MODERN HORSES AND THEIR ANCESTORS 79 



bone, tusks, and skin by these ancient men. I revert to 

 this subject in a later article (page 371), but would merely 

 say now that it is all as certain and well-established a 

 chapter in man's history as that of the ancient Egyptians, 

 who are really quite modern (dating from 8000 years at 

 most) as compared with these cave-men of 50,000 years 

 ago, and the even earlier races which preceded them in 

 Europe. 



The bones of the animals killed and eaten by the 

 cave-men are found in some cases in enormous quantities. 

 In one locality in France the bones of as many as 80,000 

 horses (which had been cooked and eaten) have been dug 

 up and counted ! The most wonderful and extraordinary 

 thing about these cave-men is that they carved complete 

 rounded sculptures, high reliefs, low reliefs, and line- 

 engravings on mammoth's ivory, on reindeer horn, on 

 bones, and on stones the line-engravings being the latest 

 in date, as shown by their position in the deposits on the 

 floor of the caves, which are often as much as twenty feet 

 or thirty feet in thickness ! Not only that, but these 

 carvings are often real works of art, extremely well drawn, 

 and showing not mere childish effort but work which was 

 done with the intention and control of an artist's mind. 



An immense number of these carvings are now known. 

 I have before me one of the most recent publications on 

 the subject a series of plates showing the carvings 

 collected from caves in the Pyrenees, the Dordogne, and 

 the Landes by M. Piette, who recently died. I have 

 examined his collection and others of the same kind in 

 the great Museum of St. Germain, near Paris. We have 

 in London some of the earlier collections, and especially 

 that of the Vicomte de Lastic, to purchase which my old 

 friend Sir Richard Owen journeyed to the Dordogne in the 

 winter of 1864. Many animals, as well as some human 

 beings (Fig. 7), are represented in these carvings the 



