as closely related to existing species, namely, the badger (_Meles
taxus_), the marten (_Mustela martes_), the otter (_Lutra vulgaris_), and
the water-vole (_Arvicola amphibius_). The prehistoric beaver of Europe
(_Castor fiber_) now replaces the giant beaver (_Trogontherium_) of Second
Interglacial times.
Among the large carnivora, the lion (_Felis leo antiqua_) and the spotted
hyæna (_H. crocuta_) have replaced the sabre-tooth tiger and the striped
hyæna of early Pleistocene times. Four great Asiatic mammals, including
two species of elephants, one species of rhinoceros, and the hippopotamus,
roamed through the forests and meadows of this warm temperate region. The
horse of this period is considered(24) to belong to the Forest or Nordic
type, from which our modern draught-horses have descended. The lions and
hyænas which abounded in Chellean and early Acheulean times are in part
ancestors of the cave types which appear in the succeeding Reindeer or
Cavern Period. In general, this mammalian life of Chellean and early
Acheulean times in Europe frequented the river shores and the neighboring
forests and meadows favored by a warm temperate climate with mild winters,
such as is indicated by the presence of the fig-tree and of the Canary
laurel in the region of north central France near Paris.
Undoubtedly the Chellean and Acheulean hunters had begun the chase both of
the bison, or wisent (_B. priscus_), and of the wild cattle, or
aurochs.[AC]
This warm temperate mammalian life spread very widely over northern
Europe, as shown especially in the distribution (Fig. 44) of the
hippopotamus, the straight-tusked elephant, and Merck's rhinoceros. The
latter pair were constant companions and are seen to have a closely
similar and somewhat more northerly range than the hippopotamus, which is
rather the climatic companion of the southern mammoth and ranges farther
south. These animals in the gravel and sand layers along the river slopes
and 'terraces' mingled their remains with the artifacts of the flint
workers. For example, in the gravel 'terraces' of the Somme we find the
bones of the straight-tusked elephant and Merck's rhinoceros in the same
sand layers with the Chellean flints. Thus the men of Chellean times may
well have pursued this giant elephant (_E. antiquus_) and rhinoceros (_D.
merckii_) as their tribal successors in the same valley hunted the woolly
mammoth and woolly rhinoceros.
DISTRIBUTION OF THE CHELLEAN IMPLEMENTS
All over the world may be found traces of a Stone Age, ancient or modern,
primitive implements of stone and flint analogous to those of the true
Chellean period of western Europe but not really identical when very
closely compared. These represent the early attempts of the human hand,
directed by the primitive mind, to fashion hard materials into forms
adapted to the purposes of war, the chase, and domestic life. The result
is a series of parallels in form which come under the evolution principle
of convergence. Thus, in all the continents except Australia--in Europe,
in Asia, and even in North and South America--primitive races have passed
through an industrial stage similar to the typical Chellean of western
Europe. This we should rather attribute to a similarity in human invention
and in human needs than to the theory that the Chellean industry
originated at some particular centre and travelled in a slowly enlarging
wave over the entire world.
[Illustration: FIG. 73. Distribution of the principal Pre-Chellean and
Chellean industrial stations in western Europe.]
In western Europe the Chellean culture certainly had a development all
its own, adapted to a race of bold hunters who lived in the open and whose
entire industry developed around the products of the chase. For them flint
and quartzite took the place of bronze, iron, or steel. This culture
marked a distinct and probably a very long epoch of time in which
inventions and multiplications of form were gradually spread from tribe to
tribe, exactly as modern inventions, usually originating at a single point
and often in the mind of one ingenious individual, gradually spread over
the world.
[Illustration: FIG. 74. Section of the middle and high terraces at St.
Acheul, from southwest to northeast. After Commont, 1908, 1909, modified
and redrawn. The Pre-Chellean workers first established themselves here at
the time when the Somme was visited by the straight-tusked elephant and
other primitive mammals of the warm African-Asiatic fauna. (Compare Fig.
59, p. 122.)]
The clearest examples of the evolution of the seven or eight implements of
the Chellean culture from the five or six rudimentary types of the
Pre-Chellean have been found at St. Acheul by Commont. The abundance and
variety of flint at this great station on the Somme made it a centre of
industry from the dawn of the Old Stone Age to its very close. It was
probably a region favorable to all kinds of large and small game. The
researches of Commont show that with the exception of Castillo in northern
Spain no other station in all Europe was so continuously occupied. From
Pre-Chellean to Neolithic times the men of every culture stage except the
Magdalenian and Azilian-Tardenoisian found their way here, and thus the
site of St. Acheul presents an epitome of the entire prehistoric industry.
Even during the colder periods of climate this region continued to be
visited--possibly during the warm weather of the summer seasons. At
Montières, along the Somme, we find deposits of Mousterian culture which
is generally characteristic of the cold climatic period but is here
associated with a temperate fauna, including the hippopotamus, Merck's
rhinoceros, and the straight-tusked elephant. Great geographic and
climatic changes took place in the valley of the Somme during this long
period of human evolution. The Pre-Chellean workers first established
their industry on the middle and high 'terraces' at the time when the
Somme was visited by the straight-tusked elephant and other much more
primitive mammals of the warm Asiatic fauna. The early Acheulean camps on
the same terraces were pitched in the gravels below layers of 'loess'
which betoken an entire climatic change. The fourth glaciation passed by,
and the Upper Palæolithic flint workers again returned and left the
débris of their industry in the layers of loam which swept down the slopes
of the valley from the surrounding hills. This succession will be studied
more in detail in connection with the industry.
[Illustration: FIG. 75. Excavation on the 'high terrace' at St. Acheul,
known as the _ancienne carrière Dupont_ and more recently as the _carrière
Bultel_, showing eight geologic layers from the Upper Palæolithic deposits
of brick-earth at the top(9) down to the sub-Chellean yellow gravels(2)
overlying the chalk terrace at the bottom.]
As contrasted with the four or more Pre-Chellean stations already known,
namely, St. Acheul, Montières, Helin, Gray's Thurrock, and possibly
Abbeville and Piltdown, there are at least sixteen stations in western
Europe which are characteristically Chellean. In addition to the sites
named above, all of which show deposits of typical Chellean implements
above the Pre-Chellean, we may note the important Chellean stations of San
Isidro and Torralba in central Spain; Tilloux and Marignac in southwestern
France; Créteil, Colombes, Bois Colombes, and Billancourt on the Seine, in
the immediate vicinity of Paris; Cergy on the Oise; the type station of
Chelles on the Marne; Abbeville on the northern bank of the Somme; and the
famous station of Kent's Hole, Devon, on the southwestern coast of
England. Thus far no typical Chellean station has been discovered in
Portugal, Italy, Germany, or Austria, nor, indeed, in any part of central
Europe. This leaves the original habitat of the tribes that brought the
Chellean culture to western Europe still a mystery; but, as already
observed, the location of the stations favors the theory of a migration
through northern Africa rather than through eastern Europe.
