THE ART OF PREHISTORIC MEN 



45 



of the Pleistocene strata, 

 it is not an unreasonable 

 supposition that the period 

 required for the formation 

 of the fossiliferous rocks 

 which precede them in 

 time, is not less and 

 probably more than 

 five hundred million 

 years. 



FIG. 14. Drawing (of the actual size 

 of the original) of a flat carving in 

 shoulder-bone of a horse's head, 

 showing twisted rope - bridle and 

 trappings, a appears to represent 

 a flat ornamented band of wood or 

 skin connecting the muzzling rope 

 b with other pieces c and d. This 

 specimen is from the cave of St. 

 Michel d'Arudy, and is of the Reindeer 

 period. This, and others like it are 

 in the same museum of St. Germain. 



The pictures and carv- 



ings with which we are 



for the moment concerned 



all belong to the later 



Pleistocene or Reindeer 



epoch. None have been 



found in the middle and 



earlier Pleistocene, though finely-chipped flints of several 



successive types are found in those earlier beds. So that 



it is clear that many 

 successive ages of 

 man had elapsed 

 in Western Europe 

 before these pictures 

 immensely ancient 

 as they are were 



FIG. 15. Drawing (of the actual size of the executed. The men 



original ) of a fully rounded carving in reindeer's \vho made these 

 antler of the head of a neighing horse. The , , , , 



head resembles that of the Mongolian horse. * 



This is one of the most artistic of the cave-men's a g es f humanity, 



carvings yet discovered. It is of the Palseo- tradition, and culture 



lithic age (early Reindeer period), probably ( Q f a 



not less than 50,000 years old. It was found , _- , 



in the cavern of Mas d'Azil, Ariege, France, tnem - * et they 



and is now in the museum of St. Germain. were themselves 



