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diff --git a/3309.txt b/3309.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..366f032 --- /dev/null +++ b/3309.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10855 @@ +Project Gutenberg Manners and Monuments of Prehistoric Peoples +by The Marquis de Nadaillac + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the laws for your country before redistributing these files!!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. + +Please do not remove this. + +This should be the first thing seen when anyone opens the book. +Do not change or edit it without written permission. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.12.12.00*END* + + + + + +This Etext Created by Jeroen Hellingman <jehe@kabelfoon.nl> + + + + + +Manners and Monuments of Prehistoric Peoples + +by The Marquis de Nadaillac + + + + +Translated by + +Nancy Bell (N. D'Anvers) + + + + +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 canon. 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 Neuchatel. + 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. 111 + Disk, made of the burr of a stag's antler. +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. +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. +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 Caesar's table. +186 + + + +60. Covered avenue of Dissignac (Loire-Inferieure), 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 Bone (Algeria). 196 +65. Dolmen at Pallicondah, near Madras (India). 201 +66. Dolmen at Maintenon, with a table about 19 1/2 feet long. +204 +67. Part of the Mane-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-Sevres), 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 19 1/2 feet. 328 +93. Vase found beneath the ruins of Troy. +94. Terra-cotta vase found with the treasure of Priam. +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 fusaioles. 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 Neuchatel. 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 (Lozere). 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 +bas greatly contributed. Regions, previously completely closed, have +been, so to speak, simultaneously opened by the energy of explorers, +who, like Livingstone, Stanley, and Nordenskiold, 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 Rouge 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 Muller 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: + + +Pyrenaeisque sub antris +Ignea flumineae legere ceraunia nymphae. + + +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 hebergea quelquefois +Les geants qui couroyent les montagnes de Foix, +Dont tant d'os successifs rendent le temoignage. + + +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 Hotel 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 batrachian[4] 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 Frankfort[5] 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 ACADEMIE 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 ACADEMIE 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] + + +FIGURE 1 + +Stone weapons described by Mahudel in 1734. + + +A communication made by Frere 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. Frere 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 Perigord. In 1823, the Rev. Dr. Buckland published the "Reliquiae +Diluvianae," 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 Liege 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 Ramsay[13] 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 said[14]: "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, Elie 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 +DEPARTEMENT 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 keraun'oc, 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 Celts[21] 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 archaeologists 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 PALAEOLITHIC 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." + + +FIGURE 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 Pacific[29] (Fig. 3). + + +FIGURE 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 Lagidae 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 AES RUDE. Flint +hatchets are mentioned in the life of St. Eloy, 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. Nordenskiold 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. Pere 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 Palaeolithic 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 spatulae, 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 +Mancanares, 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 Palaeolithic 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 archaeologists 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 DEBRIS of +all kinds, forming a very hard conglomerate. Some teeth, which had +belonged to animals of the bovidae, cervidae, and equidae 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 +Ainos, 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 encyclopaedia 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 archaeologists 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 Palaeolithic 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 DEPOT, 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 explain[41] 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] + + +FIGURE 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 Perouse 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 volume[44] 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 repre. sented 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. + + +FIGURE 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. + + +FIGURE 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. + + +FIGURE 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. + + +FIGURE 8 + +Cliff-house on the Rio Mancos. + + + +FIGURE 9 + +House in a rock of the Montezuma Canon. + + +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, Angermunde 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 +defend. ing 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. + + + +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,[49] in that of Aurignac in France, +and Brixham in England, have been found complete skeletons of the URSUS +SPELAEUS, 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 vertebrae 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. Riviere picked +up the remains of thousands of birds in those of Baousse-Rousse on +the frontier of Italy.[50] + +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.[51] + +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.[52] 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."[53] 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 Abbe Chierici, speaking at the Brussels Congress[54] 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,[55] 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.[56] + +The excavations in the Montesquieu-Avantes 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, +tibiae, 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.[57] + +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.[58] + +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.[59] + +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 +Androphagae 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."[60] + +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 FETES 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 grounds[61]; 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.[62] + +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.[63] 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."[64] + +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 ursidae, associated with +no less numerous relics of the large cave-lion and cave-hyena.[65] +The Kulock 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, ,gyp 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 +cervidae 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 Solutre, 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 Solutre.[66] + +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 Eyzies, +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 SPELAEUS 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 Moen, celebrated for its tumuli and the number of +objects found in them. At Eyzies, 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.[67] The Abbe 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 Vezere, in those of Madeleine, +Eyzies, and Bruniquel, excavations have brought to light the vertebrae +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. Riviere 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. + + +FIGURE 10 + +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. + + +FIGURE 11 + +Bears' teeth converted into fish-hooks. + + + +FIGURE 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.[68] 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 Kjelnoe, 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,[69] 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 Funen 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.[70] Gold +fish. hooks are comparatively more numerous, and have been discovered +in New Granada and the Cauca State.[71] 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 out- 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. + + +FIGURE 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.[72] 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.[73] 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 Poeni (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 archaeologists 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 aes triplex +Circa pectus erat, qui fragilem truci +Commisit pelago ratem +Primus.[74] + + +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.[75] +It is 27 feet long and scarcely 16 inches wide. + +Sir W. Wilde describes several boats from the marshes and peat-bogs of +Ireland,[76] 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.[77] 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.[78] 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.