period of +France. It is, however, an interesting and important fact that the +reindeer never crossed the Pyrenees. Although so far excavations have +been anything but complete, we are already able to assert that during +Palæolithic times the ancient Iberia was occupied by races whose +industrial development was similar to that of modern Europe. + +It will be well to mention also the excavations made on the slopes of +Mount Hymettus, and in the ever-famous plains of Marathon. Finlay has +brought together in Greece a very interesting collection of stone +weapons and implements which he picked up in great numbers at the base +of the Acropolis of Athens. All these discoveries prove the existence +of man at a time about which but yesterday nothing was known, and to +which it is difficult as yet to give a name, this existence being +proved by the most irrefragable of evidence, the work of his own hands. + +Although the proofs of there having been a Stone age in Western Europe +are absolutely convincing, it is difficult to feel equally sure with +regard to the portions of the globe where so many districts are closed +to the explorer. Everywhere, however, where excavations have been made, +they have yielded the most remarkable results. M. de Ujfalvy has +brought diorite and serpentine hatchets and wedges from the south of +Siberia, and Count Ouvaroff tells us of a Quaternary deposit, the only +one known at present at Irkutsk, in Eastern Siberia, containing cut +flints. Near Tobolsk, Poliaskoff found some beautifully worked stones. +Other archæologists tell us of having found, in the east of the Ural +Mountains and on the shores of the Joswa, hammers, hatchets, pestles, +nuclei the shape of polygonal prisms, and round or long pieces of +flint, all pierced with a central hole, which are supposed to have been +spindle whorls. Lastly, Klementz tells us that the lofty valleys of the +Yenesei and its tributaries were inhabited in the most remote times by +races who developed a special civilization. + +At the other extremity of the great Asiatic continent, a deposit of +cinders found at the entrance of a cave near the Nahr el Kelb yielded +some flint knives or scrapers, and more recently a prehistoric station +has been made out at Hanoweh, a little village of Lebanon, east of +Tyre. The flints are of primitive shapes, not unlike the most ancient +forms found in France. They were discovered in a mass of _débris_ of +all kinds, forming a very hard conglomerate. Some teeth, which had +belonged to animals of the bovidæ, cervidæ, and equidæ groups, were got +out with considerable difficulty, but the bones in the conglomerate +were too touch broken up to be identified. Worked flints and arrow- or +spear-heads were also found in considerable quantities in various parts +of the table-land of Sinai, and at the openings of the caves in which +the ancient inhabitants took refuge. It was with stone tools that these +people worked the mines riddling the sides of the mountains, and it is +still easy to make out traces of their operations. + +We have already alluded to Japan; for a long time the barbarian Aïnos, +the earliest inhabitants of the country, were acquainted with nothing +but stone. Flint arrows were presented to the Emperor Wu-Wang eleven +hundred years before our era; the annals of one of the ancient +dynasties speak of flint weapons, and an encyclopædia published in the +reign of the Emperor Kang-Hi speaks of rock hatchets, some black and +some green, and all alike dating from the most remote antiquity. + +Agates worked by the hand of man are found in great quantities in the +bone beds of the Godavery. Some javelin heads in sandstone, basalt, and +quartz, with scrapers and knives, most of them flat on one side and +rounded on the other, appear to be even more ancient than the agate +implements. Some of the celts resemble those of European type, others +the flint weapons found in Egypt, and the clumsiest forms may be +compared to those still in use amongst the natives of Australia. We may +also mention a somewhat rare type lately discovered in the island of +Melas, which have been characterized as saw-bladed knives. A letter +from Rivett-Carnac announces the discovery of weapons and stone +implements in Banda, a wild mountain district on the northwest of +India. The scrapers, he says, strangely resemble those of the +Esquimaux, and the arrow-heads those of the most ancient inhabitants of +America.34 + +Many megalithic monuments are met with in places widely removed from +each other in the vast Indian Empire. Captain Congreve, after +describing the cairns with their rows of stones ranged in circles, the +kistvaens or dolmens, the huge rocks placed erect as at Stonehenge, the +barrows hollowed out of the cliffs, declares with undisguised +astonishment that there is not a Druidical monument of which he had not +seen the counterpart in the Neilgherry Mountains.35 + +General Faidherbe divides Africa into two distinct regions—one north of +the Great Desert, where the inhabitants and the fauna and flora have +all alike certain characteristics in common with those of Europe; and +the other south of the Sahara, which was at one time separated from +that in the north by a vast inland sea. In this southern region we are +in Nigritia, or the Africa of the negroes, where the inhabitants in +their physical characteristics and in their language, the mammals, and +the plants, differ altogether from those of the north. In one point, +however, these two regions resemble each other: in both we recognize a +Stone age, which existed in Algeria and in Egypt, as well as on the +banks of the Senegal and at the Cape of Good Hope. The valley of the +Nile from Cairo to Assouan has yielded a series of objects in flint, +porphyry, and hornblendic rock, retaining traces of human workmanship, +and reminding us of similar implements of European type. These +objects,36 says M. Arcelin, are always found either beneath modern +deposits or at the surface of the upper plateaux at the highest point +to which the river rises; nothing has, however, been found in the +alluvial deposits of the Nile, in spite of the most persevering search. +At the Prehistoric Congress held at Stockholm, some worked flints were +produced that had been found in the Libyan Desert. This once inhabited +district, now without water or vegetation, can only be reached at the +present day with the greatest difficulty. Is not this yet another proof +of the great changes which have taken place since the advent of man? +Lastly, the Boulak Museum contains a whole series of stone weapons and +implements, showing in their workmanship a progressive development +similar to that we find in Europe. Many archæologists are of opinion +that the worked flints found in the plains of Lower Egypt date from +Neolithic times. Those alone are Paleolithic which have been found in a +deposit hard enough for the hollowing out of tombs, which are certainly +earlier than the eighteenth dynasty. We must add, however, that neither +with the Palæolithic nor with the Neolithic relics have been found any +bones of extinct animals. Some savants go yet further: they think that +these worked stones are but chips split off by the heat of the sun.37 A +phenomenon of this kind is mentioned by Desor and Escher de la Linth in +the Sahara Desert; Fraas quotes a similar observation made by +Livingstone in the heart of Africa, and one by Wetzstein, who, not far +from Damascus; saw hard basalt rocks split under the influence of the +early morning freshness. I have myself noticed similar phenomena in the +Nile valley, but it must be added that the fragments of rock broken off +by the combined influence of heat and humidity present very notable +differences to those worked by the hand of man, and cannot really be +mistaken for them. + +In Algeria have been preserved some most interesting relics of +prehistoric times. If I am not mistaken, Worsaae was the first to note +the worked stones in the French possessions in Africa. They have been +picked up in great numbers, especially near the watercourses at which +the ancient inhabitants of the country slaked their thirst, as do their +descendants at the present day. The exploration of the Sahara daily +yields unexpected discoveries; and already fifteen different stations +formerly inhabited by man have been made out. In those remote days a +large river flowed near Wargla, which was then an important centre, and +a number of tools picked up bear witness to the former presence of an +active and industrious population. At one place the flint implements, +arrow-heads, knives, and scrapers are all of a very primitive type, and +were found sorted into piles. This was evidently a _dépôt_, probably +forming the reserve stock of the tribe. Wargla or perhaps Golea at one +time appears to have been the extreme limit of the Stone age in +Algeria, but quite recently traces of primitive man have been +discovered amongst the Tuaregs. These relics are hatchets made of black +rock, and arrow-heads not unlike those which the Arabs attribute to the +Djinn; but as we approach the south we find the flints picked up more +clumsily and unskilfully cut—a proof that they were the work of a more +barbarous people with less practical skill. It is the megalithic +monuments of Algeria, of which we shall speak more in detail presently, +that are the most worthy of attention. As in India, we meet with them +in thousands, and in certain parts of the continent they extend for +considerable distances. They consist of long, square, circular, or oval +enclosures—dolmens similar to those of Western Europe,—and almost +always surrounded by circles of upright stones. The silence of +historians respecting them need not make us doubt their extreme +antiquity, for did it not take a very long time to induce the +scientific men of our day to turn their attention to Algeria at all? + +The exploration of Tunisia has enabled us to study the Stone age in +that district, and a few years ago it was announced that nearly three +thousand objects of different types had been found in thirteen +different localities.38 My son found near Gabes an immense number of +small worked flints not unlike a human nail, the origin and use of +which no one has been able to determine. The association of weapons and +implements roughly finished off, with chips and stones still in the +natural state, bears witness to the existence at one time of workshops +of some importance. The recent discoveries of Collignon correspond with +those in Algeria, and complete our knowledge of the basin of the +Mediterranean. + +In the Cave of Hercules, in Morocco, which Pomponius Mela spoke of as +of great antiquity in his day, have been found a great many worked +flints, such as knives and arrow-heads. We shall refer later to the +important monument of Mzora and the menhirs surrounding it, the +builders of which certainly belonged to a race that lived much nearer +our own day than did the inhabitants of the Cave of Hercules. + +The south of Africa is not so well known as the north, and the +difficulty of making explorations is a great obstacle to progress. For +some centuries, however, polished stone hatchets from the extreme south +of the continent have been preserved in the museums of Leyden and +Copenhagen, under the name of _thunderstones_, or _stones of God_. A +great many are found in British South Africa, especially at Graham’s +Town and Table Bay.39 Gooch, after describing the physical +configuration of the Cape, says that stone implements are found in all +the terraces at whatever level of the Quaternary deposits. With these +stone objects were found a good many fragments of coarse hand-made +pottery, that had been merely baked in the sun, and was strengthened +with good-sized pieces of quartz. Similar peculiarities are noticed in +ancient European pottery. We shall have to refer again to these +singular analogies, one of the chief aims of this book being to bring +them into notice. + +In the torrid regions between the Vaal and the Zambezi rivers, we find +traces of a race of a civilization different from that of the savages +conquered by the English. At Natal the gradual progress of these +unknown people can be traced step by step. To the earliest period of +all belong nothing but roughly hewn flints, and no traces of pottery +have been found; then follow flint arrow-heads of more distinct form, +and here and there fragments of sun-dried pottery. Of more recent date +still are polished stone weapons and more finely moulded pottery; +whilst to the latest date of all belong weapons of considerable variety +of form, better adapted to the needs of man, and with these weapons +were found huge stone mortars which had been used for crushing grain, +and bear witness to the use of vegetable diet. + +We also meet with important ruins in the Transvaal. Some walls are +still standing which are thirty feet high and ten thick, forming +imperishable memorials of the past. They are built of huge blocks of +granite piled up without cement. We know nothing of those who erected +them; their name and history are alike effaced from the memory of man, +and we know nothing either of their ancestors or of their descendants. + +In the Antipodes certain curious discoveries point to the existence of +man in those remote and mysterious times, to which, for want of a +better, we give in Europe the name of the Age of the Mammoth and the +Reindeer; and everything points to the conclusion that man appeared in +the different divisions of the earth about the same time. Probably the +first appearance of our race in Australia was prior to the last +convulsions of nature which gave to that continent its present +configuration. “Scientific studies,” says M. Blanchard,40 “lead us to +believe that at one period a vast continent rose from the Pacific +Ocean, which continent was broken up, and to a great extent submerged, +in convulsions of nature. New Zealand and the neighboring islands are +relics of this great land.” + +In the Corrio Mountains in New Zealand, at a height of nearly 4,921 +feet above the sea-level, have been found flints shaped by the hand of +man, associated with a number of bones of the Dinornis, the largest +known bird. Other facts bear witness to an extinct civilization, which +we believe to have been extremely ancient, but to which, in the present +state of our knowledge, it is impossible to assign a date. In the +island of Tonga-Taboo, one of the Friendly group, is a remarkable +megalith, the base of which rests on uprights thirty feet high, and +supports a colossal stone bowl which is no less than thirteen feet in +diameter by one in height. In the same island is a trilithon consisting +of a transverse bar resting on two pillars provided with mortises for +its reception. The pillars weigh sixty-five tons, and a local tradition +affirms that the coralline conglomerate out of which they were hewn was +brought from Wallis Island, more than a thousand miles off. It is +difficult to explain41 how the makers of this trilithon managed to +transport, to work, and to place such masses in position. In a +neighboring island a circle of uplifted stones, covering an area of +several hundred yards, reminds us of the cromlechs of Brittany. The +so-called Burial-Mound of Oberea at Otaheite, if it really was +constructed with stone tools, is yet more curious. Imagine a pyramid of +which the base is a long square, two hundred and sixty feet long by +eighty-seven wide. It is forty-three feet high. The top is reached by a +flight of steps cut in the coralline rock, all these steps being of the +same size and perfectly squared and polished.42 + +[Illustration: 4.] + +Stone statues on Easter Island. + +On a rock at the entrance to the port of Sydney a kangaroo is +sculptured. In Easter Island (Rapa-Nui) La Pérouse discovered a number +of coarsely executed bust statues (Fig. 4). There are altogether some +four hundred of them, forming groups in different parts of the island. +The excavations conducted by Pinart in 1887 have proved these figures +to be sepulchral monuments. He managed to make a considerable +collection of crania and human bones. Round about the crater of the +Rana-Raraku volcano, forty of these figures have been counted, all of a +similar type, all cut in one piece of solid trachyte rock. In another +place are eighty busts with longer noses and thicker lips, forming a +group by themselves. The largest of them is some thirty-nine feet high. +On the sides of the volcano, scattered about amongst the statues, have +been picked up a considerable number of knives, scrapers, and pointed +pieces of obsidian, which were probably tools thrown away by the +sculptors of the figures. + +These monuments and sculptures are certainly the work of a race very +different from the present natives, who are altogether incapable of +producing anything of the kind, and who retain absolutely no traditions +respecting their predecessors. This complete oblivion, which may appear +rather strange, is by no means rare amongst savage races, and Sir John +Lubbock cites a great many very curious examples. “Oral traditions,” +says Broca, “are changed and distorted by each succeeding generation; +and are at last effaced to give place to others as transitory, and thus +the most important events are, sooner or later, relegated to +oblivion.”43 + +We have dwelt at considerable length in another volume44 on the +earliest inhabitants of America. Much still remains unknown in spite of +the considerable and important work done of late years. The very name +of the New World seems to be altogether out of place, America being as +old, if not older, than any continent of the Eastern Hemisphere. Lund +has brought forward weighty reasons for his theory that the central +plateau of Brazil was already a country when the rest of the continent +was still submerged or at least represented merely by a few small +islets. This theory, however, even if it could be absolutely proved, +would not help us to fix the date of the earliest presence of man in +America, still less to say by what route he arrived there. + +[Illustration: 5.] + +Fort Hill, Ohio. + +Certain facts, amongst which I would, in the first place, quote the +discoveries of Dr. Abbott in the alluvial deposits of the Delaware and +those recently announced in Nevada,45 prove the contemporaneity of men +like ourselves with the great edentate and pachydermatous mammals, +which were the most characteristic creatures of the American fauna. The +prehistoric inhabitants of North America were familiar with the +mastodon, those of South America with the glyptodon, the shell of which +on occasion served as a roof to the dwelling of primeval reran, which +dwelling was often but a den hollowed out of the ground. As in Europe, +the early inhabitants of America had to contend with powerful mammals +and fierce carnivora; and in the West as in the East man made up in +intelligence for his lack of brute force, and however formidable an +animal might be, it was condemned to submit to, or disappear before, +its master. In course of time Sedentary replaced Nomad races; shell +heaps, some of marine, some of riverine and lacustrine species, but all +alike mixed with a great variety of rubbish, were gradually piled up +extending for many miles and covering many acres of ground, bearing +witness to the existence of a population already considerable. + +[Illustration: 6.] + +Group of sepulchral mounds. + +In other parts of America prehistoric races have left behind them huge +earthworks, lofty masses which were probably fortifications (Fig. 5), +temples, and sepulchral monuments (Fig. 6). These earthworks extend +throughout North America from the Alleghany Mountains to the Atlantic, +from the great lakes of Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. The name of the +people who erected them is lost, and we must be content with that of +Mound Builders, which commemorate their vast undertakings. + +[Illustration: 7.] + +Ground plan of a pueblo of the Mac-Elmo Valley. + +At a period probably nearer our own, Arizona and New Mexico were +occupied by other maces, who built the so-called _pueblos_, which were +regular phalansteries, or communal dwellings, each member of the tribe +having to be content with one wretched little cell (Fig. 7). At some +distance from the men of the _pueblos_ lived the Cliff Dwellers, about +whom we know next to nothing; a few stone weapons and countless +fragments of pottery being all they have left behind them. These men +established themselves in situations which are now inaccessible, hewing +out a dwelling in the rocks on the mountains (Figs. 8 and 9) with +wonderful perseverance, and closing up the approaches with adobes or +sun-dried bricks, making incredible efforts to obtain for their +families what must have been at the best but a precarious shelter.46 +These prehistoric races were succeeded in America by the Toltecs, +Aztecs, Chibcas, and Peruvians, all known in history, though their +origin is as much involved in obscurity as that of their predecessors. +Temples, palaces, and magnificent monuments tell of the wealth which +gold gives, a wealth, alas, which also enervated the vital forces, so +that the Spanish and Portuguese met with but little serious resistance +in their rapid conquests. + +[Illustration: 8.] + +Cliff-house on the Rio Mancos. + +[Illustration: 9.] + +House in a rock of the Montezuma Cañon. + +Such are the facts with which we have to deal. In the following +chapters we shall consider more at length the problems they present, +but already we are led to one important conclusion: in every part of +the globe, in every latitude, in every climate, worked flints, whether +but roughly chipped or elaborately polished, present analogies which +must strike the most superficial observer. “We find them,” remarks an +American author, “in the tumuli of Siberia, in the tombs of Egypt, in +the soil of Greece, beneath the rude monuments of Scandinavia; but +whether they come front Europe or Asia, from Africa or America, they +are so much alike in form, in material, and in workmanship, that they +might easily be taken for the work of the same men.” + +At a meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science +in 1871, Sir John Lubbock showed worked flints from Chili and New +Zealand with others found in England, Germany, Spain, Australia, the +Guianas, and on the banks of the Amazon; which one and all belonged to +the same type. More recently the Anthropological Society of Vienna +compared the stone hatchets found near the Canadian lakes and in the +deserts of Uruguay, with others from Catania in Italy, Angermünde in +Brandenburg, and a tomb in Scandinavia, deciding that they were all +exactly alike. Lastly, those who studied at the French Exhibition of +1878 the hatchets, hammers, and scrapers, the bone implements, pottery, +and weapons brought from different places, the inhabitants of which had +no communication with each other, could not fail to notice in their +turn how impossible it was to distinguish between them. “So evident is +this resemblance,” says Vogt,47 “that we may easily confound together +implements brought from such very different sources.” + +The same observation applies to megalithic monuments. Everywhere we +find these primitive structures assuming similar forms. It is difficult +enough to believe that the wants of man alone, such as the craving for +food, the need of clothing, and the necessity of defending himself, +have led in every case to the same ideas and the same amount of +progress. Even if this be proved by the worked flints, we cannot accept +a similar conclusion with regard to the megalithic monuments, which +imply reflection and a thought of the future far beyond the material +needs of daily life. Is it not more reasonable to regard a similitude +so striking as a proof of the unity of our race? + +The human bones discovered are yet more convincing testimony. +Excavations have yielded some which may date from the very earliest +period of the existence of man upon the earth. They have been found in +caves and in the river drift, beneath the mounds of America and the +megalithic monuments of Europe, in the ice-clad districts of +Scandinavia and of Iceland, and in the burning deserts of Africa, but +not one of them owes its existence to men of a type different from +those of historic times or of our own day.48 MM. Quatrefages and Hamy +in their magnificent work “Crania Ethnica,” have been able to +distinguish prehistoric races and indicate the area they occupied. +These races are still represented, and their descendants of to-day +retain the characteristics of their ancestors. + +One final conclusion is no less interesting. These absolutely countless +flints, these monuments of imposing size, these stones of immense +weight often brought from afar, these marvellous mounds and tumuli, +bear witness to the presence of a population which was already +considerable at the time of which we are endeavoring to make out the +traces. A long series of centuries must have been needed for a people +to increase to such an extent as to have spread over entire continents. +And time was not wanting. Whatever antiquity may be attributed to the +human race, whatever the initial date to which its first appearance may +be relegated, this antiquity is but slight, this date is but modern, if +we compare it with the truly incalculable ages of which geology reveals +the existence. At every turn we are arrested by the immensity of time, +the immensity of space, and yet our knowledge is still confined to the +mere outer rind of the earth, and science cannot as yet even guess at +the secrets hidden beneath that rind. + +In concluding these introductory remarks, we must add that very great +difficulties await those who devote themselves to prehistoric +studies—difficulties such as noise but those who have attempted to +conquer them can realize. The rare traces of prehistoric man must be +sought amongst the effects of the cataclysms that have devastated the +earth, and the ruins piled up in the course of ages. We must show mall +wrestling with the ever-recurrent difficulties of his hard life, and +gradually developing in accordance with a law which appears to be +immutable. Such is the aim of this work, and it is with gratitude that +we assert at the beginning that the _pianta uomo_, the human plant, as +Alfieri calls our race, was endowed by the Creator from the first with +a very vigorous vitality, to enable it to contend with the dangers +besetting its steps in the early days of its existence, and with a +truly marvellous spirit, to be able to make so humble a beginning the +starting-point for a destiny so glorious. + + +1 M. Gaston. + +2 Pliny calls them _ceraunia gemma_ (“Natural History,” book ii., ch. +59 book xxxvii., ch. 51). + +3 S. Reinach proves clearly enough that the collections of the Emperor +Augustus were from Capri. + +4 This skeleton was discovered in 1726 by Scheuchzer, a doctor of +Œningen, and by him placed in the Leyden Museum, with the pompous +inscription _Homo diluvii testis (Philosophical Transactions_, vol. +xxxiv.). Cuvier, by scraping away the stone, revealed the true nature +of the fossil. + +5 “Ossium Fossilium Docimasia.” + +6 “Mém. Acad. des Inscriptions,” 1734, vol. x., p. 163. + +7 _Archæologia_, vol. ii., p. 118. + +8 “The Antiquities of Warwickshire,” vol. iv., 1656. + +9 _Archæologia_, vol. xiii., p. 105. + +10 Castelfranco: _Revue d’Anthropologie_, 1887. + +11 _Annales des Sciences Naturelles_, vol. xvii., p. 607. Cartailhac: +_Matériaux_, 1884. + +12 “Recherches sur les Ossements Fossiles de la Province de Liège.” + +13 _Athenæum_, 16 July, 1859. + +14 “Discours sur les Révolutions du Globe,” third edition, p. 13, +Paris, Didot, 1861. + +15 _Acad. des Sciences_, 18th and 23d May, 1863. + +16 Lubbock: “On the Evidence of the Antiquity of Man Afforded by the +Physical Structure of the Somme Valley” (_Nat. Hist_. _Review_, vol. +ii.). Prestwich: “On the Occurrence of Flint Implements Associated with +the Remains of Extinct Species in Beds of a Late Geological Period” +(_Phil_. _Trans_., 1860). Evans: “Flint Implements in the Drift” +(_Arch_., 1860–62). + +17 _Acad. des Sciences_, 1859, 1863. + +18 Cartailhac: “L’Age de Pierre dans les Souvenirs et les Superstitions +Populaires.” + +19 A short time before his tragic end, the noble and patriotic Gordon +sent to Cairo three hatchets or stone wedges found amongst the +Niams-Niams, who said they had fallen from Heaven, and who worshipped +then with superstitious rites (_Bull. Institut Égyptien_, 1886, No. +14). + +20 “Museo Moscardo,” Padova, 1656. + +21 According to M. Pitre de Lisle, the Bretons think that these stones +vibrate at every clap of thunder. + +22 Roulin: _Acad. des Sciences_, December 28, 1868. + +23 “Congrès d’Anthropologie et d’Archéologie Préhistorique,” Paris, +1889. + +24 Council of Arles in 452, of Tours in 567, of Nantes in 658, of +Toledo in 681 and 692, and of Leptis in 743. + +25 Baluze: “Capitularia Regum Francorum,” vol. i., pp. 518, 1231, 1237. + +26 Steenstrup, Forchammer, Thomsen, Worsaae, and Nillsson. The +commission appointed by the Copenhagen Academy of Sciences presented +six reports on the subject between 1850 and 1856. + +27 “Die Anfang des Eisens Cultur,” Berlin, 1886. + +28 “Archéologie Celtique et Gauloise,” p. 46. + +29 Dr. Much: “L’Age de Cuivre en Europe et son Rapport avec la +Civilisation des Indo-Germains,” Vienna, 1886. Pulsky: “Die Küpfer Zeit +im Ungarn,” Budapest, 1884. Cartailhac: “Ages Prehistoriques de +l’Espagne et du Portugal,” p. 211. E. Chantre: _Mat_., June, 1887; and +Berthelot: _Journal des Savants_, September, 1889. + +30 Irenée Cochut: “Thèse presentée à la Faculté de Théologie +Protestante de Montauban.” + +31 See my translation of the author’s admirable and exhaustive work on +“Prehistoric America,” chapters i. and iv.—Nancy Bell. + +32 _Académie des Sciences_, May 23, 1881; “Antiquités du Musée de +Minoussink,” Tomsk, 1886–7. + +33 “Les Âges Préhistoriques en Espagne et en Portugal.” + +34 “Stone Implements from the Northwestern Provinces of India,” +_Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal_, Calcutta, 1883. + +35 _Literary Journal of Madras_, vol. xiv. + +36 “L’Âge de Pierre et la Classification Préhistorique d’après les +Sources Égyptiennes,” Paris, 1879. + +37 Pitt Rivers: “On the Discovery of Chert Implements in the Nile +Valley,” British Association, York, 1881. + +38 Belluci: “L’Eta della Pietra in Tunisia,” Roma, 1876, _Bol. della +Soc. Geog. Italiana_, 1876. + +39 “The Stone Age of South Africa,” _Journ. Anth. Institute_, 1881. + +40 _Revue des Deux-Mondes_, march 1, 1878. + +41 De Quatrefages: _Rev. d’Ethnographie_, 1883, p. 97, etc. + +42 Sir J. Lubbock: “Prehistoric Times,” pp. 483, 549. + +43 _Ass. française_, le Havre, 1877. _Discours d’Ouverture_. + +44 “Prehistoric America,” Paris, New York, and London. + +45 See my translation of “L’Amérique Préhistorique,” chap. i., “Man and +the Mastodon.”—Nancy Bell. + +46 Many interesting details respecting the Cliff Dwellers are given in +De Nadaillac’s “L’Amérique Préhistorique,” chap. v.—Nancy Bell. + +47 _Congrès des Naturalistes Allemands_, Innsbruck, Sept., 1869, + +48 “Quaternary man is always man in every acceptation of the word. In +every case in which the bones collected have enabled us to judge, he +has ever been found to have the hand and foot proper to our species, +and that double curvature of the spinal column has been made out, so +characteristic that Serres made it the distinctive attribute of his +human kingdom. In every case with him, as with us, the skull is more +fully developed than the face. In the Neanderthal skull so often quoted +as bestial, the cranial capacity is more than double that ever found in +the largest gorilla.” De Quatrefages: “Hommes Fossiles et Hommes +Sauvages,” p. 60. + + + + +CHAPTER II. +Food, Cannibalism, Mammals Fish, Hunting, and Fishing. + + +The first care of man on his arrival upon the earth was necessarily to +make sure of food. Wild berries, acorns, and ephemeral grasses only +last for a time, whilst land mollusca and insects, forming but a +miserable diet at the best, disappear during the winter. Meat must +certainly have been the chief food of prehistoric man; the +accumulations of bones of all sorts in the caves and other places +inhabited by him leave no doubt on that point. The horse, which in +Europe was hunted, killed, and eaten for many centuries before it was +domesticated, was an important article of diet, and was supplemented by +the aurochs, the stag, the chamois, the wild goat, the boar, the bare, +and failing them, the wolf, the fox, and above all the reindeer, which +multiplied rapidly in districts suitable to it. The elephant bones +picked up on Mount Dol and elsewhere are nearly all those of young +animals; and it is probable that they had been killed for food by man. +In the Sureau Cave in Belgium,1 in that of Aurignac in France, and +Brixham in England, have been found complete skeletons of the _Ursus +spelæus_, which bad evidently been dragged in with the flesh still on +them, for all the bones are in their natural position. In other caves, +the thorax and the vertebræ of the skeletons were missing; the +cave-man, having despatched his victim, bad evidently taken only the +more succulent parts into his retreat. Beasts of prey merely gnaw the +comparatively tender and spongy tops of the bones, leaving the hard, +compact parts untouched. In the caves that were inhabited by man, +however, we find the apophyses neglected, whilst the diaphyses are +split open. We cannot, therefore, make any mistake on this point, or +attribute to the beast of prey what is certainly the work of man. + +Whilst he evidently preferred to hunt and eat the larger mammals, man +when pressed by hunger did not despise the small rodents, which were, +of course, more easily captured. Amongst piles of the bones of horses +and stags have been found the remains of martens, hedgehogs, and mice; +and from the Thayngen Cave have been taken the bones of more than five +hundred bares. In Belgium the water-rat seems to have been considered a +dainty, and in the Chaleux Cave alone were found more than twenty +pounds’ weight of the bones of this creature, nearly all bearing traces +of having been subjected to the action of fire. + +The remains of birds are rarer, and Broca has remarked that the most +ancient hunting implements which have come down to us; those from the +Moustier Cave, for instance, were adapted rather to attack animals that +would show fight than those that would simply fly or run away. The +Gourdan Cave, however, has yielded the bones of the moor-fowl, the +partridge, the wild duck, and even the domesticated cock And hen; the +Frontal Cave, the thrush, the duck, the partridge, and the pigeon; and +in other caves were found the bones of the goose, the swan, and the +grouse. Milne-Edwards enumerates fifty-one species belonging to +different orders found in the caves of France, and M. Rivière picked up +the remains of thousands of birds in those of Baoussé-Roussé on the +frontier of Italy.2 + +The skulls of the mammals bad been opened, and the bones split. Brains +and marrow probably figured at feasts as the greatest delicacies. +Travellers, whose tales are a help to us in building up a picture of +the remote past of our race, relate that the Laplanders, as soon as an +animal is killed, break open its skull and devour the brain whilst it +is still warm and bleeding. This was probably also the custom amongst +prehistoric cave-men. + +The flesh of animals was not, alas, the only meat eaten, and +excavations in different parts of the globe have led to the discovery +of traces of the practice of cannibalism which it is difficult not to +accept.3 + +Dr. Spring noticed at Chauvaux a great many bones which were nearly all +those of women and children, side by side with which lay others of +ruminants belonging to species still extant. All these bones bad alike +been subjected to great heat, and none but those which bad contained no +marrow were left unbroken. This appears an incontrovertible proof of +cannibalism, and Dr. Spring concludes that it was certainly practised +by the earliest inhabitants of Belgium. We must add, however, that +other excavations in the same cave at Chauvaux prove that it was used +as a burial-place, some skeletons being ranged in regular order with +weapons and stone implements placed beside them.4 M. Dupont mentions +having found in the caves of the Lesse, which date from the Reindeer +period, human bones mixed with other remains of a meal. He notes a +similar fact in another cave that he considers belongs to Neolithic +times. “But,” he adds, “none of these bones bear any trace of having +been struck with a flint or other tool with a view to their fracture. +If any of them are broken it is transversely, and the cause of the +fracture has been merely the weight of the earth above them; moreover, +they show no trace of the action of fire.”5 M. Dupont, therefore, still +retains some doubt of the cannibalism of the cave-men of the valley of +the Lesse, and attributes the presence of the bones of the dead amongst +the rubbish of all kinds accumulated by the living, to their idleness +and indifference. One example at the present day tends to confirm this +opinion, for travellers tell us of the same revolting carelessness +amongst the Esquimaux, who cannot certainly be classed amongst +cannibals. + +The Abbé Chierici, speaking at the Brussels Congress6 of the +excavations in one of the Reggio caves, remarked that human bones were +mixed with those of animals, and that both showed traces of having been +burnt. These bones date from the Neolithic period, and with them were +picked up various objects of remarkable workmanship, including +fragments of pottery, half a grindstone for crushing grain, and some +admirably polished serpentine hatchets. + +Other facts leave no doubt of the cannibalism of the earliest +inhabitants of Italy. Moreover, hesitation on this point is impossible +for other reasons, as Roman historians allude to the practice. Pliny,7 +in saying how little removed was a human sacrifice from a meal, adds, +that it ought not to surprise us to meet with this monstrous custom +amongst barbarian races, as it prevailed in ancient times in Italy and +Sicily. + +It is generally admitted that we can tell whether the fracture of long +bones was intentional by the way in which they were broken. This fact, +which is true alike with the bones of men and of animals, is the most +important proof we have of the cannibalism of the men of the Stone age. +To the examples already given, we can easily add others culled from +France. In the Pyrenees and in the caves of Lourdes and Gourdan, for +instance, human bones have been found mixed with the cinders and ashes +of the hearth, and still bearing the marks of the implements with which +they were broken. + +At Bruniquel a human skull was found which had been opened in the same +way as the heads of ruminants amongst which it was picked up, and on +its external surface were deep notches, which appear to have been made +with a flint hatchet. Similar traces of revolting feasts on human flesh +are not at all rare; near Paris, at Villeneuve-Saint-Georges, and at +Varenne-Saint-Maur, for instance.8 + +The excavations in the Montesquieu-Avantès Cave, about six miles from +Saint-Girons, have brought to light a hearth covered over with a layer +of stalagmite; numerous fragments of human bones, crania, femora, +tibiæ, humeri, and radii were found in this layer, and in that of the +subjacent clay. In many cases the medullary orifice had been enlarged +to make it easier to get out the marrow. It is impossible to attribute +this to a rodent, for the bones gnawed by animals of that kind present +a regular series of marks. The conclusion is inevitable: these bones, +alike of men and of animals, were the remains of a meal.9 + +In Kent’s Hole, the celebrated cave in Devonshire, amongst many objects +dating from the Stone age, were found some human bones bearing traces +of having been gnawed by man. The eminent anthropologist, Owen, came to +a similar conclusion—that cannibalism had been practised—after +examining the jaw-bone of a child found in Scotland; and so did the +Rev. F. Porter, after the excavations near Scarborough, where several +skeletons were found under a tumulus, which had apparently been thrown +where they were discovered by accident. + +The Cesareda caves in Portugal have yielded some bones split +lengthwise; and beneath the dolmen near the village of Hammer, in +Denmark, human bones and those of stags have been found half gnawed, +and showing only too clearly the origin of the marks upon them. Worsaae +quotes similar facts at Borreby, Chantres refers to the same thing in +the caves of the Caucasus, Captain Burton at Beitsahur, near Jerusalem, +Wiener in the _sambaquis_ of Brazil, even in deposits which he +considers of recent origin.10 + +Brazil is not the only part of the American continent in which we find +traces of the use of this revolting food. In the kitchen-middings of +Florida Wyman found human bones, which had been intentionally broken, +mixed with those of deer and beavers. The marrow had been taken from +all of them and eaten by man. Yet more recent discoveries of a similar +kind have been made in New England.11 + +We must, however, add that many of these facts are contested. Every +people considers it a point of honor to repudiate the idea that its +ancestors fed on human flesh, and yet everywhere history tells us of +the practice of cannibalism. Herodotus speaks of it amongst the +Androphagæ and the Issedones, people of Scythian origin; Aristotle +amongst the races living on the borders of the Pontus Euxinus; Diodorus +Siculus amongst the Galatians; and Strabo, in his turn, says: “The +Irish, more savage than the Bretons, are cannibals and polyphagous; +they consider it an honor to eat their parents soon after life is +extinct.”12 + +From the ancient tombs of Georgia have been taken human bones that have +been boiled or charred, which were doubtless those of the victims eaten +by the assistants in the _fêtes_ which have ever accompanied funeral +rites. + +In the fourth century of our era Jerome speaks of having met in Gaul +with the Attacotes, descended from a savage Scotch tribe, who fed on +human flesh, and that though they possessed great herds of cattle and +flocks of sheep, with numbers of pigs, for whom their vast forests +afforded excellent grazing grounds13; and though the Scandinavian +kitchen-middings have not so far yielded any traces of the practice of +cannibalism, Adam of Bremen, who preached Christianity at the court of +King Sweyn Ulfson, represents the Danes of his day as barbarians clad +in the skins of beasts, chasing the aurochs and the eland, unable to do +more than imitate the cries of animals and devouring the flesh of their +fellow-men.14 + +Nothing could exceed the barbarity of the Mexican sacrifices, the +numbers of the victims, and the refinements of torture to which they +were subjected. Prisoners, who had often been fattened for months +previously, perished by thousands on the altars. The palpitating flesh +was distributed amongst the assistants, and a horrible custom compelled +the priests to clothe themselves in the still bleeding skins of the +unfortunate wretches, and to wear them until they rotted to pieces. + +Without going back to an antiquity so remote, in how many different +regions of Africa and America, and in how many islands of Polynesia +have not our sailors and missionaries reported the practice of +cannibalism in our own day? It is difficult, therefore, not to believe, +although the fact cannot perhaps be very distinctly proved, that the +first inhabitants of Europe degraded as were the conditions of their +existence, did eat human flesh and acquire a depraved taste for it; +impelled thereto not only by the pangs of hunger, but also by a +revolting superstition. + +Animals, however, were very plentiful all around. Stags, elks, aurochs, +horses, and the large pachyderms multiplied very rapidly in the wide +solitudes, the pasture lands of which afforded them a constantly +renewed supply of food, and the beasts of prey in their turn found an +easy prey in the ruminants.15 The ways of animals do not change, and +the travellers who are exploring the interior of Africa tell us that +now, as in the day we are trying to recall, hundreds of elephants and +rhinoceroses congregate in a limited area, whilst innumerable herds of +giraffes, zebras, and gazelles graze peacefully in the presence of man, +whose destructive powers they have not yet learnt to dread. + +Delegorgue speaks of one lake peopled by more than one hundred +hippopotami, and of a region less than three miles in diameter +containing six hundred elephants. Livingstone tells us that he saw +troops of more than four thousand antelopes pass at a time, and that +these animals showed absolutely no fear. We may give a yet more curious +instance. Captain Gordon Cumming, crossing the plains stretching away +on the north of the Cape, saw troops of gazelles and antelopes, +compelled by a long drought to migrate in search of the water +indispensable to them, and be describes with enthusiasm one of these +migrations, telling us that the plain was literally covered with +animals, the hurrying herds defiling before him in an endless stream. +On the evening of the same day, a yet more numerous herd passed by in +the same direction, the numbers of which were absolutely incalculable, +but which, according to Cumming, must have exceeded several hundred +thousand. + +Such must have been animal life in Europe in Quaternary times. “Grand +indeed,” cries Hugh Miller, “was the fauna of the British Isles in +those days. Tigers, as large again as the biggest Asiatic species, +lurked in the ancient thickets; elephants, of nearly twice the bulk of +the largest individuals that now exist in Africa or Ceylon, roamed in +herds; at least two species of rhinoceros forced their way through the +primeval forest, and the lakes and rivers were tenanted by hippopotami +as bulky and with as great tusks as those of Africa.”16 + +Material proofs of the presence of animals are not wanting. The +accumulation of coprolites in the cave of Sentenheim (Alsace) bears +witness to the number of bears which once haunted it. Nordmann took +from a cave near Odessa 4,500 bones of ursidæ, associated with no less +numerous relics of the large cave-lion and cave-hyena.17 The Külock +Cave, now some six hundred and fifty feet above the river, contained +the remains of no less than 2,500 bears, and similar relics occur by +thousands in the osseous breccia of Santenay and in the cave of Lherm, +where they form a regular ossuary. It would be easy to quote similar +facts from Belgian, German, and Hungarian caves. In almost every case +the position of the skeletons seems to show that the bears sought a +last refuge in the caves, and that death had surprised them during +their winter sleep. Pachyderms were no less numerous than bears. The +remains of mammoths are found from the north of Europe to Greece and +Spain, and we meet with them in Algeria, in Asia from the Altai +Mountains to the Arctic Ocean, and in America in Mexico and Kentucky. +They seem to have entrenched themselves especially in Siberia, whence +tusks are still exported as an article of commerce. In the extreme +North, those parts of Wrangel’s Land which have been explored are +strewn with the bones of mastodons, and in some parts of Sonora and +Columbia these remains form almost inexhaustible deposits. + +Animals of the cervine and equine groups were, if possible, yet more +numerous. M. Piette estimates the number of reindeer whose bones he has +picked up in the Gourdan Cave as over. 3,000, and the number of cervidæ +found at Hohlefels is positively incalculable. + +In 1826, Marcel de Serres called attention to the great number of the +bones of animals of the equine family found in the neighborhood of +Lunel-Viel; at Solutré, the remains of horses cover a great portion of +the slope which stretches from the eastern side of the mountain to the +bottom of the valley. Here are found those vast accumulations to which +the inhabitants of the valley give the characteristic name of +_horse-walls_. The number of horses, the bones of which have gone to +form these walls, may be estimated without exaggeration at 40,000. The +bones are mixed together in the greatest confusion, many of them show +traces of having been burnt, and the flesh of the horse was evidently +the favorite diet of the people of Solutré.18 + +At first man obtained by force, often aided by strategy, the animals he +coveted. He bad not yet learnt to tame them and reduce them to +servitude. Neither the reindeer nor the horse was as yet domesticated, +and neither in the caves nor in the various deposits elsewhere has a +complete skeleton been found, but only—a very significant fact—the +bones on which had been the greater amount of flesh. The absence of any +remains of the dog, so indispensable an animal in the keeping of +flocks, is yet another proof that domestication was still unpractised. + +It was with most miserable weapons, such as a few stones, scarcely even +rough-hewn, and a few flint arrows, that the cave-man did not hesitate +to attack the most formidable animals, and with such apparently +inadequate means he succeeded in wounding and even killing them. The +French Museum possesses mammoth and rhinoceros bones bearing fine +scratches produced by the weapons which had been used to despatch the +animals. The metacarpus of a large beast of prey, found at Eyziès, +retains marks no less clear, and the skull of a bear front Nabrigas has +in it a large wound which must have been made by a missile of some +kind. + +In Ireland a stone hammer was found wedged into the head of a _Cervus +megaceros_; in Cambridgeshire, the skull of an _Ursus spelæus_ still +containing the fragment of a celt which had given the animal his +deathblow; at Richmond (Yorkshire) the bones of a large deer which had +been sawn with a flint implement. The fine collection in the University +of Lund, contains a vertebra of a urns pierced by an arrow, and the +Copenhagen Museum, the jaw of a stag pierced by a fragment of flint. +Steenstrup mentions two bones of a large stag into which stone chips +had penetrated deeply, and in which the fracture had been gradually +covered over by the bony tissue. A bone of some bovine animal with an +arrow deeply imbedded in it has been taken from a bed of peat in the +island of Moën, celebrated for its tumuli and the number of objects +found in them. At Eyziès, a flint flake has been found firmly fixed in +one of the lumbar vertebrae of a young reindeer, and M. de Baye +mentions an arrow with a tranverse edge stuck in the bone of a +badger.19 The Abbé Ducrost found a flint arrow-head sticking in a +vertebra of a horse. + +Nor were those already mentioned the only animals on which man made +war. We shall speak presently of the contests with each other, which +began amongst men in the very earliest days of humanity. Human bones, +perforated by arrows and broken by stone hatchets, bear ineffaceable +traces to this day of homicidal struggles. + +In many places fresh-water and marine fish were utilized as food by +man. In the numerous caves of the Vezère, in those of Madeleine, +Eyziès, and Bruniquel, excavations have brought to light the vertebræ +and other bones of fishes, amongst which predominate chiefly those of +the jack, the carp, the bream, the drub, the trout, and the tench—in a +word, all the fish which still people our rivers and lakes. In the Lake +Stations of Switzerland, fish of all kinds are no less abundant. At +Gardeole, amongst the bones of mammals have been found the shells of +mollusca, and remains of the turtle and of goldfish. Fish was not, +however, caught by all these primitive people, not even by all those +who lived by the sea. In researches carefully carried on for years in +the Maritime-Alps, M. Rivière found neither fishing-tackle nor +fish-lines. + +Whilst the cave-men of the south of France seem not to have utilized +any but fresh-water fish, the Scandinavians, at a date probably less +remote however, did not hesitate to brave the ocean. The +kitchen-middings contain numerous remains of fish, amongst which those +of the mackerel, the dab, and the herring are the most numerous. There, +too, we meet with relics of the cod, which never approaches the coast, +and must always be sought by the fisherman in the open sea. + +Although we are in a position to assert that men were able to catch +fish during every prehistoric period, if not in every locality, we can +speak less positively of their mode of doing so. The earliest +fishing-tackle was doubtless of the most primitive description: the +bone of some animal, a fragment of hard wood, or even a fish-bone +pointed at each end and pierced with a hole, served their purpose (Fig. +10). The Exhibition of Fishing-Tackle held at Berlin in 1880 contained +several such implements, some of wood, others of bone. Others have also +been found in the Madeleine Cave, and in different stations of the +ancient inhabitants of Switzerland. It is interesting to note their +resemblance to those still in use amongst the Esquimaux. + +[Illustration: 10.] + +1. Fragments of arrows made of reindeer horn from the Martinet Cave +(Lot-et-Garonne).—2. Point of spear or harpoon in stag-horn (one third +natural size).—3. and 4. Bone weapons from Denmark.—5. Harpoon of +stag-horn from St. Aubin.—6. Bone fish-hook; pointed at each end, from +Wangen. + +Prehistoric mail also turned to account the teeth of animals. We may +quote in this connection the molars of a bear from which the enamel and +the crown have been removed, and the thickness of which has been +lessened by rubbing (Fig. 11). The small flints picked up in great +numbers in the department of the Gironde also date from a remote +antiquity; they are sixteen millimetres long by four wide, and though +we cannot assert it as a fact, they are supposed to have been used for +catching fish. + +[Illustration: 11.] + +Bears’ teeth converted into fish-hooks. + +[Illustration: 12.] + +Fish-hook made out of a boar’s tusk. + +The Museum of Lund possesses two flint fish-books of a curved shape, +one of them, which is four centimetres long by nearly three wide, was +found by the seashore; the other and smaller one came front the shores +of Lake Kranke.20 Fish-hooks made of bone, which is more easily worked +than flint, very soon replaced those in that material. They are +numerous in the Lake Stations of Wangen, Mooseedorf, and St. Aubin. +Some are cut out of the horns of oxen, others of stags’ antlers; while +others again are made of boars’ tusks (Fig. 12), but all alike greatly +resemble modern forms. The peat-bogs of Scania have yielded a bone +fish-hook seven centimetres long, which is considered very ancient, and +the Museum of Stettin possesses one, also very old, found in a gnarly +deposit of Pomerania. We must not forget to mention, although it +probably belongs to a much more recent period, a fish-hook in reindeer +horn, now in the Christiania Museum. It was found in a tomb in the +island of Kjelnoë, not far from the Russian frontier. Numerous +skeletons, wrapped up in swathings of birch-bark, repose in this tomb. +All around lay fragments of pottery, lance- and arrow-heads,21 and +combs of reindeer horn, the date of which it is impossible to fix +exactly. + +In America, stone fish-hooks are rare. The most ancient are of bone, +and resemble those now in use. They have been picked up in Dakota, and +in the cinderheaps of Madisonville (Ohio), in Indiana, in Arkansas, on +the shores of Lake Erie, and in a kitchen-midding of Long Island. The +greater number of them are polished, and some of them have near the top +a hole by which they could be fastened to a line or cord. The +fish-hooks of California are remarkable for their rounded forms and +sharply curved points; the top was covered with a thick layer of +asphalt to which the line was probably fastened. They are numerous in +all the islands of the Pacific coast. In that of Santa Cruz Schumacker +excavated a tomb which must have been that of a fish-hook manufacturer, +for care had been taken to place near the deceased, not only the +implements of his craft, but also a number of fish-hooks in various +stages of advancement. The Californians used the shells of the _Mytilus +Californicus_ and _Haliotis_ to make fish-hooks, and these were even +more curved than those made of bone. The shape seems but little suited +for fishing, but even in our own day the natives of the Samoa Islands +use similar tackle with great success. The Indians of the northwest +coast make fish-hooks of epicea wood, and those of Arizona utilize for +the same purpose the long spikes of the cactus. It is very probable +that European as well as American races knew how to use wood in the +same manner. During the lapse of centuries, however, these fragile +objects have been reduced to dust, and we are unable to make any +further conjectures on the subject. + +The use of bronze, the first metal to be generally employed, does not +seem to have introduced any great modifications in fishing-tackle. +Bronze fish-hooks are, however, thinner and lighter than those in other +materials, and resemble those in use amongst fishermen at the present +day. A certain number have been found in the Lake Stations of +Switzerland, in lakes Peschiera and Bourget, as well as in Scotland, +Ireland, and the island of Fünen off the coast of Denmark. We must not +omit to mention the important foundry of Larnaud, or the _cache_ of +Saint-Pierre-en-Chatre, both so rich in bronze objects. In America, +where the copper mines of Lake Superior were worked at a remote +antiquity, a few rare copper fish-hooks have been found, the greater +number in the Ancon necropolis.22 Gold fish-hooks are comparatively +more numerous, and have been discovered in New Granada and the Cauca +State.23 One of these was found some forty-nine feet below the surface +of the ground, and as there is no trace of disturbance, we cannot +assign to it a recent origin. The gold fish-hooks are about four inches +long, and look like big pins with the lower end bent back upon the +upper. + +Other fishing implements were also used by our prehistoric ancestors. +At Laugerie-Basse a rough drawing shows us a man striking with a +harpoon a fish that is trying to escape. These harpoons were generally +made of reindeer horn (Figs. 10 and 13). Some had but one barb, others +several. One of the largest was found in the Madeleine Cave; it is +eight inches long, and has three barbs on one side and five on the +other. Most of these weapons have a notch in the handle, with the help +of which they could be firmly fastened to a spear or lance. Different +fashions prevailed in different localities, and sinews, leather thongs, +roughly plaited cords, creepers, and resinous substances were often +pressed into the service. + +[Illustration: 13.] + +A, a large barbed arrow from one side of the Plantade shelter +(Tarn-et-Garonne). B, lower part of a barbed harpoon from the Plantade +deposit. + +Many harpoons have been found in the caves of the south of France; +others come from Belgium, from Keyserloch in Germany, Kent’s Hole in +England, from Conches, Wauwyl, and Concise in Switzerland. Excavations +in Victoria Cave, near Settle (Yorkshire), yielded amongst other +interesting objects a bone harpoon cut to a point and with two barbs on +either side. On the banks of the Uswiata, a little Polish river flowing +into the Dnieper, two harpoons made out of the horns of some bovine +animal were found, both in perfect preservation, and with several +barbs.24 Count Ouvaroff, in an excellent work published a little before +his death, mentions a bone spear from the shores of the Oka, and Madsen +and Montelius speak of Scandinavian harpoons. These weapons must have +been especially useful in the North during the severe frosts of winter. +The fisherman made a hole in the ice and struck the fish with his +harpoon when the poor creatures came up to the surface to breathe. + +From the most remote times the Americans knew how to make and use +harpoons. As many as twenty-eight different kinds are known.25 In some +the barbs are bilateral, but most of them have them on one side only. +Some, however, are made of stag or elk horn, and one harpoon from Maine +is made of whalebone. A harpoon-point found near Detroit (Michigan) is +nearly a foot long by one inch thick. Excavations in a rock shelter in +Alaska yielded a harpoon which lay side by side with some of the most +ancient Quaternary mammals of America. A good many copper harpoon-heads +are also mentioned; one of the largest from Wisconsin is ten inches +long. Others have been found in the island of Santa Barbara +(California) and in Tierra del Fuego, where the natives of the present +day still use similar ones. These harpoons with barbs are by no means +simple weapons, the idea of which would naturally occur to the human +mind, so that it is really extremely strange to find weapons so +entirely similar in regions so different and so widely separated from +one another. This constant similitude in the working of the genius of +man is, as We shall never tire of repeating, one of the most striking +facts revealed by prehistoric researches. + +Herodotus tells that the Pœni (Carthaginians) plunged baskets into the +water and drew them up full of fish. It is probable that the Lake +Dwellers of Helvetia employed a similar process, but these ancient +Swiss were already more advanced than that. They knew how to cultivate +hemp, to spin it, and to make nets of it; the remains of some of these +nets have often of late years been taken from the beds of the lakes. + +It is almost impossible to class with any certainty the numerous Lake +Stations of Switzerland. Some few certainly date from the Stone age, +others from the transition period, between it and that of the early use +of metals, or even from the Bronze age. As therefore they have been +occupied at different times by different people, some of them having +even been still in use in the time of the Romans, it is most difficult +to fix with any precision the date to which belong the various objects +mixed together beneath the deep waters of the lakes. We can only say +that the nets differ very much in the size of the meshes, and the +thickness of the rope used. Those found at Robenhausen are very like +those in use in France at the present day. There has, in fact, been no +advance in the art of making fishing-tackle since the remote days of +the Lake Dwellers. + +We are ignorant of the mode of manufacture of prehistoric nets. Did the +Lake Dwellers, as some archæologists are disposed to think, use a loom? +Did they use shuttles and rollers such as are employed by the Esquimaux +and Californians of the present day? It is impossible to say, but it is +supposed that the bears’ teeth sharpened to a point, found in some +stations, were used to tighten the meshes. These meshes were generally +square, and each one was finished of with a knot of the same size at +each intersection. + +The lead weights so indispensable to fishermen of the present day for +sinking the nets, were represented in prehistoric times by stones. +These stones, which are drilled or notched, are found in all the Lake +Stations. The fragments of pottery pierced with a hole found at +Schussenried, a Lake Station of the Stone age on the Feder-See +(Wurtemburg), were probably used for the same purpose. In some of the +Swiss Lake Stations have also been found pieces of wood and cork, +pierced with one or more holes, which had certainly served as floats. + +Numerous stone implements of the most primitive forms, often of rock +not native to the country, have been found in some of the islands of +Greece, as well as in Corsica, Sardinia, Elba, and Sicily. These +discoveries bear witness to the presence of man in these islands at a +very remote antiquity, though no other traces of the existence of +prehistoric human beings have as yet been found there. These men can +only have reached the islands by way of the sea. Boats were the only +means of communication between the Lake Dwellers of Switzerland and the +mainland, and, as we have seen, the ancient Scandinavians hunted fish +on the deep ocean. We must therefore admit that attempts at navigation +were made in the very earliest days of humanity. Alan, impelled by +necessity, or perhaps only by curiosity, was not afraid to launch his +bark, first upon the rivers, and later upon the more formidable waves +of the sea + +Illi robur et æs triplex +Circa pectus erat, qui fragilem truci +Commisit pelago ratem +Primus.26 + +The Latin poet is right, and we cannot but admire those who were the +first to brave the terrors of the deep and the horrors of the tempest; +for they were gifted alike with the intelligence which conceives, the +courage that dares, and the strength that achieves. + +Trees torn up by the roots by the force of the waters, and floating on +the surface of those waters, naturally attracted the attention of +primeval man, and the first boats were doubtless the trunks of such +trees roughly squared and then hollowed out with the help of fire. +Later experience led to the addition of a prow which would more easily +cleave the water, and a stern which would serve as a pivot. These +canoes, if such a name may be already given to them, were at first +guided by branches stripped of their leaves, or with long poles. Then +oars or paddles were introduced, which are better for beating the +water, and in later barks traces have been made out of what is supposed +to have been a mast, indicating the use of a sail. The art of +navigation may now be said to have been inaugurated. In different parts +of Europe have been found boats which certainly belong to very remote +times, though their exact date cannot be fixed. Their construction +greatly resembles that of the pirogues of the Polynesians, or the +kayaks of the Greenlanders. One of the most ancient, now in the Berlin +Provincial Museum, was taken from a peat-bog of Brandenburg.27 It is 27 +feet long and scarcely 16 inches wide. + +Sir W. Wilde describes several boats from the marshes and peat-bogs of +Ireland,28 many of which have handles cut in the wood at the ends, by +the help of which they could easily be dragged along overland. Sir W. +Wilde adds that the Irish also used _curraghs_, or _coracles_, which +were mere wicker frames covered with the skins of oxen. These frail +barks introduce us to a new mode of navigation; they are met with not +only in tire different countries of Europe, but also in America, and +were in use there in pre-Columbian times. Even more interesting +examples have been found in Scotland.29 Towards the close of last +century a pirogue was taken from the ancient bed of the Clyde at +Glasgow. Since then have been discovered, at depths varying from six to +twelve feet, more than twenty similar boats. The deposits in which they +lay had formerly been beneath the sea, but are now some twenty feet +above the level of the ocean. Great changes have therefore taken place +since these barks were launched upon the waves.30 Their mode of +construction is an excellent indication of the date to which they +belong. Some which are hollowed out of the trunks of oaks by the help +of fire, or with a blunt tool, are supposed by Lyell to date from the +Stone age. Others have clean-cut notches, evidently made with metal +implements. Some are made of planks joined together with wooden pegs, +and one canoe found in County Galway even contained copper nails. Most +of the boats from the bed of the Clyde seem to have foundered in still +waters. Some, however, were discovered in a vertical position, others +had the keel uppermost, and these latter had evidently sunk in a storm. +In one of these boats was a diorite hatchet of the kind characteristic +of Neolithic times; another, the wood of which was perfectly black, had +become as hard as marble, and in it was a cork plug. Then, as now, the +oak which yields cork was foreign to the cold climate of Scotland. + +We will quote but one of the discoveries made in England. In 1881 a +canoe, hollowed out of the trunk of a tree, was found at Bovey-Tracey +in Devonshire. It lay in a deposit of brick-earth more than twenty-nine +feet below the highest level reached by the waters of the Bovey.31 It +was more than thirty-five inches wide, and its length could not be +exactly determined, the workmen having broken it in getting it out. An +eminent archæologist is of opinion that this boat dates from the +Glacial epoch, perhaps even from a more remote time. If this +hypothesis, the responsibility of which we leave to him, be correct, +this is the most ancient witness in existence of prehistoric +navigation. We must also mention a boat found near Brigg +(Lincolnshire), a few feet from a little river that flows into the +Humber. It is about forty-five feet long by three and a half feet wide, +and is some three feet high. The prow is fluted. There are no traces of +a mast, though the size of the boat must have made it difficult to +manage with oars alone. + +One of the pirogues preserved at the Copenhagen Museum is made of one +half of the trunk of a tree, some six feet long, hollowed into the +shape of a trough, and cut straight at both ends.32 It is curious to +compare this clumsy structure with a boat recently discovered beneath a +tumulus at Gogstadten in Norway (Fig. 14), of which, though it dates +from historic times, we give a drawing, as it is a good illustration of +the progress made. The dead Viking had been laid in his boat, as the +most glorious of tombs; with its prow pointing seawards, for would not +the first thoughts of the chief when he awoke in another life be of the +sea which had witnessed his triumphs? The sides of the boat, which was +more than sixty-six feet long and fifteen across the widest part, were +painted, and around it was ranged a series of shields lapping over one +another like the scales of a fish, and not unlike the designs seen in +the celebrated Bayeux tapestry. A block of oak intended to receive the +mast was placed in the centre of the boat, and near the skeleton were +oars some fifteen feet long and similar in form to those now in use. + +[Illustration: 14.] + +Ancient Scandinavian boat found beneath a tumulus at Gogstadten. + +Inlaying the foundations of the bridge of Les Invalides, Paris, a boat +was taken out of the mud which had lain there for many centuries. Like +most of those already mentioned, it had been made out of a single trunk +roughly squared. Everywhere, we must repeat once again, man’s original +ideas were the same; everywhere the tree floating on the top of the +water excited his curiosity, and became the starting-point for one of +his most important discoveries. Traces of similar attempts at +navigation are met with in other parts of France; a canoe was found in +the Loire near Saint Mars, and the Dijon Museum possesses another from +the same river, the latter some sixteen feet long, and traces have been +made out of what are supposed to have been seats, but may have been +mere contrivances for strengthening the boat. A canoe taken last year +from the bed of the Cher is of the shape of a trough closed at the end +by pieces of wood fixed by means of vertical grooves. The prow had been +shaped in the first instance in the trunk itself, and it was probably +owing to an accident, a collision perhaps, that it had had to be mended +in this way (Fig. 15). + +[Illustration: 15.] + +Ancient boat discovered in the bed of the Cher. + +The Lake Dwellers of Switzerland owned boats from the time of their +first settlement in their water homes. One of them found at Robenhausen +is more than ten feet long, and is very shallow, varying from six to +eight inches. Like most of those already mentioned, it was hollowed out +of the trunk of a tree, bulging out towards the centre, and rounded at +the ends. So far none but stone tools have been found at the station of +Robenhausen, so that we must presume that it was with such tools that +the boat was made. The lakes of Bienne and. Geneva, and the stations of +Morges and Estavayer have also yielded boats which are doubtless less +ancient than those of which I have just spoken. In nearly all of them +the prow is curiously pointed. One of them from the Lake of Neuchâtel, +large enough to bold twelve people, has a beak at the stern and a +rounded prow; but there is no sign of any contrivance for keeping the +oars in place. + +Lastly, a boat bas been found in Switzerland some 3,900 feet above the +valley of the Rhine, but no one can say how it came to be at such a +height. + +[Illustration: 16.] + +A lake pirogue found in the Lake of Neuchâtel. 