34 



The Prehistoric Hunter, 



SPEAR-HEAD FOUND NEAR PO.N'T-LEROY IN THE DILUVIUM OF THE VALLEY OF THE LOIRE — 

 FROM THE COLLECTION OF ALFRED M. MAYER.' 



moose would not be lost to sight in the snow. This is a usual prac- 

 tice with hunters, and it is not improbable that the same plan was 

 practiced by the cave-men; for in one of their sketches of a group of 

 reindeer, three are on their backs. One in particular, with stiffened 

 legs in the air, is not merely a sketch made on the surface of the 

 piece of antler in a reversed position, a fact which is at once evident 

 when we examine the pose of the head, neck, and legs with the draw- 

 ing turned upside down. 



We may reasonably suppose that yet another plan of hunting 

 was practiced by these prehistoric men. In the chase of the mam- 

 moth or the aurochs, one of these creatures would sometimes be 

 surrounded by the hunters and driven over the brow of a precipice, 

 an experience which would be likely to suggest the use of pitfalls. 



Flint axes, spears, and knives were the only arms 

 of the chase used by the men of the drift, for no 

 arrowhead, nor any kind of fishing implement or 

 harpoon, has been found in the drift. On finding the 

 arrowhead, we infer the use of the bow. This inven- 

 tion does not appear till the period of the cave-dwellers 

 —a more recent date, yet far removed in time from ^"aTponVleroy 

 ours. How man, armed only with the lance and the l^SSKKSWSI 



