of Neuchâtel. They present interesting analogies to the most familiar
types of bone or ivory fish-spears of the French and English
post-glacial era, of which Figs. 29, 30 are examples from the Dordogne
Caves. Fig. 31, though worn and fractured, illustrates a form of the
cave harpoon-blade, barbed only on one side. It is from Kent’s Cavern,
where other, though less perfect, examples have been found. One of
these, figured by Mr. Evans,[44] is specially noticeable for its curved
form. Similar implements have repeatedly occurred in the cave-deposits,
as in those of the Dordogne, and at Bruniquel, where also serrated
flints or saws were found in unusual abundance. Fig. 36, from the cave
of La Madelaine, is a good example of the unilateral fish-spear, much
superior in workmanship to the similar implement of the modern Fuegian,
shown in Fig. 33, and well adapted to the wants of a river-fisherman.
But the form of the Kent’s Cavern type rather suggests that it was one
of the blades of a large two-pronged, or three-pronged spear, similar to
examples still in use among the Esquimaux:
[Illustration: FIG. 31.—Harpoon, Kent’s Cavern.]
[Illustration: FIG. 32.—Bone Spear-head, Dordogne Caves.]
[Illustration: FIG. 33.—Fuegian Harpoon.]
of which one, now in the museum of the University of Toronto, shown in
Fig. 26, illustrates the probable design of the curved blades. In the
caves of the Dordogne and Garonne valleys repeated discoveries of bone
needles, in association with the barbed fish-spear, have been noted.
They are objects of delicate manipulation, the value of which is proved
by the occurrence of examples accidentally broken, and drilled with a
new eye. The caves of the Dordogne pertained, even in the remote era of
the mammoth or reindeer periods, to a race of inland hunters and
fishermen to whom such a harpoon would have been cumbrous, if not wholly
unsuited to their requirements. But the Kent’s Hole Troglodyte had
probably more formidable prey to encounter, and so adapted the
implements of the chase to his special requirements. Of the bilateral
barbed fish-spear, a good, though imperfect example is shown, the
natural size, in Fig. 32, from Laugerie Basse, in the Dordogne. Another,
Fig. 34, was found imbedded in the red cave-earth of Kent’s Cavern,
underneath a bed of black earth, containing flint-flakes and bones of
extinct mammals, over which the stalagmitic flooring had accumulated to
a thickness of a foot and a half. Similar implements have been recovered
from other Dordogne Caves. Fig. 35, from La Madelaine, is a variation of
the latter type, in which the barbs are disposed alternately on either
side.
[Illustration: FIG. 34.—Fish-spear, Kent’s Cavern.]
[Illustration: FIG. 35.—Fish-spear with bilateral barbs, La Madelaine.]
[Illustration: FIG. 36.—Fish-spear with unilateral barbs, La
Madelaine.]
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