2 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 87 



objects are extant, a collection of flint and rock-crystal artifacts and 

 a few worthy examples of geometric and figured art on horn and 

 bone ^ now to be seen in the Musee d'Histoire Xaturelle at Toulouse. 



In 1897, only a short time after the existence of Quaternary art 

 had been established by the acceptance on the part of the scientific 

 world of the authenticity of the polychromes in Altamira, M. Felix 

 Renault announced the presence of frescoes in the gallery of 

 Marsoulas.^ These and many others, unseen by Monsieur Renault, 

 were later published by Cartailhac and Breuil.'' Among the geometric 

 signs, polychromes, and engravings, the most outstanding are the 

 well-known engraved human heads, the two dotted bisons in red and 

 black, and the panel of aborescents, pecti forms, tectiforms, etc. 



Shortly before his death, Monsieur Cartailhac purchased the cave 

 and willed it to the University of Toulouse, after which it became a 

 classified monument." 



While the interior of the cave was found to have been excavated, 

 an entrance sounding at the emplacement of the modern gate erected 

 by the University of Toulouse revealed an intact hearth apparently 

 extending in front under the terrace. This was at first thought to be 

 of Magdalenian age, but it later proved to be Aurignacian. Accord- 

 ingly, the surveying zero was established on top of this hearth and 

 the terrace was entirely removed. It contained four levels: Level i, 

 humus not quite I meter at its thickest ; Level 2, averaging 2.25 meters 

 thickness in the vicinity of the entrance, relic-bearing and comix)sed 

 of rock falls and earth ; Level 3, bear clay ; ' Level 4, the present bed 

 of the underground stream running from the spring in the back of 

 the cave (pi. i ). 



^ Abbe Breuil, Les Sub-divisions du Paleolithique Superieur et leur Significa- 

 tion. Congr. Int. d'Anthrop. et Arch. Prehist. Comte Rendu XVI Sess., Geneve, 

 1912. Abbe Breuil et de St. Perier, Les Poissons, les Batraciens, et les Reptiles 

 dans I'Art Quaternaire. Mason et Cie., 1927. Count Henri Begouen, Sur un Os 

 Grave de la Grotte de Marsoulas. Rev. Anthrop., Oct. -Nov., 1930. 



^ Bull. Archaeol., p. 210, 1903. 



' Cartailhac, E. et Breuil, L'Abbe H., Les Peintures et Gravures murales des 

 Cavernes Pyreneennes. E.xtract from L' Anthropologic, vols. 15 and 16, Mason 

 et Cie., 1905. 



" A " classified monument " is an archeological site or architectural monument 

 which is classified by the French Government and protected by law from depreda- 

 tion or removal from France. The Smithsonian Institution wishes to express its 

 thanks to the Beaux Arts Commission for Classified Monuments, who graciously 

 gave their permission for excavation to be carried on in Marsoulas. 



' The term " bear clay " is applied bj' prehistorians to a level occurring in the 

 caves of this region, which contain the bones of the cave bear (Ursus spclaciis) 

 and in which the cultural remains of Homo sapiens have so far never been 

 found. 