[79] 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 archaeologist 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.[80] 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. + + +FIGURE 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). + + +FIGURE 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 Neuchatel, 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. + + +FIGURE 16 + +A lake pirogue found in the Lake of Neuchatel. 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. Gross[81] 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 Phoenicians, 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.[82] + +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). + + +FIGURE 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. + + + +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.[83] 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, acrd 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 +(ECAILLES). 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. + + +FIGURE 18 + +Scraper from the Delaware Valley. + + + +FIGURE 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.[84] Were they man's only weapons? We hesitate to believe +it, and the careful researches of M. d'Acy add to our incredulity.[85] +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. + + +FIGURE 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 Chelleen[86] 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 Chelleen 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 Chelleen 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 +Mousterien, 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 Chelleen 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 Solutreen period, so named after the celebrated Lake Station +of Solutre, we find stalked arrow-heads with lateral notches,[87] +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 Solutre, 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 felidae 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.[88] + +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 Solutreen period, six are met +with in the time now under consideration.[89] Five types of Solutreen +javelins have also been found in the Durfort Cave, and beneath the +dolmens of Aveyron and of Lozere. 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-Dome. Similar stones have been discovered +at Viry-Noureuil, and M. Massenat has one in his collection from +Chez-Pourre. 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. + + +FIGURE 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.[90] 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 Saone, 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 Mykenae, as well as among the Ainos 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 Mortillet[91] 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, fibulae, 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. + + +FIGURE 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.[92] +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. + + +FIGURE 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 +Eyzies, Laugerie-Basse, at Bruniquel, Massat, and in the Madeleine +Cave. Dr. Garrigou mentions some rein deer or roebuck antlers found +in Ariege 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. + + +FIGURE 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. Dupont[93] 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. Lartet[94] +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 Merk[95] +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 Worbzig on the +banks of the Saale, have been found earthenware spoons of the shape +of modern spatulae; 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 Palaeolithic 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-Saone, 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. + + +FIGURE 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 Palaeolithic times, or were the earthenware +vessels later additions at the time of those disturbances of deposits +which are the despair of archaeologists? 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 Palaeolithic 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,[96] and by +others made by M. Fraipont.[97] In portions of this same Engis Cave +not previously explored the learned professor of Liege found, in 1887, +fragments of a vase of ovoid form, some flints of the Mousterien 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. + + +FIGURE 26 + +Pottery of a so far unclassified type found in the Argent Cave +(France). + + +Similar instances may easily be quoted from France. Excavations at +Solutre 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 Bearn 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 (Lozere) 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,"[98] 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 SPELAEUS. 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 archaeologists, 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 England[99] of Palaeolithic 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,[100] 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 Solutre, at Louverne (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,[101] "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 Nordenskiold, 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 Perigord +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 Caesar, and as do +modern savages, or, not to go so far afield, as do English sailors +and some of the workingmen of France.[102] 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 Saltpetriere 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. Riviere at Baousse-Rousse. The Abbe +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 Solutre, 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 Abbe +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. + + +FIGURE 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 Solutre 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.[103] 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 Baousse-Rousse, of which we have so often spoken. M. Riviere 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 +RESILLE 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 Mousterien or Solutreen, +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 Vaureal, 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. + + +FIGURE 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, AEfele, and Loci-as in Switzerland, as well as +at Brookville in the State of Indiana. Dr. Prunieres 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, Longperier 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. . + + +FIGURE 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 Eyzies, 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 +Solutre, 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. + + +FIGURE 30 + +Whistle from the Massenat Collection. + + +From whistles to regular musical instruments the transition is +simple. Without describing that mentioned by M. de Longperier, 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. + + +FIGURE 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? + + +FIGURE 32 + +Staff of office made of stag-horn pierced with four holes. + + + +FIGURE 33 + +Staff of office found at Lafaye. + + + +FIGURE 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 Perigord and Charente, and the Veyrier Station in Savoy. At +Thayngen, as many as twenty-three were found, all pierced with one +hole only.[104] 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 Perigueux +the remains of a seal (PHOCA GROENLANDICA), associated with quite an +arctic fauna. In part at least therefore of the Quaternary period, +very great cold must have prevailed in Perigord.[105] + +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. + + +FIGURE 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.[106] + + +FIGURE 36 + +Carved dagger-hilt (Laugerie-Basse). + + + +FIGURE 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. + + +FIGURE 38 + +Mammoth, or elephant, from the Lena Cave. + + + +FIGURE 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 Ariege. 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. + + +FIGURE 40 + +Fragment of a bone with regular designs. Fragment of rib on which is +engraved a musk-ox, found in the Marsoulas Cave. + + + +FIGURE 41 + +Head of a horse from the Thayngen Cave. + + + +FIGURE 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).[107] +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 zoologist 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. + + +FIGURE 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. + + +FIGURE 44 + +Head of OVIBOS MOSCHATUS engraved on wood, found in the Thayngen Cave. + + + +FIGURE 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.[108] 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. + + +FIGURE 46 + +Fragment of a staff of office, from the Madeleine Cave. + + + +FIGURE 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.[109] + + + + +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 Palaeolithic 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. + + +FIGURE 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.[110] 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. + + +FIGURE 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 Chelleen 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.[111] 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. Arcelin[112] 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 Eyzies, 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 +Mousterien type, above which, but separated by an accumulation of +DEBRIS 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 DEBRIS, the +Solutreen 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 Dauphine, 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 Vezere 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 archaeologists 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 RESILLE, such as that already referred +to as found at Baousse-Rousse. + +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,[113] and Prometheus says that, like +the feeble ant, men dwelt in deep subterranean caves, where the sun +never penetrated.