evolution of this culture is the direct succession described below of
Aurignacian prototypes and early Aurignacian implements above the older
Mousterian layers in the various stations of Dordogne. In fact, the
relation of the Aurignacian industry to the preceding Mousterian is one of
the most important in the history of Palæolithic archæology, because of
the change of race which occurred at this time. How far is it derivative
and autochthonous, how far is it new and influenced by invasion and the
handicraft of a new and superior race?
_Art._
Microlithique, microlith.
Burin, graver (first appearance).
_Industrial._
Coup de poing, hand-stone (rare and degenerate).
Pointe, point.
[AN]Chatelperron (curved).
double-pointed.
Racloir, scraper.
convex.
concave.
straight.
double-edged.
triple-edged.
Grattoir, planing tool.
Perçoir, drill, borer.
Couteau, knife, blade.
Enclume, anvil stone.
Percuteur, hammer-stone.
_War and Chase._
Pointe, point.
Pierre de jet, throwing stone.
Couteau, knife, blade.
Pointe de lance, bone lance-heads.
First, as for transition from the older culture, it is important to note
throughout that the 'Aurignacian retouch' is identical with the
Mousterian; this retouch is on one side of the flake only and gives it a
short, abrupt, and blunt edge. As we shall see, it is essentially
different from that discovered by the Solutrean flint workers and employed
in Solutrean times, a superior technique which produced a sharp, thin
edge, many of the implements being dressed on both sides. On the other
hand, Breuil concludes that the early Aurignacian industry can only in
part be derived from the late Mousterian and that it is partly due to the
invasion of a race which ranks much higher in the scale of intelligence
than the Neanderthal.
[Illustration: FIG. 149. Implements designed for engraving and sculpture.
Evolution of the angulate graving-tool or _burin_, from the early
Aurignacian of Chatelperron (left), to the late Solutrean of Placard
(right). After Breuil. About one-third actual size. These small
implements, chiefly made from elongated flakes and distinguished by a
sharp angulate edge at one end suitable for graving on bone or stone, are
especially characteristic of the Aurignacian stage of culture, in which
they first appear. 1, 2. Chatelperron points. 6. Prototype of the
Magdalenian 'parrot-beak.' Some of these _burins_, such as 7, are made
into _grattoirs_ or planing tools at the other end.]
The pure _early Aurignacian_ industry is seen in the regions of Dordogne
and the Pyrenees in the layers of Chatelperron, Germolles, Roche au Loup,
Haurets, and Gargas. The cave of Gudenushöhle, near Krems, in Lower
Austria, exhibits a very primitive phase of the early Aurignacian. Here
numerous small flints were found, resembling those found at Brive by the
Abbés Bardon and Bouyssonie; similar microliths are also found at
Pair-non-Pair, Gironde, at various stations in Dordogne, and at the
Grottes de Grimaldi, on the Riviera, in layers of corresponding age.
The chief invention of this stage is the 'Chatelperron point' (Fig. 149),
a direct development from the curved point of the Abri Audit (Fig. 151)
and a dominant type of the early Aurignacian culture. Small almond-shaped
'coups de poing' are still met with at Chatelperron and a few other
localities, but Breuil suggests that these may not be real examples of
Aurignacian industry but implements carried off from older stations.
The use of elongated flakes is another feature of this early industry, but
the retouch of the edges cannot compare with the fine 'grooved retouch' of
the middle Aurignacian; as yet the flakes are thick and large. Many of the
scrapers are 'keeled' (_grattoirs carénés_).
An entirely new implement appears in addition to the triangular and
elongate flakes of flint shaped into points and scrapers of forms; this is
the primitive graving-tool, or _burin_, which at first is quite rare, but
which we know was designed by the Crô-Magnon artists for their early
engravings on stone (Fig. 149).
_Art Implements._
_Microlithique_, microlith.
[AO]_Burin_, graver.
_Ciseau_, chisel.
[AO]_Gravette_, etching tool (first appearance).
_New Industrial Implements._
_Pointe_, point (leaf-shaped).
[AO]_Grattoir caréné_, keeled scraper.
_Perçoir_, drill, borer.
[AO]curved (first appearance).
_Couteau_, knife, blade.
[AO]curved-in edges.
_Poinçon_, awl (bone).
_New Implements of War and Chase._
_Pointe à cran_, shouldered point (stone).
_Pointe de sagaie_, javelin point (bone).
A fourth highly distinctive feature of the early Aurignacian is the use of
a variety of implements of bone and horn consisting chiefly of javelin
points and drills and of coarse, spatula-like tools.
In the _middle Aurignacian_ the flake industry reaches its perfection of
form and technique; the edges of the flakes are shaped all around with the
'grooved retouch' resulting in symmetrical forms such as the oval,
double-ended 'points,' the leaf-shaped 'points,' and the double scrapers;
this, in fact, is the culmination of the 'Aurignacian retouch,' which
afterward begins to decline. The retouch of the long flakes is fine and
parallel, but as yet the flakes themselves are generally thick and heavy,
so that their ends are, perforce, much broader than those of the Solutrean
and Magdalenian fashion. One of the most distinctive forms of this middle
Aurignacian industry is the 'keeled scraper' (_grattoir caréné_) with an
abruptly grooved retouch (Fig. 150).
[Illustration: FIG. 150. Implements suitable for the dressing of hides and
for sculpture. The keeled scraper or planing tool--_grattoir
caréné_--characteristic of the Aurignacian culture. After Breuil. About
two-fifth actual size. 1, 2, 3. Short and broad types appearing in the
middle Aurignacian. 4, 5. More elongated types of the advanced middle
Aurignacian from Crô-Magnon, Dordogne. 6. Elongated type (_pic_) of the
close of the middle Aurignacian. 7, 8. Small _grattoirs_ with handles,
suitable for sculpture.]
Still more significant in connection with the rapid artistic development
of these people is the remarkable increase in the number and variety of
graving-tools, including numerous curved gravers. Almost all the chief
types of gravers (burins) have now been invented, and tools of bone have
become extremely numerous and varied. To engraving and linear design have
been added the art of sculpture and the primitive use of color
(Breuil,(29) Schmidt(30)).
In the Dordogne region this evolution of the middle Aurignacian is
exemplified at Le Ruth, Le Roc de Combe-Capelle, and the principal layers
of the Abri Audit as well as at the shelter of Laussel. It is well
developed also at Le Trilobite, on the headwaters of the Seine.
In the _late Aurignacian_ (Breuil,(31) Obermaier(32)) there is a notable
departure from the Mousterian fashion of chipping the flakes; even the
distinctive blunt 'Aurignacian retouch' is somewhat weakened; but at the
same time the work on the elongated flakes becomes more facile and
skilful. For delicate, artistic work there appear extremely small
implements or 'microliths' of various shapes.
_Art._
Microlithique, microlith.
Burin, graver.
Ciseau, chisel (of stone and bone).
Gravette, etching tool.
Pic, pick (triangular or quadrangular, for sculpture).
_Ceremonial._
Bâton de commandement, ceremonial staff (first appearance).
_New Industrial Implements._
Grattoir, planing tool [AP]long but not thick.
Aiguille, needle (bone, first appearance).
_New Implements of War and Chase._
Lance and spear head types, of stone:
(a) Pointe à cran, shouldered point.
(b) Pointe à soie, tongued point (Font Robert type).
(c) Pointe de laurier(?), laurel-leaf point(?).
Couteau, knife, blade (bone, first appearance).
The early and middle Aurignacian 'point' and the 'grattoir,' sharpened all
around, as well as the incurved flake become less frequent. The grattoirs,
or planing tools, are somewhat higher and narrower than those of the early
Aurignacian but not very different in form; two forms of grattoir are
recognized, one long and not very thick, the other high and keel-shaped
(_grattoir caréné_).
Among the perçoirs a curved form is very characteristic, and we also note
a variety of small knives, or couteaux.
The inventive genius of this people is displayed in the rapidly increasing
variety of flint implements designed for fishing or for the chase. Toward
the end of the Upper Aurignacian there appears the shouldered spear head
(_pointe à cran_), and also a lance form of which the most perfect types
have been found at Willendorf, in Austria, and at Grimaldi, on the
Riviera. More or less sporadically there appear specimens of the tongued
spear heads (_pointes à soie_), such as are found at Spy, Font Robert, and
Laussel. This type of flint is constantly found associated with rudely
formed prototypes of the Solutrean laurel-leaf point.
