352 MAN AS THE COTEMPORARY OF THE MAMMOTH 



the antidcluvian era may conduct ns, liave not been discussed. According to 

 Benedcn and Dupont, there is a great difference between the two remaining 

 skulls: the one is orthognathous, that is to say, with the teeth and bones of the 

 chin in a right line, while the other is prognathous, having the jaws and teeth 

 projecting; still the latter is said to have a higher forehead, and the cavity of 

 the skull a greater capacity. Together with these remains was found an urn, 

 which, imfortunately, is lu'oken to pieces. In this we have the oldest extant 

 specimen of the yet infant art of pottery. This burial vault contains, besides 

 the above objects, instruments of stone, an awl and needle of bone, an arrow point 

 and an articulation of the foot, which has evidently been wrought into some instru- 

 ment. Thus it appears that the men of the reindeer period, like those of the 

 age of the cave-bear, were accustomed to deposit with their dead objects of 

 industry and ornament, which the deceased had doubtless been in the habit of 

 using. As regards the bones of foxes, goats, and wild boars, which are also 

 present, it is uncertain whether they have been borne hither by floods or are the 

 remains of offerings which, as at Aurignac, have been set apart for the deceased. 

 In the wide space before this cavernous sepulchre have been found numerous 

 implements of stone and reindeers horn, and, moreover, traces of a hearth, which 

 probably indicates that a funeral feast had been held at the entrance of the 

 cavern. 



The i)eople of the reindeer era were not acquainted with husbandry, and as 

 little with the domestication of animals.* No instruments for fishing have been 

 recognized. If the Aveapons of the age were still imperfect, they answered all 

 necessary purposes, for we have already had occasion to notice the skill with 

 which barbarous races of men contrive, A\ith but rude instruments, to slay the 

 swiftest and fiercest animals. 



The beasts which lived cotemporaneoush' with man were, at this period, 

 besides the reindeer, which had now attained its widest distribution through 

 middle Europe, the following: the aurochs (Bison cm'opo3iis,J the horse, which 

 has improperly been regarded as difiering from that of the present day, the pri- 

 meval ox fUnts prmigenius,) the musk-ox (Bos moschatus,) the deer with 

 collossal antlers f Megaceros hibcrniciisj the elk fCcrvits alecs, J the roe-buck 

 (Cervns dama,) tlie wild goat, the chamois, the \\\\(\ boar, which was either rare 

 or its flesh not eaten, the glutton, the beaver, lemming, a species of hare, (Lago- 

 ini/SjJ and the marmot. Among birds, we may mention the great auk, the heath 

 cock, the moor-hen, the snowy owl, &c. It affords an argument for the preva- 

 lence of a great degree of cold in our region at the time in question, that the 

 greater part of the animals just cited live most generally at the present day in 

 high northern latitiides, or on the snow-covered peaks of the Pyrenees and Alps. 

 Tlie musk-ox descends in America only to the parallel of 60°, and habitually 

 i'requcnts the limits of perpetual snow. 



In this reindeer period, the use of metals was unknown. ]^lankind continued 

 to avail themselves of stone for the constriiction of their im])lements, though, 

 together with this, they occasionally employed bone, horn, and ivory. There is 

 evidence that the commerce of men at this time already extended to considerable 

 distances. The population of Belgium, for instance, sought for silex in Cham- 

 pagne, which they might have found still nearer, in the vicinity of 3[acstriclit 

 and in Hainanlt. From this it may probably be inferred that, in certain direc- 

 tions, connaunication was attended with mucli difficulty. Bridges and artificial 

 roads there were none, nor is there anything to show that resort was then had to 



*A fragment of a reindeer's skull, which still contained the arrow-head of stone with which 

 the animal was slain, shows that the reindeer M-as hunted as a beast of chase. It has also 

 been observed that the cartilafi^e was still attached to bones which have been thrown away 

 by man after the extraction of the marrow, and that the edges of the fractures thereby occa- 

 sioned are still sharp, which would not be the case if the dog had been at that time a domes- 

 ticated animal. 



