Primitive Man Part 10

It must certainly be the case that the human race possesses to a very high degree the taste for personal ornament, since objects used for adornment are found in the most remote ages of mankind and in every country. There can be no doubt that the men and women who lived in the reindeer epoch sacrificed to the graces. In the midst of their precarious mode of life, the idea entered into their minds of manufacturing necklaces, bracelets, and pendants, either with sh.e.l.ls which they bored through the middle so as to be able to string them as beads, or with the teeth of various animals which they pierced with holes with the same intention, as represented in fig. 44.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 44.--The Canine Tooth of a Wolf, bored so as to be used as an ornament.]

The h.o.r.n.y portion of the ear of the horse or ox (fig. 45), was likewise used for the same purpose, that is, as an object of adornment.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 45.--Ornament made of the bony part of a Horse's Ear.]

It becomes a question whether man at this epoch had any belief in a future life, and practised anything which bore a resemblance to religious wors.h.i.+p. The existence, round the fire-hearths of the burial-caverns in Belgium, of large fossil elephant (mammoth's) bones--a fact which has been pointed out by M. edouard Dupont--gives us some reason for answering this question in the affirmative. According to M.

Morlot, the practice of placing bones round caverns still survives, as a religious idea, among the Indians. We may, therefore, appeal to this discovery as a hint in favour of the existence of some religious feeling among the men who lived during the reindeer epoch.

In the tombs of this epoch are found the weapons and knives which men carried during their lifetime, and sometimes even a supply of the flesh of animals used for food. This custom of placing near the body of the dead provisions for the journey to be taken _post mortem_ is, as remarked in reference to the preceding period, the proof of a belief in another life.

Certain religious, or rather superst.i.tious, ideas may have been attached to some glittering stones and bright fragments of ore which have been picked up in several settlements of these primitive tribes. M. de Vibraye found at Bourdeilles (Charente), two nodules of hydrated oxide of iron mixed with _debris_ of all kinds; and at the settlement of Laugerie-Ba.s.se (Dordogne), in the middle of the hearth, a small ma.s.s of copper covered with a layer of green carbonate. In other spots there have been met with pieces of jet, violet fluor, &c., pierced through the middle, doubtless to enable them to be suspended to the neck and ears.

The greater part of these objects may possibly be looked upon as amulets, that is, symbols of some religious beliefs entertained by man during the reindeer epoch.

The social instinct of man, the feeling which compels him to form an alliance with his fellow-man, had already manifested itself at this early period. Communication was established between localities at some considerable distance from one another. Thus it was that the inhabitants of the banks of the Lesse in Belgium travelled as far as that part of France which is now called Champagne, in order to seek the flints which they could not find in their own districts, although they were indispensable to them in order to manufacture their weapons and implements. They likewise brought back fossil sh.e.l.ls, of which they made fantastical necklaces. This distant intercourse cannot be called in question, for certain evidences of it can be adduced. M. edouard Dupont found in the cave of Chaleux, near Dinant (Belgium), fifty-four of these sh.e.l.ls, which are not found naturally anywhere else than in Champagne.

Here, therefore, we have the rudiments of commerce, that is, of the importation and exchange of commodities which form its earliest manifestations in all nations of the world.

Again, it may be stated that there existed at this epoch real manufactories of weapons and utensils, the productions of which were distributed around the neighbouring country according to the particular requirements of each family. The cave of Chaleux, which was mentioned above, seems to have been one of these places of manufacture; for from the 8th to the 30th of May, during twenty-two days only, there were collected at this spot nearly 20,000 flints chipped into hatchets, daggers, knives, sc.r.a.pers, scratchers, &c.

Workshops of this kind were established in the settlements of Laugerie-Ba.s.se and Laugerie-Haute in Perigord. The first was to all appearance a special manufactory for spear-heads, some specimens of which have been found by MM. Lartet and Christy of an extremely remarkable nature; exact representations of them are delineated in fig.

46. In the second were fabricated weapons and implements of reindeers'

horn, if we may judge by the large quant.i.ty of remains of the antlers of those animals, which were met with by these _savants_, almost all of which bear the marks of sawing.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 46.--Spear-head found in the Cave of Laugerie-Ba.s.se (Perigord).]

