BONE- AND CAVE-DEPOSITS OF THE BEINDEEll-PEKIOD. 161 



XV. 



ON SOME BONE- AND CAVE-DEPOSITS OF THE REINDEER-PERIOD IN THE SOUTH OF 

 FRANCE. By JOHN EVANS, Esq., F.R.S., F.S.A., Hon. Secretary of the Geological and Numismatic 

 Societies of London, &c. 



PREFACE. 



THIS Paper, written soon after a Visit to the Caves on the Vezere, in company with the late Mr. Henry 

 Christy and other friends, was read before the Geological Society of London on 22nd June, 1864. A short 

 Abstract only appeared in the Quarterly Journal of that Society, vol. xx. p. 444. 



When first I was requested to allow of this Paper being printed in the ' RELIOTI^; AQCITANIC^;,' it was a 

 question with me whether it was in any way desirable that it should appear in type. In consenting to its 

 being printed, it seemed best that it should stand in its original form, as the only merit it possessed was 

 that it conveyed my first impressions of what, at the time of its being written, was a novel and comparatively 

 unexplored field of research. With one or two verbal corrections, the paper is therefore reproduced in the 

 exact form in which it was communicated to the Geological Society. 



With the large experience that has since been gained, much might have been added, and some of the 

 suggested difficulties as to the chronological position of the Reindeer-period might to a certain extent have 

 been removed. The relatively superior antiquity of the Moustier relics over those of the other Caves, how- 

 ever, has been almost universally acknowledged ; and attempts have been made to arrange the whole series 

 in an approximately chronological order, more especially by M. Gabriel de Mortillet. My own views upon 

 the subject I have given elsewhere*. I will only add that, with all our advance in knowledge, including 

 the experience gained by the skilful examination of the Belgian caves by M. E. Dupont, there still remains 

 much to be learned before we can, with any degree of confidence, assign any definite date to either the 



earliest or the latest of these Cave-deposits. 



J.E. 



April 1873. 



Introduction. In these days, when the Cavern-deposits throughout the globe 

 are deservedly attracting so much attention, and when the limits of the Border- 

 land that lies between the provinces of Geology and Archaeology are being gra- 

 dually extended, a slight notice of some of the caves and bone deposits of the 

 Southern part of Central Trance will probably be of some interest to this Society. 

 The deposits to which I would more particularly direct attention are those which 

 have been and are still being explored with so much success under the auspices of 

 the distinguished Erench palaeontologist; M. Edouard Lartet, and our energetic 

 countryman, Mr. Henry Christy, both Fellows of this Society. It was under the 

 guidance of the latter gentleman, and accompanied by our President (Mr. W. J. 

 * The Ancient Stone Implements, Weapons, and Ornaments of Great Britain (1872), pp. 436-438. 



