THE EARLIEST PICTURE IN THE WORLD 3 



" Elapho-Tarandian." At this period the reindeer (Tar- 

 andus), which previously abounded, is giving place to the 

 red deer (Elaphus). The layer in which this carving was 

 found belongs to the latest of 

 the Palaeolithic cave deposits, 

 and was followed by a warmer 

 period, in which the red deer 

 and the modern fauna entirely 

 replaced the old fiauna of the 

 Glacial period. The deposits 

 in Pyrenean caves of the 

 Elapho - Tarandian age are 

 characterized by an abund- 

 ance of large flat harpoons 

 serrated on both sides. In this 

 latest horizon of the Reindeer 

 period the art of engraving 

 in outline on bone and stone 

 had attained the highest pitch 

 of excellence wjiich it reached 

 in the prehistoric race of 

 South- West Europe. 



A very natural tendency 

 among those who hear from 

 time to time something of 

 what is being discovered about 

 primitive man is to confuse 

 all the periods and races of 

 prehistoric man together, and 

 so picture to themselves one 

 ideal " primitive man." My 

 friend Mr. Rudyard Kipling does this, although it would 

 be no further from a true conception were he to blend 

 his ancient Britons, his Phenicians, his Romans, his 

 Saxons, his Normans, and a few Hindoos into one 



Fig. 3. — A. Perforated harpoon 

 of the Azilian or Red-Deer 

 period, made from antler of 

 red deer, found in quantity in 

 the upper layers of deposit 

 in the cavern of the Mas d'Azil 

 (Arriege). B and ' C. Imper- 

 forate harpoons or lance heads 

 made from reindeer antler of the 

 Magdalenian period (Reindeer 

 epoch). B from Bruniquel Cave 

 (Tarn-et-Garonne). C from a 

 cavern in the Hautes Pyr^n^es, 

 Same size as the objects. 