[Illustration: FIG. 76. Principal forms of small, late Chellean scraping,
planing, and boring tools of flint, after Commont and Obermaier. One-half
actual size. 1. Combination tool--small flake with a sharp point (_a_),
cutting edge (_b_), and curved-in scraper (_c_). 2. Cutting tool with
protective retouch for the index finger on the upper edge (_a_), and a
sharp cutting edge (_b_). 3. Primitive knife. 4. 'Point.' 5. Combination
tool--small flake with scraper edge (_b_), and two curved-in scraper edges
(_a_ and _a_1). 6. Borer. 7. Pointed scraper. 8. Knife with coarse boring
point at one end. 9. Thick scraper or planing tool. 10. Curved scraper.]
Compared with the Pre-Chellean flint workers the Chellean artisans
advanced both by the improvement of the older types of implements and by
the invention of new ones.(25) As observed by Obermaier, the flint worker
is still dependent on the chance shape of the shattered fragments of flint
which he has not yet learned to shape symmetrically. In the experimental
search after the most useful form of flint which could be grasped by the
hand, the very characteristic Chellean coup de poing was evolved out of
its Pre-Chellean prototype. This implement was made of an elongate nodule,
either of quartzite or, preferably, of flint, and flaked by the hammer on
both sides to a more or less almond shape; as a rule, the point and its
adjacent edges are sharpened; the other end being rounded and blunted.
Like most, if not all, of the Chellean implements, it was designed to be
grasped by the bare hand and not furnished with a wooden haft or handle.
It is not impossible that some of the pointed forms may have been wedged
into a wooden handle, but there is no proof of it. In size the coup de
poing varies from 4 to 8 inches in length, and examples have been found as
large as 9-1/2 inches. That it served a variety of purposes is indicated
by the existence of four well-defined, different forms: first, a
primitive, almond-shaped form; second, an ovaloid form; third, a disk
form; and fourth, a pointed form resembling a lance-head. De Mortillet(26)
speaks of it as the only tool of the Chellean tribes, but in its various
forms it served all the purposes of axe, saw, chisel, and awl, and was in
truth a combination tool. Capitan(27) also holds that the coup de poing is
not a single tool but is designed to meet many various needs. The
primitive almond and ovaloid forms were designed for use along the edges,
either for heavy hacking or for sawing; the disk forms may have been used
as axes or as sling-stones; the more rounded forms would serve as knives
and scrapers; while the pointed, lance-shaped forms might be used as
daggers, both in war and in the chase.
The Chellean flint workers also developed especially a number of small,
pointed forms from the accidentally shaped fragments of flint, showing
both short and long points carefully flaked and chipped. Thus, out of the
small types of the Pre-Chellean there evolved a great variety of tools
adapted to domestic purposes, to war, and to the chase.
CHELLEAN GEOGRAPHY IN ENGLAND AND FRANCE
The type station of the Chellean culture is somewhat east of the present
town of Chelles. Here in Chellean times the broad floods of the ancient
River Marne were transporting great quantities of sand and débris,
products of the early pluvial periods of Third Interglacial times; and
here, on the right bank, embedded in sands and gravels 24 feet thick, are
found the typical Chellean implements mingled with remains of the
hippopotamus, straight-tusked elephant, Merck's rhinoceros, giant beaver,
hyæna, and many members of the Asiatic forest and meadow fauna.
The flint-working stations at St. Acheul were on bluffs from 40 to 80 feet
above the present level of the Somme. The Chellean and the following
Acheulean industry was carried on here on a very extensive scale. In one
year Rigollot collected as many as 800 coups de poing from the ancient
quarries; near by are other quarries equally rich in material, and we may
imagine that the products of the flint industry in this favorable locality
were carried far and wide into other parts of the country.
In the vicinity of Paris, and again at Arcy, in the valley of the Bièvre,
the workers of Chellean, Acheulean, and Mousterian flints sought in
succession the old river-gravels belonging to the lower levels; these 'low
terraces' are only 15 feet above the present height of the river and are
still occasionally flooded by the high waters of the Seine, indicating
that the Seine borders have not altered their levels. The animal life here
was identical with that of the Somme and of the Thames and included the
hippopotamus, Merck's rhinoceros, and the straight-tusked elephant.
Thus it would appear that, in regard to the river courses and the hills
through which they flowed, the topography and landscape of northern France
and of southern Britain were everywhere the same as at the present time.
The forests which clothed the hills were not greatly different from the
present, except for the presence of a few trees of a warmer clime, nor was
there anything strange or unfamiliar in the majority of the animals that
roamed through forest and meadow. The three chief archaic elements
consisted in the presence of two very ancient races of men and their rude
stage of culture, in the great forms of Asiatic and African life which
mingled with the more familiar native types, and in the broad, continuous
land surfaces which swept off unbroken to the west and southwest.
For in those days Europe, though even then little more than a great
peninsula, extended far beyond its present limits. England and Ireland
were still part of the mainland, and great rivers flowed through the
broad valleys that are now the Irish Sea, the North Sea, and the English
Channel--rivers that counted the Seine, the Thames, the Garonne, and even
the Rhine, as mere tributaries. The Strait of Gibraltar was then the
Isthmus of Gibraltar--a narrow land bridge connecting Europe with Africa.
The Mediterranean was then an inland lake, or rather two inland lakes, for
Italy and Sicily stretched out in a broad, irregular mass to join the
northern coast of Africa, while Corsica and Sardinia formed a long
peninsula extending from the Italian mainland and almost, if not quite,
reaching to the African coast.
THE THAMES VALLEY IN CHELLEAN TIMES
The interpretation of the features of stratification in the valley of the
Somme is especially interesting because it gives us a key to the
understanding of a similar sequence of prehistoric events in the valley of
the Thames.
The station of Gray's Thurrock in this valley is barely 120 miles distant
from the Chellean station of Abbeville, in the valley of the Somme, and it
is apparent that the old flint workers were freely passing across the
broad intervening country and interchanging their ideas and inventions.
Thus it happened that Chellean implements identical with, or closely
related to, the types of the Somme valley were being fashioned all over
southern Britain from the Thames to the Ouse. The ancient River Thames
(Lyell,(28) Geikie(29)) was then flowing over a bed of boulder-clays which
had been deposited during the preceding glaciations. Its broad, swift
stream was bringing down great deposits of ochreous gravels and of sands
interstratified with loams and clays. It is these old true river-gravels
which display their greatest thickness on the lowest levels of the Thames
and which are largely made up of well-bedded and distinctly water-worn
materials. On these low levels the flint workers sought their materials,
and here they left behind them the archaic Chellean implements which are
now found embedded in these older river-gravels, just as they occur in the
gravels washed down over the three terraces of the Somme and the Marne. In
the Thames this old gravel wash seems to have been down-stream, whereas
on the middle and upper terraces of the Somme the gravel wash came
directly down the sides of the valley, except, perhaps, in very high
floods. These deep beds of gravel, sand, and loam lie for the most part
above the present overflow plain of the Thames, although in some places
they descend below it; which proves that the main landscape of the Thames
also, except for the changes of the flora and of animal life, was the same
in Pre-Chellean and Chellean times as it is at present. Thus the Somme,
the Thames, and the Seine had all worn their channels to the present or
even to lower levels when the Pre-Chellean hunters appeared. Since
Chellean times all three rivers have silted up their channels.
