Notices respecting New Books. 557 



of the oldest deposits of the series ; and the successive evidences 

 of habitation shown by the several layers of hearth-stuff, sepa- 

 rated by varying thicknesses of debris (the formation of which 

 was, if modern evidence be worth any thing, exceedingly slow), 

 would serve to carry the period of sepulture back to a very distant 

 period. The additional evidence of the heavy talus, 4 to 6 metres 

 thick, which had gradually formed against the mouth of the rock 

 shelter must not be forgotten. 



Le Moustier may even be older, judging from the rudeness of 

 the tools and their similarity to the drift-type, as well as to the 

 nature of the animal remains, Mammoth, Hyaena, and Felis spelcea, 

 with few relics of the Reindeer. It is possible that additional evi- 

 dence of antiquity is found in the higher level of this cave above 

 the bottom of the valley. 



The others, judging from the associated remains, are more of the 

 same age, and were occupied w r hen the larger animals were rarer and 

 the reindeer in large numbers had taken their place. These latter 

 were evidently plentiful, as the bones belong to animals of all ages, 

 judging from the horns. 



It is still more difficult to fix the date of occupation of the 

 valley at this period. Though reference is made to the reindeer 

 by Sallust as existing in the Grerman forests, there is no historical 

 evidence whatever of its having lived in Southern Graul. The cli- 

 mate of that time, though the classic writers speak of winters of 

 greater . extremes of cold than are known now, would still be 

 unsuitable to the reindeer ; and it is probable that Aquitania, being 

 nearer the shores of the Mediterranean, was more densely occupied 

 and more disforested than those portions of Northern Germany 

 of which the classical author speaks. 



We must go back still further in time for the Reindeer epoch of 

 Aquitaine, to a period when the glaciers were larger and more 

 extensive, and when Western Europe was more influenced by the 

 glacial sea. In no other way can the presence of vast herds of 

 reindeer be accounted for. There were no lofty mountains near, 

 to which in the summer heat, when they are peculiarly susceptible 

 to being troubled by flies, they might retreat; nor were ranges 

 to the north to which they might go, and, in passing near the 

 Yezere during their migrations, come within reach of the reindeer- 

 hunters. Their presence in the neighbourhood must have been 

 constant ; for the Cave-folk evidently drew constant and sufficient 

 supplies of food from the reindeer herds, and they would not have 

 been able to kill and store enough for their wants during the in- 

 tervals which elapsed between such assumed migrations. Savage 

 races, as a rule, follow up the animals they hunt for food, and 

 make no permanent habitations unless the former inhabit the neigh- 

 bourhood in sufficient numbers. The selection of caves and shelters 

 with a southern aspect, the constant occupation evidenced by the 

 quantity of material found in the caves, all show that the men and 

 animals were inhabitants of the same district, and that the climate, 

 therefore, must have been suited to such a case. 