[Illustration: FIG. 151. Implements of industrial use, of the chase, and
of fishing; also suitable for fine engraving and etching on stone or bone.
Evolution of the Aurignacian _pointe_ with abrupt retouch along one edge,
from the base to the summit of the Aurignacian. After Breuil. About
one-third actual size. 1-4. Primitive curved points from the _Abri Audit_,
Dordogne. 5. More evolved curved point from Gargas. 6, 7. Points from
Chatelperron, at the base of the middle Aurignacian. 11-28. Microlithic
points from _La Gravette_ and _Font Robert_. The form of 28 suggests that
of the _pointe à cran_ or 'shouldered point' characteristic of the late
Solutrean.]
Decorative art has now become a passion, and graving-tools of great
variety of shape, curved, straight, convex, or concave, diversified both
in size and in style of technique, are very numerous. We may imagine that
the long periods of cold and inclement weather were employed in these
occupations. The use of the reindeer horn is developing, and the
decoration of the bone with very fine lines drawn by the microlithic tools
is at times very remarkable. Here appear the earliest examples of the
so-called _bâton de commandement_, which is supposed to have served as a
ceremonial staff or wand; it is made of the reindeer antler with a great
hole bored at the point where the brow tine unites with the main beam;
some of these _bâtons_ are ornamented with rude engravings, but not as yet
with sculpture.
[Illustration: FIG. 152. Prototypes of the Solutrean laurel-leaf point,
probably an implement of war or the chase. After Breuil. Large symmetrical
flakes chipped over the entire surface. 1, 2. Late Aurignacian types from
_Font Robert_. 3, 4, 5. Points from the Proto-Solutrean layer of the
_Grotte du Trilobite_.]
Strong and very sharp graving-tools were also needed for the sculpture out
of ivory and soapstone of such human figures and figurines as the
statuettes found in the Grottes de Grimaldi and at Willendorf and still
more powerful tools for such work as the large stone bas-reliefs of
Laussel. At this time the Crô-Magnons were also fashioning stronger tools
for the engraving of animals in stone, for shallow forms of bas-relief on
the walls of the caves, and for other animal outlines. The most evolved
animal figures of this period arouse the thought of Magdalenian art in its
beginnings.
As this industrial evolution widens it is apparent that we witness not the
local evolution of a single people but rather the influence and
collaboration of numerous colonies reacting more or less one upon the
other and spreading their inventions and discoveries. These people were
essentially nomadic and no doubt carried the latest types of implements
from point to point or bartered them in trade. Thus there is not only a
definite succession in such places as Dordogne, but in more remote regions
the form of the implements may take on some important differences.(33)
There are also other localities where the industry seems for a while to be
suspended; thus in the Cantabrian Mountains of Spain we find only the
early and the late Aurignacian.
Stations similar in culture to those of Dordogne extend northward into
Germany and Belgium and eastward into Austria and Poland. Thus the
characteristic flint spear heads, known as the _pointe à soie_ and _pointe
à cran_ extend from Laussel along the Vézère to Willendorf, in Austria;
and the female figures of Baoussé-Roussé (Grimaldi) and of Willendorf
represent the same stage of evolution as the large stone bas-relief of
Laussel. Again, we observe some relations between the Aurignacian cultures
of Austria and of the Italian peninsula, such as the _pointe à cran_,
derived from the _gravette_ and found both in various stations of northern
Italy and at Willendorf. In western Russia the Aurignacian station of
Mezine, Chernigov, shows clearly the types of the superior Aurignacian in
the graving of bone and ivory, in the small bâtons recalling those of Spy,
in Belgium, and of Brassempouy, in southwestern France, in the large bone
piercers perforated at the head, suggesting the primitive needles from the
shelter of Blanchard, and in the degenerate statuettes resembling the type
of Brassempouy.
DISTRIBUTION OF THE AURIGNACIAN INDUSTRY
When the general geographic distribution of the Aurignacian (Fig. 153) is
compared with that of the Mousterian (Fig. 125) it is surprising to find
how many of the stations are identical; it would appear as if the
Crô-Magnons had driven the Neanderthals from their principal stations over
all of western Europe for the pursuit of their own industries and of the
chase. We have already spoken of the invasion of the Mousterian stations
along the Riviera, in the Pyrenees, in the Cantabrian Alps, and along the
Dordogne and the Somme; this occupation also extends along the Meuse, the
Rhine, and the Danube; but, whereas there are only six stations in all
Germany of unquestioned Mousterian age, there are more than double that
number in Aurignacian times. The Crô-Magnons entered the grottos of
Sirgenstein and Räuberhöhle, near the headwaters of the Danube; northwest
of Sirgenstein they established the open 'loess' station of Achenheim,
west of Strasburg; in the lower layers of the 'newer loess' was also the
station of Völklinshofen, south of Achenheim; along the middle Rhine were
the 'loess' stations of Rhens and Metternich, and to the far north, close
to the borders of the Scandinavian glacier, was the somewhat doubtful
Aurignacian station of Thiede. The Crô-Magnon men entered the Sirgenstein
grotto and scattered the implements of their culture above the 'lower
rodent layer,' composed of the Obi lemming, and also left remains of the
woolly rhinoceros, the woolly mammoth, the stag, and the reindeer on the
floor of the cavern. The Upper Aurignacian also extends down the Danube
as far as Willendorf, and possibly to Brünn, Moravia, which last, however,
may be of Solutrean age. Altogether between seventeen and twenty
Aurignacian stations have been discovered in the region north of the
Danube and along the Rhine.
[Illustration: FIG. 153. Geographic distribution of the principal
Aurignacian industrial stations in western Europe.]
[Illustration: FIG. 154. Outlook over the Bay of Biscay from the entrance
of the cavern of Pindal, in the province of Asturias, northern Spain.
Photograph by N. C. Nelson.]
AURIGNACIAN ART[AQ]
The strongest proof of the unity of heredity as displayed in the dominant
Crô-Magnon race in Europe from early Aurignacian until the close of
Magdalenian times is the unity of their art impulse. This indicates a
unity of mind and of spirit. It is something which could not pass to them
from another race, like an industrial invention, but was inborn and
creative. These people were the Palæolithic Greeks; artistic observation
and representation and a true sense of proportion and of beauty were
instinct with them from the beginning. Their stone and bone industry may
show vicissitudes and the influence of invasion and of trade and the
bringing in of new inventions, but their art shows a continuous evolution
and development from first to last, animated by a single motive, namely,
the appreciation of the beauty of form and the realistic representation of
it.
[Illustration: FIG. 155. Outline of a mammoth painted in red ochre in the
cavern of Pindal, and attributed by Breuil to the Aurignacian. Only two
limbs are represented. After Breuil.]
This art, as first discovered by Lartet and further made known through the
brilliant studies of Piette and Breuil, is industrial (_l'art mobilier_),
consisting of the decoration of small personal belongings, ornaments, and
implements of stone, bone, and ivory. According to the later researches of
Sautuola, Rivière, Cartailhac, Capitan, and Breuil it is also mural or
parietal (_l'art pariétal_), consisting of drawings, engravings,
paintings, and bas-reliefs on the walls of caverns and grottos. It
remained for Breuil especially to demonstrate that the mobile and the
parietal art are identical, the work of the same artistic race, developing
along closely similar lines, step by step. Thus the art becomes a new
means not only of interpreting the psychology of the race but of
establishing the prehistoric chronology.
DATING OF THE ART
One of the first questions which rises in our mind is this--how is this
art dated; how can these steps be positively determined?
The age of these engraved or painted designs on the walls of the caverns
is determined in a number of ways described by Breuil.(36) The simplest
method is where the wall designs of one period are covered by the
archæological layers of succeeding periods. This has been observed in four
cases, as at Pair-non-Pair, Gironde, where primitive engravings of horses,
caprids, and bovids are buried under flints characteristic of the late
Aurignacian mingled with bones of the mammoth, rhinoceros, lion, hyæna,
bison, and reindeer. Again, the deeply engraved bison on the wall of the
grotto of La Grèze, Dordogne, is found beneath a talus of Solutrean flints
associated with remains of the bison, reindeer, and rhinoceros. In the
Grotte de la Mairie, Dordogne, are found several finely engraved middle
Magdalenian figures of animals buried beneath late Magdalenian implements
associated with the reindeer fauna.
