EPOCH OF COMPOUND IMPLEMENTS.
Climate.—During this epoch the Glacial or Ice Age in Europe reached its maximum. The temperature of France, Belgium, England, and Germany was at times intensely cold. But it is probable that at various periods the ice sheet receded for a time, thus allowing the plains to regain a temporary fertility.
Animals.—This was the period of the mammoth and the reindeer, of the glutton, the lemming, and the pouched marmot, all of them animals suited in tastes and habits for cold countries, and now occurring far to the north of the localities named.
Care-dwdlings.—Characteristic of this epoch are the relics derived from the caves. These natural shelters do not appear to have been inhabited to any extended degree by man in the former epoch. Probably they then served as the lairs of wild beasts, and moreover a milder climate did not oblige men to seek shelter from the elements.
These caves are found in abundance in the secondary limestone which crops out in Southern England, Central and Southern France, Southern Belgium, and various parts of Germany and Italy. From all these localities numerous remains of man and his handiwork have been exhumed in original connection with the bones of the now-extinct animals above mentioned.
For purposes the caves have been divided into caverns, which are caves of considerable length with several corridors and floors; grottos, which have but a single chamber; and rock-shelters, which are open spaces protected by an overhanging ledge of rocks.
It would be tedious to enumerate even the more celebrated of these, so great a number have yielded valuable material; but as examples of the more fruitful we may name Kent's Hole and the Brixham Cavern, both near Torquay, England; the cavern of Furfooz and the Hole of La Naulette in Belgium; those of La Madeleine and Cro-Magnon, both in the department of Dordogne, France; and in Germany the Hohlefels and the Schipka Cave.
We need not suppose that these caves were exclusively, or even largely, the dwellings of the people who lived there during this epoch; but that the caves were occupied then, and not previously, indicates the presence of inhabitants of different tastes and habits from their predecessors.
Characler of difference is also brought into strong relief by the contrast in the art-products of the two races. The epoch begins
with the dressing of stones to serve as compound implements; for example, to be attached to the extremity of a spear, javelin, or arrow, or grooved so as to be tied with thongs to the end of a handle, thus greatly increas ing their effectiveness. Flint darts with stems and barbs first appear, and those odd shapes which the French archaeologists call fiointes i cran (jet.
7). The manipulation of stone by chipping reached its highest point, but the art of polishing it remained unknown. Bone, which had been scarcely or not at all employed by earlier artisans, now came into extensive use, and, especially toward the close of the epoch, supplanted stone for many industrial applications. Pottery remained entirely un known, and no implements indicating the prosecution of agriculture have been discovered.
A large number of typical examples of the art of this epoch were exhumed at Schussenried, near Ravensburg, in the Black Forest, Southern Germany, in the year 1865. They are represented on Plate 2 (figs. I-I These objects were found beneath a massive deposit of peat and calcareous tufa, on the surface of the earth laid bare as it was at the time of the Glacial Epoch; this surface was covered with reindeer moss; and here also were found thc bones of northern beasts of prey, such as the gold fox and ice fox, also numerous skeletons of the reindeer and portions of its antlers, as well as bones of the singing swan, which at this day breeds in Lapland and Spitzbergen.
The special uses of these instruments cannot be fully determined. Figure 2 is a fish-hook with the back prong broken off; Figure 3 appears to have been used as a ladle, perhaps to scoop out the warm brain-matter from the skulls of slaughtered game. Of this some indication is afforded by the fact that almost without exception the frontal bone of the skulls discovered is broken out. In Figure 5 a needle for sewing furs may with out difficulty be recognized. Figure 6 we may assume was a spear-head, to which, as in Figure 8, a point was fastened with a sinew. The indenta tions on the upper flattened end are still plainly to be seen. Figure 10 is an antler-prong whose inner side is hollowed out for the fabrication of other instruments.