328 MM. Lartet and Christy on the Existence of Man 



apparent dilatation of one of the basilar antlers, and the whole 

 physiognomy of this figure would lead us to refer it rather to 

 the reindeer than to the common stag. In front of the muzzle 

 of this head there is another figure, simply engraved in outline, 

 which may be easily taken for a form of fish. 



There is another excellent specimen in which the art-sentiment 

 is especially revealed by the clever manner in which the artist 

 has been led to bend animal forms, without too much violence, 

 to suit the necessities of a useful purpose. It is a poignard or 

 short sword of reindeer-horn, of which the entire handle is 

 formed by the body of an animal : the hind legs are laid in the 

 direction of the blade; the fore legs are bent back, without 

 effort, beneath the belly ; the head, which has its muzzle ele- 

 vated, forms with the back and the crupper a concavity designed 

 to facilitate the grasping of this weapon by a hand which must 

 have been much smaller than those of our European races. The 

 head is armed with branched horns, which are closely applied to 

 the sides of the neck without in any way hindering prehension ; 

 but the basilar antlers have necessarily been suppressed. The 

 ear is smaller than that of the stag, and is also, in its position, 

 more in agreement with that of the reindeer ; lastly, the artist 

 has left beneath the neck a projection, in the form of a thin 

 plate notched at its edge, which sufficiently resembles the tuft of 

 hair often found at this point in the male Reindeer. It is to be 

 regretted that this specimen has reached us in the condition of 

 a mere sketch, as may be judged from the unfinished workman- 

 ship of the blade, and from certain details of the sculpture being 

 scarcely indicated. 



If it were necessary to add fresh evidence to that already fur- 

 nished in proof of the contemporaneity of man and the reindeer 

 in those regions which have become the southern and central 

 France of the present day, we might mention numerous horns 

 of that animal at the base of which may be distinguished cuts 

 made in detaching the skin from them. We should also call 

 attention to other transverse cuts which are frequently observed 

 at the bottom of the cannon-bones of our reindeer of the caves, 

 produced during the cutting of the tendons, performed (as among 

 the Esquimaux of the present day) with the intention of splitting 

 them up and dividing them into threads which serve for sewing 

 together the skins of animals and also for the formation of cords 

 of great strength. 



Lastly, we can also show a lumbar vertebra of the Reindeer 

 pierced from side to side by a flint weapon, which has remained 

 fixed in the bone, where it is further retained by a calcareous 

 incrustation. 



As an archseological fact characteristic of the period of the 