Very important, indeed, is the age of the sculpture and bas-reliefs found
in Laussel. The human sculptures are determined to be of late Aurignacian
age, because they are buried in an early Solutrean talus. The splendid
wall sculptures of the series of horses in the Cap-Blanc shelter, near the
Laussel shelter, are shown to be of middle Magdalenian age, because of the
upper Magdalenian strata which covered and partly concealed them.
[Illustration: FIG. 156. Primitive painted outlines of animals from the
cavern walls of _Font-de-Gaume_, Dordogne, attributed by Breuil to the
early Aurignacian. The outlines represent the horse, ibex, cave-bear, wild
cattle, and reindeer. After Breuil.]
In other instances we can date a drawing in a cavern by the period at
which the opening was closed; for example, the cave of La Mouthe,
Dordogne, was closed in by a Magdalenian layer of flints which touched the
roof and firmly sealed up the entrance until recent times. Again, at
Gargas, Hautes-Pyrénées, we know that the last occupation by the
Crô-Magnons was near the end of Aurignacian times, as indicated by a
hearth filled with late Aurignacian flints and with the remains of the
bear, hyæna, horse, and reindeer; the opening of the grotto was buried
beneath these foyers, which obstructed the entrance until the cave was
rediscovered at a comparatively recent date. Also at Marsoulas,
Haute-Garonne, there are two hearths, one late Aurignacian, the other late
Magdalenian; the grotto was then closed until recent times. The grotto of
Niaux, on the Ariège, which contains fine examples of drawings of middle
Magdalenian times at a distance of 1,800 feet from the entrance, was
protected for a long period by a lake 6 feet deep and several hundred feet
long. At Altamira, near Santander, the superb frescoed ceiling was buried,
long before Neolithic times, by the closing up of the entrance, which was
rediscovered only about thirty years ago.
[Illustration: FIG. 157. The woolly rhinoceros, painted in red ochre with
shading and partial representation of the hair, in the cavern of
_Font-de-Gaume_, Dordogne. Attributed by Breuil to the late Aurignacian.
Possibly Magdalenian. After Breuil.]
A third method of dating the art is still more significant; it is through
a similarity in the engravings on bone, found in the old hearths
associated with flints, to the mural decorations which are found upon the
walls. Thus, at Altamira, engravings on bone associated with Solutrean and
Magdalenian flints enabled Alcalde del Rio and Breuil to date the
engravings on the limestone walls. Hence, in grottos which have never been
closed up and which have been frequented at different times from the
Palæolithic to the present epoch one observes that the mural designs in
the caverns are invariably accompanied by Upper Palæolithic implements
with a similar style of decoration; and this is the case at Font-de-Gaume,
Combarelles, Portel, Mas d'Azil, Castillo, Pasiega, and Hornos de la Peña.
The bone engravings of the female red deer found at Altamira are
identical in their artistic period with those found on the walls of the
same grotto. The excavations at Castillo, where numerous shoulder-blades
of the deer were found engraved in the same style as those of Altamira,
prove that all these engravings and drawings are to be referred to ancient
Magdalenian rather than to upper Solutrean times. The engravings upon the
walls in the grotto of Hornos de la Peña, of Aurignacian times, are dated
through the discovery at the base of the layer of Aurignacian flints of an
engraved equine figure similar to the engravings at Altamira.
A fourth method applies to those not infrequent cases when two or three
designs are superposed one upon the other, from which it necessarily
follows that the underlying designs must antedate those above.
Through the application of these four methods Breuil has succeeded in
dating all the steps in the advance of art from Aurignacian into
Magdalenian times.
ENGRAVING, PAINTING, AND SCULPTURE
In the archaic drawings of the caverns of Pair-non-Pair, La Grèze, and La
Mouthe most of the animal figures are somewhat heavily and deeply
engraved; the proportions are not true; the head is usually too small,
with a large, short body which is often lightly modelled, resting on thin
extremities. Quadrupeds are frequently represented with but two legs, as
in the case of the mammoth. That the powers of observation were only
gradually trained is shown by the fact that details which in later
drawings are well observed are here overlooked; the profile drawings of
animals, with one fore leg and one hind leg represented, are quite like
those of children.
Progress toward a true representation of animal form in drawing begins
very early; even in middle Aurignacian times primitive drawing and
engraving commences to replace sculpture. Both the flint 'burins' and the
engravings on the walls of the grottos show that the beginnings of drawing
may be traced back to early Aurignacian times. While the Palæolithic
artists early in the Aurignacian had obtained a certain facility in
plastic work, their drawings, which are solely contours--somewhat
imperfect and deeply engraved lines--show a gradual development. The
degree of skill attained in late Aurignacian times we know from the
engraving of a horse on a stone fragment from Gargas, and from a sketch of
the hinder quarter of a horse found in the cave of Hornos de la Peña,
which is engraved on the frontal bone of one of the wild horses; the
latter is strikingly similar to one of the engravings found at the
entrance to the same grotto. The engravings on a slab of slate of the
heads of two woolly rhinoceroses(37) (Fig. 161) probably belong to the
late Aurignacian. Similar attempts are found in the Abri Lacoste.
Ornamentation develops in the middle Aurignacian, but retains a simple
geometric character.
[Illustration: FIG. 158. Female figurine carved in crystalline talc,
discovered at the _Grottes de Grimaldi_, near Mentone. This figurine,
possibly modelled after one of the Grimaldi negroids, represents the
_enceinte_ condition common to many of these figures. It is peculiar in
showing that abnormal development behind the hips known as steatopygy.
After Reinach.]
The parietal art on the walls of the caverns, mostly deep engravings,
consists of stiff profiles in single lines and in red or black coloring.
The animals represented are the ibex, the horse, the bison, and rarely the
mammoth. The caves where these are found are Pair-non-Pair, La Grèze, La
Mouthe, Bernifal, Font-de-Gaume, Altamira, and Marsoulas. Crucibles for
grinding the color are found in the grotto of Marsoulas, the color being
made by grinding up the red and yellow oxides of iron.
The development of art during the whole Aurignacian is continuous and is
undoubtedly the work of one race; Breuil considers it the work certainly
either of the tall Crô-Magnons or of the small Grimaldis; there is,
however, no evidence of the survival of the Grimaldi race, and we may
safely attribute this entire art development to the Crô-Magnons.
The creative spirit manifested itself along many different lines. In the
fashioning of bone in early Aurignacian times there begins a new industry
capable of great possibilities; out of combinations of lines there develop
geometric figures; in animal figures there is an attempt at simple
symmetric relations, but a full, free composition is not attained. With
further experience in working with bone and ivory, we find in the middle
Aurignacian the first plastic representations of the human figure in the
round.
[Illustration: FIG. 159. Statuette in limestone from the grotto of
Willendorf, Lower Austria, attributed to the late Aurignacian. This female
figurine, possibly an idol and generally known as the 'Venus of
Willendorf,' is about four and one-half inches in height. After
Szombathi.]
The Crô-Magnon artist undertook this plastic work, choosing chiefly for
his subject the female figure. These small plastic models were probably
designed as idols; the figures are often misshapen; in the face the eyes
frequently are not indicated at all; in some cases the ear is indicated;
they recall the style of the modern cubists. More care is given to the
sculpture of the form of the body than of the face. The ivory statue known
as the Venus of Brassempouy lies at the base of the middle Aurignacian; of
the same epoch are the female statuettes of Sireuil, and the torso from
Pair-non-Pair, whereas the soapstone figurine of Mentone and the ivory
statuettes of Trou Magrite, Belgium, belong to the late Aurignacian. The
spread of these idols, which are altogether characteristic of the earlier
period of the Upper Palæolithic, is traced eastward to Willendorf,
Austria, and to Brünn, Moravia.
Breuil's great contention is a certain similarity to north African art,
which would seem to agree with his theory that the Crô-Magnon people
followed the southern shores of the Mediterranean, bringing with them the
Aurignacian industry and the glyptic art of the female statuettes similar
to those of baked clay which are found along the valley of the Nile.
