The Solutrean culture never penetrated to the south of the great barrier of the Pyrenees, but, passing through the Vézère valley, in Dordogne, it spread along the western coast to the northern slopes of the Cantabrian Mountains into the province of Santander, Spain. Here the laurel-leaf points of the middle Solutrean are found at Castillo, while the shouldered points, _pointes à cran_, typical of the later Solutrean, are found at Altamira, together with bone implements. None the less, it should be noticed that in the southwest of Europe the earlier phases of the Solutrean are characterized by a decrease in the use of bone, which, however, increases again in the upper levels. [Illustration: FIG. 170. The type station of Solutrean culture, near the present village of Solutré, in south central France, sheltered on the north by a steep rocky ridge and with a fine sunny exposure toward the south.] The type station of the Solutrean culture is the great open-air camp of Solutré, near the Saône, sheltered on the north by a steep ridge and with a fine, sunny exposure toward the south. The traces of this great camp, which is the largest thus far discovered in western Europe, cover an area 300 feet square and are situated within a short distance of a good spring of water. As explored, in 1866, by Arcelin,(55) Ferry, and Ducrost, this station had already been occupied in Aurignacian times; and two sections, taken at two different points, showed the deposits of the old camp to be from 22 to 26 feet in thickness, representing superposed Aurignacian and Solutrean fire-hearths with thick layers of intermediate débris. In the Aurignacian level is found the vast accumulation of the bones of horses already described. In the middle Solutrean levels great fireplaces are found with flint utensils and the remains of abundant feasts among the charred débris. The fauna includes the wolf, the fox, the hyæna, both the cave and the brown bear, the badger, the rabbit, the stag, wild cattle, and two characteristic northern forms--the woolly mammoth and the reindeer; the remains of the last are the most abundant in the ancient hearths. [Illustration: FIG. 171. Centre of the great open camp of Solutré, covering an area 300 feet square, with the village of Solutré in the distance. First occupied in Aurignacian times, and a favorite and densely inhabited camp throughout the Aurignacian and Solutrean stages. In Aurignacian times the remains of thousands of horses were accumulated around this station.] In all the Solutrean stations, beside the bone implements,(56) we find two distinct classes of flints. The first belongs to the entire 'Reindeer Epoch' and consists of single and double scrapers, drills, burins, retouched flakes, and plain ones of small dimensions.