[114] + +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 Soelager 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.[115] We are still ignorant of much which +may have been known to the Carthaginians and the Phoenicians. 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 Archaeological 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 Palaeolithic 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.[116] + +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 Etaples, 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 Nordenskiold 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. Putnam[117] 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 Damariscotta[118] 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.[119] +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 archaeologists. 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 Neuchatel, 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.[120] + +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 archaeologists 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 KNUPPELBAU, 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.[121] + +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 Varese, 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,[122] 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 horn9 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. + + +FIGURE 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.[123] 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. + + +FIGURE 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. + + +FIGURE 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, Ariege, 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 Bearn, +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-Pyrenees). 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 (Isere), 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.[124] +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 beechnuts[125]; +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 archaeologists call them FUSAIOLES, 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.[126] 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,[127] 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 Rosa[128] 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 Scotland[129] 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.[130] 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.[131] 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,[132] and also in +the islands of the Atlantic. For a long time they were supposed to be +of Scandinavian origin, but Sir J. Lubbock[133] 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 archaeologists, +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. + + +FIGURE 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 Phoenicians. 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 +Palaeolithic 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. + + +FIGURE 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.[134] 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.[135] 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. + + + +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. + + + +FIGURE 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.[136] 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. + + +FIGURE 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,[137] +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.[138] + + +FIGURE 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 Mykenae, that of Aumede-Bas, excavated +by Dr. Prunieres; 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. + + +FIGURE 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),[139] nor that +described by Darwin at Puerto Deseado (Patagonia). They are both very +similar to those of Europe. + +To resume, dolmens, called HUNENGRABER 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.[140] 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 +(Finistere). 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 Ghat. + +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.[141] 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 22 1/2 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.[142] 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.[143] + +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 archaeologists, 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.[144] +The cromlechs of Moytura[145] are supposed to commemorate the fearful +combats which took place between the FIRBOLGS, or Belgae 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.[146] 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 Caesar'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. + + +FIGURE 59 + +The great broken menhir of Locmariaker, with Caesar's table. + + +Some archaeologists 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,[147] 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.[148] 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,[149] 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.[150] + +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 Pantaleon (Saone 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 (Finistere) has two avenues running at right angles to one +another.[151] 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. + + +FIGURE 60 + +Covered avenue of Dissignac (Loire-Inferieur); 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.[152] + + +FIGURE 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. + + +FIGURE 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 +HUNENGRABER, 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 FEES, 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.[153] + +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 Mane-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 (Finistere), 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. + + +FIGURE 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 archaeologists 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 Cotes-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.[154] 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.[155] + +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. + + +FIGURE 64 + +Cromlech near Bone (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.[156] 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,[157] "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 Rialle[158] 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 Judaea, +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.[159] 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."[160] + +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.[161] + + + +FIGURE 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 (Lozere); +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 Finistere, cinders and stones charred +by fire bear eloquent witness to the cremation of the dead. "Whenever +a dolmen has been opened in Finistere," 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 Abbe 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 Trehontereuc 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. + +Archaeologists 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. + + +FIGURE 66 + +Dolmen at Maintenon, with a table about 19 1/2 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 Mane-er-H'roek and Mane-Lud are paved with large +stones. The ground from which rises the dolmen of Caranda, near Fere +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 Finistere, 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 Vaureal (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 FEES, 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.[162] + +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 (Finistere) an entrance gallery +loaded with carvings, and the walls of one of the Deux-Sevres 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.[163] We often meet with representations of hammers, +sometimes with and sometimes without handle. We give an illustration of +one of the walls of the Mane-Lud monument (Fig. 67), which will enable +the reader to judge of the general character of these engravings. + + +FIGURE 67 + +Part of the Mane-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 Merimee 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. + + +FIGURE 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 Finistere, 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. + + +FIGURE 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. + + +FIGURE 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-Sepulchre 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; Merimee 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 calaite, 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 +Societe 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 Mane-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. Finistere, though not so rich +as Morbihan, furnished an important contingent. The excavations of +the Kerhue-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. Prunieres presented +to the French Association, when it met at Bordeaux, a collection +of weapons and ornaments which came from the megalithic monuments +of Lozere. 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. Prunieres, having compared with those in the Campana collection +in the Louvre, thinks are of Phoenician origin. The tumuli of the +Pyrenees have yielded calaite 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 Vaureal 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 Mane-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 Finistere, 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 Lozere, 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 Kerhue +in Finistere, 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 archaeologists 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 Mane-er-H'roek eleven medals of Roman emperors from Tiberius to +Trajan were found; whilst under the tumulus of Rosmeur, on the Penmarch +Point (Finistere), were various Roman coins; at Bergous in Locmariaker, +at Mane-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 archaeologists 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. Caesar 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 Sevigne, 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 Sauvagere, +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,[164] that the dolmens were erected by different peoples; +M. Cazalis de Fondouce,[165] M. Broca,[166] and M. Cartailhac,[167] +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 Belgae, 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.