These figurines have in common the great development of all the parts
connected with maternity, and in some cases a coiffure or head-dress very
much like that found in the most primitive Egyptian work. The extreme
corpulence of all the figurines has been compared with the 'steatopygy,'
or development of what are politely known as the 'posterior curves,' of
the female in many African races. But only one of these Aurignacian
figurines is truly 'steatopygous'; the others are simply corpulent, a
condition due to eating large quantities of fat and marrow, and probably
to a very sedentary life. It is noteworthy that none of the male figures
in drawing and sculpture is corpulent. While the art of the statuettes
appears to come to a close in late Aurignacian times, it may extend into
the Solutrean at Brünn, Moravia, and at Trou Magrite, Belgium. With due
regard for analogies, it would rather appear probable that this archaic
sculpture was autochthonous.
[Illustration: FIG. 160. Female figurine in soapstone, discovered at the
_Grottes de Grimaldi_, near Mentone, and attributed to the late
Aurignacian. After Obermaier. This seems to be a prototype of modern
cubist art.]
The art of engraving and drawing was almost certainly autochthonous,
because we trace it from its most rudimentary beginnings. This northern
art developed from the beginning of Upper Palæolithic times over the whole
of southwestern France and in the northwest of Spain, being
contemporaneous with the descent of the alpine fauna from the Pyrenees and
the Alps and the presence all over western Europe of the tundra fauna. It
was, by preference, an animal art, begun by the Aurignacians but largely
suspended in Solutrean times.
[Illustration: FIG. 161. Superposed engravings of various mammals on a
slab of slate found in the _Grotte du Trilobite_, Yonne, France. In detail
are seen the profiles of two woolly rhinoceroses superposed on the rump of
a mammoth with tail upturned. After Breuil.]
Painting(38) also had its birth in the Aurignacian, in the simple contours
of the hand pressed against a wall surface or outlined with color,
accompanied by primitive attempts at linear drawing in color and painted
groupings; for example, the crude outlines of the bison in the grotto of
Castillo are of Aurignacian age, also the black linear designs of the
deer and of the ibex in the cavern of Font-de-Gaume, Dordogne, the
striking red linear design of the mammoth in the grotto of Pindal, in
northern Spain, representing the animal as with two limbs, and the red
outlines of wild cattle in Castillo. Breuil also attributes to Aurignacian
times the spirited figure of the woolly rhinoceros in red ochre in the
cave of Font-de-Gaume, as well as the outline of the stag in red color.
[Illustration: FIG. 162. Silhouettes of complete and of partly mutilated
hands from the walls of the grotto of Gargas in the Pyrenees. After
Breuil.]
We are impressed throughout with three qualities in this Aurignacian
design: first, the very close observation of the animal form; second, the
attempt at realistic effect produced with very few lines; third, the
element of motion or movement in these animals. For example, the two
heads of the woolly rhinoceros in the slab engravings of the Trilobite
grotto (Fig. 161) are remarkably correct in proportion; there is an
attempt with fine lines to indicate the wool hanging along the lower
surface of the head; behind these two figures is the rump of an elephant
with the tail upturned, an adaptation of the artist to the form of the
slate fragment; the outlines of the feet both of the rhinoceros and the
mammoth are remarkably accurate representations of these pachyderms.
In the more advanced development of draftsmanship in late Aurignacian
times the engravings of these animals not merely approach the truth, but
characteristic features are strikingly represented; and with a few sure
lines the proportions of the body as a whole are better preserved, while
the complicated curves of the hoofs and of the head show very close
observation.
[Illustration: FIG. 163. The long, overhanging cliff of Laussel on the
Beune is a typical rock shelter, first sought in Acheulean times, and also
visited during the Mousterian, Aurignacian, and Solutrean stages.
Photograph by N. C. Nelson.]
[Illustration: FIG. 164. Section of the rock shelter of Laussel, showing
the superposed industrial layers from Acheulean to Solutrean times. After
Lalanne.]
In the grotto of La Grèze overhanging the Beune, a small tributary of the
Vézère, was found an archaic Aurignacian outline of the bison deeply
incised on the limestone walls. The grotto of Gargas,[AR]
Hautes-Pyrénées,(39) is one of the most famous stations; it was entered in
closing Mousterian times and was occupied at intervals during the
Aurignacian stage. Beneath the Mousterian layer is a deep deposit of
entire skeletons of the cave-bear without any traces of human industry.
These layers lie beyond the grotto in the vast foyer which opens above
into a great chimney, so that this is one of the true cavern habitations.
The drawings along the walls of the cave include a large number of figures
in a very unequal style, which belong chiefly to middle and upper
Aurignacian times. Among these are two figures of birds, several mammals,
a few primitive drawings of wild cattle, the bison, the ibex, and numerous
representations of the horse. A long serpentine band of color meanders
among some of these drawings. Most interesting are the silhouettes of the
hand in black and red produced by pressing the hand against the limestone
wall and covering the surrounding surface with color. It would appear that
the fingers were mutilated or cut off at the middle joint, because one,
two, three, and four of the fingers are wanting, but the thumb is never
mutilated. This mutilation of the hand may be compared with similar
practices prevailing among some Australian tribes.
In the cavern of Marsoulas, on the headwaters of the Garonne, the
conditions are altogether different; the parietal art here represents two
cultural stages, the late Aurignacian and the late Magdalenian. There is a
small entrance grotto with two hearths, corresponding to these two
industries. The entrance to the cave is well up on the side of the hill,
and the drawings which belong with the upper Aurignacian culture are
somewhat damaged. Again, we find designs extending along the wall below
the drawings. There are numerous outlines of the bison in black, the
entire side of the body being covered with splashes of red.
[Illustration: FIG. 165. Bas-relief of a woman with a drinking horn,
sculptured on the face of a boulder within the shelter of Laussel, and
attributed to the late Aurignacian. After Lalanne. About one-eighth actual
size.]
The great abri of Laussel, on the Beune, was first visited by the
Neanderthals, for there are two Mousterian layers and above them two
Aurignacian layers, the lower belonging to the middle Aurignacian industry
and the upper to the closing Aurignacian period. This long, overhanging
cliff of Laussel is a typical shelter, first sought in Acheulean times,
revisited in Mousterian times, then again in middle or late Aurignacian,
in Solutrean, and finally in Magdalenian times. As these successive layers
rise they approach the shelter of the cliff, so that the Magdalenian flint
workers were directly beneath the overhanging rock shelter, which opened
outward toward the sun.
[Illustration: FIG. 166. Bas-relief of a spear thrower or hunter,
sculptured on the face of a boulder within the shelter of Laussel. After
Lalanne. About one-sixth actual size.]
In the upper Aurignacian layer Lalanne discovered two bas-reliefs
representing the figures of a man and of a woman. The bas-relief of the
woman represents a nude figure holding the horn of a bison in the right
hand; this is cut from a block of limestone with a relief of about two
centimetres, and it measures forty-six centimetres in height; with the
exception of the head, the entire body is polished, and at certain points
there remain traces of red coloring. A little farther on the artist had
modelled the figure of a man in three-quarter view in the attitude of
casting a spear or of an archer drawing the bow; the top of the head and
the extremities of the limbs have been broken away; the figure measures
forty centimetres in height. These bas-reliefs of Laussel are regarded as
sincere representations, for the artist has presented as accurately as
possible the contemporary human figure; both the man and the woman are
represented in motion. On the technique employed in this primordial
sculpture, Doctor Lalanne observes that we find at Laussel a series of
tools perfectly adapted to attain this result, many of which would have
been inexplicable unless found to occur in connection with the sculpture
itself. It is curious to note how many analogies there are between the
flint utensils of the primitive sculptor and those of the sculptors of our
own day. First, we find tools designed to remove the rock, there are
points, pickaxes, chopping tools for shaping the rock, saws, and coarse
stone planers; all of these are perfectly adapted to the hand, from which
we may conclude that our artist was right-handed. There is a great number
of graving-tools, or burins, all forms being represented--plain, double,
fine, coarse, and combinations of the burin and grattoir. Some of the
burins show the sharp-angled point centred at the extremity of a blade;
these are the ordinary types; but in many the blade ends with a terminal
retouch, which may be transverse, oblique, concave, or convex with the
point to one side. The grattoirs, or planers, are equally numerous, with
examples of all the known forms. Many of these are formed at the end of a
blade; a few are circular, and others are at the opposite end of a pointed
blade; the latter are particularly fine and are retouched around the
entire edge. But the artist did not merely carve his subjects; he also
coated them with a paint made of ochre and manganese; he crushed his
coloring matter on a palette of schist, and we have found one of these
unbroken and still bearing the red and ochre colors. This palette is
10-1/2 inches long and 6 inches wide; it is oblong in form.
