News 



Pvhlished Monthly by Field Museum of Natural HisUrry, Chicago 



Vol.4 



DECEMBER, 1933 



No. 12 



AZILIAN BOAR-HUNT SHOWN 

 IN HALL OF STONE AGE 



By Henry Field 

 Assistant Curator of Physical Anthropology 



The sixth* group in the Hall of the Stone 

 Age of the Old World (Hall C) is a dramatic 

 scene in which dogs are assisting two 

 Azilian men to hunt wild boar. The group 

 represents the beginning of the domestica- 

 tion of animals, which was a great advance 

 toward civilization. 



The transition or mesolithic period which 

 separated the old and new stone ages began 

 in western Europe some 12,000 years ago. 

 The climate was 

 similar to that of the 

 present day. The 

 arctic flora was 

 replaced by the birch 

 and the pine, and the 

 barren tundras and 

 wind-swept steppes 

 were superseded by 

 forest. A modern 

 fauna, characterized 

 by the red deer, had 

 taken the place of the 

 mammoth and rein- 

 deer. 



The last of the 

 hunting races roamed 

 Europe at that time. 

 These people have 

 been called Azilians 

 after the type station 

 located in the cavern 

 of Mas d'Azil, about 

 forty miles from Tou- 

 louse, France. The 

 most remarkable of 

 Azilian burials was 

 found at Ofnet in 

 southern Germany, 

 where twenty-seven 

 human skulls, buried 

 in red ochre, were dis- 

 covered in one grave. 

 The skulls, with a few neck vertebrae, were 

 orientated toward the setting sun. Evi- 

 dently the heads were buried, after decapi- 

 tation, with necklaces of perforated shells 

 and deer's teeth. One of the vertebrae 

 reveals the marks left by the flint knife 

 which was used for severing the head from 

 the body. Among the skulls there were 

 examples of both round- and long-headed 

 types, indicating that two races inhabited 

 Europe in Azilian times. 



The art of the Azilians was inferior to 

 that of their predecessors, the Cro-Magnons, 

 whose beautiful realistic work they replaced 

 by conventional designs. No Azilian en- 

 gravings or sculptures have been preserved. 

 Painting was limited to simple designs in red 

 ochre on flat pebbles from streams. Har- 

 poons of a flat, broad type with one or two 

 rows of barbs were developed for fishing. 

 Poorly made flint and bone tools were also 

 used. Cattle, horses and pigs, although 

 still untamed, formed the chief food supply. 



* The first five groups, Chellean, Neanderthal, 

 Aurignacian, Solutrean and Magdalenian, have been 

 pictured and described in the July, August, September, 

 October and November numbers of Field Museum 

 News. 



It was during the Azilian period that the 

 dog was domesticated. The assistance of 

 this companion in the hunt may well have 

 compensated for the inferior quality of the 

 hunting weapons, which consisted of long, 

 wooden spears with flint blades attached. 



In the Museum group a wild boar hunt 

 is taking place at the entrance to Mas 

 d'Azil. The scene shows two Azilian hunters 

 armed with wooden spears with flint points, 

 at close quarters with a wild boar defending 

 its mate and two young ones. One of the 

 hunters holds three dogs, who strain at the 

 rawhide leashes. One young dog is lying 



Copyrigfht Field Museum of Natursl History 



Early Hunters Using Dogs to Attack Wild Boar 



Group in Hall of the Stone Age of the Old World showing men of the Azilian period, about 12,000 years ago. 

 The exhibit illustrates the first use of domesticated animals. 



dead on the bank — the result of coming 

 into range of the sharp tusks of the male 

 boar, which is at bay. 



The background and roof of the cave, as 

 well as the figures of the hunters, were 

 modeled by Frederick Blaschke, who visited 

 Mas d'Azil to make the necessary studies. 



The painted section of the background is 

 the work of StafI Artist Charles A. Corwin. 



The group was planned and directed by 

 the writer with the generous assistance of 

 the Abbe Henri Breuil. 



CHANGES IN VISITING HOURS 



Attention is called to certain 

 changes in the schedule of visiting 

 hours to be observed at Field Mu- 

 seum in the future. Henceforth the 

 hours during the various seasons 

 will be as follows: November, De- 

 cember, January, February, March 

 — 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; April, Sep- 

 tember, October — 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; 

 May, June, July, August — 9 a.m. 

 to 6 p.m. 



GIVE A MUSEUM MEMBERSHIP 

 AS A CHRISTMAS GIFT 



To those Members of Field Museum who 

 are seeking for some friend, or friends, a 

 Christmas gift that is especially distinctive, 

 and who would at the same time appreciate 

 an opportunity to simplify their Christmas 

 shopping problems, the Museum extends its 

 cooperation as in the past several years. A 

 convenient plan for presenting Field Mu- 

 seum memberships as Christmas gifts is 

 offered. 



This plan reduces the task of selecting 

 gifts to the easiest possible proportions, and 

 eliminates the time 

 and effort devoted to 

 shopping and to pre- 

 paring and sending 

 packages. To give a 

 Museum membership 

 all you have to do is 

 send to the Museum 

 the name and address 

 of the proposed Mem- 

 ber, your own name 

 and address, and the 

 check for the member- 

 ship fee. All other 

 details will be taken 

 care of for you. An 

 attractive Christmas 

 card will be sent by 

 the Museum to any 

 friends whom you may 

 thus favor, notifying 

 them that, through 

 your generosity, they 

 have become Mem- 

 bers of this institution, 

 and informing them as 

 to what their member- 

 ship privileges are. A 

 wide choice is offered 

 in the cost of gift 

 memberships, begin- 

 ning with the $10 

 annual membership. 

 To assure delivery of notification cards to 

 the recipients of your gifts by Christmas 

 Day, it is advisable to send in applications 

 before December 18. 



When you present a Museum membership 

 you indicate to the recipient a high estimate 

 of his intellectual qualities — a belief that he 

 is the type of person to whom association 

 with a cultural institution would appeal. It 

 is a gift that will not be forgotten — instead, 

 it will remind the recipient of you many 

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Among other privileges in which he will 

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 free admission to the Museum for himself, 

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 the right to have out-of-town friends ad- 

 mitted free of charge on presentation of the 

 Member's personal card; the opportunity to 

 obtain certain Museum publications on 

 request; and, when traveling, the extension 

 of the courtesies of every museum of note in 

 the United States and Canada. 



