ZZ22D UC-NRLF C 2 SE^ fl31 ON SOME BONE- AND CAVE-DEPOSITS OF THE EEINDEER-PERIOD IN THE SOUTH OF FRANCE. BY JOHN EVANS, Esq., E.E.S., E.S.A., HON. SECRETABY OF THB GEOLOOICAl AKD NUMISMATIC SOCIETIES OF LONDON, ETC. IBeprinted from the Reliqtti^ Aqtjitanics, Parts XII. & XIII.] LONDON: PRINTED BY TAYLOR AND FRANCIS, RED LION COURT, FLEET STREET. 1873. ON SOME BONE- AND CAVE-DEPOSITS OF THE EEINDEER-PERIOD IN THE SOUTH OF FRANCE. BY JOHN EVANS, Esq., E.R.S., F.S.A., HON. SECRETAKY OF THB GEOLOGICAL AND NUMISMATIC SOCIETIES OF LONDON, ETC. [Reprinted from the Keliqui^ Aqititanic^, Parts XII. & XIII.] LONDON: PRINTED BY TAYLOR AND FRANCIS, RED LION COURT, FLEET STREET. 1873. 2 ON SOME BONE- AND CAVE-DEPOSITS OF THE EEINDEEE-PEEIOD IN THE SOUTH OF FRANCE. Preface. This Paper, •written soon after a Visit to the Caves on the Yezere, in company with the late Mr. Henry Christy and other friends, was read before the Geological Society of London on 22nd June, 1864. A short Abstract only appeared in the Quarterly Journal of that Society, vol. xx. p. 444. When first I was requested to allow of this Paper being printed in the ' Eeliqtti^ Aquitanic^,' it was a question with me whether it was in any way desirable that it should appear in type. In consenting to its being printed, it seemed best that it should stand in its original form, as the only merit it possessed was that it conveyed my first impressions of what, at the time of its being written, was a novel and comparatively unexplored field of research. With one or two verbal corrections, the paper is therefore reproduced in the exact form in which it was communicated to the Geological Society. With the large experience that has since been gained, much might have been added, and some of the suggested difficulties as to the chronological position of the Eeindeer-period might to a certain extent have been removed. The relatively superior antiquity of the Moustier relics over those of the other Caves, how- ever, has been almost universally acknowledged ; and attempts have been made to arrange the whole series in an approximately chronological order, more especially by M. Gabriel de Mortillet. My own views upon the subject I have given elsewhere*. I will only add that, with all our advance in knowledge, including the experience gained by the skilful examination of the Belgian caves by M. E. Dupont, there still remains much to be learned before we can, with any degree of confidence, assign any definite date to either the earliest or the latest of these Cave-deposits. J. E. Introduction. — In these days, when the Cavern-deposits throughout the globe are deservedly attracting so much attention, and when the limits of the Border- land that lies between the provinces of Geology and Archaeology are being gra- dually extended, a slight notice of some of the caves and bone deposits of the Southern part of Central France will probably be of some interest to this Society. * The Ancient Stone Implements, Weapons, and Ornaments of Great Britain (1872), pp.- 436-438. Z 08 ^ 162 RELIQUUE AQUITANIC^. [2 The deposits to which I would more particularly direct attention are those which have been and are still being explored with so much success under the auspices of the distinguished Prench palaeontologist, M. Edouard Lartet, and our energetic countryman, Mr. Henry Christy, both Fellows of this Society. It was under the guidance of the latter gentleman, and accompanied by our President (Mr. W. J. Hamilton), Prof. Uupert Jones, Capt. Galton, Mr. Lubbock, and Mr. Pranks, that I visited the localities at the end of March last, and was thus enabled more fully to estimate the value of the facts detailed in the communications already addressed by M. Lartet and Christy to the Prench Academy* and to the 'Revue Arch^ologique ' f. It is to these memoirs, and to information received from their liberal authors, that I am indebted for many of the facts that I am about to adduce. I am also indebted to Prof. Uupert Jones for the sketches which illus- trate this paper. The principal spots where the investigations of Messrs. Lartet and Christy have been carried on are situated within the valley of the Yezere, or in those of its affluents in the Arrondissement of Sarlat, in the Department of the Dordogne. The Valley of the Vezere : Itiver and Cliffs. — The river Vezere, which takes its rise near Chavagne, in the Department of the Correze, enters Dordogne as a considerable stream near Terrasson, and, after pursuing a tortuous course in a south-westerly direction for about thirty miles as the crow flies, joins the river Dordogne at Limeuil a few miles south of Le Bugue. In the neighbourhood of Terrasson the Yezere passes over a small tract of Carboniferous beds, which are regularly worked for coal; but by the time it reaches Condat, where first we joined the river, its valley is excavated through rocks belonging to the Jurassic series, which near Aubas, a few miles lower down, are exchanged for those of the Cretaceous system. It is neither in my power, nor is it in the slightest degree necessary for my subject, to enter into any stratigraphical details with regard to this succession of beds, which, however, in general appearance, present a considerable contrast to their equivalents in this country. I will only men- tion that the Cretaceous beds, from the Lower Greensand upwards |, assume, in the Department of the Dordogne, the form of a compact limestone, more or less arenaceous in its different subdivisions, which also vary considerably in hardness. * Comptes Eendus, 29 Feb. 1864. t Rev. Arch. April 1864. J A notice of the Chalk formation of this Department, from the pen of M. Amaud, will be found in the * Bull, de la Soc. Geol. de France,' 2nd ser. vol. xix, p. 465. 3] BONE- AND CAVE-DEPOSITS OE THE EEINDEEE-PERIOD. 