The changes along the Thames which have since occurred are in the
superficial layers brought down from the sides of the valley which have
softened the contours of the old terraces and have also entombed the later
phases of the valley's prehistory.
Sections on the south bank at Ilford, Kent, and on the north bank at
Gray's Thurrock, Essex, confirm this view. At the latter station, in
low-lying strata of brick-earth, loam, and gravel, such as would be formed
by the silting up of the bottom of an old river channel, are found the
remains of the straight-tusked elephant, broad-nosed rhinoceros, and
hippopotamus. All the discoveries of recent years lead to the conclusion
that the old fluviatile gravels which contain these ancient mammals and
flints are restricted to the lower levels of the Thames valley, while the
high level gravels and loams are of later date. Old Chellean flints also
occur occasionally on the higher levels, but here it would seem that they
have been washed down from the old land surfaces above, because they are
found mingled with flints of the late Acheulean and early Mousterian
industry.
ENGLAND IN EARLY PALÆOLITHIC TIMES
It is on the higher levels of the Thames, as of the Somme, and in the
superficial deposits covering the sides of the valley that we read the
story of the subsequent Palæolithic cultures and of an early warm
temperate climate being followed by a cold climate with frozen subsoil
belonging to the fourth glaciation and the contemporary Mousterian flint
industry. The Palæolithic history of the Thames(30) has not yet been fully
interpreted, but it would appear that the relics of the old stations of
Kent and Norfolk will yield all the forms of Chellean and Acheulean
implements, and probably also those of the Mousterian which have been
discovered in the valley of the Somme, thus proving that the Lower
Palæolithic races of this region pursued the same culture development as
the neighboring tribes of France and Belgium, as well as those of Spain,
up to the close of middle Acheulean times.
A similar sequence of events appears to be indicated at Hoxne, Suffolk,
where archaic palæoliths were discovered as far back as 1797. This
discovery was neglected for upward of sixty years, until in 1859 these
flints were re-examined by Prestwich and Evans after their visit to the
stations of the Somme (Geikie,(31) Avebury(32)). This site was in the
hollow of a surface of boulder-clay, overlain by the deposit of a
fresh-water stream; in the bed of its narrow channel, besides flint
implements of early Acheulean type, abundant plant remains were found
which give us an interesting vision of the flora of the time.
These plants are decidedly characteristic of a temperate climate,
including such trees as the oak, yew, and fir, and mostly of species which
are still found in the forests of the same region. This life gave place,
as indicated in plant deposits of a higher level, to an arctic flora,
probably corresponding with the tundra climate of Mousterian times, the
period of the fourth glaciation. Above these are found again layers of
plants and of mollusks which point to the return of a temperate climate.
SPREAD OF THE ACHEULEAN INDUSTRY
It is noteworthy that not a single 'river-drift,' Pre-Chellean or
Chellean, station has been found in Germany or Switzerland, or, in fact,
in all central Europe in the region lying between the Alpine and
Scandinavian glaciers. Either this region was unfavorable to human
habitation or the remains of the stations have been buried or washed away.
It is significant that the earliest proof of human migration into this
region, whether from the east or from the west we do not certainly know,
is coincident with the dry climate of Acheulean times. The 'loess'
conditions of climate seem to be coincident with the earliest Acheulean
stations in Germany, such as Sablon. 'Loess' deposition is by no means a
proof of a cold climate but rather of an arid one, especially in regions
where areas of finely eroded soil were liable to be raised by the wind;
such areas were found over the whole recently glaciated country north of
the Alps and south of the Scandinavian peninsula.
The Palæolithic discovery sites of Germany are principally grouped in
three regions(33) as follows:
To the south, along the _headwaters of the Rhine and the Danube_, among
the limestones of Swabia and the Jura were formed the caverns sought by
early Mousterian man. To the west of these were many older stations in the
'loess' deposits of the upper Rhine, between the mountain ridges of the
Vosges and the Black Forest, and still nearer the sources of the Rhine,
extending over the border into Switzerland, are a number of famous cave
sites in the valleys cut by the Rhine and its tributaries through the
white Jurassic limestone. To the west is the group of the _middle Rhine
and of Westphalia_, which includes the open Acheulean camps in the 'loess'
deposits above the river and a number of cavern stations. To the north is
the scattered group of stations, both of Acheulean and Mousterian times,
of _north Germany_. Here the sites are few and far between. The
open-country camps were established chiefly in the valley of the Ilm and
near the caves of the Harz Mountains, in the neighborhood of Gera. No
discoveries of certain date or unquestioned authenticity are reported from
_eastern Germany_.
Along the upper Rhine the flint workers of Acheulean times established
their ancient camps mostly in the open on the broad sheets of the 'lower
loess,' which, constantly drifted by the wind, covered and preserved the
stations. These stations are widely scattered, but they were frequented
from earliest Acheulean times, and the region was revisited to the very
close of the Upper Palæolithic.
[Illustration: FIG. 77. Flint working stations of the Men of the Old Stone
Age along the waters of the Ilm, the Rhine, and the Danube, from Acheulean
to Azilian times. After R. R. Schmidt, modified and redrawn. These
Palæolithic sites of Germany lie between the terminal moraines of the
successive glacial advances of the Second, Third, and Fourth (II, III, IV)
Glacial Stages, extending from the borders of the Scandinavian ice-fields
on the north to those of the Alpine ice-fields on the south. The dotted
surface represents the area covered by the drift of the Fourth Glacial
Stage.]
Early in Acheulean times the important 'loess' station of Achenheim was
established. This is a most famous locality and is of especial importance
because it is the only station in Germany which was continuously
frequented from late Acheulean times throughout the Lower Palæolithic and
into the beginning of the Upper Palæolithic; here the 'older loess' of the
Third Interglacial Stage yields a typical Acheulean industry.
Thus far the region of the middle Rhine and of Westphalia has not shown
any evidence of Acheulean culture. The north German stations, however,
were entered in Acheulean times, and the principal open stations of this
region lie along the valley of the Ilm. Here, at Taubach, Ehringsdorf, and
Weimar, we find implements of typical Acheulean form belonging to the
early warm temperate Acheulean period. The stations of the Ilm valley
southwest of Leipsic are also of great importance because of the rich
record which they contain of the warm temperate animal life of early
Acheulean times; the flint culture is typically Acheulean, and the
climatic conditions are read both in the travertines and in the subsequent
deposits of the 'lower loess,' which belong to the cold dry period of late
Acheulean times. Here lingered the straight-tusked elephant and Merck's
rhinoceros, contemporary with the workers of the Acheulean flints.
