MEN OF THE OLD STONE AGE 



283 



and etchings of the mammoth to the superh polychrome frescoes on the 

 walls of the ca\ern of Font-de-Gaume, where a high stage of art is displayed, 

 although many of the paintings have greatly suffered from a natural 

 incrustation of lime which covers them like a partly transparent veil. 



Through Ba^'onne and San Sel)astian we reached Santander where Pro- 

 fessor Hugo Ohermaier, another able member of a most remarkable group 

 of anthropologists, guided us in a tour of the iSpanish caves. Near Puente 

 Viesgo is the cavern and grotto of Castillo, which towers above the valley. 

 At the entrance of this grotto is the most complete continuous succession 

 of cultures which has e\er been found, dating from the middle of the older 

 palaeolithic or Acheulian to the beginning of the age of Copper and Bronze. 

 During intermittent periods of occupation the successive races have made 

 their fireplaces and left their implements. This succession was selected 

 as a type for a large model in the American Museum, which will be prepared 

 through the kind cooperation of Professor Obermaier himself. The cavern 

 is filled with crude drawings and many handprints of palaeolithic men. 



Professor C'artuilhac ligliting an acetylene lamp at the entrance to Le Portel. 