163 The valley of the Yez^re seems to afford good evidence of its having been, at all events as to that part of it more immediately visible from the river, excavated by the action of the river itself, aided by the action of the frost and atmosphere. The bottom of the valley consists of an alluvial plain, varying in width from J to f of a mile, and skirted, first on one side and then on the other, or occasionally on both, by a line of precipitous cliffs. In cases where the river no longer flows at the foot of these cliffs, a considerable talus has been formed by the weathering of the rock ; in some places the degradation has gone on to such an extent that the side of the valley presents an even slope, though occasionally a low cliff-like face of rock may be left exposed, as if to show that what is now for the most part a uniform declivity may have been originally, when the river flowed on that side of the valley, a sheer precipice. In other places, where the river now flows at the foot of the cliffs, occasional masses of fallen rock, standing out from the stream, which in many parts is very rapid in its course, testify to its under- mining-power, though in one instance, at least, an ancient chateau, with the rock on which it stands undercut to a great extent, but not yet brought down by the river, proves that its action, though sure, is slow. Near Condat the river has worked its way to a considerable depth beneath the level of its older alluvium, and is gradually cutting away a low line of limestone cliff, some 15 or 20 feet in height, and a full quarter of a mile away from the older boundary of the valley at the margin of the alluvial plain. In hardly any case is the summit of the present line of cliffs at the highest level of the surrounding country, but the cliffs form an abrupt termination to sloping ground, on which beds containing large rolled pebbles of quartz, gneiss, mica- schist, granite, and other of the metamorphic rocks of the country to the north- east, through which the stream passes in the upper part of its course, are of frequent occurrence. Whether these are in all cases connected with the beds of Miocene age which cap a considerable portion of the plateau of the district, or whether any of them represent the "high-level" gravels of the river, are ques- tions which I will not attempt to determine. The height of the cliffs at the side of the vaUey must in many places be at least 300 feet ; and the scenery brought to view in descending the windings of the river (as we did) in a boat, is strikingly picturesque. Owing to the different degrees of hardness of different beds, which I have already mentioned, the weathering of the face of the cliff has been very unequal. The percolation of water through the softer beds, combined with the action of frost, has caused them to perish much faster than harder beds above and below ; and the consequence has been that in 164 EELIQUUE AQUITANIC^. [4 many (I may say most) places there are deep grooves along the face of the cliffs following the almost horizontal lines of stratification, and where the cliffs stand out like rounded hastions, following their contour. In some places two or three of these grooved recesses occur one above the other. They vary considerably in depth, but frequently extend as much as 20 or 30 feet into the face of the rock, and are occasionally continuous for some hundreds of yards. The roof is sometimes flat, but more generally arching over the recess ; and the floor generally slopes outwards, partly in consequence of the accumulation of debris, where the recesses have not been artificially altered or enlarged. Eor, as may well be supposed, these natural shelters are made use of by the inhabitants of the country, and have been, as we shall shortly see, from the earliest ages. Numbers of cottages along the sides of the valley consist, even at the present day, of merely front and side walls, the native rock serving for floor, back, and roof. But a few centuries ago, even some of the chateaux were built on shelves in the rock, with their terrace-walks extending along these natural cloisters, with the rock arching overhead and the beautiful valley of the Yezere forming the landscape. The whole valley teems with the remains of these rock-habitations ; and there are hardly any of the natural galleries, however inaccessible, but show some traces of human occupation, by recesses, or even chambers of various sizes, cut into the cliff, by mortices for beams, or eyes through which ropes might pass, or by remains of steps cut in the rock. Such is a general outline of the principal features of the valley of the Vezere between Condat and Les Eyzies, and of the "Petra" along its course between Le Moustier and the latter place ; and, as far as my observa- tion went, the same description would be applicable to many other valleys in that part of Prance. Caves and Rock'sJielters on the Vezere. — I now come to the Bone- and Cave- deposits which form the more immediate object of this notice. Badegoule. — The first of these which we visited was the Cave of Badegoule (fig. 59), mentioned by the Abbe Audierne*, where, however, no recent excavations had taken place, and the Cave itself had been emptied. It faces the south at an elevation of about 250 feet above the Cerne (a small tributary of the Vezere), and is aboul a mile from the Condat Bailway-station, on the right-hand side of the road leading from Terrasson to La Bachelerie. * De I'Origine et de I'Enfance des Arts en Perigord (1863), p. 18. 5] BOI^- AND CAVE-DEPOSITS OF THE EEINDEEE-PEEIOD. 165 On what had apparently been a terrace in the rock below the cave, we found portions of a layer of breccia resting against the cliff, and containing fractured bones, worked flints, and some charcoal. The whole surface of the ground in front, which had been converted into a vineyard, was literally strewed with worked flints, bones, and teeth, among which we recognized those of the Horse, Ox, and E-eindeer. The worked flints consisted of flakes and the cores or nuclei Fig. 59. Diagram Section of the Hill above Condat. d a, Jurassic Limestone. d, Top of hill (vineyards), with b, Sand and stones (quartzite &c). a few foreign stones on the c, BadegoiJe ; vines on the platform. surface. from which they had been struck, scrapers (grattoirs) or flakes worked to a rounded end, some fragments of carefully chipped lance-heads, and of long narrow blades neatly chipped on both faces, and of a few other forms. Many of them have a stalagmitic coating upon them, proving that they had been derived from the breccia. As this is only one of a series of very similar, but better investigated cases, I propose giving a short description of them all, and of the character of the objects discovered at each, before proceeding to any general considerations. JJe Moustier. — After sleeping at Montignac, the next spot which we visited was the Cave at Le Moustier, explored by MM. Lartet and Christy during the course of the previous winter (figs. 60 and 61). This, more correctly speaking, may be said to be a recess running along the face of the cliff rather than a cavern in