It will be observed that in Germany the early Acheulean was a warm period
which in certain regions was also arid and subject to great dust-storms.
At this time the camps were for the most part in the open country. In the
late period, also arid and subject to high winds but with a cooler
climate, the flint workers continued to frequent the open Acheulean
stations in the 'loess.' If there were shelter and cavern stations in this
region, they have not as yet been discovered. This would appear to
indicate that the climate had not yet become severe.
Similar testimony is found in the great scarcity of cavern and shelter
stations in Acheulean times in every part of western Europe; yet
occasionally the tribes repaired to the vicinity of sheltering cliffs, as
along the Vézère. In some scattered localities they sought the caverns, as
at Krapina, in Croatia, at Spy, on the Meuse in Belgium, and at Castillo,
in northern Spain. These rare exceptions to the open camps would tend to
prove that the caverns were sought rather for protection from enemies and
as rain shelters than as retreats from a bitter-cold climate.
In the valley of the Beune, a small tributary of the Vézère, in Dordogne,
we find a true Acheulean station quite close to the river shore. This
proves that in Acheulean times this valley was already deepened to the
same degree as it is to-day. In the valley of the Somme the Acheulean
culture stretches from the 'highest terrace' down below the present level
of the river, which has made for itself a new high channel. The fact that
two Acheulean stations are found on the upper Garonne, high above the
present water-level, is of little significance, as at that time the
water-level was also high.
In general the Acheulean flint workers preferred the open stations
throughout all Acheulean times, and their camps are found on the open
plateaus between the rivers or on the various 'terrace' levels, as on the
higher, middle, and lower 'terraces' of the Somme at St. Acheul, or again
close along the borders of the rivers and streams, as in the Dordogne
region.
Even during the early Acheulean stage a dry climate had begun to prevail
in certain parts of Germany. Near Metz is the 'older loess' station of
Sablon, which was occupied in early Acheulean times, indicating a warm
period of arid climate favorable to the transportation of the wind-blown
'loess'; doubtless, this fine dust at times filled the entire atmosphere
and obscured the sun, as is the case to-day on the high steppes and
deserts of eastern Asia.
An exception to the open-country life preferred by the Acheulean flint
workers is found in the great grotto[AD] of Castillo, near Puente Viesgo,
in the Province of Santander, northern Spain. The deposits which filled
this grotto to a thickness of 45 feet from the floor to the roof were
explored by Obermaier, who found them divided into thirteen layers,
covering eleven periods of industry and presenting the most wonderful
epitome of the prehistory of western Europe from Acheulean times to the
Age of Bronze, in Spain (Fig. 79).
[Illustration: FIG. 78. Entrance (white cross) to the great grotto of
Castillo in northern Spain. This grotto was frequented by the Men of the
Old Stone Age from Acheulean to Azilian times, an archæologic sequence
surpassed only by that of the open camps along the terraces of the Somme.
Photograph from Obermaier.]
As early as 1908, Breuil(34) discovered in the interior of the cave back
of the grotto some quartzites worked into Acheulean types, proving that
the cavern was entered in Acheulean times. Obermaier,(35) in the course of
three years' work, has found that the floor of the grotto was possibly
used as a flint-making station in Acheulean and, possibly, in Chellean
times. The culture section which he has revealed here under the direction
of the _Institut de Paléontologie humaine_ can be compared only with that
which Commont has found on the 'terraces' of the Somme at St. Acheul. The
difference is that in the shelter of the Castillo grotto the climate is
recorded only through the changing forms of animal life which are mingled
around the fire-hearths and with the flints in the ascending levels.
(13) Eneolithic Age. Small, triangular dagger in copper.
(12) Azilian. Flint industry--Age of the Stag.
(11) Upper Magdalenian. Artistic engravings on stag-horn.
(10) Lower Magdalenian. Flints and fine engravings on bone. Reindeer
bâton.
(9) Archaic Solutrean. _Feuilles de laurier_, retouched on one side
only.
(8, 7, 6) Upper Aurignacian in three layers. Remains of the reindeer
and _burins_.
(5) Lower Aurignacian. Implements of stone and bone. Remains of an
infant.
(4) Upper Mousterian. Rich in small implements and large tools of
quartzite. Merck's rhinoceros very abundant.
(3) Typical Mousterian flints and quartzites. Merck's rhinoceros.
(2) Early Mousterian industry. Bones of cave-bear and Merck's
rhinoceros.
(1) Acheulean flints.
[Illustration: FIG. 79. Stratigraphic section showing the archæologic
layers of the great grotto of Castillo. After Obermaier.]
The entrance to this grotto is on the side of a high hill overlooking the
valley and might easily have been barricaded against attack. In early
Acheulean times, when the flint workers were on the very floor of the
grotto, the lower entrance of the cavern was still open, leading far into
the heart of the mountain. The successive accumulations of débris, cave
loam, fire-stones, bones, and innumerable flints, together with great
blocks falling over the entrance of the cavern, reached a height of 45
feet, so that during the Upper Palæolithic only the upper entrance to the
cavern was used by the artists of Magdalenian times. The subsequent
Azilian and Eneolithic cultures were crowded under the very roof of the
grotto at the sides.
This station, repaired to and then abandoned by tribe after tribe over a
period estimated at present as not less than 50,000 years, is a monumental
volume of prehistory, read and interpreted by the archæologist almost as
clearly as if the whole record were in writing.
The first positive evidences of the use of fire are the layers of charred
wood and bones frequently found in the industrial deposits of early
Acheulean times.
GEOGRAPHIC AND CLIMATIC CHANGES
During the early period of development of the Acheulean industry, the
geography, the climate, and the plant and animal life continued to present
exactly the same aspect as during Chellean times. The mammals which we
find in Thuringia in the lower travertines of the valley of the Ilm, at
Taubach, near Weimar, and at Ehringsdorf, mingled with flints of early
Acheulean industry, are of the same species as those found in the valley
of the Somme mingled with the implements of the Chellean industry. The
southern mammoth occurs at Taubach, and we find the straight-tusked
elephant (_E. antiquus_), Merck's rhinoceros, the hippopotamus, the lion,
and the hyæna representing the ancient African-Asiatic migrants, while the
north European and Asiatic life is represented by the giant deer,
roe-deer, wild goat, brown bear, wolf, badger, marten, otter, beaver,
meadow hamster, and shrew. Grazing in the meadows were the aurochs, or
wild ox, and the wisent, or bison. There was one variety of horse,
probably of the forest type. Thus, the fauna as a whole contains six
Asiatic types, or eight if we include the bison and wild cattle. Of the
forest life there are nine species, including the wild boar (_Sus scrofa
ferus_) not mentioned above.