It is not, however, probable that the objects thus manufactured were exported to any great distance, as was subsequently the case, that is, in the polished stone epoch. How would it be possible to cross great rivers, and to pa.s.s through wide tracts overgrown with thick forests, in order to convey far and wide these industrial products; at a time, too, when no means of communication existed between one country and another?

But it is none the less curious to be able to verify the existence of a rudimentary commerce exercised at so remote an epoch.

The weapons, utensils and implements which were used by man during the reindeer epoch testify to a decided progress having been made beyond those of the preceding period. The implements are made of flint, bone, or horn; but the latter kind are much the most numerous, chiefly in the primitive settlements in the centre and south of France. Those of Perigord are especially remarkable for the abundance of instruments made of reindeers' bones.

The great diversity of type in the wrought flints furnishes a very evident proof of the long duration of the historical epoch we are considering. In the series of these instruments we can trace all the phases of improvement in workmans.h.i.+p, beginning with the rough shape of the hatchets found in the _diluvium_ at Abbeville, and culminating in those elegant spear-heads which are but little inferior to any production of later times.

We here give representations (fig. 47, 48, 49, 50), of the most curious specimens of the stone and flint weapons of the reindeer epoch. Knives and other small instruments, such as sc.r.a.pers, piercers, borers, &c., form the great majority; hatchets are comparatively rare. Instruments are also met with which might be used for a double purpose, for instance, borers and also piercers. There are also round stones which must have been used as hammers; it may, at least, be noticed that they have received repeated blows.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 47.--Worked Flint from Perigord (Knife).]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 48.--Worked Flint from Perigord (Hatchet).]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 49.--Chipped Flint from Perigord (Knife).]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 50.--Chipped Flint from Perigord (Sc.r.a.per).]

Sir J. Lubbock is of opinion that some of these stones were employed in heating water, after they had been made red-hot in the fire. According to the above-named author, this plan of procuring hot water is still adopted among certain savage tribes who are still ignorant of the art of pottery, and possess nothing but wooden vessels, which cannot be placed over a fire.[8]

We must also mention the polishers formed of sandstone or some other material with a rough surface. They could only be used for polis.h.i.+ng bone and horn, as the reindeer epoch does not admit of instruments of polished stone.

There have also been collected here and there pebbles of granite or quartzite hollowed out at the centre, and more or less perfectly rounded on the edges. It has been conjectured that these were mortars, although their small dimensions scarcely countenance this hypothesis. Neither is it probable that they were used for pounding seed, as fancied by M. de Vibraye. Nor does the idea which has been entertained of their being used for producing fire seem to have any sufficient ground.

Among the most interesting specimens in the vast collection of flints belonging to the reindeer epoch which have been found in the countries of France and Belgium, we must mention the delicate and very finely-toothed double-edged saws. The one we here represent (fig. 51) is in the Archaeological Museum of Saint-Germain. It does not measure more than three-quarters of an inch in length, and about one-tenth of an inch in width. It was found by M. V. Brun in one of the _rock-shelters_ at Bruniquel.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 51.--Small Flint Saw, found in the Rock-shelter at Bruniquel.]

Saws of this kind were, no doubt, employed for fas.h.i.+oning the antlers of the reindeer, and other ruminants that shed their horns. The antler was cut into on each side, and the fracture was finished by hand.

The objects of bone and reindeer-horn found in the caves of Perigord show a still greater variety, and a no less remarkable skilfulness in workmans.h.i.+p.

We may mention, for instance, the arrow and javelin-heads. Some are slender and tapering off at both ends; in others, the base terminates in a single or double bevel. Among the latter, the greater part seem made to fix in a cleft stick; some are ornamented with lines and hatching over their surface. Others have notches in them, somewhat similar to an attempt at barbing.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 52.--The Chase during the Reindeer Epoch.]

We now come to the barbed dart-heads, designated by the name of _harpoons_. They taper-off considerably towards the top, and are characterised by very decided barbs, shaped like hooks, and distributed sometimes on one side only, and sometimes on both (figs. 53, 54). In the latter case the barbs are arranged in pairs, and are provided with a small furrow or middle groove, which, according to some naturalists, was intended to hold some subtle poison. Like the present race of Indians of the American forests, primitive man may possibly have poisoned his arrows; and the longitudinal groove, which is noticed in so many reindeer arrow-heads, may have served to contain the poison.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 53.--Barbed Arrow of Reindeer Horn.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 54--Arrow of Reindeer Horn with double Barbs.]

