352 MAN AS THE COTEMPORARY OP THE MAMMOTH 



the antideluvian era may conduct tis, liave not been discussed. According to 

 Beneden 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 riglit line, while the other is prognathous, ha\ang the jaws and teeth 

 projecting; still the latter is said to have a higher forehead, and the ca\aty of 

 the skull a greater capacity. Together with these remains was found an m-n, 

 which, unfortunately, is broken to pieces. In this we have the oldest extant 

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

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

 and an articulation of the foot, which has evidently been WTOught into some instra- 

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

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

 industry and ornament, which the deceased had doubtless been in the liabit 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 ollerings 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 reindeer's horn, and, moreover, traces of a hearth, which 

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

 cavern. 



The people of the reindeer era Avere not acquainted with husbandry, and as 

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

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

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

 which barbarous races of men contrive, with but rude instruments, to slay the 

 swiftest and fiercest animals. 



The beasts Avhich lived cotemporancously Avith man were, at this period, 

 besides the reindeer, Avhich had now attained its Avidest distribution through 

 middle Europe, the folloAving: the aurochs (Bison cifrojjociis,) the horse, AA'hich 

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

 meval ox (Urns j^fiiiii^/cniiis,) the musk-ox (Bos moscliatus,) the deer Avith 

 collossal antlers ( Mcgaceros hibcrnicus,) the elk (Ccrvus alces,) the roe-buck 

 (Cervus damaj the wild goat, the chamois, the wild boar, which Avas either rare 

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

 ini/s,J and the marmot. Among birds, Ave may mention the great auk, the heath 

 cock, the moor-hen, the sno\A-y OAAd, &c. It afibrds an ai-gument for the prevar 

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

 gi'eater part of the animals just cited li\^e most generally at the present day in 

 high northern latitudes, or on the snoAV-covered peaks of the Pyrenees and Alps. 

 The musk-ox descends in America only to the parallel of 00°, and habitually 

 frequents the limits of perpetual snow. 



In this reindeer period, the use of metals Avas unknoAvn. Mankind continued 

 to avail themselves of stone for the construction of their implements, though, 

 together Avith 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, Avhich they might have found still nearer, in the vicinity of Maestricht 

 and in Ilainault. From this it may probably 1)0 inferred that, in certain direc- 

 tions, communication Avas attended Avith much difficulty. Bridges and artificial 

 roads there Avere none, nor is there anything to show that resort Avas then had to 



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

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

 been observed that the cartilage was still attached to bones which have been thrown away 

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

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

 ticat-ed animal. 



