PREHISTORIC ART. 



405 



the others who have written upon this subject have followed him in 

 this. These, with other introduced specimens, show the innate desire 

 of man for things beautiful and his natural 

 wish to make them so. Philosophers, psycho- 

 logists, and even anthropologists have theorized 

 and speculated as to what aboriginal or natural 

 man may have thought, wished, or desired in 

 originating art, and they will continue to do so; 

 but we are, by this work, brought face to face 

 with the solid aud irrefutable fact of what he 

 did. The artifacts are our only evidence in 

 this regard. We are dealing with the prehis- 

 toric. There is no history, no written record, 

 no record at all, other than these objects. As 

 by them only do we know of the existence of 

 man at this epoch, so by them only can we dis- 

 cover the origin of the art by which they were 

 made and the thoughts, wishes, and desires of 

 the man who made them. 



In order to justify any speculation concern- i ^U If 



ing the ratiocination or psychologic manifesta- 

 tions of primitive man in matters of art or deco- 

 ration, it is proper we should tirst know as much 

 as possible of the facts of those manifestations. 

 Almost the sole jjurpose of this memoir is to 

 collate and present these facts. Its title de- 

 clares this purpose. With mere speculations it 

 has little to do, but in the presentation of facts 

 concerning the origin of human art as shown 

 in its earliest known manifestations it makes 

 serious claims. 



The specimens of engraving and sculpture 

 maybe divided as follows: (1) The engraving 

 bj'^ simple lines cut in plain surfaces which corre- 

 sponds to the engraving of our own time; (2) 

 engraving more or less in relief, and (3) sculp- 

 tures in the round, representing human or ani- 

 mal figures. Piette reverses their order and 

 contends that they occurred thus. 



METHODS OF ENGRAVING AND SCULPTURING. 



The manner of working would seem to have 

 been as follows: With the aid of tiint instru- 

 ments, which may have been knives, flakes, 

 points, scrapers, or what not, the surface of the material was prepared 

 by the removal of the outside or rough portion. The reindeer horn was 

 preferred to that of other deer, probably because its surface w^as smooth 



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