DISTRIBUTION OF THE SOLUTREAN INDUSTRY
The period of the Solutrean industry is one of the most difficult to
interpret in the whole prehistory of western Europe. The remains of this
industry in several localities lie directly between those of the
Aurignacian and the Magdalenian; in others, as at Solutré, they directly
follow the Aurignacian. There is no doubt that this represents a very long
and a very important epoch in Upper Palæolithic development. From the
cultural standpoint it represents a climax in the flint industry, but a
period of suspension or of arrested development in art.
A glance at the maps of the Mousterian (Fig. 125), the Aurignacian (Fig.
153), and the Solutrean (Fig. 167) culture stations shows that the
geographic distribution of the Solutrean is entirely unique; whereas the
Aurignacian culture may be said to girdle the Mediterranean, both on its
southern and northern coasts, the Solutrean culture is absent in this
entire region. The interpretation of this strange phenomenon offered by
Breuil, that the Solutrean culture entered Europe directly from the east
and not from the south, may be connected with the theory that toward the
end of Aurignacian times a new race from the central east was working
westward through Hungary and along the Danube--a race of inferior mental
type, but extremely expert in fashioning the flint spears and lances with
what is known as the Solutrean 'retouch.' This may be the race of Brünn,
Brüx, and Předmost, the remains of which are found in two localities
associated with these highly perfected flint spear heads. Either by the
invasion of this race or, more probably, by the invasion of the highly
perfected spear-head industry itself, the type station of Solutré, on the
Saône, was established and the region of Dordogne reached, where this
industry progressed at twelve different stations.
[Illustration: FIG. 167. Geographic distribution of the principal
Solutrean industrial stations in western Europe.]
There is no doubt whatever that the new and entirely distinct Brünn race
penetrated the Danubian region at this time, but there is no evidence
from skeletal remains that it reached France. It is quite possible that
some of the flint workers adept in the Solutrean 'retouch' migrated into
the far western stations of Dordogne, bringing with them their beautiful
technique, but without leaving traces of their skeletal remains through
ceremonial burial. This unsettled problem affords one of the many reasons
why the anatomy of all the Upper Palæolithic men of western Europe should
be most carefully studied and compared.
Another mystery of Solutrean times is the arrest of the artistic impulse
which had animated the Crô-Magnons throughout the entire Aurignacian.
Evidences of artistic work in Solutrean times are very rare, and some
drawings which have been attributed to the Solutrean, as at Altamira, have
now been referred to the Magdalenian. Is it possible that the Crô-Magnon
race for a time suspended its artistic endeavor only to renew it under the
different conditions of environment of Magdalenian times? Unfortunately,
the Solutrean burials afford very little evidence on this point. One
interpretation which may be offered is that the Solutrean was evidently a
period of open-air life, and that the new implements of the chase of
Solutrean type absorbed the industrial energies of these people, for the
weapons were fashioned in enormous numbers. Consistent with this theory of
climatic influence is the fact that the return of the severe climate of
Magdalenian times, which crowded the men again into the shelters and
grottos, was accompanied by a renewal of the artistic development
continuing from the point where it had been interrupted in closing
Aurignacian times. That Aurignacian and Magdalenian art is the work of one
race there can be no question whatever; that this race was the Crô-Magnon
is now absolutely demonstrated.
The climate of Solutrean times is generally believed to have been cold and
dry. In the region of Dordogne throughout this period the reindeer was
still far more numerous than any other animal; so we may safely conclude
that this was the principal object of the chase and of food; in fact, it
would appear that the reindeer were resident forms in the valley of the
Vézère, hunted and consumed throughout the year.(40) Here we also
occasionally find the northern steppe or Obi lemming, an animal which at
the same time extends along the borders of the Volga River toward southern
Russia. It would appear that in Solutrean times in southwestern France
there prevailed a dry, cold continental subarctic climate like that of the
Caspian, Volga, and Ural steppes of the present day. With the mammoth and
the reindeer occur a great variety of northern European forest forms--the
true fox, the hare, the stag, the brown bear, the wolf, the bison, and the
urus. Most interesting is the identification of the jackal belonging to
the ancient species _C. neschersensis_. In the type industrial locality of
Solutré the reindeer is very abundant in the fire-hearths associated with
the lower Solutrean industry, but less abundant in the upper levels; an
antelope, perhaps the saiga antelope, is said to be found among the crude
engravings on bone.
SOLUTREAN RACES
There were certainly two distinct races of men in Europe during Solutrean
times, to the east the race of Brünn and to the west the race of
Crô-Magnon. Remains attributed to the Crô-Magnons have been found in the
Departments of Charente, Gironde, Lot, Haute-Garonne, Tarn, and Dordogne.
But most of these remains are very fragmentary and cannot readily be
determined racially. The fragments of ten skulls and a few other bones
found in the Grotte du Placard, Charente, are attributed to late Solutrean
and to early Magdalenian times and constitute one of the most exceptional
discoveries which have thus far been made in France; the interments
probably date from the early Magdalenian (p. 380), but are probably of a
race surviving from the Solutrean. The section of the cave deposit is from
23 to 26 feet in thickness and is highly instructive; it shows eight
cultural layers, separated by layers of débris and succeeding each other
in the following order:
8. Neolithic layer.
7-4. Magdalenian layers; in the lowest layer is the ceremonial burial
of four skulls.
3. Solutrean layer with shouldered points (_pointes à cran_) and a few
laurel-leaf points (_pointes de laurier_).
2. Solutrean layer with laurel-leaf points but no shouldered points;
knives, grattoirs, scrapers, borers, in great numbers, together with
javelin points and awls in bone and ornamented with notches, and
fragments of red chalk and black lead found embedded with the
Solutrean points.
1. Mousterian layer.
RACE OF BRÜNN, BRÜX, PŘEDMOST, AND (?) GALLEY HILL
In 1871 a skullcap, now in the Royal Museum of Vienna, was discovered in
the course of coal mining at Brüx, Bohemia. In 1891(41) a skeleton,
apparently of the same race, was discovered at Brünn, Moravia, deeply
embedded in loess along with bones of the woolly mammoth and other great
Pleistocene mammals. In 1892 it was described by Makowsky,(42) who a few
years before had excavated from the loess sand in the neighborhood of
Brünn the fragmentary skull now known as Brünn II. Both these skulls are
of a somewhat low racial type, and for a long time they were regarded as
transition forms between the Neanderthals and _Homo sapiens_, but in 1906
Schwalbe(43) showed the affinity between the skulls of Brüx and Brünn and
at the same time their entire distinctness from the Neanderthal skull and
their approach to lower forms of _Homo sapiens_. The chief distinction of
these skulls is their extreme elongation or dolichocephaly, the ratio of
width to length being 69 per cent in the Brüx skull, and 68.2 per cent in
the Brünn skull. The latter ranks lower in racial type than the Australian
negroids. The chief distinction from the Neanderthal skull is in the index
of the height of skull (51.22 per cent) and in the absence of the
prominent ridges extending across the eyebrow region above the nose;[AS]
the forehead, in brief, is more modern, the frontal angle being 74.7-75
per cent. The brain capacity in this race is estimated, according to
Makowsky,(44) at 1,350 c.cm. Both the Brüx and Brünn skulls are
_harmonic_; they do not present the very broad, high cheek-bones
characteristic of the Crô-Magnon race, the face being of a narrow, modern
type, but not very long. There is evidence that the neck and shoulders
were powerful and muscular; the prominence of the chin is pronounced; the
dentition is macrodont, that is, the last lower molar is of exceptionally
large size; there was no prognathism or protrusion of the jaws. The second
Brünn skull (Brünn II) may represent a female type of the Brünn race, the
cephalic index being estimated at 72 per cent.