1. As seen from the +outside. 2 and 3. Longitudinal and transverse sections. + + +These canoes, whatever their shape or size, can only have been worked +by means of oars, yet oars have seldom been found. The Geneva Museum, +however, has one which came from the muddy bed of an Italian lake, and +others are preserved in the Royal Museum of Dublin, which have every +sign of great antiquity. In de fault of the actual oars, we have other +proofs of their use. Gross33 mentions a boat (Fig. 16) in which holes +had been made in the upper parts of the sides to hold the oars. In 1882 +a pirogue was taken out of the bed of the Rhone at Cordon (Ain), which +had been half buried in the mud of the river. The wood was black and +the upper portions were charred, but the middle part was still intact +and very hard. The holes, pierced in the sides at regular intervals, +may have served to keep the oars in place. The position of the rowers +at the bottom of the boat was very unsatisfactory. It was not, however, +until later that we find seats so placed as to enable the rowers to put +out all their strength. At a recent meeting of the Anthropological +Society (July 21, 1887) M. Letourneau observed that the rudder came +into use very slowly. It was not known to the Egyptians or to the +Phœnicians, nor, which is still more strange, to the Greeks and Romans. +Their vessels, whatever their size, were guided by two large oars +(_gubernaculum_) placed in the stern. The Chinese appear to have been +the only people who were acquainted with the use of the rudder from +time immemorial. It is probable that from them it passed to the Arabs +and even perhaps to the people of Europe. + +A discovery made near Abbeville is the most ancient example we have of +the use of the mast. Some works being executed at the fortifications of +the town, brought to light a boat which must have been some twenty-one +feet long. Two projections form part of the planking, leaving between +them a rectangular space in which the mast was probably fixed.34 + +Professor Gastaldi speaks of a wooden anchor taken from a peat-bog near +Arona, beneath which was a pile dwelling. He dates it from the tinge +when the use of bronze was already beginning to spread in the north of +Italy. A stone of peculiar shape found at Niddau is, they say, an +_Ankerstein_ (anchor stone). This name is also given by Friedel to a +good-sized round lump of sandstone with a deep groove near the middle. +Lastly, Kerviler, in crossing a basin of the Bay of Penhouet, near +Saint-Nazaire, found several stones which had evidently been used to +keep boats at anchor, and with the aid of which we can get an idea of +the methods employed by ancient navigators (Fig. 17). + +[Illustration: 17.] + +Stones used as anchors, found in the Bay of Penhouet. 1, 2, 3, stones +weighing about 160 pounds each. 4 and 5, lighter stones, probably used +for canoes. + +Such are the only details we have on the important subject of +prehistoric anchors, but we may add that ancient fishermen probably +ventured but a short distance from the land, and would not need +anchors, as they could easily carry their light boats on shore. + +We leave now passed in review the conditions of the life of our remote +ancestors, noting the animals that were their contemporaries, and the +fish that peopled the watercourses near which they lived. We have +studied the earliest efforts at navigation, made in the pursuit of +fish, and we must now go back to examine the weapons, tools, and +ornaments of these ancient peoples, and trace in those objects the dawn +of art. This will be the aim of our next chapter. + + +1 In this cave were found the bones of 45 bears. In the Goyet Cave +(which bears the number 3), were found complete sets of the bones of 12 +mammoths, 8 rhinoceroses, 57 bears, 57 horses, 24 hyænas, 35 reindeer, +6 uruses, 2 lions, with the bones of a great number of goats, chamois, +and boars. Dupont: “L’Homme pendant l’Âge de la Pierre,” p. 86. + +2 These birds belonged to the rapaces, passeres, gallinaceous, wading, +and web-footed groups. Every order is represented, and nearly all the +bones were those of edible species, which had certainly served as food +to man. + +3 Richard Andrée: “Die Anthropophagie eine Ethnographische Studie,” +Leipzig, 1887. + +4 “Les Hommes de Chavaux et d’Engis” _Bul. Acad. Roy. de Belgique_, +vol. xx., 1853; vol. xviii. (new series), 1863; vol. xxii., 1866; +_Matériaux_, 1872. p, 517. + +5 “L’Homme pendant les Âges de la Pierre,” p. 225. + +6 “Compte Rendu,” p. 363. + +7 “Hist. Nat.,” book vii., sec. 2. + +8 Belgrand: “Le Bassin Parisien,” vol. i., p. 232. + +9 _Bull. Soc. Anth_., 1869, p. 476.—_Ac. des Sciences_, 1870, first +week, p. 167. + +10 _Archives du Musée National de Rio de Janeiro_, vol. i., 1876. + +11 See my translation of De Nadaillac’s “Prehistoric America,” pp. 53, +58, and 59.”—N. D’Anvers. + +12 “Geography,” book iv. + +13 “Opera,” vol. ii., Migne edition, p. 335. Richard, of Cirencester, +says that the Attacotes lived on the shores of the Clyde, beyond the +great wall of Hadrian. + +14 Schweden’s “Urgeschichte,” p. 341. + +15 The felidæ were very numerous in Europe in Quaternary times. We may +mention two species of lions, _Leo nobilis_ and _Leo spelæus_, the +latter often confounded with the _delis spelæus_ of such frequent +occurrence in French caves, two species of tigers, _Tigris Edwardsiana_ +and _Tigris Europæa_, the largest of the Quaternary felidæ, which was +some twelve feet long. We also know of seven species of leopards, six +species of cats, from the Serval to a little felis smaller than our +domestic cat; two species of lynx, and lastly the _machairodus_, a +beast of prey of considerable size, characterized by having +exceptionally long upper canines serrated like a saw. Probably these +beasts of prey were not all contemporaries, but succeeded each other. +(Bourguignat: “Histoire des Felidæ Fossiles en France dans les Dépôts +de la Période Quaternaire,” Paris, 1879.) + +16 “Testimony of the Rocks,” p. 127, Edinburgh and Boston, 1857. + +17 _Ossements Fossiles Trouvés à Odessa_. The cave-hyena resembles that +now living at the Cape. + +18 Ducrost and Arcelin: “Stratigraphie de l’Éboulis de Solutré,” +_Mat_., 1876, p. 403_. Archives die Museum d’Hist. Nat. de Lyon_, vol. +1. + +19 M. de Baye found a great many similar arrow-heads in the Petit-Morin +caves. + +20 Nilsson: “The Primitive Inhabitants of Scandinavia.” + +21 Captain Edward Johnson, who travelled about in New England from 1628 +to 1632, relates that the children there spent their days in shooting +at the fish that appeared on the surface of the water, succeeding in +catching them with marvellous skill. “A History of New England,” +London, 1654. + +22 Reiss and Steubel: “The Necropolis of Ancon in Peru,” London and +Berlin. + +23 _Matériaux_, 1870, p, 348. + +24 _Wiadomosei Archéologizne_, No. iv., Warsaw, 1882. + +25 Ch. Rau: “Prehistoric Fishing in Europe and America.” + +26 Horace: “Odes,” book i., ode iii. + +27 Friedel: “Führer durch die Fischerei Abtheilung.” + +28 “A Catalogue of the Antiquities in the Museum of the Royal Academy.” + +29 _Proceedings of the Royal Academy of Scotland_, vol. iii. Dr. R. +Munro “Ancient Scottish Lake Dwellings or Crannoges,” Edinburgh, 1882. + +30 Geikie, _Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal_, vol. xv. De Lapparent +“Traité de Géologie,” first edition, p. 518. + +31 “Discoveries in the more Recent Deposits of the Bovey Basin,” +_Trans. Devonshire Ass_., 1883. + +32 “Nordische Oldsager i der kongelige Museum i Kjobenhawn.” + +33 “Les Proto-Helvètes,” _Nature_, 1880, 1st week, p. 151. + +34 “Mém. Soc. d’Emulation d’Abbeville,” 1867. + + + + +CHAPTER III. +Weapons, Tools, Pottery; Origin of the Use of Fire, Clothing, +Ornaments; Early Artistic Efforts. + + +The Vedas show us Indra, armed with a wooden club, seizing a stone with +which to pierce Vritra, the genius of evil.1 Does not this call up a +picture of the earliest days of man upon the earth? His first weapon +was doubtless a knotty branch torn from a tree as be hurried past, or a +stone picked up from amongst those lying at his feet. These were, +however, but feeble means with which to contend with formidable feline +and pachydermatous enemies. Man bad not their great physical strength; +he was not so fleet a runner as many of them; his nails and teeth were +useless to him, either for attack or defence; his smooth skin was not +enough protection even from the rigor of the climate. Such inequality +must very quickly have led to the defeat of man, had not God given to +him two marvellous instruments: the brain which conceives, and the hand +which executes. To brute force man opposed intelligence, a glorious +struggle in which he was sure to come off victorious, for in the words +of Victor Hugo, “Ceci devait tuer cela.” The huge animals of Quaternary +times have disappeared for ever, whilst plan has survived, victor over +Nature herself. Even before his birth, an immutable decree had ordained +that nothing on the earth should check his development. + +Man alone amongst the countless creatures around him knew anything of +the past, and he alone was able to predict the future. Even apes, +however great the intelligence that may be attributed to them, have +remained very much what they were from the first. In vain has one +generation succeeded another; they still obey the dictates of their +brutal instincts, as their ancestors did before them; and if apes +continue to propagate their species thousands of years hence they will +remain what we see them to be now. Dogs, too, will remain dogs, +elephants will continue to be elephants; beavers will make their dams +exactly like those of the present day, wasps will never learn to make +honey as bees do, and bees will never be able, like ants, to bring up +plant-lice to be their servants, or to enslave other families. Their +instincts are incapable of progress, and in their earliest efforts they +reach the limit assigned to them by the Eternal Wisdom. To man alone +has it been given to understand what has been done by his predecessors, +to walk more firmly in the path along which they groped, to pronounce +clearly the words they stammered. Without a doubt we descend from the +men who lived in the midst of primeval forests, or amongst stagnant +marshes, dwelling in caves, for the possession of which they often bad +to fight with the wild beasts around them. These men, however, knew +that one result achieved would lead to another, if similar means were +used; they saw that a pointed stone would inflict a deeper wound than a +blunt one on the animal they hunted, and therefore they learnt to +sharpen stones artificially; the skins of beasts, flung over their +shoulders, protected them from cold, and they learned to make garments; +seeds sprouted around them, and they learned to plant them; they +noticed the effect of heat upon metals, and tried to mix them; wild +animals wandered around them, and they learned to reduce them to +slavery. Every bit of knowledge won, and every progress made, became +the starting-point for fresh acquisitions, fresh advances, which +thenceforth remained forever the common heritage of the human race. + +It was thus that experience early taught our remote ancestors that rock +chips more easily under the blows of a hammer when fresh from the +quarry; and everywhere men learnt to choose the stone best suited to +their purpose. For hatchets, wedges, and hammers, they used jade and +kindred substances, such as fibrolite, diorite, and basalt, which were +at the same time extremely durable, and very impervious to blows. For +spear- and arrow-heads, knives, saws, and all instruments requiring +sharp points and cutting edges, they employed quartz, jaspar, agate, +and obsidian, according to the situation of the worker; all these +materials, though extremely hard, being easily split into thin sharp +flakes. The blocks of stone were very methodically cut up; they were, +in fact, to use a very appropriate expression of M. Dupont’s, scaled +(_écaillês_). We give drawings of a few of these implements (Figs. 18, +19, and 20), which illustrate the earliest efforts of lean, efforts +which may be looked upon as the starting-point of all those industries +which in the course of centuries have developed results which it is +impossible to contemplate without astonishment. + +[Illustration: 18.] + +Scraper from the Delaware Valley. + +[Illustration: 19.] + +Implement from the Delaware Valley. + + +The host ancient tools which have come down to us were clumsy and +heavy, cut on both sides and pointed (Fig. 20). They may vary in +material, in size, and in finish, but they can always be easily +recognized.2 Were they man’s only weapons? We hesitate to believe it, +and the careful researches of M. d’Acy add to our incredulity.3 He +tells us that at Saint-Acheul, which was the very cradle of these +strange discoveries, the almond shape is found mixed with the pointed +amongst the Moustier flints, so that what is true in one place is not +in another, and any general conclusion would certainly be premature. + +[Illustration: 20.] + +Worked flints from the Lafaye and Plantade shelters (Tarn-et-Garonne). + +It would take us a long time to enumerate the countries where tools of +the Chelléen4 type have been found. They are met with in the valleys of +the rivers of France, now imbedded in the flinty alluvium, now strewn +upon the surface of the soil. Though rare in Germany, they are found in +abundance in the southeast of England, and it is to this period that +must be assigned the discoveries at Hoxne, and in the basins of the +Thames, the Ouse, and the Avon. Similar discoveries have been frequent +in Italy, Spain, Algeria, and Hindostan. Dr. Abbott speaks of the +finding of such implements in the glacial alluvium of the Delaware +(Figs. 18 and 19), Miss Babitt in the alluvial deposits of the +Mississippi, Mr. Haynes in New Hampshire, Mr. Holmes in Colombia, and +other explorers in the basin of the Bridget and at Guanajuato in +Mexico. Everywhere these implements are identical in shape and in mode +of construction, and very often they are associated with the bones of +animals of extinct species. + +Sometimes these Chelléen tools (the French call them _coups de poing_) +have retained at the base a projection to enable the user to grasp them +better; these certainly never had handles, but it will not do to draw +any general conclusions froth that fact; and an examination of the +collection of M. d’Acy, the most complete we have of relics of the +Chelléen period, proves on the contrary that certain tools could not +have been used unless they had been fixed into handles. + +In the following epoch, to which has been given the name of Moustérien, +from the Moustier Cave (Dordogne), we already meet with more varied +forms, including scrapers, saws, knife-blades, and spear- or +arrow-heads, with the special characteristic of being cut on one side +only. These implements are found not only in the alluvium as are the +Chelléen _coups de poing_, but also in the cave or rock-shelter +deposits. Amongst the mammalian remains with which they are associated +are those of the mammoth, the _Rhinoceros tichorhinus_, the elk, the +horse, the aurochs, the cave-lion, the cave-hyena, and the cave-bear, +remarkable for the constancy of their characteristics. The _Elephas +antiquus_ and the _Rhinoceros Merckii_ that belonged to the preceding +period have now completely passed away, and the reindeer, now appearing +for the first time, are still far from numerous. + +In the Solutréen period, so named after the celebrated Lake Station of +Solutré, we find stalked arrow-heads with lateral notches,5 flint-heads +of the form of laurel leaves, which are remarkable for their regularity +of shape and delicacy of finish; as compared with those of previous +periods, the forms are much more delicate and elegant. Many of the +caves of the south of France belong to this period. It is difficult to +mention them all, and even more difficult to make out a complete list +of contemporary mammalia; the deposits generally actually touch those +of another period, and the separation of the objects in them has not +always been made with all the care that could be wished. At Solutré, +remains of the horse predominate; whilst in other places those of the +reindeer are met with in considerable quantities, and with them are +found the bones of the cave-bear, the wild cat (a creature considerably +larger than the tigers of the present day), and of the mammoth, which +lived on in Europe many centuries. + +Lastly to the Madeleine period, so named after the Madeleine Cave +(Dordogne), and considered one of the most important of the cave +epochs, belong tools and weapons of all manner of shapes and materials, +including bone, born, and reindeer antlers; from this time also date +barbed arrows and harpoons, batons of office, telling of social +organization; the engravings and carvings on which bear witness to the +development of artistic feeling. On the other hand, the flint +arrow-heads and knife-blades are not so finely cut; we see that man had +learned to use other materials than stone. The reindeer is the most +characteristic animal form of the Madeleine period. + +To the times we have just passed in review succeeded others of a very +different kind, to which has been given the general naive of Neolithic. +The fauna, probably lender the influence of climatic and orographic +changes, underwent a complete transformation; the mammoth, the +cave-bear, the megaceros, and the large felidæ died out, the +hippopotamus was no longer seen, except in the heart of Africa; the +reindeer and other mammals that love to frequent the regions of +perpetual snow, retired to the extreme north; and in their place +appeared our earliest domestic animals, the ox, the sheep, the goat, +and the dog. Man, who witnessed these changes, continued to progress; +he abandoned his nomad for a sedentary life; he ceased to be a bunter, +and became an agriculturist and a shepherd. Everywhere we meet with +traces of new customs, new ideas, and a new mode of life. This progress +is especially seen in the industrial arts. Metals it is true are still +unknown, but side by side with tools, which are merely chipped or +roughly cut, we find for the first time hatchets, celts, small +knife-blades, and arrow-heads admirably polished by the long-continued +rubbing of one stone on another. Polishers, so much worn as to bear +witness to long service, are numerous in all collections, and rocks and +erratic blocks retain incisions which must have been used for the same +purpose.6 + +It is impossible to enumerate the number of polished hatchets which +have been found; their number is simply incalculable. Of all of them, +however, those of Scandinavia are the most remarkable for delicacy of +workmanship. With the fine hatchets of Brittany, may be compared the +blades found at Volgu, and preserved in the Museum of Copenhagen, and +those in pink, gray, and brown flint, from the Sordes Cave in the south +of France; but we cannot fix the date of the production of any of them. +One of the great difficulties of prehistoric research, a difficulty not +to be got over in the present state of our knowledge, is to distinguish +with any certainty the periods into which an attempt has been made to +divide the life-story of man from his first appearance upon earth. + +Was there any abrupt transition from one period to another? Must we +accept the theory of a long break caused by geological phenomena, and +the temporary depopulation which was one of the consequences of these +phenomena? Did the new era of civilization date from the arrival of +foreign races, stronger and better fitted than those they succeeded for +the struggle for existence? Or are these changes merely the result of +the natural progress which is one of the laws of our being? These +questions cannot now be solved, and if the industries which are at the +present moment the object of our researches, bear witness to the +employment of a new process, that of polishing, we are bound to add +that everywhere Paleolithic forms are still persistent. Flints, merely +chipped, are clumsy tools, but there is no break in their series till +we come to the splendid specimens from Scandinavia or from Mexico. Of +the seven types of the Solutréen period, six are met with in the time +now under consideration.7 Five types of Solutréen javelins have also +been found in the Durfort Cave, and beneath the dolmens of Aveyron and +of Lozère. Neolithic weapons, such as those found in the Moustier Cave, +are not so numerous, but the type adopted there is not such a fine one +nor so carefully finished, which accounts for its having been more +rarely copied. If we examine the knives, awls, scrapers, and saws, we +come to the same conclusion, although comparison is not so easy. “A +knife is always a knife, an awl is always an awl,” remarks M. +Cartailhac; “they were made at every period, and their resemblance to +each other proves nothing with any certainty.” + +Rounded stones of granite or sandstone seem however to have been +weapons peculiar to the Neolithic period. Dr. Pommerol recently spoke +at the Anthropological Society of Paris, of two such rounded stones +picked up in the Puy-de-Dôme. Similar stones have been discovered at +Viry-Noureuil, and M. Massénat has one in his collection from +Chez-Pourré. Are not these rounded stones of a similar character to the +_bolas_ flung by the ancient Gauls, and still in use amongst the +inhabitants of the pampas of South America? + +As we have already remarked, plan from the earliest times must often +have held in his hands the stones which served him as weapons or as +tools. The marks of hammering on the smooth surfaces, the rounded +projections and the grooves worked in these stones, were evidently made +to prevent the hand or the thumb from slipping. Soon, however, +reflection led man to understand the increase of force he would gain by +the addition to the stone of a handle of wood or horn, stag or reindeer +antler. This addition of a handle was simple enough: the workman merely +bound it to the hatchet with fibrous roots, leather thongs, or +ligaments taken from the gut of the animals slain in the chase (Fig. +21). At first sight we are astonished at the results obtained with such +wretched materials, but it is impossible to dispute them, for we have +seen the same thing done in our own day. + +[Illustration: 21.] + +1. Stone javelin-head with handle. 2. Stone hatchet with handle. + +Other hatchets, chiefly those of a small size, were fixed into sheaths +made of stag-horn, and two chief types of them have actually been made +out.8 The sheaths of the first type are short and end in quadrangular +beads. They are found most frequently in Switzerland, in the basins of +the Rhone and of the Saône, and throughout the south of France. Those +of the second type are pierced with a hole large enough to pass the +handle through. These are found in the northwest of France, in Belgium, +and in England. + +Flint arrows of triangular or oval form, notched or stalked, were +everywhere used for a considerable length of time. They are found in +the numerous caves of France, beneath the _antas_ of Portugal, in the +tombs of Mykenæ, as well as among the Aïnos of Japan and the +Patagonians of South America. Their use necessarily involves that of a +bow, yet we do not know of a single weapon such as that, or of one that +could take its place, dating from Paleolithic times. Probably the rapid +decomposition of the wood of which bows were made has led to their +disappearance. De Mortillet9 mentions a bow found in a pile-dwelling in +a bog near Robenhausen, which he ascribes to the Neolithic period. +Another is known which was found at Lutz, also in Switzerland. To all +appearance the most ancient bows of historic times greatly resemble +these two prehistoric examples. + +Though flint was the material par excellence of Quaternary times for +weapons and tools, it could not long suffice for the ever-growing needs +of man. Our museums contain a complete series of bone or stag-horn +implements such as darts, arrow-heads, barbed arrows, harpoons, fibulæ, +and finely cut needles often pierced with eyes (Fig. 22). The invention +of barbs is worthy of special notice; the series of points made the +blow much more dangerous, as the projectile remained in the flesh of a +wounded animal which was not able to get it out. But this was not the +only object of the barbs. Arranged symmetrically on either side of the +arrow they kept it afloat in the air like the wings of a bird, which +may perhaps have suggested their use and increased the effect and +precision of the shot. + +[Illustration: 22.] + +1. Fine needles. 2. Coarse needles. 3. Amulet. 4 and 6. Ornaments. 5. +Cut flint. 7. Fragment of a harpoon. 8. Fragments of a reindeer antler +with signs or drawings. 9. Whistle. 10. One end of a bow (?). 11. +Arrow-head. (From the Vache, Massat, and Lourdes caves.) + + +The Marsoulas Cave has yielded one bevelled arrow shaft, made of +reindeer antler, with a deep groove on the surface. A similar +arrow-head was found in the Pacard Cave, and in other places arrows +have been found with one or more grooves on the surface. Were these +grooves or drills intended to hold poison, and was man already +acquainted with this melancholy Diode of destruction? We know that the +use of poison was known at the most remote historic antiquity.10 The +Greeks and Scythians used the venom of the viper, and other peoples +employed vegetable poisons. There is nothing to prevent our believing +that similar methods were in use in prehistoric times. + +[Illustration: 23.] + +Amulet made of the penien bone of a bear, and found in the Marsoulas +Cave. + +There is no doubt that it is the caves of the south of France which +have yielded the most interesting objects; needles with drilled eyes, +and barbed arrows have been picked up in considerable numbers at +Eyziès, Laugerie-Basse, at Bruniquel, Massat, and in the Madeleine +Cave. Dr. Garrigou mentions some rein deer or roebuck antlers found in +Ariège caves, which had been made into regular stilettos. In the +deposits at Lafaye were fouled stilettos or bodkins, varying in length +from two to six inches; needles measuring from nineteen to one hundred +and five millimetres and provided with eyes; at Marsoulas were found an +amulet made of the penien bone of a bear (Fig. 23), some pendants, and +some pointed pieces of bone which astonish us by the delicacy of their +workmanship, and the drawings with which they were adorned. + +[Illustration: 24.] + +Various stone and bone objects from California. + +At Paviland, Dr. Buckland discovered a wolf bone cut to a point. Kent’s +Hole yielded a number of needles resembling those of the Madeleine +Cave; at Aggtelek (Hungary) were found some bones of the cave-bear +pointed to serve as daggers, cut into scrapers or pierced to serve as +amulets or ornaments. In Belgium, objects very similar to these have +been found made of reindeer antler and dating from the most remote +times. The antlers moulted by the reindeer in the spring were in +especial request. + +Excavations in the sepulchral mounds near San Francisco (California) +have yielded thousands of bone implements (Fig. 24). Others similar to +them have been found in the layers of cinders at Madisonville (Ohio) +and beneath the numerous kitchen-middings of the coasts of the Atlantic +and Pacific. + +The processes employed by the cave-men were very simple. In one of the +excavations superintended by him, M. Dupont11 picked up the radius of a +horse bearing symmetrically made incisions executed with a view to +getting off splinters of the bone. These splinters were rounded by +rubbing either with chips of flint, or on such polishers as are to be +seen in any of the museums; then one end was sharpened, and the other, +if need were, pierced with a hole. It is astonishing to find some of +them as fine as the steel needles of the present day, and with +perfectly round eyes made with the help of nothing but a rough flint, +and there would still be some doubt on the subject, if M. Lartet12 had +not obtained exactly similar results by working on fragments of bone +with the flints he had fouled in these excavations. Other experiments +of a similar kind were no less conclusive, for Merk13 perforated all +ivory plaque with a pointed flint which he used as a gimlet. + +Some objects, which are supposed to date from Neolithic times, bear +witness to an altogether unexpected degree of civilization. In the +heart of Germany, in the peat-bogs of Laybach and Wörbzig on the banks +of the Saale, have been found earthenware spoons of the shape of modern +spatulæ; at Geraffin on Lake Bienne, a finely shaped spoon made of the +wood of a yew tree; and at Lagozza, another in shining black +earthenware. Lartet had already brought to light a bone implement +covered with ornaments in relief which he ascribed to the Palæolithic +period, and which he imagined had been used for extracting marrow; and +another archaeologist tells of objects in reindeer antler found in the +Gourdan Cave, which he thinks were used for a similar purpose. In the +Saint-Germain Museum are preserved the remains of spoons from the bed +of the Seine, and in the collections of England are fragments of bone +taken from beneath the West-Kennet dolmen, which were all probably +employed for extracting marrow. But the most important discovery of +all, which leaves no doubt on the subject, is that made by M. Perrault +at the Chassey Camp, near Chalon-sur-Saône, beneath a hearth dating +from Neolithic times. He collected fourteen earthenware spoons; one of +them of a round shape and remarkable for its size, was unfortunately +broken (Fig. 25). It is of brown earthenware with a rather rough +surface mixed with bits of flint, and is so much worn that it had +evidently been in use a long time. Lastly two spoons, also of +earthenware, have recently been found near Dondas (Lot-et-Garonne). The +use of spoons, which certainly marked considerable progress, must +therefore have spread rapidly. + +[Illustration: 25.] + +Dipper found in the excavations at the Chassey Camp. + +Long previously, however, pottery of a great variety of form bore +witness to tire plastic skill of man. Every where we find vessels of +coarse material mixed with grains of sand or mica to give more +consistency to the paste which was baked in the fire, and had often no +further ornamentation than the marks of the fingers of the potter. Does +this pottery date from Palæolithic times, or were the earthenware +vessels later additions at the time of those disturbances of deposits +which are the despair of archæologists? A few examples may enable us +better to answer this question. + +Fraas tells us that fragments of pottery have been found in all the +caves of Germany in which excavations have been made. He quotes that of +Hohlefels, where he himself picked up such fragments amongst the bones +of the mastodon, the mammoth, the rhinoceros, and the cave-lion, when +the remains of these animals were for the first time found in Germany. +In 1872, the making of the railway from Nuremberg to Ratisbon brought +to light a cave of considerable depth. In its lower deposits were found +nothing but the bones of hyenas, bears, and lions, of which the cave +had been the resort for centuries. Among the most ancient deposits, +relics of a similar kind were found in abundance, but now mixed with +numerous fragments of pottery, worked flints, and fish bones, including +those of the carp and the pike, with the bones of mammals, amongst +which predominated those of the rhinoceros, most of them intentionally +split open. At Argecilla, twenty leagues from Madrid, Vilanova +discovered a regular workshop, in which were knives and flint +arrow-heads, together with some very primitive pottery made of clay +that had evidently been brought from a distance, as there is none in +the district in which the pottery was found, In an upper deposit +Vilanova collected more than two hundred implements made of diorite, a +rock frequently used in Spain, some very remarkable celts of serpentine +dating from the Neolithic period, and numerous fragments of very +delicate pottery. Not far off he discovered another workshop, +containing some very fine hatchets perfectly polished, and some keramic +ware tastily ornamented. The progress made is as marked in the weapons +and tools as in the pottery. + +We have also seen some fragments of earthenware from the caves of +Chiampo and Laglio, near Lake Como, and from that known as the Cave dei +Colombi, in tire island of Palmaria, which was occupied shortly before +the Neolithic period. But it is Belgium which yields the most decisive +proof on this subject, and a visit to the Brussels Museum is enough to +convince the most incredulous. The excavations made under M. Dupont in +the caves of the Meuse and the Lesse have again and again brought to +light fragments of pottery, associated with the bones of Palæolithic +animals. Schmerling, too, had already found similar fragments in the +Engis Cave, mixed with flint weapons of the rudest description; and his +discoveries have been strikingly confirmed by those recently made at +Spy, near Namur,14 and by others made by M. Fraipont.15 In portions of +this same Engis Cave not previously explored the learned professor of +Liège found, in 1887, fragments of a vase of ovoid form, some flints of +the Moustérien type, and some bones of extinct mammals. Most of the +pottery in the Brussels Museum is black and of primitive make; some few +fragments, however, are of finished workmanship. We may mention +especially an ovoid vase, remarkable for its size and for its lateral +projections. This vase, which is hand-modelled, came from the Frontal +Cave; the clay is of blackish hue mixed with little bits of calcareous +spar. M. Ordinaire, Vice-Consul for France at Callao, speaks of the +_cayanes_ or _macahuas_, which are earthenware basins of great symmetry +of form, made by the Combos women, without turning wheels or mills of +any kind. Though the elegant shape of the Frontal and other vases at +first surprises us, reflection convinces us that men who could cut +stones with such rare skill would certainly be able to produce equally +good pottery. + +[Illustration: 26.] + +Pottery of a so far unclassified type found in the Argent Cave +(France). + +Similar instances may easily be quoted from France. Excavations at +Solutré have yielded several fragments of yellow, hand-made pottery +very insufficiently baked; and other pieces have been found in the +peat-bogs of Bastide de Béarn with the bones of reindeer, and worked +flints similar to those found in Quaternary deposits. We may add that +at Lafaye, Bize, and Pondre (Hainault) discoveries were made of pottery +mixed with human remains and with those of animals now extinct; and in +the Argent Cave (Basses-Alpes) a new type, shown in Fig. 26, has been +found which merits special attention. In the very earliest days of +prehistoric research the Nabrigas Cave (Lozère) was excavated by M. +Joly, who found in it many fragments of pottery. In a volume published +shortly before his death he relates the circumstances of his discovery, +and earnestly maintains its authenticity. Later excavations, made under +the direction of masters in prehistoric science, would have thrown some +doubts on the assertions made by the professor of Toulouse, if MM. +Martel and Launay had not brought forward a fresh proof in support of +it. “On the 30th August, 1885,”16 they say, “we picked up at Nabrigas +in a deep hole, untouched by previous excavations and not displaced by +water, some human bones and a piece of pottery side by side with two +skeletons of _Ursus spelæus_. The human bones, of indeterminate race, +included an upper left maxillary, still retaining three teeth, an +incomplete mastoid apophysis, and seven pieces of crania, belonging to +different individuals. The piece of pottery only measured one and a +half by two and a quarter inches; the clay is gray and friable, bound +together with big bits of quartz, mica, and a few particles of +charcoal.” There would appear to be no sufficient reason to question +the exactness of a discovery so carefully studied. + +Many eminent archæologists, however, maintain that pottery was +completely unknown in Paleolithic times, and they do not hesitate to +attribute to a later period any deposit in which it occurs where its +presence cannot be accounted for by later displacements. M. Cartailhac +declares that he has never been able to establish either in the south +of France or in the central table-land a single fact which justifies us +in asserting that the men of the Reindeer period, still less those of +earlier epochs, knew how to make pottery. The first explorers, he adds, +did not always distinguish with sufficient care the vestiges of +different epochs, the relics of diverse origins. How often have bones +carried along by water, or brought where they are found by animals, +been mixed with those abandoned by men, or the deposits of the +Neolithic period with those of the earliest Quaternary times! How often +have the contents of a passage giving access to a cave been confounded +with those of the cave itself! Hence deplorable errors, which it is +impossible to rectify now. Evans and Geikie in their turn assert the +absence in England17 of Palæolithic pottery, and Sir J. Lubbock +energetically maintains this opinion. + +Doubtless these are great authorities, and yet, in view of the facts +now known, it is difficult to believe that man was long a stranger to +the art of making pottery. Its invention required no great effort of +intelligence, and its fabrication presented no great difficulties. Man +had but to knead the soft clay which he trod under his foot, and the +plasticity of which he could not fail to notice. This clay hardened in +the sun, and hollows were formed as it shrunk—the first vessel was +discovered! Experience soon taught man to replace the heat of the sun +by that of the fire, and to add a few bits of some hard substance to +give the clay greater consistency. These first crude and clumsy vases +have been preserved to our own day as irrefutable witnesses to the work +of our ancestors. Though, therefore, we cannot be sure that pottery was +made in Quaternary times by all the races that peopled Europe,18 it is +impossible to deny that a great many of them were in possession of the +art. This difference in the degree of civilization attained to by men +living but short distances from each other need not surprise us, for +all travellers report similar facts amongst contemporary savage races. + +The baking of pottery is a proof that the use of fire was known in the +most remote times. The existence in various places of masses of +cinders, fragments of charred wood, and half-calcined bones, proves it +yet more decidedly. At Solutré, at Louverné (Mayenne), at Saint-Florent +(Corsica), to give but a few examples, we find large slabs of +half-calcined stone, laid flat and covered with heaps of cinders and +all sorts of rubbish. These slabs formed the family hearth, where man +prepared his food, with the help of the fire he had learnt to ignite +and to keep burning. + +How did man arrive at a discovery so vital to his existence? The Vedas +assign the origin of fire to the rubbing together in a storm of the dry +branches of trees. “The first men,” says Vitruvius,19 “were born, as +were other animals, in the forests, caves, and woods. The thick trees +violently agitated by the storm took fire, through the rubbing together +of their branches; the fury of the flames terrified the men who found +themselves near them and made them take to flight. Soon reassured, +however, they gradually approached again and realized all the +advantages they might gain for their bodies from the gentle warmth of +the fire. They added fuel to the flames, they kept the fire up, they +fetched other men whom they made understand by signs all the usefulness +of this discovery. The men thus assembled articulated a few sounds, +which, repeated every day, accidentally formed certain words which +served to designate objects, and soon they had a language which enabled +them to speak and to understand one another. It was, then, the +discovery of fire which led men to come together to form a society, to +live together, and to inhabit the same places.” + +Without pausing to consider the somewhat puerile theories of Vitruvius, +or the myths which testify to the importance attached to fire by +primeval man, we are at liberty to suppose that a conflagration caused +by lightning or by the spontaneous combustion of vegetable materials in +a state of fermentation, or other similar phenomena, made known to man +the power of fire, and the use it might be to him. The accidental +striking together of two flints produced a spark; observation taught +men to obtain a similar result by the same process; a great step in +advance was made, and the future of humanity was assured. M. Dupont +picked up in the Chaleux Cave a kidney-shaped piece of iron pyrites, +hollowed out in a peculiar manner, which had evidently been used to +obtain the precious spark. The Christy collection contains a granite +pebble with a hole the shape of a cup, which had evidently been used to +obtain fire, by rubbing round in it a stick of very dry wood. The two +methods employed at the present day were therefore already in use. +Lumholz tells us that the Australians of Herbert River get fire by +rubbing two pieces of wood together. The Indians of the northwest of +Colorado, the Yapais of the Caroline Islands, and the Mincopies of the +Andaman Isles, with many other races, know no other process. We must, +however, still maintain a certain reserve in dealing with the +fire-obtaining implements of so imperfect a nature, and belonging to +times so remote as those called prehistoric. + +During bad seasons, or in the bitter cold of winter, primeval man +contented himself with flinging over his shoulders the skins of the +animals he had killed. He prepared these skins with flint scrapers, and +sewed them together with bone needles. In hot weather man probably +roamed about stark naked. Shame is not a natural instinct; education +alone develops it. Writing in 1617, Fynes Morison speaks of having seen +at Cork young girls quite naked, engaged in crushing corn with a stone. +The Tchoutchi women, says Nordenskiöld, wear no clothes when in their +tents, however great the cold. In tropical countries men, women, and +children, all completely nude, went to meet the travellers who landed +on their shores. Count Ursel, in a recent journey in Bolivia, in going +through a little town, saw “near the public fountain some young girls +already growing up making their ablutions and playing about in the garb +of the earthly paradise.” Travellers who visited Japan a few years ago +reported that the inhabitants, without distinction of age or sex, came +out of the water in a state of complete nudity, presenting a strange +spectacle to European eyes. The sight of what is actually going on +amongst comparatively civilized people in our own day enables us to +understand better what must have been the state of things when the +whole world was in a state of barbarism. + +It was not until much later, in the times to which the name of +Neolithic has been given, that men made stuffs, and replaced the skins +of animals by lighter and more flexible garments. The inhabitants of +the Lake Stations of Switzerland and of Italy cultivated hemp. At +Wangen and at Robenhausen have been found shreds of coarsely woven +cloth, and at Lagozza fragments of yet more primitive material. On some +of these pieces it is supposed that traces of fringe and attempts at +ornamentation have been made out. Even in the Périgord caves Lartet +noticed some long slim needles which could not have been used for +sewing skins; and he concluded that they were intended for more +delicate work, perhaps even for embroidery. A new art, and one which we +certainly should not have expected to find is now met with for the +first time. + +It is probable that our savage ancestors tatooed themselves, or painted +their bodies, as did the Britons in the time of Cæsar, and as do modern +savages, or, not to go so far afield, as do English sailors and some of +the workingmen of France.20 At Montastruc have been picked up some +fragments of red chalk, and in Mayenne of red iron ore, whilst in the +cave of Spy was found a bone filled with a very fine red powder, and in +that of Saltpêtrière some powder of the same kind was discovered +preserved from destruction in a shell. Lartet and Christy have made +similar discoveries in the caves of the Dordogne; M. Dupont in a +shelter at Chaleux, and M. Rivière at Baoussé-Roussé. The Abbé +Bourgeois found at Villehonneur not only a piece of red chalk as big as +a nut, but also an oval-shaped pebble, which had been used for grinding +it, the interstices of the surface still retaining traces of coloring +matter. + +Red chalk was not the only substance employed. At Chatelperron, were +picked up fragments of manganese; at Cueva de Rocca, near Valentia, +pieces of cinnabar; in the Placard Cave, bits of black lead; and in the +different stations in the Pyrenees, especially in that of Aurensan, +ochre has been found which was doubtless used for the same purpose. At +Solutré, ochre, manganese, and graphite were found; the last named had +been scraped with a flint, and the scratches made by it are still +distinctly visible. From a Westphalian cave, Schaafhausen took some +dark yellow ochre; at Castern (Staffordshire), a bit of this same +calcareous substance, worn with long service, was picked tip; in +Cantire (Argyleshire), a piece of red hematite, which had evidently +been brought from Westmoreland or Lancashire; and lastly, in Kent’s +Hole was found some peroxide of manganese. + +All these fragments of ochre or manganese, red chalk or black lead, +were reduced to powder with the help of pebbles, artificially hollowed +out. Everywhere we meet with these primitive mortars, and side by side +with them other pebbles in their native condition, which had evidently +been used for crushing the coloring matter. + +A recent discovery tends to confirm the hypothesis that these colors +were used for the decoration of the human body. A curious engraving on +a bone represents the head and arm of a man, and on the lower part of +the forearm it is easy to make out a four-sided design which evidently +indicated tatooing. + +In every country, and in every climate, we find men as well as women +manifesting a taste for ornament. The progress of civilization has +greatly increased this taste, but it existed as a natural instinct in +the very earliest days of humanity, and the contemporary of the mammoth +and the cave-bear, the cave-man cowering in his miserable den, sought +for ornaments with which to deck himself. In the caves near the +stations occupied by primeval men we find little bits of fossil coral, +beads of hardened clay, the teeth of bears, wolves, and foxes, boars’ +tusks, and the jawbones of small mammals, fish-bones, and belemnites +pierced with holes, and intended to be used as amulets or ornaments to +be worn round the neck. At Lafaye, we find the incisors of small +rodents serving the same purpose. The dweller in the Sordes Cave owned +a precious necklace made of forty bears’ and three lions’ teeth. The +teeth found often have on them ornamental lines, which doubtless +indicated the rank or celebrated the deeds of the chief. The Abbé +Bourgeois describes some stags’ teeth found at Villehonneur (Charente), +two of which bore scratches which may have had some signification. At +Cro-Magnon were picked up some ivory plaques pierced with three holes; +at Kent’s bole were found some oval disks measuring five by three +inches, which in the delicacy of their workmanship presented a curious +contrast to the other objects taken from the same cave. In the Belgian +caves here picked up some thin slices of jet and some ivory plaques, +and in those of the south of France fragments of steatite, cut into +rectangular and lozenge shapes, whilst in the Thayngen Cave was found a +pendant of lignite (Fig. 27). Men were not content with natural +products; fashion demanded new forms and fresh materials. + +[Illustration: 27.] + +1. Lignite pendant. 2. Bone pendant (Thayngen Cave). + +But what most attracted the attention of the ancient inhabitants of +France were bright-colored shells. The caves of Roquemaure have yielded +nearly a thousand disks and beads made of cockle-shells; at Cro-Magnon +more than three hundred shells were picked up which formed a collar or +necklace, which was not however so valuable as that of the man of +Sordes. M. de Maret discovered at Placard numerous shells; some +belonging to ocean species still extant, and others fossils of forms +now extinct. Many of them are foreign to the country in which they were +found. From the most remote times therefore the inhabitants of the +present department of Charente fished in the Gulf of Gascony, crossed +Aquitania, visited the shell marl deposits of Anjou and Touraine, and +penetrated as far as the present Paris basin. The finding of the +_Cyprina Islandica_ in one of the French caves proves that the +prehistoric men of France even went as far away as the north of +England. This is by no means an isolated fact; numerous shells from the +department of Champagne had been taken to tire shores of the Lesse and +the Meuse. At Solutré have been found belemnites, ammonites, and +Miocene shells, which were certainly never native to that district, +with pieces of rock-crystal from the Alps, and beads made of a jadeite +of unknown origin. + +In Scotland have been found necklaces of nerites and limpets; at +Aurignac, eighteen little plaques of cockle shell pierced with holes in +the centre. At Laugerie-Basse, a man overtaken by a landslip had been +crushed by the stones which had fallen upon him; time has destroyed his +clothes, but the shells with which he had decked himself are still +preserved.21 He had worn four on his forehead, two on each shoulder, +four on each knee, and two on each foot. All idea of these shells +having formed a necklace must be abandoned; they were all notched, and +had been used either to adorn or fasten the clothes. + +The most interesting discoveries, however, were those made in the caves +of Baoussé-Roussé, of which we have so often spoken. M. Rivière picked +up the skeletons of two children, some thousand shells (_Nassa +neritea_) artificially pierced, which had been used to deck their +garments: Near an adult were other shells forming a necklace, a +bracelet, an amulet, and a garter worn on the left leg; whilst on the +head was a regular _résille_ or net, not unlike that of the Spanish +national costume, which net was made of small nerita shells and kept in +place by bone pins. + +We must also mention amongst favorite ornaments beads made of jet and +of very fine ochreous clay dried in the sun, of calcareous crystalline +rock, and of grayish schist, and in other places of beads of amber or +of hyaline quartz, the brightness of which attracted the attention. At +the station of Menieux (Charente) with flints of a type to which it is +usual to give the names of Moustérien or Solutréen, excavations have +yielded numerous carefully polished balls of calx, varying in diameter +from one to two inches. If there had been any doubts as to their use, +those doubts would have been removed by the discovery at Laugerie-Basse +of a fragment of the shoulder-blade of a reindeer on which was engraved +the figure of a woman wearing round her neck a necklace of clumsy round +balls. Other yet stranger ornaments have been found, for which what we +have said about the cannibalism of early man should have prepared the +reader. Our ancestors of the Stone age adorned themselves with +necklaces of human teeth, and two skeletons have been dug out wearing +round their necks this token of their victories. M. de Baye possesses +in his collection some round pieces of skull pierced with holes (Fig. +28), and at the meeting of the American Association in 1886, at Ann +Arbor (Michigan) were presented some ornaments made of human bones from +a mound in Ohio. + +In taking from the gangue in which it was imbedded a skull from the +megalithic monument of Vauréal, Pruner Bey noticed a fragment of a +human shoulder blade pierced with an incision in which was fixed a +little rounded piece of bone. This style of ornament seems to have +remained in use for many centuries, for M. Nicaise has lately +discovered at Moulin d’Oyes (Marne) a necklace made of calx balls, +shells, and pendants cut out of the scales of unio shells. On this +necklace hung a round piece of human cranium, and in the Gallic +cemetery at Varille, the exterior lamina of a human lumbar vertebra was +fastened to a necklace made of coral beads. + +[Illustration: 28.] + +Round pieces of skull pierced with holes (Al. de Baye’s collection). + +We are also acquainted with facts of another order, which may be +mentioned in this connection. The men of Marjevols drank out of human +crania; the Grenoble Museum owns a drinking-vessel of this kind; others +have been discovered at Billancourt, at Chavannes, at the Chassey Camp, +and at Sutz, Æfelé, and Loci-as in Switzerland, as well as at +Brookville in the State of Indiana. Dr. Prunières possesses half a +human radius, probably that of a female, carefully polished and +converted into a stiletto (Fig. 29). Dr. Garrigou has an arrow-head +made of a human bone, Pellegrino a fibula converted into a polisher +found in the lower beds of the celebrated Castione _terremare_ near +Parma. At the meeting of the Prehistoric Congress in Paris in 1869, +Pereira da Costa mentioned a femora converted into a sceptre or staff +of office, and to conclude this melancholy list, Longpérier mentions a +human bone pierced with regular openings, which, by a strange irony of +death, served as a flute to delight the ears of the living. . + +[Illustration: 29.] + +Part of a rounded piece of a human parietal-Stiletto made of the end of +a human radius—Disk made of the burr of a stag’s antler. + +One of the earliest necessities of human nature must have been +companionship; for help was absolutely necessary to enable man to cope +with the dangers surrounding him. Tribes, formed at first of members of +the same family, must have existed from the very dawn of humanity. The +reindeer phalanges, pierced to serve as whistles (Fig. 30), found at +Eyziès, Schussenreid, Laugerie-Basse, Bruniquel, in the Chaffaud Cave +and the Belgian shelters, in a peat-marsh of Scania, in the island of +Palmaria, and in many other places, were doubtless used to summon men +to war or to the chase. In the Cottes Cave were found some reindeer and +aurochs’ shanks, which may naturally be supposed to have served the +same purpose. The curious objects preserved in the Christy collections +must also have been used in war or in the chase. They bear, in addition +to the mark of their owner, notches of different shapes commemorating +his exploits in battle or in hunting. At Solutré, MM. Ducrost and +Arcelin noticed fragments of elephants’ tusks, calcareous plaques, and +some sandstone disks from the Trias, with notches and equidistant lines +evidently having a similar purpose. + +[Illustration: 30.] + +Whistle from the Massenat Collection. + +From whistles to regular musical instruments the transition is simple. +Without describing that mentioned by M. de Longpérier, which we cannot +confidently assert to be of great antiquity, M. Piette, in one of his +numerous excavations, discovered a primitive flute made of two bird +bones which, when put together and blown into, produced modulations +similar to those of the pipes used by the people of Oceania; the +monotonous music of which is alluded to by Cook. Some time afterwards +M. Piette noticed similar bones in the Rochebertier collection. So far +we know of no other discovery of a similar kind. + +The curious objects known under the name of staves of office would, if +it were needed, afford yet another proof that the men of the Stone age +lived in societies, possessed an organization, and acknowledged a +chief. The staves of office consist of large pieces of reindeer or stag +antler, artistically worked and presenting a pretty uniform appearance. +Their surface is decorated with carvings and engravings representing +animals, plants, and hunting scenes. They are thicker than they are +wide, and the care often taken to reduce the thickness is a proof that +an attempt was made to combine elegance and lightness with solidity +(Figs. 31, 32, 33, 34, and 35). Nearly all of them are pierced at one +end with large holes, of which the number varies. Some of these holes +were later additions. May we perhaps see in them the signs of a +priesthood, in which successive ranks were attained, and in which every +new achievement was rewarded with a new distinction? This is difficult +to prove, but these staves could not have been used as weapons or as +tools; the care taken to cover them with ornaments, with the long time +required for this decoration, shows the value their owners attached to +them. The impossibility of any other hypothesis is the best proof we +have of their use. + +[Illustration: 31.] + +Staff of office. + + +Amongst the marvellous objects collected by Dr. Schliemann at +Hissarlik, were two fragments of reindeer antler pierced with holes +presenting a singular resemblance to those we have been describing. We +may also compare with them the _pogomagan_, the badge of office of +Indian chiefs on the Mackenzie River, the Tartar _kemous_, the sticks +on which the Australians mark by conventional signs any event of +importance to themselves or their tribe, and the similar objects from +Persia, Assam, the Celebes, and New Zealand. But why seek examples so +far away? Is not the memory of these ancient insignia preserved in our +own day, and may they not have been the original forms of the sceptres +of our kings and the croziers of our bishops? + +[Illustration: 32.] + +Staff of office made of stag-horn pierced with four holes. + +[Illustration: 33.] + +Staff of office found at Lafaye. + +[Illustration: 34.] + +Staff of office in reindeer antler, with a horse engraved on it, found +at Thayngen. + +These staves, of which hundreds have now been found, were picked up in +many different places, including the Goyet Cave in Belgium, the caves +of Périgord and Charente, and the Veyrier Station in Savoy. At +Thayngen, as many as twenty-three were found, all pierced with one hole +only.22 We must not omit to mention amongst these relies of ages gone +by, one of the most interesting found in 1887 at Montgaudier (Charente) +(Fig. 35), which bears on one side a representation of two seals, and +on the other of two eels, the former of which especially are executed +with a truth to form, boldness of execution, and delicacy of touch +which are positively astonishing when we remember that the artist (we +cannot refuse him this title) bad no tools at his disposal but a few +miserable flints or roughly pointed bones. The hinder limbs, so +strangely placed in amphibia, are faithfully rendered; each paw has its +five toes, the texture of the skin can be made out, the head is +delicately modelled; the muzzle with its whiskers, the eye, the orifice +of the ear, all testify to real skill. The existence of the seal in the +Quaternary epoch in the south of France was not known until quite +recently, when Mr. Hardy found in a cave near Périgueux the remains of +a seal (_Phoca grœnlandica_), associated with quite an arctic fauna. In +part at least therefore of the Quaternary period, very great cold must +have prevailed in Périgord.23 + +With this staff of office were picked up some pieces of ivory covered +with geometrical designs, engraved with some sharp implement, +stilettos, bone needles, knives, flint scrapers, and, stranger still, +the remains of the cave-lion, the cave-hyena, and the _Rhinoceros +tichorhinus_, all contemporaries of the most ancient Quaternary fauna. + +[Illustration: 35.] + +Staff of office found at Montgaudier. + +It was not only on the staves of office that the men of the Stone age +exercised their talent. Many and varied are the subjects which have +been found engraved on plaques of ivory or on stone, and incised on +bears’ teeth or on stag horn. We represent one forming the hilt of a +dagger (Fig. 36), and another representing a bear with the convex +forehead, characteristic of the species, engraved on a piece of schist +(Fig. 37), and a mammoth engraved on an ivory plaque with its long +mane, trunk, and curved tusks (Fig. 38). The artist who depicted these +animals with such faithful exactitude evidently lived amongst them. The +first discovery of this kind was made by Joly-Leterme in the Chaffaud +Cave (Vienna); it was a reindeer bone on which two stags were +represented.24 + +[Illustration: 36.] + +Carved dagger-hilt (Laugerie-Basse). + +[Illustration: 37.] + +The great cave-bear, drawn on a pebble found in the Massat Cave +(Garrigou collection). + +In the Lortet Cave was found the bone of a stag on which could be made +out a representation of fish and reindeer, whilst at Sordes was +discovered a bear’s tooth with a seal engraved upon it (Fig. 39), at +Marsoulas a piece of rib on which is depicted an animal said to be a +musk-ox (Fig. 40), and at Feyjat (Dordogne) a bird’s bone bearing on it +a drawing of three horses moving rapidly along. I am obliged to pass +over many other most interesting examples, but I must not omit to +mention the magnificent examples which form part of the Peccadeau +collection at Lisle. Cartailhac mentions some chamois, an ox, and an +elephant; some engraved on the bones of deer and others on fragments of +ivory, or on reindeer antlers. The art of the cave-men was now at its +zenith. + +[Illustration: 38.] + +Mammoth, or elephant, from the Lena Cave. + +[Illustration: 39.] + +Seal engraved on a bear’s tooth found at Sordes. + +But for one exception to which I shall refer again, it is curious to +note that we only find these engravings and carvings, which so justly +excite our astonishment in a district of limited extent, bounded on the +north by the Charente, on the south by the Pyrenees and extending on +the east no farther than the department of the Ariège. It is a pleasant +thought that in the midst of their struggle for existence, and when +they had to contend with gigantic pachyderms and formidable beasts of +prey, our most remote ancestors, the contemporaries of the mammoth and +the lion, already developed those artistic tendencies which are the +glory of their descendants. + +[Illustration: 40.] + +Fragment of a bone with regular designs. Fragment of rib on which is +engraved a musk-ox, found in the Marsoulas Cave. + +[Illustration: 41.] + +Head of a horse from the Thayngen Cave. + +[Illustration: 42.] + +Bear engraved on a bone from the Thayngen Cave. + +I referred above to ail exceptional example of prehistoric art found +beyond the borders of France. In excavations in the Thayngen Cave, on +the borders of Switzerland and Wurtemberg, twenty most remarkable +examples were found, in which it is easy to recognize the horse (Fig. +41), the bear (Fig. 42), and the reindeer grazing (Fig. 43).25 All, +especially the last named, are rendered with such perfection, that it +was at first supposed that they were the work of a forger. A searching +inquiry has proved that they are nothing of the sort; a skilful +zoölogist would have been needed to represent the _Ovibos moschatus_ +(Fig. 44), which retired many centuries ago towards the extreme north. +If we do find a few rare attempts at art in other districts, they are +absolutely rudimentary. The staff of office found in the Goyet Cave is +of very rude workmanship. The Brussels Museum contains a few other +specimens, of which the most important is a fragment of sandstone from +the Frontal Cave, on which a few uncertain scratches represent what +looks like a stag. Some indistinct traces of engraving have been made +out on the bones found in the Altamira Cave, near Santander, and +recently a bone on which a kind of horse was engraved, was picked up at +Cresswell’s Crags, Derbyshire, in a cave known in the district as +_Mother Grundy’s Parlor_. This specimen, as were those of Thayngen, was +associated with numerous bones of Quaternary animals, amongst which +those of the hippopotamus were the most curious. + +[Illustration: 43.] + +Reindeer grazing, from the Thayngen Cave. + +The representation of the human figure is extremely rare. I have +already mentioned the young man trying to strike an aurochs which is +running away from him; and the woman wearing a necklace. The former +(Fig. 45), found at Laugerie, is engraved on a piece of reindeer antler +about twenty-five centimetres long. The aurochs with its head down and +quantities of bristling hair, widely open nostrils, arched and uplifted +tail, presents the appearance of a terrified animal endeavoring to +escape the danger threatening it. The man is naked, and has a round +head, his hair is stiff and seems to stand up on the top of his skull; +on the chin a short beard can clearly be made out; the face expresses +the delight and excitement of the chase. The neck is long, the arm +short, and the spine of unusual length. In the other example of the +representation of the human figure, that of the woman wearing a +necklace, drawn on a piece of a shoulder-blade of a reindeer, she is +seen lying by a stag, and would seem to be in an advanced state of +pregnancy. The piece of bone however is broken, and the head of the +woman is lost, which of course greatly lessens the value of the relic. + +[Illustration: 44.] + +Head of _Ovibos moschatus_ engraved on wood, found in the Thayngen +Cave. + +[Illustration: 45.] + +Young man chasing the aurochs, from Laugerie. + +On a fragment of a staff of office from the Madeleine Cave is engraved +a man between two horses’ heads (Fig. 46). On a reindeer antler is +represented a woman with flat breasts and very high hips, followed by a +serpent; a shell from the crag near Walton-on-the-Naze had a human face +roughly engraved on one side. The Abby, Bourgeois, in the excavations +so fruitful of results at Rochebertier, found a rough carving of a +human face (Fig. 47); M. Piette at Mas d’Azil found a little bust of a +woman, carved on the root of the tooth of a horse. This statuette had a +low forehead, a prominent nose, a retreating chin, and breasts of the +negress type of the present day; characteristics quite unlike those of +the skeletons taken from this cave or those near it. We wonder whether +the artist meant to represent the features of a race other than his +own.26 M. du Bouchet mentions a rough sketch engraved on a flint +discovered near Dax; the workman, doubtless daunted by the difficulties +of his task, had abandoned it unfinished. It is, however, easy to tell +what it was meant for. The skull is low and flat, the nose but slightly +prominent, the eyes are oblique, and neither the mouth nor the chin are +finished. The magnificent collection of the Marquis de Vibraye contains +a little figure from Laugerie, representing a nude woman without arms. +Thin and stiff, she is chiefly remarkable for the exaggerated size of +the sexual organs, and for some peculiar protuberances on the loins. We +dwell upon the former peculiarity, because it is so far extremely rare, +whereas certain relics of the Greeks and Romans, in spite of the +comparatively advanced civilization of these two great races, are such +that they can only be exhibited in private museums. Such depravity as +this implies was then quite an exception among the cave-men, and but +for the one example I have just mentioned, I have no phallic +representations to refer to except the few from the Massenat +collection, which were shown at the Exhibition of 1889. + +[Illustration: 46.] + +Fragment of a staff of office, from the Madeleine Cave. + +[Illustration: 47.] + +Human face carved on a reindeer antler, found in the Rochebertier Cave +(Charente). + + +We must not close this account of the art efforts of the men of the +Stone age without mentioning the remarkable discovery by M. Siette, of +flints covered with lines and geometrical designs colored with red +chalk. These are the very earliest examples of the art of painting +which have hitherto come to our knowledge. They bear witness to a +remarkable progress made by our remote ancestors of the valleys of the +Pyrenees. + +We cannot more appropriately close this chapter than by quoting the +magnificent verse of Lucretius, which brings before us, better than +could a long description, the condition of these men, and the humble +starting-point from which humanity has advanced to achieve its immortal +destiny: + +Necdum res igni scibant tractare neque uti +Pellibus et spoliis corpus vestire ferarum, +Sed nemora atque caveos monteis sylvasque colebant +Et frutices inter condebant squalida membra +Verbera ventorum vitare imbreisque coactei.27 + + + +1 Indra, the all-seer, to whom it is given to pierce the cloud, +personified by Vritra, and “to open the receptacles of the waters with +his far-reaching thunder-bolts,” is of course the sun, the worship of +which was one of the earliest and most natural instincts of humanity; +whilst Vritra was in the first instance merely the symbol of the cloud, +intervening between heaven and earth, shutting out from men the light +of the sun, and keeping back the refreshing rain. The gradual +conversion of these natural phenomena into a good and a malignant +power, ever struggling for the mastery, is a forcible illustration of +the way in which myths are evolved.