RUDE DRAWINGS AND SCULPTURES. 255 



the neck, the fore-legs are doubled up under the belly, and 

 the hind-legs are stretched out along the blade. Unfor- 

 tunately the poniard seems to have been thrown away before 



FIG. 134. 



Handle of a Poniard. 



it was quite finished, but several of the details indicate that 

 the animal was intended for a reindeer. Although it is 

 natural to feel some surprise at finding these works of art, 

 still there are instances among recent savages of a certain 

 skill in drawing and sculpture, being accompanied by an 

 entire ignorance of metallurgy. 



In considering the probable condition of these ancient 

 Cave-men, we must give them full credit for their love of 

 art, such as it was ; while, on the other hand, the want of 

 metal, of polished flint implements, and even of pottery ;* the 

 ignorance of agriculture, and the apparent absence of all 

 domestic animals, including even the dog, certainly imply 

 a very low state of civilisation, and a very considerable 

 antiquity. 



There is also evidence that a considerable change of cli- 

 mate must have taken place. The .reindeer is the most 

 abundant animal, and evidently formed the principal article 

 of food, while we know that this animal is now confined to 

 arctic climates, and could not exist in the south of France. 

 Again, the ibex and the chamois, both of which are now 

 restricted to the snowy summits of the Alps and Pyrenees, 



* Pottery is, however, very rare in and is not by any means abundant in 

 the remains of the Irish Crannoges, the Danish shell-mounds. 



