628 WOEKS OF ART BY 



Perigord), and in the arrondissenient of Sarlat, in the south- 

 western part of Central France. The most productive locali- 

 ties were the cave of ' Les Eyzies,' in the commune of Tayac, 

 the cave of ' Le Moustier,' and the shelter-recesses under the 

 projecting cliffs of 'Laugerie-Haute,' ' Laugerie-Basse,' and 

 ' La Madeleine,' in the Valley of the Yezere ; the rock-forma- 

 tion consisting of indurated chalk. The floor of ' Les Eyzies ' 

 cavern is overlaid by a continuous sheet of breccia, composed 

 of a base of cinders and ashes, mingled with charcoal ; frag- 

 ments of bones either in the natural state, or split, scorched, 

 or burnt ; outside pebbles ; flint-cores with numerous frag- 

 ments of flint-flakes or knives, invariably of wrought forms, 

 and associated with other implements or weapons fabricated 

 out of reindeer's horns ; the whole consolidated in a confused 

 mass, which had never been disturbed since the period of 

 deposition. This was established by the state of the materials 

 and by the fact that in several cases long bones were found 

 with their heads in articular continuity, and vertebrae of 

 reindeer in sequence. 



The principal objects of art were as follows : — In ' Les 

 Eyzies,' among numerous fragments of a hard slate, foreign 

 to the district, two plates were found, each bearing an en- 

 graved representation of a quadruped. One of them, mutilated 

 by an ancient fracture, presents the fore-quarter of an herbi- 

 vorous (?) animal, the head of which was apparently invested 

 with horns, so far as the faint lines of the engraving at this 

 part admit of judging. The other bears the figure of a head, 

 with the nostrils sharply defined, and the mouth half opened ; 

 but the profile lines of the frontal region are interrupted in 

 consequence of erasure by subsequent friction. On one side 

 and a little in front is engraved the figure of the palm of a 

 large horn, inferred by MM. Lartet and Milne-Edwards, with 

 reserve, to be that of a Moose Deer. These specimens are 

 regarded by M. Lartet as being the earliest known examples 

 of engraving on stone, by primeval man, of the Reindeer 

 period in Europe. 



The most striking part of the collection, consisting of 

 sculptured objects, was discovered in the shelter recesses, 

 under tbe cliffs of La Madeleine, Laugerie-Haute, and Lau- 

 gerie-Basse, amidst accumulations of bone-refuse and other 

 rejectamenta, mingled with an immense quantity of flint-flakes 

 and the cores from which they had been struck off. These 

 spots were evidently the kitchens and manufactories of the 

 ancient savage. The bones indicated the animals on which 

 he fed ; being the horse, ox, ibex, chamois, reindeer, birds, 

 fish, &c. The common stag was rare, as were also the boar 

 and the hare. Some detached molar teeth were discovered 



