138 



REV. D. GATE WHITLEY, ON 



an error, since numerous discoveries of Paleolithic pottery have 

 taken place in France, Belgium, and Germany. MM. Fraipont 

 and Tihon have found pottery in undoubted Paleolithic deposits 

 in the caves of Engis, Spy, and Petit Modave in Belgium, and 

 they have proved by an unanswerable series of geological argu- 

 ments that this pottery is certainly Paleolithic* Tire list of 

 Paleolithic pottery is continually increasing, and it is necessary 

 to be acquainted with the latest discoveries, and not to pin one's 

 faith to abstract theories. If anyone is still inclined to dispute 

 the Paleolithic Age of the burial place in the cave of Frontal, 

 I can only say in reply — -" Have you read Dupont's account of 

 the discovery of this burial place — as I have read it ? If you 

 have not done so, I do not think you are qualified to give an 

 opinion on this question. "f 



Before proceeding to another branch of the subject, I may 

 now sum up the evidence to be derived from the burial customs 

 of the earliest men, as to the existence of Religions Beliefs among 

 the men of the Paleolithic Age. 



The placing of food and weapons close to the deceased shows 

 that the dead man was supposed to be living in another world, 

 and that those who buried him believed in a future life. But 

 we generally find in dealing with savage tribes that a belief in a 

 future life is accompanied by a belief in rewards and punish- 

 ments in another world. This implies the holding of a Moral 

 Law however rudimentary the belief may be, and in addition to 

 this the further belief of a personal judge who will apportion 

 future rewards and punishments. The care shown also in 

 dressing and painting the body of the deceased in these Paleolithic 

 burials, shows that the dead man was expected to appear at the 

 Court or Judgment Hall of some Mighty Being to whom he 

 was responsible for his conduct on Earth, so that the deceased 

 had to be arrayed in his best robes for this solemn appearance. 

 All this implies the possession of a genuine religious belief. 



Totemism and Belief in Subordinate Deities. 



Everyone acquainted with the relics of Paleolithic Man 

 knows how frequently the figures of animals are carved on slabs 

 of slate or pieces of ivory. Sometimes irictuves are engraved, 



* See Les Cavernes et leur Habitants, by M. Fraipont, pp. 102-104. 

 Also La Poterie en Belgique, by MM. Fraipont and Braconier in Revue 

 d } Anthropologic, Juillet, 1887. 



+ A further list of the discoveries of Palaeolithic pottery is given 

 in Southall's Age of the Mammoth, pp. 72-77. 