The layers of travertine are indicative of very important geographical
changes which were occurring in central and southern Europe in the middle
period of Third Interglacial times. The travertines of the Ilm and of
other parts of central Germany were due to wide-spread volcanic
disturbances and eruptions, accompanied by the deposition of travertines,
gypsums, and tufas. To this volcanic disturbance in central France is
attributed the deposition of the _tuf de La Celle-sous-Moret_, near Paris,
which records the warm temperate climate of early Acheulean times, as well
as the somewhat cooler succeeding climate of late Acheulean times. This
uplift in the centre of Germany and France apparently left the region
between France and Great Britain undisturbed, because there is evidence of
continued free migration of the tribes and of the Acheulean cultures; but
there appears to have been a wide-spread subsidence of the coasts of
southern Europe by which the islands of the Mediterranean became isolated
from the mainland, and the migrating routes between Europe and Africa
across the central Mediterranean region were cut off. Thus, Italy, Sicily,
and Sardinia were separated from the mainland after having received a
large contingent of mammalian life from the continents both to the north
and to the south. While descendants of the African and Asiatic mammals, as
well as of the northerly European forest and meadow types, survive on
these islands, there is, thus far, no indication that they were invaded by
hunters carrying the implements of the Acheulean culture, although these
Acheulean flint workers ranged over all parts of the Italian peninsula
(Fig. 80), as indicated by the discovery of nine stations.
DISTRIBUTION OF ACHEULEAN STATIONS
The Acheulean stations are widely distributed along the Seine, Marne, and
Somme in northern France, where flint is abundant and well adapted for
fine workmanship. In central and southern France, where large flints are
scarce, the Acheulean tribes were forced to use quartz, which fashions
into clumsier forms. In the north the Acheulean workers continued on the
old Chellean sites at Chelles, St. Acheul, Abbeville, and Helin. In late
Acheulean times were established the new stations of Wolvercote on the
Thames, near Oxford, and of Levallois on the Seine, near Paris, both
famous for their 'Levallois' flint knives or blades. Near Levallois is the
late Acheulean station of Villejuif, south of Paris, where the flints are
buried in drifts of loess. In Normandy are the important stations of
Frileuse, Bléville, and La Mare-aux-Clercs, which give the whole Acheulean
development, both early and late. On a small tributary valley of the
Vézère, in Dordogne, in late Acheulean times there was established the
station of La Micoque, which gives its name to a number of miniature
flints of distinctive form which were first found there and are known as
the 'type of La Micoque.' Other stations, such as Combe-Capelle, also show
examples of this 'miniature' Acheulean workmanship.
[Illustration: FIG. 80. Distribution of the principal Acheulean industrial
stations in western Europe.]
Altogether, over thirty Acheulean stations have been found in France,
two--Castillo and San Isidro--in northern and central Spain, the single
station of Furninha in Portugal, over eight in Germany, three in Austria,
and three in Russian Poland. Especially remarkable is the wide
distribution of this culture all over Italy, where explorations by no
means exhaustive have resulted in the discovery of at least nine or ten
very prolific stations extending from Goccianello in the north to Capri in
the south, but not into Sicily as far as is at present known. Thus all of
western Europe, excepting the area covered by the Scandinavian ice-fields
on the north and by the Alpine ice-fields on the south, was penetrated by
the workers of Acheulean flints, probably members, for the most part, of
the Neanderthal race.
[Illustration: FIG. 81. Late Acheulean station of La Micoque, in Dordogne,
where miniature flints of distinctive late Acheulean form are found.
Photograph by N. C. Nelson.]
The general uniformity of Acheulean workmanship in all parts of western
Europe is an indication that these Neanderthaloid tribes were more or less
migratory and that the inventions of new and useful implements, such as
the lance-pointed coup de poing of La Micoque and the flint-flakes of
Levallois, which probably originated at an especial centre, or perhaps
even in the inventive mind of a single workman, became widely distributed
and highly distinctive of certain periods. The development of the
implements in different regions is so uniform as to prove that the
evolution of the early Palæolithic cultures extended all over western
Europe and that the various types or stages were essentially contemporary.
FORMS OF ACHEULEAN IMPLEMENTS
There is a close sequence between the coup de poing of the Chellean
workers and its development into the finer and more symmetrical forms of
the Acheulean. The latter, according to Obermaier,(36) is distinguished by
the flaking of the entire surface, by the far more skilful fashioning, and
by the really symmetrical almond form which is attained by retouching both
the surface and the edges. This more refined retouch becomes the means of
producing symmetrical instruments, with straight, convex, or concave
cutting edges, as well as finer and lighter tools.
[Illustration: FIG. 82. Illustrating the method of 'flaking' flint
implements by direct or indirect blow with a hammer-stone.]
The _early Acheulean_ industry belonged to a warm temperate climatic
period and directly succeeds the Chellean, as shown in a most perfect
manner in the quarries of the type station of St. Acheul on the Somme. In
these earlier strata the prevailing forms of coup de poing are the
'pointed oval' and the 'lance-pointed,' the latter showing very simple
chipping, a broad point, and a thick base. The oval coups de poing are
smaller than the Chellean tools of the same kind, carefully fashioned on
all sides and round the base, and very symmetrical; there are four
distinct varieties of these: the almond type, oval almond-shaped, elongate
oval, and subtriangular--the latter evolving into the finely modelled type
of late Acheulean times. It may have been from these oval types that the
disc form was finally evolved.
[Illustration: FIG. 83. Illustrating the method of 'chipping' flint
implements by pressure with a bone or wooden implement, to produce the
finer retouch of the surfaces and edges.]
There is wide difference of opinion regarding the use of these thin
ovaloid, triangular, and disc forms. Obermaier considers that they may
have been clamped in wood, or furnished with a shaft, thus forming a spear
head. Another suggestion is that they were used with a leather guard to
protect the hand; and there is no doubt that in either case they would
have served as effective weapons in chase or war. Another view is that of
Commont,(37) who believes that not a single implement down to the very end
of Acheulean times can be regarded as a weapon of war; this author
maintains that many of these implements, including those dressed on both
edges, were still in various ways grasped by the hand, although they do
not present the firm, blunted grip of the ancient coups de poing.
We also note the development of a type of coup de poing, with cutting
blade fashioned straight across the end: this primitive chisel or
adze-shaped tool may have been used as a chopper, or as an axe, in
fashioning wooden tools.
[Illustration: FIG. 84. Method of producing the long _flake_ and the
central _core_ of flint by sharp blows at the indicated point of
percussion. After R. R. Schmidt. In this case a series of flakes have been
cut off the entire periphery of the core. The primitive use of the flake
begins in the Pre-Chellean.]