[168] + +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 bard[169] 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. + + + +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 Palaeolithic +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 Saleve, +were taken nearly 1,000 stone implements; from those of Petit Morin, +2,000 arrow-heads; from that of Cottes, on the banks of the Gartampe, +more than 264 pounds' weight of flints, some of the Mousterien and +others of the Madeleine type, mixed with the bones of the rhinoceros, +and of several large beasts of prey of indeterminate. species. The +Abbe Ducrost picked up 4,000 flints in one dwelling alone at Solutre, +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 +Palaeolithic times the valleys of the Seine and its tributaries were +evidently inhabited by a numerous population. M. Riviere 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 Neuchatel, +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 Perouse 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.[170] + +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 Charbonniere, on the banks of +the Saone, 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. + + +FIGURE 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-Boeuf, near +Perigueux. The Abbe Cochet tells us of an atelier in the Aulne valley, +and Maurice Sand of another near La Chatre, 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. + + +FIGURE 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,[171] 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.[172] + +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.[173] + +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.[174] + +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. + + +FIGURE 73 + +Section of a flint mine; T vegetable earth, C pure limestone, C M +Marly limestone, S flint. + + +M. Boule,[175] 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. + + +FIGURE 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 Herault, and Solutre on the +banks of the Saone 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 +Perigord, 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 Dome. + + +FIGURE 75 + +Picks, hammers, and mattocks made of stag-horn. + + +In the caves of Perigord 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. Prunieres tells us that similar discoveries were made under +the megalithic monuments of France, and that neither in the eroded +limestone districts of Lozere, 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 Medard 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 (Ariege), beneath the megalithic tomb of La +Roquette, at Saint Pargoue (Herault) beneath the dolmen of Grailhe +(Gard), at Malpas, and at Baume (Ardeche).[176] 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 Bagneres-de-Bigorre, which was inhabited in Palaeolithic +times. Jadeite and nephrite[177] are met with in the Lake Dwellings +of Switzerland and Bavaria, as in the caves of Liguria and Sardinia; +chloromelanite[178] in France, and obsidian[179] in Lorraine, in the +island of Pianosa and in the Cyclades. We have already spoken of the +calaite[180] 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 Mykenae 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.[181] +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.[182] + + +FIGURE 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 Lozere, Dr. Prunieres +picked up numerous bones bearing scars, characteristic of wounds +produced by stone weapons.[183] Some fifteen of these bones, such as +the right and left hip bones, tibiae, and vertebrae, still contain +flint points flung with sufficient force to penetrate deeply the +bony tissue. Always indefatigable in his researches, Dr. Prunieres +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 +Aumede dolmen pierced with an arrow-head, which is, so to speak, +encased in the wound by the formation of bony tissue. + + +FIGURE 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 Vaureal +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. + + +FIGURE 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 +Archaeological 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. + + +FIGURE 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.[184] 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.[185] + +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.[186] 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.[187] 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.[188] 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.[189] + +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.[190] + +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. Prunieres, 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."[191] 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. Prunieres, 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 Lozere 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. Prunieres 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. Prunieres 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. Prunieres' +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. Prunieres +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 Lozere, which are probably of more recent date, +beneath the dolmens of the DEVEZES, 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. + + +FIGURE 80 + +Mesaticephalic skull, with wound which has been trepanned. + + +A tumulus in the Guisseny commune (Finistere), 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.[192] 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 Guerin 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-les-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 +Crecy-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 Crecy, the sepulchral crypt was divided into two chambers, and the +slab between them was pierced with a square opening,[193] -- 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-Sevres), in the west of France, was +found a skull, and at Lizieres in the same department, the skeleton +of a tall old man with a dolichocephalic skull and platycnemic tibiae +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-Riviere (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.[194] 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 Angouleme. 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 felidae. 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 Palaeolithic 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 Liege. 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 Lozere, have been picked up in +Umbria[195]; 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 Trupschutz, 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.[196] + +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 Ainos;, 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. Mantegazza[197] 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 Nelaton 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. + + +FIGURE 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 River[198] 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.[199] 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.[200] In a recent book ("De la Trepanation dans l'Epilepsie par +le Traumatisme du Crane"), 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.[201] + + +FIGURE 82 + +Skull from the Bougon dolmen (Deux-Sevres), 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. + + +FIGURE 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 quoted[202] 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,[203] +a new life was evidently supposed to await the dead, for otherwise +what object can the restitution have served? + +Dr. Prunieres is also of opinion[204] 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.[205] 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.[206] + +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.[207] 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. Prunieres 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.[208] 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 Aures on the south of the Atlas. The operation +is performed among them by the THEBIBE, 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. + + + +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.[209] + +These primitive enclosures, says Bertrand in his "Archeologie 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.[210] 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 REVETEMENT 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 Caesar,[211] 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-beads 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.[212] 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 Liege and Limburg.[213] + +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 +Normandy[214]; 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.[215] 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.[216] At Rosmeur, +on Penmarch Point (Finistere), Du Chatellier excavated two tumuli +which appear to have been connected with a series of defensive works +encircling the whole promontory.[217] It would be merely fastidious +to multiply instances, we will content ourselves with describing a +few of the most interesting of these antique fortifications.[218] + +The camp of Chassey (Saone-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 +REVETEMENT 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.[219] + +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.[220] CAESAR'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 Caesar'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.[221] Greze, now a little market town of the department of +Lozere, is the CASTRUM of which the old French chronicler speaks, +and Dr. Prunieres 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.