[Illustration: FIG. 168. The type skull known as Brünn I--supposed
male--discovered at Brünn, Moravia, in 1891. It was found deeply imbedded
in loess along with bones of the woolly mammoth, woolly rhinoceros, giant
deer, reindeer, and other Pleistocene mammals, and is believed to be of
Solutrean age. After Makowsky. One-third life size.]
DISCOVERIES CHIEFLY OF THE CRÔ-MAGNON AND BRÜNN RACES[AT]
REFERRED TO SOLUTREAN TIMES
+------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Date of | Locality | Number of | Culture Stage |
|Discovery| | Individuals | |
|---------+--------------------+-------------------+---------------|
| CRÔ-MAGNON RACE (?) |
|---------+--------------------+-------------------+---------------|
| |Grotte du Placard, |Fragments of ten |Late Solutrean |
| | Charente, France. | skulls and a few | and early |
| | | other bones. | Magdalenian. |
| | | | |
| |Pair-non-Pair, |Skull fragments. |Solutrean. |
| | Gironde, France. | | |
| | | | |
| |Lacave, | " " | " |
| | Lot, France. | | |
| | | | |
| |Montconfort, | " " | " |
| | Haute-Garonne, | | |
| | France. | | |
| | | | |
| |Roset, | " " |Late Solutrean.|
| | Tarn, France. | | |
| | | | |
| |Badegoule, |Bones. |Solutrean. |
| | Dordogne, France. | | |
|---------+--------------------+-------------------+---------------|
| BRÜNN-BRÜX-PŘEDMOST RACE |
|---------+--------------------+-------------------+---------------|
|1880. |Předmost, |Portions of twenty |Solutrean. |
| | Moravia, Austria. | skeletons. | |
| | | | |
|1891. |Brünn, |Male skeleton | " |
| | Moravia, Austria. | (Brünn I). | |
| | |(?) Female skeleton| |
| | | (Brünn II). | |
| | | | |
| |Ballahöhle, |Skeleton of infant.|(?) " |
| | Miskolcz, Hungary.| | |
| | | | |
| |(?) Galley Hill. |One skeleton. |Unknown. |
+------------------------------------------------------------------+
There is a possibility(47) that the Brünn race was ancestral to several
later dolichocephalic groups which are found in the region of the Danube
and of middle and southern Germany. Schliz characterizes the Brünn skull
as distinguished by the retreating forehead, by massive eminences above
the orbits separated by a cleft in the median line, by broad, low orbits,
and prominent chin. These characters are met with again in one of the
dolichocephalic skulls found in the interment at Ofnet, at the very
close of Upper Palæolithic times. It would thus appear that the Brünn race
is distinct from the Crô-Magnon race, that it represents a long-headed
type which became established along the Danube as early as Solutrean
times, and that it may possibly be connected with the introduction of some
of the peculiar features of the Solutrean culture.
One of the skeletons of Brünn, found at a depth of 12 feet below the
surface of the 'loess,' was lavishly adorned with tooth-shells, perforated
stone discs, and bone ornaments made from the ribs of the rhinoceros or
mammoth and from the teeth of the mammoth; associated with these was an
ivory idol, apparently of a male figure, of which only the head, the
torso, and the left arm remain. The skeleton and many of the objects found
with the sepulture were partly tinted in red. An ivory figurine belongs to
the Eburnéen stage of Piette and appears to indicate that the burial was
of Aurignacian rather than of Solutrean age.
The Předmost 'mammoth hunters' also probably belonged to this race. They
are represented by the remains of six individuals excavated since 1880 at
Předmost, Moravia, by Wankel, Kr̆íz̆, and Mas̆ka. The bones were found in
a very much shattered condition. Mas̆ka has since discovered a collective
burial of fourteen human skeletons, with remains of six others; the bodies
were covered with stones, but no flints or objects of art were buried with
them. The dimensions of the limbs indicate a race of large stature. The
skeletons were deeply buried in 'loess,' and above and below the rich
archæological layer were abundant débris of the mammoth, representing
between eight and nine hundred specimens. Along with the numerous flints,
including laurel-leaf spear heads of middle Solutrean type, were found
other objects and even primitive works of art in bone and ivory. There is
no question that the human remains belong to the middle Solutrean
stage.(48)
With this race is also associated by many authors (Schwalbe, Schliz,
Klaatsch, Keith) the Galley Hill skull, which was found in 1888, buried at
a depth of 8 feet in the 'high terrace' gravels 90 feet above the
Thames.(49) Sollas thinks it highly probable that the remains were in a
natural position and of the same age as the high-level gravels and the
Palæolithic flints and remains of extinct animals which they contained,
but Evans and Dawkins regard the Galley Hill man as belonging to a
long-headed Neolithic race interred in a Palæolithic stratum. The gravels
of the 'high terrace' in which the Galley Hill skull was buried are by no
means of the geologic antiquity of 200,000 years assigned to them by
Keith;(50) they are probably of Fourth Glacial or of Postglacial age, and
lie within the estimates of Postglacial time, namely, from 20,000 to
40,000 years.
The antiquity of the Galley Hill cranial type has been maintained with
ability by Keith. The skull is extremely long or hyperdolichocephalic, the
cephalic index being estimated by Keith at 69 per cent;(51) the brain
capacity is estimated at between 1,350 c.cm. and 1,400 c.cm.; the
cheek-bones are not preserved, so that no judgment can be formed as to
this most distinctive character of the Crô-Magnon race. With this Galley
Hill race Keith also compares the Combe-Capelle, or Aurignacian man of
Klaatsch,(52) although he mistakenly considers the Combe-Capelle man of
much less geologic antiquity. He continues: "Thus, while the writer is
inclined to agree in provisionally assigning the Combe-Capelle man to the
Galley Hill race, he believes that further discoveries will show that the
Combe-Capelle man belongs to a branch marked with certain negroid
features."
SOLUTREAN FLINT INDUSTRY
The 'Solutrean retouch' marks one of the most notable advances in the
technique of flint working; it is altogether distinct from the
'Aurignacian retouch,' which is an heritage from the Mousterian.(53) The
flint is chipped off by _pressure_ in _fine, thin flakes_ from the entire
surface of the implement, to which in its perfected form the craftsman can
give a thin, sharp edge and perfect symmetry. This is a great advance on
the abrupt Aurignacian retouch, in which the flint is chipped back at a
rather blunt angle to make a sharp edge. According to de Mortillet, the
Solutrean method of pressure made possible the execution of much more
delicate work.
[Illustration: FIG. 169. Typical Solutrean implements of war and chase.
After de Mortillet. _Pointes en feuille de laurier_, or laurel-leaf
points, artistically retouched on both surfaces, at both ends, and on both
borders; regarded by de Mortillet rather as blades of poniards than as
javelin heads. 120. Lozenge-shaped form from the type station of Solutré,
Saône-et-Loire. 121. Elongate form found at Solutré. 122. The largest
_pointe_ discovered at Solutré. 123. One of the smallest points found at
Solutré. 124. Solutrean point from Laugerie Haute, Dordogne. 127. Point
from Gargas, Vaucluse. 128. Point of exceptionally fine workmanship. 130.
One of eleven very large Solutrean laurel-leaf points found in a _cache_
at Volgu; probably a votive offering, as the flints are too slender to be
of any use and one at least shows traces of coloring. All the flints are
shown one-quarter actual size, except 129, which is one-half actual size.]
The question at once arises, did this industrial advance take place in
France or was it an invention brought from the east? On this point Breuil
observes(54) that in the highest Aurignacian levels in Belgium, in
Dordogne, and at Solutré the Solutrean technique becomes faintly apparent
either in the 'stem' points (_pointes à soie_) of Font Robert, La
Ferrassie, and Spy or in the double-edged points tending toward the
laurel-leaf type of the Solutrean, but that all the other implements
remain purely Aurignacian.
RELATIONS AND SUBDIVISIONS OF SOLUTREAN CULTURE
_Lower (Early) Magdalenian._
Prototypes of bone harpoons.
Beginnings of animal sculpture.