In the lance-pointed coup de poing of narrow, elongate shape, the flaking
is very simple and the edges are continued into the short base, generally
very thick, and often showing part of the original crust of the flint
nodule, which is well adapted for the grip of the hand. This implement,
which serves the original idea of the coup de poing, develops into the
round-pointed and lance-pointed forms. There is no question that, whether
in industrial use, in war, or in the chase, these implements were held
only by the hand.
INDUSTRIAL.
_Coup de poing._
Ovaloid.
Double-edged.
Subtriangular.
Straight cutting blade across the end.
Disc-shaped.
Triangular--very thin and flat.
Hachette, chopper.
Grattoir, planing tool.
Racloir, scraper.
Perçoir, drill, borer.
Couteau, knife.
'Pointe' (Levallois blade).
'Pointe,' point--oval and chisel-shaped.
WAR AND CHASE.
_Coup de poing._
Of pointed and lance-pointed types.
Pierre de jet, throwing stone.
Couteau, knife.
'Pointe,' dart and spear heads.
The small implements of the early Acheulean included a great variety of
designs developing out of the far more primitive tools of Chellean and
Pre-Chellean times, namely, the planing tool, the scraper, the borer, and
the knife. Each of these types develops its own variety, often fashioned
with great care, primitive blades, straight-edged cutting tools, with the
back rounded or blunted for the grip of the fingers, scrapers with
straight or curved edges, and perçoirs or borers. The scraping and planing
tools, doubtless used for the dressing of hides, are now more carefully
fashioned. We also observe the racloir and the scraper finished to a point
which is the precursor of the graving tool of the Upper Palæolithic.(38)
Characteristic of this stage is the systematic use of large 'flakes' or
outlying pieces of flint struck off from the core, which were used as
scrapers or planes, or developed into small 'haches,' or coups de poing.
The _core_ or _centre_ of the flint nodule still constitutes the material
out of which the large typical implements are fashioned; but the _flake_
begins to lend itself to a great variety of forms, as witnessed in the
evolution of the Levallois knives of the Upper Acheulean and the highly
varied flake implements of the Mousterian and Aurignacian industries.
The 'pointe,' or point, is a special implement chipped out of a short,
sharply convex flake, taking the form of a blunt dart or spear head,
pointed at one end and oval or flat at the other.
[Illustration: FIG. 85. Large, typical Acheulean implements, chiefly
described as _coups de poing_, after de Mortillet. One-quarter actual
size. One of these (41) shows at one end a part of the crust of the flint
nodule left intact to afford a smooth, firm grip to the hand. Another (43)
shows a part of the crust remaining along the left side, for the same
purpose. Two of the coups de poing (47 and 48) show, the one a
double-curved, the other a straight, lateral edge. Another coup de poing
(49), from a submarine deposit near the shore at Havre, is partly covered
by acorn shells.]
LATE ACHEULEAN CLIMATE
The Acheulean industry continued over a very long period, and by the time
the late Acheulean culture stage had been reached a decided change of
climate ensued in western Europe. Along the borders of the Danube and of
the Rhine, in the valley of the Somme, and even in central and southern
France there are indications of a cool dry continental climate, similar to
that which is now found on the southern steppes of Russia, in the Ural
Mountains, and in the vicinity of the Caspian Sea. Indications of this
climate have been mentioned above, as seen in the plant life in the _tuf
de La Celle-sous-Moret_, near Paris, where there are evidences that trees
of a cool temperate climate took the place of the warm temperate forests
of early Acheulean times.
That the climate should be considered as cool and arid rather than
comparable with the bitter-cold climate of the 'upper loess' period, when
a true steppe fauna entered Europe for the first time, is further
indicated by the fact that late Acheulean implements are more frequently
found in the centre and north of France than in the south.
To the far north, before the close of Acheulean times, the Scandinavian
ice-fields had again begun to advance southward; the region bordering the
glaciers was cold and moist and favored the migration from the tundra
regions of the woolly mammoth and woolly rhinoceros to the locality still
frequented by the Acheulean flint workers, for it is said(39) that
Acheulean flints are occasionally associated even with the remains of
these tundra mammals. At the very same time the Acheulean flint workers
along the Somme may have enjoyed a more genial climate.
It is only through this interpretation of the various climatic and life
zones in western Europe that we can explain the survival on the River
Somme, or return to this river from the south, of a warm temperate fauna,
hippopotami, rhinoceroses, and elephants, in the Mousterian period, which
is even subsequent to the close of Acheulean times.
The valleys of the two great river-systems of southwestern France, the
Dordogne draining the central plateau, and the Garonne draining the
eastern Pyrenees, were now sought by the Acheulean flint workers. The
valley of the Vézère, a northern tributary of the Dordogne, cuts through a
broad plateau of limestone in which the streams have hollowed out deep
beds with vertical sides. Here the landscape of late Acheulean times bore
the same general aspect as at present.(40) Evidences of a change of
climate are observed even in the sheltered valleys where the flint
workers were seeking the warmer and sunnier river-slopes. The river
channels were the same as they are to-day, and the quarries of the early
Acheulean flint workers are found quite close to the streams; but as the
period progressed they moved up nearer to the cliffs and shelters. Here,
too, there is evidence that a dry continental climate prevailed. On the
upper levels of the old plateaus of Dordogne we still find the _Quercus
ilex_ occurring quite frequently, a tree which belongs to relatively dry
regions and which in southern Russia is reckoned with the flora of the
steppes. Yet the greater aridity toward the close of the Acheulean stage
was probably not such as to prevent the growth of forests along the
borders of the streams. Thus, in the mammalian life of the period there
was, perhaps, a division between the more hardy forms which frequented the
dry plateaus above and the forest-loving and less hardy forms which
frequented the river-valleys.
[Illustration: FIG. 86. "Valleys of the two great river-systems of
southwestern France, the Dordogne draining the central plateau and the
Garonne draining the eastern Pyrenees." After Harlé.]
The most convincing proof of an arid climate in the north of France with
prevailing high westerly winds is found in the layers of 'loess' which
occur on the 'terraces' of the Somme, the Seine, the Rhine, and the
Danube. These 'lower loess' layers of Third Interglacial times frequently
contain implements of the late Acheulean industry. Thus, at Villejuif,
south of Paris, late Acheulean implements are found embedded in drifts of
'loess.' In the valley of the Somme, flints of the middle Acheulean stage
are also found in the _loess ancien_ and 'river-drift.' In the _tuf de La
Celle-sous-Moret_ the layer of 'loess' immediately overlies the tufa layer
containing late Acheulean implements and proofs of a cooler climate.
