NEOLITHIC, BRONZE, AND IRON AGES. 377 



and the debris of his feasts having been met with in many caves 

 in England, Belgium, France, Spain, and other countries. In all 

 these regions the animal remains with which the Neolithic relics 

 are associated belong to species which are indigenous to the 

 same districts in which the caves occur, or are known to have 

 been living there in historical times. Thus in the caves of the 

 Pyrenees in Ariege, explored by MM. Garrigou and Filhol, are 

 found remains of oxen (Bos primigenms, B. frontosus, B. brachy- 

 ceros), a sheep like that which is often met with in the peat- 

 bogs, goat, stag, roe-buck, wild-boar (Sus scrofa ferns and 

 palustris), brown bear, wolf, dog, fox, chamois, and many birds. 

 The same authors mention a number of facts which lead them 

 to suspect that cannibalism may have been a custom with the 

 Neolithic cave-dwellers of Ariege. 1 In certain tumuli of our 

 own country Dr. Thurnam thought there was evidence in the 

 appearance presented by the burnt, broken, and scattered frag- 

 ments of skulls and human bones of the same horrible custom 

 having prevailed among the " long-heads " of Britain. But Mr. 

 Greenwell, who was for some time impressed with the force of 

 Dr. Thurnam's argument, now concludes from subsequent careful 

 analyses of the evidence that this view cannot be maintained. 2 

 There can be no doubt, however, that the Neolithic peoples 

 quarrelled, fought, and killed with as much readiness as the 

 savage tribes of Africa do at the present day. Many of their 

 implements can only have been intended for weapons of war, 

 and their fortified dwelling-places and camps show that "the 

 good old rule, the simple plan," was well understood and acted 

 upon in Neolithic times. It may be inferred also that the 

 people had a belief in a future state from their custom of bury- 

 ing weapons, implements, and ornaments in graves, and of placing 

 a vessel supposed to have contained food beside the dead, customs 

 which still prevail amongst many modern savage tribes. But 

 with regard to their religious ideas we can only indulge in vague 

 guess and conjecture. 



1 Age clc la Pierre Polie dans les Cavernes des Pyrenees Ariegeoises, p. 61. 

 2 British Barrows, p. 544. 



