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[Illustration: IDEAL RESTORATION OF THE NEANDERTHAL MAN.]
A MANUAL
OF THE
ANTIQUITY OF MAN.
BY
J. P. MACLEAN.
"In order to know what Man is, we ought to know what Man has been."
--PROF. MAX MUeLLER.
_REVISED EDITION._
BOSTON:
UNIVERSALIST PUBLISHING HOUSE,
37 _Cornhill_,
1877.
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1875, by
J. P. MACLEAN,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
PREFACE.
In lecturing upon the Antiquity of Man I have found the minds of the
people prepared to receive the evidences, and ready to believe the
conclusions of the geologists. I have felt the need of a popular work to
place in the hands of the public, that would be both instructive and
welcome. The works of Lyell and Lubbock are too elaborate and too
expensive to meet the popular need. My object has been to give an
outline of the subject sufficient to afford a reasonable acquaintance
with the facts connected with the new science, to such as desire the
information but cannot pursue it further, and to serve as a manual for
those who intend to become more proficient.
As the Unity of Language and the Unity of the Race are so closely
connected with the subject, I have added the two chapters on these
questions, hoping they will be acceptable to the reader. It was my
intention to have written a more extended chapter on the relation of the
Holy Scriptures to this subject, but was forced to condense, as I had
done in other chapters, in order not to transcend the proposed limits of
the book.
In the preparation of this work I have freely used Lyell's "Antiquity of
Man" and "Principles of Geology," Lubbock's "Pre-Historic Times,"
Buchner's "Man in the Past, Present, and Future," Figuier's "Primitive
Man," Wilson's "Pre-Historic Man," Keller's "Lake-Dwellings," the works
of Charles Darwin, Dana's "Manual of Geology," Huxley's "Man's Place in
Nature," Prichard's "Natural History of Man," Pouchet's "Plurality of
the Human Race," and others, referred to in the margins.
I am indebted to my friend, Mr. Frank Cushing, for the ideal restoration
of the Neanderthal Man. The engraving was made especially for this work.
The references to Buchner are from his work entitled, "Man in the Past,
Present and Future."
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION.
PAGE
Interest in the subject--Influence of Lyell--Usher's
Chronology--Aime Boue first to proclaim the high antiquity
of man--Dr. Schmerling the founder--Boucher de Perthes the
apostle--Classifications by Lubbock, Lartet, Renevier, and
Westropp--Plan of the work--No Universal Age of Stone,
Bronze, or Iron--Epochs not sharply defined--Outlines of
History--Superstitious Notions--Skull from Constatt--Stone
hatchet from London--Cavern of Gailenreuth--Axes from
Hoxne--Human jaw from Maestricht--Skeleton from Lahr--
"Reliquiae Diluvianae"--Discoveries by Tournal and Christol--
Engis and Enghihoul Caverns--Schmerling's labors--Lyell's
opinions--Arrow mark on skull of Cave-Bear--Boucher de
Perthes and the Valley of the Somme--Jaw of Moulin-Quignon--
Kent's Hole--Fossil Man of Denise--Remains from the
Manzanares--Cave of Aurignac--Lyell declares his belief--
Lake-Dwellings of Switzerland Neanderthal Skull--Caverns
near Torquay--Cave of Massat--Cave of Lourdes--Caverns of
Ariege--Tertiary at St. Prest--Implements near Gosport--
Bones from Colmar--Implements near Bournemouth--Trou de
la Naulette--Bones near Savonia--Reindeer Station--Foreland
Cliff--Fossil Man of Mentone--Other Discoveries near Mentone. 11
CHAPTER II.
GLACIAL EPOCH.
Starting point for the investigation--Advance of the ice--
Fauna of Europe--Geological Period--Probable Date--Probable
Duration--Evidences of the Existence of Man--Implements from
Hampshire--Flint tools at Bournemouth--Oval flint from
Foreland Cliff--Implements from the Valley of the Somme--
Jaw of Moulin-Quignon--Implements from the Seine--Axes
near Madrid--Kent's Hole--Brixham Cave--Human jaw from
Maestricht--Skeleton from Lahr--Cave of La Naulette--
Implements from Hoxne--Bones from Colmar. 25
CHAPTER III.
GLACIAL--CONTINUED.
Belgian Caverns--Caverns of Liege--Engis Skull--Remarks of
Prof. Huxley--Views of Busk, Schmerling, Buchner, and Vogt--
Neanderthal Skull--Prof. Huxley, Dr. Buchner, and Dr.
