524 



REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1896. 



EUROrE. 



rALEOLITHIC AGE. 



Lartet and Christy found prehistoric whistles in the cavern of Lau- 

 gerie Basse, in the Dordogne District, France. They also found whis- 

 tles of the same kind in the cavern of Aurignac. It was supposed that 

 both these caverns belonged to the Paleolithic period, and, therefore, 

 they afforded corroborating evidence of the use of these instruments in 

 that period. Later investigations rendered this certain with regard to 

 Laugerie Basse, but made it uncertain with regard to xVurignac. When 

 the first whistle was found, in 18G0, in Aurignac it was reserved by these 

 gentlemen for this confirmation, but afterwards, when, as they say, 

 there had been many discoveries of this kind of instrument, notably 

 those from the Laugerie Basse, so that specimens 

 are not now rare in museums and collections, they 

 felt themselves justified in assuming the existence 

 and use of this instrument in Paleolithic times. Fig. 

 IGG represents the whistle from Laugerie Basse, 

 taken from Lartet and Christy's "Eeliquia^. Aqui- 

 tanica^," and is plate V, fig. 21. It is described as 

 the first digital phalange of the hind foot of a rein- 

 deer. A hole has been bored in its lower surface 

 near the expanded upper articulation. On applica- 

 tion of the lips to the hollow of this articulation, 

 and blowing obliquely into the hole, they' got a sharp 

 Sfmnd analogous to that produced by a cat call or a 

 key used as a whistle. 



Marquis de Kadaillac^ figures a whistle of deer 

 horn or reindeer phalange from the collection Mas- 

 senat (Brives, France) similar to that shown in tig. IGG, 

 and states that others have been found in the caverns 

 of Les Eyzies, Schussenried, and Chafiaud. He continues that they 

 have been found in the Belgian caverns, in the peat beds of Scania, 

 southern Sweden, in the island of Palmaria. and at other points. He 

 says that there have been found, in the Grotto of Cottes, the radii 

 (canon) of the reindeer and auroch treated in the same manner, and 

 which might have been destined for the same purpose. He tells of 

 Lougperier's mention of a human bone pierced with holes at regular 

 intervals, serving, by a strange irony of death, as a flute with which to 

 charm the living; also of Judge Piette, who, in one of his numerous 

 excavations, discovered a flute made of two bird bones which, joined, 

 would make modulated tones. Similar bones were found in the collec- 

 tion at Eochebertier. Beyond these he knows of none. The whistles, 

 he thinks, may have been used in war or in the chase, but he expresses 



Fig. 166. 



BONE WHISTLE, PHA- 

 LANGE OF REIN- 

 DEER. PALEOLITH- 

 IC PERIOD. 



Cavern of Laugerie ' 

 Basse, France. 



* Moeurs et Monuments des Peuples Prehistoriques, pp. 92, 93, No. 30. 