We must not, however, fail to state that this opinion has been abandoned since it has been ascertained that the North American Indians used in former times to hunt the bison with wooden arrows furnished with grooves or channels of a similar character. These channels are said to have been intended to give a freer vent to the flow of the animal's blood, which was thus, so to speak, sucked out of the wound. This may, therefore, have been the intention of the grooves which are noticed on the dart-heads of the reindeer epoch, and the idea of their having been poisoned must be dismissed.

These barbed darts or harpoons are still used by the Esquimaux of the present day, in pursuing the seal. Such arrows, like those of the primitive hordes of the reindeer epoch which are represented above (figs. 53, 54), are sharply pointed and provided with barbs; they are fastened to a string and shot from a bow. The Esquimaux sometimes attach an inflated bladder to the extremity of the arrow, so that the hunter may be apprized whether he has. .h.i.t his mark, or in order to show in what direction he should aim again.

We give here (fig. 55) a drawing of a fragment of bone found in the cave of Les Eyzies (Perigord); a portion of one of these harpoons remains fixed in the bone.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 55.--Animal Bone, pierced by an Arrow of Reindeer Horn.]

We must a.s.sign to the cla.s.s of implements the bone bodkins or stilettoes of different sizes, either with or without a handle (figs. 56, 57), and also a numerous series of needles found in the caves of Perigord, some of which are very slender and elegant, and made of bone, horn, and even ivory. In some of the human settlements of the reindeer epoch, bones have been found, from which long splinters had been detached, fitted for the fabrication of needles. The delicate points of flint have also been found which were used to bore the eyes of the needles, and, lastly, the lumps of sandstone on which the latter were polished.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 56.--Tool made of Reindeer Horn, found in the Cave of Laugerie-Ba.s.se (Stiletto?).]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 57.--Tool made of Reindeer Horn, found in the Cave of Laugerie-Ba.s.se (Needle?).]

We must, likewise, point out the _smoothers_, intended to flatten down the seams in the skins used for garments.

One of the most important instruments of this epoch is a perfect drill with a sharpened point and cutting edge. With this flint point rapidly twirled round, holes could be bored in any kind of material--bone, teeth, horn, or sh.e.l.ls. This stone drill worked as well as our tool made of steel, according to the statement of certain naturalists who have tried the effect of them.

The primitive human settlement at Laugerie-Ba.s.se has furnished several specimens of an instrument, the exact use of which has not been ascertained. They are rods, tapering off at one end, and hollowed out at the other in the shape of a spoon. M. edouard Lartet has propounded the opinion that they were used by the tribes of this epoch as spoons, in order to extract the marrow from the long bones of the animals which were used for their food. M. Lartet would not, however, venture to a.s.sert this, and adds: "It is, perhaps, probable that our primitive forefathers would not have taken so much trouble." Be this as it may, one of these instruments is very remarkable for the lines and ornaments in relief with which it is decorated, testifying to the existence in the workman of some feeling of symmetry (fig. 58).

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 58.--Spoon of Reindeer Horn.]

In various caves--at Les Eyzies, Laugerie-Ba.s.se, and Chaffant, _commune_ of Savigne (Vienne)--whistles of a peculiar kind have been found (fig.

59). They are made from the first joint of the foot of the reindeer or some other ruminant of the stag genus. A hole has been bored in the base of the bone, a little in front of the metatarsal joint. If one blows into this hole, placing the lower lip in the hollow answering to the above-named joint, a shrill sound is produced, similar to that made by blowing into a piped key. We ourselves have had the pleasure of verifying the fact, at the Museum of Saint-Germain, that these primitive whistles act very well.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 59.--Knuckle-Bone of a Reindeer's Foot, bored with a hole and used as a Whistle.]

The settlements at Perigord have also furnished a certain number of staves made of reindeer horn (figs. 60, 61), the proper functions of which no one has succeeded in properly explaining. They are invariably bored with one or more holes at the base, and are covered with designs to which we shall hereafter refer. M. Lartet has thought that they were perhaps symbols or staves of authority.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 60.--Staff of authority in Reindeer's Horn, found in the Cave of Perigord.]