6o THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN 
man into the Palseolithic period, we have sought his 
traces in caves. In 1866, two French antiquaries began 
a series of explorations which revealed the habitation of 
Palaeolithic man in the open country. The site of their 
discovery lies near the village of Solutre, situated on the 
western slopes of the country drained by the Saone, which 
flows southwards to join the Rhone at Lyons. Although 
MM. Ferry and Arcelin commenced their investigation 
in 1866, inspired by the writings of Sir Charles Lyell, 
such was the extent of the Palaeolithic deposit at Solutre, 
covering as it does more than 2 acres of ground, that 
Fig. 25. — Diagram of the ancient heartli-strata exposed in the 
deposits at Solutre. 
its exploration occupied one of them — M. Arcelin — until 
his death in 1904.^ In a paper which he published in 
1890,- he reproduced a section of the deposits at Solutre, 
which serves to convey the results of his toil at a glance 
(fig. 25). At the western end of the section, the rock of 
Solutre rises to a height of 400 or 500 feet. The land 
slopes eastwards from the base of the rock towards the 
Saone, and covers the deposit which reveals the hearths 
of ancient man. At certain points the exploring trench 
had to be sunk to a depth of 34 feet to reach the original 
surface of the land. Wherever the trench was sunk in 
this ancient and extensive station, one remarkable stratum 
was encountered, usually at a depth of about 10 feet below 
> See Dechelette's Manuel darcheologie prchistoriqiie^ 191 2, vol. i. 
p. 133. 
2 n Anthropologic, 1890, vol. i. p. 295. 