Absence of any trace of the laurel-leaf spear heads of Solutrean
times.
_Upper (Late) Solutrean._
Typical shouldered points (_pointes à cran_)--elongate flakes
worked on one or both sides and notched. Small laurel-leaf spear
heads.
Bone javelin points, awls, and needles, very finely worked. Placard.
Lacave.
_Middle (High) Solutrean._
Large 'laurel-leaf' spear heads worked on both sides. Climax of
Solutrean flint industry. Placard.
_Lower (Proto-) Solutrean._
Primitive 'laurel-leaf' and 'willow-leaf' spear heads, most of them
worked on only one side. Grotte du Trilobite.
_Transition from Aurignacian._
Pedunculate spear heads (_pointes à soie_) of primitive Font
Robert type. Climax of human sculpture.
As to the chief source of Solutrean influence, the same author remarks
that, since this culture is entirely wanting in central and southern
Spain, in Italy, in Sicily, in Algeria, and in Phœnicia, we should
certainly not look to the Mediterranean for its origin but rather to
eastern Europe; for in the grottos of Hungary we find a great development
of the true Solutrean, while so far the Aurignacian has not been found
here, although we do find traces of the earlier transitional stages below
the levels of the true laurel-leaf points. We must admit, therefore, that
in all probability the Solutrean culture reached Europe from the east and
that its source is as mysterious as that of the Aurignacian, which, as we
have seen, was of southern and probably of Mediterranean origin. It is not
impossible that the evolution of the laurel-leaf point took place in
Hungary, for it was certainly not evolved in central or western Europe.
At Předmost, in Moravia, we observe an advanced Aurignacian industry which
had adopted a Solutrean fashion in its spear heads. Here the laurel-leaf
implements are few, while the implements of bone are abundant; but in the
Solutrean stations of Hungary there are no bone implements. As the
Solutrean technique comes to perfection the laurel-leaf spear head, so
characteristic of the full Solutrean industry, is created and is met with
in Poland, in Hungary, in Bavaria, and then in France, where the industry
extends southward to the west and east of the central plateau. In France
it appears quite suddenly in the Grotte du Trilobite (Yonne), and also in
Dordogne and Ardèche, where the Proto-Solutrean types show marked
impoverishment, both in the variety and in the execution of most of the
flint implements, the only exception being the flattened spear heads,
_pointes à face plane_, which show a regular Solutrean retouch, beautiful
but monotonous. Laurel-leaf points discovered at Crouzade, Gourdan, and
Montfort denote the presence of the true Solutrean culture, but this
culture does not approach the stations in the neighborhood of Brassempouy.
Toward the north the grotto of Spy, in Belgium, affords examples of
Proto-Solutrean types, which have also been traced in several British
caverns, but it is not certain that true Solutrean implements are found in
Britain.
In Picard a Proto-Solutrean layer has been found, but no laurel-leaf
points. In the type station of Solutré in southeastern France Breuil
discovered two Solutrean layers, quite different from each other: one rich
in bone implements and graving-tools, with small flint laurel leaves
retouched on only one face; the other poor in bone implements but with
large laurel-leaf spear heads.
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.
The second is composed of the 'leaf' types, which are solely
characteristic of the Solutrean and which degenerate and entirely
disappear at its close; these latter are the arrow and lance head forms,
many of which are fashioned with a rare degree of perfection and exhibit
the beautiful broad Solutrean retouch across the entire surface of both
sides of the flake, together with perfect symmetry, both lateral and
bilateral; they are commonly known as the willow-leaf (narrow) and the
laurel-leaf (broad) forms. The explorers of the type station of Solutré
have discovered five principal shapes, as follows: (1) irregular lozenge;
(2) oval, pointed at both ends; (3) oval, pointed at one end; (4) regular
lozenge; (5) arrow-head form with peduncle, doubtless for attachment to a
shaft. The perfected Solutrean laurel-leaf spear heads do not reappear in
any other Upper Palæolithic period, but their resemblance to Neolithic
flints is very marked.
The 'willow-leaf' spear heads (_pointes de saule_), chipped on only one
side, characteristic of the _early Solutrean_, may possibly be
contemporary with the closing Aurignacian culture of Font Robert. At
Solutré layers have also been discovered rich in bone implements and in
graving-tools, as well as small 'laurel-leaf' points worked on only one
face. As regards the general tendencies of the early Solutrean culture in
Dordogne, at the Grotte du Trilobite (Yonne), and in Ardèche, there is a
marked decline in the work in bone and in the variety and workmanship of
all the implements, excepting only that of the primitive flattened spear
heads, made of flakes, retouched in Solutrean fashion, but on one side
only. Typical deposits of early Solutrean culture are found at Trou
Magrite, in Belgium, at Font Robert, Corrèze, and in the third level of
the Grotte du Trilobite, Yonne; in the second level we find flints with
the nascent Solutrean retouch.
The distinctive implement of the 'high' or _middle Solutrean_ is the large
'laurel-leaf' point, flaked and chipped on both sides and attaining a
marvellous perfection in technique and symmetry. The finest examples of
these spear heads are the famous _pointes de laurier_, fourteen in number,
discovered at Volgu, Saône-et-Loire, in 1873: they were found together in
a sort of cache and, it would seem probable, were intended as a votive
offering, for one at least was colored red, and all were too fragile and
delicate to be of any use in the chase. They are of unusual size, the
smallest measuring 9 inches, and the largest over 13-1/2. In workmanship
they are equalled only by the marvellous Neolithic specimens of Egypt and
Scandinavia.
At Solutré and other stations implements of bone are also found, although
by no means of such frequent occurrence as in the later divisions of the
Solutrean. While the most easterly Solutrean stations of Hungary exhibit
no bone implements, these are abundant at Předmost, in Moravia, where the
culture altogether is of an advanced Aurignacian type, with the Solutrean
retouch used in the shaping of its flint spear heads. The bone industry
includes a number of awls and smoothers, as well as numerous 'bâtons de
commandement.' On this level at Předmost a few works of art are found
consisting of the representations of four animals sculptured on nodules of
limestone, the subjects apparently being reindeer, and also of one single
engraving on bone.
The chief invention of the _late Solutrean_ is the 'shouldered point'
(_pointe à cran_), a single notched and very slender dart. These notches
are the first indication of the value of the barb in holding a weapon in
the flesh. Here also is a _stem_ for the attachment of the shaft of the
dart. In earlier stages of the Solutrean one finds flints where the
unsymmetrical base of the 'point' shows a small obtuse tongue or stem. The
elongate peduncle at the base of such spear heads (_pointes à soie_) is
developed into the _pointe à cran_, or shouldered point, made of long,
fine flakes, with a short retouch on one or both sides, and found in the
late Solutrean at the grotto of Lacave, at Placard, and at many of the
stations in Dordogne. No example of the _pointe à cran_ has ever been
found at the type station of Solutré, but it is of frequent occurrence at
the stations between the Loire and the Cantabrian Pyrenees, being found
at Altamira, at Laugerie Haute, at Monthaud (Indre), in Chalosse and
Charente, while the great cave of Placard has yielded no less than 5,000
specimens, whole and broken.
[Illustration: FIG. 172. Typical Solutrean implements of the chase, of
fishing, and of industry. After de Mortillet. 131, 132. A laurel-leaf
point retouched on both sides. 133-138. Various forms of the _pointe à
cran_, or 'shouldered point,' a type distinctive of the late Solutrean. It
has an elongated peduncle or stem at one side adapted for the attachment
of a wooden shaft, and was probably an implement of the chase, being
suitable for fishing or for hunting small game. The examples figured show
a great variety of finish and retouch. 137 is from Placard and 138 from
the _Grottes de Grimaldi_. 139. _Poinçon_, or awl, beautifully shaped.
140. _Perçoir_, drill or borer. 141. Flake retouched on one border,
recalling the style of the Aurignacian points. 142, 143. Finely retouched
points, suitable for engraving or etching. All the flints are shown
one-half actual size.]
At Monthaud there are also found bone implements including a number of
_poinçons_ (awls) and a series of _sagaies_ (javelin points). Solutrean
sagaies, however, are very rare and very primitive as compared with the
Magdalenian.