—Trans. + +2 De Mortillet: “Le Préhistorique,” Paris, 1883, p. 133. + +3 “Limon du Plateau du Nord de la France,” Paris, 1878. Acheuléen et +Moustérien: _Revue des Questions Scientifiques_ , October, 1880. _Bul. +Soc_. _Anth_., 1884, 1887. + +4 _Chelléen_, so called from their having been found at Chelles +(Seine-et-Marne), where the remains of the _Elephas antiquus_, the most +ancient of the pachyderms now known in Europe, was associated with +these tools. + +5 De Mortillet: “Musée Préhistorique,” pl. xvi. to xix. + +6 M. de Mortillet enumerates 127 polishers found at various points in +thirty departments of France. “Le Préhistorique,” first edition, p. +534. + +7 Piette: _Ass. Franç. pour l’Avancement des Sciences_, Nantes, 1875, +p. 909. + +8 De Mortillet: “Le Préhistorique,” p. 544; “Musée Préhistorique,” +figs. 431 to 434. + +9 “Musée Préhistorique,” fig. 410. + +10 Lagneau: “De l’Uusage des Flèches empoisonnées chez les Anciens +Peuples l’Europe,” Ac. des Insc., 2d November, 1877. + +11 “Les Temps Préhistoriques en Belgique,” p. 151. + +12 “Reliquiæ Aquitanicæ,” p. 127. + +13 _Nature_, 1876, second week, p. 5. + +14 In this cave, in the second ossiferous deposit, were found four +fragments of pottery. De Puydt and Lohest: “L’Homme Contemporain du +mammouth.” + +15 “La poterie en Belgique à l’ age du mammouth,” _Revue +d’Anthropologie_, 1887. + +16 _Ac. des Sciences_, Nov. 9, 1885. We must add that at a later séance +M. Cartailhac contested, if not the facts, the conclusions deducted +from them. + +17 But what is the value of categorical assertions of this kind in +presence of the fragments of pottery found at different levels in +Kent’s Hole? One of these fragments was so rotten that when placed in +water it formed a black liquid mud as it decomposed. + +18 I have not space to speak here of the curious pottery found in +America. The most ancient specimens, moreover, are of much later date +than the Quaternary epoch. I can only refer those interested in the +subject to my book on “Prehistoric America,” published in French by M. +Masson of Paris, and in English in America by Messrs. G. P. Putnam’s +Sons. + +19 “De Architectura,” book ii., c. i. + +20 On the subject of tatooing an excellent work may be consulted by Dr +Magitot (“Ass. Franç. pour l’Avancement des Sciences,” Alger, 1881). + +21 _Cypræa rufa, Cypræa lurida (Comptes rendus Acad. des Sciences_, +vol. lxxxiv., p. 1060). + +22 On this point an excellent work may be consulted by S. Reinach: “Le +Musée de Saint Germain,” p. 232. + +23 Vaudry: _Acad. des Sciences_, August 25, 1890. + +24 A. Bertrand: _Acad. des Inscriptions_, April 29 and May 6, 1887. + +25 Reinach in his “Catalogue of the Saint-Germain museum” gives the +best description I know of this now celebrated reindeer. + +26 A. Milne Edwards: _Acad. des Sciences_, May 8, 1888. + +27 “De Natura Rerum,” book v., v. 951, etc. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. +Caves, Kitchen-Middings, Lake Stations, “Terremares,” Crannoges, +Burghs, “Nurhags,” “Talayoti,” and “Truddhi.” + + +The earliest races of men lived in a climate less rigorous than ours, +on the shores of wide rivers, in the midst of fertile districts, where +fishing and the chase easily supplied all their needs. These races were +numerous and prolific, and we find traces of them all over Western +Europe, from Norfolk to the middle of Spain. What were the homes of +these men and their families? Did they crouch in dens, as Tacitus says +the German tribes did in his day? In his “Ancient Wiltshire,” Sir R. +Coalt Hoare says that the earliest human habitations were holes dug in +the earth and covered over with the branches of trees. Near Joigny +there still remain some circular holes in the ground, about fifty feet +in diameter by sixteen to twenty deep, known in the country under the +name of _buvards_. The trunk of a tree was fixed at the bottom and rose +above the ground, and the branches plastered with clay formed the roof. +The floor of these _buvards_ consists of a greasy black earth mixed +with bones, cinders, charcoal, and worked flints. Amongst the last +named, polished hatchets predominate, which proves that these refuges +were inhabited in Neolithic times, but there is nothing to prevent our +supposing that they were also occupied in the Palæolithic period. +Ameghino gives a still more striking example of an earth-dwelling. Near +Mercedes, about twenty leagues from Buenos Ayres, he picked up numerous +human bones, together with arrow-heads, chisels, flint knives, bone +stilettos and polishers, and bones of animals scratched and cut by man. +Later, Ameghino discovered the actual dwelling of this primeval man, +and his strange home was beneath the carapace of a gigantic armadillo, +the now extinct glyptodon seen in Fig. 48. + +[Illustration: 48.] + +The glyptodon. + +“All around the carapace,” says Ameghino, “in the reddish agglomerate +of the original soil lay charcoal cinders, burnt and split bones, and +flints. Digging beneath this, a flint implement was found, with some +long split llama and stag bones, which had evidently been handled by +man, with some toxodon and mylodon teeth.” Fig. 49 represents the now +extinct mylodon. Some time afterwards, the discovery of another +carapace under similar conditions added weight to Ameghino’s +supposition.1 In the midst of the pampas, those vast treeless plains, +where no rock or accident of conformation affords shelter from heat or +cold or a hiding-place from wild beasts, man was not at a loss; he +hollowed out for himself a hole in the earth, roofing it over with the +shell of a glyptodon, and securing a retreat where he could be safe at +least for a time. + +[Illustration: 49.] + +Mylodon robustus. + +It was not until later, driven to do so by the cold, that man learnt to +use the natural caves hollowed out in limestone rocks, either in +geological convulsions or by the quieter action of water. The absence +in the caves which have been excavated in America of implements of the +Chelléen type, the most ancient known as yet, would point to this +conclusion, though it is impossible to fix the earliest date of their +occupation. This date, moreover, varies very much in different +localities. The earth was but gradually peopled, and our ancestors +penetrated into different countries in successive migrations. Some +caves have recently been discovered in Wales, in the midst of Glacial +deposits.2 The Boulder Clay and marine drift on neighboring heights are +incontrovertible proofs of the submergence of this region, when Great +Britain was almost completely covered with ice. Excavations made in +1886 have brought to light a series of deposits, one above the other, +the gravel and red earth containing Quaternary bones and worked flints, +whilst the stalagmite and ooze are evidently of more recent origin. +This is the usual state of things in all the English eaves; but in +those of the Clyde, the bone beds had been disturbed and mixed with +striated pebbles and Glacial drift. From this Hicks, who superintended +the excavations, concluded that man and the Quaternary animals had +lived in those caves before the Glacial epoch, and before the great +submergence, which in some places was no less than some 1,300 feet +below the present level of the sea. If this were so, it would be one of +the most ancient proofs not only of the presence of man, but also of +the kind of habitation he first dwelt in. These conclusions have, +however, been hotly disputed. M. Arcelin3 remarks that there are in +England two exceptional geological landmarks, the Forest Bed +representing the last Pliocene formations, and the River Gravels, which +are the most ancient Quaternary deposits. Between the two, we find the +Boulder Clay of Glacial origin. Now the fauna of the caves of the +Clyde, far from resembling that of the Forest Bed, appears to be more +recent than that of the ancient deposits of the River Gravels. Amongst +this fauna we find neither the _Elephas antiquus_ nor the _Rhinoceros +Merckii_; the worked flints are not like those known as belonging to +the River-Gravel type, but the relics more nearly resemble those of the +Reindeer period of France. It is therefore impossible, in the present +state of our knowledge, to assert that man lived in the southwest of +England in the Glacial epoch, to the phenomena of which, if he +witnessed them, he must eventually have fallen a victim. + +Our ancestors must constantly have disputed the possession of their +caves of refuge with animals, but there is often a certain distinction +between those chiefly occupied by man and the mere dens of wild beasts. +The latter are generally more difficult of access, and are only to be +entered by long, low, narrow, dark passages. Those permanently +inhabited by man are wide, not very deep, and they are well lighted. +That at Montgaudier, for instance, has an arched entrance some +forty-five feet wide by eighteen high. The cave-men had already learnt +to appreciate the advantages of air and light. + +The caves are often of considerable height; that of Massat is some 560 +feet high, that of Lherm is 655, that of Bouicheta nearly 755, that of +Loubens 820, and that of Santhenay is, as much as 1,344 feet high. +Those of Eyziès, Moustier, and Aurignac are also very lofty. As the +valleys were hollowed out by the rushing torrents of the Quaternary +floods, men sought a home near the waters which were indispensable to +their existence, and came to dwell on the shores of rivers. The most +ancient of the inhabited caves, therefore, are those on the highest +levels, but the difference in the nature of the country and the varying +force of geological action have led to so many exceptions, that all we +can say with any certainty is that the caves were inhabited at +different epochs. That of Montgaudier, for instance, was filled with an +accumulation of ooze about forty feet thick. Weapons and tools lay one +above the other from the bottom to the top, and it is easy to +distinguish the succession of hearths by the blackened earth, cinders, +charcoal, and crushed bones lying about them. + +In the Placard Cave eight different deposits bear witness to the +presence of man; and these are separated by others bare of traces of +human occupation. The lowest deposit, which is some twenty-five feet +below the present level of the soil, contains worked flints of the +Moustérien type, above which, but separated by an accumulation of +_débris_ which has fallen from the roof, comes a layer in which was +found a number of arrow-heads of the shape of laurel leaves. The fauna +of both these levels includes the reindeer, the horse, and the aurochs. +As we go up we find, above another layer of _débris_, the Solutréen +type of tools and weapons represented by bone implements and numerous +arrow-heads, this time stalked and notched. The four following levels +correspond with those belonging to what is known as the Madeleine type, +and the arrow-heads are decorated with geometrical designs. The traces +of human occupation at different times, doubtless separated by long +intervals, are therefore very clearly defined. The Fontabert Cave, in +Dauphiné, contained, at a depth of about six feet, traces of fire and +roughly worked flints, and about three feet below the surface lay the +skeleton of a man, who had perhaps been overtaken by a fall of earth, +still holding in his hand a polished dipper of fine workmanship. Yet a +third and evidently more recent period is characterized by a jade +crescent. We might easily multiply instances of a similar kind, but +that we wish to avoid so much repetition. + +We soon begin to find evidence of the progress made by man, and though +in Neolithic times he still continued to occupy caves he learned to +adapt them better to his needs. The rock shelters of the Petit-Morin +valley, so well explored by M. de Baye, are the best examples we can +give. + +These caves are hollowed out of a very thick belt of cretaceous +limestone. They date from different epochs, and each presents special +characteristics which can easily be recognized. Some were used as +burial-places, others as habitations. In the former the entrance is of +irregular shape, the walls are roughly cut, and the work is of the most +elementary description. The sepulchral eaves were simply closed by a +large stone rolled into place and covered with rubbish, the better to +hide the entrance. The shelters used to live in show much more careful +work, and are divided into two unequal parts by a wall cut in the +living rock. To get into the second partition one has to go down steps, +cut in the limestone, and these steps are worn with long usage. The +entrance was cut out of a massive piece of rock, left thick on purpose, +and on either side of the opening the edges still show the rabbet which +was to receive the door. Two small holes on the right and left were +probably used to fix a bar across the front to strengthen the entrance. +A good many of these eaves are provided with an opening for +ventilation, and some skilful contrivances were resorted to for keeping +out water. Inside we find different floors, shelves, and crockets cut +in the chalk, and on the floors M. de Baye picked up shells, ornaments, +and flints, which were lying just where their owners had left them. +Very different is all this from the Vezère caves, and everything proves +an undeniable improvement in the conditions of life. + +The most interesting of all the objects found in these caves are, +however, the carvings; but few date from Neolithic times, and some +archæologists have argued from their absence in favor of the +displacement everywhere of old races by the incursion of new-corners. +Some of these carvings represent hafted hatchets, the flint being +painted black to make the raised design stand out better. Others +represent human figures. In the Coizard Cave, for instance, was found a +roughly outlined representation of a woman with a prominent nose, eyes +indicated by black dots, highly developed breasts, but no lower limbs. +A necklace adorns her throat, and a pendant hanging from this necklace +is colored yellow. On the passage leading to the door is engraved +another figure which was originally more accurately drawn than the +others, but is not in such good preservation. In the Courjonnet Cave we +see a woman with a bird’s bead; she was probably one of the _lares +penates_, the protectors of the domestic hearth. We meet with this same +goddess at Santorin, and at Troy, and on the shores of the Vistula, +which is a very interesting ethnological fact. + +The objects found in the sepulchral caves are important, and included a +number of arrow-heads with transverse cutting edges. There is no doubt +about their use; they have been picked up in black earth, in contact +with human bones, the decomposition of the soft parts of which caused +them to fall out of the mortal wound they had inflicted. With these +arrow-heads were found flint knives, large sloped scrapers, polishers, +and bone stilettos, the femora of a ruminant with a pig’s tooth fixed +on to each end, hoes made of stag horn, beads and pendants made of +bone, shell, schist, quartz, and aragonite, with the teeth of bears, +boars, wolves, and foxes, all pierced with holes. Some of the shell +anti schist beads were spread upon the surface of the skull, and +perhaps formed a net or _résille_, such as that already referred to as +found at Baoussé-Roussé. + +For centuries this occupation of caves continued, offering as they did +a shelter that was dry and warm in winter, and cool in summer. Homer +tells us that the Cyclops lived on the heights of the mountains and in +the depths of the caves,4 and Prometheus says that, like the feeble +ant, men dwelt in deep subterranean caves, where the sun never +penetrated.5 + +Whilst the men of the Petit-Morin valley hollowed out caves, or +enlarged those made by nature, others took refuge in buts made of dried +clay and interlaced branches, or in tents of the skins of the animals +they had slain, and, though these fragile dwellings have disappeared, +leaving no trace, there yet remain indelible evidences of the presence +of many successive generations. Everywhere throughout the world we find +heaps of rubbish, consisting chiefly of the shells of mollusca and +crustacea, broken bones, flakes of flint, and fragments of stone and +bone implements, covering vast areas and often rising to a considerable +height. + +Not until our own day did these rubbish heaps attract attention, and it +was reserved to our own generation, so interested in all that relates +to the past, to recognize their true significance. Steenstrup noticed, +in the north of Europe, that these mounds consisted nearly entirely of +the shells of edible species, such as the oyster, mussel, and +_littorina littorea_; that they were all those of adult specimens, but +not all subject to similar conditions of existence or native to the +same waters. The kitchen-middings, or heaps of kitchen refuse—such was +the name given to these shell-mounds—could not have been the natural +deposits left by the waves after storms, for in that case they would +have been mixed with quantities of sand and pebbles. The conclusion is +inevitable, that man alone could have piled up these accumulations, +which were the refuse flung away day by day after his meals. The +excavation of the kitchen-middings confirmed in a remarkable manner the +opinion of Steenstrup, and everywhere a number of important objects +were discovered. In several places the old hearths were brought to +light. They consisted of flat stones, on which were piles of cinders, +with fragments of wood and charcoal. It was now finally proved that +these mounds occupied the site of ancient settlements, the inhabitants +of which rarely left the coast, and fed chiefly on the mollusca which +abounded in the waters of the North Sea. + +These primeval races, however savage they may have been, were not +wanting in intelligence. The earliest inhabitants of Russia placed +their dwellings near rivers above the highest flood-level known to or +foreseen by them. The Scandinavians were most precise in the +orientation of their homes, and M. de Quatrefages points out that the +kitchen-midding of Sœlager is set against a hill in the best position +for protecting those who lived near it from the north winds, which are +so trying in these districts on account of their violence. At Havelse, +says Sir John Lubbock, the settlement was on rather higher ground, and, +though close to the shore, was quite beyond the reach of the waves. The +English visitors had an excavation made whilst they were present, and +in two or three hours they obtained about a hundred fragments of bone, +many rude flakes, sling stones, and fragments of flint, together with +some rough axes of the ordinary shell-mound type. The excavations at +Meilgaard a little later by the same explorers were even more fruitful +in results. + +Scandinavia does not appear to have been occupied in the Paleolithic +period, and the most ancient facts concerning it only date from the +expeditions of the Romans against the Teutons, and our knowledge even +of them is very incomplete.6 We are still ignorant of much which may +have been known to the Carthaginians and the Phœnicians. It is possible +that in the remote days under notice the Scandinavians were ignorant of +the art of tilling the ground, for so far no cereal or agricultural +product of any kind has been discovered, nor the bones of any domestic +animal, except indeed those of the dog, which may, however, have been +still in a wild state. Amongst the bones collected from the +kitchen-middings, those of the stag, the kid, and the boar are much the +most numerous. The bear, the urns, the wild cat, the otter, the +porpoise, the seal, and the small mammals, the marten, the water-rat +and the mouse, have also been found. At Havelse were collected more +than 3,500 mammal bones, amongst which do not occur those of the +musk-ox, the reindeer, the elk, or the marmot; their absence bearing +witness to a more temperate climate than that of the present day in the +regions under notice. The stag antlers found belong to every season of +the year, from which we may conclude that the people of these +districts, like the cave-men of the Pyrenees, had given up a nomad life +and remained at home all the year round, living in the dwellings they +had built upon the shores of the sea. + +Amongst the birds found, we may mention the large penguin, now extinct, +the moor-fowl, which fed entirely on pine buds, and several species of +clucks and geese; whilst amongst the fish were the herring, the cod, +the dab, and the eel. The numerous relics of chelonia prove the +existence of numbers of the turtle tribe in the North Sea. + +A great variety of objects, most of them of a coarse type, have been +found beneath the kitchen-middings; metals are however completely +absent, and it is probable that they were quite unknown to the +Scandinavians for several centuries after their arrival in the country. + +It is easy to quote similar facts in other countries. In 1877, Count +Ouvarof mentioned, at the Archæological Congress at Kazan, some +kitchen-middings near the Oka, a little river flowing into the Volga +near Nijni-Novgorod. In excavating some _bougrys_, or little mounds of +sand overlooking the valley, he discovered amongst the layers of +alluvium, successive deposits of cinders and fragments of charcoal, +which appear to have been the remains of a fire. A little lower down in +another deposit were fragments of pottery, stone weapons and +implements, and an immense number of shells. Judging from these relics +of their daily life, this numerous population must have fed exclusively +on fish and mollusca, for excavations brought to light but few mammal +bones. The mollusca were all of species that only live in salt water. +From this we know that the waves washed the shores near this _bougry_, +and that a milder climate probably prevailed in these regions, making +life more supportable. + +Virchow has recognized on the shores of Lake Burtneek in Germany, a +kitchen-midding belonging to the earliest Neolithic times, perhaps even +to the close of the Palæolithic period. He there picked up some stone +and bone implements, and notices on the one hand the absence of the +reindeer, and on the other, as in Scandinavia, that of domestic +animals. But in this case, the home of the living became the tomb of +the dead, and numerous skeletons lay beside the abandoned hearths. +Similar discoveries have been made in Portugal; shell-heaps having been +found thirty-five to forty miles from the coast, and from sixty-five to +eighty feet above the sea-level. Here also excavations have brought to +light several different hearths; and in many of the most ancient +kitchen-middings in the valley of the Tigris were found crouching +skeletons, proving that here too the home had become the tomb.7 + +Similar deposits are by no means rare in France. M. du Chatellier +mentions one in Brittany, which he estimates as 325 cubic feet in size. +From it be has taken spear- and arrow-heads, knives and scrapers, some +highly finished, others but roughly cut and often with scarcely any +shape at all. The population was evidently ichthyophagous, to judge by +the vast accumulations of shells of scallops, oysters, limpets, +pectens, and other mollusca. The few animal bones are those of the +stag, the bear, and certain wading birds. + +At Canche, near Étaples, has been evade out a series of mounds forming +a semicircle some eight hundred and fifty feet in extent. These mounds +are made up of successive layers of shells and charcoal, the relics of +successive occupations. Lastly we must mention a kitchen-midding +situated at the mouth of the Somme, which is eight hundred and twenty +feet long by about one hundred wide. It consists principally of shells +of adult species, with which are mixed fragments of coarse black +pottery and numerous goat and sheep bones, the latter bearing witness +to a more recent date than that of the kitchen-middings of Scandinavia +or of Germany. + +Throughout Europe similar facts are coming to light. Evans mentions +heaps of shells on the coasts of England. Chantre speaks of others near +Lake Gotchai in the Caucasus, and Nordenskiöld of others at Cape North, +to which he wishes to restore its true name of Jokaipi. He sass these +mounds are exactly like those of Denmark. + +It is, however, chiefly in America that these heaps attract attention, +for there huge shell-mounds stretch along the coast in Newfoundland, +Nova Scotia, Massachusetts, Louisiana, California, and Nicaragua. We +meet with them again near the Orinoco and the Mississippi, in the +Aleutian Islands, and in the Guianas, in Brazil and in Patagonia, on +the coasts of the Pacific as on those of the Atlantic. Owing to the +darker color of the vegetation growing on them, the shell-heaps of +Tierra del Fuego are seen from afar by the navigator. For a long time +the true character of these mounds was not known, and they were +attributed to natural causes, such as the emergence of the ancient +coast-line from the sea, and it was not until lately that it was +discovered that they were the work of men. + +Some of these kitchen-middings are of great size. Sir Charles Lyell +describes one on St. Simon’s Island, at the mouth of the Altamaha +(Georgia), which covers ten acres of ground and varies in height from +five to ten feet. It consisted almost entirely of oyster shells. In +America, as in Europe, excavations brought to light hatchets, flints, +arrows, and fragments of pottery. Another of these mounds, near the St. +John River, consists, as does that visited by Lyell, of oyster shells, +and is of extraordinary dimensions, being three hundred feet long, and +though the exact width cannot be made out, is certainly several hundred +feet across. Putnam8 gives an account of the excavation of one of these +mounds formed of shells of the _Mya, Venus, Pecten, Buccinum_, and +_Natica_ genera. It stretched along the sea-coast for a distance of +several hundred feet, it was from four to five feet thick, and +penetrated some distance below the surface of the ground. The valves +had been opened with the aid of heat, and the animal bones found with +the shells had been broken with heavy hammers which were found in the +kitchen-midding. The bones included those of the stag, the wolf, and +the fox. Fishes were also represented by remains of the cod, the +plaice, and chelonia by turtle shells. Some bird bones were also found, +and the knives, arrow- and spear-heads, scrapers, etc., were all of the +rudest workmanship. Mr. Phelps has superintended yet more important +excavations at Damariscotta9 and all along the coast to the month of +the Penobscot. In the lowest layers he made out ancient hearths, and +found numerous fragments of pottery which are the most ancient examples +of keramic ware found in New England, and were covered with incised +ornamentation of considerable refinement. + +The kitchen-middings of Florida and Alabama are even more remarkable. +There is one on Amelia Island which is a quarter of a mile long with a +medium depth of three feet and a breadth of nearly five. That of Bear’s +Point covers sixty acres of ground, that of Anercerty Point one +hundred, and that of Santa Rosa five hundred. Others taper to a great +height. Turtle Mound, near Smyrna, is formed of a mass of oyster shells +attaining a height of nearly thirty feet, and the height of several +others is more than forty feet.10 In all of them bushels of shells have +already been found, although a great part of the sites they occupy are +still unexplored; huge trees, roots, and tropical creepers having, in +the course of many centuries, covered them with an almost impenetrable +thicket. + +Whether man did or did not live in the basin of the Delaware at the +most remote times of which we have any knowledge, we meet with traces +of his occupation in the same latitude at more recent periods. At +Long-Nick-Branch is a shell-mound that extends for half a mile, and in +California there is a yet larger kitchen-midding. It measures a mile in +length by half a mile in width, and, as in similar accumulations, +excavations have yielded thousands of stone hammers and bone implements +(Fig. 24). + +The shell-mounds of which we have so far been speaking are all near the +sea, but there is yet another consisting entirely of marine shells +fifty miles beyond Mobile. This fact seems to point to a considerable +change in the level of the ground since the time of man’s first +occupancy, for he is not likely to have taken all the trouble involved +in carrying the mollusca necessary for his daily food so far, when he +might so easily have settled down near the shore. + +I cannot close this account of the kitchen-middings, without calling +attention to two very interesting facts. The importance of these mounds +bears witness alike to the number of the inhabitants who dwelt near +them, and the long duration of their sojourn. Worsaae sets back the +initial date of the most ancient of the shell-mounds of the New World +more than three thousand years. This is however a delicate question, on +which in the present state of our knowledge it is difficult to hazard a +serious opinion. It is easier to come to a conclusion on other points: +the close resemblance, for instance, between the kitchen-middings of +America and those of Europe. In both continents we find the early +inhabitants fed almost entirely on fish; their weapons, tools, and +pottery were almost identical in character; and in both cases the +characteristic animals of Quaternary times had disappeared, and the use +of metals still remained unknown. Are these remarkable coincidences the +result of chance, or must we not rather suppose that people of the same +origin occupied at the same epoch both sides of the Atlantic? + +The man of the kitchen-middings evidently had a fixed abode. Long +since, the tent, the temporary shelter of the nomad, had given place to +the but. We have already said what this but may have been like, but the +most certain data we have as to human habitations at this still but +little known epoch, are those supplied by the Lake Stations of +Switzerland, and it is to our own generation that we are indebted for +the first discoveries relating to them. + +The memory of these Lake Stations bad completely passed away, and it +was only the long drought which desolated Switzerland in 1853 and 1854, +and the extraordinary sinking of Lake Zurich, revealing the piles still +standing, that attracted the attention of archæologists. In the space +still enclosed by these piles lay scattered pell-mell stones, bones, +burnt cinders of ancient hearths, pestles, hammers, pottery, hatchets +of various shapes, implements of many kinds, with innumerable objects +of daily use. These relics prove that some of the ancient inhabitants +of Switzerland had dwelt on the lake where they were found, in a refuge +to which they had probably retired to escape from the attacks of their +fellow-men or wild beasts. Though they bad succeeded in getting away +from these enemies, they were to fall victims to a yet more formidable +adversary, and the half-burnt piles have preserved to our own day the +traces of a conflagration that destroyed the Lake dwelling so +laboriously constructed. + +The discovery of these piles excited general interest, an interest that +was redoubled when similar discoveries revealed that all the lakes of +Switzerland were dotted with stations that had been built long +centuries before in the midst of the waters. Twenty such stations were +made out on Lake Bienne, twenty-four on the Lake of Geneva, thirty on +Lake Constance, forty-nine on that of Neuchâtel, and others, though not +so many, on Lakes Sempach, Morat, Mooseedorf, and Pfeffikon. In fact +more than two hundred Lake Stations are now known in Switzerland; and +how many more may have completely disappeared? + +There is really nothing to surprise us in the fact of buildings rising +from the midst of waters. They are known in historic times; Herodotus +relates that the inhabitants of pile dwellings on Lake Prasias +successfully repelled the attacks of the Persians commanded by +Megabasus. Alonzo de Ojeda, the companion of Amerigo Vespucci, speaks +of a village consisting of twenty large houses built on piles in the +midst of a lake, to which he gave the name of Venezuela in honor of +Venice, his native town. We meet with pile dwellings in our own day in +the Celebes, in New Guinea, in Java, at Mindanao, and in the Caroline +Islands. Sir Richard Burton saw pile dwellings at Dahomey, Captain +Cameron on the lakes of Central Africa, and the Bishop of Labuan tells +us that the houses of the Dayaks are built on lofty platforms on the +shores of rivers. The accounts of historians and travellers help us to +understand alike the anode of construction of the Lake Stations and the +kind of life led by their inhabitants. + +The Lake dwellings of Switzerland may be assigned to three different +periods. That of Chavannes, on Lake Bienne, belongs to the earliest +type. The hatchets found are small, scarcely polished, and always of +native rock, such as serpentine, diorite, or saussurite; the pottery is +coarse, mixed with grains of sand or bits of quartz; the bottoms of the +vases are thick, and no traces of ornamentation can be made out. The +pile-dwellings of the second period, such as those of Locras and +Latringen, show considerable progress; the hatchets, some of which are +very large, are well made. Several of them are of nephrite, +chloromelanite, and jade; and their number, as compared with those in +minerals native to Switzerland, varies from five to eight per cent. +Here and there in rare instances we find a few copper or bronze +lamellae amongst the piles. The pottery is now of finer clay, better +kneaded; and ornamentation, including chevrons, wolves’ teeth, and +mammillated designs, is more common. The handle, however, is still a +mere projection. The third period, which we may date from the +transition from stone to bronze, is largely represented; copper weapons +and tools are already numerous, and bronze is beginning to occur. The +stone hatchets and hammers are skilfully pierced, and wooden or horn +implements are often found. The vases are of various shapes, all +provided with handles, and are covered with ornaments, some made with +the fingers of the potter, others with the help of a twig or some fine +string. On the other hand, there are no hatchets of foreign rock; +commerce and intercourse with people at a distance had ceased, or at +least become rarer. The tools are fixed into handles of stag horn, +which are found in every stage of manufacture. The personal property of +the Lake Dwellers included bead necklaces, pendants, buttons, needles, +and horn combs. The teeth of animals served as amulets, and the bones +that were of denser material than born were used as javelin- or +arrow-heads. The arrows were generally of triangular shape and not +barbed.11 + +The distance from the shore of the most ancient of the Lake dwellings +varies from 131 to 298 feet. Gradually men began to take greater and +greater precautions against danger, and the most recent stations are +656 to 984 feet from the banks of the lake. The piles of the Stone age +are from eleven to twelve inches in diameter; those of the later epochs +are smaller. They are pointed at the ends, and hardened by fire. When +the piles had been driven into the bottom of the lake, a platform was +laid on them solid enough to bear the weight of the buts. This platform +was made of beams laid down horizontally, and bound together by +interlaced branches. Two modes of construction can easily be +distinguished. In one the platforms were upheld by numerous piles, ten +yards long, firmly driven into the mud. This is how the _Pfahlbauten, +Palafittes_, or pile dwellings situated in shallow waters were +generally put together. In other cases it seemed easier to raise the +soil round the piles, than to drive them into the hard rock which +formed the bed of the lake. Care was then taken to consolidate them, +and keep them in position with blocks of stone, clay, and tiers of +piles. Keller gives to these latter the name of _Packwerbauten_, and +other German archæologists call them _Steinbergen_. + +The mean depth of the waters in those parts of the lakes formerly +occupied by the pile dwellings is from thirteen to sixteen feet, and we +can still make out the piles when the water is calm and clear. Worn +though they may be, their tops still emerge at a height varying from +one to three feet above the mud at the bottom of the lake. Their number +was originally considerable, and it is estimated that there were forty +thousand at Wangen, and a hundred thousand at Robenhausen. The area +occupied by the stations varies considerably; according to Troyon, that +at Wangen was seven hundred paces long by one hundred and twenty broad. +Baron von Mayenfisch explored seventeen sites in the Lake of Constance, +the area of which varies from three to four acres. At Inkwyl is a +little artificial island about forty-eight feet in diameter. The Lake +dwelling of Morges, which was still inhabited in the Bronze age, covers +an area of twelve hundred feet long by a mean width of one hundred and +fifty. It is, however, useless to enumerate the various calculations +that have been made, as they are founded on nothing but more or less +probable guesswork. + +Excavations show that the buts that rose from the platforms were made +of wattle and hurdle-work. In different places calcined and +agglutinated fragments have been picked up, and pieces of clay which +had served as facing. The house to which they had belonged had been +destroyed by fire, and the clay, hardened in the flames, had resisted +the disintegrating action of the water. On one side this clay is +smooth, and on the other it still retains the marks of the interlaced +branches, which had helped to form the inner walls. Some of these marks +are so clear and regular that Troyon, noticing the way they curve, was +able to assert that the buts were circular, and that they varied in +diameter from ten to fifteen feet. + +A recent discovery at Schussenreid (Wurtemberg) gives completeness to +our knowledge of the Swiss Lake dwellings. In the midst of a peat-bog +rises a but known as a _Knüppelbau_, which is supposed to date from the +Stone age. It is of rectangular form, and is divided into two +compartments communicating with each other by a foot-bridge consisting +of three beams laid side by side. The floors of this but are made of +rounded wood, and the walls of piles split in half. Excavations have +brought to light several floors, one above the other, and divided by +thick layers of clay. The rising of the level of the peat doubtless +compelled the Lake Dweller to add by degrees to the height of his +house. + +The Proto-Helvetian race were well-developed men, and the bones that +have been collected show that they were not at all wanting in symmetry +of form or in cranial capacity. The crania found are distinctly +dolichocephalous, and their owners had evidently attained to no small +degree of culture and of technical skill. Judging from the length of +the femora found, though it must be added that they are mostly those of +women, the ancient Lake Dwellers were not so tall as the present +inhabitants of Europe. The smallness of the handles of their weapons +and tools points to the same conclusion.12 + +Though the importance and number of the discoveries made in Switzerland +render it the classic land of Lake Stations, it is not the only country +in which they have been found. They have been made out in the Lago +Maggiore and in the lakes of Varèse, Peschiera, and Garda in Lombardy; +in Lake Salpi in the Capitanata, and in other parts of Italy. Judging +from the objects recovered from these stations, they belonged partly to +the Stone and partly to the Bronze age. + +The pile dwelling of Lagozza is one of the most interesting known to +us. It forms a long square, facing due east, and covers an area of two +thousand six hundred yards, now completely overgrown with peat six and +a half feet thick. Amongst the posts still standing can be made out a +number of half-burnt planks, which are probably the remains of the +platform. One of the posts was still covered with bark, and it was easy +to recognize the silver birch (_Betula alba_). Other posts consisted of +the trunks of resinous trees, such as the _Pinus picea_, the _Pinus +sylvestris_, and the larch, which now only grow in the lofty Alpine +valleys. Amongst the industrial objects found in the Lagozza pile +dwelling were polished stone hatchets, hammers, polishers of hard +stone, knife-blades, flint scrapers, and seven or eight arrows with +transverse cutting edges, a form rare in Italy. + +Castelfranco,13 from whom we borrow these details, has also, in the +excavations he superintended, picked up a number of earthenware +spindle-whorls with a hole in the middle, amulets, and numerous pieces +of pottery, some fine and some coarse, according to the purpose for +which they were intended. The first mould had in most cases been +covered over with a layer of very fine clay spread upon it with the aid +of a kind of boasting-chisel. We may also mention a bone comb. The +combs found in Swiss Lake dwellings are of horn, with the exception of +one from Locras of yew wood. + +What chiefly distinguishes the Lagozza pile dwelling, however, is the +absence of the bones, teeth, or horns of animals, and also of +fish-hooks, harpoons, or nets, so that we must conclude that the +inhabitants did not hunt or fish, that they did not breed domestic +animals, and were probably vegetarians. The researches of Professor +Sordelli confirm this hypothesis; from amongst the objects taken from +the peat he recognized two kinds of corn (_Triticum vulgare antiquorum_ +and _Triticum vulagere hibernum_), six-rowed barley (_Hordeum +hexastichum_), mosses, ferns, flax, the Indian poppy (_Papaver +somniferum_), acorns, and an immense number of nuts and apples. + +The acorns are those of the common oak, and their cups and outer rind +had been removed, so that they had evidently been prepared to serve as +food for, man; the apples were small and coriaceous, resembling the +modern crab-apple; the Indian poppy cannot have grown without +cultivation; but this was perhaps but an example of the same species +already recognized in the Lake dwellings of Switzerland. It is +difficult to say whether it was used for food or whether oil was +extracted from it. + +We have already spoken of the discoveries made in Austria and Hungary. +Count Wurmbrand has described the difficulties with which explorers had +to contend. The lakes have in many cases become inaccessible swamps, +and in others, the waters having been artificially dimmed to regulate +their overflow, the sites of the pile dwellings are so far below the +level of the lakes that any excavations are impossible. Long and +arduous researches have, however, been rewarded with some success, and +the numerous objects recovered bear witness, as in Switzerland, to the +gradual progress made by the successive generations who occupied these +pile dwellings. + +[Illustration: 50.] + +Objects discovered in the peat-bogs of Laybach. A. Earthenware vase. B. +Fragment of ornamented pottery. C. Bone needle. D. Earthenware weight +for fishing-net. E. Fragment of jawbone. + +A lake near Laybach had been converted in drying up into an immense +peat-bog, nearly thirty-eight miles in circumference, bounded on the +right and left by lofty mountains.14 When this bog was under water it +had been the site of several Lake Stations. One, for instance, has been +made out over three hundred and twenty yards from the bank. The piles, +which consisted of the trunks of oaks, beeches, and poplars, varying +from eight to ten inches in diameter, were placed at regular intervals. +The objects taken from the peat-bog are simply innumerable (Fig. 50), +and include hundreds of needles of different sizes, stilettos, +dagger-blades, arrows, and hatchets, with stag-horn handles. Coarse +black earthenware vases are equally numerous and are of a great variety +of form, but their ornamentation is of the most primitive description, +and was done sometimes with the nail of the potter, and sometimes with +a pointed bone. Little earthenware figures (Figs. 51 and 52) were also +found, some of which were sent from the Laybach Museum to the French +Exhibition of 1878. One of them is said to represent a woman, probably +an idol. This is one of the first known examples of the representation +of the human figure from a Lake dwelling. At Nimlau, near Olmutz, the +drying lip of a little lake brought to light a Lake Station surrounded +by the trunks of oak trees of a large size. They were piled up, one +above the other, and strongly bound together with osiers. These trunks +were evidently intended to fortify the station. + +[Illustration: 51.] + +Small terra-cotta figures, found in the Laybach pile dwellings. + +The mode of construction of the Lake Stations of the marshes of +Pomerania is very different from that employed in Switzerland or in +Austria. The foundations rest on horizontal beams, kept in place either +by great blocks of rock or by piles driven in vertically. In many cases +notches had evidently been made, the better to place the cross-beams; +whilst in others forked branches had been selected, so that a second +branch could be fitted into the fork. Primeval man soon learnt to +appreciate the solidity of such a combination. Do these stations, +however, really date from prehistoric times? Virchow, returning to his +first opinion, now thinks that the pile dwellings of Germany belong to +the same epoch as the intrenchments known as _Burgwallen_, when metals +and even iron were already in general use. They were inhabited until +the thirteenth century, and it is easy to trace in them, as in those of +Switzerland, the signs of the successive occupations, the dwellings +having evidently been abandoned and restored later by fresh comers. + +[Illustration: 52.] + +Small terra-cotta figures, from the Laybach pile dwellings. + +At the meeting of the British Association at Newcastle in 1863, Lord +Lovaine described a Lake Station in the south of Scotland, and Sir J. +Lubbock mentions one in the north of England. Others are known at +Holderness (Yorkshire), at Thetford, on Barton Mere, near Bury St. +Edmunds; but judging from the description of them they are not of +earlier date than the Bronze age. + +Other stations are more ancient. A few years ago a number of piles were +found a little above Kew, beneath a layer of alluvium, and embedded in +the gravel which formed the ancient bed of the Thames. All around these +piles were scattered the bones of animals, of which those of the _Bos +longifrons_ were the most remarkable. The long bones had been split to +get out the marrow, an evident proof of the intelligent action of man. +In London two similar examples were found on the site of the present +Mansion House, and beneath the ancient walls of the city. They are +supposed to date from times earlier, not only than the cutting out of +the present course of the Thames, but before that invasion of the sea +which preceded the formation of the Thames valley, now the home of more +than four million men and women. + +The Lake Stations of France are less important than those of the +neighboring countries. It is supposed that Vatan, a little town of +Berry, was built on the site of a Lake city. It is situated in the +midst of a dried-up marsh, and at different points piles have been +removed which were driven deep into the mud. We also hear of pile +dwellings in the Jura Mountains, in the Pyrenean valleys of +Haute-Garonne, Ariège, and Aude, as well as in those of the Eastern +Pyrenees. In the department of Landes, which on one side joins the +plateau of Lannemezan, and on the other the lofty plains of Béarn, are +many marshy depressions, where have been found numbers of piles, with +charred wood and fragments of pottery. + +Discoveries no less curious have been made in the Bourget Lake, but the +dwellings rising from its surface date from a comparatively recent +epoch. The numerous fragments of pottery found prove that terra-cotta +ware had attained to a beauty of form and color unknown to primitive +times. Indeed some of the vases actually bear the name of the Roman +potter who made them. We must also assign to an epoch later than the +Stone age the buildings, remains of which have beet found in the +peat-bogs of Saint-Dos near Salies (Basses-Pyrénées). At a depth of +about thirty-two inches has been found a regular floor formed of trunks +of trees resting on piles and bound together in a primitive fashion +with the filaments of roots. These piles bear a number of deep +clean-cut notches, such as could only have been made with an iron +implement. In other parts of France there are Lake Stations, which were +occupied until the time of the Carlovingians. To this time belong the +pile dwellings of Lake Paladru (Isère), which were abandoned, so far as +we can tell, by their owners when they were swamped by the rising of +the water. + +When the Lake Stations of Europe were inhabited, the characteristic +animals of the Quaternary epoch, such as the elephant, the rhinoceros, +the lion, and the hippopotamus had disappeared from that continent, and +their place was taken by the earliest domestic animals. The Lake fauna +of Switzerland includes about seventy species, thirty mammals +twenty-six birds, ten kinds of fish, and four reptiles.15 The mammals +were the stag, the dog, the pig, the goat, the sheep, and two kinds of +oxen. These animals were already domesticated, there can be absolutely +no doubt on this point, for in many _Pfahlbauten_ their very dung has +been found, a conclusive proof that they lived side by side with man. + +The remains of the stag and of the ox are more numerous than those of +any other animal, and it is easy to see that every clay the importance +of a pastoral life became more clearly recognized. In the most ancient +Lake Stations, those of Mooseedorf, Wangen, and Meilen, for instance, +the stag predominates; in those of the western lakes, which are +comparatively more recent, relics of the ox are more numerous. In the +Lake village of Nidau, which dates from the Bronze age, a greatly +increased number of bones of domestic animals have been found, whilst +those of wild creatures become rarer and rarer. The progress of +domestication is evident, and it is no less certain that the lapse of +centuries must have been required for the formation of the herds which +evidently existed in certain localities. It is possible that these +animals may have first entered Europe in the wake of foreign invaders, +and before being reduced to servitude, they may have roamed about in a +wild state, and even have been contemporaries with species now extinct. +However that may be, there can be no doubt on one point, they could not +domesticate themselves; one race of creatures after another must have +fallen under the subjection of man, who gradually became the master of +all the animals that are still about us. + +We do not meet in the pile dwellings with the common mouse, the rat, or +the cat, and the horse is very rare. It is the same with the +kitchen-middings and the caves occupied in Neolithic times. The +disappearance of the horse, so numerous in earlier epochs, is general, +and this would be inexplicable if history did not solve the mystery. +The Bible, which gives us such complete details of the pastoral life of +the Hebrews, speaks for the first time of the horse after the exodus +from Egypt of the children of Israel, and in Egypt itself the horse is +not represented in any monument of earlier date than the Seventeenth +Dynasty. It is the same in America, animals of the equine race, that +were so numerous in early geological times, had long since disappeared +on the arrival of the Spaniards, and the horses they brought with them +inspired the Mexicans and Peruvians with unutterable terror. + +Domestic animals require regular food through the long winter months; +so that their presence alone is enough to prove that their owners were +tillers of the soil. The discovery in many of the Helvetian Lake +Stations of calcined cereals confirms this hypothesis. Amongst the +cereals found, corn is the most abundant, and several bushels of it +have been collected. In the department of the Gironde, regular silos or +subterranean storing-places for grain have been found in which the +calcined corn was stowed away. In the Lake Stations have also been +found millet, peas, poppy-heads, nuts, plums, raspberries, and even +dried apples and pears, doubtless set aside as a provision for the +winter. From the water at Cortaillod, have been taken, with a few ears +of barley, cherry-stones, acorns, and beechnuts16; and at Laybach, some +water-chestnuts (_trapa natans_) of a kind that has long since +disappeared from Carniola. Sometimes the cereals were roughly roasted, +crushed, and put away in large earthenware vessels; but in some places, +regular flat round loaves of bread have been found about one or two +inches thick, which were baked without leaven. We may well assert that +great changes lead taken place since the first arrival of man upon the +earth. + +The so-called _terremares_ of Italy date from the same period as the +Danish kitchen-middings and the Swiss pile dwellings. They are met with +chiefly in Lombardy and in the ancient duchies of Parma and Piacenza, +and consist of low mounds rising from thirteen to sixteen feet above +the surface of the soil. In some cases a number of _terremares_, close +to one another, form regular villages covering an area of from five to +six miles square. Excavations of the _terremare_ have brought to light +rows of piles from seven to ten feet long, connected by transverse +beams, forming a regular floor, from which rose buts built in a similar +way to those of the Swiss pile dwellings, of interlaced branches or of +clay and straw, for no trace has been made out of the use of bricks or +of stones. The refuse of the kitchen and rubbish of all kinds rapidly +accumulated round about these buts, and formed the first nucleus of the +mound, which soon grew to a considerable height as one occupant of the +house succeeded another. When the refuse became too much of a nuisance, +the owner of the but set up fresh piles at a greater height on the same +site, laid down another platform, and built anew but. In some places +three such platforms have been found one above another. + +As in the Lake Stations, excavations of the _terremares_ have brought +to light numerous bones of domestic animals; but those of wild +creatures, such as bears, stags, roedeer, and boars, are even rarer +than in Switzerland. The inhabitants evidently had other resources than +hunting at their command, and though the processes they employed were +but elementary, they cultivated corn, beans, vines, and various fruits. +Though iron was still unknown, some bronze objects have been found in +certain _terremares_, but these were only roughly melted pieces of +metal, showing no traces of having been either hammered or soldered. +Amongst the pottery found in the _terremares_, we must mention a number +of small objects not unlike acorns in form, pierced lengthwise, and +decorated with incised lines, some straight, others curved. Italian +archæologists call them _fusaïoles_, and Swiss savants, who have found +a great many in the lakes of their native country, give them the name +of _pesons de fuseau_. Both these names connect them with the process +of spinning; but their number renders this hypothesis inadmissible, and +when we give an account of the excavations carried on at Hissarlik, +under Dr. Schliemann, we shall be able to determine their character +(see Chapter VII.). + +At Castione, near the town of Parma, and in several other parts of the +provinces of Parma and Reggio, _terremares_ have been discovered rising +from the midst of vast rectangular basins artificially hollowed out. +Some have concluded from this that the _terremarecolli_ as the +inhabitants of the _terremares_ have been called, were descended from +the people who built the pile dwellings of Switzerland, and that, +faithful to the traditions of their race, they hollowed out ponds in +default of natural lakes. If this were so, Italy must have been peopled +with a race that came over the Alps.17 Who or what this race was can +only be matter of conjecture. It cannot, however, have been the +Ligures, a branch of the great Iberian family, who were totally +ignorant of culture, and to whom the builders of the most ancient of +the _terremares_ were certainly superior; nor can it have been the +Etruscans, for all relics of that race, which are moreover easily +recognizable, were found quite apart from the deep deposits containing +the _terremares_. Many indications point to the conclusion that when +the Celts came down into Italy their knowledge of metallurgy was +already more advanced than that of the builders of the _terremares_. We +are therefore disposed to think with Heilbig, that the _terremarecolli_ +were the Itali, of Arian race, who were the ancestors of the Sabini, +Umbri, Osci, and Latins. In the great migrations of races, the