[222] 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. + + +FIGURE 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.[223] 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.[224] 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.[225] 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. Archaeologists, +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, Tacitus[226] +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 Mousterien 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.[227] +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-Phoenician 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.[228] 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.[229] 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.[230] 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.[231] + + +FIGURE 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 cerviae unknown in Spain in prehistoric times, would appear to +point to a very considerable antiquity. Lastly, two young Belgian +engineers[232] 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,[233] 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 FOSSES 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.[234] 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,[235] 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. + + +FIGURE 86 + +Group at Liberty (Ohio). + + + + +FIGURE 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 archaeologists 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.[236] 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 WALLE, or ramparts of vitrified scoria, near +Kern[237] 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-Dome, 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,[238] and recently Daubree presented to the +Academie des Sciences a piece of porphyry artificially vitrified from +the prehistoric ENCEINTE of Hartmannswiller Kopf in Upper Alsace.[239] + +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 +Phoedrick 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.[240] + +Craig Phoedrick 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 +Phoedrick, 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 Phoedrick. Were +they forts? There is certainly no sign of their having been used as +habitations. Or were they, as some archaeologists 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.[241] + +Passing to France, we find the greater number of vitrified forts in +the Departement de la Creuse. At Chateauvieux is an ENCEINTE of oval +form, 416 feet wide at its broadest part.[242] 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 Chateauvieux. 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 Chateauvieux. 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 +Gueret 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 Cotes du +Nord, bear witness, says Daubree, 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 Sevres contains several specimens which present +very notable differences to each other. Those from Chateau-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.[243] + +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 Prevot[244] 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.[245] + +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 AEgean 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.[246] 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 scoriae 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 scoriae, 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 Younger[247] 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.[248] + +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, Phoenician, 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. Fouque 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. + + +FIGURE 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 scoriae 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 Longperier 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 +Phoenicians 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 Phoenicians, 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 Simois +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 DEBRIS +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.[249] + +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.[250] 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.[251] + +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.[252] 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.[253] 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 PROPYLAEUM, 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 fusaioles 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 7 1/2 feet beneath +the actual level of the soil; the fourth layer, from 7 1/2 to 15 feet; +the third, from 15 to 22 1/2 feet; Troy itself, from 22 1/2 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.[254] 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 archaeologist 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 fusaioles, 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. + + + +FIGURE 89 + +Vase ending in the snout of an animal. Found on the hill of Hissarlik +at a depth of 45 1/2 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,[255] 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 fusaioles, 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.[256] + + +FIGURE 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 45 1/2 feet, which bad been used in the +process of casting spits and pins, which are. supposed to be of more +ancient date than the fibulae. + + +FIGURE 91 + +Large terra-cotta vases found at Troy. + + + +FIGURE 92 + +Earthenware pitcher found at a depth of 19 1/2 feet. + + + +FIGURE 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. + + +FIGURE 94 + +Terra-cotta vase found with the treasure of Priam. + + + +FIGURE 95 + +Vase found beneath the ruins of Troy. + + +The pottery discovered is of an infinite variety, and includes jars +from 4 3/4 feet to 7 3/4 feet high (Fig. 91), of Which Schliemann +found more than six hundred, nearly all of them empty. Their size +need not surprise us, for Ciampini[257] 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.[258] With these jars were found some large +goblets, some long-necked vessels (Fig. 92), some amphorae, 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. + + +FIGURE 96 + +Earthenware pig found at a depth of 13 feet. + + + +FIGURE 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.[259] 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.[260] + + +FIGURE 98 + +Copper vases found at Troy. + + +The weapons and implements found included haematite 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-axes[261] of bronze, some double-bladed daggers +with crooked ends, lances similar to those discovered at Koban,[262] +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. + + +FIGURE 99 + +Vases of gold and electrum, with two ingots, found beneath the ruins +of Troy. + + + +FIGURE 100 + +Gold and silver objects from the treasure of Priam. + + + +FIGURE 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 27 1/2 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.[263] 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 necklaces[264] +and ear-rings of electrum.[265] 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.[266] 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.[267] + +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.[268] Similar ornaments were found at +Mykenae, near Bologna, in the Caucasus, in the Lake dwellings, and, +stranger still, on the banks of the Rio Suarez in Colombia.[269] + +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 fusaioles has been given (Fig. 102), and of which +we spoke in our account of the Lake Dwellings of Switzerland. These +fusaioles are generally of common clay mixed with bits of mica, +quartz, or silica, though some few have been found at Mykenae 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. + + +FIGURE 102 + +Terra-cotta fusaioles. + + +We ourselves think these fusaioles 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[270] (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 fusaioles, 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.[271] + + +FIGURE 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 Cumae, +as well as on the clumsy pottery recently discovered at Konigswald +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 Mykenae 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.[272] + +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.[273] +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. + + +FIGURE 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.[274] 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.[275] 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. + + + +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 Palaeolithic 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 Spy[276] (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 Mousterien 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 Palaeolithic 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.[277] + +The caves of Baousse-Rousse, 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,[278] +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 archaeologists 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.[279] Pigorini thinks this is +a proof that primitive races worshipped their dead, and held their +bodies in veneration.[280] 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,[281] +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.[282] 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.[283] 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 rodents[284] 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 Solutre 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. Solutre, 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 Abbe +Ducrost, however, in an important essay[285] asserts that he has found +incontrovertible proofs of the interment of Solutreens on the hearths +of their homes in Palaeolithic 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 Solutre, and sees in the juxtaposition of human remains +and the DEBRIS of hearths but the result of displacement, and of the +regular turning upside down of which the hill of Solutre has been +the scene. To this Reinach replied, to the effect that, whereas a few +years ago De Mortillet's authority led many archaeologists 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 Solutre, +on the hearths near which they had lived.