Manners and Monuments of Prehistoric PeoplesNadaillac, Jean-François-Albert du Pouget, marquis de
History
Manners and Monuments of Prehistoric Peoples
Nadaillac, Jean-François-Albert du Pouget, marquis de
Archaeology; Prehistoric peoples
Worked flints are generally found in numbers in one place, probably
formerly a station or centre of human habitation. Men were beginning to
form themselves into societies, and the dwellings, first of the family
and then of the tribe, rapidly gathered together near some river rich
in fish, or some forest stocked with game affording plenty of food
easily obtained. The caves also afford proofs of the number of men who
inhabited them. In one alone, near Cracow, Ossowski discovered 876 bone
implements, more than 3,000 flint objects, and thousands of fragments
of pottery. From the Veyrier cave, near Mount Salève, were taken nearly
1,000 stone implements; from those of Petit Morin, 2,000 arrow-heads;
from that of Côttes, on the banks of the Gartampe, more than 264
pounds’ weight of flints, some of the Moustérien and others of the
Madeleine type, mixed with the bones of the rhinoceros, and of several
large beasts of prey of indeterminate species. The Abbé Ducrost picked
up 4,000 flints in one dwelling alone at Solutré, where the soil is
calcareous and flint is not native, so that it must have been brought
from a distance. More than 8,000 different objects were taken from the
fine Neolithic station of Ors in the isle of Oleron; 12,000 chips of
stone, bearing marks of human workmanship, were picked up in the
Thayngen Cave, and more than 80,000 in the different caves of Belgium.
The shelter of Chaleux alone yielded 30,000 pieces of stone, at every
stage of workmanship, from the waste of the manufactory to the highly
finished implement. Other explorers have been no less fortunate. The
Marquis of Wavrin found in the environs of Grez no less than 60,000
worked stones belonging to no less than thirty different types, chiefly
arrow-heads, some triangular, others almond-shaped, others again
cutting transversely, some with and some without feathers, some
stalked, others not; in a word, arrows of every known type. Nothing but
an actual visit to the Royal Museum of Brussels can give any idea of
the importance of the discoveries made in Belgium.
The environs of Paris are, however, no less rich. As early as
Palæolithic times the valleys of the Seine and its tributaries were
evidently inhabited by a numerous population. M. Rivière mentions a
station near Clamart, where, in a limited space, he picked up more than
900 flints, some worked, others mere chips, many of which bad been
subjected to heat. A sand-pit of Levallois-Perret yielded 4,000 stone
objects, and on the plateau of Champigny, full of such terrible
memories for the people of France, were found nearly 1,200 flints,
knives, polished hatchets, lance heads and scrapers, mixed with
numerous fragments of hand-made pottery without ornamentation.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account