Itali +bad separated themselves from their brethren the Pelasgi, who had +remained in Epirus, and, continuing their march, they peopled +Switzerland and crossed the Alps, settling down in the fertile plains +watered by the Po, where it is easy even now to prove their presence. + +In superintending the excavation of a _terremare_ at Toszig, in +Hungary, Pigorini,18 was greatly struck by the resemblance between it +and similar erections in Italy, especially that of Casarolo. This is +very much in favor of the Itali having been the builders. But the +objects collected in some of the _terremares_, those of Varano and +Chierici for instance, prove that they were inhabited from Neolithic +times, so that the Itali of Italy, if Itali they were, did but follow +the traditions of their predecessors. In spite, however, of zealous +study, all that relates to the origin of tribes and races remains +involved in the greatest obscurity, and we can but look to the future +to supply what the present altogether fails to give. + +We have yet other tokens of the presence of the ancient races who +peopled Italy. Dr. Concezio Rosa19 noticed in the Abruzzi extensive +black patches on the ground, which bore witness to the former residence +of men. The excavation of these _Fondi di Cabane_, as they are called, +led to the finding of a great many stone knives and scrapers with +numerous bone stilettos and the bones of various animals, all of them +of species still living. Later, similar _fondi_ were found between the +Eastern Alps and Mount Gargano. In Reggio, at Rivaltella, at +Castelnuovo de Sotto, and at Calerno, they formed regular groups, and +from one of these stations more than one thousand worked flints were +collected. We mention them especially because they were of lozenge +(_selci romboidali_) and half-lozenge (_semi-rombi_) shapes, which are +forms unknown in other districts. + +With these flints were hand-made vases with handles, the clay unmixed +with sand or quartz and ornamented with lines, grooves, and raised +knobs. These vases differ greatly from those found in the _terremares_; +are they then, as has been said, of earlier (late? It is impossible to +come to any decision on the point. + +Before closing our account of prehistoric buildings surrounded by +water, we must say a few words on crannoges though there is the +greatest difference of opinion as to their date. + +Crannoges are artificial islets raised above the level of certain lakes +in Ireland and Scotland20 by means of a series of layers of earth and +stone, and strengthened by piles, some upright, others laid down +lengthwise. Wylde counted forty-six in Ireland in his time, some of +them of considerable extent. That of Ardkellin Lough (Roscommon) is +surrounded by a wall of dry stones resting on piles. In other places +have been found the remains of stockades very intelligently set up in +such a manner as to break the force of the shock of the water. + +To add to the difficulties of dealing with the subject of crannoges, +they were successively occupied for many centuries. They are mentioned +in the most ancient Irish legends, and even in the sixteenth century +they served as refuges for the kings of the country in the constant +rebellions that took place. The objects taken from the lakes belong to +very different epochs, and it is impossible to say anything positive as +to the time of their construction. + +A but found in Donegal may, however, date from an extremely remote +age.21 It rested on a thick layer of sand brought front the neighboring +shore, and was covered over by a bed of peat slot less than sixteen +feet thick. Since the hilt was deserted by man the peat had gradually +accumulated till it had at last invaded the dwelling itself. The but +included a ground-floor, and one story about twelve feet long by nine +wide and four high. The walls consisted of beams scarcely squared, +joined together with wooden mortices and pegs. The roof, which was +probably flat, consisted of oak planks, the spaces between which had +been filled in with mortar made of sand and grease. On the ground-floor +lay several flint implements, showing no signs of having been polished, +a quartz wedge, and a stone chisel, which had evidently seen long +service. This chisel, the discoverers say, corresponded exactly with +the notches around the mortices. A regular paved way, formed of +sea-beach pebbles placed on a foundation of interlaced branches, led up +to a hearth made of flat stones measuring some three feet every way. +All about lay fragments of charcoal and broken nuts, the latter partly +burnt. Another but, with an oak floor resting on four posts, has +recently been discovered in County Fermanagh, beneath a deposit of peat +about twenty feet thick. No trace of metal has been found in either of +these Irish buts, and the thickness of the peat beneath which they lay +is another proof of their great antiquity. One serious objection, +however, is this: Were the Irish sufficiently advanced in prehistoric +times to be able to erect dwellings implying so considerable an amount +of civilization? + +Crannoges are met with in Scotland as well as in Ireland, and +excavations in Loch Lee have enabled explorers to make out their mode +of construction. The Lake Dwellers began by piling up a number of +trunks of trees in the shallower waters of a lake. They then +strengthened these trunks with branches or beams about which the mud +collected till the whole formed an islet. All about this islet, beneath +the waters of the lake, were found various objects in stone, wood, and +horn, as well as some canoes several feet long. Similar crannoges are +to be seen on the lakes of Kincardine and Forfar, which Troyon thinks +date from the Stone age.22 If he be right, and we should not like to +make any assertion one way or the other, the bronze objects and the +enamelled glass bowls found near these dwellings prove that they were +occupied by several successive generations. + +It is probable that Lake dwellings were also used in Asia and in Africa +from prehistoric times. History tells us that the inhabitants of +Phasis, the Mingrelians of the present day, lived in reed huts on the +water, and that they went from one islet to another in canoes hollowed +out of the trunks of oak-trees. A bas-relief from the palace of +Sennacherib, preserved in the British Museum, represents warriors +fighting on artificial islands made of large reeds. But here w e enter +the domain of history, and we must return to Neolithic times, and speak +of the habitations built of more durable materials and the ruins of +which are still standing. + +It is impossible to say with any certainty to what period the most +ancient of these structures belong. It is probable that man early +learned to pile up stones, binding them together at first with clay, +and then with some stronger cements. The _burghs_ of Scotland, the +_nurhags_ of the island of Sardinia, the _talayoti_ of the Balearic +Isles, the _castellieri_ of Istria, are all ancient witnesses of the +modes of building employed in the most remote ages. + +_Burghs, brocks_, or _broughs_ are numerous in Scotland,23 and also in +the islands of the Atlantic. For a long time they were supposed to be +of Scandinavian origin, but Sir J. Lubbock24 remarks With reason that +no building at all like them exists in Norway or in Denmark, and it is +difficult to admit the idea that the Scandinavians set up in the +islands tributary to them buildings which were unknown to their own +mainland. We are therefore disposed to think that these curious +structures, which were inhabited until the twelfth and thirteenth +centuries of the Christian era, are of much earlier date than the first +invasion by the Northmen, and that the burgh still standing on the +little island of Moussa, one of the Shetlands, is one of the best +examples that we can quote. A tower, forty-one feet high, rises on the +borders of the sea. The walls are of unhewn stones, piled up without +cement, and they form two circles, separated by a passage four feet +wide. In each story are a series of very small openings, intended to +admit air and light to the cell-like rooms inside, and to a staircase +that leads to the top of the tower. The only way into this burgh is +through a door only seven feet high, and so narrow that it is +impossible for two people to go in abreast. + +The regularity of the building of this burgh, and the architectural +knowledge it implies, prevent our ascribing it either to the Stone or +even to the Bronze age; but we find in Scotland itself more ancient +examples, if we may so express ourselves, of domestic architecture. +These examples are subterranean dwellings, made of rough-hewn stones of +considerable size, laid down in regular courses, to which the names of +_earth-houses, Picts’ houses_, and _weems_ have been given. The walls +converge towards the centre, leaving an opening at the top, which was +covered in with large flat stones. These dwellings are certainly of +earlier date than the burghs, and the discovery of a _Picts’ house_ +actually beneath the ruins of a burgh enables us to speak with +certainty on this point. + +In Ireland similar proofs have been found of the great antiquity of +roan. More than one hundred towers have been found in that country, all +built of large stones, and varying in height from seventy to one +hundred and thirty feet, with a diameter of from eight to fifteen feet. +The most diverse origins have been attributed to these towers, from +prehistoric times to the centuries immediately preceding the Christian +era; from the time of the Druids to that of the Friars. According to +the point of view of different archæologists, they have been called +temples of the sun, hermitages, phallic monuments, or signal towers. + +We meet with a similar problem in considering the _nurhags_, as in +considering the burghs. They have been justly called a page of history, +written all over the surface of Sardinia by an unknown people. Count +Albert de la Marmora counted three thousand of them a few years ago, +and more recent explorers tell us that this number is greatly exceeded. +Like the burghs, which they strangely resemble, the _nurhags_ are +conical towers with very thick walls made of huge stones, some Hewn, +others in their natural state, arranged in regular courses without +mortar. On entering one of them we find ourselves in a vaulted room, +which looks exactly like one half of an egg in shape. In the upper +stories are two, and sometimes three rooms, one above the other, to +which access is gained by steps cut in the walls. The whole structure +is crowned by a terrace (Fig. 53). We must add that the entrance to the +_nurhag_ is through an opening on a level with the ground, and so low +that one can only go in by crawling on the stomach. + +Many conjectures have been made as to the use of these towers. Were +they temples in which to worship, or trophies of victory? Their number +is against either of these hypotheses. Were they then habitations or +towers of observation? Not the former certainly, for no one could live +between walls sixteen or twenty-two feet thick, shut out from air and +light. Some travellers think they were tombs, but excavations have +brought to light no bones or sepulchral relics. We can compare them to +nothing but the Towers of Silence, on which the Parsees expose their +dead to the birds of heaven, which are ever ready rapidly to acquit +themselves of their melancholy functions. + +[Illustration: 53.] + +Nurhag at Santa Barbara (Sardinia). + +The origin of the _nurhags_ is as uncertain as their use. Diodorus +Siculus considered them very ancient, and one fact has come to light in +our day which enables us to arrive at a somewhat more exact decision. +The island of Sardinia was taken by the Romans from the Carthaginians +in 238 B.C., and an aqueduct, the ruins of which can still be seen, was +built by the conquerors on the foundations of an ancient _nurhag_, so +that the latter must belong to an earlier (late than the third century +before our era. Fergusson, who speaks with authority on everything +relating to the monuments of the Stone age, assigns the _nurhags_ to +the mystic times of the Trojan War. In all probability they were built +by an invading people. La Marmora thinks these invaders were the +Libyans; M. de Rougemont, in his history of the Bronze age, says that +the curved vault is the characteristic feature of Pelasgian +architecture, which is often confounded with that of the Phœnicians. +Although any final conclusion would be premature, we ourselves think +that the builders of the _nurhags_ belonged to the great stream of +emigration from the East, the course of which is marked by megalithic +monuments in so many parts of the world. In some instances, _nurhags_ +were surrounded by cromlechs, of which most of the stones have now been +thrown down. Some of these stones bore prominences resembling the +breasts of a woman. + +The accumulations of earth and rubbish about the _nurhags_ are, some of +them, from six to ten feet high. In the lower deposits have been found +coarse pottery, with no attempt at ornamentation, fragments of flint, +and obsidian hatchets of black basalt, or porphyry of the Palæolithic +type, arrow-head, flint knives, stones used in slings, and numerous +shells; whilst in the upper deposits were picked up black pottery and +fragments of bronze belonging to the transition period between the +Stone and Metal ages. + +All over the island of Sardinia, side by side with the _nurhags_, rise +tombs to which have been given the name of _Sepolture dei Giganti_. +They are from thirty-two to thirty-nine feet long by a nearly equal +width, and are built, some of huge slabs of stone, some of stones of +smaller size. They are in every case surmounted by a pediment, formed +of a single block, and often covered with sculptures dating from +different epochs. These sepulchres are certainly of later date than the +_nurhags_, and in them have been found numerous implements of bronze, +but none of stone. + +[Illustration: 54.] + +“Talayoti” at Trepuco (Minorca). + +The _talayoti_, of which one hundred and fifty are still standing in +the island of Minorca, are circular or elliptical truncated cones, +built of huge unhewn stones, laid one on the other without cement (Fig. +54). The most remarkable of all of them, that at Torello, near Mahon, +is thirty-three feet high. In many cases there are two stone, one +placed upright, the other across it, in front of the _talayoti_. The +meaning of these biliths is unknown. + +Yet another series of cyclopean monuments are known under the name of +_nanetas_, and are not unlike overturned boats. Seven such _nanetas_ +are still to be seen in the Balearic Isles. The one which is best +preserved consists of large unhewn stones of rectangular shape, +enclosing an inner chamber about six feet in width. The roof having +fallen in, its height cannot be exactly determined; we only know that +the lateral walls are some forty-five feet high. + +In Algeria also have been preserved some towers built of stones without +cement. Some of them are square (_basina_) and surmounted by a small +dolmen, others are round (_chouchet_) and closed at the top by a large +slab of stone, as in the _nurhags_ we have just described. + +It is difficult to bring this account to a close without mentioning the +_truddhi_ and the _specchie_ of Otranto.25 A _ truddhi _ is a massive +conical tower consisting of a heap of scarcely hewn stones piled up +without cement and with an exterior facing. Inside is a round room, the +roof of which is formed by a series of circular courses of stone +projecting one beyond the other. Sometimes a second chamber rises above +the first, which _is_ reached by steps cut in the facing, which steps +also lead to the platform on the top of the tower. Thousands of +_truddhi_ are to be seen in Italy; they date from every epoch, and the +people of Lecce and Bari continue to erect them as did their fathers +before them. Side by side with the _truddhi_ rise the _specchie_, which +are conical masses of stone, of greater height and probably of more +ancient date than the towers. Lenormant thinks they were used to live +in; but his opinion has been much questioned, and it is necessary to +speak on this point with great reserve. + +The _castellieri_ of Istria, which the Slavonian peasants call +_starigrad_, are as yet but little known. Doubtless an examination of +them will bring out their resemblance to the _nurhags_ and _talayoti_. +They are, however, more than mere towers, forming regular _enceintes_ +between walls formed of two facings of dry stones, the space between +which is filled in with smaller stones. There are fifteen of these +_castellieri_ in the district of Albona, a little town on the southeast +of Trieste. They were at first attributed to the Roman epoch, but later +researches relegate them rather to prehistoric times, and the discovery +near them of numerous stone implements rather tends to support this +latter opinion, but it must not be considered conclusive. + +Perhaps we ought also to connect with the earliest ages of humanity the +stations recently discovered in Spain by MM. Siret.26 These were +evidently centres of population, surrounded by walls of a very +primitive description. We shall have to refer again to these +discoveries; we will only add now that in the black earth forming the +soil were found worked flints, polished diorite hatchets, pierced +shells, with various pieces of pottery, and mills for grinding corn. So +far, however though many of the stations have been explored, no trace +has been found of the use of metals. + +A vast period of time, countless centuries, indeed, have passed away +since the close of the Paleolithic epoch. The burghs, _nurhags_, and +_castellieri_ show the progress of civilization, and at the same time +prove that this progress extended throughout Europe, and that at a time +not so very far removed from our own. The close resemblance between +buildings of different dates enables us to speak with certainty of the +connection between the races which succeeded each other in Europe. The +importance of these conclusions is very great, and will be brought out +still more in our study of megalithic monuments. + + +1 “El hombre seguramente habitaba las corazas de los Glyptodon Pero no +siempre las colocaba en la posicion que acabo de indicar.”—“La +Antiguedad del Hombre en el Plata,” vol. ii., p. 532. + +2 “On Some Recent Researches in Cone-Caves in Wales,” _Proc. Geol., +Asso_., vol. ix. “On the Flynnon, Benno, and Gwyu Caves,” _Geol. Mag_., +Dec., 1886. + +3 _Revue des Questions Scientifiques_, April, 1887. + +4 “Odyssey,” book ix., v. 105–124. + +5 Æschylus: “Prometheus Bound.” + +6 A. Maury: “La Vieille Civilisation Scandinave,” _Revue des Deux +Mondes_, September, 1880. + +7 F. de Olivera: “As Raças dos Kjoekkenmoeddings de Mugem,” Lisbon, +1881. + +8 _Report Peabody Museum_, 1882. + +9 _Report Peabody Museum_, 1882 and 1885. + +10 Brinton: “Notes on the Floridian Peninsula,” Philadelphia, 1849. + +11 We take many of these details from Dr. Gross’ excellent work on the +“Pile Dwellings of Switzerland.” + +12 Virchow: “Drei Schädel aus der Schweiz.” + +13 _Revue d’Anthropologie_, 1887, p. 607. + +14 G. Cotteau: _Nature_, 1877, first week, p. 161. + +15 Rutimeyer: “Fauna der Pfahlbauten in der Schweiz.” + +16 _Anzeiger für Schweizerische Alterthums Künde_, April, 1884. + +17 Comte Conestabile: “Sur les Anciennes Immigrations en Italie.” +Heilbig: “Beitrage zur Altitalischen Kultur and Kund Geschichte,” i. +Band. G. Boissier: _Révue des Deux-Mondes_, October, 1879. + +18 _Bul. di Palethnologia Ital_., 1879. The _terpens_ of Holland, +though of much more modern date, greatly resemble the _terremares_. + +19 “Ricerce di Archeologia Preistorica nella Valle della Vibrata.” + +20 Wylie, _Arch. Brit_., vol. xxxviii. Wylde, _Proc. Royal Irish +Acad_., vol. i., p. 420. + +21 _Arch. Brit_., vol. xxvi., p. 361. _Proc. Royal Irish Academy_, vol. +vii., p. 155. + +22 “Habitations Lacustres des Temps Anciens et Modernes,” p. 170. + +23 R. Munro: “Ancient Scottish Lake Dwellings or Crannoges, with a +Supplementary Chapter on Remains of Lake Dwellings in England,” +Edinburgh, 1882. + +24 “Prehistoric Times.” Wilson: “Prehistoric Scotland.” + +25 Nicolucci: “Scelse Lavorate, Bronzi e Monumenti di Terra d’Otranto.” +Lenormant, _Revue d’Ethnographie_, February, 1882 (_Bul. Soc. Anth_., +1882 and 1884). S. Reinach: “Esquises Archéologiques.” + +26 “Les Premiers Âges du Métal dans le Sud-Est de l’Espagne,” Brussels, +1887. + + + + +CHAPTER V. +Megalithic Monuments. + + +Megalithic monuments are perhaps the most interesting of all the +witnesses of the remote past, into the history of which we are now +inquiring, and of which so little is known. From the shores of the +Atlantic to the Ural Mountains, from the frontiers of Russia to the +Pacific Ocean, from the steppes of Siberia to the plains of Hindustan, +we see rising before us monuments of the same characteristic form, +built in the same manner. This is a very important fact in the history +of humanity, and of which it is difficult to exaggerate the importance. + +What is the age of all these monuments? Were they all erected by one +race, which has thus carried on its traditions front one generation to +another? Were they the temples of the gods of this race, or the tombs +of their ancestors? Did the people who set them up come from the East, +or did they come from the North, on their way to the warmer regions of +the South? These and many other questions are eagerly discussed, but in +the present state of our knowledge not one of them call be answered in +a perfectly satisfactory manner. _Scire ignorare magna scientia_, said +an ancient philosopher, and this is a truth which we must often repeat +when we are dealing with prehistoric times. + +[Illustration: 55.] + +Dolmen of Castle Wellan (Ireland). + +Under the name of megalithic monuments we include _tumuli, dolmens, +cromlechs, menhirs_, and _covered avenues_. It may at first sight +appear strange to include tumuli amongst stone monuments, but they +almost always enclose a dolmen, a cist, or a crypt communicating with +the outside by a covered passage. The excavation of more than four +hundred tumuli in England has brought to light now, a stone coffer made +of a number of stones set edgeways and called a _kistvaen_: now of a, +tomb hollowed out beneath the surface of the ground, and enclosed by +huge blocks of stone.1 Mounds are as numerous in Portugal as tumuli in +England, and the fact that they are of low height has led to their +being called _mamoas_ or _maminhas_, which signifies little mounds. In +Poland, tumuli consist of piles of massive stones; beneath each is a +cist made of four large slabs, and containing as many as eight or ten +urns full of calcined bones. The excavation of a tumulus in the plain +of Tarbes brought to light an enormous block of granite resting on +blocks of quartz. The spaces between these blocks were filled in with +rubble made of small stones cemented into one mass with clay. +Edwin-Harness Mound, near Liberty (Ohio), is 160 feet long by eighty or +ninety wide, and thirteen to eighteen high in the middle. It contained +a dozen sepulchral chambers. + +[Illustration: 56.] + +The large dolmen of Coreoro, near Plouharnel. + +More rarely tumuli are merely artificial mounds of earth, sometimes +rising to a great height. Those of North America are the most +remarkable known. That of Cahokia is now ninety-one feet high,2 and was +formerly surmounted by a low pyramid, now destroyed. Its base measures +560 feet by 720, the platform at the top is 146 feet by 310 feet wide, +and it has been estimated that twenty-five million cubic feet of earth +were used in its construction. Major Pearse mentions a tumulus near +Nagpore, which is 3,900 feet in circumference, and 174 feet high. +Another between Tyre and Sarepta, is 130 feet high by 650 in diameter. +It has never been excavated.3 + +[Illustration: 57.] + +Dolmen of Arrayolos (Portugal). + +The dolmen type of monument is a rectangle of u hewn upright stones +covered over with a slab laid across them; this slab being the largest +block of stone that could be found in the neighborhood or obtained by +the builders. + +Dolmens are generally found either on the top of a natural or an +artificial mound, in the middle of a plain, or on the banks of a +watercourse. We must mention, amongst others, those in Persia, which +are some 7,000 feet high and from twenty-one to twenty-six feet long by +six wide; that near Mykenæ, that of Aumède-Bas, excavated by Dr. +Prunières; that of New Grange, in Ireland, surmounted by a cromlech of +stones of considerable size, many of them brought from a distance; that +of Hellstone, near Dorchester, consisting of nine upright stones +supporting a table more than twenty-seven and a half feet in +circumference, seven feet wide and two and a half thick. The dolmens +near Saturnia, one of the most ancient Etruscan towns, include a +quadrangular room, sunk some feet into the earth, and having walls made +of blocks of stone and a roof of a couple of large slabs, sloped +slightly to let the rain run off. We give illustrations of the dolmens +of Castle Wellan in Ireland (Fig. 55), of Coreoro near Plouharnel +(Morbihan) (Fig. 56), of Arrayolos in Portugal (Fig. 57), and Acora in +Peru (Fig. 58), which will enable the reader to judge of the different +modes of construction employed in building these megalithic monuments. + +[Illustration: 58.] + +Megalithic sepulchre at Acora (Peru). + +In some cases the dolmen, which alone is visible from without, is +placed upon a mound, covering a hidden sepulchral chamber, whilst in +others the crypt is replaced by a simple stone cist, generally of +rectangular shape. We may mention in this connection the dolmen of +Bekour-Noz at St. Pierre Quiberon, which is remarkable for its great +size, and rises from the midst of a cemetery in which a great many +coffins have been found. The bones they contained were unfortunately +dispersed at the time of their discovery. + +Dolmens are scattered about in great numbers in the Kouban basin and +all along the coasts of the Black Sea occupied by the Tcherkesses. +These curious vestiges of an unknown civilization are still an unsolved +enigma to us, as are those of Western Europe; they are generally formed +of four upright slabs surmounted by a fifth laid horizontally, and one +of the supporting slabs is nearly always pierced with a small round or +oval opening. Excavations have brought to light arrow-heads, rings, and +bronze spirals, but Chantre, an authority of considerable weight, and +who has moreover had the advantage of actually seeing these megalithic +monuments of the south of Russia, attributes the objects found beneath +them to secondary interments, and does not hesitate in assigning the +more ancient monuments themselves to the Stone age. We must not omit to +mention the dolmens found in the southern portion of the island of Yezo +(Japan),4 nor that described by Darwin at Puerto Deseado (Patagonia). +They are both very similar to those of Europe. + +To resume, dolmens, called _Hünengräber_ in Germany, _stazzona_ in +Corsica, _antas_ in Portugal, and _stendos_ in Sweden, have all alike +one large flat horizontal slab placed on two or more upright unhewn +stones. This is the one fixed rule; local circumstances, perhaps even +the caprice of the builders, decided the position and the mode of +erection. Often, as I have already remarked, dolmens are buried beneath +tumuli, but exceptions to this are numerous. General Faidherbe, after +having examined more than six thousand dolmens in Algeria, affirms that +the greater number have never been covered with earth.5 In the Orkney +Islands there are more than one hundred dolmens without tumuli, and +Martinet failed to find any trace of mounds in Berry. In Scotland and +Brittany we find dolmens buried, not beneath mounds of earth, but under +accumulations of pebbles, called _cairns_ in Scotland and _galgals_ in +Brittany. However minor details may vary, and they do vary infinitely, +one main idea everywhere dominated the builders, and that was the +desire to protect from all profanation the resting-place of what had +once been a human being. + +Cromlechs are circles of upright stones often surrounding dolmens or +tumuli. Sometimes they form single circles, and at others two, three, +or even seven separate enclosures. They are common in Algeria, Sweden, +and Denmark, and in the last-named country two kinds are distinguished: +the _langdyssers_, which form an ellipse, and the _rundyssers_ which +form a perfect circle. In other countries cromlechs are slot so +numerous; there are but few in France, of which we may name those of +Kergoman (Morbihan), Lestridion in Plomeur, and Landaondec in Crozon +(Finistère). The last-named, known its _le temple des faux dieux_, is +closed by a double row of small menhirs. In Italy, the only cromlechs +known are those of Sesto-Calende and those of the plateau of Mallevalle +near Ticino. One of the latter still retains in their original position +fifty-nine huge granite blocks, forming a circular enceinte, a +semicircle, and an entrance avenue. A few leagues from the ancient Tyre +can still be seen a circle of upright stones. Ouseley describes another +at Darab, in Persia; a missionary speaks of three large circles at +Khabb, in Arabia, which circles he compares with those at Stonehenge; +and Dr. Barth tells us of a cromlech between Mourzouk and Ghât. + +A kurgan, or tumulus, leaving been opened in the Kherson district, +three or four concentric circles were discovered beneath it, +surrounding a structure of considerable size.6 The cromlech of +Anajapoura in Ceylon, probably, however, erected comparatively +recently, consists of fifty-two granite pillars, about thirteen feet +high, encircling a Buddhist temple. At Peshawur is another circle, +fourteen of the stones of which are still upright, whilst traces can be +made out of an outer enceinte of smaller stones; in Peru there are +several cromlechs, whilst others have been found at the foot of +Elephant Mount, in the desert plains of Australia. The last-named vary +from ten to one thousand feet in diameter, but excavations beneath them +have brought to light only a few human bones. + +At Mzora, in Morocco, the traveller will notice a mound of elliptical +shape, some 21 or 22½ feet high, flanked on the west by a group of +menhirs, and surrounded by an enceinte of upright stones which now +number about forty. In 1831, there were still ninety, and on the south +side were noticed two round pillars parallel with each other, which +probably formed an entrance.7 This group evidently originally formed +the centre of a series of megalithic monuments, for on the north and +southwest some fifty monoliths can still be made out, some still erect, +others fallen.8 + +It was in Great Britain, however, that cromlechs appear to have reached +their highest development. That of Salkeld in Cumberland includes +sixty-seven menhirs; that near Loch Stemster in Caithness, +thirty-three, whilst in Westmoreland, _Long Meg and her daughters_ are +still the objects of superstitious reverence. The remains at Avebury +are among the most remarkable prehistoric monuments still extant, and +evidently originally formed part of a most important group. This group +had an outer rampart of earth, with a ditch on the inner side, within +which was a circle of upright stones, probably numbering as many as one +hundred. Within this circle were two others of smaller size, each in +its turn enclosing yet another circle of upright stones. In the middle +of one of these inner circles, that on the north, was a dolmen, whilst +that on the south enclosed in the centre but a single upright menhir. +The stones used in constructing these various groups were all such as +are still to be found on the Wiltshire downs. From the southeastern +portion of the extensive earthen rampart, a stone avenue extended for a +considerable distance in a perfectly straight line, and is still known +as Kennet’s Avenue, on account of its leading to the village of Kennet. +The remains on Hakpen Hill and on Silbury Hill are all supposed to have +been originally connected with those at Avebury. The remains at Hakpen +consist of relics of two circles, one about 140 feet in diameter, the +other not more than forty. About eighty yards from the inner circle was +found a double row of skeletons, all with the feet pointing towards the +centre. Silbury Hill is itself an artificial conical mound, the largest +in England, 170 feet high, on which were originally no less than 650 +upright stones, of which only twenty are still standing, surrounded by +a trench. In the centre of the circle of stones a single menhir of +great height still remains with three others sloped so as to form a +kind of crypt. + +The megalithic monuments of Stonehenge, which are probably better known +than any others in the world, are perhaps also the most curious. The +group is supposed to have originally consisted of an outer stone +concentric circle some one hundred feet in diameter, formed by thirty +piers of solid masonry, of which about twenty can still be made out, +some few standing, others lying broken upon the ground. This outer +circle enclosed a second of similar shape but lesser diameter, within +which again were taro elliptic circles, the outer consisting of ten or +twelve sandstone blocks some twenty-two feet high, standing in pairs, +each pair united by a slab laid horizontally across, so as to form a +trilithon. The inner ellipse was formed by nineteen upright masses of +granite, within which was the famous slab of blue marble, by many +supposed to have been an altar. The pillars and lintels of the outer +portico, and those of the trilithons, are fitted together with the +greatest skill, with tenons and mortices, a remarkable exception to the +general rule with megalithic monuments. Everywhere in the neighborhood +of Stonehenge, as far as the eye can reach, are tumuli, all nearly +equidistant from the principal group of monuments, a fact which has led +many archæologists, including Henry Martin, to look upon. Stonehenge as +a temple surrounded by a necropolis. Excavations at Stonehenge have +yielded a few human bones which have escaped the flames, with some +stone and bronze weapons. + +The megalithic monuments of Ireland are not less important, and a +recent survey has reported no less than 276 still standing.9 The +cromlechs of Moytura10 are supposed to commemorate the fearful combats +which took place between the _Firbolgs_, or Belgæ as they are called by +Irish antiquaries, and the Tuatha de Dananns, when the plains of Sligo +and Meath were dyed with blood, before the former were vanquished and +retired to Arran. There are still no less than fourteen dolmens and +thirty-nine cromlechs. The bones picked up beneath the stone circles, +which keep alive the memory of these sanguinary conflicts, are those of +the warriors who fell on the battlefield, but the story of how they met +their fate belongs rather to history than to the subject we are +considering. It is the same with the two huge monoliths of Cornwall. +which commemorate a battle between the Welsh King Howel Dha and the +Saxon Athelstane, as well as with the cromlechs of Ostrogothland, +where, in 736, took place the battle in which the old King Harold +Hildebrand was overcome and killed by his nephew, Sigurd-Ring. A group +of forty-four circles also marks the site of the celebrated combat of +1030, in which Knut the Great defied Olaf the patron saint of Norway. +We may also name in this connection the twenty circles of stone erected +at Upland in memory of the massacre of the Danish prince, Magnus +Henricksson, in 1161. Yet another group of circles marks the spot +where, about 1150, the Swedish heroine, Blenda, overcame King Sweyne +Grate. We might easily multiply instances of the erection in historic +times of similar monuments, but we have said enough to show that the +megalithic form was by no means confined to prehistoric days. + +Menhirs properly so called, also known as _lechs_ in Brittany, are in +reality isolated monoliths or single upright stones, often of +considerable size. One of the best known is that of Locmariaker (Fig. +59) which was nearly seventy feet high.11 It was still standing in +1659, but is now overturned and broken into four pieces. The flat stone +resting on one portion of it is known as Cæsar’s table. On some +menhirs, notably on Sweno’s pillar in Scotland, a cross has been cut on +one side, showing either that this form of monument was early adopted +by Christians, or more probably, that it was adapted to their use after +having long previously been a relic of prehistoric times. On the other +side of Sweno’s pillar is a bas-relief of fairly good execution. + +In some cases menhirs mark the site of a tomb, and sometimes, as is the +case with the obelisks of Egypt, they commemorate some happy event. A +standing stone in Scotland preserves the memory of the battle of Largs, +which took place in the thirteenth century, and a piously preserved +legend tells how the menhir of Aberlemmo was set up in honor of a +victory over the Danes in the tenth century. + +[Illustration: 59.] + +The great broken menhir of Locmariaker, with Cæsar’s table. + +Some archæologists in view of the shape of certain menhirs and the +superstitions connected with then, think they must be phallic +monuments. Menhirs in France are quoted in this connection, cut into +the form of the phallus; and the same form occurs in some menhirs near +Saphos, in the island of Cyprus,12 and in others found amongst the +ruins of Uxmal, in Yucatan. Herodotus relates that Sesostris caused toy +be set up, in countries he conquered, monoliths bearing in relief +representations of the female sexual organs. These are, however, but +exceptions, isolated facts, and it would certainly never do to argue +from them that menhirs were connected with the worship of the +generative flowers of nature. + +It is extremely difficult to get at the statistics of menhirs. A great +many have been overthrown, and yet more have disappeared altogether. +Probably, besides the alignments or stone avenues, there are not more +than twenty still standing.13 One thing is certain, the monolithic form +of monument has always had a great attraction for the human race, and +we meet with it in Egypt, Assyria, Persia, and Mexico, as well as in +England and Brittany. The historian speaks of such monuments in the +earliest of existing records; Homer refers to them in the Iliad,14 and +in the Bible we find it related that the Lord ordered Joshua to set up +twelve stones in memory of the crossing of the Jordan by the +Israelites.15 + +Alignments are groups of menhirs set up in one or wore rows. Sometimes +large slabs are laid across them, when they arc, called covered +avenues. One such alignment at Saint Pantaléon (Saône et Loire) +consists of twenty menhirs. The menhirs of El Wad, in Algeria, form +long avenues, running front west to east. The Arabs call them +_essenam_, and according to tradition they were erected in fulfillment +of a vow made in the hope of arresting the march of an enemy. The +tumulus of Run-Aour (Finistère) has two avenues running at right angles +to one another.16 This disposition, which is very rare, also occurs at +Karleby, in Sweden, and by a remarkable coincidence the length of the +avenues (about thirty-nine and fifty-five feet), is the same in both +cases. Sometimes such avenues form communications between several +dolmens, leading us to suppose that near the chief slept the members of +his family or his favorite companions. + +The covered avenues are often built beneath masses of earth, and the +inner rooms became regular hypogea, These hypogea, or subterranean +chambers, are very common near Paris, and we may mention amongst many +others those of Meudon, Argenteuil, Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, Marly, +Chamant, La Justice, and Compans. The tombs of Denmark, the _Gang +Graben_ of Nilsson, show an arrangement somewhat similar, a vast +subterranean chamber being reached by a passage ending in a small stone +cist. The tumulus of Dissignac, near Saint-Nazaire (Fig. 60), shows +this strange arrangement of two galleries running parallel with each +other at a distance of about eighteen feet. The walls and ceilings are +made of slab, anti the interstices are filled in with flints. These +galleries are some thirty feet long, and their height insensibly +increases from about three to nine feet. + +[Illustration: 60.] + +Covered avenue of Dissignac (Loire-Inférieur); view of the chamber at +the end of the north gallery. + +We must also mention the Cueva de Mengal, near the village of +Antequera, in the province of Malaga (Fig. 61) Twenty stones form the +walls of the crypt, five blocks of remarkable size serve as a roof, and +to ensure solidity three pillars are set upright inside of the junction +of the roof blocks. The crypt is some seventy-nine feet long, its +greatest width is about nineteen feet, and its height varies from about +eight to nine feet. The length of the Pastora room, near Seville is +about eighty-seven feet, but its height is not to be compared with that +of the one at Antequera. The square crypt at Pastora is very +interesting. One of the roof stones having been broken, it has been +strengthened by the addition of an inside pillar.17 + +[Illustration: 61.] + +Covered avenue near Antequera. + +At Gavr’innis, the length of the passage leading to the crypt exceeds +forty-two feet (Fig. 62), and the Long Barrow of West Kennet is more +than seventy-three feet long by a width in some parts exceeding +thirty-two feet. In the Long Barrows of Littleton, Nempnitt, and Uley, +the crypt is reached by an avenue, the entrance of which is closed by a +trilithon, and a similar arrangement is met with in many megalithic +monuments of Scania. The sepulchral chambers of oval shape, such as +that met with in the island of Moen, were surmounted by a tumulus some +100 yds. in circumference; twelve unhewn stones formed the walls, and +five large blocks the roof. In removing the earth from the Moen tomb, +the bones of several human individuals were found; and a skeleton, +doubtless that of the chief, lay stretched out in the middle of the +chamber, whilst the bones of the others had evidently been ranged +against the walls either in a sitting or crouching position. With the +bones were found a flint hatchet, which appeared never to have been +used, a number of balls of amber, and several vases of different +shapes. + +[Illustration: 62.] + +Ground plan of the Gavr’innis monument. + +The megalithic monuments of Mecklenburg are supposed to date from +Neolithic times, and are constructed in two very different ways. The +_Hünengräber_, formed of huge blocks of granite set up at right angles +to each other, resemble the covered avenues of France and elsewhere; in +the so-called _Riesenbetten_, or giant’s beds, on the contrary, the +sepulchral chamber is merely sunk in the ground. + +We must also mention the so-called _Grotte des Fées_, or fairy grotto, +forming part of so many of the megalithic monuments of Provence. This +fairy grotto includes an open-air gallery cut in the mountain limestone +and roofed in with huge flat stones. This gallery leads to a sepulchral +chamber not less than seventy-nine feet long. + +The stones used for the covered avenue of Mureaux (Seine et Oise) carne +from the other side of the Seine, so that the builders must have +crossed the river in a raft. Excavations have brought to light several +skeletons that had been buried without any attempt at orientation, the +bores of which were still in their natural position. The objects found +in this tomb were very numerous mid belonged to the Neolithic period.18 + +We have now specified the chief forms and modes of arrangement of +megalithic monuments, and must add that they are often found in +juxtaposition. At Mané-Lud, for instance, on a rocky platform which had +been artificially smoothed, and which is some 246 feet long by 162 in +area, we find at the eastern extremity an avenue of upright stones, on +the west a dolmen, and in the centre a crypt surmounted by a conical +pile of stones. Between the cone and the avenue the ground is covered +with an artificial paving of small stones cemented together, and known +in France as a _nappe pierreuse_, and amongst the stones forming this +paving were found quantities of charcoal and bones of animals. The +megalith was completely buried beneath a mound of earth, or rather of +dried mud, the amount of which was estimated at more than 37,986 cubic +feet. At Lestridiou (Finistère), a cromlech forms the starting-point of +an alignment formed of seven rows of small menhirs, the mean height of +which above the ground does not exceed three feet; and these alignments +lead up to two covered avenues and a central dolmen. In other cases, in +England and the land of Moab for instance, alignments simply lead to +cromlechs; whilst in some few cases, as at Stennis (Fig. 63), the +menhirs are scattered about a plain in great numbers, with nothing +either in their form or their position, or in the traditions relating +to them, to throw the slightest light on their origin. + +[Illustration: 63.] + +Monoliths at Stennis, in the Orkney, Islands. + +One of the most important monuments that have come down to us is that +of Carnac. The alignments of Menec, Kermario, and Kerlescant include +1,771 menhirs, of which 675 are still standing. The alignments of +Erdeven, which succeed those of Carnac, extend for a length of more +than a mile and a half. They originally included 1,030 menhirs, of +which 288 are still extant. + +The archæologists of Brittany, carried away perhaps by their patriotic +enthusiasm, claim that when these monuments were intact they included +two thousand menhirs. What is really certain, however, is that a +definite plan was evidently followed, the distances between the +alignments tallying exactly; the menhirs being set up in straight +parallel lines gradually decreasing in size towards the east. +Excavations near them have brought to light fragments of charcoal, +masses of cinders, chips of silicate of flint, with numerous fragments +of pottery, and tools made of quartzite, granite, schist, and diorite, +similar to those met with under all the other megaliths of Morbihan. +This is yet another proof, if such were needed, that they were all the +work of the same race and all probably date from the same period. + +The number of megalithic monuments in the world is simply incalculable. +M. A. Bertrand estimates the total number in France as 2,582, +distributed in 66 departments and 1,200 communes. They are most +numerous of all in Brittany; there are 491 in the Côtes-du-Nord, 530 in +Ille-et-Vilaine. I am not sure of the number in Morbihan, but I know it +is very considerable. The commission appointed at the instigation of +Henry Martin decided that there were as many as 6,310 megaliths in +France, but then amongst these were included polishing stones and +cup-shaped stones, with other similar relics of the remote past. +Lastly, a report recently presented to the Chamber of Deputies by M. A. +Proust estimates at 419 the number of groups classed by government. In +other countries these numbers are greatly exceeded. There are 2,000 +megaliths in the Orkney Islands and a great many in the extreme north +of Scania, and in Otranto in the southern extremity of Europe, where +they resemble the _pedras fittas_ of Sardinia. Pallas, and after him, +Haxthausen, tells us that there are thousands of kurganes in the +steppes of Central and Southern Russia.19 These kurganes are cromlechs, +tombs surmounted by upright stones, square or conical hypogea, all +scattered about without any apparent system, surmounted by roughly +sculptured female busts, known amongst the common people as _kamena +baba_, or stone women. Tumuli, too, abound on the shores of the Irtisch +and of the Yenisei, mute witnesses to the former presence of a vanished +race of which we know neither the ancestors nor the descendants. These +monuments are, however, by some attributed to the Tchoudes, a people +who came from the Altai Mountains. The Esthonians, the Ogris or Ulgres, +the Finns, and perhaps even the Celts, are supposed to be branches of +the same ethnological tree. This is however quite a recent idea, and at +best but a mere hypothesis.20 + +Algeria presents a vast field for research, and it is easy to find +dolmens and cromlechs, such as that shown in Fig. 64, which are +sepulchres with a central dolmen surrounded by a double or triple +enceinte of monoliths driven into the ground. These monuments, much as +they differ in form and arrangement, are undoubtedly the work of one +strong and powerful race that dominated the whole of the north of +Africa; and are represented in historic times by the Berbers, and at +the present clay by the Kabyles. + +[Illustration: 64.] + +Cromlech near Bône (Algeria). + +Although a very great many of them have been destroyed, the French +possessions in Algeria are still as rich in monuments of this kind as +any of the countries of Europe. On Mount Redgel-Safia six hundred +dolmens have been made out, with stone tables resting on walls of dry +stones and frequently surrounded by cromlechs. Dr. Weisgerber has +recently announced the discovery in the valley of Ain-Massin, on the +vest of Mzab,) of a cromlech consisting of a number of concentric +circles of large stones set upon an elliptical tumulus, more than +fifty-four square yards in area. Quite close is a workshop of flint +weapons, probably in use at the time of the erection of the +megaliths.21 In Midjana, the number of megaliths exceeds 10,000, and +General Faidherbe counted more than 2,000 in the necropolis of Mazela, +and a yet larger number in that of Roknia. “At Bou-Merzoug,” says M. +Feraud,22 “in a radius of three leagues, on the mountain as well as on +the plain, the whole country about the springs is covered with +monuments of the Celtic form, such as dolmens, demi-dolmens, menhirs, +avenues, and tumuli. In a word, there are to be found examples of +nearly every type known in Europe. For fear of being taxed with +exaggeration, I will not fix the number, but I can certify that I saw +and examined more than a thousand in the three days of exploration, on +the mountain itself, and on the declivities wherever it was possible to +place them. All the monuments are surrounded with a more or less +complete enceinte of large stones, sometimes set up in a circle, +sometimes in a square. In some cases the living rock forms hart of the +enceinte, which has been completed with the help of other blocks frolic +elsewhere. It is often difficult to decide where the monument end, and +the rock begins. When the escarpment was too abrupt, it was levelled +with the aid of a kind of retaining wall, which forms a terrace round +the dolmen. The dolmens in the plain seem to have been constructed with +even greater care. The enceintes are wider and the slabs of the tables +larger.” Megalithic monuments are met with even in the desert. A +pyramid built of stones without mortar rises up in the districts +inhabited by the Touaregs; and quite near to it are four or five tombs +surrounded by standing stones. + +In Algeria, we also meet with quadrangular pyramids called _djedas_, +which measure as much as ninety feet on each face, but do not rise more +than three feet above the ground. The (lead were buried beneath them in +a crouching position. We know nothing either of the origin of these +djedas or of the date to which they belong. + +The monuments of Tunisia were probably as numerous as those of Algeria. +We may note especially the vast area in Enfida, completely covered with +dolmens, one hundred of which are still standing, and in excellent +preservation, whilst the ruins of others strew the soil, bringing up +their original number to at least three thousand. Those described by M. +Girard de Rialle23 are yet more interesting. Near the village of Ellez, +on the road from Kef to Kerouan, are some fifteen covered avenues +distributed without apparent order, and rising from the midst of Roman +ruins. The upright stones vary from about ten to thirteen feet, and are +surmounted by huge slabs. The chief dolmen has within it as many as ten +chambers. + +There are also numerous tumuli in Syria. We have already alluded to +that of Sarepta; and there are others near Antioch and in the plain of +Beka, between Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon. Major Conder, who as captain +conducted the interesting campaign organized by the Palestine +Exploration Society in 1881 and 1882, speaks of the exploration of the +rude stone monuments as one of the most interesting features of the +surveys, and says: “The distribution of the centres where these +monuments occur in Syria, is a matter of no little importance … no +dolmens, menhirs, or ancient circles have been discovered in Judæa, and +only one doubtful circle in Samaria. In Lower Galilee a single dolmen +has been found; in Upper Galilee four of moderate dimensions are known. +West of Tiberias is a circle, and between Tyre and Sidon an enclosure +of menhirs. At Tell el Kady, one of the Jordan sources, a centre of +basalt dolmens exists, and at Kefr Wal … there is another large centre. +At Amman several fine dolmens and large menhirs are known to exist … it +is doubtful, however, if all these examples added together would equal +the great fields of rude stone monuments to be found in Moab, for it is +calculated that seven hundred examples were found by the surveyors in +1881.24 There is one group of dolmens at Ali Safat, in Palestine, in +which the supports of the table are pierced with an opening. This is a +very interesting fact, to which I have already alluded, and to which I +shall have to refer again. Another group of some twenty dolmens was +discovered by M. de Saulcy on the plateau of El Azemieh, one of which +rises in the centre of a belt of roughly sculptured upright stones; and +yet a third group is to be seen near Mount Nebo, which Major Conder +thus describes: “Here a well-defined dolmen was found northwest of the +flat, ruined cairn, which harks the summit of the ride. The cap-stone +was very thick, and its top is some five feet from the ground. The +side-stones were rudely piled, and none of the blocks were cut or +shaped … In subsequent visits it was ascertained that on the south +slope of the mountain there is a circle about 250 feet in diameter, +with a wall of twelve feet thick, consisting of small stones piled up +in a sort of vellum.”25 + +With regard to the megalithic monuments of India, we can only repeat +what we have already said. Colonel Meadows Taylor has counted 2,129 in +the district of Bellary (Deccan) alone. Many legends are connected with +them which remind us of those of Europe, some attributing their +erection to dwarfs or rants, to fairies or to genii, whilst others +think they were the work of the Kauranas and Pandaves, the celebrated +families whose long struggle is described in the Mahabharata, and were +probably aboriginal races of the continent. The plain of Jellalabad and +of Nagpore, stud the valley of Cabul are literally strewn with these +monuments. They are not less numerous in the Presidency of Madras, +where they chiefly consist of subterranean chambers made of huge unhewn +stones or of dolmens above ground surrounded by one or more circles of +upright stones, such as are shorn in Fig. 65. Major Biddulph, when he +ascended the valleys of the Hindoo Koosh Mountains, was astonished to +see on every side megalithic monuments resembling those of his own +country, and, like them, the work of an unknown race.26 + +[Illustration: 65.] + +Dolmen at Pallicondah, near Madras (India). + +This is, of course, but a very rapid survey of the megalithic monuments +of our globe. They are most of them either tombs intended to hold the +bodies of the dead, or memorials set up in their honor. New facts are +constantly coming to light in this connection, and we may add to what +we have already said, that beneath the tumulus of Mugen, as in the +Cabeco d’Aruda ( Portugal), there are numerous skeletons; sixty-two +repose in the sepulchral chamber of Monastier (Lozère); the dolmen +known as the Mas de l’Aveugle (Gard) covers a circular cavity in which +fifteen corpses had been placed; that of La Mouline (Charente) also +enclosed a number of skeletons, all in a crouching position, whilst +above them were placed two clumsy vases, a pious offering to the +unknown dead. The prehistoric cemetery of Maupas contains several +crypts of irregular form, built of rubble stone, and surmounted by a +huge stone which had become corroded by age. In these crypts, too, the +dead were piled up on each other, and the relics found with them +justify us in assigning them to the Neolithic age. Beneath the dolmens +of Port-Blanc (Morbihan) were two upper layers of dead, stretched out +horizontally and separated by flat stones. In the Isle de Thinie +(Morbihan) excavations have brought to light twenty-seven stone cists +or coffins of different sizes, all intended to be used for burial. +Beneath the menhirs of Finistère, cinders and stones charred by fire +bear eloquent witness to the cremation of the dead. “Whenever a dolmen +has been opened in Finistère,” says Dr. Floquet, “cinders or bones have +been picked up; why, then, should we not admit that all dolmens are +tombs?” This is really a conclusion to which we are almost compelled to +come, and the names handed down by popular tradition are, if need be, +yet another proof of the same thing. One dolmen at Locmariaker, for +instance, is known as _le tombeau du vieillard_, a covered avenue at +Saint Gildas is _le champ du tombeau_, and farther on a pathway leading +to a ruined megalith is known as the _chemin du tombeau_. The Abbé +Harvard speaks of a remarkable monolith known as _la pierre du champ +dolent_, and another _champ dolent_ is met with near Rheims, whilst a +group of monuments near Tréhontereuc is called the _jardin des tombes_, +and the upright stones of Auvergne are known by the characteristic name +of the _plourouses_. + +Whether we examine the megaliths of Germany or of Poland, the mounds of +Ohio or of Kentucky, of Missouri or of Arkansas, it is ever the same +thing; excavations bring to light striking proofs of their destination, +and everywhere we are led to the same conclusions. + +Archæologists would certainly appear to have been justified in hoping +that the tombs thus scattered about all over the world would yield such +useful information as to lead to some final conclusions. Unfortunately, +however, this has not been the case. Often all trace of burial has +disappeared in successive displacements, and more often still, the home +of the dead has been violated in the hope, which turned out to be +imaginary, of finding treasures; whilst in other cases the earliest +inhabitants of the tombs have been removed to make way for their +successors, who in their turn were soon afterwards expelled. Victory +and defeat were not over with life, but were met with yet again in the +grave. + +[Illustration: 66.] + +Dolmen at Maintenon, with a table about 19½ feet long. + +It has been well pointed out by Fergusson, in his “Rude Stone +Monuments,” that the megalithic architecture of the remote past is a +thing altogether apart; its special form indicating now the tendencies +of a race or group of races of mankind, now the particular degree of +civilization attained by a race at a certain period of its development. +A cursory view of these monuments as a whole would lead us to class +them all together as masses of rough, scarcely hewn stones piled up +without cement, and almost always without ornamentation. In studying +them one by one, however, we find, in spite of their undeniable family +likeness, if we may use such a term, that it is quite easy to snake out +certain differences, the result of the peculiar genius of the race by +whom they were erected, or of the nature of the materials the builders +had at their disposal. To take a case in point: Cromlechs are most +numerous in England, and dolmens in France, and in both these countries +we meet with a form of dolmen (Fig. 66) such as is rarely set up in +other districts; one of the extremities of the table resting on the +ground, and the other opt two supporting stones. In Scandinavia the +supports are erratic blocks, in India fragments of the rocks in the +neighborhood, in Algeria and the south of France buildings in courses +are often met with; in Brittany the monuments of Mané-er-H’roek and +Mané-Lud are paved with large stones. The ground from which rises the +dolmen of Caranda, near Fère in Tardenois (Aisne), is covered with +slabs, and the opening is closed with a flat stone resting on two +lintels. We cannot speak of Caranda without referring to the +discoveries and magnificent publications of M. F. Moreau, thanks to +whom the daily life of the Gauls, Gallo-Romans, and Merovingians is +brought vividly before us. To return, however to our monuments: As we +have seen, the crypt was in many cases divided into two or more +sepulchral chambers by walls made of stones. We find this arrangement +at Gavr’innis, at Gamat (Lot), at Alt-Sammit in Mecklenburg, in Wayland +Smith’s cave in Berkshire, and in a great many monuments in +Scandinavia. M. du Chatellier speaks of several megalithic monuments in +Finistère, including a central dolmen and several lateral chambers. The +chambered graves at Park Cwn in Wales, and at Uley in Gloucestershire, +contain side chambers, those of the former with a covered passage +between them, whilst in the latter the side chambers are grouped round +a central apartment. At New Grange, in Ireland, a passage more than +ninety-two feet long leads to a double chamber of cruciform shape, with +a roof of converging stones. Yet another fine example of a similar kind +is that of Maeshow in the Orkney Islands. The tomb of Vauréal +(Seine-et-Oise) contains three crypts of different sizes. The long +barrow of Moustoir-Carnac contained four separate chambers, the western +one of which is a dolmen of the kind known as _Grottes des Fées_, and +is supposed to be much older than the rest of the group. A central +circular chamber, with walls of upright stones, has a roof in which an +attempt has been made to form a kind of dome, the stones of which +project and overlap each other, marking, clumsy as is the construction, +a considerable advance on anything previously accomplished, and adding +considerably to the solidity of the monument. + +An examination of the megalithic monuments still standing enables us to +judge of the difficulties with which their builders had to contend, +bearing in mind the primitive nature of their tools. We have already +given the dimensions of the stones forming the alignments at Carnac. +Those at Avebury vary in height from about fourteen to sixteen feet, +and in the Deccan is a tumulus surrounded by fifty-six blocks of +granite of an even greater size. One of the slabs of the +Pedra-dos-Muros (Portugal) is remarkable for its size; and the length +of the table of a dolmen on the road from Loudun to Fontevrault is more +than seventy-two feet long; that of the dolmen of Tiaret (Algeria) is +some seventy-five feet long by a width of nearly twenty-six feet and a +thickness of nine and a half feet. This extremely heavy block rests on +supports rising more than thirty-nine feet from the ground.27 + +Stone as well as wood can be much more easily cut in one direction than +in any other. Men early learnt to recognize this peculiarity, and to +take advantage of it in attacking rock. With their stone hammers they +struck in straight lines, always aiming at the same points, and then, +probably with the help of a fierce file, they succeeded in breaking off +fragments. They also employed wedges of wood, which they drove into +natural or artificial fissures, pouring water on to this wedge again +and again. The wood became swollen with the damp, and in course of time +a block of stone would be detached. Neither time nor sinewy arms were +wanting, and Fergusson has remarked that any one who has seen the ease +with which Chinese coolies transport the largest monoliths for +considerable distances, will not look upon the difficulties of +transport as insurmountable. A more serious difficulty would be the +placing of the table of the dolmen on the supports, which are often +raised to a great height above the ground. It is supposed that earth +was piled up against the jambs so as to form an inclined plane, up +which the table was slid into place with levers and rollers of the most +primitive form, such as were in use in the most remote antiquity. +Sometimes the way in which these stones are balanced is perfectly +marvellous. The Martine stone, near Livernon (Lot), for instance, is +the shape of a boat, and the slightest touch is enough to make it rock +on its two supports. That of Castle Wellan (Fig. 55) rests on three +stones pointed at the top, and some of the trilithons of India are of +even more remarkable construction. + +Although, as a general rule, megalithic monuments are without +ornamentation, there are a good many exceptions in the case of dolmens +made of very hard granite, on which numerous carvings and engravings +have been made. It is, however, impossible to decipher any but a very +few of these signs, whether circles, disks, dots, tooth or leaf +mouldings, spirals, serpentine lines, lozenges, or strip. + +M. du Chatellier describes at Commana (Finistère) an entrance gallery +loaded with carvings, and the walls of one of the Deux-Sèvres monuments +have on them some very rough representations of the human figure cut in +_intaglio_, whilst various megaliths of Ireland are adorned with +circles, spirals, stars, etc. One of the supports of the dolmen of +Petit-Mont-en-Arzon has on it a representation of two human feet in +relief; that of Couedic in Lockmikel-Baden is paired with flat stones +covered with engravings. On the granite ceiling of the crypt beneath +the dolmen of the Merchants, or as it is called in Brittany the _Dol +Varchant_, is engraved the figure of a large animal supposed to have +been a horse, but the head of which was unfortunately broken off at +some remote date.28 We often meet with representations of hammers, +sometimes with and sometimes without handle. We give an illustration of +one of the walls of the Mané-Lud monument (Fig. 67), which will enable +the reader to judge of the general character of these