[Illustration: FIG. 87. "The valley of the Vézère, a northern tributary of
the Dordogne, cuts through a broad plateau of limestone in which the
streams have hollowed out deep beds with vertical sides," favorable to the
formation of caverns, grottos, and shelters. "Here the landscape of late
Acheulean times bore the same general aspect as at present." Photograph by
N. C. Nelson.]
Among the most famous of the 'loess' stations of late Acheulean times is
that of Achenheim on the upper Rhine, west of Strasburg. Here the 'older
loess' contains a typical Acheulean culture.
With this prolonged epoch of cooler temperature the hippopotamus and the
southern mammoth retreated to the warmer portions of southern Europe, and
their remains are no longer found associated with the late Acheulean
flints. The more hardy straight-tusked elephant and Merck's rhinoceros
still continued in the north, apparently well adapted to sustain a very
considerable fall in temperature.
FORMS OF LATE ACHEULEAN IMPLEMENTS
The coups de poing of the _late Acheulean_ exhibit a great advance upon
the Chellean, being fashioned into dagger or lance forms, with all the
edges carefully chipped. The ovaloid implements of late Acheulean times
are often worked into fine and sharp blades, which may have been used like
butcher-knives for dismembering the carcasses of game and for cutting up
the pelts, while the fine almond and disc shapes may have been used as
scrapers to cut off the tissues of the inner surfaces of the hides, which
were finally dressed by the grattoir, or flint planing tool. In brief, the
coup de poing reaches its acme of development in late Acheulean times,
both in the fineness of flaking and retouching and in its symmetry of
form. The use of large flakes of flint and the retouching both of the
borders and of the extremities of these flakes shows a constantly
improving technique. It is in the thin, flat, triangular blades and in the
lance-pointed forms that the coup de poing reaches its culmination; but we
still observe the development of the oval or almond-shaped forms and of
the flattened discs. The implements of this time reach their greatest
perfection in the north of France, where flint is so abundant.
[Illustration: FIG. 88. Varied shapes of the Acheulean flints described as
_coups de poing_, including some 'miniature' forms, after de Mortillet.
The oval, the pointed, the almond, the triangular, the disc-shaped. The
late Acheulean is distinguished by an advance in all the finer and smaller
implements, tools, and weapons; yet the finest work of Acheulean times
appears thick and clumsy when contrasted with the best Solutrean work of
the Upper Palæolithic. One-quarter actual size.]
The late Acheulean is further distinguished by an advance in all the finer
and smaller implements and tools. The knives are now very fine and
perfect, although they retain the broad, thick form of the original flint
fragment and seldom attain the symmetrical shape which characterizes the
blades of the Upper Palæolithic.(41) The 'points' are also of finer
technique, with their edges converging from a broad base to a well-formed
point. It is generally assumed that these were held in the bare hand, but
it is quite as probable that they were attached to wooden shafts and used
as dart or spear heads. By far the most numerous as well as the most
varied of the smaller tools were the racloirs, or scrapers, which were
developed, doubtless, by the increasing use of skins for clothing as a
protection against the somewhat more rigorous climate of late Acheulean
times. Probably the women of the tribe were employed in dressing hides by
means of these scrapers, which were either flat and broad with
crescent-shaped edges, flat and narrow, or double-edged with rounded
ends. The development of other fine tools--borers, small discs, triangular
and ovaloid shapes, miniature coups de poing, and many varied forms
besides--is best witnessed in the station of La Micoque, close to the
junction of the Vézère with the Dordogne. These miniature implements may
well have been used in the final dressing of skins for clothing, in the
chase of smaller kinds of game, or at feasts for splitting marrow-bones.
[Illustration: FIG. 89. The _chef-d'œuvre_ of the Acheulean industry is
the Levallois flake, which may have evolved from the large flakes of
Chellean times. After Worthington Smith.]
No bone implements whatever have been found even with these late Acheulean
flints, but it is important to observe that the majority of these stations
are open and exposed to the weather and that bone implements would not be
preserved here as they would in the sheltered grottos and caverns to which
the flint workers repaired in the Mousterian and succeeding times.
As regards the finish of these flint implements, it is important to note
that it is fine only by comparison with the crude work of the early
Acheulean or the still coarser types of Chellean times and that the very
finest work of Acheulean times appears thick and clumsy when contrasted
with the finer work of the Upper Palæolithic.
The _chef-d'œuvre_ of the late Acheulean industry is the Levallois flake,
first found at Levallois-Perret, near Paris, which de Mortillet believed
to be fashioned out of a divided coup de poing with a flat under-side,
but which may have been evolved from the very large primitive flakes of
Pre-Chellean date. These flakes date back earlier than the Chellean coup
de poing but continued in use after its invention and may have been
greatly perfected into the Levallois type. This type of 'couteau' is a
large, wide, thin flake of fairly symmetrical shape, with a flat back
formed by the original smooth surface of the flake. These implements are
pointed, oval, or sharply rectangular in form and present the most
characteristic tool of the closing stage of the Acheulean industry.
It is most interesting at this point to observe the two modes of evolution
which seem to pervade all nature: first, the gradual perfection and
modification in size and proportion of a certain older form; second, the
sudden change or mutation into a new form, which in turn enters the stage
of gradual improvement.
The late Acheulean is seen to present the climax of a gradual and unbroken
development from the early Chellean industries and ideas; and to our mind
this is strongly suggestive of a corresponding evolution of manual skill
and mental development in the workmen themselves, who may have been partly
of Pre-Neanderthaloid race.
The next industrial stage, namely, the Mousterian, which certainly
presents the closing workmanship of the Neanderthal race, shows a marked
retrogression of technique in contrast to the steady progression which we
have observed up to this time. We have, in fact, witnessed a number of
successive stages of progression, which are to be followed in the
Mousterian by a stage of retrogression. Such a retrogression in industrial
development may for certain known or unknown reasons occur in the same
race. It is a noteworthy parallel that in the Upper Palæolithic, where the
Solutrean culture represents the climax and perfection of flint working,
the succeeding Magdalenian shows marked retrogression in the technique of
flint retouch.
THE KRAPINA NEANDERTHALOIDS
In northern Croatia, near the small town of Krapina, in the valley of the
Krapinica River, is the now famous cavern of Krapina, where in 1899 was
made the fourth discovery of the remains of men of the Neanderthaloid race
in western Europe, twelve years after the discovery of the men of Spy, in
Belgium, and forty-three years after the discovery of the man of
Neanderthal. Even now opinion is divided as to the age of the human
remains found in this cavern. The discoverer, Professor
Gorjanovič-Kramberger of Agram considered that the stone implements and
chips were of Mousterian age, and Breuil still refers them to the early,
or so-called warm, Mousterian period; this opinion is shared by
Déchelette. Schmidt, however, regards Krapina as a true Acheulean station,
lacking in some of the typical implements, and of the same age as the
'loess' station of Ehringsdorf.
[Illustration: FIG. 90. The grotto of Krapina, overlooking the valley of
the Krapinica River, near Krapina, Croatia, in Austria-Hungary. After
Kraemer.]
