Science from an Easy ChairLankester, E. Ray (Edwin Ray), Sir
History
Science from an Easy Chair
Lankester, E. Ray (Edwin Ray), Sir
Natural history; Science
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_N.B._—The horse, the bison (_Bison Europæus_), the great ox or
aurochs (_Bos primigenius_), the ibex, the chamois, the great Irish
deer (_Megaceros_), the large carnivors and others, appear
throughout the middle and upper Pleistocene, but are more abundant
at one period than at another, and in one locality than another.
Thus the bison abounded in the north of Spain in late Magdalenian
times, whilst the reindeer was rare or absent, and its place taken
by the red deer, which later replaced the reindeer in France. The
horse has been found in tens of thousands at Solutré, near Mâcon
(Middle Pliocene), whilst the great Irish deer abounded at a very
late period in Ireland (Azilian?), and is rare at any time
elsewhere. I must clearly state that, whilst this table is
practically that published by my friend Professor Marcelin Boule, he
is not responsible for the recognition of the Eoliths of Prestwich,
nor for the terms “Cromagnard” and “Neander.”
FOOTNOTES
[7] So named after one Neumann, a religious enthusiast, who inhabited
the cave.
[8] See, however, farther on as to the lower jaw found at Heidelberg.
XLII
THE CAVE-MEN’S SKULLS
A certain number of human skulls and a few complete skeletons have been
found in the cave-deposits, and even in open ground (as at Predmost, in
Moravia) associated with the bones of extinct animals, or with carvings
and ornaments like those which occur abundantly in the caverns. The
ancient cave-men of the Cromagnard type—often called “the Reindeer
Men”—buried their dead sometimes in the caves, but more usually in the
open. Sometimes the skeletons are found in a crouching position, as
though tied up when buried; more rarely (as in some examples found in
the caves at Mentone) they are stretched out and decorated with a
necklace or wreath made of shells, or of the teeth or small bones of
animals. In many cases the flesh was removed from the corpse, and red
ochre was smeared on the bones (as by some recent savages). The
“Reindeer” people used red ochre and charcoal to colour the engravings
of animals (Fig. 71) which they made on the walls of their caves, and
probably for painting or tattooing their own faces. The existence of
these wall paintings, wonderful representations of bison, great ox,
deer, and other animals, proves that these men had artificial light
(lamps or torches) to send fitful gleams on to the paintings, and it is
probable that the “wall pictures” had to do with some kind of
witchcraft. Stone lamps have actually been discovered in the caves.
Their ceremonial treatment of the dead shows that already the lines were
laid for that worship of the “spirits of the departed,” which became
general, and is especially familiar to us in the comparatively modern
civilisation of Rome and the Etruscans. There is also evidence that they
made simple musical instruments.
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