The successive phases of Solutrean industry are all shown in southern
France. As to its stratigraphic relations, the type station of Solutré
exhibits lower and middle Solutrean above Aurignacian hearths and
deposits; that of Placard, Charente, shows the middle and upper Solutrean
overlaid by a Magdalenian layer. In the Grotte du Trilobite the Solutrean
layer lies between one of Aurignacian and one of primitive Magdalenian; it
is here that we find the clearest transition from the Aurignacian culture
in the appearance of prototypes of the laurel and willow-leaf points, made
of flakes, retouched on only one side. At Brassempouy the Solutrean lies
immediately beneath a Magdalenian layer, with engraved bones and
Magdalenian flints. Needles, which are particularly abundant in the
Magdalenian epoch, are also found in a number of the Solutrean stations.
In the grotto of Lacave, Lot, in an upper Solutrean layer, Viré has found
beautiful bone needles, pierced at one end and of fine workmanship, and
engraved utensils of reindeer horn; here also was found the head of an
antelope engraved on a fragment of reindeer horn. The local fauna of this
period included the horse, the ibex, and the reindeer.
SOLUTREAN ENGRAVING AND ANIMAL SCULPTURE
The artistic work of Solutrean times is not so rich as that of the
Aurignacian. This, as we have suggested, may be partly attributable to the
less wide-spread distribution of the Solutrean culture, as well as to the
great importance which was attached to the careful fashioning of the stone
weapons. None the less we can trace indications of the development of both
phases of art, the linear and the plastic, and especially the beginnings
of animal sculpture. From the full, round sculpture of Aurignacian times
there follows in Solutrean times a development of carving in bone of the
_Rundstabfiguren_ (bâton, or ceremonial staff), and of high relief. The
lion(57) and the head of a horse at Isturitz, in the Pyrenees, which
Breuil attributes to a late Solutrean period, are typical examples of this
work.
Relatively rare are the parietal and mobile engravings as well as the
schematic representations, such as are found at Placard and Champs Blancs.
According to Alcalde del Rio, there are found at Altamira, in northern
Spain, very simple, finely engraved figures of the doe on the bone of the
shoulder-blade; the head and neck are covered with lines, and both the eye
and the nostril as well as the form of the ear are very characteristic of
the animal. Breuil, however, considers these as belonging rather to
earlier Magdalenian times.
Decorative art certainly makes some advances over the Aurignacian work,
because the arrangement of the geometric figures is quite clear, and the
execution shows marked progress in the technique of engraving.
At Předmost, near the site of the human burial described above, there has
been discovered a statuette of the mammoth sculptured in the round, in
ivory, which proves that animal sculpture was well advanced in Solutrean
times. The statuette was found six to nine feet beneath the surface of the
'loess,' in an undoubted Solutrean layer. The accompanying fauna is of a
truly arctic character: the mammoth being extraordinarily abundant; the
tundra forms including the mammoth, woolly rhinoceros, musk-ox, reindeer,
arctic fox, arctic hare, glutton, and banded lemming; the Asiatic forms
including the lion and leopard; the forest and meadow fauna embracing the
wolf, fox, beaver, brown bear, bison, and wild cattle, moose, and horse,
also the ibex. Among the remnants of 30,000 flints there are a dozen
points (_feuilles de laurier_) and other pieces with the Solutrean
'retouch.' The industry in ivory, bone, and reindeer horn is also varied,
including numerous poniards, polishers, piercers, dart-throwers, and
bâtons de commandement.
[Illustration: FIG. 173. Mammoth sculptured on a fragment of ivory tusk
from the Solutrean station of Předmost, Moravia. After Maška. This figure
is covered with fine lines representing the long, hairy coating, and
measures about four and one-half inches.]
This ivory sculpture of the mammoth indicates very accurately the
characteristic contours of the top of the head, and of the back; the
striations on the side represent the falling masses of hair. Other
sculptured figures representing the mammoth are believed to be of
Magdalenian age, the best known being the figures found in the grottos of
Bruniquel and Laugerie Basse, a fragment from Raymonden, Dordogne, and a
bas-relief in the grotto of Figuier, Gard. All these sculptures of the
mammoth have in common the indication of a very small ear--similar to that
in the Předmost model--feet shaped like inverted mushrooms, bordered with
short, coarse hairs, the tail terminating in a long tuft of hairs. If the
figure of Předmost is of Solutrean age, it is by far the earliest of all
the sculptured or engraved animal representations in the mobile art, and
is also the most complete of the animal figurines of this group. It is
certainly of more recent date than the engraved designs of Aurignacian age
in the grottos of Gargas and of Chabot or than the red or black tracings
of the mammoth, also of Aurignacian age, at Castillo, Pindal, and
Font-de-Gaume. It is probable that the mammoth figures of Combarelles are
of later date than the Předmost sculpture and belong to the beginning of
Magdalenian times, while those at Font-de-Gaume belong to the end of
Magdalenian times and are the most recent of all the parietal designs.
Despite the differences in age and technique, all the designs of the
mammoth are undoubtedly the work of artists of a single race; they agree
in faithfully portraying the external form of this great proboscidian
which wandered over the steppes and prairies of western Europe from the
beginning of the fourth glaciation until near the close of Postglacial
times.
(=1=) Breuil, 1912.7.
(=2=) Verneau, 1906.1, pp. 202-207.
(=3=) _Op. cit._, p. 204.
(=4=) Keith, 1911.1, p. 60.
(=5=) Obermaier, 1912.1, p. 178.
(=6=) Breuil, 1912.7, p. 174.
(=7=) _Op. cit._, pp. 165-168.
(=8=) Obermaier, 1912.1, pp. 177, 178.
(=9=) Wiegers, 1913.1.
(=10=) Schmidt, 1912.1, p. 266.
(=11=) Geikie, 1914.1, p. 278.
(=12=) Dawkins, 1880.1, pp. 148, 149.
(=13=) Ewart, 1904.1.
(=14=) Obermaier, 1909.2, p. 145.
(=15=) Sollas, 1913.1, p. 325.
(=16=) Broca, 1868.1.
(=17=) Lartet, 1875.1.
(=18=) Verneau, 1886.1; 1906.1, pp. 68, 69.
(=19=) Obermaier, 1912.2.
(=20=) Martin, R., 1914.1, pp. 15, 16.
(=21=) Keith, 1911.1, p. 71.
(=22=) Klaatsch, 1909.1.
(=23=) Keith, _op. cit._, p. 56.
(=24=) Hauser, 1909.1.
(=25=) Fischer, 1913.1.
(=26=) Schliz, 1912.1, p. 554.
(=27=) Breuil, 1912.7, p. 175.
(=28=) _Op. cit._, p. 183.
(=29=) _Op. cit._, pp. 177-180.
(=30=) Schmidt, 1912.1, p. 266.
(=31=) Breuil, _op. cit._, p. 178.
(=32=) Obermaier, 1912.1, p. 181.
(=33=) Breuil, 1912.7, p. 169.
(=34=) Breuil, 1912.1, pp. 194-200.
(=35=) Schmidt, 1912.1.
(=36=) Breuil, _op. cit._
(=37=) Schmidt, 1912.1, p. 142.
(=38=) Breuil, 1912.1, p. 202.
(=39=) Breuil, 1912.6.
(=40=) Hilzheimer, 1913.1, p. 151.
(=41=) Fischer, 1913.1.
(=42=) Makowsky, 1902.1.
(=43=) Schwalbe, 1906.1.
(=44=) Makowsky, _op. cit._
(=45=) Obermaier, 1912.1, pp. 342-355.
(=46=) Martin, R., 1914.1, pp. 15, 16.
(=47=) Schliz, 1912.1.
(=48=) Déchelette, 1908.1, vol. I, p. 28.
(=49=) Keane, 1901.1, p. 147.
(=50=) Keith, 1911.1, p. 30.
(=51=) _Op. cit._, pp. 28-45.
(=52=) _Op. cit._, pp. 51-56.
(=53=) Obermaier, 1912.1, p. 93.
(=54=) Breuil, 1912.7, p. 188.
(=55=) Arcelin, 1869.1.
(=56=) Déchelette, 1908.1, vol. I, pp. 137-141.
(=57=) Schmidt, 1912.1, p. 144, Tafel B.