engravings. + +[Illustration: 67.] + +Part of the Mané-Lud dolmen. + +The monument of the Isle of Gavr’innis, of which we have already +spoken, is the most remarkable of any for the richness of its +decoration. It includes a gallery, consisting of forty-nine blocks of +granite and two of quartz, leading to a spacious apartment. These +blocks were brought from a distance, and the fact that the little arm +of the sea separating the island from the mainland was crossed, proves +that the men who built the monument owned boats strong enough to carry +heavy loads. Excavations carried on in 1884 brought to light a pavement +consisting of ten large slabs of granite, and beneath this pavement was +found a kind of crypt at least three feet deep, the lower part of the +lateral menhirs forming the walls. We must add, however, that Dr. de +Closmadeuc, and his opinion should carry weight, thinks that when the +Gavr’innis monument was erected the island was connected with the +mainland. Three of the supports, forming the walls of the crypt, and +all those of the gallery are covered with chevrons or zig-zag +ornaments, circles, lozenges, and scrolls of which Fig. 68 will give +some idea, and which Mérimée compares to the tatooing of the +inhabitants of New Zealand. Megalithic monuments of Ireland and certain +stones in Northumberland are ornamented in a manner resembling the +Gavr’innis engraving, similar designs being produced by similar means, +and although the engravings of Morbihan are generally more clearly cut +and distinct, Ave note in all alike the same absence of regularity, the +same roughness of execution, the same strange types, the same disorder +in the arrangement of the signs, and the same care to preserve the +surface of the block in its natural condition. + +[Illustration: 68.] + +Sculptures on the menhirs of the covered avenue of Gavr’innis. + +There has been a good deal of discussion about the orientation of +megalithic monuments, and the truth on that point once ascertained, +some light might be thrown on the aim of the builders. It is evident, +however, that there never was any general system of orientation. The +dolmens of Morbihan, it is true, nearly all face the east, doubtless in +homage to the sun rising in its splendor; but this is not the case in +Finistère, and the dolmens of Kervinion and Kervardel, for instance, +are set due north and south. Leaving Brittany, we are told by the Rev. +W. Lukis that the position of the megalithic monuments of England +varies considerably: most of the dolmens of Berry, Poitou, Aveyron, and +the island of Bornholm, face west; and those of Algeria are set +southwest, and northeast, so that it is really impossible to come to +any final conclusion. + +Some of the megalithic monuments already noticed have a peculiarity to +which we must refer here on account of its importance. One of the +supports, in nearly every case that which closes the entrance, is +pierced with a circular opening. Sometimes, however, the opening is +elliptical or square. + +[Illustration: 69.] + +Dolmen with opening (India). + +We meet with dolmens thus distinguished in India (Fig. 69), in Sweden, +in Algeria, in France, and in Palestine, where they are often +associated with sepulchral niches hewn out of the rock and also pierced +with an opening corresponding with that of the entrance. In Alemtejo +(Spain), square openings occur. West of Karleby in Sweden, is a +sepulchral chamber about twenty-nine feet long, made of slabs set +upright, all those facing south being pierced with a nearly circular +opening; and on the shores of the Black Sea dolmens made of four +upright stones surmounted by a slab, have, in every case, one of the +uprights pierced with an artificial opening about six inches in +diameter. These dolmens are said by the country people to have been set +up by a race of giants who built them as shelters for a dwarf people on +whom they had compassion. + +[Illustration: 70.] + +Dolmen near Trie (Oise). + +In France, dolmens with openings are so numerous that it is difficult +to make a selection. That known as La Justice, near Beaumont-sur-Oise, +consists of a small vestibule and a very long mortuary chamber, +separated by a slab pierced with a round opening. We must also mention +the megalithic monument of Villers-Saint-Sépulchre at Trie (Oise) (Fig. +70), that of Grand-Mont, with many of those of Morbihan, of which that +of Kerlescant has an oval opening; the covered avenue of +Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, originally erected at the confluence of the +Seine and Oise, and now set up exactly as it was found at Saint +Germain, has an oval opening, and presents the exceptional feature, of +which I know no other instance, of having a stone for closing the +opening if necessary; the covered avenue of Bellehaye in Normandy, +reproduced with precision at the Paris Exhibition of 1889, which was +closed by a transverse stone with an opening some inches in diameter. + +Of English examples we may mention the dolmens of Rodmarten and +Avening; Mérimée quotes several megalithic monuments in Wiltshire; and +Sir J. Simpson, the well-known and oft-described _Kit’s Cotty House_, +which is nothing more than a dolmen with an opening. _Holed Stones_, as +they are called, are numerous in Cornwall, the size of the opening +varying considerably; that at Men-an-Tol, for instance, is more than a +foot in diameter, whilst others are but a few inches long. At Orry’s +Grave, in the Isle of Man, two large stones are so placed as to leave a +circular space between them, which was evidently intended to serve the +same purpose, or at least was in accordance with the same superstition, +as were similar characteristics elsewhere. Setting aside the +interminable legends connected with dolmens having openings, there is +no doubt that this peculiarity of structure, which we meet with in +India as in Scandinavia, in the Caucasus as in France, shows that the +builders of all of them were impelled by a similar idea. These openings +are too small to allow of the introduction of other corpses, or to +afford to the living a refuge in the home of the dead; they could but +have served for the passing in of food, of which a supply was so often +left for the departed; or yet another interpretation is possible: they +may have been left for the soul or the spirit to leave its earthly +prison and take flight for those happy regions in which all races more +or less believe, and to which belief these openings may be witnessed to +the present day. M. Cartailhac, however, hazards yet another +explanation, and suggests that the megalithic monuments were intended +for the interment of whole families, and that the bodies were not +introduced into the tombs until all the flesh was gone, when the +skeletons might have been slipped through the openings left for that +purpose. The repeated disturbances of the remains in the graves have +unfortunately often entirely dispersed all the human bones. + +It was in Brittany that the art of erecting dolmens reached its fullest +development, and it is there that the relics found in the tombs are of +the most important character. Nowhere do we find weapons more carefully +preserved, more delicately finished ornaments of a more remarkable +kind. The Museum of Vannes, where most of the valuable objects found in +the excavations are preserved, possesses quartzite, fibrolite, diorite, +and even nephrite and jadeite hatchets, some of which materials are not +native to Europe; as well as amber beads and a necklace of calaïte, +that precious stone described by Pliny, and which long remained unknown +after his time. + +Hatchets or celts are more numerous than any other objects found +beneath dolmens of Brittany. A report, read by M. R. Galles to the +Société Polymathique of Morbihan, enumerates the objects found with the +dead beneath the dolmen of Saint-Michel. This report is a regular +inventory, in which figure eleven jade celts of great elegance of form +and varying from about three and a half to sixteen inches, two larger +celts of coarse workmanship both broken, twenty-six small fibrolite +celts with sharp edges, nine pendants, more than one hundred jasper +beads which had been part of a necklace, and lastly an ivory ring. +Other megalithic monuments were not less rich in relics. Thirty +hatchets were picked up at Tumiac; more than a hundred, nearly all of +tremolite, at Mané-er-H’roek; which were remarkable for their +regularity of form, their polish, and the variety of their colors. They +seldom bear any traces of having been used, and in many cases they +appear to have been intentionally broken, probably in conformity with +some funereal rite. Finistère, though not so rich as Morbihan, +furnished an important contingent. The excavations of the Kerhué-Bras +tumulus brought to light a sepulchral chamber which contained +thirty-three arrow-beads. Beneath other dolmens were picked up a number +of little plaques of slate, all pierced with holes; one of these pieces +of slate, which was oblong in form, bore on it a representation of a +sun with rays surrounded by ornaments not easy to make out. The Breton +megalithic monuments also contained numerous fragments of pottery, some +of which had formed part of vases without stands, such as those found +at Santorin and at Troy. + +In other parts of France, similar discoveries have been made; shells +often brought from distant shores, glass beads, amber bowls, hatchets +and celts made of stone foreign to the country. Dr. Prunières presented +to the French Association, when it met at Bordeaux, a collection of +weapons and ornaments which came from the megalithic monuments of +Lozère. M. Cartailhac described at the Prehistoric Congress of +Copenhagen the dolmen of Grailhe (Gard). A skeleton was found beneath +it crouching in a corner; whilst round about it lay a knife, a flint +arrow-head, a vase of coarse pottery, and in the earth forming the +tumulus were picked up twenty arrow-heads, a hatchet of chloromelanite, +with numerous beads and fragments of pottery. Were these offerings to +the dead, or to the infernal deities, given to them in the hope of +propitiating them in favor of the deceased? Beneath the megalith of +Saint Jean d’Alcas were found beads of blue glass and of enamel which +Dr. Prunières, having compared with those in the Campana collection in +the Louvre, thinks are of Phœnician origin. The tumuli of the Pyrenees +have yielded calaïte beads of the shape of small cylinders pierced with +holes; and the dolmen of Breton (Tarn-et-Garonne) eight hundred and +thirty-two necklace beads, some of the shape of a heart. Beneath the +Vauréal dolmen were found five skulls in a row, and near one of them, +that of a woman, lay a necklace made of round bits of bone and slate, +on which hung a little jadeite hatchet as an amulet. These human relics +were also accompanied by a fibrolite celt, numerous little worked +flints, and some fragments of pottery. This arrangement of skulls in a +tomb is very rare, and the only thing I can compare it to is the row of +five horses’ heads placed at the end of the entrance gallery of +Mané-Lud. + +At Alt-Sammit (Mecklenburg), were round stone hatchets, flint knives, +fragments of pottery covered with strive and ornaments; at Tenarlo +(Holland), urns and amber beads. At Ancress in the island of Jersey, we +find a regular necropolis dating from Neolithic times, and one hundred +vases or urns of different forms were collected. In the Long Barrow of +West Kennet, too, were found numerous fragments of pottery, and with +these fragments boars’ tusks longer than those of the boar of the +present clay, the bones of sheep, goats, roedeer, pigs, and of a large +species of ox, all of which are probably relics of a funeral feast. At +a little distance from West Kennet the Rev. Doyen Merewether found +several flint implements. Here too, then, as elsewhere, the home of the +living was side by side with the resting-place of the (lead. + +Beneath the dolmens of West Gothland have been found polished stone +weapons and tools associated with the bones of domestic animals, in +many cases bearing traces of the work of the hand of man. At Olleria, +in the kingdom of Valencia, at Xeres de la Frontera, we find diorite +hatchets, and in Algeria vases filled with the shells of land mollusca. +In every clime we meet with tokens of the respect in which the dead +were held. + +This respect is really very remarkable. The builders of the dolmens did +not hesitate to sacrifice their most precious objects, their richest +ornaments, their hatchets and precious stones brought from a distance +by their tribe in their long migrations. No one would dream of robbing +the sacred collection. Our own contemporaries, however civilized we may +flatter ourselves by considering them, would not prove themselves as +disinterested. + +Hatchets, pottery, and personal ornaments of stone bone, etc., are not +the only artificial objects found beneath the megalithic monuments. +Metals, too, have been discovered, and M. Piette in one of his +excavations, came across a plate formed of very thin layers of gold +leaf welded together by hammering; and in several parts of the south of +France have been found olives made of gold and pierced lengthwise. The +dolmen of Carnouet in Brittany, insignificant as it appears and +containing but one small sepulchral chamber with no gallery of access +or lateral crypts, beneath a tumulus about thirteen feet high by some +eighty-five in diameter, and which was left untouched until our own +day, actually contained a golden necklace weighing over seven ounces; +in the crypt of the Castellet monument was found a golden plaque and a +golden bead; whilst the Ors dolmen in the isle of Oleron concealed a +nugget which had been rolled into the shape of a bead probably after +having been beaten thin with a hammer. At Plouharnel, two golden +amulets were found beneath a triple dolmen, and M. du Chatellier, in +excavating beneath a megalithic monument in Finistère, found a +magnificent chain of gold. A somewhat similar chain was taken from the +Leys dolmen near Inverness, and in 1842 Lord Albert Cunningham picked +up at New Grange (Ireland) two necklaces, a brooch, and a ring, all of +gold. + +More than a hundred megalithic monuments of France have been found to +contain bronze, and this number would be more than doubled if we +counted the finds in tombs not connected with megaliths, such as those +of Aveyron and Lozère, where a few bits of bronze were found mixed with +numerous stone objects. One fifth of the weapons, especially the swords +and daggers found beneath the dolmens, are of bronze. At Kerhué in +Finistère, a number of bronze swords were arranged in a circle round a +little heap of cinders and black earth, relics, probably, of the +cremation of the dead, in honor of whom the tumulus had been erected. + +Beneath the dolmens of Roknia (Algeria) were found thirteen bronze +ornaments, and two in silver gilt of very superior workmanship, and +under those of the Caucasus were picked up blue-glass beads, +arrow-heads, and bronze rings; but M. Chantre, who is an authority in +the matter, thinks these objects date from interments subsequent to the +erection of the dolmens. + +Iron was much more rarely used than bronze in the greater part of +Europe. It was not even known in Scandinavia before the Christian era. +In Germany, Pannonia, and Noricum its use dates from the sixth or +seventh century B.C. Beneath the mounds of Central America we find but +a few fragments of meteoric iron, the rarity of which made them +extremely valuable; on the other hand iron was known to the Hellenes as +long ago as the fourteenth century B.C., and it had been employed in +Egypt for many centuries prior to that time. The most ancient +sepulchres of Malabar contain iron tridents, and Genesius dates their +use from before the deluge. It is therefore surprising to find that +some races remained for an illimitable time ignorant of the way to +procure a metal of such great utility. + +Iron was not used in Brittany until towards the close of the period +during which megalithic monuments were erected. Stone, bronze, and iron +were found together in the Nignol tomb at Carnac, which dates from the +time when cremation was already practised. We find the same association +of different materials in the Rocher dolmen. + +In the British Isles, especially in Scotland and in Ireland, bronze and +iron objects are more numerous than in France. At Aspatria, near St. +Bees in Cumberland, a cist was discovered containing the skeleton of a +man measuring seven feet from the crown of the head to the feet. Near +the giant lay numerous valuable objects, including an iron sword inlaid +with silver, a gold buckle, the fragments of a shield and of a +battle-axe, and the iron bit of a snaffle bridle. The great cairn of +Dowth, in Ireland, contained iron knives and rings mixed with bone +needles, copper pins, and glass and amber beads, all showing rapid +progress in the industrial arts. The remarkable cairns near Lough Crew +(Ireland), which were untouched and indeed unknown to archæologists +until 1863, were found to contain, amongst many other interesting +objects, numerous human bones, fragments of pottery, shells of marine +mollusca, 4,884 bone implements, and seven pieces of iron very much +oxidized. The tumuli of the Grand Duchy of Posen and those of Prussia +cover kistvaens containing funeral vases, weapons, and silver and gold +ornaments. + +We are altogether in the dark as to the date or the use of the various +objects found in these tombs, and the coins bearing dates which are +often associated with them, do not seem to help us much, belonging as +they doubtless do to a much later period than the erection of the +monuments. We may, however, mention that near the surface of the mound +of Mané-er-H’roek eleven medals of Roman emperors from Tiberius to +Trajan were found; whilst under the tumulus of Rosmeur, on the Penmarch +Point (Finistère), were various Roman coins; at Bergous in Locmariaker, +at Mané-Rutual, and at other places in Brittany, coins of the earliest +Christian emperors; at Uley, in Gloucestershire, some coins of the time +of the sons of Constantine; at Mining-Low (Derbyshire), beneath a +kistvaen surrounded by a cromlech, some medals of Valentinianus; at +Galley-Low, with a magnificent gold necklace set with garnets, a coin +of Honorius, but as these last were found at the outer edge of the +mound there are doubts as to the time of their deposition; these doubts +were, however, to some extent set at rest by the finding of a coin of +Geta beneath the monument itself. We might multiply instances of +similar finds, but I will only mention one more, the discovery under +some Scotch barrows of silver necklaces and coins of the Caliphs of +Bagdad, bearing date from 88 887 to 945 A.D. + +This last discovery confirms what I have already said, that the +introduction of the coins was of much later date than the erection of +the monument. Another fact adds weight to this decision. The most +ancient Gallic coins date from about three centuries before our era, +and the earliest British from a century earlier than that. How is it +that excavations have brought to light no specimens of either? The +Romans successively occupied all the countries of which we have just +spoken; the tombs themselves bear witness to their conquests; and it is +to the violation of the tombs, the displacements, and secondary +interments that we owe the introduction of coins, pottery, and bricks +that undoubtedly date from the Roman period, and were probably placed +beside their dead by the Roman legionaries. + +Whatever may be the difficulties, however, we are already able to come +to certain definite conclusions. We cannot connect the megalithic +monuments with any one of the ancient religions known. They were +certainly not set up in honor of Odin or of Osiris, of Astarte or of +Athene, the Phoenician or the Egyptian, the Greek or the Roman gods; +their erection seems to have had but one end in view, to do honor to +the dead. Beneath none of them do we find the remains either of the +cave-bear or of the reindeer, still less of the mammoth or of the +rhinoceros; whereas we do constantly meet with the bones of animals +characteristic of Neolithic times. It is therefore to that period that +we must attribute the more ancient of these mysterious monuments. And +the setting up of such memorials continued throughout the intermediate +time between the Stone and Bronze ages, and through the Bronze and Iron +periods. It was, indeed, still practised now and then in the earlier +centuries of the Christian era. More than that, such monuments are even +now occasionally erected. The Khassias of India make cromlechs of +large, flat unhewn stones, some six to seven feet high, and the +Angami-Nagas of the extreme north of British India set up extensive +alignments of menhirs, similar to those of France. Inscriptions in the +old Irish cipher writing, known as ogham, prove that megalithic +monuments were erected in Ireland after the time of St. Patrick; and, +as we have already remarked, some of the Breton menhirs are surrounded +by crosses. In India, too, we find the symbol of the Christian faith, +and in 1867, were discovered on the shores of the Godavery between +Hyderabad and Nagpore, a few dolmens made of four upright stones +surmounted by one or two slabs of sandstone, and encircling a cross +which is said to date from the same age as the dolmens themselves. We +must add, however, that the most competent archæologists are of opinion +that this form of the cross was not introduced into India until about +the sixth or seventh century of our era. Probably the erection of +megalithic monuments was not discontinued in England or in France until +towards the eighth or ninth century after Christ; and the menhirs set +up later in Scotland and in Scandinavia prove how fondly the people of +those countries clung to ancient traditions. These rude stone monuments +were handed down from one race to another, from invaders to invaded, +from conquered to conquerors. + +We must not, however, omit to mention one serious objection. Roman +historians, exact as is their description of Gaul, Britannia, and +Germania, are silent as to stone monuments. Tacitus does not refer to +Stonehenge or to Avebury. Cæsar was present at the naval battle between +his own fleet and that of the Veneti, in the Gulf of Morbihan, and if +the megalithic monuments of Carnac were then there, would they not have +arrested the attention of the great captain? This silence is the more +inexplicable as one of the earliest geographers mentions the stone of +Iapygia; Ptolemy speaks of a similar stone on the shores of the ocean; +Strabo, of a group of dolmens near Cape Cuneus; Quintus Curtius, of an +important alignment in Bactriana; Pliny, who mentions a leaning pillar +in Asia Minor, says nothing of the megalithic monuments of Gaul, which +he crossed several times. Moreover, Ausonius, Sidonius, Appollinaris, +and Fortunatus, who are so eager to glorify their own land, maintain a +similar silence with regard to these structures. Sulpicius, Severus, +and Gregory of Tours, old chroniclers of French history, also pass them +over without a word. More than that, Madame de Sévigné, who was +stopping at Auray in 1689, and visited its environs, writes to her +daughter of all she has seen and done, without alluding to the +alignments of Carnac, or of Erdeven, which were, of course, much more +complete in her day than in ours. In fact, they are mentioned for the +first time by Sauvagère, in his “Recueil des Antiquites de la Gaule,” +in which he attributes them to the Romans. We may therefore, perhaps, +conclude that these decayed and clumsy-looking monuments were despised +for generations, no one realizing their importance or caring to +penetrate their secrets. + +If need were, we have yet other proofs of their extreme antiquity. In +excavating an alignment in the district occupied by the Kermario group, +a Roman encampment was discovered. The enceinte is represented by a +long wall about six feet thick, and propped up against this wall were +found a number of flat stones blackened with smoke, on which the +legionaries doubtless cooked their food. In some instances these +hearths were made on an overturned menhir, and other menhirs, which had +belonged to the alignment, were fitted into the walls. A Roman road +passes near Avebury, and, contrary to their general custom, the haughty +conquerors had turned aside to avoid the tumulus. These are decisive +proofs that in France and England at least the megalithic monuments +were erected before the advent of the Romans. + +Difficult as it is to come to any definite conclusion as to the age of +the monuments, it is yet more difficult to ascertain to what race their +builders belonged. In the first place we ask: Are they all the work of +one race? The contrary, earnestly maintained by M. de Mortillet, has +long been the general opinion. M. Worsaae declared, at the Brussels +Congress,29 that the dolmens were erected by different peoples; M. +Cazalis de Fondouce,30 M. Broca,31 and M. Cartailhac,32 share this +belief. “Are not the monuments of huge stones,” says M. Fondouce, “the +product of a progressive civilization growing by degrees, rather than +the work of a single people maintaining their own manners and customs +in the midst of the old primitive populations they visited, without +borrowing anything from their hosts?” To Broca, the resemblance between +the dolmens of Europe, Africa, and even of America proves but one +thing: the similarity of the aspirations and powers of all men. +Everywhere, and at every time, men have aimed, in their monuments, not +only at durability, but at the expression of force and of power. It was +with this end in view that they erected menhirs and selected enormous +stones for their megalithic monuments. The dolmen, which looks like an +architectural building, is but a modification of primitive tombs. The +cave-man first turned to account natural or artificial rock shelters, +and when they were not to be had, he imitated them in such materials as +he had at his disposal. Hence we have crypts, kistvaens, and dolmens; +and the resemblance between them proves nothing as to the parentage of +their builders. + +We may add that the distances between what we may call megalithic zones +is considerable. We meet, for instance, with dolmens in Circassia and +in the Crimea, but there are no others nearer than the Baltic. There +are none in the districts peopled by the Belgæ, from the Drenthe to the +borders of Normandy, nor are there any in the valleys of the Rhine or +of the Scheldt. There are but a few in Italy or in Greece, where +Pelasgic buildings were early erected, and bore witness to a more +advanced civilization. We meet with them again, however, in Palestine, +but we must traverse many miles before we find other examples at +Peshawur and in the valley of Cabul. It is difficult to overrate the +importance of these facts, or to explain these gaps. Are they, however, +so complete as has been supposed? The few travellers who have crossed +Afghanistan and Daghestan have seen tumuli which may have served as +points of union between the monuments of India and those of the +Caucasus. The megalithic monuments of Palestine and of Arabia may yet +be found to be linked with those of Algeria, by examples in the little +known regions between the Nile and the Regency of Tripoli. If our +ignorance forbids us to assert anything on this point, it equally +forbids our denying anything with any confidence. We may also add one +general remark: the countries where megalithic monuments are found, +abound in granite, in sandstone, and in flint, whilst other districts +have only very friable limestones; and, their monuments, if they were +ever erected, would have been more easily destroyed, the very ruins +disappearing and leaving no trace. + +It has been said, moreover, that the mode of construction of the +dolmens, and we hate ourselves made the same remark, is far from being +the same everywhere. The dolmens of Brittany have sepulchral chambers +with long passages leading to them; those of the neighborhood of Paris +have wide covered avenues with a very short entrance lobby. In the +south of France we see nothing but rectangular compartments formed of +four or five colossal stones. All this is true enough; but if we +examine our old cathedrals of comparatively modern date, the common +origin of which is never disputed, we note differences no less +remarkable. On the other hand it is urged that if megalithic monuments +were all erected by one race, the objects they contain would certainly +resemble each other to a great extent. But even this is not the case. +The hatchets so numerous in the west of France are rare in the south; +those from the Algerian monuments are always of coarse workmanship, +whilst those of Denmark are highly finished. We might multiply +instances, but as a matter of fact do we not see the same kind of thing +in the present day, in spite of our railways and other modes of rapid +communication, and the perpetual intermarrying of modern peoples? +Compare the ornaments of Normandy with those of the Basque provinces, +those of Brittany with those of Burgundy, and surely the differences +between them will be found to be as great as we note in the weapons and +ornaments of the builders of the megalithic monuments. + +To sum up: according to the opinion of many eminent savants, numerous +races have been in the habit of raising megalithic monuments, the form +of which varies _ad infinitum_ according to the genius or the +circumstances of each race, and according to the nature of the soil or +of the material at the disposal of the builders. All, however, belong +to one general type, and bear witness to one general influence, which +extended throughout the whole world at a certain epoch. M. Cazalis de +Fondouce, from whom I borrow these last observations, would probably +find it as difficult to say how a general influence was extended to +races of which he denies the common parentage, and the relations and +contemporaneity he can but guess at, as I myself should—granting the +contrary hypothesis—to explain how a people could wander about the +world in incessant migrations without modifying its own habits or +communicating to others its rites and its mode of erecting monuments. + +We cannot, however, fail to recognize the evidence of facts. We can +understand how men were everywhere impelled to raise mounds above the +bodies of their ancestors, to perpetuate their memory or to enclose +their mortal remains between flat stones to save them from being +crushed by the weight of earth above them. We may even, by straining a +point, admit the idea that a large cist developed into a dolmen, but +when in districts separated by enormous distances we see monuments with +the wall pierced with a circular opening or combining an interior crypt +with an external mound and dolmen, it is impossible to look upon these +close resemblances as the result of an accidental coincidence, and +equally impossible to fail to conclude that the men whose funeral rites +were remarkable for such close similarity belonged to the same race. + +What then was this race? Are these monuments witnesses of the great +Aryan immigration which was for so long supposed to have spread from +India over the continents of Asia and Europe, and of which the +Indo-European languages were said to preserve the memory? Or is it +really the fact that a relationship of language does not imply a +relationship of race? Were the builders of the dolmens Celts or Gauls, +Ligures or Cymri? was Henry Martin right in ascribing to the Cimerii of +Scandinavia the erection in the Bronze age of the megaliths of Ireland? +Was it the Turanians, with their worship of ancestor’s, their respect +for the tombs of their forefather’s, and their desire to perpetuate +their memory to eternity, who set up the dolmens of Brittany? Was it +not perhaps rather the Iberians, whose descendants still people Spain +and the north of Africa? According to Maury, the distribution of the +megalithic monuments of Europe marks the last refuge of vanquished +Neolithic races, fleeing before their conquerors. All these hypotheses +are plausible, all can be defended by arguments, the weight of which it +is impossible to deny, but none are capable of conclusive proof, none +can finally convince the student.33 + +An old Welsh poet, referring to the long barrows of his native land, +says that they are altogether inexplicable, and that it is impossible +to decide who set them up or who is buried beneath them. And surely +this ancient bard34 is right even now. Vainly do we question these +silent witnesses of the remote past. They give us no answer, and we can +but repeat here what we said at the beginning of this inquiry: Human +science is powerless to lift the veil biding the early history of +humanity. Will it ever be so? Or will the day yet dawn when the veil +will be rent asunder at last? Time alone can solve this question, which +is one of those secrets of the future as difficult to fathom as those +of the past. + + +1 Bateman: “Ten Years’ Diggings,” Preface, p. 11. + +2 W. MacAdams: “The Great Mound of Cahokia.” Am. Ass., Minneapolis, +1883. + +3 Pelagaud: “Préhistoire en Syrie.” + +4 Moore, _Popular Science Monthly_, New York, March, 1880; _Zeitschrift +für Ethnologie_: Berlin, 1887. + +5 “Monuments de Roknia,” p. 18. + +6 Haxthausen: “Mém. sur la Russie,” vol. ii., p. 204; A. Bogdanow: +“Mat. pour Servir à l’Histoire des Kourganes,” Moscow, 1879; Margaret +Stokes: “La Disposition des Principaux Dolmens de l’Irlande,” _Rev. +Arch_., July, 1882. + +7 Sir A. de Capell Brooke: “Sketches in Spain and Morocco.” + +8 Tissot: “Récherches sur la Géographie Comparée de la Mauritanie +Tinigitane.” + +9 Margaret Stokes: “La Distribution des Principaux Dolmens de +l’Irlande.” _Revue Arch_., July, 1882. + +10 Sir W. Wilde: “Ireland, Past and Present.” Miss Buckland: “Cornish +and Irish Prehistoric Monuments.” _Anth. Inst., Nov_., 1879. O’Curry: +“Lectures on the Manuscript Materials of Irish History.” + +11 _Bul. Soc. Pol. du Morbihan_, April, 1885. + +12 S. Reinach, _Rev. Arch_., 1888. Wilson: “Megalithic Monuments of +Brittany.” Cartailhac: “La France Préhistorique,” in which the +measurements are given of the principal monuments of Brittany. + +13 A. Bertrand: “Archéologie Celtique et Gauloise,” p. 105. + +14 Iliad, book xxiii., v. 380. + +15 Joshua, chap. iv., v. 13 _et seq_. + +16 P. du Chatellier, _Mém_. _Soc. d’Emulation des Côtes-du-Nord_, vol. +xix. + +17 Cartailhac: “Les Âges Préhistoriques en Espagne et en Portugal.” + +18 Verreaux, _L’Anthropologie_, 1890, p. 157. + +19 Haxthausen: “Mém. sur la Russie Mér., Vol. ii., p. 204. “Fouilles +des Kourganes,” par M. Sarnokoasof, _Revue Arch_., 1879. Much: +_Mittheilungen der Anth. Gesell. in Wien_, 1878. + +20 On this point see the excellent work by Maury, “Les Monuments de la +Russie et les Tumulus Tchoudes,” and Meynier and Eichtal’s “Tumulus des +Anciens Habitants de la Sibérie.” + +21 _Revue d’ Anth_., 1880, p. 655. + +22 _Mém. de la Soc. Arch. de la Province de Constantine_, 1863. + +23 “Monuments Mégalithiques de la Tunisie,” _Ant. Afric_., July, 1884. +Dr. Rouire: “Les Dolmens de l’Enfida,” _Bull. Geog. Hist_., 1886. + +24 “Heth and Noah,” pp. 191 and 192. + +25 “Heth and Moab,” p. 249. + +26 “Tribes of the Hindoo Koosh,” Calcutta, 1881. + +27 _Matériaux_, 1887, p. 458. M. Pallart (“Mon. Meg. de Mascaro”), +thinks that this dolmen was not erected by man, but that a long slab of +stone has slipped down the slopes of the mountain and rested on two +natural supports. It is not easy to accept this view. + +28 Dr. de Closmadeuc, agreeing, I think, with Henry Martin, derives the +name of _Dol Varchant_ from _Dol March’-Hent_, the table of the horse +of the avenue. + +29 _Compte rendu_, p. 421. + +30 _Mat_., 1877, p. 470. + +31 _Ass. Française_, Bordeaux, 1872, p. 725. + +32 _Rev. d’Anth_., 1881, p. 283. + +33 By permission of the author, the translator adds the following +quotation from Taylor’s “Origin of the Aryans,” p. 17, which is +referred to by Professor Huxley in his paper on the Aryan question in +the _Nineteenth Century_ for November, 1890. Taylor says: “It is now +contended that there is no such thing as an Aryan race in the same +sense that there is an Aryan language, and the question of late so +frequently discussed as to the origin of the Aryans can only mean, if +it means anything, a discussion of the ethnic affinities of those +numerous races which have acquired Aryan speech; with the further +question, which is perhaps insoluble, among which of these races did +Aryan speech arise and where was the cradle of that race?” + +34 This poet is one of those whose work is to be found in the so-called +“Black Book of Caermarthen.” See also “The Four Ancient Books of Wales, +Containing the Cymric Poems Attributed to the Bards of the Sixth +Century.” Edinburgh, 1868. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. +Industry, Commerce, and Social Organization; Fights, Wounds and +Trepanation. + + +When we consider the discoveries connected with the Stone age as a +whole, we are struck with the immense numbers of weapons of every kind +and of every variety of form found in different regions of the globe. +The Roman domination extended over a great part of the Old World, and +it lasted for many centuries. Everywhere this people, illustrious +amongst the nations, has left tokens of its power and of its industry. +Roman weapons, jewelry, and coins occupy considerable spaces in our +museums; but numerous as are these relics of the Romans, they are far +inferior in number to the objects dating from prehistoric times, and +flints worked by the hand of man have been picked up by thousands in +the last few years, forming incontestable witnesses of the rapid growth +of a large population. + +One important point remains obscure. Schmerling has excavated fifty +caves in Belgium, and only found human relics in two or three of them; +and of six hundred explored by Lund in Brazil, only six contained human +bones. Similar results were obtained in the excavations of the mounds +of North America, as well as in the caves of France. M. Hamy, in a book +published a few years ago, only mentions twelve finds of human bones, +which could, without any doubt, be dated from Palæolithic times. True, +this number has been added to by recent discoveries, but it is still +quite insignificant. It is the same thing with the kitchen-middings and +the Lake settlements. This paucity of actual human remains forms a gap +in the evidence relating to prehistoric man, which disturbances and +displacements do not sufficiently account for, and to which we shall +refer again when speaking of prehistoric tombs. + +Worked flints are generally found in numbers in one place, probably +formerly a station or centre of human habitation. Men were beginning to +form themselves into societies, and the dwellings, first of the family +and then of the tribe, rapidly gathered together near some river rich +in fish, or some forest stocked with game affording plenty of food +easily obtained. The caves also afford proofs of the number of men who +inhabited them. In one alone, near Cracow, Ossowski discovered 876 bone +implements, more than 3,000 flint objects, and thousands of fragments +of pottery. From the Veyrier cave, near Mount Salève, were taken nearly +1,000 stone implements; from those of Petit Morin, 2,000 arrow-heads; +from that of Côttes, on the banks of the Gartampe, more than 264 +pounds’ weight of flints, some of the Moustérien and others of the +Madeleine type, mixed with the bones of the rhinoceros, and of several +large beasts of prey of indeterminate species. The Abbé Ducrost picked +up 4,000 flints in one dwelling alone at Solutré, where the soil is +calcareous and flint is not native, so that it must have been brought +from a distance. More than 8,000 different objects were taken from the +fine Neolithic station of Ors in the isle of Oleron; 12,000 chips of +stone, bearing marks of human workmanship, were picked up in the +Thayngen Cave, and more than 80,000 in the different caves of Belgium. +The shelter of Chaleux alone yielded 30,000 pieces of stone, at every +stage of workmanship, from the waste of the manufactory to the highly +finished implement. Other explorers have been no less fortunate. The +Marquis of Wavrin found in the environs of Grez no less than 60,000 +worked stones belonging to no less than thirty different types, chiefly +arrow-heads, some triangular, others almond-shaped, others again +cutting transversely, some with and some without feathers, some +stalked, others not; in a word, arrows of every known type. Nothing but +an actual visit to the Royal Museum of Brussels can give any idea of +the importance of the discoveries made in Belgium. + +The environs of Paris are, however, no less rich. As early as +Palæolithic times the valleys of the Seine and its tributaries were +evidently inhabited by a numerous population. M. Rivière mentions a +station near Clamart, where, in a limited space, he picked up more than +900 flints, some worked, others mere chips, many of which bad been +subjected to heat. A sand-pit of Levallois-Perret yielded 4,000 stone +objects, and on the plateau of Champigny, full of such terrible +memories for the people of France, were found nearly 1,200 flints, +knives, polished hatchets, lance heads and scrapers, mixed with +numerous fragments of hand-made pottery without ornamentation. + +Are yet other examples needed? At. de Mortillet estimates at more than +25,000 the number of specimens found on the plateau of Saint Acheul, +the scene of the earliest discoveries that revealed the existence of +man in Quaternary times; and the station of Concise, on Lake Neuchâtel, +which is one of the most ancient in Switzerland, yielded a yet more +considerable number. Many have, however, been lost or destroyed; the +ballast of the railway skirting the lake contains thousands of worked +stones and of pieces of the waste left in making them, all of which +were taken from the bed of the lake. It must not be forgotten that it +is only of late years that the importance of these relics of the past +has been recognized and that any one has dreamt of preserving or of +studying them. + +The excavation of a gravel pit at Dundrum (County Down, Ireland) +yielded 1,100 flint implements, and M. Belluci himself picked up in the +province of Pérouse more than 17,000 pieces, chiefly spear-, lance-, or +arrow-heads, belonging to six different types. The Broholm Museum +contains 72,409 weapons and implements, all found in Denmark. + +We can quote similar facts in other countries. Prehistoric stations are +numerous in the Sahara and throughout the Wady el Mya, in Algeria, and +we have already spoken of the numerous specimens found near Wargla. The +workshops in this district are generally surrounded by immense numbers +of ostrich eggs, which seem to indicate that that bird was already +domesticated.1 + +In America, Dr. Abbott has sent to the Peabody Museum more than 20,000 +stones, which were collected by him at Trenton, on the banks of the +Delaware, and quite recently I was told that in sinking a well in +Illinois the workmen came upon a deposit of more than 1,000 worked +flints, all of oval form. Every one knows the importance of the recent +discoveries at Washington, and we might multiply examples _ad +infinitum_, for everywhere explorers come upon undoubted traces of the +active work and intelligence of comparatively dense populations, all of +whom had attained to about the same degree of development. + +These numerous deposits often mark the, site of regular workshops, +tokens of the earliest attempt at social organization. In no other way +can we explain the piles of flints in every stage of workmanship lying +beside the lumps from which they were detached. One of the most +celebrated of these workshops is that of Grand-Pressigny, chief town of +the canton of the department of Indre-et-Loire, which is admirably +situated between two picturesque rivers, the Claise and the Creuse. + +The flint implements of Grand-Pressigny, of which specimens can be seen +in all the museums of Europe, are some sixteen inches long, of light +color, pointed at one end and square at the other. One face is rough, +the other chipped into three oblong pieces, whilst the sides are +roughly hewn into saw-like teeth. If we examine these flints closely we +can easily make out the exact point, the _eye_, as workmen call it, +where the stone was struck. At Charbonnière, on the banks of the Saône, +to quote other examples, in a radius of less than a mile, were found +weapons, tools, and nuclei, which may be compared with those of +Grand-Pressigny. In some places the collections of flints still +remaining look as if they had been used for road-making. In some cases +hatchets, knives, and scrapers seem to have been buried in pits. Were +these the reserve stores of the tribe, or the so-called _caches_ of the +merchants? + +It is difficult merely to name the different workshops or manufactories +discovered in the last few years. We must, however, endeavor to mention +the most important, for these workshops, we must repeat, are an +important proof of the existence of a society of organized working +communities. We meet with them on the shores of the bay of Kiel, in the +island of Anholt, in the midst of the Kattegat, and on the borders of +the Petchoura, and of the Soula, among the Samoieds. Virchow discovered +an arrow-head manufactory on the shores of Lake Burtneek, and in 1884 +the Moscow Society of Natural Sciences made known the existence of +important workshops near the Vetluga River, in the province of +Kostroma, so that we know that in remote prehistoric times men lived +and fought in a rigorous climate in districts but sparsely populated in +our own day. + +There is nothing to surprise us in all these facts. Recently near the +Yenesei River, in the heart of Siberia, were found bronze daggers, +hatchets and bridle bits (Fig. 71), all bearing witness in the beauty +of their workmanship to a more advanced state of civilization than the +Lake Dwellings or megalithic monuments farther south. Many of them are +ornamented with figures of animals, so that at an epoch less remote, it +is true, than the one we have been considering, but still far removed +from our own, we find that there was an intelligent race, with artistic +tastes, living in a country now so intensely cold as to be +uninhabitable to all but a few miserable nomad Tartars. + +At Spiennes, near Mons, a field was discovered, known as the _camp des +cayaux_, strewn with flints, some uncut, others hewn, together with +knives and hatchets innumerable. There were also centres of manufacture +at Hoxne and Brandon, in England, at Bellaria in Bologna, and at Rome +on the Tiburtine Way. At Ponte-Molle, where worked flints were +discovered for the first time in Italy a few years ago, a workshop was +found, remarkable for the great number of stags’ antlers, from which +the middle part had been removed, doubtless to be used as handles for +tools. M. de Rossi, who gives us these details, thinks that this +station was inhabited in the Paleolithic period. In the settlement of +Concise have been found not only stone implements, but a great many +articles made of bone, so that this place was evidently an important +manufacturing centre. Knives, stilettos, and arrow heads were turned +out here, and in the hands of skilful workmen the tusks of the boars, +which abounded at this time in Switzerland, were converted into +excellent chisels. + +[Illustration: 71.] + +Bronze objects found at Krasnojarsk (Siberia). + +To name the districts where tools were manufactured in prehistoric +times in France would be to give a list of all the departments. In the +commune of Saint-Julien du Saut we find a large manufactory where every +division of the Stone age is fully represented, from the time of the +simply chipped hatchet to that of the polished implement of rare +perfection. Everything bears witness to the prolonged residence of man +in a neighborhood which offered the attraction of vast deposits of +chalk with bands of flint that supplied alike weapons and tools. +Amongst others, we must name the so-called _atelier de la Treiche_, +near Toul, which extends for an area of about a hundred acres, that of +Bonaruc, near Dax; surrounded by waste lands covered with a scanty +vegetation; that of Rochebertier (Charente), which probably dates from +the Madeleine period; and that of Ecorche-Bœuf, near Périgueux. The +Abbé Cochet tells us of an atelier in the Aulne valley, and Maurice +Sand of another near La Châtre, where we meet with the most ancient +traces of man in Berry. In the fields, near an alignment not far from +Autun, were picked up numbers of hatchets of bard rock, barbed arrows, +flakes of flint worked into scrapers or chisels, whilst near them were +the very polishers on which they had been pointed. + +We have just spoken of polishers, and we said some time ago that it was +by prolonged rubbing that the remarkable weapons of Neolithic times +were produced. We must add now that a whole series of the polishers +used are to be seen on the right bank of the Loing, near Nemours; one +of which is a regular table (Fig. 72), on which can be made out no less +than fifty grooves and twenty-five cup-like depressions. + +[Illustration: 72.] + +Prehistoric polisher, near the ford of Beaumoulin, Nemours. + +One would have expected to find the ground near these polishers covered +with flakes of flint and pieces of tools of all kinds, but nothing of +the kind has been discovered; a fact which leads its to suppose that +the workmen only came down into the valley to finish off their weapons +by polishing them. + +At the period we are considering all the continents were peopled, and +we must repeat, for it is the most important point of our present +study, that the civilization attained to by the inhabitants was +everywhere almost identical. Thus we find centres of manufacture +similar to those of Europe at the foot of the mountains of Tunis and of +Algeria. In one of the latter, at Hassi al Rhatmaia, the knives were +piled up in one place, the scrapers in another, and the arrow-heads in +a third. In this disposition M. Rabourdin thinks he sees a sign of the +division of labor, one of the most important features of modern +progress. M. Arcelin mentions a similar deposit on the summit of the +Jebel Kalabshee, near Esneh in Egypt, and a few years ago another was +found in Palestine, near the ancient Berytus, containing great numbers +of hatchets, saws, scrapers, and all the implements characteristic of +the Stone age; whilst amongst them lay the blocks from which they had +been cut. Asia Minor was evidently an important manufacturing centre +during the Stone age, and, as a matter of course, it must have had a +considerable population; and even in America discoveries of similar +extent have been made. At Kinosha, in Wisconsin, Lapham made out a +manufactory of flint and quartzite arrow-heads, which dates from +prehistoric times, and quite recently a yet more important centre of +industry has been discovered at St. Andrew (Winnipeg). + +The manufactories of Spiennes and Brandon deserve special notice, as +they show us how our ancestors got the flint they used instead of +metal. At Spiennes,2 the excavations were begun in the open air, then +the chalk containing the flint was reached by the sinking of vertical +shafts, many of which were as much as forty feet in depth. These shafts +were connected with each other by galleries running in every direction, +but always following the belts of flints. Cuttings have brought to +light the very implements of the ancient miners. They were of the +simplest description, such as picks made of stag-horn and heavy stone +hammers, all alike bearing marks of long service.3 + +Similar results were obtained in England. Canon Greenwell explored near +Brandon, in Suffolk, a series of 254 shafts, known in the neighborhood +as Grime’s Graves. As at Spiennes, the shafts were connected by +galleries from three to five feet high, and one of theta was +twenty-seven feet long. The shafts and galleries had been hollowed out +with the help of picks exactly like those found in Belgium; +seventy-nine were picked up that had been thrown away by the workmen.4 + +Some few years ago MM. Cartailhac and Boule discovered one of these +primitive quarries at Mur de Barrez, the chief town of the department +of Aveyron.5 + +They made out eight shafts in the face of a layer of limestone some +eighty-one feet long, and at every turn of their excavations they came +to fresh shafts. These shafts opened out towards the top like funnels, +and the), were not more than three feet three inches below the surface, +the flint having been struck at that depth (Fig. 73). These shafts +were, in many cases, continued by galleries, as seen in our +illustration (Fig. 74), or by trenches, where the light is, however, +more or less shut out by small landslips. It is still easy, in spite of +this, to make out the floor of the mine, for it is trodden hard by the +feet of the ancient miners. Traces of charcoal, too, reveal the path +they took, and we learn at the same time that they used fire to help +them in their work. + +[Illustration: 73.] + +Section of a flint mine; _t_ vegetable earth, _c_ pure limestone, _c m_ +Marly limestone, _s_ flint. + +M. Boule,6 from whom we borrow these details, cannot restrain his +astonishment at the practical knowledge shown by these prehistoric +miners. He tells us that they sometimes left the flint standing as +pillars at pretty short intervals, or they propped up the galleries +with even more resistant material, cementing them with clay or with +calcareous earth taken from the detritus. In spite of these +precautions, landslips frequently occurred, and implements of stag-horn +(Fig. 75) have often been flattened by the fall of the roof of the +gallery. It is really curious to find implements of an exactly similar +kind used for exactly similar purposes at Spiennes, Brandon, Mur de +Barrez, and at Cissbury, to which, however, we shall have to refer +again. In the shafts of Aveyron, as in those of England, the marks of +blows of the picks are still to be seen, and in many cases a flint or +horn-pick point is still imbedded in the rock or limestone, as if the +miner had but just left his work. + +[Illustration: 74.] + +Plan of a gallery, half destroyed in making the excavation which +revealed its existence. U gallery still visible; G′ gallery destroyed +by the excavation. + +In this last example of what has been done in France, we must also add +that of the shafts of Nointel (Oise) and those discovered in Maine by +M. de Baye, in both of which were found nodules of flint in different +stages of preparation, together with some stag-horn picks. In none of +these excavations was any metal implement found, or any trace of the +use of metal, so that we must conclude that the mines date from +Neolithic times. + +We have seen how man gradually brought to perfection the tools and +weapons which were at first so clumsy. The growth of industry led to +the birth of commerce, or, to speak more accurately, to that of barter. +From the time of the earliest migrations intercourse was begun, or +rather was carried on, between the tribes, as they gradually dispersed, +often travelling considerable distances from each other, and fresh +proofs of these relations are continually brought to light as we become +better acquainted with prehistoric times. The flints worked by the +cave-men of Belgium, the fossil shells so numerous at Chaleux, in the +Frontal and Nuton caves, at Thayngen on the frontier between +Switzerland and Germany, in Italy, in the stations of anterior date to +the _terremare_ beds, have been found the shells of the pearl oyster of +the Indian Ocean, whilst in the caves of the south of France, such as +the Madeleine, that of Cro-Magnon, Bize in Hérault, and Solutré on the +banks of the Saône have been picked up the shells of Arctic marine +mollusca. The cave-man of Gourdan was decked with shells from the +Mediterranean, and the man of Mentone in his turn wore a head-dress +made of Atlantic shells. Fossil shells were also much sought after; we +have alluded to those from Champagne found in Belgium; others from the +shell-marl of Touraine and Anjou had been taken into the caves of +Périgord, whilst sea-urchins from the cretaceous strata of the south of +France were found in a prehistoric station of Auvergne, and M. Massenat +picked up at Laugerie-Basse two specimens of a species not met with +anywhere but in the Eocene deposits of the isle of Wight. The Neolithic +station of Champigny, near Paris, has yielded some objects from the +Alps, and from Belgium, from the Vosges Mountains, and the Puy de Dôme. + +[Illustration: 75.] + +Picks, hammers, and mattocks made of stag-horn. + +In the caves of Périgord were also found fragments of hyaline quartz, +which must have been brought from the Alps or the Pyrenees. In Brittany +and in Marne flints foreign to these granite districts are numerous; +and Dr. Prunières tells us that similar discoveries were made under the +megalithic monuments of France, and that neither in the eroded +limestone districts of Lozère, known locally as _les causses_, nor +under the dolmens of Haute-Vienne, were found any but implements made +of rock not native to the country. + +Hatchets, daggers, and nuclei, or as they are characteristically called +by the country people _livres de beurre_, from Grand-Pressigny, have +been picked up in the bed of the Seine, at Limagne in Auvergne, in +Brittany, at Saint Médard near Bordeaux, on the banks of the Meuse, and +even as far north as the Shetland Islands. At Concise was found red +coral from the Mediterranean, whilst the yellow amber of the Baltic was +picked up in the Lake Dwellings of Switzerland, beneath the dolmens of +Brittany, in sepulchral caves, such as those of Oyes (Marne) or +Lombrives (Ariège), beneath the megalithic tomb of La Roquette, at +Saint Pargoue (Hérault) beneath the dolmen of Grailhe (Gard), at +Malpas, and at Baume (Ardèche).7 These are nearly all Neolithic tombs, +though some few of them may date from the beginning of the Bronze age; +but the cave-men of France owned amber even earlier than this, for five +fragments have been found in the Aurensan Cave near +Bagnères-de-Bigorre, which was inhabited in Palæolithic times. Jadeite +and nephrite8 are met with in the Lake Dwellings of Switzerland and +Bavaria, as in the caves of Liguria and Sardinia; chloromelanite9 in +France, and obsidian10 in Lorraine, in the island of Pianosa and in the +Cyclades. We have already spoken of the calaïte11 found beneath the +dolmens of Brittany, and we may add now that it has also been found in +the caves of Portugal and beneath the megalithic monuments of the south +of France. + +Commerce developed rapidly during Neolithic times, and, as far as we +can make out from traces left, its course was from the southeast to the +northwest. Streams and rivers were followed by merchants as by +emigrants, and at an extremely remote date the sea no longer arrested +the journeys of men. At a recent meeting of the British Anthropological +Institute, Miss Buckland dwelt on the resemblance in the material, +shape, and ornamentation of a golden cup found in Cornwall, to other +cups found at Mykenæ and at Tarquinii, and maintained that the Cornish +cup must have been the work of the same artisans, and have been brought +by commerce from what was then the extremity of the known world. + +It is not only in Europe that we can trace the relations established +between men separated by vast distances, by oceans, and by apparently +impassable deserts. The shells of the Atlantic and those of the +Pacific, the copper of Lake Superior, the mica of the Alleghanies, and +the obsidian of Mexico lie together beneath the tumuli of Ohio, and +quite recently Mr. Putnam exhibited to the Society of Antiquaries a +collection of jade celts and ornaments, some from Nicaragua, others +from Costa Rica, and a hatchet with both edges sharpened from Michigan. +No deposit of jade has so far been discovered on the American +continent, so that we can only suppose these objects to have been +brought from Asia at an unknown date. The marks they retain of having +been rubbed up, and the holes made in them to hang them up, show what +store was set by them. + +Monuments of many kinds scattered over different countries, weapons and +implements, relics as they are of a remote past, enable us to gain a +closer insight into the manners, customs, and mode of life of our +ancestors of the Stone age. We can picture their daily life, which we +know to have been one long struggle, without break or truce, for they +had to contend, not only with wild animals but with each other, to +fight for the use of their caves of refuge, for their hunting fields, +and for their watercourses; and later, the first shepherds had to do +battle for the pasturage necessary for their flocks. It is only too +certain that, from the earliest dawn of humanity, men gave way, without +any effort at self-control, to their brutal passions. The right of the +strongest was the only law, and wherever man penetrated his course was +marked by violence and by death. One of the femora of an old man was +found in the celebrated Cro-Magnon Cave, bearing a deep depression +caused by a blow of a projectile, and on the forehead of the woman that +lay beside him is a large wound made by a small flint hatchet (Fig. +76). This gash on the frontal bone penetrated the skull, and was +probably the cause of death, but not of sudden death, for round about +the wound are marks of an attempt at healing it.12 According to Dr. +Hamy, many of the bones found in the Sordes Cave have very curious +wounds. A gaping hole on the right parietal of a woman must have been a +terrible wound (Fig. 77). The woman of Sordes, like that of Cro-Magnon, +must have survived for some time; the marks of the removal of splinters +of bone, which can quite easily be made out, leave no doubt on that +point.13 + +[Illustration: 76.] + +Cranium of a woman, from Cro-Magnon, seen full face. + +In the Baumes-Chaudes caves, situated in that part of the valley of the +Tarn which belongs to the department of Lozère, Dr. Prunières picked up +numerous bones bearing scars, characteristic of wounds produced by +stone weapons.14 Some fifteen of these bones, such as the right and +left hip bones, tibiæ, and vertebrae, still contain flint points flung +with sufficient force to penetrate deeply the bony tissue. Always +indefatigable in his researches, Dr. Prunières also mentions having +found in the cave known as that of _L’Homme Mort_ bones bearing traces +of cicatrized wounds, and he presented to the Scientific Congress at +Clermont a human vertebra found beneath the Aumède dolmen pierced with +an arrow-head, which is, so to speak, encased in the wound by the +formation of bony tissue. + +[Illustration: 77.] + +Skull of a woman found at Sordes, showing a severe wound from which she +recovered. + +Of the nineteen crania found in the Neolithic sepulchre of Vauréal two +show traces of old wounds. One of them, that of a woman, has three +different scars, two of which were of wounds that had healed, whilst +the third in the occiput was a gaping hole, which had evidently caused +death. + +A sepulchral cave at Nogent-les-Vierges (Oise) contains the skeleton of +a man with a wound on the forehead, no less than four and a half inches +long by three broad. This man, who was dune young, the sutures being +still very apparent, survived this serious wound for some time. + +The Gourdan Cave has yielded crania and jaws broken by blunt weapons, +whilst on other crania have been made out scratches and stripes which +could only have been produced after the hair and skin had been removed. +In the caves of the Petit-Morin valley, M. de Baye picked up some human +vertebra pierced with flints, the points of which were still imbedded +in the bones. In the Villevenard Cave one skull was found containing +three arrow-beads with transverse points imbedded in the skull, the +bone of which had closed upon them. Another arrow was lodged between +the dorsal vertebrae. It is probable that these arrows had remained in +the wounds; certainly that is the simplest way to account for their +position. About two miles from the caves of which we have been +speaking, M. de Baye discovered a sepulchre containing thirty +skeletons, all of adult and strongly built individuals. The bodies were +laid one above the other, and separated by large flat stones and a thin +layer of earth. This sepulchral cave contained seventy-three flint +points. As in the case of Villevenard, their position leads us to +suppose that these points had been sticking in the flesh of the bodies +when they were interred, and had fallen out when decomposition set in. +Probably the bodies were those of men who had fallen victims in a +bloody conflict that had taken place in the valley. In a cave at the +station of Oyes, was found stretched upon a bed of stones a skeleton +with a piece of flint, which had been flung with great force, imbedded +in the upper part of the humerus. Round about the wound are the marks +of many attempts at healing it. + +Many of the human bones found in the Vivarais Cave bear traces of +having been violently fractured by stone weapons with tapering points. +In the Challes Cave (Savoy) lies the skeleton of a woman whose skull +was fractured by a flint weapon, but in this case death was evidently +immediate, at least if we may judge from the fact that there are no +signs of the wound having received any treatment. In the Castellet +Cave, a human vertebra contained the weapon which had pierced it, but +when the bone was touched the arrow-head broke off. It had, however, +been flung with such a sure hand that it had been driven ten inches +deep into the bony tissue. Here, too, the absence of any exostosis +proves that death quickly followed the wound. + +[Illustration: 78.] + +Fragment of human tibia with exostosis enclosing the end of a flint +arrow. + +In other cases the victims seem to have lived for some time. We have +already spoken of wounds in crania that had healed, and we may add that +a few years ago a, human bone was presented to the Archæological +Society of Bordeaux which still retained a flint arrow-head in the +wound it had made. Traces could clearly be made out of the inflammation +caused by the presence of the foreign