[286] + +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.[287] 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.[288] 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 Mane-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.[289] 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.[290] + +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 tibiae, 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.[291] +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.[292] + +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.[293] This practice +was still continued in protohistoric times; Schliemann noticed it +in the excavations he superintended at Mykenae, 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 Africa[294] +and in North and South America, from Canada to Patagonia.[295] + +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.[296] + +Later, other modes of sepulture came into use. In Marne M. Nicaise +made out seven funeral pits[297] 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 Vendee), and Beaugency are not older than Gallo-Roman times.[298] +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.[299] + +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. + + +FIGURE 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. + + +FIGURE 106 + +Dolmen at Auvernier near the Lake of Neuchatel. + + +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 Solutre 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)[300] 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. + + +FIGURE 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 Hanai-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,[301] 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. + + +FIGURE 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 Saone, 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.[302] + +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. + + +FIGURE 109 + +Aymara mummy. + + +Embalming was also practised in America. Recent travellers report[303] +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.[304] + +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 archaeologists 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[degree] 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. + + +FIGURE 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,[305] 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 Caesar found it generally practised when be made his triumphal +march across the country.[306] 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. Prunieres[307] +we are able to trace for a great length of time the modes of sepulture +adopted in Lozere. 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 Lozere. There can be no +doubt on the point, however, and excavations beneath the dolmen +of Marconnieres strikingly confirm the earlier discoveries of +Dr. Prunieres. 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 CREMATION.[308] 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.[309] 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.[310] In excavating the barrows of the Orkney +Islands, Petrie noted the practice of both modes of burial[311]; +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 tire Grand Duchy of Posen skeletons +and jars containing human ashes. are met with in the same tombs.[312] +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.[313] 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.[314] +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 fibulae, +while on the fingers were many rings of the same metal. + +Lastly, to conclude this gloomy catalogue, excavations in the mounds +of Ohio and Illinois[315] 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.[316] 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 cafes 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 bovidae, 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 Caesar +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."[317] + +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.[318] + +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 Longperier +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 Mykenae, 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. + + +FIGURE 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 Moutonnees, +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? + + +FIGURE 112 + +Engraved rock from Massibert (Lozere). + + +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 KISTVAENS, 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. + + + + + + + + +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 Kjokkenmoddings 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. PUTNAM'S SONS, PUBLISHERS, +NEW YORK AND LONDON. + + + + +NOTES + +[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 OEningen, 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] -- "Mem. Acad. des Inscriptions," 1734, vol. x., p. 163. + +[7] -- ARCHAEOLOGIA, vol. ii., p. 118. + +[8] -- "The Antiquities of Warwickshire," vol. iv., 1656. + +[9] -- ARCHAEOLOGIA, vol. xiii., p. 105. + +[10] -- Castelfranco: REVUE D'ANTHROPOLOGIE, 1887. + +[11] -- ANNALES DES SCIENCES NATURELLES, vol. xvii., +p. 607. Cartailhac: MATERIAUX, 1884. + +[12] -- "Recherches sur les Ossements Fossiles de la Province de +Liege." + +[13] -- ATHENAEUM, 16 July, 1859. + +[14] -- "Discours sur les Revolutions 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 EGYPTIEN, 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] -- "Congres d'Anthropologie et d'Archeologie Prehistorique," +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] -- "Archeologie 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 Kupfer +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] -- Irenee Cochut: "These presentee a la Faculte de Theologie +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] -- ACADEMIE DES SCIENCES, May 23, 1881; "Antiquites du Musee de +Minoussink," Tomsk, 1886 -- 7. + +[33] -- "Les Ages Prehistoriques 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'Age de Pierre et la Classification Prehistorique d'apres +les Sources Egyptiennes," 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. FRANCAISE, le Havre, 1877. DISCOURS D'OUVERTURE. + +[44] -- "Prehistoric America," Paris, New York, and London. + +[45] -- See my translation of "L'Amerique Prehistorique," chap. i., +"Man and the Mastodon." -- Nancy Bell. + +[46] -- Many interesting details respecting the Cliff Dwellers are +given in De Nadaillac's "L'Amerique Prehistorique," chap. v. -- +Nancy Bell. + +[47] -- CONGRES 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. + +[49] -- 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 hyaenas, +35 reindeer, 6 uruses, 2 lions, with the bones of a great number +of goats, chamois, and boars. Dupont: "L'Homme pendant l'Age de la +Pierre," p. 86. + +[50] -- 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. + +[51] -- Richard Andree: "Die Anthropophagie eine Ethnographische +Studie," Leipzig, 1887. + +[52] -- "Les Hommes de Chavaux et d'Engis" BUL. ACAD. ROY. DE BELGIQUE, +vol. xx., 1853; vol. xviii. (new series), 1863; vol. xxii., 1866; +MATERIAUX, 1872. p, 517. + +[53] -- "L'Homme pendant les Ages de la Pierre," p. 225. + +[54] -- "Compte Rendu," p. 363. + +[55] -- "Hist. Nat.," book vii., sec. 2. + +[56] -- Belgrand: "Le Bassin Parisien," vol. i., p. 232. + +[57] -- BULL. SOC. ANTH., 1869, p. 476. -- AC. DES SCIENCES, 1870, +first week, p. 167. + +[58] -- ARCHIVES DU MUSEE NATIONAL DE RIO DE JANEIRO, vol. i., 1876. + +[59] -- See my translation of De Nadaillac's "Prehistoric America," +pp. 53, 58, and 59." -- N. D'Anvers. + +[60] -- "Geography," book iv. + +[61] -- "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. + +[62] -- Schweden's "Urgeschichte," p. 341. + +[63] -- The felidae were very numerous in Europe in Quaternary +times. We may mention two species of lions, LEO NOBILIS and LEO +SPELAEUS, the latter often confounded with the DELIS SPELAEUS of +such frequent occurrence in French caves, two species of tigers, +TIGRIS EDWARDSIANA and TIGRIS EUROPAEA, the largest of the Quaternary +felidae, 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 Felidae Fossiles en France dans +les Depots de la Periode Quaternaire," Paris, 1879.) + +[64] -- "Testimony of the Rocks," p. 127, Edinburgh and Boston, 1857. + +[65] -- OSSEMENTS FOSSILES TROUVES A ODESSA. The cave-hyena resembles +that now living at the Cape. + +[66] -- Ducrost and Arcelin: "Stratigraphie de l'Eboulis de Solutre," +MAT., 1876, p. 403. ARCHIVES DIE MUSEUM D'HIST. NAT. DE LYON, vol. 1. + +[67] -- M. de Baye found a great many similar arrow-heads in the +Petit-Morin caves. + +[68] -- Nilsson: "The Primitive Inhabitants of Scandinavia." + +[69] -- 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. + +[70] -- Reiss and Steubel: "The Necropolis of Ancon in Peru," London +and Berlin. + +[71] -- MATERIAUX, 1870, p, 348. + +[72] -- WIADOMOSEI ARCHEOLOGIZNE, No. iv., Warsaw, 1882. + +[73] -- Ch. Rau: "Prehistoric Fishing in Europe and America." + +[74] -- Horace: "Odes," book i., ode iii. + +[75] -- Friedel: "Fuhrer durch die Fischerei Abtheilung." + +[76] -- "A Catalogue of the Antiquities in the Museum of the Royal +Academy." + +[77] -- PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF SCOTLAND, +vol. iii. Dr. R. Munro "Ancient Scottish Lake Dwellings or Crannoges," +Edinburgh, 1882. + +[78] -- Geikie, EDINBURGH NEW PHILOSOPHICAL JOURNAL, vol. xv. De +Lapparent "Traite de Geologie," first edition, p. 518. + +[79] -- "Discoveries in the more Recent Deposits of the Bovey Basin," +TRANS. DEVONSHIRE ASS., 1883. + +[80] -- "Nordische Oldsager i der kongelige Museum i Kjobenhawn." + +[81] -- "Les Proto-Helvetes," NATURE, 1880, 1st week, p. 151. + +[82] -- "Mem. Soc. d'Emulation