ANTIQUITY OF MAN IN EUROPE—MACCURDY. Hye 
as the rock-shelters and open shallow caves, formed through atmos- 
pheric agencies, were inhabited by early man. Some were enlarged 
or modified and occupied during the middle ages. At a safe height 
in the roc de Tayac, one such that withstood successive sieges in the 
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries is at present used as a restaurant 
and appropriately named “au Paradis.” 
The earlier explorations at Les Eyzies, Cro-Magnon, Gorge-d’En- 
fer, Laugerie-Basse, Laugerie-Haute, La Madeleine, and Le Moustier 
are so well known that they are mentioned only in passing. After 
so long a series of important discoveries, it might well be supposed 
that the archeological possibilities of the region had been exhausted, 
yet some of the most important treasures still remained locked in the 
recesses of the less easily accessible and little known subterranean 
caverns which penetrate the hills to great depths. The entrances to 
these caverns are small and invisible from the valley below. Some 
indeed were completely stopped by hillside débris, leaving no outer 
trace of their existence. It is not strange that they escaped immedi- 
ate notice. They were neglected until the early nineties, when Riviére 
removed some of the floor deposits in the cavern of Les Combarelles 
that yielded many flint implements, and especially fine bone needles. 
In 1895, he began work in similar deposits in the cavern of La 
Mouthe. One day, after penetrating to a considerable depth, he and 
his companion, the son of Berthoumeyrou, the innkeeper, sat down to 
rest. In lighting a cigar, the extra light of the match added to the 
feeble candle light and placed at the proper angle revealed to one of 
them what had not been observed before—an engraving on the wall. 
The discovery was duly announced and marked the beginning of a 
new epoch in cavern explorations. 
The mural decorations at La Mouthe occur in four groups or panels. 
The first panel is about 93 meters from the entrance. The second, 4 
meters farther on, is called the “ Hall of the Bison.” Seven animals 
are represented on an area 5.02 meters by 2.6 meters. The third and 
fourth panels are 113 and 130 meters, respectively, from the entrance. 
r Jn 1899, Riviére was so fortunate as to find a stone lamp in the floor 
deposits of this cavern at a point about 17 meters from the entrance. 
The pick of the workman broke the lamp into four pieces, of which 
three were immediately recovered. Riviere and two of his men 
searched for the missing fragment an entire day, but without success. 
The shallow bowl contained some carbonized matter, an analysis of 
which led M. Berthelot, the chemist, to conclude that lard was used 
for lighting purposes. On the base there is an engraving of a wild 
goat’s head and horns. A figure exactly like this was found on the 
third mural panel already mentioned. This was the fourth lamp to 
be found in French caverns. The first and second were from the 
cavern of Monthier (Charente), and the third from the cavern of 
45745°—sm 1909-36 
