328 
NATURE 
[Fed. 27, 1873 
will be more abundant than those of all the others put 
together. 
The finest works in flint of the Valley of the Vézére are 
those of Upper Laugerie. All the implements, all the 
weapons of that station are in flint. They are innume- 
rable ; their shapes and dimensions are very varied. Side 
by side with imperfectly fashioned objects we find others 
whose elegant form and delicately finished contours reveal 
accomplished workmen. 
These beautiful flints of Upper Laugerie belong to the 
Solutré type. Their shape is Janceolated; they are not 
thick ; their graduated edges, jagged with little notches, 
are regular and symmetrical; their base is often fashioned 
so as to facilitate putting ona handle. They are evidently 
destined to be adapted tothe extremity of a piece of wood. 
Their dimensions vary considerably ; the shape is much 
the same. It is easy to see that the small ones are 
arrow-points; the medium size doubtless furnished the 
darts which were hurled from the hand, The largest are 
lance-points, but their want of width shows that those 
lances were rather light. 
These carefully-wrought points, so common at Upper 
Laugerie, are not to be found in the later stations of the 
valley of the Vézére. It was surmised, from this circum- 
stance, that the workmanship of flints, after having pro- 
gressed till the time of Upper Laugerie, had then declined. 
This caused surprise, and justly ; for it would be asto-. 
nishing if such an intelligent people, as were evidently 
the Troglodytes of the Reindeer Age, had allowed their 
main branch of industry to decay. But many objects 
found in their more recent stations prove that they had 
not Jost the secret of fine carving; and that, if they no 
longer wrought the points of Upper Laugerie, they no 
longer needed them, 
A great progressive stride had been accomplished. 
They had learned how to shape the deers’ horns, and the 
bones of animals. It was with those substances, more 
pliable than flint, less hard, no doubt, but quite solid 
enough to fabricate darts and arrows of a longer flight 
and a greater precision. Then, when these modes of 
workmanship were once known, the bones and horns of 
deer were used to manufacture a vast number of tools and 
utensils of every description. 
But, for all that, the reign of flint was not over. On 
the contrary, the varied assortment of cut flints was 
greater than ever ; to those which served as weapons and 
implements were now added a multitude of small tools 
destined to use for working the deer-horn. 
We have here arrived at an important evolution of 
industry. Upto that time there had only been simple 
industry, or as it were primitive, utilising the original su- 
stance direct. Now we come to progressive industry. Tools 
were manufactured whose sole use was to fabricate others. 
In all ages flint had been employed as an instrument of 
workmanship. From the commencement of the Stone 
Age it had been used to cut the horn, to make pikes, 
clubs, handles of lances or darts. The idea of making 
use in the same manner of the bones of animals was not 
new either, for in the ancient station of Cromagnon were 
found some dart-points of deer-horn, and even some 
pieces of ivory. But the characteristic feature of the 
epoch on which we are entering was the creation of 
special tools which were not necessary for the wants of 
life, and which were destined to facilitate and perfect the 
fabrication of useful implements. From that time com- 
menced that division of labour which, in a future day, was 
to increase a hundredfold the power of man and subject 
all nature to his sway. 
The workmanship in deer-horn was already pretty far 
advanced in the station of Gorge d’Enfer. We find there 
a complete assortment of objects in this substance— 
lances, darts, arrows, bodkins, needles, hunting marks, 
account registers, &c. These articles are pretty well 
wrought, but without ornaments, and the darts are of the 
simplest shape. They are conical points, without any 
barbs. (See Fig. 11.) 
The invention of barbs is worthy of attention. These 
recurring points no doubt rendered the blow more dan- 
gerous ; the projectile remained fixed in the flesh, and the 
wounded animal could not get rid of it as he fled through 
the bushes. But this was probably not the principal 
object of the barbs. Placed in a regular series on both 
sides of the arrow (see Fig. 9), they sustained it in the 
air like wings ; they increased the flight and the precision 
of the aim, and this innovation suggests a certain know- 
ledge of experimental physics, The barbs are generally 
provided on one side with one or more openings, which 
are supposed to be destined for the reception of poison. 
The barb of the arrows and the ornamentation, more or 
less artistic, are the two distinguishing marks of the sta- 
tions of the latest epoch. These are three in number— 
the Eyzies, Lower Laugerie, and the Madelaine. They 
resemble each other closely, and it is probable that they 
were nearly contemporary. 
Ill. The Society of the Troglodytes 
The caves of the Troglodytes were situated near the 
Vézére, without any special aspect, excepting perhaps 
that they were never open to the north, 
They lived in them the whole year round. This is 
proved by the remains of their food, for they ate the rein- 
deer fawn of every age. An examination of the teeth of 
these young animals, of their bones, of their horns in 
different stages of growth, enables us to determine the 
number of months they had lived, and consequently the 
season of the year in which they were killed. Hence we 
may aver that our Troglodytes had a fixed residence, in 
other words, that they were not nomads. ; 
When they went out fishing or hunting they closed the 
mouth of their caves to prevent the entrance of carnivora. 
A single bone, found at the Madelaine, has the trace of a 
hyena’s teeth. This animal may have once by accident 
gained an entrance. The hyena was rare at that epoch, 
but wolves and foxes were numerous, and if they did not 
come and gnaw the bones scattered all over the floor of — 
the cave, it was because the latter was carefully closed. 
As there is no vestige of a stone door at the approach to 
our caves, the Troglodytes, doubtless, closed their doors 
with palisades. Hi 
There have certainly been found, in the thiee stations 
of the latest epoch, a certain number of stones in granite, 
sandstone, or quartz, rounded and polished nearly smooth 
with friction, presenting on side a very regular depression 
in the form of a little cup, and resembling little mortars. 
From this has arisen the supposition that the Troglodytes 
ground corn for food ; but all concur in proving that they 
did not understand agriculture. It is much more pro- 
bable that they used their mortars to triturate poisons or 
colours. 
Hunting was their chiet resource and occupation. 
The remnants of bones accumulated on the floor of their 
caves prove that they hunted animals of every size, from 
the small bird to the mammoth, This old giant of the 
early quaternary age still survived, but he was becoming 
very rare. 
Here is the representation of a piece of ivory discovered 
in 1864, at the Madelaine, by MM. Ed. Lartet, de Ver- 
neuil, and Falconer. On this surface, an engraved draw- 
ing represents the mammoth, with his head erect, his brow 
concave, his great tusks bent, his small eye, his long trunk, 
his tail elevated, and his long mane. In a word, precisely © 
like the mammoths in flesh and bones, which a perpetual 
frost has preserved to our own days on the banks of th 
Lena. (See Fig. 12.) Me 
The Troglodytes of the Reindeer Age had rarely an op- 
portunity of encountering the mammoth. They more fre- 
quently hunted the aurochs, the horse, the ox ; and it was 
doubtless for hunting these large animals that they still 