the ordinary acceptation of the word. It lies on the north bank of the river, about 80 feet above its level, and was until lately filled up within a few inches of the roof by a succession of beds varying in thick- ness at different spots, but preserving generally the following arrangement in descending order : — 2a 166 EELIQUI^ AQFITANIC^. [6 1. Calcareous rubble, with a few flint flakes, reaching nearly to roof of cave at the back, and filling it up in front about 2. Dark-coloured bed, containing numerous fractured bones, worked flints, and calca- reous and other pebbles. A regular kjokken-modding about 3. Layer of red micaceous sand, containing but few bones and worked flints about 4. Bed containing stones used for hearths, with charcoal, bones, and worked flints. (Both this bed and No. 2 are brecciated in places.) about 5. Hard brecciated bed, containing rolled flints and quartz and other pebbles, and possibly bones about 2 6 1 1 The bones in the upper beds comprise those of the Horse, Aurochs, Chamois, Reindeer, and other animals ; but the remains of the Reindeer are not so abun- dant as they are at some of the other stations shortly to be described. In the bed of sand No. 3 some detached plates of molars of Mephas primigenius were found by MM. Lartet and Christy, who also discovered in the Cave some remains of Hycena spelcea, but not under such circumstances as, in their opinion, to justify Fig. 60. Eye-sketch of Le Moustier, from the opposite side of the river, showing the upper Cave (said to contain nothing), and Le-Moustier Cave, partly railed off, and with garden-ground in front of it. Fig. 61. Diagram Profile of the Limestone Escarpment of Le Moustier, from the South-west, about 190 feet high. The Cave, with bones &c. ^ Recess, with bones &c. in this instance an inference of their contemporaneity with Man. None of the bones found here have been carved or wrought into instruments of any kind. The worked flints discovered here present a different /aci^s from those which we saw at other places in the valley of the Vezere. The smaller and more delicate and taper flakes are far less frequently found than at the other stations lower down the valley ; and the coarser broad flat forms predominate ; " scrapers " are comparatively scarce ; and many of the cores or nuclei, if such they be, are irre- 7] BONE- AND CAVE-DEPOSITS OF THE EEINDEER-PEEIOD. 167 gularly flattened, though approaching occasionally in form to what have been termed sling-stones, or even to some of the ruder flint implements from the river- gravels of the Valley of the Somme and elsewhere. But the most remarkable forms are those presented by a series of implements of common occurrence at Le Moustier, but which I had never before met with. These are made from flints, some of considerable size, either flat by nature or wrought into a flattened shape so as to be conveniently held in the hand, and carefully chipped along one side to an evenly curved cutting edge. In some cases this edge is con- tinued round the end of the flint so as to produce a rounded cutting point ; and occasionally the flint has been chipped into an ovato-lanceolate form with a cutting edge nearly or quite all round. These latter bear the strongest resemblance to some of the flint implements from the river- deposits at Abbeville, from which indeed they can hardly be distinguished in form. There are, however, at Le Moustier all the intermediate forms between them and the flat flints chipped at one side only into a cutting edge with a more or less circular outline like a very large '' scraper." So much for the contents of the Cavern ; the question now arises how it became filled to such an extent, as, though a great portion of the beds is evidently the result of human occupation, yet the cause why the debris should have accumulated up to the roof of the Cavern is not so apparent. As to the origin of the lowest bed (No. 5) I can pronounce no decided opinion, as it appears to be uncertain whether worked flints and fractured bones occur in it or not ; but it seems by no means impossible that the rolled flints with which it abounds may be connected with or derived from a high-level gravel of the river. The bed above it, containing the hearth-stones, is of course the result of human occupation of the recess at the time when there was probably a clear space of some 4 or 5 feet above the floor. The difiiculty is to explain the presence of the upper beds. It appears, however, that the stratum of rock forming the floor of the Cave originally extended, as a broad ledge, some 30 or 40 feet in advance of the present line of cliff above. In fact the whole hill at this particular spot is divided into several steps or stages, giving it a general trap-like outline. I would suggest, as a possible hypothesis, that on this ledge, which was possibly protected by some portion of the roof of the recess which has now been weathered away, the ancient occupants of the station lodged when the height of the back of the Cave had been diminished by the accumulation on the floor, and had thus been rendered less habitable. After this desertion of the back of the Cave, the sand resulting from the decomposition of the rocks around accumulated on the old floor by atmospheric agency, and subsequently, as the kjokken-modding outside the recess increased in height, the 2 a2 168 EELIQUUE AQTJITANIC^. [8 refuse of the meals was thrown back over the layer of sand ; and then, after the desertion of the Cave, the talus, which accumulated by successive falls from the face of the clifiF, filled up the recess entirely in front and nearly to the roof at the back, and finally, by the weathering away of the edge of the ledge of rock on which it rested, was partially removed from outside the recess. On a lower edge of the hill at Le Moustier is a second deposit containing worked flints and bones, but which we had not the opportunity of narrowly examining; the whole neighbourhood, indeed, appears to abound with similar remains. On the opposite side of the river the cliff is replete with rock-habitations of a later period. In a brickfield near the village I found a number of flint flakes, some of them imbedded at depths of from 4iio i, feet in the alluvium. La Madelaine. — The next spot we visited in descending the Yezere was the station, near the ancient castle of La Madelaine, which has been and still is under examination by Messrs. Lartet and Christy. It lies at the foot of the cliff on