4 IVORY AND THE ELEPHANT 



lively, as far above the earliest stage of the human race 

 as the member of the most highly civilized race of to-day 

 stands above him. 



Of all relics of the past, none can be said to vie in impor- 

 tance for the history of ivory with the rude outline of a 

 mammoth sketched upon an ivory plaque, over nine inches 

 long, by the hand of a prehistoric inhabitant of the cave 

 dwellings of La Madeleine, in the valley of the Vezere, com- 

 mune of Tursac (Depart. Dordogne) , France. This unique 

 piece was discovered in May, 1864, by Falconer and Lartet, 

 and is now in the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle 

 (Jardin des Plantes), Paris. It was described and figured in 

 the ReliquioB Aquitanicoe, published by Lartet and Christy, 

 and also in the Revue Archeologique, Vol. II, p. 245. 



Some very interesting details have been communicated 

 to the writer by M. Stanislas Meunier, Director of the 

 Museum. He states that the plaque was handed to him 

 personally in 1869, by M. Lartet, and that he well remem- 

 bers the words in which the fortunate discoverer expressed 

 the surprise and joy he had experienced in finding that some 

 ivory fragments scattered on the floor of the cave fitted into 

 one another, and when properly adjusted, offered the por- 

 trait of an elephant with long hairy fur. From an archaeo- 

 logical point of view the reproduction of the photograph sent 

 by M. Meunier is of considerable importance, as the illus- 

 trations heretofore given were derived from a sketch made 

 on the spot by M. Lartet at the time of his discovery, and 

 which was intended to bring out and emphasize the rude 

 scratchings of the primitive artist, as an aid to those who 

 might not have the requisite time to study the original care- 

 fully enough to see the design distinctly. 



At the Congres International d 'Anthropologic et d'Archeol- 

 ogie Prehistoriques, held at Monaco in 1906, Doctor Capitan 

 showed a most interesting ivory relic of the age of the cave 



