We must conceive man of the Glacial Epoch as subsisting only upon the products of fishing and of the chase, and upon native roots and fruits. The reindeer was not yet tamed and domesticated; at least, this would seem to be indicated by the absence of all remains of the dog, without which, it is well known, no herd of these animals could be kept. The possession of flint, which material is not indigenous to the Black Forest, affords evidence that the horde of hunters either made wide excur sions, though at times finding quarters in caves, or had learned to supply their necessities by some kind of barter (comp. pp. 30, 74).
That they utilized fire is manifest from discoveries of charcoal in other localities. Here and there we come upon the remains of banquets which bear evidences of extensive encampments. Among these remains opened marrow-bones from which the marrow had been extracted are particu larly noticeable, and almost always the bone-splitting instruments, consist ing of the lower jaws of larger animals, were to be found near by. In a cave near Chauvaux in Belgium human bones thus opened were likewise found, and it would appear from this that cannibalism was practised by this ancient race, though to what extent remains uncertain. The skulls shown in Figures 74 and 75, which are derived from the grotto of Furfooz, Belgium, and which undoubtedly belong to the Glacial Epoch, being found in common with the bones of the reindeer and other animals of that period, indicate in their low forehead and strongly-developed organs of mastication a very crude stage of development, far removed from the ape skull though they may be.
Remarkably enough, however, there appear to have come down to us from this epoch productions which in the true sense of the word are works of art; and should these prove to be genuine—as indeed they are accepted by our most widely recognized authorities—no further evi dence would be needed that in the earliest specimens of our race with which we have become acquainted we are dealing with man in the highest significance of the term, and not merely with an advanced development of sonic brute creation. In the caves of Perigord, as also in the bone
heaps of La Madeleine near Turzac, France, there were found a number of fragments on which were rudely yet unmistakably engraved figures of the mammoth and'of various other animals of that period. Among those found near Turzac was that illustrated in Figure II, showing two reindeer, one following the other. Another bone fragment, discovered near Schus senried, upon the surface of which smaller tracings were repeated, might well serve as confirmatory evidence of the date of the former.
From other deposits of the same period implements of a wedge or chisel shape are derived (Ars. 16–IS), unworked fragments and splinters of flint (jigs. 14, 15), and with these long, double-edged pieces almost in the shape of knives, as shown in Figure 28.
Remains remains of man himself dating from this epoch arc extremely scarce, as we might readily suppose. An organic substance like bone has less chance of survival than solid stone. Yet sonic anthropologists refer to this age certain skulls found in the Lake of Neufeluitel and in the Upper Rhone valley near Sion. It is claimed that these specimens exhibit a gradual recession of the organs of mas tication and a growing prominence of the forehead and brain-cavities, which place them in favorable contrast with those earlier and more brutal forms which have been figured in the last volume as probably the most ancient of the human race (see Vol. I. p. 38, and tl. 2). The skulls from Switzerland to which we refer are shown on Plate 2 (figs. 76-78); they were found under circumstances, however, which by some authorities would assign them to the Neolithic rather than the Paleolithic Period, and they cannot be accepted without reserve as of the older date.