the north bank of the river, about 30 yards distant from it ; and the upper surface of the deposit is not more than 20 feet above the level of the stream, so as to be even now within reach of the highest floods. The beds, which must be about 50 feet in length by about 25 feet in width and 8 to 10 feet in thickness, lie in a recess under the overhanging cliff, a portion of which appears, however, to have fallen off not more than a century or two ago, at the most. The upper bed consists principally of rubble from the cliff above ; but the lower part of the deposit is a regular kjokken-modding, rich beyond conception in the rude implements formed by the primitive occupants of the spot. Elint flakes of all sizes, many of them of most symmetrical form, some of great length and others of most diminutive size, " scrapers " of various forms and sizes, and cores or nuclei of flint abound. Inter- spersed in the deposit are numerous large stones used as hearths, and occasionally, as it appears, arranged to form a sort of oven. There are also numbers of large pebbles of quartz, granite, and other rocks, some few of which, of spheroidal form, have had a slight recess worked in one of their faces so as to look like a sort of mortar ; a few others bear traces of rubbing upon them ; and many others, espe- cially of quartz, have their edges battered, or have even been broken, by having been used as hammers. A few flint cores bear traces also of having been used in the same manner. Some of the flakes and scrapers have been broken diagonally from each side so as to produce a pointed end or tang, as if for insertion into a handle, or for use as a narrow chisel. But in addition to the worked flints, the beds contain a large number of implements, of various forms and sizes, made of 9] BONE- AND CAVE-DEPOSITS OF THE EEINDEER-PEEIOD. 169 Reindeer-horn or of bone. The principal of these are dart- or arrow-heads with a number of barbs running along either one or both sides, — stylus-shscped in- struments, pointed at one end and chisel-shaped at the other [harpoon-points], and needles of good finish and workmanship, with neatly drilled eyes. Some perforated pieces of Reindeer-horn, and others bearing the marks of sawing upon them, have also been found, as well as some bearing animal forms sculptured upon them, but not so finely engraved as those which will subsequently be mentioned. The deposit is of course full of animal remains ; but the fauna is the same as that of the Cave of Les Eyzies, which will shortly be described. Laugerie Saute and Laugerie Basse. — Descending the valley, the next place to be noticed is Laugerie Haute, where a nearly similar deposit to that of La Made- laine occurs, in various places at the foot of the cliffs on the right bank of the river, over a distance of upwards of half a mile to Laugerie Basse. In one place, where the ossiferous deposit is covered by a large mass of rock which fell from the cliff about 120 years ago, it attains a thickness of from 7 to 8 feet ; but it is usually rather thinner. Besides containing worked flints of much the same character as those at La Madelaine, a number of fragments of the more carefully chipped lance- heads, similar to those from Badegoule, and of what are possibly crescent-shaped implements, like those so frequently found in Denmark, have been found here, as also a few arrow-heads of the leaf-shaped type, and some flakes skilfully chipped into a knife-like form. The animal-remains, which are usually very friable, are the same as at Les Eyzies ; but a few teeth of the Megaceros hibernicus, and some detached plates of molars and portions of the tusk of Elephas primigenius, have been met with. I had not the opportunity of making more than a cursory examination of the deposit at Laugerie Basse, whence Messrs. Lartet and Christy have procured a large number of important objects. The scene of their excavations lies beneath the shelter of the overhanging rock on the right bank of the river, and about 30 feet above its level. In general character the beds approach very closely to those of La Madelaine. The worked flints, especially those of small size, are common ; but the carefully chipped forms, such as those from Laugerie Haute, appear to be extremely rare. Beindeer-horns, both shed and attached to portions of the skull of the animal, are very abundant ; and nearly all have had some portion of them removed, apparently by means of flint saws. Instruments carved from these horns are also numerous, and present a considerable variety of form, some of them being also ornamented with patterns in relief. Besides these, there 170 EELIQUI^ AQTJITANIC^. [10 are many needles of bone, and a few teeth and bones pierced for suspension as personal ornaments ; among these are some of the small ear-bones of the Horse and Ox and a canine tooth of a Wolf. But the most remarkable objects are engravings on portions of Ueindeer-horn, giving what M. Lartet suggests are : — representations of the Aurochs and Bos primigenius ; some carvings in relief, on the surface of a harpoon-shaped instrument, of the heads of the Horse and Stag ; and a highly spirited carved figure of a Reindeer most skilfully adapted to form the handle of a sort of poniard made from the horn of that animal. The same fauna prevails here as at Les Eyzies ; but some detached plates of molars and a portion of the pelvis of the Elephant have been found. Gorge cfEnfer. — On the same side of the river as Laugerie, but a little lower down the valley, and in a ravine opening into it, are the caverns of the Gorge d'Enfer (fig. 62), where also similar deposits have been found, containing the Fig. 62. Diagram Profile of the Gorge d'Enfer, a lateral Valley on the right Bank of the Vezere. Limestone. \ \, -^ (3 / — Limestone. h a a, Cave, with Bones tfee. h, Recess, with Bones &c. usual worked flints and fractured bones — among the former some of the more carefully chipped specimens. It appears probable that these caves had been emptied to a great extent at the time of the Erench E/Cvolution, for the sake of the saltpetre to be obtained from their contents. Les Eyzies. — I now come to the renowned Cavern of Les Eyzies — renowned because, owing to the unprecedented liberality of its explorers (Messrs. Lartet and Christy), almost every museum of note, whether public or private, not only in Erance and England, but throughout a great part of the civilized world, has had specimens of its breccia, worked flints, and animal-remains presented to it ; so 11] BONE- AND CAVE-DEPOSITS OF THE REINDEEE-PEEIOD. 