AND THE REINDEER IN MIDDLE EUROPE, 343 



Copenliagen, certain implements still in use among the Laj)lundcrs for pressing 

 the rough seams. Another plate of the same substance exhibits on one side 

 many transverse lines traced at equal distance from each other, and inteiTupted 

 in the middle so as to fonu two rows. On both faces of the plates are notches 

 cut still deeper than the lines, l)ut also at equal intervals. ]\Iay not these have 

 been counters for marking the vjilucs of difl'erent objects, or, as Steinhauer con- 

 jectures, memorials of the chase ? Finally, a fang of the cave bear, f Ursus spe- 

 Iceus,) perforated lengthwise, as if for suspension as an ornament or amulet, 

 affords us rather an elabt>rate work of men's hands, a primitive attempt of art to 

 imitate the animal form, being carved into the rude likeness of the head of a 



biKl. 



it is not without interest to remark that the bones of the carnivorous animals 

 found around the hearth were entire, and showed no mark proceeding from the 

 use of the Hint knives. Even the hyenas appear to have rejected them. The 

 bones which had been opened and were gnawed, belonged especially to the 

 aurochs, (Bison europcEus,) the reindeer, and the horse. The skulls of these 

 animals were wanting ; probably they had been broken to pieces in order to come 

 at the brain, and the fragments thrown into the valley. Pallas tells us that, at 

 this day, the Samoeides eat the brain and marrow of the reindeer raw. 



From the above facts Lartet has drawn the following conclusions : The burial- 

 place of Aurignac reaches back to the highest antiquity of our race ; a proof of 

 this is furnished by the fauna found on the site, and which in part has long dis- 

 appeared from the eai'th. The depth of the layer of ashes, as well as the great 

 number of animal bones, show that, in front of this grotto funeral feasts were 

 held, and that it has been opened at different times to receive new bodies, until 

 the cavity was filled. On the other hand, the uninjured bones found in the interior 

 of the cave evince that ofl'erings have been here consecrated to the dead. The 

 various implements were deposited that the deceased might avail themselves 

 tliereof on entering upon another life ; a custom which we know to be still in use 

 among various uncivilized tribes. The carnivorous animals which man seems 

 not to have eaten may, by means of their skins or in some other manner, have 

 borne a part in these primitive rights of sepulture. 



The absence of all traces of pottery is a further proof of the very remote anti- 

 quity of the human remains here discovered. We see, however, that, even at that 

 distant time, man was not destitute of a certain degree of practical skill. Already 

 there are instruments of horn, and the bodkin in particular was not ill adapted 

 for sewing together the skins which protected the person from thorns as well as 

 cold. Nay, the rude inhabitant aspired to some amount of luxury, though, it 

 must be confessed, of a very primitive sort. The disks pierced in the middle 

 must have served to form either an armlet or necklace, and in the bear's fang 

 above spoken of we have perhaps the oldest monument of art which has descended 

 to us from its earliest infancy. 



When Bonnemaison, the laborer who discovered the grotto, first entered it, 

 there were within it several entire skulls. According to the recollection of Dr. 

 Amiel, who counted the bodies, the remains were those of a race under the aver- 

 age size, and the skulls were brachycephalic or round, which accords with the 

 discoveries made at Moulin Quignon, and in other caverns. A human maxillary 

 bone found by Lartet, imbedded in the loose soil within the grotto, points also to 

 the same inferiority of stature. 



In reference to these discoveries Sir Charles Lyell expresses himself in the 

 following manner : 



If the fossil memorials of Aurignac have been correctly interpreted — if wc have here before 

 us at the northern base of the Pyrenees a sepulchral vault with skeletons of human beiiitrs, 

 consigned by friends and relatives to their last resting place — if we have also at the portal 

 of the tomb the relics of funeral feasts, and wiihin it indications of viands destined tor the 

 use of the departed on their way to a land of spirits — while among the funeral gifts are 

 weapons wherewith in other fields to chase the gigantic deer, the cave lion, the cave bear 



