84 



THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC 



[CH. 



and reindeer horn, and quantities of broken bones, chiefly those 

 of the horse and the reindeer, which had plainly been used as 

 food. 



On the south side of the settlement piled-up bones of horses 

 formed a sort of protecting wall. The estimate of the number 

 of animals represented by these relics varies from two thousand 

 to one hundred thousand, but it is very difficult to make a just 

 calculation, for the bones were so broken in extracting the 

 marrow, that it was with difficulty a complete skeleton could 

 be constructed for the museum at Lyons. 



According to M. Toussaint the horse of Solutre was of low 

 stature, the average height being from 1*36 m. (13'2 hands) to 

 1'38 m. (13'3 hands). The lower jaws were highly developed, 



FIG. 41. A Prehistoric Horse. 



and the teeth were so large that they might readily be 

 taken as belonging to animals of a much greater size. The 

 large size of the head 1 in proportion to the rest of the body 

 harmonizes remarkably with the engraved figures of horses 

 found in some of the Dordogne caves. " The bones of the 

 limbs were strong, with large articulations, prominent muscular 

 attachments, and broad hoofs 2 ." It is noteworthy that in the 

 leg the metacarpal and metatarsal vestigial bones were not 

 united to the main bone, as is usually the case with modern 



1 It is worth noting that the head and teeth in one of the varieties of 

 Prejvalsky's horse are relatively very large (J. C. E.). 



2 Munro, Arch. Jour. Vol. LIX. pp. 114 sqq. 