171 that the name of Les Eyzies is everywhere known ; and it is to be hoped that the collections formed there may in many instances prove to be the nuclei around which may centre collections from analogous cave-deposits in other countries. The cave or grotto is situated on the north side of the Valley of the Beune, a small tributary of the Vezere, and about half a mile above the junction of the two streams. It is a fine vaulted cave, in plan approximating to a segment of a circle about 50 feet in diameter, with an arc of about 90 degrees cut off to form the opening. Its floor is a continuation of a ledge of rock nearly 120 feet above the river, the face of the cliff being at this spot divided into steps or terraces in much the same manner as at Le Moustier. There is a stalactitic coating over much of the roof; and the greater part of the floor of rock was, before Messrs. Lartet and Christy's explorations, covered by a layer of hard breccia from 4 to 10 inches thick, cemented by the infiltration of water charged with calcareous matter (fig. 63). Fig. 63. Diagram of the Cave -deposits at Les Eyzies. b " b a, Limestone. h, Hearth-stuff, with Bones, Flint Flakes, and Implements of Stone and Bone. c, Breccia of Limestone, cemented with Stalagmite. Above this there had formerly existed a looser deposit, of the nature of a kjokken- modding, from 2 to 3 feet in thickness, which had been removed some years ago, but of which some portions remain cemented by stalactite to the walls of the cave. The stalagmitic breccia from the floor contains, as usual, a number of worked flints of much the same character as those from La Madelaine, and also many pebbles of quartz, gneiss, granite, and other rocks, some of which have been used as hammers, and others have been exposed to the action of fire. Some of the rounded stones, with mortar-like depressions in them, have been found here, and also several pieces of hsematitic iron-ore, the surfaces of which have evidently 172 EELIQUI^ AQUITANIC^. [12 been scraped so as to produce a kind of raddle or red paint, which must have been used by the occupants of the cave for ornamental purposes. There are also traces of hearths and fragments of charcoal, as well as a great deal of sooty matter dispersed through the bed. Numerous bones and teeth are, as usual, interspersed. The former, if they were such as contained marrow, have in all cases been broken, probably with the pebbles already mentioned as having been used as hammers, while the bones without marrow, such for instance as the numerous small bones of the carpus and tarsus, have been left not only unbroken but in many cases undisturbed in their relative positions, proving, as M. Lartet has remarked, that the ancient hunters who inhabited these spots, though greedy for marrow, did not care for gristle, and moreover had no dogs. Harpoons and arrow-heads of Rein- deer-horn, bone needles, and whistles formed by piercing a hole in the lower side of the hollow phalanges of Deer have been found here, the latter having also occurred at Laugerie Basse. Besides these, bones and even pieces of schist with engravings of various animals upon them have been discovered. A fragment of Elephant's tusk, showing traces of human work, and a metacarpal of a young FeliSi of great size {F. spelcea ?), presenting numerous cuts and scratches like those on the bones of other animals in the mass of refuse, have also occurred. Memains of Animals in the Caves. — The animal-remains, whether from La Madelaine, Laugerie, or Les Eyzies, are, as I have already observed, for the most part of the same species. The complete list has not yet been published by MM. Lartet and Christy ; but the following appear to be the animals whose bones are found in the greatest abundance : — Equus caballus. Sus serofa. Cervus tarandus. elaphus. capreolus. Megaceros hibernicus. Antilope rupicapra. saYga. Ibex. Bos. Bison europaeus. Sperm opbilus. Lepus timidus. Sciurus. Besides these, remains of several species of Birds and Pishes have been found. Besides these remains of the lower animals, a few Human remains have occurred. At Les Eyzies part of the jaw of an individual, of small stature, was found among the debris, but its position appears to be undetermined ; while at La Madelaine the fragment of the skull, the half of the jaw, and several of the long bones of a large subject were discovered in the midst of the fragmentary bones and worked flints which constitute the mass. These human remains I have not seen; but the frag- mentary state of the cranium and the occurrence of the bones in the middle of an 13] BONE- AND CAYE-DEPOSITS OF THE REINDEER- PEEIOD. 173 indubitable " kj5kken-m6dding " seem inconsistent with their presence being due to any ordinary sepulture, and to be rather suggestive of one of those periods of famine which must of necessity occasionally occur among a people entirely de- pendent upon the chase for its means of subsistence, and under the pressure of which, men of far higher civilization than the ancient occupants of these caves, have been driven to support their own life at the expense of that of one of their fellow-beings. Melative Antiquity of the Caves and their Contents. — Our concern here is not, however, with the mode of life or the ethnological peculiarities of these ancient inhabitants of Perigord, but with the antiquity of the deposits containing their remains. To arrive at some approximate estimate of this, there are four methods of inquiry open. We may to some extent judge of it : — 1. From Geological considerations with regard to the character and position of the Caves. 