d'Abbeville," 1867. + +[83] -- 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. + +[84] -- De Mortillet: "Le Prehistorique," Paris, 1883, p. 133. + +[85] -- "Limon du Plateau du Nord de la France," Paris, 1878. Acheuleen +et Mousterien: REVUE DES QUESTIONS SCIENTIFIQUES, October, +1880. BUL. SOC. ANTH., 1884, 1887. + +[86] -- CHELLEEN, 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. + +[87] -- De Mortillet: "Musee Prehistorique," pl. xvi. to xix. + +[88] -- M. de Mortillet enumerates 127 polishers found at various +points in thirty departments of France. "Le Prehistorique," first +edition, p. 534. + +[89] -- Piette: ASS. FRANC. POUR L'AVANCEMENT DES SCIENCES, Nantes, +1875, p. 909. + +[90] -- De Mortillet: "Le Prehistorique," p. 544; "Musee +Prehistorique," figs. 431 to 434. + +[91] -- "Musee Prehistorique," fig. 410. + +[92] -- Lagneau: "De l'Uusage des Fleches empoisonnees chez les +Anciens Peuples l'Europe," Ac. des Insc., 2d November, 1877. + +[93] -- "Les Temps Prehistoriques en Belgique," p. 151. + +[94] -- "Reliquiae Aquitanicae," p. 127. + +[95] -- NATURE, 1876, second week, p. 5. + +[96] -- In this cave, in the second ossiferous deposit, were found +four fragments of pottery. De Puydt and Lohest: "L'Homme Contemporain +du mammouth." + +[97] -- "La poterie en Belgique a l' age du mammouth," REVUE +D'ANTHROPOLOGIE, 1887. + +[98] -- AC. DES SCIENCES, Nov. 9, 1885. We must add that at a later +seance M. Cartailhac contested, if not the facts, the conclusions +deducted from them. + +[99] -- 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. + +[100] -- 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. + +[101] -- "De Architectura," book ii., c. i. + +[102] -- On the subject of tatooing an excellent work may be consulted +by Dr Magitot ("Ass. Franc. pour l'Avancement des Sciences," Alger, +1881). + +[103] -- CYPRAEA RUFA, CYPRAEA LURIDA (COMPTES RENDUS ACAD. DES +SCIENCES, vol. lxxxiv., p. 1060). + +[104] -- On this point an excellent work may be consulted by +S. Reinach: "Le Musee de Saint Germain,'' p. 232. + +[105] -- Vaudry: ACAD. DES SCIENCES, August 25, 1890. + +[106] -- A. Bertrand: ACAD. DES INSCRIPTIONS, April 29 and May 6, 1887. + +[107] -- Reinach in his "Catalogue of the Saint-Germain museum" +gives the best description I know of this now celebrated reindeer. + +[108] -- A. Milne Edwards: ACAD. DES SCIENCES, May 8, 1888. + +[109] -- "De Natura Rerum," book v., v. 951, etc. + +[110] -- "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. + +[111] -- "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. + +[112] -- REVUE DES QUESTIONS SCIENTIFIQUES, April, 1887. + +[113] -- "Odyssey," book ix., v. 105 -- 124. + +[114] -- AEschylus: "Prometheus Bound." + +[115] -- A. Maury: "La Vieille Civilisation Scandinave," REVUE DES +DEUX MONDES, September, 1880. + +[116] -- F. de Olivera: "As Racas dos Kjoekkenmoeddings de Mugem," +Lisbon, 1881. + +[117] -- REPORT PEABODY MUSEUM, 1882. + +[118] -- REPORT PEABODY MUSEUM, 1882 and 1885. + +[119] -- Brinton: "Notes on the Floridian Peninsula," Philadelphia, +1849. + +[120] -- We take many of these details from Dr. Gross' excellent work +on the "Pile Dwellings of Switzerland." + +[121] -- Virchow: "Drei Schadel aus der Schweiz." + +[122] -- REVUE D'ANTHROPOLOGIE, 1887, p. 607. + +[123] -- G. Cotteau: NATURE, 1877, first week, p. 161. + +[124] -- Rutimeyer: "Fauna der Pfahlbauten in der Schweiz." + +[125] -- ANZEIGER FUR SCHWEIZERISCHE ALTERTHUMS KUNDE, April, 1884. + +[126] -- Comte Conestabile: "Sur les Anciennes Immigrations en +Italie." Heilbig: "Beitrage zur Altitalischen Kultur and Kund +Geschichte," i. Band. G. Boissier: REVUE DES DEUX-MONDES, October, +1879. + +[127] -- BUL. DI PALETHNOLOGIA ITAL., 1879. The TERPENS of Holland, +though of much more modern date, greatly resemble the TERREMARES. + +[128] -- "Ricerce di Archeologia Preistorica nella Valle della +Vibrata." + +[129] -- Wylie, ARCH. BRIT., vol. xxxviii. Wylde, PROC. ROYAL IRISH +ACAD., vol. i., p. 420. + +[130] -- ARCH. BRIT., vol. xxvi., p. 361. PROC. ROYAL IRISH ACADEMY, +vol. vii., p. 155. + +[131] -- "Habitations Lacustres des Temps Anciens et Modernes," p. 170. + +[132] -- R. Munro: "Ancient Scottish Lake Dwellings or Crannoges, +with a Supplementary Chapter on Remains of Lake Dwellings in England," +Edinburgh, 1882. + +[133] -- "Prehistoric Times." Wilson: "Prehistoric Scotland." + +[134] -- 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 +Archeologiques." + +[135] -- "Les Premiers Ages du Metal dans le Sud-Est de l'Espagne," +Brussels, 1887. + +[136] -- Bateman: "Ten Years' Diggings," Preface, p. 11. + +[137] -- W. MacAdams: "The Great Mound of Cahokia." Am. Ass., +Minneapolis, 1883. + +[138] -- Pelagaud: "Prehistoire en Syrie." + +[139] -- Moore, POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, New York, March, 1880; +ZEITSCHRIFT FUR ETHNOLOGIE: Berlin, 1887. + +[140] -- "Monuments de Roknia," p. 18. + +[141] -- Haxthausen: "Mem. sur la Russie," vol. ii., p. 204; +A. Bogdanow: "Mat. pour Servir a l'Histoire des Kourganes," Moscow, +1879; Margaret Stokes: "La Disposition des Principaux Dolmens de +l'Irlande," REV. ARCH., July, 1882. + +[142] -- Sir A. de Capell Brooke: "Sketches in Spain and Morocco." + +[143] -- Tissot: "Recherches sur la Geographie Comparee de la +Mauritanie Tinigitane." + +[144] -- Margaret Stokes: "La Distribution des Principaux Dolmens de +l'Irlande." REVUE ARCH., July, 1882. + +[145] -- 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." + +[146] -- BUL. SOC. POL. DU MORBIHAN, April, 1885. + +[147] -- S. Reinach, REV. ARCH., 1888. Wilson: "Megalithic Monuments +of Brittany." Cartailhac: "La France Prehistorique," in which the +measurements are given of the principal monuments of Brittany. + +[148] -- A. Bertrand: "Archeologie Celtique et Gauloise," p. 105. + +[149] -- Iliad, book xxiii., v. 380. + +[150] -- Joshua, chap. iv., v. 13 ET SEQ. + +[151] -- P. du Chatellier, MEM. SOC. D'EMULATION DES COTES-DU-NORD, +vol. xix. + +[152] -- Cartailhac: "Les Ages Prehistoriques en Espagne et en +Portugal." + +[153] -- Verreaux, L'ANTHROPOLOGIE, 1890, p. 157. + +[154] -- Haxthausen: "Mem. sur la Russie Mer., Vol. ii., +p. 204. "Fouilles des Kourganes," par M. Sarnokoasof, REVUE ARCH., +1879. Much: MITTHEILUNGEN DER ANTH. GESELL. IN WIEN, 1878. + +[155] -- 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 Siberie." + +[156] -- REVUE D' ANTH., 1880, p. 655. + +[157] -- MEM. DE LA SOC. ARCH. DE LA PROVINCE DE CONSTANTINE, 1863. + +[158] -- "Monuments Megalithiques de la Tunisie," ANT. AFRIC., July, +1884. Dr. Rouire: "Les Dolmens de l'Enfida," BULL. GEOG. HIST., 1886. + +[159] -- "Heth and Noah," pp. 191 and 192. + +[160] -- "Heth and Moab," p. 249. + +[161] -- "Tribes of the Hindoo Koosh," Calcutta, 1881. + +[162] -- MATERIAUX, 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. + +[163] -- 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. + +[164] -- COMPTE RENDU, p. 421. + +[165] -- MAT., 1877, p. 470. + +[166] -- ASS. FRANCAISE, Bordeaux, 1872, p. 725. + +[167] -- REV. D'ANTH., 1881, p. 283. + +[168] -- 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?" + +[169] -- 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. + +[170] -- Foureau, BUL. SOC. GEOG., June 1, 1883. + +[171] -- Munck has just discovered a similar station at Oburg +(Hainault), where similar implements, produced by similar processes +as those at Spiennes, were discovered. + +[172] -- Briart, Cornet, and Houzeau: RAPPORT SUR LES DECOUVERTES +FAITES A SPIENNES EN 1867. Malise: BUL. ACAD. ROYALE DE BELGIQUE. + +[173] -- JOURNAL, ETHNOLOGICAL SOCIETY, 1818, p. 419. + +[174] -- ACADEMIE DES SCIENCES, Nov., 1883. MAT. Jan., 1884. Nature, +June 18, 1887. + +[175] -- NATURE, June 16, 1887. + +[176] -- 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." + +[177] -- Nephrite is found in Turkestan, in Siberia, and in New +Zealand. Deposits of jadeite are known in Burmah, Jeannetay, and Michel +-- "Note stir la Nephrite ou jade de Siberie" (BUL. SOC. MINERALOGIQUE +DE FRANCE, 1881). Meyer: "Die Nephritfrage kein ethnologische Problem," +Berlin, 1882. + +[178] -- 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. + +[179] -- 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. + +[180] -- Calaite 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. + +[181] -- Broca: "Les Ossements des Eyzies," Paris, 1868. + +[182] -- Lartet and Chaplain-Duparc: "Une Sepulture des Anciens +Troglodytes des Pyrenees." + +[183] -- BULL. SOC. ANTH., 1878, p. 215. The Baumes-Chaudes +caves are the most complete charnel houses of Neolithic times yet +discovered. Dr. Prunieres collected in them as many as three hundred +skeletons. + +[184] -- "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." -- ARCHAEOLOGIA, vol. xlii., +p. 161, etc. + +[185] -- Wilson: "Prehistoric Annals of Scotland," 2d ed., vol. i., +p. 187. + +[186] -- Keller: "Pfahlbauten," SIEBENTER BERICHT, P. 27, Zurich, 1876. + +[187] -- "Habitants Primitifs de la Scandinavie," pp. 212 and 213. + +[188] -- "On the Occurrence of Fossil Bones in South America." + +[189] -- JOURNAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL SOCIETY, May, 1882. + +[190] -- Wyman: REPORT PEABODY MUSEUM, 1874, p, 40. + +[191] -- 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. + +[192] -- BUL. SOC. ANTH., 1883, pp. 258 -- 301; 1885, +p. 412. BUL. SOC. POLYMATIQUE DU MORBIHAN, 1883, p. 12. + +[193] -- NATURE, January 2, 1886. + +[194] -- BUL. SOC. ANTH. DE LYON, 1883 -- 1884. + +[195] -- Belucci: CONGRES PREHISTORIQUE DE LISBONNE, 1880, p. 471. + +[196] -- "Uber trepanirte Schadel won Giebiechenstein" (VERH. DER +BERLINER GESELLSCHAFT FUR ANTH., 1879, p. 64). + +[197] -- MATERIAUX POUR L'HISTOIRE DE L'HOMME, Aout, 1886. + +[198] -- 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. + +[199] -- BUL. SOC. ANTH., February 17, 1881. + +[200] -- Jehan Taxil: "Traite de l'Epilepsie, Maladie Appalee +Vulgairement la Gouttete aux Petits Enfants." + +[201] -- BUL. SOC. ANTH., 1887, p. 527. + +[202] -- De Baye: "Trepanations Prehistoriques," p. 28, fig. 11. + +[203] -- 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." + +[204] -- ASS. FRANCAISE, Lille, 