May, 1890 . 
THE ORIGIN OF DECORATIVE ART. 
107 
tion upon his implements of wood and horn, or other soft 
materials, but these unfortunately have not been handed 
down to us, having been unable to withstand the destroying 
action of time, leaving only the hard and practically imperish¬ 
able implements of flint to indicate to us the state of culture 
in those extremely remote ages. 
In later, though still very remote times —in the “ Cave 
Period” so called—evidence of considerable artistic skill has 
been handed down to us. At this period man, in the South 
of France and other regions of Western Europe, was living 
under very different and far less genial conditions than now 
exist in these regions. There is much evidence to show that 
the climate, even far south, was then a very cold one ; and 
man was contemporaneous with such animals as the 
mammoth, cave bear, and others long since extinct; while 
the reindeer, now only to be found in the extreme north in 
Europe, was perhaps the principal feature in his surroundings. 
Under these circumstances we should expect to find a race of 
men fitted for a more or less Arctic existence ; a race of 
hunters and fishers, dependent principally upon flesh and 
fish for their food. This is precisely what we do find. The 
“ cave dwellers” have been aptly likened to the Esquimaux 
of modern times, and one of the most striking resemblances 
is found in the condition of their artistic attainments. Very 
many of the numerous implements made of reindeer horn, 
which have been found in the French and Swiss caves of this 
period, are decorated with representations of animals, many of 
which are very life-like and well executed, showing a state of 
artistic culture which appears disproportionate to the primi¬ 
tive surroundings. Some of the sketches are poor and indis¬ 
tinct, it is true, but others are spirited and clever life studies 
of various animals, such as horses, reindeer, fish, etc. The 
figure of a mammoth, scratched upon the surface of a piece of 
the ivory tusk of this animal, has been often quoted and 
figured, and is an excellent example of the earliest known 
attempts at realistic representation. We find, moreover, 
sketches of man himself among these carvings. Examples 
are given in Lubbock’s “ Prehistoric Times,” and many other 
works. 
This was pre-eminently an age of realistic representation ; 
the sketches, which are for the most part scratched upon the 
surface of reindeer horns, being evidently intended to be 
faithful representations of the animals, and little more so far 
as decorative art was concerned, though it is probable that 
they were frequently intended to record events,—the most 
simple form of “ picture writing,” in fact. 
