370 



REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1896. 



period aud that tlie two stages of culture represent man's adapta- 

 tion of his art to the changed environment. In the earlier epoch 

 the climate was warm, and man had apparently, or possibly, no need 

 for shelter or clothing, as no traces of either have been found; all his 

 implements were weapons, and suitable for the chase or, if need be, for 

 war. In the later epoch the weapon became a spearhead or harpoon 

 (more likely the latter), while a new implement, the scraper, is intro- 

 duced, by which he is supposed to have utilized the skin of ani- 

 mals which he had killed by making 

 them into clothing or coverings. The 

 caverns which were his new habita- 

 tions furnished him both shelter and 

 warmth. 



MOUSTBRIEN EPOCH (CAVERN 

 PERIOD). 



In the subdivision of the Cavern 

 period the earliest epoch has been 

 called Mousterien from the cavern of 

 Le Moustier (Plate 6). The peculiar 

 art of this epoch and that which caused 

 the subdivision are the points (Plate 7) 

 and scrapers (Plate 8) found in such 

 numbers, especially in this cavern. 

 These specimens may not be the high- 

 est art, yet they are interesting from 

 an artistic point of view no less than from an anthropological, for 

 they are the lirst improvement in flint chipping, the earliest art learned 

 by man. It is a step in the evolution of that art, and will be followed 

 by another step in the next succeeding epoch. These points are the 

 earliest analogous to spearheads, made or used by man, and undoubtedly 

 the ancestor or forerunner of all arrow or spear heads. 



The Mousterien scraper was tlie earliest implement of its kind made 

 by man. These, as well as the Mousterien points just described, were 

 made usually of flint, and by chipping. These specimens are addition- 

 ally interesting as the first step taken by man in the art of tanning 

 and as being the oldest specialized tool or utensil known to him. 



The flint chipping peculiar to this epoch, shown by these sijecimens, 

 is that one side of both utensils is left smooth as when struck from the 

 nodule or nucleus by the blow that knocked off the flakes (Plates 7 

 and 8, fig. a). The back has been made shapely by smaller flakes, 

 usually three in number, struck off longitudinally (Plates 7 and 8, fig. b). 

 This is the very beginning of this art, and as we see how the operation 

 became improved we will wonder at the adeptness with which it came 

 to be performed. 



Fi§. 15. 



EUDE CHIPPED QUAKTZITE IMPLEMENT OF 



PALEOLITHIC TYPE, MADE FROM A PEBBLE. 



Side and edge views. 

 Mount Vernon, Virginia. 



Cat. No. 1073 loan, U.S.N.M. }-A n.itural 6ize. 