1874, p. 631. + +[205] -- BUL. SOC. ANTH., 1864, p. 199. + +[206] -- BUL. SOC. ANTH., 1882, pp. 143, 535. + +[207] -- ASS. FRANCAISE, Blois, 1884, p. 417. + +[208] -- Boulogne: MEM. DE MEDECINE ET DE CHIRURGIE MILITAIRES, 3d +series, Paris, 1868. Vedrenes: "Le Trepanation du Crane" (REV. ANTH., +October, 1886). + +[209] -- On this point an admirable book should be consulted, by De +la Noe: "Enceintes Prehistoriques," 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. + +[210] -- CONGRES PREHISTORIQUES, Brussels, 1872, p. 318. + +[211] -- "De Bello Gallico," book vii., chap. xxiii. + +[212] -- Dupont: "Les Temps Prehistoriques en Belgique," p. 235. + +[213] -- H. Bauduin: BUL. SOC. BELGE DE GEOGRAPHIE, 1879. + +[214] -- RECUEIL DES TRAVAUX DE LA SOCIETE DE L'EURE, Evreux, 1879. + +[215] -- REV. D'ANTH., 1880, p. 469. + +[216] -- "Notice sur Quelques Monuments Trouves sur le Sommet des +Vosges" (SOC. DES MONUMENTS HISTORIQUES DE L'ALSACE, vol. i.). + +[217] -- REV. D'ANTH., 1880, p. 295. + +[218] -- We may also mention the Pen Richard in Charente Inferieure, +so well described by Cartailhac in his "France Prehistorique," p. 131. + +[219] -- Arcelin: "L'Age de Pierre et la Classification Prehistorique," +Paris, 1873. Flouest: "Notice sur le Camp de Chassey." Perrault: +"Un Foyer de l'Age de la Pierre Polie au Camp de Chassey" (MAT., +1870). Coynart: "Fouilles au Camp de Chassey" (REV. ARCH., 1866 +and 1867). + +[220] -- Ponthieux, "Le Camp de Catenoy" (Oise). + +[221] -- "Hist. Francorum," book i., chap. xxxii. + +[222] -- De Rosemont: "Etude sur les Antiquites anterieures +aux Romains." Desjardins: "Les Camps Retranches des Environs de +Nice." Riviere: ASS. FRANCAISE, Rheims, 1880, p. 628. + +[223] -- Pigorini: "Terramara dell'Eta del Bronzo Situata in Castione +de' Marchesi." + +[224] -- NATURE, 1887, second week, p. 62. + +[225] -- Memoranda read to the Royal Society of Antiquaries in +London (ARCHAEOLOGIA, vol. xlii., pp. 27 -- 76). Lane Fox: BRITISH +ASSOCIATION, Bristol, 1875. Evans: "Stone Age." + +[226] -- "Solent et subterraneos specus aperire, eosque multo insuper +fimo onerant, suffugium hiemi et receptaculum frugibus" ("De Moribus +Germanorum," chap. xvi.). + +[227] -- AMERICAN JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGY. + +[228] -- ZEITSCHRIFT FUR ANTHROPOLOGIE, 1874, p. 115; 1875, p. 127. + +[229] -- Zaborowski: "Monuments Prehistoriques de la Basse Vistule." + +[230] -- Ribeiro: "Notice sur Quelques Monuments Prehistoriques du +Portugal," Lisbon, 1878. + +[231] -- "Noticia de Algunas Estarves e Monumentos Prehistoricos." + +[232] -- H. and L. Siret: "Les Premiers Ages du Metal dans le Sud-est +de l'Espagne." + +[233] -- CONGRES PREHISTORIQUE DE COPENHAGUE, p. 118. + +[234] -- Putnam: "Report Peabody Museum," vol. iii., p. 348. + +[235] -- "Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley." + +[236] -- See Dr. Hibbert in the TRANSACTIONS OF THE SOCIETY OF +ANTIQUARIES OF SCOTLAND, vol. iv., Appendix, p. 181. + +[237] -- ZEITSCHRIFT FUR ETHNOGRAPHIE, 1870, p. 270. + +[238] -- Pomerol: "Murailles Vitrifiees de Chateauneuf," ASS. FRANC., +Blois, 1884. + +[239] -- CONGRES SOC. SAV., Sorbonne, 1882. + +[240] -- J. Marion: BUL. DES SOC. SAVANTES, 4th series, +vol. iv. Daubree: REV. ARCH., July, 1881. + +[241] -- 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. + +[242] -- De Cassac: "Notes sur les Forts Vitrifies de la +Creuse." Thuot: "La Forteresse Vitrifiee du Pay de Gaudy," p. 102. + +[243] -- We take most of these details from a note by M. A. de +Montaiglon published in the BULLETIN DES SOCIETES SAVANTES. + +[244] -- MAT., 1881, p. 371. + +[245] -- BUL. SOC. ANTH., 1884, p. 816, etc. + +[246] -- Fouque, NATURE, 1876, second week, p. 65. + +[247] -- 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. + +[248] -- Cigalla: ACAD. DES SCIENCES, November 12, 1866. Fouque: +ACAD. DES SCIENCES, March 25, 1867. "Un Pompei Prehistorique," REVUE +DES DEUX-MONDES, October 15, 1869. + +[249] -- 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 +Graber and Schadel." + +[250] -- Iliad, canto v., v., 692. + +[251] -- 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. + +[252] -- "Amerique Prehistorique" (Masson), translated by Nancy Bell +(N. D'Anvers), and published by Murray, London; Putnam, New York. + +[253] -- "Troy and its Remains," plate ix. See also excellent essay +on the same subject by S. Reinach, which appeared in the REVUE +ARCHEOLOGIQUE in 1885. Later investigations by Dr. Schliemann also +brought to light a remarkable resemblance between the buildings at +Hissarlik and those of Tiryns. + +[254] -- 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. + +[255] -- 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. + +[256] -- 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. + +[257] -- "De Sacris AEdificiis," ch. ix., p. 128. + +[258] -- 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. + +[259] -- 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. + +[260] -- 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 fete 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 fete 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. + +[261] -- 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. + +[262] -- 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 Phoenicians, the +great navigators of antiquity. See Rudolf Virchow's "Das Gruberfeld +Von Koban im Laude der Osseten," Berlin, 1883. + +[263] -- 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. + +[264] -- The gold may have come from the mines of Astyra, not far +from Troy. + +[265] -- 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. + +[266] -- Dr. Schliemann gives a very careful description of all these +objects. See "Troy and its Remains," Figs. 174 to 497, pp. 260 to 353. + +[267] -- The qr'hdemnon 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. + +[268] -- Bastian, ZEITSCHRIFT DER BERLINER GESELLSCHAFT FUR ERDKUNDE, +vol. xiii., plates 1 and 2. + +[269] -- 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. + +[270] -- In the Vedas the word SWASTI is often used in the sense of +happiness or good-fortune. + +[271] -- Comte Goblet d'Auriella, BUL. ACAD. ROYALE DE BELGIQUE, 1889. + +[272] -- G. Atkinson, CONGRES PREHISTORIQUE, Lisbon, 1880, p. 466. + +[273] -- "Ages Prehistoriques en Espagne et Portugal," figs 410, 411, +412, p. 286. + +[274] -- Aussland, 1883. ZEITSCHRIFT FUR MUSEOLOGIE AND ANTEQUATEN +KUNDE, 1884. Musoeon, 1888 and 1889. + +[275] -- Virchow, who visited the remains at Hissarlik, treats this +idea as FURCHTBAREN UNSINN (ridiculous nonsense). + +[276] -- 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 Mousterien type, and even some Chelleen hatchets, +to which he gave the name of coups DE POING. -- Fraipont and Lohest; +"Recherches sur les Ossements Humains Decouvertes dans les Depots +Quaternaires d'un grotte a Spy." + +[277] -- 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 +Solutreen period that we must assign the first really authenticated +tombs. Cartailhac's admirable book, "La France Prehistorique," p. 302, +should also be consulted. + +[278] -- "Ipui Antichi Sepolcri dell Italia." + +[279] -- ARCHAEOLOGICAL JOURNAL, vol. xxii. + +[280] -- MATERIAUX, 1885, p. 299. + +[281] -- This dolmen was carefully excavated by MM. Hahn and +Millescamps, BUL. SOC. ANTH., 1883, p. 312. + +[282] -- Riviere; CONGRES DES SCIENCES GEOGRAPHIQUES, Paris, 1878. + +[283] -- ATTI DELLA R. ACAD. DEI LINCEI, 1879 -- 1880. Pigorini: +BUL. DE PAL. ITALIANA, 1880, p. 33. + +[284] -- SOC. ANTH. DE MUNICH, 1886. + +[285] -- SOC. ANTH. DE LYON, 1889. + +[286] -- "Histoire du Travail en Gaule," p. 24. + +[287] -- Troyon: "De l' Attitude Repliee dans la Sepulture Antique," +REVUE ARCH., 1864. + +[288] -- MATERIAUX, 1875, p. 327. + +[289] -- A. Nicaise: MATERIAUX, 1880, p. 186. + +[290] -- ARCH. PREHISTORIQUE, p. 178. + +[291] -- CONGRES PREHISTORIQUE DE BRUXELLES, p. 299. + +[292] -- BUL. SOC. ANTH., 1876, p. 191. Grad: NATURE, 1877, 1st week, +p. 314. + +[293] -- 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." + +[294] -- Pallery: "Mon. Megalithiques de Mascara," BUL. SOC. ETHN., +1887. + +[295] -- Bancroft: "The Native Races of the Pacific," vol. i., pp. 365, +etc. Moreno: "Les Paraderos de la Patagonie," REV. D'ANTH., 1874. + +[296] -- "Necropole de Colonna, prov. de Grosseto," R. ACAD. DEI +LINCEI, Roma, 1885. + +[297] -- BUL. SOC. ANTH., 1880, p. 895. + +[298] -- Abbe Baudry et Ballereau: "Les Puits Funeraires du Bernard," +La Roche-sur-Yon, 1873. + +[299] -- "Renseignements sur une Ancienne Necropole Manzabotta, +pres de Bologna," Bologna, 1871. + +[300] -- Gross: "Les Proto-Helvetes." Morel-Fatio: "Sepultures 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. + +[301] -- D. Charnay: NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW, January, 1881. + +[302] -- Stuart: "The Early Modes of Burial." + +[303] -- Vidal Seneze; BUL. SOC. ANTH., 1877, p. 561. + +[304] -- "Histoire des Incas," Paris, 1744, chap. xviii. + +[305] -- Conestabile: "De l'incineration chez les Etrusques." + +[306] -- A. Bertrand: "Arch. Celtique et Gauloise," Introduction. + +[307] -- ASS. FRANCAISE, Nantes, 1875; Havre, 1877. + +[308] -- Luco: "Exposition de Trois Monuments Quadrilateres par feu +James Miln," Vannes, 1883. + +[309] -- P. du Chatellier: "Mem. Soc. d'Emulation des Cotes-du-Nord," +Saint Brieuc, 1883. + +[310] -- PROCEEDINGS SOC. ANTH. OF SCOTLAND, January 11, 1886. + +[311] -- "On the Ancient Modes of Sepulchre in the Orkneys" (BRITISH +ASSOCIATION, 1877). + +[312] -- Kohn and Mehlis: "Zur Vorgeschichte des Menschen im Ostlichen +Europa," Iena, 1879. + +[313] -- 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. + +[314] -- 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. + +[315] -- SMITHSONIAN REPORT, 1881. + +[316] -- Putnam, xii. and XX. REPORTS OF THE PEABODY MUSEUM. + +[317] -- "De Bello Gallico," book vi., cap. xix. Consult also Pomponius +Mela: "De Situ Orbis," book iii., cap. ii. + +[318] -- 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'Armentiere, +d'Arcy, de Brenny," etc. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg Manners and Monuments of Prehistoric Peoples + |