2. From the Palseontological evidence of the remains found in them. 3. From the Archaeological character of the objects of human workman- ship; and 4. From a comparison with similar deposits in neighbouring districts in France. Under the first head of inquiry the subject is fortunately free from any ques- tions as to the "diluvial" or aqueous origin of the deposits — questions which in other cases have led to so much discussion, especially among French geologists. Notwithstanding the presence of numerous rolled pebbles, common in the ad- jacent gravels, but which have been brought in for the purpose of being used as hammers, hearth-stones, and heaters, the deposits are beyond all doubt the refuse- heaps arising from the human habitation of the caves— kjokken-moddings pure and simple. As far, then, as Geological evidence of their antiquity goes, it is merely a question as to what changes have taken place in the valley since their accumulation ; for the time necessary for the formation of the stalagmite which in some cases overlies them, or of the calcareous breccia into which they have occasionally been converted, is so dependent upon variable conditions that it seems needless to take it into account. These changes in the valley have then, it must be confessed, been but slight. The face of the cliff above many of the recesses cannot have weathered away more than a foot or two at the utmost since 2b 174 EELIQUI^ AQUITANIC^. [14 their occupation ; and though in some cases, as at Le Moustier and one of the caves in the Gorge d'Enfer, a talus has at one time or another accumulated suffi- cient to obscure the mouth of the cave, yet this seems to be the exception rather than the rule. Neither has the river deepened its course to any appreciable extent, as some of the caves or recesses are even now within reach of its highest floods. Still we have evidence of the remarkable power of the cliffs to withstand the influence of weathering, in the well-preserved remains of the ancient rock- habitations which I have mentioned, and in the fact that the extraordinarily severe winter of 1863-64 produced but the slightest effect upon the face of the rocks; so that with the present climate a small amount of degradation may testify to an enormous lapse of time. And it must be borne in mind, in com- paring the erosion of the valley during the recent period with the great extent of the total excavation, that in all probability it had gone on to some extent before the submergence of the country during the Miocene period, and that since that time there is no evidence of the valley having been protected by submergence from the erosive power of the river, which therefore must have been in operation for ages, while its power during the period of the great extension of the Glaciers must have been inordinately greater than at present. Though, therefore, the geological changes in the Valley of the Vezere have been but slight since the occupation of the caves, they are not inconsistent with a considerable degree of antiquity, historically (not geologically) speaking, being assigned to these deposits. I now come to the Palseontological evidence of the case. The animal remains which have been discovered in the alluvial deposits and caves of the South of Erance may be, and indeed have been, broadly divided into two groups. The earlier of these, like the Postpliocene group of other parts of Western Europe, is characterized by the presence of Jlrsus spelcBus, Hycena spelcea, Felis spelcea, Elephas primigenius, Rhinoceros tichorhinus, and perhaps some other animals, though comprising also most of the members of the later group. The principal of these seem to be TJrsus arctos^ Cams lupus, Megaceros hibernicus (?), Cervus tarandus, C. elaphus, C. capreolus. Bison priscus, Bos primigenius , Equus caballus, and possibly M asinus. Now it will have been observed that in the deposits of which I have been treating, the older group has been represented by only a few scattered remains, such as might have been introduced by the occupants of the caves from some older deposit in the neighbourhood, if they did not find them even in the caves themselves. A tooth such as the molar of an Elephant would be certain to 15] BONE- AND CAVE-DEPOSITS OF THE EEINDEEE-PEEIOD. 175 attract the attention of a savage accustomed to construct his weapons for the chase from bone or horn ; and accordingly we find at Le Moustier and Laugerie portions of such teeth, and at Les Eyzies a portion of a tusk bearing traces of human work. The plates of the molars, however, are detached, suggesting that the teeth were already in a somewhat altered condition when deposited in the refuse-heap. The metacarpal of the large Felis, which I have mentioned as bearing cut marks upon it, I have not seen ; but there is not much probability of the animal being represented by only a single bone, had it been killed at the time when these deposits were formed ; and there is at least a possibility of cut marks being caused upon it by its being trodden in a mass of rubble all bristling with flint knives. We may therefore, I think, for the present regard all the remains of the older fauna as being of casual introduction — unless possibly some of those found at Le Moustier may be considered to have belonged to a deposit of another character than that of a mere " kjokken-modding." Confining ourselves, therefore, to the second group, of some members of which the remains occur in such abun- dance, we still find that a vast change has taken place in the fauna of the country since these deposits were formed. The Ileindeer, the Aurochs, the Chamois, the Saiga, have all now retreated, some to the extreme north, others to the forests of Lithuania or Moldavia, or to the snow-capped summits of the Alps or the Pyrenees. The Spermophilus has also disappeared. Whether we are to attribute this retreat to a change in the climate or to the advance of cultivation and the persecutions of Man, the process must necessarily have been slow. And yet, to judge from the fact recorded by M. Lartet, that no Reindeer-remains are ever found associated with the ancient Celtic monuments of Gaul, it would appear that the animal which formed the staple food of the occupants of these Caves had already disap- peared from the South of Erance, even in an early prehistoric period. The absence of all domesticated animals, and even of the Dog, which has always been regarded as Man's earliest companion, also seems to testify to a great antiquity for these deposits. The fact, too, pointed out by M. Lartet*, that in a cave on Mont Saleve, near Geneva, similar breccia occurs of charcoal and worked flints mixed up with fractured bones of Ox, Horse, and E^eindeer, while Eeindeer has not been noticed among the remains of any of the Swiss lake-habitations, seems to place these cave- dwellings earlier in point of time. It must, however, be borne in mind that they are in a district which, not improbably, civilization would be slow to reach, and that it does not of necessity follow that the extinction of the Reindeer in Switzerland and in the South of France was contemporaneous. The "bos cervi figura" men- * Ann. des Sciences Nat. xv. p. 227. 