326 
THE TROGLODYTES OF THE VEZERE* 
Il. 
E have now examined the succession of prehistoric 
periods, from the begimming of the quaternary epoch, 
under the threefold aspect of stratification, palzeontology, 
and archeology. We have thus obtained three series of 
dates, which do not always agree very strictly. They 
coincide only in the latest date, which marks the com- 
mencement of the modern epoch, and only approximate 
in the more ancient dates ; but that is sufficient to enable 
us to arrange the following table, as a summary :— 
Stratigraphical 
Dates. 
Palzontological 
ates. 
Archzeological 
Dates. 
Low level of the val- 
Quaternary!| leys undisturbed |Mammoth Age Hatchet of St. Acheul 
Epoch | |Middle level Intermediate Age) Moustier point 
Upper level Reindeer Age Solutré point 
ek { Recent soil Present Fauna _| Polished hatchet 
Il.— Successive Stations 
of the Troglodytes of 
NATURKL 
| Feb. 27, 1873 
Thus the Troglodytes of Perigord have existed in the 
two last periods of the quaternary epoch, from the deca- 
dence of the mammoth to the disappearance of the rein- 
deer. It is impossible for us to measure the immense 
number of ages in which they lived, but wecan have some 
idea of it by studying their stations in connection with 
the level of the Vézére. : 
Since the Moustier Cave has ceased to be inhabited it 
has so often been flooded by the Vézére that it has been 
entirely filled with alluvial earth. This layer of earth, 
nearly two metres in thickness, does not contain either 
bones or flint. It has covered the layer which was for- 
merly the inhabited soil, in which man has left the tokens 
of his industry and the remnants of his feasts. This 
proves that the mouth of the cave was within reach of 
frequent floodings, and that consequently it was at a level 
hardly above that of the river. Now, at the present day, 
it is situated twenty-seven metres above the lowest water- 
mark ; the depth of the valley is therefore considerably 
increased since the epoch of the Moustier Troglodytes. 
On the other side, the 
station of La Made- 
the Vézere 
We now possess the 
facts necessary to en- 
able us to assign a place 
in chronology to the 
Troglodytes of the valley 
of the Vézére. There is 
not one polished hatchet 
to be found in their nu- 
merous stations; all 
their industry belongs 
to the epoch of hewn 
stone. They were there- 
fore anterior to the mo- 
dern epoch, They were 
acquainted with the 
mammoth ; they fought 
him ; they ate him ; they 
even sketched him ; they 
also knew the gigantic 
cive lion, and the cave 
hyena. Nevertheless, in 
their most ancient sta- 
t on—at least, the oldest 
with which we are ac- 
quainted, that of Mous- 
tier—the extinct species 
are already very rare, 
Our Troglodytes, there- 
fore, do not date from the 
first quaternary period 
or Mammoth Age; but 
their station at Moustier 
belongs incontestably to | pee 
the age which we have |, 
called intermediate, and ‘——~ 
which preceded _ the 
Reindeer Age. 
Their other stations 
ringe from epoch to 
epoch unt:l the end of 
the Reidzer Age; they therefore helped to des- 
troy the ancient fauna. They did not, it is true, wit- 
ness the disappearance of the last survivor, the mammoth, 
for some few rare vestiges of that animal are met with in 
the most recent caves of the Vézére, but at some leagues 
distance, at Excideuil, where MM. Jules and Phillippe 
Parrott have discovered a palzolithic cave in which was no 
trace of the extinct species, and in which even the reindeer 
was becoming rare. 
rrr 
wu 
amin ni 
pA 
ssi 
Set 
1.—Moustier cave. 2.—Moustier shrlter. 
aud burying-place of Cromagnon 
Lower Laugerie. 
* Continued from p. 272 
Fic. 8.—Map of the quaternary stations of the Vezére. 
5.—Shelter of Upper Laugerie. 
7-—Cave of the Gorge d'Enfer. 
_ laine, which is one of 
the most recent, per- 
haps zke most recent 
of the valley, is very 
slightly above the level 
of the largest present 
floodings. We may 
hence conclude that the 
valley of the Vézére was 
very much then what 
it is now, and that since 
the epoch of La Made- 
laine the level has be- 
come lowered to the 
extent of a few metres 
only. 
Thus this depression 
of twenty-seven metres, 
due to the action of the 
waters, was effected al- 
most entirely under the 
eyes of our Troglo- 
dytes, and from that 
time, during the whole 
length of the modern 
epoch, that is in hun- 
dreds of centuries, it 
has made very little 
progress. Judge from 
this how many human 
a 
come and gone between 
the. epochs of Moustier 
and La Madelaine. 
It is easy to see that 
in such an immense 
lapse of time the man- 
ners and industry of 
this people must have 
undergone notable 
changes. We shall have 
no trouble in proving this by the study of their different 
stations in succession. 
2000 _ 3000 £000 
Echelle de 86-500 
3 —Shelter of th- Madelaine. 4.—Shelter 
6.—Shelter of 
8.—Cave of the Eyzies. 
All those of the stations that are known up to the 
present time are grouped on both banks of the Vézére in 
a very circumscribed space. From Moustier, which is up 
the river, to Eyzies, which is down, the distance is but 
eight kilometres as the crow flies; it is nearly double 
when you follow the windings of the valley. Between - 
these extreme stations we see succeeding each other, on 
the right bank, those of the Madelaine, Upper Laugerie, 
generations must have. 