The mammals found in the cavern certainly belong to the very late
Acheulean period and include Merck's rhinoceros, the cave-bear, the urus,
a species of horse, the giant deer (_Megaceros_), the beaver, and the
marmot (_Arctomys marmotta_).
The cavern was originally washed out by the river, but now it is 82 feet
above the present water-level. When found it was completely filled with
sand and gravel deposits, weathered fragments from the roof and walls, and
loose stones and boulders.(42) Enclosed in this mass, in separate strata
which are perfectly distinguishable, there lay, variously distributed
through the different layers, thousands of animal bones, mingled with
hundreds of human bones, and hundreds of stone implements and chips.
[Illustration: FIG. 91. Cross-section of the valley traversed by the
Krapinica River showing the location of the grotto known as the Krapina
recess on the bank to the left. Drawn by C. A. Reeds.]
During the years 1899-1905 Gorjanovič-Kramberger made a thorough
exploration of the contents of this cavern, and published a complete
account of his researches in 1906.(43) There were about three hundred
pieces of human bones, among them many small fragments, also many sizable
pieces of skull and several entire limb bones perfectly preserved. The
bones are of a strongly characterized type, and the lower jaws, face
bones, bones of the thigh and arm, the teeth, and the bones of many
children establish the Krapina race as belonging unquestionably in the
same group with that of Neanderthal and of Spy.
[Illustration: FIG. 92. Detail showing the interior contents of the
Krapina grotto before its excavation in the years 1899 to 1905. After
Gorjanovič-Kramberger.]
The skull of the Krapina man (Fig. 93) is somewhat broader or more
brachycephalic than that of any other members of the Neanderthal race. In
general, the race is somewhat dwarfed, of broader head form and with less
prominent supraorbital processes. The species is unquestionably _Homo
neanderthalensis_, of which the Krapina men constitute a local race.
Schwalbe and Boule observe that the greater breadth of the Krapina skull
is partly due to the manner in which the bones have been put together,(44)
and they do not consider that the Krapina man represents a different
subrace (_Homo neanderthalensis krapinensis_) as held by the discoverer.
The cephalic index of one Krapina skull is recorded as 83.7 per cent (?)
as compared with 73.9 per cent, the cephalic index of the true _H.
neanderthalensis_, a difference which, as above noted, may be partly due
to the restoration. The bones are in such a fragmentary condition that it
is impossible to form a proper estimate of the brain capacity in either
the males or females of this race; nor is it possible to estimate the
stature. The space between the eyes is the same as in the Neanderthal
race; the angle of the retreat of the forehead (52°) is nearly the same as
in the Gibraltar female Neanderthal skull (50°), this high forehead being
due to the lesser development of the supraorbital ridges. That the brain
was of a low, flat-headed Neanderthal type is shown by the close
similarity of the index of the height of skull (42.2) to that of one of
the men of Spy (44.3), as compared with the lowest index among the
existing races of men (48.9); yet the Krapina man presents a considerable
advance over _Pithecanthropus_, in which the index of the height of skull
is only 34.2.
[Illustration: FIG. 93. Profile view, right side, of one of the skulls
from Krapina. This skull is much broader than that of the typical
Neanderthaloid. After Gorjanovič-Kramberger. One-quarter life size.]
The jaw is more slender than that of the Heidelberg man but is still thick
and massive; the chin is receding, a characteristic of all the Neanderthal
races.
The broken condition of all the human bones in this cavern, and the
abundant indications of fire, have led to the charge that the Neanderthals
of Krapina were cannibals, and that these mingled remains are the bones of
animals and men collected here during cannibalistic feasts. Against this
supposition Breuil observes that none of the human bones are split
lengthwise, as is the usual practice when extracting the marrow, but they
are broken crosswise. This is the only evidence of such practice that has
been found during all Palæolithic times, and we should hesitate to accept
it unless corroborated by other localities.
The various layers indicate that the cavern was successively occupied by
man; in or near the hearths are found stone implements, broken and
incinerated bones, and pieces of charcoal, which may indicate that this
grotto was visited only at intervals, perhaps during the colder seasons of
the year.
(=1=) Harlé, 1910.1.
(=2=) d'Ault du Mesnil, 1896.1, pp. 284-296.
(=3=) Obermaier, 1912.1, p. 146.
(=4=) Schmidt, 1912.1, pp. 118-126.
(=5=) Boule, 1888.1.
(=6=) Obermaier, 1912.1, pp. 327-329.
(=7=) Haug, 1907.1, vol. II, pp. 327-329.
(=8=) Geikie, 1914.1, p. 262.
(=9=) Morlot, 1854.1.
(=10=) Commont, 1906.1.
(=11=) Geikie, 1914.1, pp. 107-111.
(=12=) d'Ault du Mesnil, _op. cit._
(=13=) Schmidt, 1912.1, pp. 124, 125.
(=14=) Obermaier, 1912.1, p. 118.
(=15=) Dawson, 1913.1; 1913.2; 1913.3.
(=16=) Kennard, 1913.1.
(=17=) Reid, 1913.1.
(=18=) Dawson, 1913.1, p. 123; 1914.1, pp. 82-86.
(=19=) Keith, A., 1913.1; 1913.2; 1913.3.
(=20=) Smith, G. E., 1913.1; 1913.2; 1913.3; 1913.4.
(=21=) Boule, 1913.1, pp. 245, 246.
(=22=) Schwalbe, 1914.1, p. 603.
(=23=) Osborn, 1910.1, pp. 404-409.
(=24=) Ewart, 1904.1; 1907.1; 1909.1.
(=25=) Obermaier, 1912.1, p. 120.
(=26=) de Mortillet, 1869.1.
(=27=) Obermaier, _op. cit._, p. 116.
(=28=) Lyell, 1863.1, p. 164.
(=29=) Geikie, 1914.1, pp. 119, 263, 264.
(=30=) Schmidt, 1912.1, pp. 125, 126.
(=31=) Geikie, _op. cit._, p. 228.
(=32=) Avebury, 1913.1, p. 342, Fig. 236.
(=33=) Schmidt, _op. cit._, pp. 17-105.
(=34=) Breuil, 1912.5, p. 14.
(=35=) Obermaier, 1912.1, p. 164.
(=36=) Obermaier, _op. cit._, pp. 124, 125, 127, 130.
(=37=) Commont, 1908.1.
(=38=) Déchelette, 1908.1, vol. I, pp. 80-90.
(=39=) Geikie, 1914.1, p. 255.
(=40=) Hilzheimer, 1913.1, p. 145.
(=41=) Obermaier, 1912.1, p. 127.
(=42=) Fischer, 1913.1.
(=43=) Gorjanovič-Kramberger, 1901.1; 1903.1; 1906.1.
(=44=) Schwalbe, 1914.1, p. 597.