2b2 176 EELIQUIJi! AQUITANIC^. [16 tioned by Caesar has, since the days of Gesner, been generally recognized as the Heindeer ; so that less than 2000 years ago it was living in the Hercynian Torest ; and though probably this forest was situate in Southern and Central Germany and not in Erance, yet it is worth recording as at all events a curious coincidence that some of the earlier authors place it near the Pyrenees*. On the whole, then, it would appear that the Palaeontological evidence, though apparently fixing a limit in one direction, as tending to show the deposits to be more recent than the Post- Pliocene period, does not ajfford us any very precise indications in the other, though suggestive of what, historically regarded, must be considered a very high antiquity. Looking at the subject from an Archaeological point of view, it appears, first, that from the vast number of objects of human workmanship contained in the deposits, the accumulations at different spots must probably have extended over a lengthened period; and, secondly, that, from the different character of the flint implements found at Le Moustier, the beds there are of a somewhat different and probably earlier age than the others. I have already mentioned that though some of the implements found at Le Moustier approximate most closely to some of those from the Postpliocene gravels of the Somme valley, yet this form shades off insensibly into another which has never been found in the river-gravels, though occasionally recurring, with but slight modification, in others of these cave- deposits. The other forms of flakes and scrapers are found, though with rather different accompaniments, at all the other stations along the Valley of the Vezere. Flakes, however, may be of any age ; and the flake chipped at the end into a semi- circular form, to which the name of "scraper" or ^^ grattoir^^ has been given, seems to come under the same category. They are sold at the present day for lighting tinder, are found on the surface, and in barrows and ancient encamp- ments ; and one has occurred even in the Brixham Cave. As to the date of the Le-Moustier implements, it will therefore be safest to suspend our opinion for the present. With regard to the objects from the other deposits, there are some which, if not giving a definite age, at all events seem to point to a definite stage of civilization ; I mean the more carefully chipped implements and arrow-heads, of which a considerable number has been found at Badegoule, Laugerie, and the Gorge d'Enfer, and which are analogous in all respects to those of what may be termed the " ordinary Stone Period," such as have been found in so many places both in the superficial soil and in barrows. Some of these forms, indeed, are such as not improbably remained in use even after the introduction of the use of * Smith's ' Diet, of Geog.' sub. voce (Schol. ad Dionys. Perieg. 286). 17] BONE- AND CAVE-DEPOSITS OF THE EEINDEEE-PEEIOD. 177 bronze. The presence in these refuse-heaps of skilfully carved bone arrow-heads and harpoons, of bone needles with neatly drilled eyes, and more especially of the sculptured and engraved bones, testifies to a considerable advance in civilization, and even in art, such as would at first sight appear more consistent with some acquaintance with metallic tools, rather than with cutting-instruments of stone alone. Of metallic tools of any kind there is not, however, the slightest trace — though it must be mentioned that a small piece of rough copper was found among the rubble thrown out from the cave at Laugerie Basse, which may nevertheless have been of accidental introduction from the surface. The Marquis de Vibraye has also found a small piece of copper in the ^^ foyer ^^ which he thinks is native. Still, judging from the archaeological evidence alone, there is no reason why the presence of metal, if eventually found, should excite great surprise, as the majority of the deposits, so far as objects of human workmanship are concerned, might well be relics of a tribe subsisting by the chase, who, if not themselves acquainted with metal, may have lived at a period when in some not very distant but more favoured part of Prance the use of metal was already known. Let us now see what is the testimony of other deposits containing human relics of a similar character in the South of Erance. In the well-known cave of Bize* (Aude) were found portions of E/cindeer-horn cut and carved f, some with a chevrcm-like pattern, worked flints, pottery, and human bones, mixed up with the fractured bones of Reindeer, Aurochs, Tlrsus, &c., together with numerous land and marine shells, principally of edible species. In that of Lourdes X (Hautes Pyrenees) Dr. Alphonse Milne-Edwards found bones of Beindeer cut by flint instruments, needles of bone, flint flakes and cores, mixed with fractured bones of Aurochs, Horse, Stag, Ibex, Chamois, Pig, &c. In the lower cave of Massat (Ariege) were a number of arrow-heads, harpoons, needles, &c., made of bone or Stag's horn, accompanied by flint knives. With them were associated a number of fractured bones of Stag, Ibex, Chamois, and Aurochs, as well as a few bones of Tlrsus arctos and other animals. Besides these an antler of a Stag, perforated at one end, and having the head of a Bear engraved upon it, was found by M. Lartet§. There can be no doubt of the deposit in this cave having been a " kjokken-modding," though regarded as of diluvial origin by M. Pontan||. In the Cave of Savigne^ (Vienne) were found a number of worked bones and * Marcel de Serres, ' Geog. des Terr. Tert.' p. 64 ; Lyell, ' Principles,' p, 738. t Lartet, ' Ann. des Sc. Nat.' xv, p, 214. :j: Lartet, ihid. xv. p. 227 ; A. Milne-Edwards, ibid. xvii. § Lartet, ut sujp. p. 205. |i Quart. Joum. Geol. Soc. xvii. p. 468. ^T Lartet, ut sup. p. 214. 