body, and the bony tissue +secreted by the periosteum had, so to speak, taken the mould of the +arrow (Fig. 78). + +In the cave known as the Trou d’Argent (Basses-Alpes) amongst the bones +of ruminants and carnivora, fragments of pottery and rubbish of all +kinds, was found a piece of humerus (Fig. 79) pierced at the elbow +joint and very neatly cut at the lower end, no doubt with the help of +some of the implements of hard rock scattered about the cave. The +position of this human bone amongst the remains of animals and +fragments of a meal, points to its being a relic of a scene of +cannibalism; adding yet another proof to what I said at the beginning +of this work. + +[Illustration: 79.] + +Fragment of human humerus pierced at the elbow joint, found in the Trou +d’Argent. + +Similar facts are reported front England and Germany. Dr. Wankel +mentions an interesting prehistoric deposit at Prerau, near Olmutz, +amongst the bones of animals belonging to the most ancient Quaternary +fauna, such as the mammoth, the cave-bear, the cave-lion, the glutton, +and the arctic fox; and amongst clumsy bone and ivory weapons and +ornaments he found a human jaw and a femur covered with strip produced +by flint hatchets. In 1801 Mr. Cunnington took several skeletons from a +barrow near Heytesbury, the skull of one of which had been broken with +a blunt implement; and Sir R. Hoare speaks of a skull from the +neighborhood of Stonehenge split open by a blow from one of these +formidable weapons. Several crania taken from a long barrow at West +Kennet have similar wounds. + +Similar facts were noticed at Littleton-Drew, at Uley, at Cotswold, and +at Rodmarten, and from this Dr. Thurmam concluded that nearly all those +who were buried in long barrows had met with a violent death.15 He +speaks, however, of one skull pierced with a large hole, the edges of +which had become rounded smooth, showing the action of a recuperative +process, and proving that the injured man had long survived his serious +wound. In 1809, a farmer of Kirkcudbrightshire set to work to demolish +a large cairn that interfered with his tilling of the soil, and which, +according to popular tradition, was the tomb of a Scotch king. In +taking away the earth the workmen found a large stone coffin, in which +lay the skeleton of a man of great stature. The arm had been almost +separated from the trunk by the blow of a diorite hatchet, a broken bit +of which remained imbedded in the bone.16 + +One of the few crania that can with certainty be said to have belonged +to Lake Dwellers of Switzerland was found at Sutz, near Zurich; this +skull was fractured at the back. The roundness of the wound, which had +been serious enough to cause death, has led authorities to conclude +that it was made with one of the formidable pick-hammers, so many of +which were found in the lake of Bienne.17 Nilsson speaks of a human +cranium pierced with a flint arrow, and of another, both found at +Tygelso (Scandinavia), containing a dart made out of the antler of an +eland.18 At Chauvaux, at Cesareda, and Gibraltar other crania have been +found bearing the marks of mortal wounds, and if we cross the Atlantic +we meet with similar instances. Lund tells us that at Lagoa do +Sumidouro crania were found pierced with circular tools, whilst near +them lay the implements that had caused death.19 At Comox, in Vancouver +Island, a skeleton was found with a flint knife imbedded in one of the +bones, and at Madisonville (Ohio) another, one of the bones of which +was pierced by a triangular stone arrow; whilst beneath a mound in +Indiana was picked up a skull pierced by a flint arrow more than six +inches long. Excavations at Copiapo (Chili) brought to light the +skeleton of a man who had sustained no less than eight wounds from +arrows. The force with which they must have been shot is really +astonishing; one had broken the upper jaw and knocked out several +teeth, penetrating to the brain; and others were still sticking in the +vertebrae and ribs.20 + +In the New as in the Old World man survived many of these horrible +wounds, and a skull found under a mound near Devil’s River shows a +serious wound inflicted many years before death, and one of the +Peruvian crania in the Peabody Museum bears a long frontal fracture, +doubtless produced by the violent blow of a club; the five or six +fragments still to be made out are, so to speak, solidified, and the +wounded man had evidently lived on for many years, thanks apparently to +his good constitution alone, for there are no signs of the performing +of any surgical operation, such as the removal of the splinters of +bone, for instance.21 + +In 1884 a human vertebra, with an arrow-head imbedded in it, was picked +up on the island of Santa Cruz. The apophysis was broken, and the +extent of the fracture shows the great force of the blow. The victim +evidently died of the wound, for there is no sign of its having been +healed. + +I have dwelt upon these deaths and wounds in spite of the inevitable +monotony of such a list, not because I wish to bring into prominence +the fact that from the earliest times the struggle for existence was +fierce and bloody, but because I am anxious to prove that in these +remote days an organized and intelligent society had grown up. No one +could have survived such wounds as we have described, but for the care +and nursing of those around him, such as the other members of his +family or of his tribe. The wounded one must have been fed by others +for months; nay more, he must have been carried in migrations, and his +food and resting-place must have been prepared for him. Moreover, and +this is of even yet more importance to our argument, they must have +been men able to treat wounds and to set bones. + +This last fact has been proved beyond a doubt by the discovery of +numerous bones with the old wounds completely cicatrized. “In several +examples,” says Dr. Prunières, speaking in this connection, “we can +make out the fractures set with a neatness which gives us a very high +opinion of the skill of the Neolithic bone setters. The setting of one +fracture at the lower end of the tibia and of another at the neck of +the femur, are not inferior to what we should expect from the most +skilful surgeons of the globe.”22 A remarkable fact truly, but one +often met with in the most widely separated regions of the earth, the +importance of which cannot be overrated, and justifies the giving of a +few more details. + +In 1873 Dr. Prunières, to whom science has reason to be very grateful +for his singular discovery, presented to the members of the French +Association, in session at Lyons, a human parietal with a rounded piece +of bone let into it. This piece of bone was rather larger than a +five-franc piece, and the skull into which it had been fixed was found +beneath the Lozère dolmen. A large opening, some three inches in +diameter, the edges of which were worn smooth, had been made in this +skull, and the piece of bone let into it was thicker than the skull +itself, as well as different in color, the cranium being dark and the +foreign piece of bone pale yellow. It was evident therefore that the +two pieces did not belong in life to one person, and that the rounded +piece had been cut out of some other skull. The following year Dr. +Prunières added fresh details about other rounded pieces of skull that +be had discovered let into crania, some of which pieces had evidently +been introduced during the life of the patient, who had died under the +operation of trepanation, whilst others had been put in after death. +Dr. Prunières in every case speaks of _rondelles_ or rounded pieces of +skulls, and we prefer to quote him exactly, but as a matter of fact the +trepanation was sometimes done with elliptical, triangular, or even +pyramidal pieces of bone. + +Later no less than sixty fresh examples, corroborating Dr. Prunières’ +discoveries, were found in the Baumes-Chaudes caves, and Broca in his +turn reported the finding of three crania in the cave of _L’Homme +Mort_, from which great pieces had been taken which had evidently not +been lost by accident. + +From this time excavations and discoveries made under Dr. Prunières +succeeded each other rapidly. In 1887 his collection contained 167 +crania or fragments of crania, all perforated, 115 of which were picked +up in the caves of Lozère, which are probably of more recent date, +beneath the dolmens of the _devèzes_, as those vast plains given lip to +pasturage are called. These dolmens, which were doubtless reserved for +the burial of chiefs, often contain many valuable objects. Beneath one, +for instance, were found fifteen beautiful darts of variegated flint, +four polished boars’ tusks, some schist pendants, some shells cut into +the shape of teeth, some bone and stone necklace beads, and, lastly, +two small bronze beads. These last-named objects justify us in dating +the dolmen from the Bronze epoch, when the use of bronze began to +spread over the district, though it was still not generally employed. + +Attention once awakened, similar facts began to be announced from many +different quarters. In the Neolithic caves of Marne were found skulls +with rounded holes in them, pieces of skull such as are shown in Fig. +28, which were probably worn as amulets. M. de Baye has in his fine +collection more than twenty examples of trepanation, one of which is +shown in Fig. 80. In nearly every case the operation had been performed +after death; three examples alone show it to have been done during +life, and that the patient certainly survived, for the wound shows very +evident signs of having healed, and the edges of the openings no longer +bear the marks of the tool of the operator. On one of the three crania +there were two wounds near each other, but they were quite separate, +and were evidently not treated at the same time. + +[Illustration: 80.] + +Mesaticephalic skull, with wound which has been trepanned. + +A tumulus in the Guisseny commune (Finistère), excavated about two +years ago, covered over a sepulchral crypt. At the southeastern +extremity was picked up a badly baked hand-made earthenware vase with +four handles. Beside the vase lay a skull, on which could be made out +traces of oxidation, which had probably been caused by the wearing of a +metal band, which has not been found. This skull bears on the right +side a little oval hole with cicatrized edges about an inch long by two +fifths of an inch broad. The discovery of a bronze dagger and two +bronze plaques leaves no doubt as to the age of this tumulus. This +example of trepanation is the only well authenticated one of which I +know in Brittany. It is true one skull has been mentioned as found +beneath the megalithic monument of Saint-Picoux de Quiberon (Morbihan), +which is even said to bear marks of sawing and scraping made in +attempting trepanation, but this fact has been very much questioned, +and the date at which the trepanation was performed, if performed it +were, is very doubtful.23 The proof we are seeking of the antiquity of +the operation of trepanation is not therefore to be found here. + +On a plain amongst the hills of the right bank of the Seine, above +Paris, rises a mound resembling a promontory which is known as the +Guérin mound, and consists of a vast deposit of chalk which was +excavated long ago. Successive operations have brought to light eight +caves, most of which contained a number of human remains, which were +unfortunately dispersed without having been scientifically examined. +One alone, opened in 1874, contained numerous bones belonging to +individuals of every age and of both sexes, with polished flints, +fragments of pottery, and implements of stag-horn. Amongst these relics +was found the skull of an old man showing a very curious example of +trepanation. It was unfortunately broken by the workmen in the very +moment of discovery, and could only be very insufficiently examined. +Other examples, however, which could be properly authenticated, are not +wanting from the banks of the Seine and Marne; two fragments of skull +were found in the canton of Moret, one of which had been trepanned +during the life of its owner, and the other after death. We must also +mention the crania presented to the learned societies at the Sorbonne, +one of which came from the plateau of Avrigny, near Mousseaux-lès-Bray +(Seine-et-Marne). Side by side with the skeleton lay polished hatchets, +scrapers, and arrow-heads, fragments of pottery blackened by smoke, and +lastly a solitary bone of an ox, pierced with three holes at regular +distances, which had probably been used as a flute. Of nine crania +found in this excavation three were pierced, two after death and one +during life, the edges of the last named bearing very evident traces of +treatment. + +A trepanned skull was also discovered in a Neolithic sepulchre near +Crécy-sur-Morin, where lay no less than thirty skeletons, remarkable +for the strongly defined section of the tibiae, whilst around were +strewn hatchets, flint knives, bones, stilettos and picks of siliceous +limestone with handles made of pieces of stag-horn. The tomb, built of +stones without mortar, contained two contiguous chambers separated by a +wall, and covered over by a stone weighing more than 1,200 tons. It +seems likely that this huge stone had not been moved—it must have been +beyond the strength of the makers of the tomb to lift it,—but that the +spaces beneath, in which the dead had been placed, had been merely +hollowed out. In the covered _Avenue des Mureaux_, of which I have +already spoken, were picked up several trepanned crania. The tools, +scrapers, and piercers, which had probably been used for the operation, +lay near the crania. + +A Neolithic sepulchre containing three trepanned crania was opened at +Dampont, near Dieppe. The operation had been as neatly executed as if +it had been performed by one of our most distinguished surgeons. As at +Crécy, the sepulchral crypt was divided into two chambers, and the slab +between them was pierced with a square opening,24—a fresh example of +the curious practice of making openings, of which we have spoken in +treating of so many different regions, often apparently completely cut +off from communication with each other. + +Beneath the Bougon dolmen (Deux-Sèvres), in the west of France, was +found a skull, and at Lizières in the same department, the skeleton of +a tall old man with a dolichocephalic skull and platycnemic tibiæ +bearing traces of old wounds badly healed. The bony tissue of the skull +was in an unhealthy state and the trepanation had evidently been part +of medical treatment. At Saint-Martin-la-Riviére (Vienna), a tomb +dating from Neolithic times contained five trepanned crania, on one of +which the perforation had been made by scraping. In this tomb was also +found a round piece of skull with a hole in it, which had doubtless +been used as a pendant. The other objects found in this sepulchre were +of a remarkable character, and included hatchets made of coralline +limestone, jade, fibrolite, and serpentine, the blades of flint knives, +arrows, some feathered, others stalked, some necklace beads, and a +number of vases, some apodal, others with flat stands, and nearly all +without any attempt at ornamentation. Beneath a dolmen near St. +Affrique, M. Cartailhac discovered a skull with two holes in it; one +near the bregma, which had been made during life, and the other on a +level with the lambda, which had not been made until after death.25 We +cannot now note the important conclusions founded on these two +perforations, we must be content with adding here that the tomb +contained four other skeletons with crania showing no trace of +trepanation; the tibiae were platycnemic and the humeri had the +so-called perforation of the olecranon farces, which certain +anthropologists, as I think without sufficient reason, consider +characteristic of inferior races. We must mention yet one more +discovery which it will not do to omit. A human parietal with a piece +missing that had evidently been taken out, was found beneath the +rock-shelter of Entre-Roches near Angoulême. The skull bore very +evident traces of the performance of an operation which may or may not +have been executed during life. Was it done to remove the diseased +bone—for it was diseased—in the hope of prolonging life? Did the +patient die under the hands of the surgeon, or was the piece of bone +taken out after death to be used as an ornament or an amulet? Any one +of these hypotheses is possible, and all we can say for certain is that +there is no sign of the wound having been healed in any way. This is a +common thing enough, and the interest of the discovery arises from a +different cause. The rock-shelter of Entre-Roches is supposed to date +from Paleolithic times, and if it were certain that there has been no +displacement of the soil on which the parietal was found, it is to be +concluded that trepanation was practised in the Quaternary period when +man was living amongst the large extinct pachydermata and felidæ. But +it will be difficult to admit this unless other discoveries confirming +it are made. If, however, we cannot prove that trepanation was +practised in France in Palæolithic times, we can assert that it was +continued down to the earliest centuries of the Christian era. One +remarkable case of trepanation was found, for instance, in the +Merovingian cemetery near St. Quentin; and a trepanned skull was +recently exhibited at a meeting of the Anthropological Society in +Paris, which had been found beneath a Merovingian tomb at Jeuilly. The +patient had long survived his wound. The skeleton was found in a stone +trough, narrower at the foot than at the head. The skeleton of a man +between forty and fifty years of age was found in a Frank cemetery at +Limet, near Liège. On the left parietal of the skull was an oval hole +as big as a pigeon’s egg, bearing traces of having been medically +treated. The patient, like the man of Jeuilly, certainly survived the +operation. His tomb, as were the resting-places of his neighbors in +death, was covered over with a huge unhewn stone, and beside him lay +another skeleton. A few nails and bits of wood were the only things +found in the tomb. We may also mention the skeleton of a Frank of +between fifty-five and sixty-five years of age with a trepanned skull, +found by M. Pilloy, in a cemetery of the St. Quentin _arrondissement_, +which also contained numerous objects dating from the sixth century +A.D. + +So far we have only spoken of France, but similar facts are reported +all over Europe, and the difficulty really is to make a selection. Some +round pieces of skull, like those of Lozère, have been picked up in +Umbria26; and a skull, bearing traces of an operation, the aim of which +was to remove a portion of the left parietal, was found in the Casa da +Mouva (Portugal), which dates, as do so many in France, from Neolithic +times. + +Goss mentions a discovery in one of the pile-dwellings of Lake Bienne, +of a skull with a large hole in it with bevelled edges. There is no +trace of this wound having healed, and the patient had evidently died +soon after the operation. + +The Prague Museum possesses two crania found at Bilin in Bohemia; one, +of a pronounced dolichocephalic type, has near the middle of the right +parietal an opening measuring one and a half by two and a third inches; +the cicatrization is complete, and trepanation was evidently performed +long before death. The other is mesaticephalic, and bears a round +opening about one and a half inches in diameter. Dr. Wankel, to whom we +owe these details, is well known through other discoveries; his +excavations in the Bytchiskala Cave brought to light the skeleton of a +young girl of ten or twelve years old, who bad undergone the operation +of trepanation. The wound, which was on the right side of the forehead, +was half healed. The child still wore the ornaments she had been fond +of in life—bronze bracelets and a necklace of large glass beads. + +Discoveries of a similar character succeeded each other in Bohemia, and +in nearly every case the operation of trepanation had been performed on +the upper part of the forehead. Not very long ago it was reported to +the Anthropological Society of Berlin that in excavating two tombs +containing the remains of burnt bodies at Trüpschutz, on the west of +Brux, some fragments of skull were picked up, showing traces of +trepanation. The edges of the wound in this case bad been healed, and +the patient had lived on after the operation. Professor Virchow came to +the same conclusion with regard to a skull from a Neolithic tomb which +bore on the right parietal traces of an ancient cicatrized wound. He +also tells us of the finding in Poland of a round piece of skull which +had evidently been worn as an amulet.27 + +In the north of Europe similar discoveries have been made. At Borreby, +in Denmark, a skull was found from which large pieces had been taken; +and another from beneath a dolmen at Noes, in the island of Falster, +had a hole in it no less than two and a quarter by one and three +quarter inches in size. In the one case the holes were parts of a wound +to which the victim had succumbed; in the other the edges were too +regular to have been caused by traumatism. A Russian skull, a cast of +which has recently been presented to the Italian Anthropological +Society, bears traces of two trepanations; one performed during life, +the other after death. The former had evidently been caused neither by +illness nor by a wound. + +General Faidherbe discovered at Roknia, in Algeria, two trepanned +skulls, dating from a remote antiquity, in one of which the wound is +half an inch in diameter, and shows no sign of cicatrization; and +travellers speak of evident traces of similar operations on skulls +dating from the time of the Aïnos, the ancestors or predecessors of the +Japanese at the present day; and if we cross the Atlantic, we shall +meet with instances of trepanations executed in a similar manner, and +probably for similar reasons. + +We meet with numerous examples of trepanation in America, and fresh +discoveries are daily made by the energetic men of science in that +country. Dr. Mantegazza28 mentions three examples of trepanation from +Peru, which are of very great interest. One skull, still bound up in +many cloths, was found in the Sanja-Huara Cave (province of Anta), +which had been twice trepanned, and on which yet two more attempts at +trepanation bad been made. The latter seem to have taken place at +different times, and death seems to have succeeded the last operation. +Another skull which had belonged to an adult of Huarocondo has two +frontal openings close to each other; the upper, of elliptical shape, +is of large size and was evidently made after death. Yet another skull +from the province of Ollantay-tambo bears a double trepanation, +evidently made during life. The healing of the parietal opening proves +that it was made before the wound in the forehead, in which the edges +have remained rough. Dr. Mantegazza thinks that in the two first cases +the operations took place after the patient had been wounded, but that +in the third, the patient operated upon bad been epileptic or perhaps +even insane. We find it difficult to follow the learned professor here, +as w e are ignorant of the grounds for his conclusions. + +We give an illustration (Fig. 81) of a trepanned skull found in a +cemetery in the Yucay valley. A square piece has been cut out by making +four regular incisions. The bone shows traces of an ancient +inflammation, and many eminent surgeons, including Nélaton and Broca, +have not hesitated to attribute the opening, large as it is (seven by +six inches), to a surgical operation. If the incisions are carefully +examined it is easy to see that they were made with the help of a +pointed instrument, such as a clumsily made drill, for instance. Each +incision must have taken a long time to make, and we note with ever +increasing astonishment that the ancient Peruvians were not acquainted +with the use of iron or steel, and that the hardest metal they employed +was bronze. + +[Illustration: 81.] + +Trepanned Peruvian skull. + +A few years ago a sepulchre was opened at Chaclacayo, at the foot of +Mount Chosica, not far from Lima. In this tomb lay three mummies, of a +man, a woman, and a child. Near them lay a human skull, having about +the middle of the forehead an opening, measuring some two and a half by +two inches. It is of polygonal form, and eight different incisions can +easily be made out, which appear to have been made with some notched +stone implement. On raising a strip of skin, still adhering to the +skull, there was seen on the front part of the sagittal suture a very +small perforation, the result either of a wound or of an operation +which bad taken place during life. It has been suggested that the piece +of bone taken from the skull had been used to make a lance or +arrow-head, which was superstitiously supposed by the owner to ensure +his victory. This is, however, a mere suggestion, of which no proof can +be given. + +In other party of America discoveries have been made of trepanned +skulls, supposed to date from even more remote times than those we have +just been considering. A few years ago Professor Putnam found, in the +State of Ohio, some old wells idled with cinders and rubbish of all +kinds. From one of them, which was deeper than the others, he took +several crania, some of which bore evident traces of trepanation. From +a mound near Dallas (Illinois) were taken more than one hundred +skeletons, all of adults, placed side by side in a crouching attitude. +Every one of them had a round opening on the left temple, and in some +of these wounds the flint implement which had produced them was still +imbedded. It is very evident that we have here tokens of some funereal +rite, the meaning of which is uncertain, though it was evidently +practised also in districts very remote from Illinois. To mention yet +other examples, the excavation of a tumulus of irregular form near +Devil’s River (Michigan) has brought to light five skeletons buried u +right, whilst a sixth lay in the centre of the tumulus, which was +evidently, if w e may so express it, the place of honor. On each of the +six crania a perforation had been made after death. + +A number of crania and parts of crania on which trepanation had been +performed have also been taken from several mounds on Chamber’s Island, +from beneath the mound in the neighborhood of the Sable River, near +Lake Huron, and near the Red River29 Gillman thinks that the Michigan +trepanations, which bad been made with clumsy tools, were simply holes +for hanging up skulls as trophies, as is still customary amongst the +Dyaks of Borneo; but this seems scarcely a tenable hypothesis, for as a +rule the skeletons lying in their last home are complete. Quite +recently were discovered, beneath a tumulus near Rock River, eight +skeletons, the skull of one of which bore a circular perforation made +during life, which rather upsets Gillman’s theory. + +But to resume our narrative. The trepanations reported from North +America are generally posthumous, and we can prove nothing as to their +origin. Were they marks of honor made in some religious rite? Were they +openings to allow the spirit of the departed to revisit the body it had +abandoned? or, to suggest a far more worldly and revolting motive, were +they merely holes through which to pick out the brains of the dead. A +missionary, in a letter dated from Fort Pitt (Canada) in 1880, +describes the mode of scalping practised by the Redskins, and says that +they often take a round piece of skull as well as the scalp. May not +this be a case of atavism, or the transmission of a custom from one +generation to another, for the origin of which we must go back to the +most remote ages? In the present state of our knowledge, insufficient +as it is, this explanation is the most plausible. + +It is even more difficult to come to a satisfactory conclusion with +regard to European examples of the practice we have been describing. +Trepanation was certainly practised in the treatment of certain +diseases of the bone, such as osteitis or caries. Professor Parrot +mentions a case worth quoting.30 A few years ago several skeletons were +found at Bray-sur-Seine (Seine-et-Marne) with numerous objects, such as +polished stone hatchets, bone stilettos, shell necklaces and ornaments, +all undoubtedly Neolithic. One of the crania had been trepanned, the +position of the operation showing that its object had been to treat an +osteitis. The operation had succeeded, and the cicatrization of the +bones, both about the wound and in the parts originally affected, shows +that recovery was complete. This is the only example we have of an +operation executed with a view to curing a disease that can actually be +seen, and it enables us to conclude that these men, of whom we know so +little, had some notion of surgery. Were trepanations also practised to +cure epilepsy or to heal mental affections? From the earliest times the +seat of these troubles was always supposed to be the brain, and an +ancient book of medicine recommends as a remedy the scraping of the +outside of the skull.31 In a recent book (“De la Trépanation dans +l’Épilepsie par le Traumatisme du Crâne”), Echeverria mentions several +cases of cure by trepanation when epilepsy had been the result of an +injury. Observation may have led our prehistoric ancestors to discover +this. May we date this custom then from prehistoric times? It is very +difficult to decide with certainty either for or against it. + +Of one thing, however, we may be quite certain. The cranial +perforations so much like one another reported from districts so remote +and different in character, cannot be accidental. It is impossible to +attribute to chance the occurrence of injuries of exactly the same size +in crania of totally different origins. Setting aside the Entre-Roches +skull, the antiquity of which does not seem to us sufficiently +established, we find this custom maintained throughout the period +characterized by the use of polished stone weapons and implements, the +erection of megalithic monuments, and the domestication of animals. It +was practised by the men of the cave of _L’Homme Mort_ at the beginning +of the Neolithic period, and was still in use at Moret when metals +began to be known. The discoveries of Dr. Wankel, the excavations of +the tumulus of Guisseny, prove that trepanation was continued +throughout the Bronze age, whilst the Jeuilly and Limet tombs show that +it was not discontinued even in Merovingian times. + +The long continuance of such a practice is a very interesting fact, and +we may mention a yet more curious one. How are we to explain +trepanations that had no apparent motive on crania showing no symptoms +of disease? How account for the repetition at different tunes of this +operation, first on the living subject and then on the corpse, as at +St. Affrique, Bougon (Fig. 82), at Feigneux (Oise), where Dr. Topinard +has recently made excavations in a Neolithic cave and reports that a +dolichocephalic skull of the same type as the crania of the cave of +_L’Homme Mort_, belonging to a man of about thirty years of age, bore +two perforations, one made during life, the other after death? The +first measured two and a third by two and a half inches, and was +surrounded by scratches, showing how clumsy the operator had been.32 + +[Illustration: 82.] + +Skull from the Bougon dolmen (Deux-Sèvres), seen in profile. + +In nearly every case the subjects operated on were young, and long +survived the operation. The knowledge of this fact was from the first a +very useful guide in the study of the subject of trepanation, and +eagerly pursued researches constantly confirm it. One skull, for +instance, from the cave of _L’Homme Mort_ (Fig. 83), had a large +opening produced partly by an old operation and partly by two +posthumous trepanations. The subject had been trepanned in childhood or +early youth. There could be no doubt on that point; cicatrization had +been complete, the bony tissue having returned to its original +condition. Then after death, at an adult age, the relations or friends +of the deceased had cut out further round portions of the skull as near +as possible to the old wound, probably with a view to keeping these +pieces as amulets. + +[Illustration: 83.] + +Trepanned prehistoric skull. + +This was to Broca a flash of illuminating light, and according to him +was in some cases a religious rite, a ceremony of initiation, perhaps +even a custom inculcated by an established religion. The child who had +been subjected to it and had survived—as probably most of the victims +did survive,—attained to a certain position and celebrity in his life, +and after his death the fragments of his skull, especially those +portions near the old wound, became treasured relics, and were in the +end buried with their fortunate possessor on his death. + +This superstition appears to have long survived even in historic times, +and a Gallic chain is quoted33 on which hung a round piece of skull +with three holes in it. In. deed, these ornaments were so much sought +after that counterfeits of them were made; at least, we cannot in any +other way account for the occurrence of objects exactly resembling +round pieces of human crania, but in reality made out of pieces of a +stag’s antler found in the Baumes-Chaudes Cave. + +Yet another point deserves mention. It was evidently considered +undesirable that the crania from which pieces had been taken should be +left in a mutilated condition, and therefore pieces front other crania +were taken to fill up the gap, so that, says Broca,34 a new life was +evidently supposed to await the dead, for otherwise what object can the +restitution have served? + +Dr. Prunières is also of opinion35 that the introduction into the +crania of certain deceased persons of round pieces from other skulls +implies the belief in another life. This explanation, hypothetical as +it is, is really very plausible, and it is a pleasant thought that our +remote ancestors had faith in a future life; which faith is alike the +greatest honor and the greatest comfort of humanity. Is not yet another +more striking proof of the belief in a second existence to be found in +the number of objects placed in tombs at all periods of time and in +every part of the world? It is this belief, raising man as it does +above the material needs of his daily life, which forms the true +grandeur of the human race, and if a nation once loses it it is sure to +relapse into barbarism. + +When trepanning was the fashion there is no doubt that the operation +was performed in many different ways. Posthumous trepanations were +accomplished with the aid of a flint implement used as a chisel or a +saw. There was greater difficulty about an operation on a living +subject. Broca is of opinion that it was done with a drill turned round +and round in the skull in the way the French shepherds still treat +diseases of the crania in their sheep. The elliptical form of the wound +seemed to him to prove this, and he was further of opinion that when an +opening had been drilled in the skull at the point chosen, the +trepanation was completed by scraping the bone with a small flint +blade.36 Discoveries made since the death of the great French +anthropologist, however, compel us to modify this opinion. The +inflammation of the bone noticed along the edges of the trepanation +proves that a notched implement was used to saw out the piece of +skull.37 + +However the operation may have been performed, it is not one of great +danger to the patient or of great difficulty to the operator. +Experiments on animals with Quaternary flint implements have always +been successful, and have had no tragic results, which is the best +proof we can possibly give. + +The size of the perforations made varies ad infinitum. One, the largest +known, is described which is no less than sixteen inches in diameter.38 +Examples are known of the trepanation of every part of the skull, even +of the forehead, which at one time was supposed to have escaped. We +have ourselves given instances of frontal trepanation, and Dr. +Prunières mentions eleven cases in which the forehead had been operated +on. + +To conclude, we must repeat that trepanation is not really a dangerous +operation, and the reason it is nearly always followed by the death of +the subject in our own time is because it is never attempted except in +desperate cases, and the fatal result is really caused by the cerebral +disease, on account of which the operation was performed. History tells +us of its practice in very ancient times; Hippocrates speaks of it as +often resorted to by Greek physicians. It is performed in the present +day by the Negritos of Papua and the natives of Australia and of some +of the South Sea Islands, where it is considered efficacious in many +maladies. We also find it practised by the rough miners of Cornwall and +the wild mountaineers of Montenegro.39 An army doctor who travelled in +Montenegro a few years ago said that it was no rare thing to meet men +who had been subjected to trepanation seven, eight, or even nine times. +It is an interesting question, though we must not enter into it here, +whether many races could stand such a number of operations as this. + +The only instance we know in the present day of trepanation practised +as a religious rite, is met with among the Kabyles, who are established +at the foot of Mount Aurès on the south of the Atlas. The operation is +performed among them by the _thébibe_, one of their priests, by the aid +of a simple gimlet which he turns rapidly round between his fingers. +Among the Kabyles are men who have submitted to an operation of this +kind several times. + +We have now passed in review the weapons of prehistoric peoples, the +wounds they caused, and the modes of healing them known to our +ancestors; we have still to study the modes of defence resorted to by +them in face of the many dangers by which they were surrounded; but the +importance of this subject is such as to deserve separate +consideration. + + +1 Foureau, _Bul. Soc. Géog_., June 1, 1883. + +2 Munck has just discovered a similar station at Oburg (Hainault), +where similar implements, produced by similar processes as those at +Spiennes, were discovered. + +3 Briart, Cornet, and Houzeau: _Rapport sur les découvertes faites à +Spiennes en 1867_. Malise: _Bul. Acad. royale de Belgique_. + +4 _Journal, Ethnological Society_, 1818, p. 419. + +5 _Académie des Sciences_, Nov., 1883. _Mat_. Jan., 1884. Nature, June +18, 1887. + +6 _Nature_, June 16, 1887. + +7 Heilbig: “Osservazioni sopra il Commercio del l’Ambra” (_Acad. dei +Lincei_). We must not confound the yellow amber of the Baltic with the +red amber found in Italy, in the mountains of Lebanon, and even in some +lignites in the south of France. Sadowski: “Le Commerce de l’Ambre chez +les Anciens.” + +8 Nephrite is found in Turkestan, in Siberia, and in New Zealand. +Deposits of jadeite are known in Burmah, Jeannetay, and Michel—“Note +stir la Néphrite ou jade de Sibérie” (_Bul. Soc. Minéralogique de +France_, 1881). Meyer: “Die Nephritfrage kein ethnologische Problem,” +Berlin, 1882. + +9 Objects made of chloromelanite have been picked up in thirty-eight of +the departments of France. No deposit of it is known now.—Fischer and +Damour: _Rev. Arch_., 1877. + +10 Obsidian is chiefly found in the mines and quarries of Terro de las +Navajas (Mexico), known in the time of the Aztecs. Deposits have also +lately been discovered in Hungary and the island of Melos. + +11 Calaïte differs from the turquoise by an equivalent of aluminium; it +was described by M. Damour in 1864. It is said that traces of it have +been found in the tin mines of Montebras, which appear to have been +worked from prehistoric times.—_Mat_., 1881, p. 166, etc. Cartailhac: +_Bul. Soc. Anth_., 1881, p. 295. + +12 Broca: “Les Ossements des Eyziès,” Paris, 1868. + +13 Lartet and Chaplain-Duparc: “Une Sepulture des Anciens Troglodytes +des Pyrénées.” + +14 _Bull. Soc. Anth_., 1878, p. 215. The Baumes-Chaudes caves are the +most complete charnel houses of Neolithic times yet discovered. Dr. +Prunières collected in them as many as three hundred skeletons. + +15 “In a large proportion of the long barrows I have opened, the skulls +exhumed have been found to be cleft apparently with a blunt weapon, +such as a club or stone axe.”—_Archæologia_, vol. xlii., p. 161, etc. + +16 Wilson: “Prehistoric Annals of Scotland,” 2d ed., vol. i., p. 187. + +17 Keller: “Pfahlbauten,” _Siebenter Bericht, p_. 27, Zurich, 1876. + +18 “Habitants Primitifs de la Scandinavie,” pp. 212 and 213. + +19 “On the Occurrence of Fossil Bones in South America.” + +20 _Journal Anthropological Society_, May, 1882. + +21 Wyman: _Report Peabody Museum_, 1874, p, 40. + +22 This skill was not always shown, for Dr. Topinard speaks of a femur +found at Feigneux which had been so clumsily set that one part greatly +overlapped the other.—Bul. Soc. _Anth., p. 534_. + +23 _Bul. Soc. Anth_., 1883, pp. 258–301; 1885, p. 412. _Bul. Soc. +Polymatique du Morbihan_, 1883, p. 12. + +24 _Nature_, January 2, 1886. + +25 _Bul. Soc. Anth. de Lyon_, 1883–1884. + +26 Belucci: _Congrès Préhistorique de Lisbonne_, 1880, p. 471. + +27 “Uber trepanirte Schädel won Giebiechenstein” (_Verh. der Berliner +Gesellschaft für Anth_., 1879, p. 64). + +28 _Matériaux pour l’Histoire de l’Homme_, Aout, 1886. + +29 American Ass., Detroit, 1875, Nashville, 1877; “Ancient Men of the +Great Lakes” “Additional Facts Concerning Artificial Perforation of the +Cranium in Ancient Mounds in Michigan.” See also on this question +generally Fletcher “On Prehistoric Trepanning and Cranial Amulets,” +Washington, 1882. + +30 _Bul. Soc. Anth_., February 17, 1881. + +31 Jehan Taxil: “Traité de l’Épilepsie, Maladie Appalée Vulgairement la +Gouttète aux Petits Enfants.” + +32 _Bul. Soc. Anth_., 1887, p. 527. + +33 De Baye: “Trépanations Préhistoriques,” p. 28, fig. 11. + +34 _Bul. Soc. Anth_., 1877, p. 42. Broca constantly dwells on this +idea. “This funeral rite,” he said, addressing the Anthropological +Society, “implies belief in another life.” + +35 _Ass. Française_, Lille, 1874, p. 631. + +36 _Bul. Soc. Anth_., 1864, p. 199. + +37 _Bul. Soc. Anth_., 1882, pp. 143, 535. + +38 _Ass. Française_, Blois, 1884, p. 417. + +39 Boulogne: _Mém. de Médecine et de Chirurgie Militaires_, 3d series, +Paris, 1868. Védrénes: “Le Trépanation du Crâne” (_Rev. Anth_., +October, 1886). + + + + +CHAPTER VII. +Camps, Fortifications, Vitrified Forts; Santorin; The Towns upon the +Hill of Hissarlik. + + +Combativeness, to use the language of phrenology, is one of the most +lively instincts of humanity. The Bible tells us of the struggle +between the sons of Adam, and shows us might making right ever since +the days of primeval man. History is but one long account of wars and +conquests, victories or defeats, and progress is chiefly marked in +inventions which made battles more sanguinary and added to the number +of victims slaughtered. At the very dawn of humanity man learned to +make weapons; very soon, however, weapons ceased to appear sufficient. +The first fortification was doubtless the cave, which its owner +strengthened by closing the entrance with blocks of stone and piles of +broken rock, or by digging deep trenches about it. + +Population rapidly increased and war was declared between tribe and +tribe, nation and nation, race and race. Terrible must have been the +struggles between invaders and the original possessors of the soil. +Means of defence were multiplied to keep pace with new modes of attack, +and our ancestors of the Stone age were intelligent enough to make +places of refuge in which on necessity they could shelter their wives +and children, and later, when they became sedentary, their flocks and +their stores of grain. In many different localities we find the remains +of camps and fortifications, which, to avoid using a more ambitious +term, we may characterize generally as enclosures.1 + +These primitive enclosures, says Bertrand in his “Archéologie Celtiquc +et Gauloise,” may have been very much more numerous than is supposed, +if we include amongst them, as it appears we ought, many ruins long +thought to date from the Roman era. + +There is no doubt as to the purpose served by the camps, but we are not +prepared to speak as positively as does Bertrand as to their origin, +and the difficulty of deciding is very greatly increased on account of +these camps having been successively occupied at different epochs by +different peoples. Bearing in mind this reservation, we will now sum up +to the best of our ability all that is so far known about the most +important remains hitherto examined. + +The residence of prehistoric man in the rich districts between the +Sambre and the Meuse is proved by worked flints, fragments of pottery, +and human bones dating from most remote times. The stations +successively occupied were situated near watercourses or copious +springs, and, where possible, on isolated escarped plateaux surrounded +by ravines. Hastedon, about a mile and a quarter from Namur, is one of +the best examples we can quote.2 The camp, first made out in 1865, +formed a long square, covering some thirteen hectares, or about +thirty-two acres. It is situated on an isolated mound connected with +the main plateau by an isthmus 227 feet long, and is protected on the +south and west by a deep ravine: To these natural defences men had +added important works to those parts that were accessible. The cutting +of trenches a few years ago brought to light walls of a mean thickness +of more than nine feet, formed of masses of rock and sand and round +pieces of wood parallel with a _revêtement_ of dry stones surmounted by +a palisade consisting of three pieces of wood parallel with the walls, +and seven perpendicular traverses. All the wood was charred; the +besieged had evidently been driven out by fire. Excavations led to the +finding of Roman coins; this and the resemblance of the palisades to +those described by Cæsar,3 the very name of Hastedon, and the tradition +everywhere prevalent in the district, that this bad been the site of a +Gallic Roman camp, led to the general adoption of that opinion. In +fact, Napoleon III. actually ordered excavations to be made in the hope +of finding traces of the Atuatuques, one of the roost warlike of the +tribes of northern Gaul; but side by side with historic relics were no +less than ten thousand flints. These are chiefly merely chips or nuclei +which had served as hammers, or long thin slices, with some few arrow- +and lance-heads often skilfully cut, some polished hatchets, and saws +with fine teeth. Nearly all are notched and worn with use, which does +away with the idea that the place where they were found was the site of +a workshop such as I have already described. With these worked flints +were found some fragments of coarse pottery, which could not possibly +be confounded with Roman or Gallic work. The flints and pottery, and +the walls put together without cement, point to the conclusion that if +the camp of Hastedon was occupied by the Roman legions, it was long +previous to their day inhabited by some Neolithic race, ignorant of the +use of any but stone weapons and implements. + +The camp of Pont-de-Bonn in the commune of Modave (Namur) very much +resembles in its arrangement that of Hastedon.4 A mound stands out upon +the plain protected on the north and west by rocks difficult of access +and connected with the main plateau by a very narrow tongue of land. +Outside we can make out regular trenches parallel with each other, and +connected by a wall of masonry, at the foot of which wall were picked +up a good many iron nails. Inside the _enceinte_ itself worked flints +were associated with Roman coins. Are not these proofs in the first +place of a long Neolithic occupation, then of the residence of Gallic +Romans, and yet later of even more modern people of whom the masonry +walls and iron nails are relics? + +Limburg also contains some defensive works, many centuries old, which +are as yet but little known. We may mention amongst them the so-called +dyke of Zeedyck, near Tongres, a formidable intrenchment some 2,186 +yards long by more than 325 feet wide at the base, and of a height +varying from 49 to 65 feet; the earthen ramparts of Willem on the +Geule, the not less important ones of Houlem, with many others far away +from the great highways of communication, but within the limits of the +two provinces of Liège and Limburg.5 + +A few years ago Bertrand said that there are in France some four +hundred earthen _enceintes_, only sixty of which contain relics +connecting them with the Gallic Romans. Since Bertrand’s announcement +this number has been greatly increased, thanks to eagerly prosecuted +local researches. De Pulligny mentions a hundred in Upper Normandy6; +Martinet says they are very numerous in Berry; one of the most +remarkable, the quadrilateral of Haute-Brenne, covered an area of +nearly three thousand acres.7 Amongst the forests on the Vosges +Mountains were discovered long single and double walls, the course of +which follows the crest of the ramparts overlooking the valley of the +Zorn, between Lutzelbourg and Saverne.8 At Rosmeur, on Penmarch Point +(Finistère), Du Chatellier excavated two tumuli which appear to have +been connected with a series of defensive works encircling the whole +promontory.9 It would be merely fastidious to multiply instances, we +will content ourselves with describing a few of the most interesting of +these antique fortifications.10 + +The camp of Chassey (Saône-et-Loire) may be compared with those of +Belgium. It is situated on a plateau 2,440 feet long by a width varying +from 360 to 672 feet. A huge natural rocky barrier rises on the south +and east, whilst on the northeast and southwest we find two important +intrenchments made of huge blocks of stone with a _revêtement_ of +earth. One of these intrenchments is 45, the other only 29 feet high. +There is no trace inside of springs, and the inhabitants must always +have had to obtain their water-supply by artificial means. The cisterns +now in this camp appear to have been dug out with iron implements, and +are certainly of later date than the first occupation of the plateau. +Numerous objects picked up in the Chassey Camp belong to Neolithic +times, but the people who have occupied it since those remote days, the +men of the Bronze and Iron ages, the Gauls, the Romans, and the +Merovingians, have so turned over the ground that products of +industries, completely strange to each other, are everywhere mixed +together in inextricable confusion.11 + +There were originally a good many hearths about the camp, and it was +near to one of them that the spoon was found, figured in an earlier +chapter of this book (Fig. 25). With it were picked up polished +fibrolite, basalt, chloromelanite, serpentine, and diorite hatchets; +evidently made in the neighborhood, as is proved beyond a doubt by the +numerous chips and partly worked pieces lying about, as well as the +discovery of no less than thirty polishers, many of them showing signs +of long service. Bone implements of all kinds and whistles made of the +phalanges of oxen are also constantly found. Even if the presence of +these objects does not enable us to come to any final conclusion, they +are at least most useful and interesting in enabling us to put together +little by little a picture of the life of the most ancient inhabitants +of France. + +The camp of Catenoy, Dear Liancourt (Oise) is arranged very much in the +same manner as that of Chassey.12 _Cæsar’s Camp_, as it is called by +the people of the neighborhood, forms a long triangle, the apex of +which rests on the eastern extremity of the plateau. Excavations have +yielded a number of Gallic-Roman objects, with some polished hatchets, +some broken, others intact, with stone and bone weapons, resembling but +for a few slight differences those we have described so often. Numerous +fragments of pottery were also picked up, which pottery, hand-made and +mixed with crushed shells, seldom has either handles or any attempt at +ornamentation. Weapons, implements, and pottery are all alike totally +different from any Roman or Gallic work known. It is impossible to +study the relics at Catenoy without coming to the conclusion that the +camp was occupied at periods prior to Gallic and Roman times, and that +there, as in many other districts, the Latin conquerors had succeeded +an unknown vanquished race. + +De Quatrefages has accurately made out a series of works extending +along the left bank of the Nive, as far as Itsassou, and of which the +Pas-de-Roland marks the extreme limit. A merely superficial examination +is enough to show that these defences existed only on the side to which +access would otherwise have been easy, while the height overlooking the +river on the other side, which is impregnable by nature, has been left +untouched. Here too we find the name Cæsar’s Camp given to the relics, +a fact of common occurrence all over France, where the great captain +was long held in honor. Quatrefages is, however, of opinion that the +works are neither Roman, Gallic nor Celtic, and he even arrives by a +process of elimination at the conclusion that they were erected by the +Iberians, who preceded the Aryans, and have left so deep an impress on +all the countries they successively occupied. We do not feel able to +accept entirely this hypothesis; but no suggestion of the eminent +professor must be overlooked by those who earnestly seek with unbiassed +minds to ascertain the truth. + +Gregory of Tours relates that at the time of the invasion of the +Vandals, the Gabali took refuge with their families in the _Castrum +Gredonense_, and there, for two years, energetically resisted the +invaders.13 Grèze, now a little market town of the department of +Lozère, is the _castrum_ of which the old French chronicler speaks, and +Dr. Prunières there collected forty stone hatchets, differing in no +material respect from others found in such numbers elsewhere, with +flint knives and scrapers, bone stilettos, and millstones, doubtless +used for grinding grain, all of which are to the learned French +professor proofs of the existence there of a Neolithic station before +the historic period. + +In the department of Alpes-Maritimes a series of defensive works crown +the circle of mountains which rise from the shores of the +Mediterranean. These intrenchments certainly date from a remote period, +though we cannot assign them to any definite time, and the fact that +they have been repaired at different epochs proves that they were +successively occupied.14 They consist principally of circular or +elliptical _enceintes_ surrounded by walls of stones without mortar, +and they vary in diameter from some 39 to 328 feet. One of the largest +is that on the Colline des Mulets, above Monte Carlo. + +[Illustration: 84.] + +Prehistoric spoon and button found in a lake station at Sutz +(Switzerland). + +Although the pile-dwellings of Switzerland and of the _terremares_ of +Italy would appear to have been in themselves protection enough, their +inhabitants did not neglect other means of defence, from which we may +gather that they were engaged in constant and terrible struggles. The +_terremares_ were generally surrounded by a talus or rampart of earth, +with an external fosse which protected the approaches to the dwellings. +The rampart of Castione (Parma), which dates from the Bronze age, was +even strengthened inside with large timber caissons.15 In Switzerland, +some works recently undertaken to deflect the course of the Aar, on its +exit from Lake Bienne, have led to the discovery of a village of the +Stone age, with the bridges leading to it and the little forts intended +to protect it.16 As have the neighboring settlements, this station has +yielded a great many arrows, hatchets, scrapers, and harpoons. We give +an illustration of a curious marrow spoon, and of a round object which +seems to have been a button (Fig. 84), as they mark the progress made. + +Great Britain is intersected by lines of fortifications of unknown +origin, but certainly of extreme antiquity. We may mention Dane’s Dyke, +Wandyke, the Devil’s Dyke at Newmarket, and Offa’s Dyke, running from +the Bristol Channel to the Dee, and dividing England from Wales. +Ancient camps and intrenchments, Sir John Lubbock tells us, crown the +greater number of the hills of England. General Pitt-Rivers explored +several of these camps in the county of Sussex. Many extend over +considerable areas, and all contain numerous worked flints and other +relics of prehistoric industry. These relics are met with in great +numbers at the base of the intrenchments, so that we may justly +conclude that they date from the same epoch. + +The most celebrated of these camps is that of Cissbury, three miles +north of Worthing. We may also mention that of Hod-Hill in Dorsetshire, +which greatly resembles the one at Cissbury, but we will describe the +latter in some detail.17 It is situated on a somewhat lofty plateau of +irregular form, its site having been chosen with great skill as one +offering great facilities for defence. The earthen ramparts and the +fosses protecting them cover an area of sixty acres, and their +importance varies according to the relief of the ground; thus the +thickness of the walls is very much greater on the eastern side where +an attack would have been most fraught with danger; four doors give +access to the interior, and on each side of these doors are ruins of +rectangular structures strengthening their defence. Archæologists, +however, are of opinion that these redoubts, though their construction +is exactly similar to the rest of the fortifications, are of more +recent date. In fact Roman tiles have been found amongst the ruins, but +these really prove nothing, as every one is agreed that Cissbury was +occupied by the Romans after the subjugation of England by them; and +the only point at issue is really whether the walls of which the ruins +still remain date from the Roman period, or from times prior to their +arrival. We ourselves lean to the latter opinion, as drinking-water is +absolutely wanting; a very important point, as the Roman generals +always made it their first care to pitch their camps near a good +water-supply. On the western slope at Cissbury on each side of the +ramparts are fifty funnel-shaped depressions, some of which are as much +as seventy feet in diameter and twelve feet deep. These holes may have +served as refuges, and the larger ones were certainly lived in, as is +proved by the charred stones of the hearths and the pieces of charcoal +found near them; moreover, Tacitus18 tells us that the Germans lived in +similar habitations. Whatever, however, may have been their ultimate +use, these hollows were in the first place dug out with a view to +obtaining flints in the marly chalk forming the bill; and recent +excavations have revealed the existence of galleries connecting the +depressions. When they became later human habitations some of the +inside openings were blocked up with lumps of chalk, carefully piled up +so as to make entrance extremely difficult, greatly adding to the +security of the inmates. + +Thirty of these shafts were excavated in succession; and amongst the +rubbish of all kinds with which they were filled were found some well +cut celts, showing no trace of polish, and some weapons or tools of the +Moustérien type. The number of half-finished implements, and the even +greater quantity of chips, points to these shafts having formed a +centre of manufacture. Many of the implements were made of stag-horn, +and amongst them we must mention some picks which, curiously enough, +exactly resemble those of Belgium and the south of France.19 Similar +wooden picks are found in the copper mines of the Asturias, in the salt +mines of Salzburg, and in a petroleum well recently opened on the +frontier between the United States and Canada. In all these localities +traces can be made out of ancient mining operations. But to return to +Cissbury: from amongst the prehistoric ruins there were also taken, +numerous fragments of pottery, not at all like Roman ware, with the +bones of the horse, goat, boar, and ox, all still represented in the +fauna of England; with oyster-shells, and the shells of both land and +sea mollusca, of species still to be found in Great Britain. But no +trace has so far been discovered of metals, and neither the flint +implements nor the bones of animals have any of the marks of rust so +characteristic of the Bronze and Iron ages. Must we not then conclude +that these shafts were sunk at a time long prior to the earliest +historic period? + +The walls of the subterranean galleries of Cissbury bore not only +cup-shaped ornaments, strive, and curved or broken lines, recalling +those on the megalithic monuments of Scotland and Ireland; but Park +Harrison has made out some regular _runes_, or written characters, of +which a reproduction was shown at the Paris Exhibition in 1878. This +last fact is the more curious, as Sayce discovered in a passage giving +access to a cave near Syracuse some characters somewhat similar in +form, to which he assigns a proto-Phœnician origin. We may add that +certain characters made out at Cissbury, differing but little from the +modern letter _b_ or the figure 6, are also found in the most ancient +Palmyrian, Copt, and Syrian alphabets. Were this fact completely +established, still more, if it were corroborated by other analogous +facts, we should in it have a very valuable indication of the relations +of England with the most ancient known navigators. + +Germany also contains some ancient fortifications, of which the most +remarkable are the _Heidenmauer_ of Saint Odila, near Hermeskiel, +between the Moselle and the Rhine. Huge stones, piled up without +cement, form a triple _enceinte_, but there is nothing to connect these +remains with prehistoric times. It is the same with the intrenchments +in the Grand Duchy of Posen, the existence of which was announced at a +meeting of the Anthropological Society of Berlin.20 Many of these +defensive works, notably those of Potzrow and of Zabnow, bad been +erected on piles. In the district between Thorn and the Baltic are +numerous mounds of the shape of a truncated cone, the platform of which +is surrounded by an embankment some 590 feet in diameter.21 Near many +of these were picked up many broken human bones, mixed together in the +greatest confusion with weapon, hatchets, and hammers, resembling +Neolithic types. Everything bears witness to the struggles of which +these mounds were the scene. + +Similar relies of a past still obscure are met with in the south of +Europe. Cartailhac has brought into notice the _citanias_, which are +strange fortified towns in Portugal. On the plateau of +Mouinho-da-Moura, southwest of Lisbon, were found numerous polished +hatchets, associated with shells of marine mollusca and the bones of +mammals belonging to species still extant.22 This station was protected +by intrenchments of so great an extent that it has been impossible to +examine the whole of them. There are also near the same place several +caves, now nearly choked up. One of them was originally a regular +tunnel; the cutting leading to the entrance was made of earth and small +stones; it contained the bones of animals, some cinders, and four large +vases of coarse workmanship. It is difficult to make out what this cave +was used for, the great confusion in which the bones lay excluding all +idea of its having been a tomb. Ribeiro had already made out at Lycea +an intrenched camp protected by clumsily constructed walls. Inside the +_enceinte_ he picked up numerous fragments of ornamented pottery, with +polished hatchets, shells, and a good many bones of animals. He also +made out several sepulchres.23 + +[Illustration: 85.] + +General view of the station of Fuente-Alamo. + +The prehistoric station of _La Muela de Chert_ in Maeztrago reminds us +of those of Portugal. It is situated on a little eminence, protected on +the north and east by the natural escarpment of the plateau, and on +other sides by a wall of some height made of stones without mortar. +Some foundations of an oval shape, on which doubtless were built the +homes of the inhabitants, can be made out in the middle of the +_enceinte_. We can, however, but repeat here what we have said so often +elsewhere, that it is impossible to fix the exact date at which these +intrenchments were made. The discovery, however, of polished flint +hatchets, diorite lance-heads, and a few bones of ruminants and cerviæ +unknown in Spain in prehistoric times, would appear to point to a very +considerable antiquity. Lastly, two young Belgian engineers24 have +lately made out between Almeria and Carthagena a considerable number of +prehistoric stations in which can be traced successively the different +Stone ages and those of Copper and of Bronze. Several of these stations +(Fig. 85) are regular fortified camps, protected by thick stone walls +cemented with a thin layer of clay. The fire which destroyed the +habitations has left behind, beneath the ashes and cinders, numerous +objects, with the aid of which we are able to form a picture of the +life led by the men who built the fortifications, and we know that they +were agriculturists, for the very stores of grain have been found +charred and agglutinated by fire. In the more recent stations flint, +which was in the earliest time the one material used, has disappeared +and is replaced by the copper, of which a plentiful supply was found in +the rich mines riddling the mountains. Excavations have even brought to +light the workshop of the metallurgist, with its moulds and vases +converted into crucibles, its essays at new forms, its scoriae, and +lastly its finished weapons, showing real skill in their production. + +Although it is impossible to assign to them a definite date, we must, +to make this part of our work complete, say a few words on the +earthworks met with in Roumania. A former minister of that +principality, M. Odobesco,25 classes them as _valla, tumuli_, and +_cetati de pamentu_ or citadels. + +The _valla_ include important works. One of them cuts across Valachie +parallel with the Danube and loses itself in Southern Russia. Another +crosses the north of Moldavia and Bessarabia, following a direction +convergent with the former. These _valla_, although they are known in +the country in which they occur as _Fossés de Trajan_, are certainly of +earlier date than the Roman occupation, and in fact Roman roads cut +across the intrenchments or fosses which have been levelled or covered +over to make way for them. Excavations of the large tumuli are not yet +sufficiently advanced for us to hazard an opinion about them. The +smaller ones, however, are seldom of Roman origin. The funeral vases of +calcareous stone which they contain bear witness clearly enough to +their destination, and also to the rite with which they were connected. + +The _cetati de pamentu_ are regular earthen fortifications set up +within short distances of each other on all the heights overlooking the +torrential rivers of Roumania. These intrenchments, generally of round +or oval form, are protected by deep fosses, parapets, and palisades. +Masses of cinders and burnt earth bear unmistakable evidence to the +cause of their destruction. All about, excavations have brought to +light coarse pottery, grindstones for crushing grain, stores of millet +which had been damaged by the flames, and a few primitively constructed +bronze idols. When the vanquished Roumanians were driven from their +intrenchments, they had evidently learned to use bronze, but were +still, as we have already remarked, unacquainted with iron, as no +object in that material has been found, nor does anything bear any +trace of rust. + +Thus, throughout Europe, man, in the presence of the many dangers +surrounding him, endeavored in the very earliest times to protect by +similar means his family, his flocks, and his wealth. In America we are +able to quote facts of even more importance. The vast territory +comprised between the Alleghanies and the Rocky Mountains, between the +great lakes of Canada and the Gulf of Mexico, is intersected with truly +colossal fortifications, almost all of them made entirely of earth. The +ancient Americans knew how to protect every height and every delta +formed by the junction of two rivers with redoubts, walls, parapets, +fosses, and circumvallations. Not without astonishment we make out a +regular system of fortresses connected with each other by deep trenches +and secret passages, some of them hewn out beneath the beds of rivers, +observatories on the heights, and concentric walls, some actually +strengthened with casemates protecting the entrances. All these works +were constructed by the so-called Mound-Builders, of whose ancestors or +of whose descendants absolutely nothing is known. + +All the strongholds of the Mound-Builders rise near abundant +watercourses, and the best proof that can be given of the intelligence +which guided their constructors in their choice of sites, is the fact +of the number of flourishing cities such as Newark, Portsmouth, +Cincinnati, Saint Louis, Frankfort, and New-Madrid, etc., which were +built upon the ruins of various earthworks. + +It would take us too long merely to enumerate all the ancient +fortifications still existing in North America. Moreover they all +resemble each other so much that the description of a few of them is +really all that is needed to prove their importance. + +Fort Hill (Fig. 5, p. 39) rises from an eminence overlooking a little +river called Paint Creek; the walls vary in height from eight to +fifteen feet, and exceed thirty feet in thickness.26 Several doors +facilitate entrance, and one of them leads to a square _enciente_, the +walls of which have been almost entirely destroyed. This enclosure +probably contained the homes of the people, which may have been mere +cabins of adobes or sun-burnt bricks, or buts covered with rushes, +interlaced branches, or the skins of animals; on this point we are +reduced to guesswork. In the centre of the principal enclosure can be +made out, in almost every case, several much smaller enclosures, each +containing in their turn one or more mounds. Some think these were +consecrated to religious rites, but this is a mere conjecture, for +nothing is really known of the form of government or of the religion of +the Mound-Builders. + +Forest trees have grown up on these abandoned ruins, succeeding other +vegetable growths; the huge girth of the decaying trunks proving their +longevity. Man, impelled by motives we cannot fathom, had abandoned the +districts where everything bears witness to his power and intelligence, +and the vigorous vegetation of nature once more has it all its own way. + +The most remarkable group of prehistoric fortifications in North +America is perhaps that near Newark, in the valley of the Scioto. It +includes an octagonal _enceinte_ eighty acres in area, a square +_enceinte_ of twenty acres, with two others, one twenty the other +thirty acres in extent. The walls of the great circle are still twelve +feet high by fifty feet wide at the base. They are protected by an +interior fosse seven feet deep by thirty-five feet wide. According to +measurements carefully made by Colonel Whittlesey,27 the total area +covered by these intrenchments is no less than twelve square miles, and +the length of the mounds exceeds two miles. The large entrances +protected by mounds thirty-five feet high, the avenues leading to them +which are regular labyrinths, the quaintly shaped mounds—one, for +instance, represents the foot of a gigantic bird—all combine to strike +the visitor with astonishment. We give a representation (Fig. 86) of a +group, not unlike that we have just described, which is situated at +Liberty (Ohio), and includes two circles and one square. The diameter +of the great circle is 1,700 feet, and it encloses an area of forty +acres, whilst that of the smaller _enceinte is 500_ feet; the area of +the square, each side of which measures 1,080 feet, is twenty-seven +acres. The walls are not strengthened by any ditch, and, contrary to +general usage, the earth of which they are made was dug out from the +inside of the _enciente_ itself. We may also mention Old Fort (Greenup +County, Kentucky, successively described by Caleb Atwater, Squier, and +J. H. Lewis. It is situated forty feet above the river, and the total +length of the walls exceeds 3,175 feet. Six entrances give access to +it, and in the centre rises a mound representing some animal, a bear +probably, measuring more than 105 feet. Several small mounds, beneath +which were found human bones, cluster about the larger one. + +[Illustration: 86.] + +Group at Liberty (Ohio). + +[Illustration: 87.] + +Trenches at Juigalpa (Nicaragua). + +We must not omit to name an extraordinary system of intrenchments at +Juigalpa, in Nicaragua, which so far as I know is quite unique. This is +a series of trenches extending for several miles (Fig. 87), varying in +width from nine and a half to thirteen feet; at equal distances are +oval reservoirs, the longest axis of which measures as much as +seventy-eight feet. In each reservoir are two or four mounds, probably +serving as watch-towers. We know nothing either of the people who +erected these singular structures or of the enemy from whom they formed +a protection. Nor can anything be guessed as to the way in which the +defence was conducted. All is involved in obscurity, and at every turn +we are compelled to repeat that prehistoric studies are weighted with +uncertainty, long and arduous study being necessary to bring ever so +little order into the chaos in which everything connected with them is +involved. + +We must cursorily refer to some other fortifications which really +scarcely belong to our subject, though certain archæologists claim for +them a prehistoric origin. We refer to the vitrified forts, which are +strange structures in which stones, such as granite and gneiss, +quartzite and basalt, have been subjected to a heat so intense as to +produce vitrification. + +These vitrified forts are _enceintes_, generally of round or elliptical +form, carefully erected where they were most needed for defence, and +protected by one or more ramparts.28 The ramparts all bear traces of +vitrification, more or less complete, which has, so to speak, cemented +them together. The vitrification is very unequal, being complete in +some parts and scarcely noticeable in others. It is evident that the +builders did not know how to direct their fire uniformly. + +Ever since 1777 vitrified forts have been known in Scotland, and until +1837 they were supposed to exist nowhere else. About that time, +however, Professor Zippe called attention to similar ruins in Bohemia, +and later it was announced that discoveries of the same kind had been +made in various parts of France, Denmark, and Norway. Virchow speaks of +the _Schlaken Wälle_, or ramparts of vitrified scoria, near Kern29 and +Schaafhausen, and gave an account of them at a meeting of German +naturalists at Ratisbon. It would be easy to multiply instances. +Vitrified walls are known in the Puy-de-Dôme, in which the facing is of +clay, and draught flues, for regulating and fanning the flames, have +been made out. At Castel-Sarrazin is a camp refuge with similar +dispositions,30 and recently Daubree presented to the Académie des +Sciences a piece of porphyry artificially vitrified from the +prehistoric _enceinte_ of Hartmannswiller Kopf in Upper Alsace.31 + +It is in Scotland, however, that are situated the most remarkable +vitrified forts. A few years ago no less than forty-four were counted. +The most celebrated are those of Barry Hill and Castle Spynie in +Invernesshire, Top-O-Noth in Aberdeen, and a small fort which rises +from a lofty rock in the midst of the Strait of Bute. Vitrified cairns +also occur in the Orkney Islands, notably on the little isle of Sanday, +but the most interesting structures of the kind are Craig Phœdrick and +Ord Hill of Kissock, which rise up like huge pillars on the hills at +the entrance of Moray Firth, at a distance of three miles from each +other.32 + +Craig Phœdrick is now covered with a luxuriant vegetation of broom, +furze, and fern, with groves of firs and larches, amongst which the +explorer makes his way with difficulty to the fortifications, or rather +to the piles of massive blocks to which that name has been given. These +blocks form an acropolis of oval form, the upper part of which is a +flat terrace encircling a central basin some six and a half to nine and +a half feet deep, which may be compared to the craters of the extinct +volcanoes of Auvergne. The sides of the mound are strewn with cyclopean +blocks of vitrified granite, which evidently originally formed part of +the fortifications. It is on the eastern side, overlooking the valley +of the Ness, that the buildings are of the greatest importance; two +terraces can be made out, the lower projecting beyond the upper, +forming a double series of almost perpendicular fortifications, +constructed of vitrified blocks cemented together with thin layers of +mortar, spread without any attempt at regularity. The blocks form, with +the mortar, a conglomerate so compact that when struck with a hammer +they break without separating. Examination of fragments under the +microscope prove that they have gone through important mineralogical +transformations, under the influence of what must have been an +extremely high temperature. The heat must have been indeed intense +which could cause mica to disappear entirely, and feldspar to melt +almost completely. + +The hill known as Ord Hill of Kissock is crowned, as is Craig Phœdrick, +with ruins still standing, but the vegetation about them is so dense +and thorny that it is difficult to make out the condition of the +remains. The ruins, which can only be seen from one side, appear +however to have formed part of fortifications, dating from the same +time and serving the same purpose as those of Craig Phœdrick. Were they +forts? There is certainly no sign of their having been used as +habitations. Or were they, as some archæologists are disposed to think, +beacon houses used for warning the people of the approach of the Norman +pirates or Scandinavian Vikings, whose depredations were not +discontinued until the eighth century of the Christian era? Hypotheses +are always easy, but proofs of these hypotheses are difficult to find, +and we confess we have none to bring forward.33 + +Passing to France, we find the greater number of vitrified forts in the +Département de la Creuse. At Châteauvieux is an _enceinte_ of oval +form, 416 feet wide at its broadest part.34 An earthwork, 22 feet wide +at the base, serves as foundation to a wall, the outer and inner +portions of which consist of small granite stones, arranged in regular +layers. The space between the two series of small stones is filled in +with a sheet of melted granite, some twenty-four inches wide, resting +on calcareous tufa. The whole mass is completely vitrified, and regular +geodes or nodules lined with crystals and draped with pendent drops of +melted rock have been produced. + +The ancient fortress of Ribandelle, of circular form, rises above the +Creuse, opposite Châteauvieux. It was successively occupied by the +Celts, the Romans, and the Visigoths, but we are unable to fix the date +of its erection or the name of the people who built it. There remain +but a few ruins at the present day, but we can make out in them the +same mode of construction as that followed at Châteauvieux. The walls +are faced with unhewn stones, the outer side of which still retains a +natural appearance, while the inner is corroded and disintegrated. In +the wall itself, separated from the facings by beds of peat mould, are +great blocks of vitrified granite. The traces of the action of fire are +specially noticeable in the upper part of the walls, so that they were +evidently finished when the fusion took place. + +The site of the furnace in these forts is difficult to determine. It +was evidently not situated under any of the blocks, for the earthworks +on which they rest retain no traces of the action of fire. Nor was it +situated at the side, for the outer facings have retained alike their +original form and consistency. Nor can the furnace have been lit on the +blocks, as heat exercises its action by radiating in every direction. +We are therefore forced to the conclusion that the fire was spread with +the aid of spaces left in the inside of the construction at various +points, for the vitrified mass is divided into blocks, about nine and +three fourths feet long, at very short distances from each other. + +These few examples will be enough to give some idea of the strange +vitrified forts. Many of them retain traces of Roman. occupation. The +Guéret Museum possesses a fragment from the Ribandelle walls in which a +Roman tile is completely imbedded; and M. Thuot picked up other tiles +in a similar condition amongst the ruins. This is a very decided proof +that the vitrification took place after the arrival of the conquerors +of Gaul. The weapons and tools discovered would appear to confirm this +idea, and to suggest similar explanations of vitrification elsewhere. +If so, we shall have to admit that vitrified forts date from the +earliest centuries of the Christian era, and are not prehistoric at +all. We have, however, noticed them here on account of the grave doubts +in the matter, and because they furnish a striking and valuable +illustration of the relations existing from the most remote tunes +between widely separated races, and maintained until the present time. +In no other way can we account for the practice of the extremely +difficult and complicated operation of the vitrification of bard rocks +in districts so far apart as Norway and Scotland, Germany and the +midlands of France. + +The more we think of the difficulties vitrification presents, the +greater is our astonishment. How was the fusion achieved of elements so +refractory alike in their structure and in the resistance offered by +accumulated masses of material? By what processes was heat brought up +to the 1300 degrees necessary for the fusion of granite? The +incineration and fusion of the materials of which the vitrified forts +are made, especially the granite ones of La Creuse and the Côtes du +Nord, bear witness, says Daubrée, to a surprising skill and knowledge +of the management of fire in those who burned them, but these qualities +were manifested also in extremely ancient metallurgical operations. It +is quite impossible to suppose the vitrification to have been the +result of a conflagration. No fire, whether accidental or the work of +an incendiary, could be powerful enough to produce such results. The +use of petroleum in the most terrible conflagrations of our own +time—those of the Commune in 1871, for instance—did calcine and +disintegrate stone, but I know of no case of vitrification. + +The Keramic Museum of Sèvres contains several specimens which present +very notable differences to each other. Those from Château-Gontier are +formed of very close-grained quartzite granite of a greenish color +streaked with black. The conglomerate welding there together is a +vitrified scoria full of very small bubbles made by the escape of gas +which had not had sufficient strength to get out. The block from +Sainte-Suzanne (Mayenne) consists of quartz mixed with half calcined +grains of feldspar, bleached by the action of fused glass, which once +introduced filled up as it congealed all the vacant spaces with a +vitreous substance of light greenish-white color. The fractures are +green and bright, and are dotted with white points, which are all that +is left of the stones after their disintegration in the grip of a heat +that was alike intense and rapid in its action. The fragments brought +from Scotland differ from those just described. They consist of small +pieces of granite completely merged in a thick paste with which they +form the mass, the whole breaking together when it does break; and the +melted matter seldom has any bubbles in it.35 + +The process employed in cementing the materials of the vitrified forts +was then perfectly unique. The processes employed to obtain the +necessary heat varied according to circumstances and according to the +nature of the materials used. At Sainte-Suzanne and at La Courbe marine +salt was used as a flux. Captain Prévot36 thinks that the walls were +smeared with a coating of clay, and that as in the baking of bricks +spaces were left between so as to produce more intense heat. M. de +Montaiglon is of opinion that the buildings were in the first instance +erected without the use of any calcareous or argillaceous material, and +that glass in a state of fusion was poured over them afterwards, this +glass consolidating them and forming with them one indestructible mass. +M. Thuot seems much disposed to share this last opinion, but he thinks +that some chemical materials such as soda or potash were also used. Yet +one other possible solution may be mentioned, a solution which is +becoming more and more generally accepted, namely that the granite was +not after all really melted, but that the vitrification should either +be attributed to the fusion of the argillaceous mass, which has been +subjected to an igneous transformation, such as that which often takes +place in furnaces for baking bricks and in lime-kilns.37 + +Whatever explanation we may accept, however, the processes employed +certainly bear witness to a much more advanced state of civilization +than was acquired in the earliest ages of humanity. We have been led by +the great interest and mystery of the subject to dwell longer on it +than we intended, and we must hasten to return to prehistoric times +with a determination not to transgress again. + +Fortifications are a proof of combined action leading to a common end; +they imply social organization, chiefs to command, workmen to obey. A +recent discovery enables us to form a very accurate picture of +prehistoric men gathered together not only for purposes of defence, but +in a society already rich, industrious, and, if we may so speak, +learning to cultivate the arts of peace. + +The Ægean Sea has ever been the theatre of igneous phenomena, and the +three little islands of Thera, Therasia, and Aspronisi, which shut in +the Bay of Santorin, are built up chiefly of volcanic materials.38 In +1573 an eruptive cone suddenly appeared; in 1707 the inhabitants of +Santorin saw rise up a short distance from their shores a rock that +increased in size for several days and then suddenly split up. This +splitting up was succeeded by a great eruption of incandescent +materials; an eruption which lasted for no less than five years, +forming at the end of that time an island some 400 feet high by 3,279 +feet in circumference. In 1866, after many violent shocks of +earthquake, the ground was rent asunder on this island and masses of +volcanic matter were belched forth, whilst on the other side of the +island the soil sank to such a degree that canoes were used to get to +houses which but the day before were nine feet above the sea-level. +This eruption went on until 1870, and the quantity of scoriæ vomited +forth during its continuance welded three islets, which had hitherto +been separate, to the principal island, of which they now form part. On +entering the Bay of Santorin we see on every side banks of lava, beds +of scoriæ, and piles of cinders of a purplish-gray color rising in +cliffs to a height of more than 1,312 feet. All these materials are the +result of innumerable eruptions, and the central crater of the volcano +is probably situated about the middle of the bay. It is supposed that +at one time a conical mountain, from 1,958 to 2,600 feet high, rose +where soundings now give a depth of water of over 1,300 feet. A sudden +break up of the mountain probably produced this abyss, and formidable +eruptions have led to the pouring forth of immense quantities of +pumice-stone. The three islets mentioned above would be the remains of +the old central cone, and a bed of pumice-stone from 98 to 131 feet +thick is spread over the whole of their surface, telling of a violent +cataclysm of which neither history nor tradition has preserved the +memory. + +The letters of Pliny the Younger39 say that the eruption of Vesuvius +which caused the destruction of Portici lasted five days, and we know +that the houses are covered with a uniformly distributed bed of +pumice-stone some thirteen feet thick, and of cinders about three feet +thick. Everything points to the conclusion that a very similar +catastrophe overtook Santorin; there too whole villages were buried +beneath cinders, stones, and molten lava, belched forth by a volcano in +action; there too men were the witnesses and the victims of the +eruption, as is proved by an accidental circumstance which took place +some twenty-three years after.40 + +The removal of the _pouzzolana_, so called after the volcanic ashes of +Pozzuoli in Italy for the works on the Isthmus of Suez, necessitated +important excavations, and the cuttings revealed the existence of +dwellings which had been bidden away from the light of day for many +centuries. The masses of rubbish hiding these prehistoric ruins were +some sixty-five feet high, and consisted chiefly of volcanic ashes +piled up, for some accidental reason, in comparatively modern times. +Beneath the _pouzzolana_ a thin layer of humus contains fragments of +pottery of Hellenic origin; which marks the close of the historic +period, and covers over the mass of pumiceous tufa vomited out by the +volcano. It was in this tufa, which is eight feet thick, that the first +signs of buildings were discovered. Further excavation brought to light +two houses with doors, windows, and bearing walls. In one of these +houses there were five different rooms. Other discoveries rapidly +succeeded each other, alike in the island of Therasia and at Acrotiri, +the principal island, which has given its name to the group. The plan +of these houses is an irregular parallelogram, the angles of which are +rounded and the sides more or less curved. This arrangement differs +greatly from that adopted in Greece as well as from that in use at +Therasia after the time of the volcanic eruptions. The houses too are +quite different in their mode of construction. The walls consist of +great blocks of lava placed one above the other, without any trace of +cement or of lime, and are merely kept in place by a reddish earth +mixed with chopped straw or marine algae. Large branches of olive or +cypress trees, still with the bark on, are imbedded in the masonry. +These pieces of wood, the size of which varies considerably, were +probably added to give the necessary solidity to the walls in the +numerous earthquakes, the disastrous effects of which were only too +well known to the ancient inhabitants of Santorin. It is curious and +interesting to note the use of the same expedient among the inhabitants +of the islands of the Archipelago who are still exposed to the same +danger. The doors and windows are clumsily arched, and the roof seems +to have been a low vault. It was made of stones and coated with clay +and supported by the trunks of olive trees, the charred remains of +which lay upon the floors of the crushed homes. These trunks show no +sign of having been touched with metal tools; not a metal nail or clamp +has been found, and we cannot but conclude that the remains belong to +the age when stone alone was employed. + +The inside walls were not glazed or decorated in any way, except in one +instance, that of a house at Acrotiri, from which the rubbish has been +cleared away, revealing on the walls a layer of lime on which was some +colored ornamentation which still retained an extraordinary brilliancy +when it was discovered. + +In all the houses and in every room of each were found beneath the tufa +burying them masses of lava and volcanic scoriae, forming a most +eloquent witness of the cause of their destruction. Near one of the +houses of Therasia is a little cylindrical structure, about three feet +high; which cannot have been a well, as it rests directly on +impermeable lava, and was certainly not a cistern, as it is too small +for that. May it, as some think, have been an altar? We cannot tell, +and though the religious sentiment was probably no more absent among +these primitive races than it is among the barbarous peoples of our own +day, it does not do to express an opinion in the absence of positive +proof. + +Successive excavations have yielded a number of objects which throw a +new light upon the manners and customs of the inhabitants. Terra-cotta +vases are more numerous than anything else (Fig. 88), and among them +preponderate large yellow vessels capable of holding about one hundred +quarts. Most of them have a clumsy brim, and a rough attempt has been +made at ornamentation by the potter with his fingers on the damp clay. +Other vases of finer clay, colored red or yellow, are covered with +ornaments and graceful arabesques; the garlands of fruit and flowers +are often of remarkably beautiful workmanship. Cups with well-shaped +rounded handles, made of some kind of red ferruginous earth, others of +gray material, were picked up in all the houses. These various vessels +were used for many different purposes; some to cook food, the marks of +the hearth being still on them, whilst others retained some of the +chopped straw with which the domestic animals had evidently been fed. +The most curious of all are those which are supposed to represent a +woman; the front part projecting and surmounted by a narrow neck bent +backwards, with two brown prominences supposed to stand for breasts, +and dots round the upper part representing a necklace, while ear-rings +are indicated by elliptical bands of different colors. We shall have to +refer again to these curious vases when we speak of the discoveries +made at Troy; we need only add now that the pottery found at Santorin +differs completely, alike in form and ornamentation, from the Greek, +Phœnician, and Etruscan specimens, of which the museums of Europe +contain so many. They are evidently therefore not of foreign origin, +but of native manufacture. The absence of clay in the island of +Santorin has thrown some doubt on this, however, but the researches of +M. Fouqué have revealed the former existence of a large valley, at the +base of the principal cone, which valley ran down to the sea-shore near +the island of Aspronisi; and in which probably was found the clay which +the potters of the district soon learned to turn to account. + +[Illustration: 88.] + +Vases found at Santorin. + +With these vases were found some troughs for holding crushed grain, and +lava discs very much like those still in use among the weavers of the +Archipelago to stretch the woof of their tissues; skilfully graduated +lava weights, the correlation of which is very evident, as they weigh +8, 24, and 96 ounces; a flint arrow-head and a saw of the same material +with regular teeth; together with a great variety of other objects, +including many obsidian arrows and knives, reminding us in their shape +of those characteristic of the Stone age in North Europe. + +Two rings of gold beaten very thin, and a little copper saw with no +trace of any alloy, are, so far, the only metal objects found in the +excavations. The origin of the former, moreover, is very uncertain, and +there has been much discussion as to where the rings came from. In +spite, however, of all the gaps in the evidence about them, there +remains no doubt that the inhabitants of Santorin were farther advanced +in civilization than the Lake dwellers of Switzerland, the builders of +the _terremare_ of Italy, or the Iberians of the south of Spain, who +were very probably their contemporaries; and we cannot refrain from +expressing our admiration of the wonderful progress made by the +inhabitants of the little group of volcanic islands under notice. + +Before the catastrophe which overwhelmed them, Santorin was covered +with comfortable and solidly built houses. Men knew how to till the +ground, and gathered in crops of cereals, among which barley was the +most abundant, then millet, lentils, peas, coriander, and anise; they +had learned to domesticate animals, as is proved beyond a doubt by the +number of bones of sheep and goats; they kept dogs to guard their +flocks, and horses to aid in agricultural work; they knew how to weave +stuffs, to grind grain, to extract the oil from olives, and even to +make cheese, if we may give that name to the pasty white stuff found at +the bottom of a vase by Dr. Nomicos. They were acquainted with the +arch, and they used durable and brilliant colors. The copper saw is an +example of the first efforts of the natives at metallurgy; the gold and +obsidian which were foreign to the island bear witness to commercial +relations with people at a distance. They loved art, as proved by the +shape of their vases and the ornamentation on many of them, which is +really often worthy of the best days of Greece. All around we see signs +appearing as it were suddenly of a civilization, the origin and +tendencies of which are alike still unknown. + +But one human skeleton has so far been found in Santorin, and that is +of an inhabitant who had evidently been overtaken in his flight and +crushed beneath the burning scoriæ from the volcano. This man was of +medium height, and is supposed to have been between forty and +forty-eight years old. The bones of the pelvis are firmly consolidated, +and the teeth are worn with mastication. + +Let us endeavor to guess at the period when the people of Santorin +lived. De Longpérier tells us that vases similar to those left by them +are represented on the tomb of Rekmara amongst the presents offered to +Thothmes III., who lived in the eighth century B.C., but if so the +people of Santorin appear to have borrowed nothing in their intercourse +with Egypt. The first invasion of Greece by the Phœnicians is supposed +to have been in the fifteenth century B.C., but the buildings, the +pottery, and the various implements of Therasia and Acrotiri differ +essentially from those of the Phœnicians, who, moreover, from the +earliest times, used metals. Must we not therefore conclude that the +catastrophe which overwhelmed Santorin took place before the fifteenth +century B.C.? Conjectures as to the date of the fatal eruption, however +plausible, are of no use in anything relating to the origin of the +people, or the time of their first occupation of the island. On these +points all is still hopeless confusion, and we must wait for further +discoveries before we can hope to come to any conclusions in the +matter. + +We have gone back to the very earliest days of man upon the earth; we +have shown that he was the contemporary of the mammoth and the +rhinoceros, of the cave-lion and the cave-bear; we have seen him +crouching in the deep recesses of his cave and fighting the battle of +life with no weapon but a few scarcely sharpened flints, leading an +existence infinitely more wretched than the animals about him. Not +without emotion have we watched our remote ancestors in their ceaseless +struggle for existence; not without emotion have we seen them gradually +growing in intelligence and energy, and attaining by slow degrees to a +certain amount of civilization. Santorin is a striking and brilliant +proof of their progress, and we shall appreciate this progress yet more +when we have examined the ruins piled up on the hill of Hissarlik. +There we shall close this portion of our work, for from the time when +the buildings of which these remains were the relics met their doom, +the use of metals, copper, bronze, gold, silver, and iron became +general. History began to be written, and it is her task to tell us of +the migrations of races, the early efforts of historic, races, the +foundation of empires. In a word, the prehistoric age was over; that of +self-conscious portraiture was now to begin. + +A few years ago I was on the ancient Hellespont and my +fellow-travellers, grouped about the deck of our vessel, were trying to +make out on the receding coast of Asia the sites of Troy and of the +tumuli which were then still supposed to have been the tombs of +Achilles, Patrokles, and Hector, but which are now, thanks to the able +researches of Dr. Schliemann, known to belong to a comparatively modern +epoch. The streams, bearing the ever memorable names of Simoïs and +Scamander, were also eagerly pointed out by the watchers, recalling the +words of Lamartine: + +Le nautonnier voguant sur les flots du Bosphore +Des yeux cherchait encore +Le palais de Priam et les tours d’Ilium. + +Great indeed is the privilege of genius, immortalizing all that it +touches; for it must be pointed out that Troy was never an important +town, and the war in which it disappeared was in reality but one of the +incessant struggles between the petty princes of Greece and Asia. + +When I visited the East, scholars were not at all agreed as to the site +of the town which was so long besieged by the Greeks; and certain +sceptical spirits even went so far as to deny that there ever was such +a person as Homer at all, or that if there were, he wrote the epic poem +which has borne his name so long. Tradition, however, was pretty +constant in pointing to the hill of Hissarlik as the site on which Troy +was built. Strabo was quite an exception in relegating the town to the +lower end of the bay; where the miserable little village of Akshi-koi +now stands. In 1788 a new idea was started; Lechevalier in his account +of his journey in Troas claims to have recognized the site of Troy at +Bunarbashi. At that time erudition was not very profound, and +Lechevalier’s site was accepted; indeed it was long maintained, and +quite recently it has been defended by Perrot. But the nineteenth +century is more exacting; the most plausible hypotheses are not enough +without facts to support them, and excavations at Akshi-koi and at +Bunarbashi show that there never was a town on either of these sites. + +Excavations on the hill of Hissarlik, begun by Dr. Schliemann in 1871, +and carried on under his superintendence for more than ten years, have, +on the contrary, yielded most definite, satisfactory, and conclusive +results. At a depth of fifty-two feet the diggers came to the virgin +soil, a very hard conchiferous limestone. The immense masses of +_débris_ of which the embankment is made up date front different +epochs; we have before us, if we may use such an expression, a +perpendicular Pentapolis or series of five ancient cities one above the +other. One town was destroyed by assault and by fire; another rapidly +rose from its ruins, built with stones taken front the midst of those +very remains. The study of the piled-up rubbish enables us to build up +again a picture of the remote past with all its vicissitudes, and +Virchow may well say that the hill of Hissarlik will for ever be +considered one of the best authenticated witnesses of the progress of +civilization.41 + +The first layer of rubbish rests on the rock itself, and may very well +have belonged to the town built by Dardanus, of which Tlepolemus +relates the destruction by his grandfather Hercules.42 According to the +Homeric story six generations, and according to generally accepted +modern calculations two centuries, separate Dardanus from Priam. If +therefore we accept 1200 B.C. as the date of the Trojan war, the town +built by Dardanus would date from 1400 B.C., and we should possess +data, if not absolutely certain, at least approximately so.43 + +There remain but a few relics of the buildings erected by the first +inhabitants of the bill of Hissarlik, which relics consist of great +blocks of irregular size, with remains of bearing walls composed of +small stones cemented together with clay and faced with a glaze which +has withstood the wear and tear of centuries. + +The second town, which would appear to have been that described in the +Iliad, was probably built by a race foreign to those who erected the +first. The hill, which was to become the Acropolis of the new town, was +surrounded by the new-comers with a wall several feet thick, of which +the foundations consisted of unhewn stones; whilst the upper part was +made of artificially baked bricks, the baking having been done after +they were put in place, by large fires lit in vacant places left at +regular intervals; an arrangement recalling what we have said in +speaking of vitrified forts.44 It is also interesting to note a similar +mode of construction at Aztalan in Wisconsin in structures which +probably date from the time of the Mound Builders. The walls at +Hissarlik were protected by re-entering angles and projecting forts. +The interior of the _enceinte_ was reached by three doors, and it is +still easy to make out the ruins of the different buildings. A room +sixty-five feet long by thirty-two wide is surrounded by very thick +walls, and towards the southeast is a square vestibule, opening into +the room by a large door.45 These, Dr. Schliemann thinks, were the +_naos_ and _pronaos_ of a temple dedicated to the tutelary gods of the +town. Quite close to them is another building with similar +dispositions; a square vestibule giving access to a large room, which +in its turn leads to a smaller apartment. These two buildings, which +are reached through a _propylæum_, are the only ones of which the +explorers have been able to make out the measurements with any +exactitude. + +Other ruins are evidently remains of the royal residence. The homes of +the people were clustered on the sides and at the foot of the hill. +After the destruction of the town by the Greeks, the Acropolis formed +one vast mass of ruins, from which bits of walls stood out here and +there as mute witnesses of the catastrophe. The thin layer of black +earth covering the ruins seems to point to the speedy rebuilding of the +town. The houses of the third settlement are very irregularly grouped, +and consisted mostly of one story only, containing a number of very +small rooms. Some of the walls are of bricks with glazed facings, +others of very small stones cemented together with clay. In one house +of rather larger size than the others was found some cement made of +cinders, mixed with fragments of charcoal, broken bones, and the +remains of shells and pottery. On the northwest the new colonists +erected walls in place of those which had fallen down, but they were of +very inferior masonry, coarse bricks baked on the spot, in the way +customary among the Trojans, having formed the material. + +The destruction of the third town was more complete than that of Troy. +The walls of the houses can still be made out rising to a certain +height, and it was upon them as foundations that the fourth colony set +up their abodes. These dwellings are smaller still, with flat roofs +formed of beams on which was laid a coating of rushes and clay. Every +generation appears to have been poorer than the last, alike in material +wealth and in fertility of resource. + +The fifth colony spread northwards and eastwards. Their homes were +built very much in the same style as those of their predecessors. The +resemblance does not end there, and Dr. Schliemann notes that among the +ruins of the three towns, which successively rose from the site of +Troy, are found similar strange-looking idols, hatchets in jade, +porphyry, diorite, and bronze, goblets with two handles, clumsy stone +hammers, trachyte grindstones, and fusaïoles or perforated whorls +bearing symbolic signs of a similar form. Evidently the men who +succeeded each other after the great siege of Troy on the now +celebrated hill of Hissarlik belonged to the same race, perhaps even to +the same tribe. There are, however, certain notable differences which +must not be passed over. The later pottery is not of such fine clay or +so well moulded as the earlier specimens, nor are the stone hammers, +which appear to have been the chief implements used, of such good +workmanship. The piles of shells left to accumulate about the houses of +the fourth and fifth towns can only be compared to the kitchen-middings +so often referred to, and there is no doubt that those who left such +heaps of rubbish about their dwellings could not have been so civilized +as were the celebrated Trojans. + +Beneath the ruins of the Greek town, which strictly speaking belongs to +history, Schliemann found a quantity of pottery of curious shapes and +very different to anything he had previously discovered. He ascribes +them to a Lydian colony which dwelt for a short time upon the hill. +This pottery resembles that known as proto-Etruscan, of which so many +specimens have been found in Italy. Probably the makers of both were +contemporaries. + +By numerous and careful measurements Dr. Schliemann has been able to +determine exactly the thickness of the layers, which correspond with +the different periods during which Hissarlik was inhabited. The remains +of the Greek and Lydian towns extend to a depth of 7½ feet beneath the +actual level of the soil; the fourth layer, from 7½ to 15 feet; the +third, from 15 to 22½ feet; Troy itself, from 22½ to 32 feet; and +lastly Dardania, from 32 to 52 feet. The last layer carries us back to +the golden age of Greek art, where all doubt is finally at an end. The +bas-reliefs of remarkable workmanship bear witness to the Ilium, +founded in memory of Troy. This is the town visited by Xerxes, +Alexander the Great, and Julian the Apostate.46 That the town still +existed about the middle of the fourth century is proved by medals +taken from the ruins, but it evidently fell into decadence soon after +that time, for its very .name was forgotten by history, and it was +reserved for our own time to resuscitate the ancient city of Priam and +its successors from the ruins which lead been piled up by the +destructive hand of man and by the lapse of tinge. But this task has +been nobly achieved by the enthusiasm, scientific acumen, and we may +perhaps add good-fortune of an archæologist who cherished a positive +passion for everything relating to Homeric times. + +The number of objects picked up at different stages of the excavations +was very considerable. Dr. Schliemann neglected absolutely nothing that +appeared to him at all worthy of his collection, which now belongs to +the Royal Museum of Berlin and contains some twenty thousand objects, +including weapons and implements, some of stone, others of bronze, and +thousands of vases and fusaïoles, gazing upon which we see rise before +our eyes a picture of a civilization unknown before but through the +Iliad and a few meagre historical allusions. + +Before we note in detail the most remarkable of the objects in Dr. +Schliemann’s collection, we must add that recent researches have also +brought to light the remains of a little temple dedicated to Pallas +Athene and referred to in history, as well as those of a large Doric +temple erected by Lysimachus, and of a magnificent theatre capable of +holding six thousand spectators, and which probably dates from the end +of the Roman Republic. The human bones picked lip among the ruins of +the different towns play be attributed to the practice, already +general, of cremation. Virchow has examined the skull of a woman found +at Troy, which is of a pronounced brachycephalic type (82.5). The +crania from the third town, on the other hand, are dolichocephalic, the +mean cranial capacity being sixty-seven. If we could reason with any +certainty from cranial capacity, this would appear to point to a +different race, but it would not do to come to any positive conclusion +with only one Trojan cranium to judge by. + +[Illustration: 89.] + +Vase ending in the snout of an animal. Found on the hill of Hissarlik +at a depth of 45½ feet. + +But to return to Dr. Schliemann’s fine collection. The pottery from the +first town, found at a depth of from thirty-two to fifty-two feet (Fig. +89), is superior alike in color, form, and construction, to the keramic +ware of the following periods. The potter’s wheel was unknown, or at +least very rarely used,47 and pottery was hand made and polished with +bone or wood polishers, the marks of which can still be made out. The +forms are varied and often graceful, many of them, as do those found in +the mounds of North America imitating those of the animals among which +the potters lived. The usual color of the keramic ware is black, some +times decorated with white lozenge-shaped ornaments. Some vases have +also been found colored red, yellow, and brown, and even decked with +garlands of flower and fruit, as are some of those of Santorin. We must +also mention some apodal vases, and others with three feet, used for +funeral purposes, containing human ashes (Fig. 90). The terra-cotta +fusaïoles, found in such numbers among the ruins of the towns that rose +successively from the hill of Hissarlik, are, on the other hand, rare +at Dardania, if we may retain that name.48 + +[Illustration: 90.] + +Funeral vase containing human ashes. Found at a depth of 50 feet. + +Excavations have brought to light more than six hundred celts or +knives, generally of smaller size than those found in Denmark or +France. Rock of many kinds, including serpentine, schist, felsite, +jadeite, diorite, and nephrite, were used; and saws of flint or +chalcedony, some toothed on one side only, others on both, are of +frequent occurrence. They were fixed into handles of wood or horn, and +kept in place with some agglutinative substance, such as pitch, several +of them still retaining traces of this primitive glue. We must also +mention awls, pins of bone and ivory, and ossicles or knuckle bones, in +every stage of manufacture, confirming the accounts of Greek +historians, who tell us of the great antiquity of the game played with +them. The Dardanians used wooden and bone implements and weapons almost +exclusively. It is impossible to say whether they were acquainted with +the use of metals, but we might assert that they were if we could quite +certainly attribute to them a certain mould of mica schist, found at a +depth of 45½ feet, which bad been used in the process of casting spits +and pins, which are supposed to be of more ancient date than the +fibulæ. + +[Illustration: 91.] + +Large terra-cotta vases found at Troy. + +[Illustration: 92.] + +Earthenware pitcher found at a depth of 19½ feet. + +[Illustration: 93.] + +Vase found beneath the ruins of Troy. + +The most valuable objects of the collection come from the deposits +representing the town of Troy; they are all twisted, broken, and +charred, bearing witness to the fierceness of the flames in which the +town perished. These discoveries reveal to us the daily life of the +people of Troy. Judging from the number of boars’ tusks found, hunting +must have been a favorite pastime with them. The bones of oxen, sheep, +and goats, of smaller species than those of the present day, have also +been found. Horses and dogs were rare, and cats unknown. The domestic +poultry of the present day was also wanting, no remains of birds having +been found except a few bones of the wild swan and the wild goose. Fish +and mollusca, as proved by the immense numbers of bones and shells, +formed an important part of the diet of the Trojans. They also fed +largely on cereals, which they cultivated with success; and wheat, the +grains of which were very small, was known to them. The preservation of +these vegetable relics was due to carbonization. + +[Illustration: 94.] + +Terra-cotta vase found with the treasure of Priam. + +[Illustration: 95.] + +Vase found beneath the ruins of Troy. + +The pottery discovered is of an infinite variety, and includes jars +from 4¾ feet to 7¾ feet high (Fig. 91), of Which Schliemann found more +than six hundred, nearly all of them empty. Their size need not +surprise us, for Ciampini49 speaks of a pottery _dolium_ of such vast +size and height that a ladder of ten or twelve rungs was needed to +reach the opening.50 With these jars were found some large goblets, +some long-necked vessels (Fig. 92), some amphoræ, and vases with three +feet (Fig. 93). Some of the vases had lids the shape of a bell (Fig. +94), others were provided with flaps or horns by which to lift them +(Fig. 95). The potter gave free vent to his imagination, but the +decorations representing fish-bones, palm branches, zigzags, circles, +and dots, are all of very inferior execution. + +[Illustration: 96.] + +Earthenware pig found at a depth of 13 feet. + +[Illustration: 97.] + +Vase surmounted by an owl’s head. Found beneath the ruins of Troy. + +Two series of terra-cotta objects deserve special mention, one +representing animals, generally pigs (Fig. 96), though an example has +been found of a hippopotamus; a fact of very great interest, as this +animal does not live at the present day anywhere but in the heart of +Africa. We know from this terra-cotta representation that it lived in +Greece in the days of Troy. Pliny speaks of it in Upper Egypt in his +day, and according to Mariette it lived thirty-five centuries before +the Christian era in the delta formed by the mouth of the Nile. The +second series of objects referred to above as of special interest are +vases representing the heads of owls with the busts of women (Fig. 97). +It is easy to make out the beak, eyes, and ears of the bird, and the +breasts and navel of the woman. In some instances the face, breasts, +and sexual organs of a woman are represented by a series of dots +forming a triangle with the point downwards.51 Other dots represent a +necklace, and very similar designs are to be seen on the Chaldean +cylinders. Can we then connect them in any way with the relics of Troy, +and is it possible that the Trojans and Chaldeans were of common +origin? However that may be, the constant repetition of these signs +proves that they were of hieratic character. Terra-cotta was also used +for a very great number of other purposes, as was the case everywhere +before the introduction of metals. Some deep and some flat plates made +of very common clay have been found, together with buttons, funnels, +bells, children’s toys, and seals on which, some authorities think, +Hittite characters can be made out. No lamps, or anything that could +serve their purpose, have been found. The Trojans probably used torches +of resinous wood or braziers, when they required artificial light. + +It would be impossible to give a list of the objects of every variety +found among the ruins of Troy, with the aid of which we can form a very +definite idea of the private life of its people. Some fragments of an +ivory lyre, and some pipes pierced with three holes at equal distances, +bear witness to their taste for music; a distaff, still full of charred +wool, deserted by the spinner when she fled before the conflagration, +tells of domestic industry and manual dexterity, while marble and stone +phalli prove that the generative forces of nature were worshipped.52 + +[Illustration: 98.] + +Copper vases found at Troy. + +The weapons and implements found included hæmatite and diorite +projectiles used in slings, stone hatchets, and hammers pierced to +receive handles, flint saws and obsidian knives. Metallurgy began to +play an important part, and stone with its minor resisting power was +quickly superseded by bronze. In fact, Virchow was certainly justified +in saying that the whole town belonged to the Bronze age. Iron was +still unknown, at least so far no trace of it has been found, either +among the ruins of Troy or of the towns which succeeded it. Several +crucibles and moulds of mica, schist, or clay have been found with one +of granite of rectangular shape bearing on each face the hollows in +tended to receive the fused metal. The Schliemann museum possesses +numerous battle-axes53 of bronze, some double-bladed daggers with +crooked ends, lances similar to those discovered at Koban,54 and +thousands of spits, some with spherically shaped heads, others of +spiral form. Some of these spits are made of copper, as are some large +nails weighing thirty ounces, so that this metal was evidently still +often used in a pure state. + +[Illustration: 99.] + +Vases of gold and electrum, with two ingots, found beneath the ruins of +Troy. + +[Illustration: 100.] + +Gold and silver objects from the treasure of Priam. + +[Illustration: 101.] + +Gold ear-rings, head-dress, and necklace of golden beads from the +treasure of Priam. + +At the foot of the palace, the ruins of which rise from the Acropolis +at a depth of 27½ feet, the pick-axes of the explorers brought to light +metal shields, vases (Fig. 98), and dishes mixed together in the +greatest confusion, often soldered together by the intense heat to +which they had been subjected. They had probably been enclosed in a +wooden chest that was destroyed in the conflagration.55 We are +astonished at the wealth revealed to us. Cups, goblets, and bottles of +gold (Figs. 99 and 100) lay side by side with golden necklaces56 and +ear-rings of electrum.57 The ornaments that had belonged to women are +especially curious. At one place alone several diadems (Fig. 101) were +picked up, with fifty-six ear-rings, six bracelets, and nine thousand +minor objects, such as rings, buckles, buttons, dice, pins, beads, and +ornaments of a great variety.58 All these treasures were piled up in a +great silver vase, into which they had doubtless been hastily thrown in +the confusion of a precipitate flight. They are all of characteristic +forms, quite unlike anything in Assyrian or Egyptian art. Were they +made in Troy itself? Dr. Schliemann doubts it; he thinks that the +makers of such clumsy pottery are not likely to have been able to +produce jewelry of such delicate and remarkable workmanship. I should +not like to be so positive, for even amongst the most advanced peoples +we find very common objects mixed with others showing artistic skill. +Why should it not have been the same at Troy? I think that in future +Trojan art must take its place in the history of the progress of +humanity. The nineteenth century has brought that art to light, and by +a strange caprice of chance the treasures of Priam adorn the museum of +Berlin, and we have seen the diadem of fair Helen exhibited in the +South Kensington Museum of London.59 + +Treasures nearly as valuable as those we have been describing were +found in earthenware vases in several other parts of the ruins. +Unfortunately, many of the objects found were stolen and melted down by +the workmen, whilst others were taken to the Imperial Palace at +Constantinople, whence they are doomed to be dispersed. In 1873, +however, Dr. Schliemann was fortunate enough to hit upon a deposit +containing twenty gold ear-rings, and four golden ornaments which had +formed part of a necklace.60 Similar ornaments were found at Mykenæ, +near Bologna, in the Caucasus, in the Lake dwellings, and, stranger +still, on the banks of the Rio Suarez in Colombia.61 + +I will not add more to what I have already said about the towns which +succeeded each other on the ruins of Troy, and of which the successive +stages of rubbish on the hill of Hissarlik are the only witnesses left. +The flames spared none who settled on that doomed spot, and new +arrivals disappeared as rapidly as they came. The Ilium of the Greeks +and Romans alone enjoyed any prosperity, but it too was in its turn +swept away; and at the present day a few wandering shepherds and their +flocks are the sole dwellers upon the hill immortalized by Homer. + +Before concluding this chapter I must refer once more to a, fact of +considerable interest. In that part of the deposits of Hissarlik which +represents Troy, Dr. Schliemann picked up the perforated whorls to +which the name of fusaïoles has been given (Fig. 102), and of which we +spoke in our account of the Lake Dwellings of Switzerland. These +fusaïoles are generally of common clay mixed with bits of mica, quartz, +or silica, though some few have been found at Mykenæ and Tiryns of +steatite. The clay whorls before being baked were plunged into a bath +of a very fine clay of gray, yellow, or black color, and then carefully +polished. They nearly all bear ornaments of very primitive execution, +such as stars, the sun, flowers, or animals, and more rarely +representations of the human figure. + +[Illustration: 102.] + +Terra-cotta fusaïoles. + +We ourselves think these fusaïoles are amulets which were taken to Troy +by the Trojans, and piously preserved by their successors. One +important fact tends to confirm this hypothesis. A great number of them +bear the sign of the _swastika_ 62 (Fig. 103), the cross with the four +arms, the sacred symbol of the great Aryan race so long supposed to be +the source of all the Indo-European races. The _swastika_ is engraved, +not only on the fusaïoles, but also on the diadems of the daughters of +Priam, on the idols the Trojans worshipped, and on numerous objects +from the Lydian and Greco-Roman towns. We meet with the double cross +among the prehistoric races of the basin of the Danube, who colonized +the shores of the Troad and the north of Italy, and it was introduced +with the products of that antique civilization on the one side to the +Greeks, the Etruscans, the Latins, the Gauls, the Germanic races, the +Scandinavians, and the Bretons; and on the other to the people of Asia +Minor, Persia, India, China, and Japan.63 + +[Illustration: 103.] + +Cover of a vase with the symbol of the _swastika_. Found at Troy. + +This sign of the _swastika_ meets us at every turn; we find it on many +ancient Persian books, on the temples of India, on Celtic funeral +stones, and on a Hittite cylinder. It is seen on vases of elegant form +from Athens and Melos; on others from Ceres, Chiusi, and Cumæ, as well +as on the clumsy pottery recently discovered at Königswald on the Oder +and on the borders of Hungary; on bronze objects from the Caucasus, and +the celebrated Albano urn; on a medal from Gaza in Palestine and on an +Iberian medal from Asido. We see it on the Gallo-Roman rings of the +Museum of Namur, and on the plaques of the belt, dating from the same +epoch, which form part of the magnificent collection of M. Moreau. +Schliemann tells us of it at Mykenæ and at Tiryns. Chantre found it on +the necropoles of the Caucasus. It is engraved on the walls of the +catacombs of Rome, on the chair of Saint Ambrose at Milan, on the +crumbling walls of Portici, and on the most ancient monuments of +Ireland, where it is often associated with inscriptions in the ogham +character.64 + +The _swastika_ occurs twice on a large piece of copper found at +Corneto, which now belongs to the Museum of Berlin. Cartailhac noticed +it in the _citania_ of Portugal, some of which date from Neolithic +times.65 The English in the Ashantee war noticed it on the bronzes they +took at Coomassie on the coast of Guinea, and it has also been found on +objects discovered in the English county of Norfolk. + +[Illustration: 104.] + +Stone hammer from New Jersey bearing an undeciphered inscription. + +Moreover, if we cross the Atlantic we find the same symbol engraved on +the temples of Yucatan, the origin of which is unknown, on a hatchet +found at Pemberton, in New Jersey (Fig. 104), on vases from a Peruvian +sepulchre near Lima, and on vessels from the _pueblos_ of New Mexico. +Dr. Hamy, in his “American Decades,” represents it on a flattened gourd +belonging to the Wolpi Indians, and the sacred tambours of the +Esquimaux of the present day bear the same symbol, which was probably +transmitted to them by their ancestors. The universality of this one +sign amongst the Hindoos, Persians, Hittites, Pelasgians, Celts, and +Germanic races, the Chinese, Japanese, and the primitive inhabitants of +America is infinitely strange, and seems to prove the identity of races +so different to each other, alike in appearance and in customs, and is +a very important factor in dealing with the great problem of the origin +of the human species. + +We have dwelt much on the discoveries of Dr. Schliemann, but we must +add that, like all great discoveries, they have been very vigorously +contested.66 Boetticher, for instance, considers the ruins of Hissarlik +to be nothing more than the remains of a necropolis where cremation was +practised according to the Assyrio-Babylonian custom.67 A distinguished +and very honest savant, S. Reinach, constituted himself the champion of +this theory at the meeting of the Congress in Paris in 1889. Schliemann +replied very forcibly, and the meeting appeared to be with him in the +matter, as were also a number of men of science who visited Hissarlik +in 1888, and we think that in the end history will adopt the opinion of +the great Danish antiquarian. + +We have now passed in review the chief of the works left behind him by +man from the earliest (lays of his existence to the dawn of historic +times. We must still show prehistoric man in the presence of death, the +universal destroyer, and learn from the evidence of the tombs of the +remote past how our ancestors met the common doom. + + +1 On this point an admirable book should be consulted, by De la Noë: +“Enceintes Préhistoriques,” _Mat_., 1888, p. 324, in which the author +says that positions protected by escarpments bordering the greater +party of the circumference of the _enceinte_ were at all times chosen +for the erection of fortifications. The absence of water, however, +often makes him hesitate in coming to a decision, and leads him to +think that the remains where it is absent must have been temples for +the worship of deities. + +2 _Congrès Préhistoriques_, Brussels, 1872, p. 318. + +3 “De Bello Gallico,” book vii., chap. xxiii. + +4 Dupont: “Les Temps Préhistoriques en Belgique,” p. 235. + +5 H. Bauduin: _Bul. Soc. Belge de Géographie_, 1879. + +6 _Recueil des Travaux de la Société de l’Eure_, Évreux, 1879. + +7 _Rev. d’Anth_., 1880, p. 469. + +8 “Notice sur Quelques Monuments Trouvés sur le Sommet des Vosges” +(_Soc. des Monuments Historiques de l’Alsace_, vol. i.). + +9 _Rev. d’Anth_., 1880, p. 295. + +10 We may also mention the Pen Richard in Charente Inférieure, so well +described by Cartailhac in his “France Préhistorique,” p. 131. + +11 Arcelin: “L’Âge de Pierre et la Classification Préhistorique,” +Paris, 1873. Flouest: “Notice sur le Camp de Chassey.” Perrault: “Un +Foyer de l’Âge de la Pierre Polie au Camp de Chassey” (_Mat_., 1870). +Coynart: “Fouilles au Camp de Chassey” (_Rev. Arch_., 1866 and 1867). + +12 Ponthieux, “Le Camp de Catenoy” (Oise). + +13 “Hist. Francorum,” book i., chap. xxxii. + +14 De Rosemont: “Étude sur les Antiquités antérieures aux Romains.” +Desjardins: “Les Camps Retranchés des Environs de Nice.” Rivière: _Ass. +Française_, Rheims, 1880, p. 628. + +15 Pigorini: “Terramara dell’Eta del Bronzo Situata in Castione de’ +Marchesi.” + +16 _Nature_, 1887, second week, p. 62. + +17 Memoranda read to the Royal Society of Antiquaries in London +(_Archæologia_, vol. xlii., pp. 27–76). Lane Fox: _British +Association_, Bristol, 1875. Evans: “Stone Age.” + +18 “Solent et subterraneos specus aperire, eosque multo insuper fimo +onerant, suffugium hiemi et receptaculum frugibus” (“De Moribus +Germanorum,” chap. xvi.). + +19 _American Journal of Archæology_. + +20 _Zeitschrift für Anthropologie_, 1874, p. 115; 1875, p. 127. + +21 Zaborowski: “Monuments Préhistoriques de la Basse Vistule.” + +22 Ribeiro: “Notice sur Quelques Monuments Préhistoriques du Portugal,” +Lisbon, 1878. + +23 “Noticia de Algunas Estarves e Monumentos Prehistoricos.” + +24 H. and L. Siret: “Les Premiers Âges du Métal dans le Sud-est de +l’Espagne.” + +25 _Congrès Préhistorique de Copenhague_, p. 118. + +26 Putnam: “Report Peabody Museum,” vol. iii., p. 348. + +27 “Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley.” + +28 See Dr. Hibbert in the _Transactions of the Society of Antiquaries +of Scotland_, vol. iv., Appendix, p. 181. + +29 _Zeitschrift für Ethnographie_, 1870, p. 270. + +30 Pomerol: “Murailles Vitrifiées de Châteauneuf,” _Ass. Franç_., +Blois, 1884. + +31 _Congrès Soc. Sav_., Sorbonne, 1882. + +32 J. Marion: _Bul. des Soc. Savantes_, 4th series, vol. iv. Daubrée: +_Rev. Arch_., July, 1881. + +33 Sir J. Lubbock compares the ruins of Aztalan, in America, with the +vitrified forts of Scotland; but we think this is a mistake, for the +walls of Aztalan consisted of irregularly shaped masses of hard, +reddish clay, full of hollows, retaining the impression of the straw or +dried grass with which the clay was mixed before it was subjected to +the action of heat, whether the application of that heat was +intentional or accidental. There is nothing about this at all +resembling the melted granite of the vitrified forts. + +34 De Cassac: “Notes sur les Forts Vitrifiés de la Creuse.” Thuot: “La +Forteresse Vitrifiée du Pay de Gaudy,” p. 102. + +35 We take most of these details from a note by M. A. de Montaiglon +published in the _Bulletin des Sociétés Savantes_. + +36 _Mat_., 1881, p. 371. + +37 _Bul. Soc. Anth_., 1884, p. 816, etc. + +38 Fouqué, _Nature_, 1876, second week, p. 65. + +39 Book vi., chap. xvi. and xx.