406 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIV. No. 1134 



two important points which some observ- 

 ers have shown a tendency to pass over. 



Its successive phases, the Aurignacian, 

 the Solutrean and the Magdalenian, with 

 its decadent Azilian offshoot — the order of 

 which may now be regarded as stratigraph- 

 ically established — represent, on the whole, 

 a continuous story. 



I will not here discuss the question as to 

 how far the disappearance of Neanderthal 

 Man and the close of the Moustierian epoch 

 represents a "fault" or gap. But the view 

 that there was any real break in the course 

 of the cultural history of the Reindeer Age 

 itself does not seem to have sufficient war- 

 rant. 



It is true that new elements came in 

 from more than one direction. On the old 

 Aurignacian area, which had a trans-Medi- 

 terranean extension from Syria to Morocco, 

 there intruded on the European side — ap- 

 parently from the east — the Solutrean 

 type of culture, with its perfected flint- 

 working and exquisite laurel-leaf points. 

 Magdalenian man, on the other hand, great 

 as the proficiency that he attained in the 

 carving of horn and bone, was much be- 

 hind in his flint-knapping. That there 

 were dislocations and temporary set-backs 

 is evident. But on every side we still note 

 transitions and reminiscences. When, 

 moreover, we turn to the most striking fea- 

 tures of this whole cultural phase, the 

 primeval arts of sculpture, engraving and 

 painting, we see a gradual upgrowth and 

 unbroken tradition. From mere outline 

 figures and simple two-legged profiles of 

 animals we are led on step by step to the 

 full freedom of the Magdalenian artists. 

 From isolated or disconnected subjects we 

 watch the advance to large compositions, 

 such as the hunting scenes of the Spanish 

 rock-paintings. In the culminating phase 

 of this art we even find impressionist works. 

 A brilliant illustration of such is seen in 

 the galloping herds of horses, lightly 



sketched by the engraver on the stone slab 

 from the Chaumont Grotto, depicting the 

 leader in each case in front of his troop, 

 and its serried line — straight as that of a 

 well-drilled battalion — in perspective rend- 

 ering. The whole must be taken to be a 

 faithful memory sketch of an exciting epi- 

 sode of prairie life. 



The other characteristic feature of the 

 culture of the Reindeer age that seems to 

 deserve special emphasis, and is almost the 

 corollary of the foregoing, is that it can not 

 be regarded as the property of a single race. 

 It is true that the finely built Cro-Magnon 

 race seems to have predominated, and must 

 be regarded as an element of continuity 

 throughout, but the evidence of the co-ex- 

 istence of other human types is clear. Of 

 the physical characteristics of these it is 

 not my province to speak. Here it will be 

 sufficient to point out that their interments, 

 as well as their general associations, con- 

 clusively show that they shared, even in its 

 details, the common culture of the age, fol- 

 lowed the same fashions, plied the same 

 arts, and were imbued with the same be- 

 liefs as the Cro-Magnon folk. The negroid 

 skeletons intercalated in the interesting 

 succession of hearths and interments of the 

 Grotte des Enfants at Grimaldi had been 

 buried with the same rites, decked with the 

 same shell ornaments, and were supplied 

 with the same red coloring matter for use 

 in the spirit world, as we find in the other 

 sepultures of these caves belonging to the 

 Cro-Magnon race. Similar burial rites 

 were associated in this country with the 

 "Red Lady of Paviland," the contempo- 

 rary Aurignacian date of which is now well 

 established. A like identity of funeral cus- 

 tom recurred again in the sepulture of a 

 man of the "Briinn" race on the eastern 

 boundary of this field of culture. 



In other words, the conditions prevailing 

 were analogous to those of modern Europe. 

 Cultural features of the same general char- 



