7 02 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



mals, while every part of the skeleton of reindeer and smaller animals 

 is to be found. The soil in the caverns, wherever it contains crushed 

 bones, contains also an immense amount of charred wood. This mix- 

 ture of bones and charcoal occurs so generally, so uniformly, that it 

 is not easy to suppose that the Troglodytes lighted fires merely for 

 the purpose of keeping themselves warm. They must have lighted 

 fires daily at all seasons of the year, and hence it is likely that they 

 cooked their food. 



We are unable to say whether they got their fire from flint, or 

 from wood by friction. They had no pottery, and could not boil their 

 provisions over the fire. And yet they did not roast their meat either, 

 for you will rarely find in their caves a calcined bone, or only such 

 bones as were evidently burned by mere chance. They may have 

 boiled their meats in wooden troughs, bringing the water to a boil by 

 casting into it red-hot stones. But I think it more likely that they 

 cooked their meat beneath the ashes, as is still the custom of many 

 savage tribes. 



A tid-bit for them was the brain of animals, or the marrow, as is 

 evidenced by the fact that all the skulls are cracked and all the mar- 

 row-bones (and they only) broken. All savages have a special liking 

 for marrow, and have a peculiar way of cracking the bones containing 

 it. The chief is always the first to suck the marrow-bone. Our 

 Troglodytes had little wedge-shaped pieces of flint, which they used 

 as hatchets to break these bones. We find also in their caves an im- 

 plement of reindeer-horn which was probably used for getting out the 

 marrow, though archaeologists are divided as to its purpose. 



After a meal, the Troglodytes left the bones scattered about the 

 floor. In a warm climate these remnants would have given out an 

 insupportable stench ; but in those early times the temperature was 

 very low in France, and our Troglodytes were not paragons of clean- 

 liness. To their uncleanly habits we are indebted for what we know 

 about their food. Their chief staple was reindeer meat ; but they also 

 eat the flesh of the horse, the aurochs, several species of the ox, the 

 chamois, the wild-goat, and even some carnivora. They used also fish, 

 and, by means of the bow and arrow, they could take winged game. 

 The caves contain the remains of birds of many different species. But, 

 among all these bones, we find no human remains ; and, hence, we 

 know that our good Troglodytes were not cannibals. That supreme 

 delight of the savage soul was all unknown to them devouring a 

 vanquished foeman. I record this with pleasure, albeit I attach no 

 exceptional importance to the question of anthropophagy. In the eyes 

 of the philosopher the crime is not in devouring, but in killing a hu- 

 man being. Judging from the style of weapons these Troglodytes 

 employed, we should say that they were quiet folk, not given to war. 



It has been supposed that they wore no clothing, as all the human 

 figures portrayed by their artists are nude (Fig. 5). This, however, 