—Pliny the Elder, uncle and father by +adoption of Pliny the Younger, lost his life in this catastrophe, which +took place in 79 A. D. + +40 Cigalla: _Acad. des Sciences_, November 12, 1866. Fouqué: _Acad. des +Sciences_, March 25, 1867. “Un Pompéi Préhistorique,” _Revue des +Deux-Mondes_, October 15, 1869. + +41 Schliemann: “Troy and its Remains,” translated by Philip Smith, +London, Murray, 1875; “Ilios Ville et Pays des Troyens,” translated by +Mme. E. Egger, Paris, Hachette, 1885; E. Burnouf: _Revue des +Deux-Mondes_, January 1, 1874; Virchow: “Alt Trojanische Gräber and +Schädel.” + +42 Iliad, canto v., v., 692. + +43 Egyptologists tell us that in the fourth year of the reign of Ramses +II., or about 1406 B.C., the Hittites placed themselves at the head of +a coalition against the Egyptian Pharaoh. With these Hittites, or +Khittas, whose descendants still dwell in the north of Syria, were the +Mysians, the Lycians, the Dardanians, and other tribes. + +44 “Amérique Préhistorique” (Masson), translated by Nancy Bell (N. +D’Anvers), and published by Murray, London; Putnam, New York. + +45 “Troy and its Remains,” plate ix. See also excellent essay on the +same subject by S. Reinach, which appeared in the _Revue Archéologique_ +in 1885. Later investigations by Dr. Schliemann also brought to light a +remarkable resemblance between the buildings at Hissarlik and those of +Tiryns. + +46 The British Museum contains a manuscript of the fourteenth century, +in which is a letter from Julian, written when he was emperor, between +361 and 363 A.D., and relating to his visit to Ilium. + +47 The potter’s wheel was, however, in use at a very remote antiquity. +In China its invention is attributed to the legendary Emperor Hwang-Ti, +who is supposed to have lived about 2697 B.C. The wheel was also known +from the very earliest times in Egypt, and Homer (Iliad, c. xviii., v. +599) compares the light motions of the dancers represented on the +shield of Achilles to the rapid rotation of the potter’s wheel. + +48 Rivett-Carnac: “Memorandum on Clay Discs Called Spindle Whorls and +Votive Seals Found at Sankisa” (Behar), _Journal Asiatic Society of +Bengal_, vol. xlix., p. 1. + +49 “De Sacris Ædificiis,” ch. ix., p. 128. + +50 It is interesting to note the discovery of urns closely resembling +those of Troy, and containing human remains, in Persia (Sir W. Ouseley: +“Travels in Persia”), and at Travancore, in the south of Malabar, +where, according to tradition, they were intended to receive the +remains of young virgins sacrificed in honor of the gods.—“Some +Vestiges of Girl Sacrifices,” _Journ. Anth. Inst_., May, 1882. + +51 The vulva was sometimes represented by a large triangle. The same +peculiarity occurs on some black marble statuettes, found in the tombs +of the Cyclades and Attica. Three such statuettes from the island of +Paros are in the Louvre, and the British Museum owns a rich collection. +Dr. Schliemann also mentions a female idol made in lead of very coarse +workmanship, in which the sexual organs are represented by a double +cross. + +52 The _phallus_ was, as we have already stated, the symbol of +generative force. Its worship extended throughout India and Syria; a +gigantic Phallus adorned the temple of the mother of the gods at +Hierapolis, and it was carried in triumph in processions through Egypt +and Greece. It is still worshipped in some places at the present day. +Near Niombo, in Africa, there is a temple containing several phallic +statues; at Stanley-Pool the fête of the _phallus_ is celebrated with +obscene rites. The Kroomen observe similar ceremonies at the time of +the new moon, and in Japan on certain fête clays young girls flourish +gigantic _phalli_ at the end of long poles. The _phallus_ is also often +represented on the monuments of Central America—on the stones of the +temples of Izamal and the island of Zapatero, for instance. Possibly +the worship of the productive and generative forces of nature was the +earliest religion of many primitive peoples, but all that is said on +the subject must be sifted with considerable care. + +53 Similar hatchets of pure copper (Fig. 2) have been found in Hungary, +and Butler (“Prehistoric Wisconsin”) speaks of them also as being found +in North America. + +54 The tin used is making bronze probably came from Spain or Cornwall, +perhaps also from the Caucasus, where small quantities of it are still +found. It was doubtless imported by the Phœnicians, the great +navigators of antiquity. See Rudolf Virchow’s “Das Grüberfeld Von Koban +im Laude der Osseten,” Berlin, 1883. + +55 This idea gains probability from the fact that the remains of a key +were picked up near the treasure, which we have reason to suppose +belonged to Priam. + +56 The gold may have come from the mines of Astyra, not far from Troy. + +57 Electrum was the ancient name for amber, but was also given to an +alloy of gold and silver, the yellow color of which resembles that of +amber. + +58 Dr. Schliemann gives a very careful description of all these +objects. See “Troy and its Remains,” Figs. 174 to 497, pp. 260 to 353. + +59 The χρήδεμνον or diadem of the wife of Menelaus is a narrow fillet +from which hang several little chains formed of links alternating with +small leaves, and ending in rather larger leaves, these leaves all +representing the woman with the owl’s head, so characteristic of Trojan +art. The golden objects are all soldered with the same metals, which +modern goldsmiths seem unable to do. At Tiryns, which we believe to +have been contemporary with Troy, the art of soldering was unknown, and +ornaments were merely screwed together. + +60 Bastian, _Zeitschrift der Berliner Gesellschaft für Erdkünde_, vol. +xiii., plates 1 and 2. + +61 If we accept 1200 B.C. as the date of the Trojan war and the eighth +century as that of the foundation of Ilium, the towns that succeeded +each other on the hill of Hissarlik only lasted four centuries +altogether. + +62 In the Vedas the word _swasti_ is often used in the sense of +happiness or good-fortune. + +63 Comte Goblet d’Auriella, _Bul. Acad. Royale de Belgique_, 1889. + +64 G. Atkinson, _Congrès Préhistorique_, Lisbon, 1880, p. 466. + +65 “Ages Préhistoriques en Espagne et Portugal,” figs 410, 411, 412, p. +286. + +66 Aussland, 1883. _Zeitschrift für Museologie and Antequaten Kunde_, +1884. Musœon, 1888 and 1889. + +67 Virchow, who visited the remains at Hissarlik, treats this idea as +_furchtbaren Unsinn_ (ridiculous nonsense). + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. +Tombs. + + +The true history of man will be found in his tombs, says Thucydides; +and as a matter of fact the sepulchre has ever occupied much of the +thoughts of man, the result of a religious sentiment, a conviction that +all does not end with the life which so quickly passes by. + +From the very earliest times we meet with tokens of the hopes and fears +connected with a future existence; but, as I have already stated, the +human bones that can with certainty be said to date from Palæolithic +times are very rare. We know but very few facts justifying us in +asserting that the contemporary of the mammoth and of the cave bear had +already learnt to respect the remains of what had once been a man like +himself. One of these few facts deserves, I think, to be noticed with +some detail. + +In 1886, excavations in the cave of Spy1 (Namur), or rather in a +terrace some thirty-six feet long by nineteen and a half wide giving +access to it, brought to light two human skeletons. One was that of an +individual already advanced in life, probably of the feminine sex, the +other of a man in the prime of life. These skeletons were imbedded in a +very hard breccia containing also fragments of ivory and numerous +flints of very small size. Some of them had very fine scratches on both +sides. From what I could learn on the spot, the skeletons when found +were in a recumbent position. The bones, few of which were missing, +were still in their natural position, and near to one of them were +picked up several arrow- or lance-heads, one of which, of phtanite, +some two and a half inches long, was of the purest Moustérien type. The +bones were those of short, squat individuals, and the skulls were of +the type of the Canstadt race, the most ancient of which anything is +known; the thickness of the crania was about one third of an inch. The +forehead, is low and retreating, the eyebrows are prominent, and the +lower jaws strong and well developed. + +At the same level and in that immediately above it were picked up the +remains of the mammoth, the _Rhinoceros tichorhinus_, the cave bear, +and the large cave hyena, the reindeer, and numerous other mammals +belonging to the Quaternary fauna. Everything points to the conclusion +that the man and woman whose remains have so opportunely come to light +were contemporary with these animals, and that their bodies were placed +after death in the cave in which they were found. + +Belgium has furnished numerous examples of sepulchral caves, of a date, +however, less ancient than that we have been considering. Recent +excavations in the Chauvaux Cave revealed two skeletons leaning against +the walls in a crouching position, the legs tucked under the body. In +the Gendron Cave M. Dupont discovered seventeen skeletons lying in a +low, narrow passage, stretched out at full length with the feet toward +the wall, and arranged in twos and threes, one above the other. In the +middle of all these dead was the skeleton of one man placed upright, as +if to watch over the other bodies. + +The Duruthy Cave at Sordes opens near the point of junction of the +waters of the Pan and Oloron, whence their united waters flow into the +Adour. At the northern extremity of this cave is a natural niche in +which lay more than thirty skeletons, some of men, some of women, and +some of children, mixed together in the greatest confusion. Worked +flints, bone stilettos, and ornaments lay around, all of the forms +characteristic of Palæolithic times. + +It would seem that we have here evidence of the practice of a funeral +rite, which consisted in first stripping the bodies of flesh, and then +laying the bones in caves, where they were often left unnoticed by the +living occupants of the same refuge.2 + +The caves of Baoussé-Roussé, near Mentone, give fresh proof of the +extension of this rite, if we may so call it. The skeletons lay upon a +bed of powdered iron ore, in some cases as much as two fifths of an +inch thick, and this accumulation could not have taken place if the +skeleton had not been deprived of its flesh before inhumation. The +flesh must have been taken off by some rapid process, for the bones +remain, as a general rule, in their natural positions, united by their +tendons and ligaments. In Italy, says Issel, the cave men buried their +dead in the caves they lived in, a thin layer of earth alone separating +them from the living; the bodies, adds Pigorini,3 generally lay on the +left side, the head rested on the left hand, and the knees were bent. +Beside the skeleton was placed a vase containing red chalk, to be used +for painting the body in the new world it was supposed to be about to +enter. + +We could quote similar discoveries in Sicily, Belgium, and the southern +Pyrenees. Beneath the tumulus of Plouhennec, in Brittany, bones were +strewn about in the greatest disorder. Some archæologists are of +opinion that the openings in certain dolmens were used for throwing in +the bones of the dead who successively went to join their ancestors. In +many of the Long Barrows of England the bones appear to have been flung +in pell-mell; the space was too narrow to hold the complete body, so +that before inhumation the flesh must have been separated from the +bones. In no other way can we explain the confusion in which the human +remains lay when they were discovered.4 Pigorini thinks this is a proof +that primitive races worshipped their dead, and held their bodies in +veneration.5 Perhaps they even carried them about in their migrations. +However that may be, the custom of separating the flesh from the bones +was continued until cremation became general. This would explain the +huge ossuaries found in regions so widely separated. + +Although, however, the mode of sepulture we have just described was +practised for a long time in certain places, we cannot admit it to have +been general. In certain megalithic tombs we find dispositions similar +to those described in speaking of the Gendron Cave. Excavations beneath +the Port-Blanc dolmen (Morbihan) brought to light a rough pavement on +which lay numbers of skeletons, closely packed one against another, +which skeletons were probably those of men who had been held in honor, +and to commemorate whom the dolmen was set up. Separated from them by a +layer of stones and earth rested another series of skeletons, not so +closely packed as the first. The new-comers had respected their +predecessors, and no one had violated the sanctuary of the dead. +Similar facts were noted at Grand Compans, near Luzarches,6 and it is +evident that successive inhumations beneath dolmens often took place, +and instances might, if necessary, be multiplied. + +Another singular funeral rite was practised in remote antiquity. Many +of the bones found in the various caves of Mentone were colored with +red hematite.7 As this was only the case with the bones of adults, +those of children retaining their natural whiteness, it evidently had +some special significance. In 1880, the opening of a cave of the Stone +age in the district of Anagni, a short distance from Rome, brought to +light the facial portion of a human cranium, colored bright red with +cinnabar. Nor are these by any means exceptional cases, for similar +coloration was noticed on bones picked up at Finalmarina and several +other places in Liguria and Sicily. The custom had therefore become +general in the Neolithic period in the whole of the Italian peninsula.8 +We also meet with it in other countries; at the Prehistoric Congress, +when in session at Lisbon, Dolgado added to what was said about the +discoveries in Italy the fact that the cave men of Furninha practised a +similar rite. In the _kurganes_ of the department of Kiev crania were +found colored with a mineral substance, fragments of which were strewn +about near the skeletons. The most ancient of the _kurganes_ appear to +date from the Stone age, for in them were found implements made of +flint and reindeer-horn, mixed with the bones of rodents9 long since +extinct in that district. A similar practice is met with in the tombs +of Poland, many bones being covered with a coating of red color, in +some instances one fifth of an inch thick. Excavations in the Kitor +valley (province of Irkutsk, Siberia have brought to light several +tombs which appear to date from the sauce period as the _kurganes_ of +Kiew. The dead were buried with the weapons and ornaments they would +like to use in the new life which had begun for them. The tomb was then +filled in with sand, with which care was taken to mix plenty of red +ochre. It is difficult not to conclude that this was a relic of a rite +fallen into desuetude. + +At the present day certain tribes of North America expose their dead on +the tops of trees, and before burying the bones, when stripped of their +flesh, cover them with a coating of a bright red color. In the island +of Espiritu Santo many human bones have also been picked up painted +with an oxide of argillaceous iron. These customs, strange as they may +appear, were evidently practised in honor of ancestors; atavism is as +clearly shown in customs and traditions as in physical structure. + +At Solutré is a sepulchre formed of unhewn slabs of stone. The body of +the dead rested on a thick bed of the broken and crushed bones of +horses. The remains of reindeer were mixed with the human bones. Were +these too relics of funeral rites, and were the animal bones those of +the horses and reindeer that had belonged to their hunter? It is +impossible to say. Solutré, situated as it was on an admirable site on +a hill overlooking the valley of the Seine, protected from the north +winds and close to a plentiful stream, has also been a favorite resort +of man. In the tombs all ages are mixed together, and if some do indeed +date from Neolithic times, others are Roman, Burgundian, Merovingian. +There may be among them a certain number dating from the Reindeer +period; that is about all we can assert with any certainty in the +present state of our knowledge. The Abbé Ducrost, however, in an +important essay10 asserts that he has found incontrovertible proofs of +the interment of Solutréens on the hearths of their homes in +Palæolithic times. If this be so, the custom is one of frequent +occurrence, and has been continued for centuries; for De Colanges, in +his fine work on ancient cities, shows that at Rome the earliest tombs +were on the hearth itself of the dwelling. De Mortillet, on the other +hand, dwells very earnestly on the mode of inhumation at Solutré, and +sees in the juxtaposition of human remains and the _débris_ of hearths +but the result of displacement, and of the regular turning upside down +of which the hill of Solutré has been the scene. To this Reinach +replied, to the effect that, whereas a few years ago De Mortillet’s +authority led many archæologists to suppose that the men of the +Reindeer period did not bury their dead, facts, ever more important +than theories, have now proved beyond a doubt that this very decided +opinion is a mistake. Not only did the men of remote antiquity bury +their dead; they laid them, as at Solutré, on the hearths near which +they had lived.11 + +The dead were often buried seated or bent forward, and it is +interesting to note the same custom beneath the mounds of America and +the tumuli of Europe. It is touching to see how in death men wished to +recall their life on earth; the cradle was, so to speak, reproduced in +the tomb, and man lay on the bosom of earth, the common mother of +humanity, like the child on the bosom of his own mother. Perhaps, too, +the seated position was meant to indicate that man, who had never known +rest during his hard struggle for existence, had found it at last in +his new life. The men of the rough and barbarous times of the remote +past were unable to conceive the idea of a future different to the +present, or of a life which was not in every respect the same as that +on earth had been. + +Whatever may have been the motive, this mode of burial was practised +from the Madeleine period.12 At Bruniquel, in Aveyron, the dead were +found crouching in their last home. This position is, however, +peculiarly characteristic of Neolithic times, and is met with +throughout Europe. Eight skeletons were recently discovered bending +forward in the sepulchral cave of Schwann (Mecklenburg). In Scandinavia +there are so many similar cases that it is difficult to make a +selection. Tit the sepulchral cave of Oxevalla (East Gothland) the dead +are all in crouching attitudes, and tumuli dating from the most remote +antiquity cover over a passage, formed of immense blocks of stone, +leading to a central chamber, in which are numerous seated skeletons +resting against the walls. + +On the shores of the Mediterranean, excavations of the Vence Cave +(Alpes-Maritimes) brought to light a number of dead arranged in a +circle as if about to take a meal in common. The bodies were crouching +in the position of men sitting on their heels; the spinal column was +bent forward and the head nearly touched the knees. In the centre of +this strange group were noticed some fragments of pottery and the +remains of a large bird, a buzzard probably. Perhaps its death among +the corpses was a mere accident.13 The dolmens of Aveyron yielded some +flint-flakes and arrow-heads, pieces of pottery, pendants, and bone, +stone, shell, and slate-colored schist beads. Beneath one of these +dolmens was found one small bronze object, quite an exceptional +instance of the occurrence of that metal. The skeletons rested against +the walls. In one of the tombs some human bones, which bad been +originally placed at the entrance to the cave, had been moved to the +back; the vanquished had here, as in life, to give way before the +conquerors. Excavations in the Mané-Lud tomb have led explorers to +suppose that here too the corpses were buried in a crouching position. +It is the same at Luzarches and in the Varennes cemetery near +Dormans.14 In the last named were found traces of a fire that had been +lit above the tomb, and some pottery was picked up ornamented with +hollow lines, filled with some white matter not unlike barbotine. M. de +Baye says this mode of interment is confined to the district of Marne; +but for all that he himself gives an example of its practice +elsewhere.15 + +In the prehistoric tombs discovered at Cape Blanc-Nez, near Escalles +(Pas-de-Calais), the position in which the body had been interred could +be made out in four instances. The ends of the tibiæ, humeri, and +.radii were united, the bones of the hands were found near the +clavicles, so that the bodies had evidently been bending forward with +the arms crossed and the fingers pointing toward the shoulders.16 +Similar facts are quoted from a cave at Equehen on the plateau which +stretches along the seashore on the east of Boulogne. The bodies, to +the number of nine, were crouching with the face turned toward the +entrance of the cave, which was closed with great blocks of sandstone. +Two polished stone hatchets, broken doubtless in accordance with some +sepulchral rite, had been placed near the skeletons. + +Numerous human bones were found in the Cravanche Cave near Belfort, +which probably dates from the close of the Neolithic period, judging +from the total absence of metal and the shape of the flint and bone +implements picked up. Here too the bodies were bent almost double, the +head drooping forward and the knees drawn up nearly to the chin. +Several of these skeletons were completely imbedded in the stalagmite +which had formed in the cave, the head and knees alone emerging from +the solid mass. The position in which they were originally placed had +thus of necessity been maintained.17 + +A similar rite, for rite we must call this mode of burial, was +practised in Italy, and the Chevalier de Rossi speaks of a tomb of the +Neolithic period at Cantalupo, near Rome, in which one of the bodies +wag placed in the crouching attitude, which he says is familiar to all +who have studied ancient tombs.18 This practice was still continued in +protohistoric times; Schliemann noticed it in the excavations he +superintended at Mykenæ, and Homer says that amongst the Lybians the +dead were buried seated. + +The necropolis near Constantine contains numerous megalithic monuments. +These are either round or square cromlechs surrounding sarcophagi, or +circular _enceintes_, in which the dead were laid in a trench. In the +former there are always a great many funeral objects in the tomb, and +the body of the dead is in a crouching posture; in the latter there are +few things beside the corpse itself, and that is in a recumbent +position. Do these peculiarities denote different races? Do the tombs +all date from the same period, or are these arrangements but fresh +indications of the difference everywhere maintained between social +classes? It is difficult to decide, and we must be content with +enumerating facts. We may add, however, that the crouching position of +corpses is constantly met with in Africa19 and in North and South +America, from Canada to Patagonia.20 + +The funeral rites of which we have spoken necessarily imply burial; man +did not abandon to wild beasts or birds of prey the bodies of those who +had once been like himself. At Aurignac, at Bruniquel, and in the +Frontal Cave, the cave man bad taken the precaution of closing with the +largest stones he could find the entrances to the last resting-places +of those belonging to him. The caves of _L’Homme Mort_, and of +Petit-Morin which date from Neolithic times, retain traces of similar +blocking up. There were five entrances to the cave of Garenne de +Verneuil (Marne) in which was a regular ossuary; the floor was paved +and the roof kept up with eleven upright stones. The objects in the +tomb with the dead were a clumsy earthenware vase, a few flint knives, +and some shell necklace beads. + +The sides of the almost inaccessible mountains of Peru are pierced, at +a height of several hundred feet, with numerous caves which have nearly +all been artificially enlarged. It was in them that the Peruvians +placed their dead, and the people of the country still call them +_Tantama Marca_ or abodes of desolation. The entrances were concealed +with extreme care, but this care did not save the tombs from violation; +the greed for the treasures supposed to be concealed in the tombs was +too great for respect to the unknown dead to hold curiosity in check. + +In other cases, the dead was laid near the hearth which had been that +of his home when living, and his abode during life became his tomb. The +dolmens, _cella_, and _Gangraben_ in Germany, and the barrows in +England, appear to bear witness to the prevalence of a similar custom +in those countries; and we find the same idea perpetuated even when +cremation became general. At Alba, in Latium, at Marino, near Albano, +at Vetulonia and Corneto-Tarquinia were discovered urns with doors, +windows, and a roof imitating human dwellings.21 + +Later, other modes of sepulture came into use. In Marne M. Nicaise made +out seven funeral pits22 resembling in shape, he tells us, long-necked +bottles with flat bottoms. One of these pits at Tours-sur-Marne +contained at least forty skeletons, and among the bones were found +thirty-four polished stone hatchets, fifty knives, two flint +lance-heads and a great many arrows with transverse edges, a necklace +of little round bits of limestone, several fragments of coarse pottery +which had been mixed with grains of silica and baked in the fire, and +lastly three little flasks made of stag-horn hollowed out in a curious +manner and with stoppers of the same material. These quaint little +flasks doubtless contained the coloring matter with which the dead had +painted their bodies when alive. All the objects of which we have +spoken belonged to the Neolithic period; but a flat bronze necklace +bead made by folding a thin slice of metal, a radius, and a bit of rib +bearing green marks resulting from long contact with metal, appear to +fix the date of this pit at the transition period between the Stone and +Bronze ages. If this be so it is quite an exceptional case of a +sepulchral pit dating from this time, for most of those known are of +much later origin. Those for instance of Mont-Beuvray, Bernard (La +Vendée), and Beaugency are not older than Gallo-Roman times.23 +According to Count Gozzadini, those of Manzabotto in Italy, which are +twenty-seven in number, date from the IVth century after the foundation +of Rome, and are of Etruscan origin. They are constructed with small +pointed pebbles, with no trace of cement, and resemble in shape a long +amphora vase, or perhaps, to be more accurate, the clapper of a bell. +They are from six and a half to thirty-two and a half feet deep, with +an opening varying in diameter from one foot to nearly two and a half +feet.24 + +We have said so much in preceding chapters on monuments erected in +memory of the dead, that but little remains to be added here. Doubtless +there are many distinctions to be noted at different times and in +different countries, but everywhere the aim remains the same, and the +means used for attaining that end are radically the same all the world +over. Take for example the Aymaras, the most ancient race of Bolivia +and Callao; they laid their dead sometimes beneath megalithic monuments +(Fig. 58, p. 178) resembling the dolmens of Europe, sometimes beneath +towers or _chulpas_, which are however probably of more recent date. + +[Illustration: 105.] + +Chulpa near Palca. + + +_Chulpas_, generally of square or rectangular form, consist of a mass +of unhewn stones faced outside with blocks of trachyte or basalt, +painted red, yellow, or white. A very low door, always facing east, as +if in honor of the rising sun, gives access to a cist in which the dead +was laid. The _chulpa_ of our illustration (Fig. 105) is situated near +the village of Palca; it rises from an excavation four feet deep; its +height is about sixteen feet, and the cornice consists of _ichu_, a +coarse grass which grows in abundance on the mountains, and which after +being firmly compressed was cut with the help of sharp instruments. The +human bones, which were mixed together in the greatest confusion, made +a heap in the sepulchral chamber more than a foot high. + +The mounds of Ohio also cover over sepulchral chambers of a peculiar +construction, being often formed of round pieces of wood, five to seven +feet long by five to six inches in diameter; near the bodies were +placed a few ornaments, chiefly copper ear-rings, shell beads, and +large flint knives. Most of the skeletons lay on the bare earth; but +one exception is mentioned in which the ground was paved with mussel +shells. A remarkable discovery has quite recently been made at Floyd +(Iowa), the account of which in Nature for January 1, 1891, we will +give in the words of Clement Webster: “In making a thorough exploration +of the larger mound … the remains of five human bodies were found, the +bones even those of the fingers, toes, etc., being, for the most part +in a good state of preservation. First, a saucer or bowl-shaped +excavation has been made, extending down three and three-quarter feet +below the surface of the ground around the mound, and the bottom of +this macadamized with gravel and fragments of limestone. In the centre +of this floor five bodies were placed in a sitting posture with the +feet drawn under them, and apparently facing the north. First above the +bodies was a thin layer of earth and ashes, among which were found two +or three small pieces of fine-grained charcoal. Nearly all the +remaining four feet of earth had been changed to a red color by the +long-continued action of fire.” Mr. Webster goes on to describe the +various skeletons and says of one of them, that of a woman: “The bones +in their detail of structure indicated a person of low grade, the +evidence of unusual muscular development being strongly marked. The +skull of this personage was a wonder to behold, it equalling if not +rivalling in some respects and in inferiority of grade, the famous +Neanderthal skull. The forehead, if forehead it could be called, is +very low, lower and more animal-like than in the Neanderthal specimen…. +The question has been raised how was it that these five bodies were all +buried here at the same time, their bodies being still in the flesh.” … +Webster adds that the probability is that all but one of them had been +sacrificed at the death of that one, who had most likely been a chief. + +[Illustration: 106.] + +Dolmen at Auvernier near the Lake of Neuchâtel. + +We have seen that men began by placing the bodies of their dead in +caves, and only later took to burying them underground when caves were +not to be had. Very often the corpse was placed between large unhewn +stones to keep off from it the weight of the tumulus above. Such were +the last resting-places alike of the men of Solutré and of those of +Merovingian times. In the necropolis of Vilanova, which is supposed to +date from times prior to the foundation of Rome, the tombs enclosed a +chest, the walls of which consisted of slabs of sandstone set on edge +and connected by a conglomerate of small stones. At Marzabotto, the +chests are made of bricks, and placed beneath a heap of pebbles. We +reproduce a chest discovered near the Lake Dwellings of Auvernier in +Switzerland (Fig. 106)25 and another (Fig. 107) brought to light by MM. +Siret in the south of Spain. These drawings will help us better than +long descriptions to form an idea of this mode of burial. + +[Illustration: 107.] + +A stone chest used as a sepulchre. + +In other cases the dead body was enclosed in earthenware jars. At +Biskra in Algeria, two of these jars were found together; the one +containing the head, the other the feet of the departed. In some +instances the jar was replaced by a large clumsy earthenware basin, +some six and a half feet long by three feet wide. Such basins are +mentioned as having been found near Athens, but there is nothing to +help us to determine their date. The ancient Iberians used one large +jar only (Fig. 108) in which the dead was placed in a crouching +position, still wearing his favorite ornaments. The vase was closed +with a stone cover and placed in the tomb. We meet with the practice of +a similar mode of interment in historic times. The Chaldeans placed +their dead in earthenware vases; two jars connected at the neck serving +as a coffin. Excavations in Nebuchadnezzar’s palace brought to light +bodies bent nearly double and enclosed in urns not more than three feet +in height by about two feet in width. On the western coast of Malabar, +as far as Cape Comorin, we find near megalithic tombs large jars four +feet high by three feet in diameter filled with human bones. This mode +of sepulture was practised at Sfax, in the Chersonesus of Thracia, and +at the foot of the hill on which Troy was built. The tumulus of +Hanaï-Tepeh covered over a huge amphora in which crouched a skeleton, +and the wealthy Japanese loved to know they would rest in huge +artistically decorated vases, masterpieces of native pottery. If we +cross the Atlantic, we meet with the same custom in Peru, Mexico, and +on the shores of the Mississippi. At Teotihuacan, the bodies of +children were placed head downwards in funeral urns,26 and excavations +in the alluvial deposits of the Mississippi yielded, among immense +quantities of pottery, two huge rectangular basins glued together with +clay and containing the body of a young child. It is indeed interesting +to meet with the same practice in so many different places and to find +the genius of many races expressing itself in the same way in so many +diverse inventions, produced at times so widely separated. + +[Illustration: 108.] + +Example of burial in a jar. + +It is probable that early man also turned to account the trees he saw +growing around him, using them as coffins for his dead. But the rapid +decay of this fragile case led to its total disappearance. A few +exceptions must, however, be mentioned. In 1840 some dredgers took from +the bed of the Saône, at Apremont, from beneath a bed of gravel five +feet thick, the trunk of a tree which still contained the bones that +had been placed in it. Similar discoveries were made in the Cher, and +in the celebrated cemetery of Hallstadt, near Salzburg. The cairns of +Scania covered over split trunks of oak and birch trees, which had been +hollowed out to receive the dead. At Gristhorpe, near Scarborough, in +England, a coffin was found made of scarcely squared planks roughly put +together; and another very like it was discovered at Hove, in Sussex, +the latter containing a splendid amber cup, evidence of the wealth of +the man who had been buried in this primitive coffin.27 + +The ancient Caledonians sewed up their dead in the skins of oxen before +burying them. The Egyptians also embalmed the ibis, the ox, the cat, +the crocodile, and other animals deified by them, and the bodies of +these creatures were then placed in vast subterranean chambers, where +they have been discovered in the present day in great numbers. The +Guanches of Teneriffe, the last representatives of the Iberians, and +probably the most ancient race of Europe, took out the intestines of +the corpse, dried the body in the air, painted it with a thick varnish, +and finally wrapped it in the skin of a goat. This last custom was +evidently a relic of the original idea of embalming, with a view to +rendering the mummy as nearly as possible indestructible and, to use a +happy expression of Michelet, to compel death to endure (_forcer la +mort de durer_). Our own contemporaries are thus able to look upon the +very features of those who preceded them on the earth some forty +centuries ago; and but yesterday photography reproduced in every detail +what was once Ramses the Great, one of the most glorious kings of +history. + +[Illustration: 109.] + +Aymara mummy. + +Embalming was also practised in America. Recent travellers report28 +having seen in Upper Peru tombs of the shape of beehives, made of +stones cemented with clay, each tomb containing one mummy or more in a +crouching position (Figs. 109 and 110). This custom was still practised +for many centuries; Garcilasso de la Vega tells us that the dead Incas +were seated in a temple at Cuzco, wearing their royal ornaments as if +they were still alive; their hands were crossed upon their breasts, and +their heads were bending slightly forward.29 + +The facts enumerated above prove that burial was long practised, though +it is impossible to say when it first cattle into use. About the time +of the beginning of the Bronze age, or perhaps even earlier, however, a +remarkable change took place in the ideas of man, and the dead instead +of being buried intact were consumed by fire on the funeral pile. + +What can have been the origin of this custom? What race first practised +it? It has long been supposed by many archæologists that it was the +Aryans from the lofty Hindoo Koosh Mountains who first introduced into +Europe a civilization more advanced than that which had hitherto +obtained there, and taught the people to cremate instead of bury their +dead. This theory was accepted for a considerable time without +question, but of late years a new school, headed by Penka, has arisen +who claim that the reformers came not from the East but from the North. +The Marquis de Saporta had indeed before suggested that the primitive +races who were the contemporaries of the mammoth and the rhinoceros +came originally from the polar regions, where the remains of a +luxuriant vegetation prove that climatic conditions prevailed in remote +times of a very different character to those of the present day. The +lignites of Iceland are made up of tulip, plantain, and nut-trees, even +the vine sometimes occurring. In the ferruginous sandstones, associated +with the carboniferous deposits of Spitzberg, the beech, the poplar, +the magnolia, the plum tree, the sequoia, and numerous coniferous trees +can be made out. The sturdy sailors who dare the regions of perpetual +ice come across masses of fossilized wood in Banks, Grinnell, and +Francis Joseph’s Lands, at 88° N. Lat. Among this fossil wood Heer made +out the cypress, the silver pine, the poplar, the birch, and some +dicotyledons with caducous leaves. These were not relics of wood which +had drifted where it was found on floating ice, but of an actual local +vegetation, as proved by trunks still erect in their original +positions, buds, leaves, and flowers in every stage of growth, fruits +in every stage of ripening. The very insects that had lived on honey +from the flowers or on the leaves themselves could be identified. In +those remote days, life, abundant life, similar to that now only found +in the temperate countries farther south, flourished in those polar +regions, so long supposed to have never been anything but lifeless +deserts. + +[Illustration: 110.] + +Peruvian mummies. + +All this, plausible as it is, does not, however, appear to be +conclusive on the point under discussion; and though we may have to +abandon the idea of the Aryans having introduced cremation, we are +scarcely, I think, in a position to say that races from the North were +the first to practise it. I have dwelt more fully on the question of +the origin of races and the evidence which language seems to give of a +common source in two papers called “Les Premiers Populations de +l’Europe,” which appeared in the _Correspondent_ for October 1 and +November 25, 1889. Whatever may be the final decision on the much +contested points involved in this controversy, one thing is certain +that cremation, involving though it does a complete revolution in +manners and customs, spread with very great rapidity. We meet with it +from Greece to Scotland and Scandinavia, from Etruria to Poland and the +south of Russia, in China as in Yucatan and certain parts of Central +America. + +In the early days of history, cremation was practised all over Europe. +The Greeks attribute its inauguration to Hercules, and the funeral pile +of Patrokles is described in the Iliad. The Pelasgians and the +Proto-Etruscans burned their dead,30 and we are told of the +incineration of contemporaries of Jair, the third judge of Israel. + +On the other hand, the earliest inhabitants of Latium buried their +dead. Visitors, who probably came by way of the valley of the Danube, +introduced the new custom, and for a long tune the two rites were +practised side by side. At Felsina and at Marzabotto we find instances +alike of inhumation and cremation, and at Vilanova only half the tombs +are those of corpses that had been cremated. In 365 of the tombs +excavated in the Certosa, near Bologna, only 115 show signs of +cremation having been practised. At Rome, the two rites were long both +performed, probably, however, by the two distinct peoples who formed +the primitive population of the town of Romulus. We know that Numa +Pompilius forbade the burning of his corpse; Cicero relates that Marius +was buried, and that Sulla, his fortunate rival, was the first of the +Cornelia _gens_ whose body was committed to the flames. We do not know +how early cremation was introduced in Gaul; we can only say that Cæsar +found it generally practised when be made his triumphal march across +the country.31 The celebrated excavations of Moreau prove that +inhumation and incineration were both practised among the Gallo-Romans +established in the eastern provinces of France. We may even assert that +the two rites were practised long before the introduction of the use of +metals. One thing is certain, the custom of cremation was but slowly +abandoned as Christianity spread, for Charlemagne, in an edict dated +789, ordered the punishment of death for those who dared to burn dead +bodies. + +What we have just said about historic times applies equally to more +remote epochs. Thanks to the learned researches of Dr. Prunières32 we +are able to trace for a great length of time the modes of sepulture +adopted in Lozère. The cave men of the eroded limestone districts of +Les Causses took their dead to the caves in which their ancestors had +been laid, and the invaders, who were probably more civilized than +those they dispossessed, placed theirs beneath the dolmens which they +erected in their honor. In the sepulchral caves of Rouquet and of +_L’Homme Mort_ we find inhumation; beneath the megalithic monuments +dating from the end of the Neolithic period, we meet with the first +traces of cremation, but so far of a very incomplete cremation; the +action of the funeral fire had not been intense, and the bones were +hard and resisted the heat. Noting beneath certain dolmens a few bones +blackened by fire mixed with large quantities unaffected by it, one is +inclined to think with the learned Doctor, that after practising +cremation men had reverted to the old mode of burial. In the tumuli of +the Bronze age, on the other hand, where the date can be determined +with the aid of the ornaments and trinkets scatered about, the ustion +was more complete; the bones are friable and porous, crumbling into +dust when touched, and there is nothing to indicate that inhumation and +cremation were both practised. + +It is strange indeed to find that incineration was practised from +Neolithic times in the wild mountains of Lozère. There can be no doubt +on the point, however, and excavations beneath the dolmen of +Marconnières strikingly confirm the earlier discoveries of Dr. +Prunières. Beneath a layer of broken stones and a very thin pavement, +was found a mass of human bones in the greatest confusion; some still +retaining their natural color, others blackened and charred by. fire. +Among these bones was picked up an arrow of rock foreign to the +country, three admirably polished lance-heads, and some finely cut +flint-darts. The dolmen contained no metal objects, and there was no +trace of metal on any of the bones. + +At the same period the two rites appear to have been practised +simultaneously in Armorica, but there incineration was the dominant +custom. In one hundred and forty-five megalithic monuments supposed to +date from the Neolithic period, seventy-two give proof of incineration +and twenty of inhumation only. The others yielded a few cinders, but it +was impossible to come to any definite conclusion. In many cases, as we +have seen, the megalithic monument was surrounded by a double or triple +_enceinte_ of stones without mortar. Inside these _enceintes_ were some +small circular structures made of stones reddened by the action of +heat. In the lower part of these structures were openings to admit a +current of air to fan the flames. These strange structures, full of +cinders and black greasy earth, bear the significant name of _Ruches de +Crémation_.33 Of thirty-nine sepulchres of the Bronze age twenty-seven +gave evidence of incineration, two of inhumation, whilst ten decided +nothing one way or the other.34 The dolmen of Mont St.-Michel and that +of Tumiac are separated by a short distance only; they were erected by +the same race and probably about the same period, yet at Mont +St.-Michel we find incineration, while inhumation was practised at +Tumiac. How explain this difference in funeral customs? Does it imply a +diversity of race, of caste, of religion, or of social position, or may +it not rather be explained as being merely the result of those later +displacements which upset the most careful reasoning? + +Whatever may have been the cause of the different modes of burial, we +meet with them in every country. + +In Scandinavia, during the Bronze age, cremation and burial were +practised in about equal proportions. Similar facts are noticed in +Germany, but in the North incineration predominates, while in the West +it is inhumation. Beneath the cairns of Caithness in Scotland, we find +some bodies lying at full length, while others are in a bent position, +and large jars of coarse pottery filled with cinders and calcined bones +which had belonged to men of medium height. One of the largest of these +jars is fifteen or sixteen inches high by forty-nine wide at its +largest part.35 In excavating the barrows of the Orkney Islands, Petrie +noted the practice of both modes of burial36; but were those buried in +manners so different contemporaries? This is what we are not told, and +what we have to find out. + +At Blendowo in Poland, beneath a cromlech was found an urn filled with +calcined bones, and thirty centimetres lower down a skeleton was +discovered buried in the sand. Near this body was found a coin of +Theodosius, and we wonder in vain whether both the individuals, whose +remains are thus within a common tomb, lived at the same time. +Throughout Prussia and in the Grand Duchy of Posen skeletons and jars +containing human ashes are met with in the same tombs.37 We must not +forget to note, especially, the necropolis of Hallstadt, which was +situated in the heart of the district of Bohemia occupied by the Boii. +The most ancient of the tombs in these vast burial-places date from +about two thousand years before the Christian era, and the Hallstadtian +period, as it is sometimes called, culminated during the first half of +the millennium immediately before the coming of Christ.38 Nine hundred +and ninety-three tombs have been excavated; all, to judge by the +objects found with the human remains, belonging to the Bronze age; of +these five hundred and twenty-seven contained buried bodies, and four +hundred and fifty-three cremated relics.39 This is a larger proportion +than in the primitive necropoles of Italy. + +In the tombs in which burial was practised, the bodies were laid in the +trench without covering, and the remains of anything in the way of +slabs or coffins or protecting planks are very rare; in those tombs in +which cremation had been the rule, ustion had often been very +incomplete, sometimes the head and sometimes the feet having escaped +the flames. + +Similar facts are noted at Watsch, at San Margarethen, and at Vermo in +Styria, at Rovesche in Southern Carniola, and at Rosegg in the valley +of the Drave. At Watsch, but ten skeletons were found, among two +hundred examples of incineration. In the cremation sepulchres, if we +may so call them, the cinerary urn was protected by large slabs; while +in those where burial was practised, the bodies were simply confided to +the earth as at Hallstadt; but by a singular contrast, the latter tombs +contained much more important relics, the objects with the dead being +more valuable and of finer workmanship. At Rovesche, the urn was placed +in a square chest made of unhewn stones. The buried bodies lay with the +head turned toward the east, an urn was placed at their feet, and their +shrouds were kept in place by bronze fibulæ, while on the fingers were +many rings of the same metal. + +Lastly, to conclude this gloomy catalogue, excavations in the mounds of +Ohio and Illinois40 have shown that there too cremation and inhumation +are met with in sepulchres which everything tends to assign to the same +race and the same period.41 The sepulchral crypts of Missouri contain +several skeletons which had been subjected to intense heat. The human +bones were mixed with the remains of animals, fragments of charcoal, +and pieces of pottery, with sortie flint weapons. In a neighboring +mound excavations revealed no trace of cremation; the bodies were +stretched out upon the ground, and those who discovered them picked up +near them a valuable collection of flints and of carefully made +pottery. There is however nothing to show whether those who buried and +those who burnt their dead belonged to the same race or lived at the +same time. Cremation long survived among the most savage tribes of +Alaska and California, where it is still practised, and the Indians of +Florida preserve the ashes of their fathers in human skulls. In +California, the relations of the deceased covered their faces with a +thick paste of a kind of loam mixed with the ashes of the dead, and +were compelled to wear this sign of their grief until it fell off +naturally. + +Although we meet with the burial of the dead either in a recumbent or a +crouching position, everywhere the minor ceremonies connected with +death are innumerable; each people, each race, indeed, having its own +custom, handed down from one generation to another, and piously +preserved intact by each successive family. Feasting was from the +earliest times a feature of the funeral ceremonies. An edict of +Charlemagne forbids eating and drinking on the tombs of the deceased, +and Saint Boniface, the apostle of Germany, complains bitterly that the +priests encouraged by their presence these feasts of death. We meet +with the same kind of thing among the lower classes at the present day, +and the cemeteries of Paris are surrounded with cafés and wine shops, +where too often grief is drowned in wine. The custom of holding these +feasts really comes down from the earliest inhabitants of Europe, and +the savage cave man gorged himself with food upon the tombs of those +belonging to him. At Aurignac, in the cave of _L’Homme Mort_, in the +Trou du Frontal, broken bones and fragments of charcoal bear witness to +the repast. Similar traces of feasts are met with beneath the dolmens +and the tumuli. From the Long Barrows have been taken the skulls and +feet of bovidæ, and it is probable that the other parts of the body had +been devoured by the assistants, and that the head and feet were placed +in the tomb as an offering either to the dead or to the divinities who +are supposed to have presided at the death. In the ancient sepulchres +of Wiltshire Sir R. Colt Hoare picked up the bones of boars, stags, +sheep, horses, and dogs; which he too considered were the remains of +funeral feasts. + +Were feasts the only ceremonies connected with interments? We think +not. The body was often placed in the centre of the sepulchral chamber, +and around it were ranged the wives, servants, and slaves of the +deceased, condemned to follow their chief into the unknown world to +which he had gone. Beneath a dolmen of Algeria was found a crouching +skeleton with two crania lying at his feet, which crania had doubtless +belonged to victims immolated in his honor. The barrows of Great +Britain preserve traces of human sacrifices, and Cæsar says in speaking +of the Gauls: “Their funerals are magnificent and sumptuous. Everything +supposed to have been dear to the defunct during his life was flung +upon the funeral pile; even his animals were sacrificed, and until +quite recently his slaves and the dependants he had loved were burnt +with him.”42 + +The facts we have been noticing prove that early man cherished hopes of +immortality. All was not ended for him with death; a new life commences +beyond the tomb, marked—for his ideas could go no farther—by joys +similar to those he had known on earth, and events such as had occurred +during his life. What else could be the meaning of the weapons, the +tools of his craft, the vases filled with food placed near the defunct, +the ornaments and colors intended for his adornment, the wives, slaves, +and horses flung into the same tomb or consumed upon the same pile? It +is pleasing to find this supreme hope among our remote ancestors; and +clumsily as it was expressed, it implies a belief in a being superior +to man, a protecting divinity according to some, but according to some +few others a malignant and tyrannical spirit. The proofs so far to hand +are not enough to justify us in seriously asserting that ancestors were +worshipped by prehistoric man. But the subject is too important for us +to refrain from putting before the reader such indications of this +worship as have been collected, and which are necessarily connected +with the moral and material condition of our remote ancestors. + +The radius of a mammoth was discovered at Chaleux, occupying a place of +honor on a large sandstone slab near the hearth. The Chaleux Cave dates +from the Reindeer period; at which time the mammoth had long since been +extinct in Belgium, so that there can be no doubt that the cave man had +taken this bone from the alluvial deposits of the preceding epoch, and +this huge relic of an unknown creature had been the object of his +veneration, a lar or protective divinity of his home. A somewhat +similar fact was discovered at Laugerie-Basse and, by a strange +coincidence, certain tribes of North America of the present clay +preserve the bone of a mastodon or of a cetacean in their buts as a +protection to their homes. + +From Paleolithic times men were in the habit of cutting celts or +hatchets in chalk, bitumen, and other fragile substances, which were +certainly of no practical use. Thousands of similar objects in harder +rock, but showing no sign of wear or tear, have also been found, and +there is little doubt that they all alike served as amulets. This +superstitious respect for certain objects lasted for many centuries, +and was handed down from one generation to another. The tombs of the +Bronze and Iron ages are often found to contain flint hatchets, some of +them broken intentionally, a proof, as I have already said, that they +were connected with funeral rites of the nature of which we are +ignorant. + +We also find votive hatchets beneath dolmens. By the side of some +skeletons at Cissbury lay flint celts. A hatchet one and a quarter feet +long was found in a Lake Station of Switzerland. It was of such friable +rock that it can have been of no use but as a symbol; perhaps, indeed, +it may have been a badge of office. Lastly, Merovingian tombs contain +hundreds of small flint celts, the last pious offerings to the +departed.43 + +We find hatchets engraved on the megalithic monuments of Brittany, on +the walls of the caves of Marne, and we meet with them again on the +other side of the Atlantic, evidently bearing the same signification, +implying respect for them as means of protection. De Longpérier has +published a description of a Chaldean cylinder, on which was +represented a priest presenting his offering to a hatchet lying on a +throne, and a ring was picked up at Mykenæ, on the stone of which was +engraved a double-bladed celt. We find the same idea in many different +mythologies. The word _Nouter_ (God) is translated in Egyptian +hieroglyphics by a sign resembling a celt, and the hatchet of Odin is +engraved on the rocks of Kivrik. On a number of Gallo-Roman _cippi_, we +find a hatchet beneath which we read the words, _Dis Manibus_, and +lower down the dedication, _Sub Ascia dedicavit_. At all times and +everywhere the hatchet appears as the emblem of force, and is the +object of the respect of the people. The tradition of its value and +importance is handed down from ancestors to descendants throughout many +generations. + +[Illustration: 111.] + +Erratic block from Scania, covered with carvings. + +May we give a religious interpretation to the basins and cups hollowed +out on rocks and erratic blocks and on the so-called Roches Moutonnées, +with other monuments that have endured for many centuries (Figs. 111 +and 112)? Or must we attribute them merely to passing caprice? Their +number and importance we think forbid the latter idea. We find such +blocks in Switzerland, in England, France, Italy, Portugal, and on the +frozen shores of the Baltic. They are no less numerous in India, and +they figure in the curious pictographs of the two Americas. There is no +doubt that we have here a common idea, and one it is impossible not to +recognize. How. else can we account for the similarity of arrangement +in the cup-shaped sculptures from the tumuli of Schleswig-Holstein and +those on the Indian rocks of Kamaou, or between those of Algeria and of +England? + +[Illustration: 112.] + +Engraved rock from Massibert (Lozère). + +In Brittany and in Scotland these cup-like sculptures are found on +rocks and menhirs, on the walls of sepulchral chambers, on stones +forming the sides of _kistvæns_, accompanied in many instances with +radiated circles, which do not, however, help us to understand them +better. In Scandinavia they are known as _Elfen Stenavs_, or elf +stones, and the inhabitants come and place offerings on them for the +_Little People_. According to a touching tradition, these little people +are souls awaiting the time of their being clothed once more in human +flesh. In Belgium these strangely decorated stones are attributed to +the _Nutons_, dwarfs who are very helpful to mortals. In every country +there is some legend sacred to the sculptured stones. + +Such are the only facts we have been able to collect respecting the +religious feeling of prehistoric races. They are not sufficient to +authorize any final conclusion on the subject. At every turn we are +compelled to admit our helplessness. But yesterday this past without a +limit was absolutely unknown to us, and to-day we are but beginning to +be able to obtain a glimpse into its secrets. We have been the laborers +of the first hour, it will be for those who come after us to complete +the task we have been able but to begin. May a genuine love of truth be +to them, as we may justly claim it has been to us, the only guide. + + +1 The true name of this cave is the _Betche aux Roches_. A very +excellent essay on the subject was read by the explorers, MM. de Puydt +and Lohest, in August, 1886, to the Historic Society of Belgium, and +“Les Fouilles de Spy,” by Dr. Collignon, published in the _Revue +d’Anthropologie_, 1887, may also be consulted. Excavations were also +carried on in the same cave in 1879 by M. Bucquoy (_Bul. Soc. Anth. de +Belgique_, 1887). He distinguished five ossiferous levels and picked up +some flints of the Moustérien type, and even some Chelléen hatchets, to +which he gave the name of coups _de poing_.—Fraipont and Lohest; +“Recherches sur les Ossements Humains Decouvertes dans les Dépôts +Quaternaires d’un grotte à Spy.” + +2 We borrow these details from a valuable work by Cartailhac (_Mal_., +1886, p. 441; _Rev. d’Anth_., 1886, p. 448). The conclusions of our +learned colleague are that we really know nothing of the funeral rites +of the men of Chelles and Moustier, and that it is to the Solutréen +period that we must assign the first really authenticated tombs. +Cartailhac’s admirable book, “La France Préhistorique,” p. 302, should +also be consulted. + +3 “Ipui Antichi Sepolcri dell Italia.” + +4 _Archæological Journal_, vol. xxii. + +5 _Matériaux_, 1885, p. 299. + +6 This dolmen was carefully excavated by MM. Hahn and Millescamps, +_Bul. Soc. Anth_., 1883, p. 312. + +7 Rivière; _Congrès des Sciences Géographiques_, Paris, 1878. + +8 _Atti della R. Acad. dei Lincei_, 1879–1880. Pigorini: _Bul. de Pal. +Italiana_, 1880, p. 33. + +9 _Soc. Anth. de Munich_, 1886. + +10 _Soc. Anth. de Lyon_, 1889. + +11 “Histoire du Travail en Gaule,” p. 24. + +12 Troyon: “De l’ Attitude Repliée dans la Sépulture Antique,” _Revue +Arch_., 1864. + +13 _Matériaux_, 1875, p. 327. + +14 A. Nicaise: _Matériaux_, 1880, p. 186. + +15 _Arch. Préhistorique_, p. 178. + +16 _Congrès Préhistorique de Bruxelles_, p. 299. + +17 _Bul. Soc. Anth_., 1876, p. 191. Grad: _Nature_, 1877, 1st week, p. +314. + +18 _Memorie sulle scoperte paleoethnologiche della campagna romana_. +Pigorini adds in his turn: “_I cadaveri erano abitualmente adagiati sul +fianco sinistro, col cranio appogiato sulla mano sinistre e le +ginocchia alquanto piegate in guisa che tavolta si trovarono le tibie +assai prossime alla cassa toracica_.” + +19 Pallery: “Mon. Mégalithiques de Mascara,” _Bul. Soc. Ethn_., 1887. + +20 Bancroft: “The Native Races of the Pacific,” vol. i., pp. 365, etc. +Moreno: “Les Paraderos de la Patagonie,” _Rev. d’Anth_., 1874. + +21 “Nécropole de Colonna, prov. de Grosseto,” _R. Acad. dei Lincei_, +Roma, 1885. + +22 _Bul. Soc. Anth_., 1880, p. 895. + +23 Abbé Baudry et Ballereau: “Les Puits Funéraires du Bernard,” La +Roche-sur-Yon, 1873. + +24 “Renseignements sur une Ancienne Nécropole Manzabotta, près de +Bologna,” Bologna, 1871. + +25 Gross: “Les Proto-Helvètes.” Morel-Fatio: “Sépultures des +Populations Lacustres de Chamblandes.” As at Auvernier, a great many +bears’ tusks were found lying near the dead, which may possibly also +have had something to do with a funeral rite. + +26 D. Charnay: _North American Review_, January, 1881. + +27 Stuart: “The Early Modes of Burial.” + +28 Vidal Seneze; _Bul. Soc. Anth_., 1877, p. 561. + +29 “Histoire des Incas,” Paris, 1744, chap. xviii. + +30 Conestabile: “De l’incinération chez les Etrusques.” + +31 A. Bertrand: “Arch. Celtique et Gauloise,” Introduction. + +32 _Ass. française_, Nantes, 1875; Havre, 1877. + +33 Luco: “Exposition de Trois Monuments Quadrilatères par feu James +Miln,” Vannes, 1883. + +34 P. du Chatellier: “Mém. Soc. d’Emulation des Côtes-du-Nord,” Saint +Brieuc, 1883. + +35 _Proceedings Soc. Anth. of Scotland_, January 11, 1886. + +36 “On the Ancient Modes of Sepulchre in the Orkneys” (_British +Association_, 1877). + +37 Kohn and Mehlis: “Zür Vorgeschichte des Menschen im Ostlichen +Europa,” Iéna, 1879. + +38 Hochstetter: “Die neueste Graber Funde von Watsch. und S. +Margarethen und der Kultur Kreiss der Hallstadter Period,” Wien, 1883. +Siebenter: “Bericht der Prehistorischen Commission,” Wien, 1884. + +39 In these tombs were found 61 gold objects, 5,574 bronze, 593 iron, +270 amber, 73 glass, and 1,813 terra-cotta. A. Bertrand: _Rev. +d’Ethnographie_, 1883. + +40 _Smithsonian Report_, 1881. + +41 Putnam, xii. and _xx. Reports of the Peabody Museum_. + +42 “De Bello Gallico,” book vi., cap. xix. Consult also Pomponius Mela: +“De Situ Orbis,” book iii., cap. ii. + +43 In his fruitful excavations of Gallic, Gallo-Roman, and Merovingian +tombs, Moreau collected no less than 31,515 flint celts or hatchets, +which had evidently been votive offerings. See Album de Caranda: +“Fouilles de Sainte Restitute, de Trugny, d’Armentière, d’Arcy, de +Brenny,” etc. + +WORKS BY MARQUIS DE NADAILLAC. + + +Prehistoric America. By the Marquis de Nadaillac. Translated, with the +permission of the Author, by Nancy Bell (N. D’Anvers), author of +“History of Art.” Edited, with notes, by W. H. Dall. Popular edition. +$2 25 + +CHIEF CONTENTS.—Man and the Mastodon—The Kjokkenmöddings and Cave +Relics—Mound-Builders—Pottery Weapons and Ornaments of the +Mound-Builders—Cliff-Dwellers and Inhabitants of the Pueblos—People of +Central America—Central American Ruins—Peru—Early Race—Origin of the +American Aborigines, etc., etc. + +“The best book on this subject that has yet been published, … for the +reason that, as a record of facts, it is unusually full, and because it +is the first comprehensive work in which, discarding all the old and +worn-out nostrums about the existence on this continent of an extinct +civilization, we are brought face to face with conclusions that are +based upon a careful comparison of architectural and other prehistoric +remains with the arts and industries, the manners and customs, of “the +only people, except the whites, who, so far as we know, have ever held +the regions in which these remains are found.”—_Nation_. + +The Customs and Monuments of Prehistoric Peoples. By the Marquis de +Nadaillac. Translated, with the permission of the Author, by Nancy Bell +(N. D’Anvers). Fully illustrated. 8vo. $3 00 + +CHIEF CONTENTS.—The Stone Age, its Duration, and its Place in +Time—Food, Cannibalism, Mammals, Fish, Hunting and Fishing, +Navigation—Weapons, Tools, Pottery; Origin of the Use of Fire, +Clothing, Ornaments; Early Artistic Efforts—Caves, Kitchen-Middings, +Lake Stations, “Terremares,” Crannoges, Burghs, “Nurhags,” “Talayoti,” +and “Truddhi”—Megalithic Monuments—Industry, Commerce, Social +Organization; Fights, Wounds and Trepanation—Camps, Fortifications, +Vitrified Forts; Santorin; the Towns upon the Hill of +Hissarlik—Tombs—Index. + +G. P. 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