652 EEPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1890, 



Dr. Lecocq, Normandy. 

 Massenat, Lot and Correze. 

 Lemire. 



Eugene Piketty. 



Earnest Chantre, Koban, Caucasus. 

 B. Toruier, Hautes Alpes. 

 Cau-Durban, Saint-Girons. 

 Collin, Seine-et Oise. 



A magnificent collection was that of Mr. Frederic Moreau, filling 

 nineteen cases and comprising every archaeological epoch and period of 

 France. They are principally his own discoveries, and he has pub- 

 lished each year for many years a report of his work and a description 

 of the objects found, the latter in the form of an album with beautiful 

 chromo-lithographic illustrations. 



FRANCE — NEOLITHIC PERIOD. 



To the cold and dryness of the climate of the epoch of the reindeer 

 succeeded the climate of the present time, though at first more humid 

 than today. There was no more rhinoceros, nor elephant, nor the 

 great cave bear, which are now extinct species, nor the reindeer, nor 

 the auimals which had been cold-blooded, for they had all emigrated 

 toward the north. The wild auimals at the commencement of the neo- 

 lithic period seem to have been those of the present time, though more 

 numerous than now. Animals became domesticated ; the dog was the 

 first, aud probably after him the horse. The cultivated plants showed 

 themselves at the same time, though probably in succession aud not 

 always the same variety that we now possess. Flax was utilized, but 

 not hemp. The industry indicates to us with what slowness civiliza- 

 tion has evolved. Man lived not in the cavern, but only just outside. 



The civilization of the neolithic period is characterized principally by 

 the polished stone hatchet. This implement has become so abundant 

 that many communities have counted them by the thousand. Ethnog- 

 raphy has taught us that the use of these implements was much 

 varied. Sometimes it was an arm, sometimes a sign of the chief, some- 

 times a cutting tool, and sometimes an instrument to dig in the earth. 

 We have discovered the different systems of the handling of these 

 hatchets and their different destinations. They were made of the 

 local rock and the form varied slightly according to their region. The 

 same observation is true of all contemporaneous objects. This differ- 

 ence in these tools and in the objects of their industry would tend to 

 show that there were distinct groups in the population of France at 

 this epoch. It is doubtless true that there are found a number of varia- 

 tions in arms, tools, ornaments, aud implements, which on examination 

 as to material, etc., prove to be foreign to the country, aud are there- 

 fore believed to fuinish proof of foreign commercial relations. There 

 were quarries and workshops of flint which seem to have been made 

 for exportation, notably that of Grand Pressigny in the Vieune, Meu- 



