1903 - 4 .] Dr Munro on Man in the Palaeolithic Period. 123 
of so many art specimens is of considerable importance among 
the more notable facts disclosed by these anthropological re- 
searches, as it proves that the origin of the artistic faculty was 
independent of, and prior to, the evolution of religion, ethics, 
politics, commerce, and other elements of which our modern 
civilisation is built up. 
The other characteristic feature in the lives of these people 
was, that they lived exclusively on the produce of the chase, 
for, without agricultural and pastoral avocations, what else could 
they do but organise daily hunting or fishing expeditions ? To 
capture the big game of the district was a formidable task, 
requiring not only great strength and agility of person and 
limb, but also strong and well - made weapons. During the 
later stages of the Palaeolithic civilisation their principal prey 
consisted of reindeer and horses, both of which animals then 
roamed in large herds throughout Western Europe, thus rendering 
themselves more liable to be ambushed, trapped or speared by 
their wily enemies. It is not likely that they would take the 
initiative in attacking the hyaena, lion, or cave-bear, except in 
self-defence. That, however, these formidable creatures were 
occasionally captured by them is suggested by the fact that their 
canine teeth were highly prized as personal ornaments, or as a 
memento of their prowess in the chase. The weapons used by 
these hunters were harpoons, generally made of reindeer-horn, 
spear- and lance-heads of flint, and short daggers of bone or 
horn. Before these weapons were invented it is difficult to 
imagine that any member of the genus Homo would have' the 
courage to attack such a formidable animal as the mammoth 
armed only with a coup de jpoing , but yet there are facts which 
suggest that such was the case. 
When the physical conditions which called these accomplish- 
ments into existence passed away, and the peculiar fauna of the 
glacial period disappeared from the lowlands of Central Europe 
— some by extinction, and others by emigration to more northern 
regions or to the elevated mountains in the neighbourhood — we 
find the inhabitants of these old hunting grounds in possession 
of new and altogether different sources of food. Finding the 
former supplies becoming so limited and precarious that it was 