178 EELIQUI^ AQUITANIC^. [18 flints associated with broken bones and cemented into a breccia. Among them was a barbed harpoon and the cannon bone of a Deer engraved with the figure of a Doe or Reindeer, followed by another animal of much the same appearance. An analogous deposit in a cave on Mont Saleve, near Geneva, has been already mentioned. Now it will be observed that in all these instances, in which to all appearance precisely similar deposits to those of the Valley of the Vezere have occurred, the animals characteristic of the older or Postpliocene fauna are entirely absent. In the Grotte d' Arcy * (sur Cure), described, though apparently under somewhat erroneous impressions, by the Marquis de Vibraye, there appears to have been a lower bed distinct from that immediately superimposed upon it, and containing remains of Ursus spelceus, HycBna spelcea, and Rhinoceros tichorhinus, among which, however, a Human jaw was discovered. The bed above contained bones of Eeindeer, Deer, Ox, and Horse, associated with flint knives. In this bed were fragments of a ring with notches in it ; and its whole character seems much the same as that of the deposits I have been describing ; so that it would appear as if we had here a case of superposition of the beds of what M. Lartet has termed the " Reindeer period " of the South of Erance upon an older bed. The Cave of Pontil (Herault), described by M. Paul Gervais, presents an analogous instance. There the remains of Rhinoceros tichorhinus, Ursus spelceus, &c. are in a lower bed than that which furnished bones of Horse, Human remains, ancient hearths, a flint knife, and various instruments made of Deer's horn and bone, but in this case similar to those found in the Lake-habitations of Switzerland. Indeed some of the upper beds produced polished stone axes and objects belonging to the Age of Bronze. Baron Ancaf has remarked something of the same kind in the Grotta San Teodoro (Sicily), w^here beds containing siliceous flakes mixed with bones of Stag, Horse, and Pig overlie beds containing bones of Hyaena, Bear, Elephant, and Hippopotamus. In the Grotta Perciata the deposit of broken bones and flint flakes occurred, but without the remains of the older animals. In the Cave of Bruniquel, from which the collection of objects now in the British Museum was procured, and which has formed the subject of a communi- cation from Professor Owen to the Royal Society, as yet, however, incomplete $, arrow-heads, harpoons, needles, and other instruments in bone, cut and engraved bones and Reindeer-horns, and various forms of worked flints, all similar to the * Bull. Soc. Geol. de France, 2nd ser., xvii. p. 462. t Ibid. pp. 680-684. t Since this was written, further communications have been made to the Royal Society by Prof. Owen. 19] BONE- AND CAVE-DEPOSITS OF THE EEINDEEE-PEEIOD. 179 objects from Les Eyzies, occurred in association with bones of Heindeer, Ox, Horse, and other animals, mostly in a fractured condition. "We have not as yet the advantage of knowing what opinion has been formed by Professor Owen as to the age of the deposit, or what fauna he has been enabled to determine as belonging to the cave ; but in a second collection from thence, which I saw at the chateau of the Yicomte de Lastic St. Jal, the explorer of the cave, were the base of a large canine tooth, probably of TJrsus spelceus, and the tooth of a large Carnivore. There were also several marine shells, such as Dentalium, Natica, JVassa, Fectunculus, Scalaria, Valuta, and a Cyprcea an inch in length, all not improbably derived from the Miocene beds of the Garonne. As several of these shells are perforated, it is evident that they were brought into the cave as personal ornaments ; and this fact strengthens the supposition that in other cases remains of an older period, such as teeth of Ursus spelceus and Elephant, may have been introduced into the caves by their primitive human occupants long after the death of the animals. In some cases, as at La Madelaine, fossil shells have been found imbedded in the refuse-heaps. A shell of the genus Cassis has also been found at Les Eyzies. On the whole, the evidence of all the caves which I have here cited as con- taining deposits of a similar character to those of the Valley of the Vezere is strongly corroborative of their belonging to a period subsequent to that of the JElephas primigenius and Rhinoceros tichorhinus and their Postpliocene associates, but characterized by the presence of the Reindeer and some other animals now extinct in that part of Europe, though they must have lived on to a period when some slight advance had been made in human civilization. Eor the works of Human Art found in these deposits show faculties of design beyond those of mere savages; and there is, moreover, for the most part, a definite character pervading them, so much so that, even with our present experience, there are a certain number of objects which may, with considerable confidence, be regarded as characteristic of what M. Lartet has termed the " E-eindeer-period " in the South of Erance. It is indeed evident that outward conditions, and the means requisite for obtaining a supply of animal food, must react upon the manner of life of a people, and that this will in turn regulate the weapons and implements most in use, so that such objects will always be to some extent correlated with the fauna of the period. I must, however, acknowledge that there are some instances of caves which, according to the observations of those who explored them, favour the view of weapons, implements, and ornaments of precisely the same character as those of 180 EELIQUI^ AQUITANIC^. [20 the " Reindeer-period " having been associated with the Postpliocene fauna. Such, for instance, is the upper cave at Massat*, where a bone arrow-head (I do not know of what form) is said to have been found in a deposit containing, among others, abundant bones of Ursus spelcsus, Hycona spelcea, and a large Felis. But the most remarkable cave is that of Aurignac, where a number of objects, of much the same character as those from the Caves of Dordogne (though without any barbed arrow-heads or harpoons), were discovered by M. Lartet associated with bones of Ursus spelceus, Sycena spelcea, and Rhinoceros tichorhinus, and with teeth of Felis spelcea and portions of molars of Mephas primigenius, as well as with bones of Reindeer, Aurochs, Stag, Horse, &c. Puture observations may serve to reconcile this apparent discrepancy ; but in the mean time all geologists will be thankful to Messrs. Lartet and Christy for their careful researches in the Caverns of the Dordogne and for the liberal manner in which they have striven to make the results subservient to the interests of science. It is satisfactory to know that they are about to publish a profusely illustrated account of their discoveries ; and it is hoped that this slight sketch of the impressions given by a visit of a few days may serve to show how interesting will be the details of the researches when recorded by those by whom they were undertaken. * Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. xvii. p. 468. ■■^,-:"