PLEISTOCENE CAVE-DEPOSITS. hi 



Arcy-sur-cure (Yonne), in which M. de Vibraye discovered 

 bones of mammoth, cave -bear, rhinoceros, and hyaena, with 

 rude flint implements and a human vertebra. In the cavern of 

 Pontit (Herault), the lower deposits contained remains of rhino- 

 ceros, cave-bear, urus, etc., while in the upper layers were char- 

 coal and implements of flint, bone, and horn, commingled with 

 bones of horse, urus, etc. The uppermost layer was of Neo- 

 lithic Age, and yielded polished stone implements, pottery, etc. 

 But one of the most interesting caves is tbat of Moustier 

 (Perigord), described by MM. Lartet and Christy. It has 

 yielded remains of hyaena, cave-bear, and mammoth, with flint 

 implements which approach in character to those discovered at 

 Vallieres, and in certain ancient river -gravels at Abbeville, 

 which will be referred to in the following chapter. The caverns 

 and stations belonging to the later stage of the Palaeolithic 

 Period, or so-called Eeiudeer epoch, are the most abundant in 

 France. They are especially numerous in the steep rocky banks 

 and cliffs of the valleys of the Dordogne and the Vezere in Peri- 

 gord, where they have been studied by the late MM. Lartet and 

 Christy, who have furnished us with many most interesting 

 details of the conditions that obtained during the closing scenes 

 of Palaeolithic times. Prom the caves of Perigord and some of 

 those in the Pyrenees have come the most numerous and best 

 finished examples of carved and engraved horns, and bones and 

 ivory. 1 The character of these and other human relics, and the 

 fact that they are invariably associated with plentiful remains of 

 the reindeer, show that the caves of Perigord and the lower val- 

 leys of the Pyrenees were occupied towards the close of the Palaeo- 

 lithic Period by a race of hunters and fishers who lived under 

 cold climatic conditions ; and the close analogy presented by 

 these French caves to those of Belgium renders it in the highest 

 degree probable that both belong approximately to the same 

 age. Among the more important French caves and stations of 

 this age are those of Massat (Ariege), La Vache, near Tarascon 

 (Ariege), Bruniquel, on the borders of Aveyron (Tarn-et-Garonne), 



1 Fine engravings have also been discovered in the Kesserloch, a Swiss cave. 



