The most striking figure that has been discovered is that of the mammoth,[225] Fig. 120, engraved on a fragment of its own tusk, the peculiar spiral curvature of the tusk and the long mane, which are not now to be found in any living elephant, proving that the original was familiar to the eye of the artist. The discovery of whole carcases of the animal in northern Siberia, preserved from decay in the frozen cliffs and morasses, has made us acquainted with the existence of the long hairy mane. Had not it thus been handed down to our eyes, we should probably have treated this most accurate drawing as a mere artist’s freak. Its peculiarities are so faithfully depicted that it is quite impossible for the animal to be confounded with either of the two living species. These drawings probably employed the idle hours of the hunter, and perpetuate the scenes which he witnessed in the chase. They are full of artistic feeling, and are evidently drawn from life. The mammoth is engraved on its own ivory, the reindeer generally on reindeer antler, and the stag on stag antler. [Illustration: FIG. 120.--Mammoth engraved on Ivory, La Madelaine (1/2). (Lartet and Christy.)] From all these facts we must picture to our minds, that these ancient dwellers in the caves of Aquitaine lived by hunting and fishing, that they were acquainted with fire, and that they were clad with skins sewn together with sinews or strips of intestines. That they did not possess the dog is shown, not merely by the negative evidence of its not having been discovered, but also by the fact that the bones which it invariably eats, such as the vertebræ, are preserved. They did not possess any domestic animals, and there is no evidence that they were acquainted with the potter’s art. M. de Mortillet’s view, that the art of making pottery was unknown in the palæolithic age, seems to me to be probably true, the reputed cases of the discovery of potsherds being always connected with suspicious circumstances, which render it probable that they were subsequently introduced. Besides the remains of the animals in the refuse-heaps were fragmentary portions of human skeletons, which, however, were not scraped or broken so as to imply the practice of cannibalism. _Caves of Belgium._ [Illustration: FIG. 121.--Carved Implement of Reindeer Antler, Goyet (1/2). (Dupont.)]