REPORT OF THE BIRECTOR I913 I45 



also into four periods, Eocene, Oligocene, Miocene and Pliocene. 

 In our present theme only this last and most recent period, the 

 Pliocene, interests us. At this epoch the climate of Europe was 

 warm and its fauna included such a characteristic animal as the 

 northern elephant. The Quaternary, also, has been divided into the 

 present Quaternary or Holocene, characterized by a climate and a 

 fauna very like those of the present, and into an ancient Quaternary 

 or Pleistocene. The latter comprises three periods : Lower Pleisto- 

 cene, with a mild climate, during which the hippopotamus and the 

 Elephas antiquus abounded in our region ; the Middle 

 Pleistocene, with a cold and humid climate, the fauna of which in- 

 cluded the mammoth, the hairy rhinoceros and the reindeer ; finally, 

 the Later or Upper Pleistocene, with a cold, dry climate, often called 

 the Reindeer age, on account of the extreme abundance of this 

 animal. Toward the end of this epoch the fauna was very like 

 that of the steppes. 



Thus arranged, what are the discoveries relating to man and 

 his predecessors which have been made in the different beds 

 corresponding to the divisions just enumerated ? It is believed that 

 we have found traces of the existence of man, or at least of a 

 being resembling man, in the Tertiary epoch, shown by the dis- 

 covery of incised bones and, in many places, of stones which bear 

 traces of use, the so-called eoliths. These eoliths have given rise 

 to lively discussions, but today, thanks to the work of MM. Boule 

 and Breuil, it is proved that flints may acquire the aspect of stones 

 intentionally retouched merely by the effect of contusion in tor- 

 rential waters or under the pressure of the rocks themselves, and 

 it is admitted now almost unanimously that even if a human being 

 living in the Tertiary epoch actually made use of stones, it would be 

 impossible, in the present state of our knowledge, to distinguish 

 them from those which have been bruised and broken by the action 

 of natural causes. It has, moreover, not been proved that incisions 

 found on certain Tertiary bones are the work of man. Of the 

 being who might have modeled these eoliths or made these in- 

 cisions, there has not, thus far, been found in our country the 

 slightest vestige, and the expression of Nadaillac in 1885 is today 

 the exact truth : " Man might have been able to live during Tertiary 

 times. Nothing in the climate or geologic conditions, nothing in the 

 fauna or in the flora is opposed a priori to his existence then, but 

 up to the present time there is no known fact, no discovery, no 

 proof which can really permit us to affirm this with any degree 

 of certitude." 



