XLII 

 THE CAVE-MEN'S SKULLS 



A CERTAIN number of human skulls and a few com- 

 1JL plete skeletons have been found in the cave-deposits, 

 and even in open ground (as at Predmont, in Moravia) 

 associated with the bones of extinct animals, or with 

 carvings and ornaments like those which occur abundantly 

 in the caverns. The ancient cave-men of the Cromagnard 

 type often called "the Reindeer Men" buried their dead 

 sometimes in the caves, but more usually in the open. 

 Sometimes the skeletons are found in a crouching position, 

 as though tied up when buried ; more rarely (as in some 

 examples found in the caves at Mentone) they are 

 stretched out and decorated with a necklace or wreath 

 made of shells, or of the teeth or small bones of animals. 

 In many cases the flesh was removed from the corpse, 

 and red ochre was smeared on the bones (as by some 

 recent savages). The " Reindeer " people used red ochre 

 and charcoal to colour the engravings of animals (Fig. 71) 

 which they made on the walls of their caves, and prob- 

 ably for painting or tattooing their own faces. The 

 existence of these wall paintings, wonderful representa- 

 tions of bison, great ox, deer, and other animals, proves that 

 these men had artificial light (lamps or torches) to send 

 fitful gleams on to the paintings, and it is probable that 

 the " wall pictures " had to do with some kind of witch- 