Fuhlrott on Geological time of Neanderthal Skull--Opinions
of Huxley, Buchner, Schaaffhausen, and Busk--Skull from the
Loess of the Rhine, Constatt, Cochrane's Cave, Island of
Moen, Minsk, and Plau--Borreby Skulls--Human skulls of Arno. 44
CHAPTER IV.
PRE-GLACIAL EPOCHS.
North America during the Tertiary--Europe--Climate--Fauna of
Eocene--Of Miocene--Of Pliocene--Traces of Man--Opinions of
Lyell, Lubbock, and A. R. Wallace--Man in the Pliocene--
Hearth under Osars--Human bones from Savonia--Discoveries at
St. Prest--Skull from Altaville--Prof. Denton's Statement--
Man in the Miocene--Flints from Pontlevoy--Flint-flake from
Aurillac--Marks on bones near Pouance--Implements from
Colorado and Wyoming--Eocene--Glacial Periods during the
Miocene. 58
CHAPTER V.
CONDITION OF MAN IN THE EARLIEST TIMES.
No knowledge of the first appearance of Man--Fauna of India
during the Miocene--Intellect of Man--Contests with the
Beasts--A weapon invented--Earliest type--Advancement slow--
Climate changes--Sufferings of Man--Known by the Remains--
Structure of the Neanderthal Man--Engis Man--Men both large
and small--Animal structure of jaws from La Naulette and
Moulin-Quignon. 63
CHAPTER VI.
INTER-GLACIAL EPOCH.
Condition of the earth--Numerous traces of Man--Cave of
Aurignac--Conclusions of Lartet and Cartailhac--Caverns of
Maccagnone--Wokey Hole--Fossil Man of Denise--Reindeer
Station on the Schusse--Dr. Buchner's Conclusions. 68
CHAPTER VII.
CONDITION OF MAN IN THE INTER-GLACIAL.
Length of the Inter-Glacial--Man an improvable being--
Implements improved--Art of engraving begun--Religious
nature--Denton's description of primeval man--Language
improved. 76
CHAPTER VIII.
REINDEER EPOCH.
Advance of the Glaciers--Fauna---Reindeer epoch a distinct
one--Evidences of the existence of Man--Caves of Central and
Southern France--Implements from Les Eyzies--Relics from La
Madeleine--Workshops of Laugerie-Haute and Laugerie-Basse--
Cave and rock shelters of Bruniquel--Cave of Gourdan--Fossil
Man of Mentone--Other remains near Mentone--Other bone caves
of France--Belgian Caverns--Trou de Frontal--Trou Rosette--
Trou des Nutons--Cave of Chaleux--Cave at Furfooz--Cave of
Thayngen--Cave near Cracow. 79
CHAPTER IX.
MAN OF THE REINDEER EPOCH.
Man under a more favorable aspect--Type of--Dwellings--
Clothing--Food--Cannibalism--The Arts--Traffic--Burial--
Dupont's Report. 89
CHAPTER X.
NEOLITHIC EPOCH.
How characterized--Caves of this period--Contents of--Cave
of Saint Jean d'Alcas--Danish Shell-Mounds--Danish Peat
Bogs--Lake-Dwellings of Switzerland--Enumeration of--
Robenhausen--Fauna and Flora of--Troyon and Keller on--
Other Lake-Dwellings--Chronology. 94
CHAPTER XI.
MAN OF THE NEOLITHIC.
Type of--Advancement--Habitations--Clothing--Food--Arts and
Manufactures--Vast number of implements discovered--War--
Agriculture--Burial--Dolmens, Tumuli, Cromlechs, and Menhirs--
Victims, or Cannibalism. 103
CHAPTER XII.
BRONZE EPOCH.
No direct relation to Antiquity of Man--How characterized--
Type--Habitation and Food--Clothing--Implements--Arts--
Agriculture--Fishing and Navigation--Burial--Religious
Belief--Stone crescents. 108
CHAPTER XIII.
IRON EPOCH.
Civilization established--Swiss Lake-Dwellings--Dr. Keller's
Observations. 112
CHAPTER XIV.
TRACES OF MAN IN AMERICA.
Great opportunities for the Archaeologist--Aim of the chapter--
Skull from Osage Mission--Comstock lode--Charcoal at Toronto--
Knife from Kansas--Pelvic bone from Natchez--Skeleton from New
Orleans--Remains from the reefs of Florida--Caverns of Brazil--
Shell Heaps--Mound-Builders--Extent of Mounds--Implements of--
Sacrificial--Sephulchral--Temple--Symbolical--Antiquity of--
Fort Shelby--How long the Mound-Builders remained. 114
CHAPTER XV.
WRITTEN HISTORY.
Mystery of Ancient Empires--Rollin's difficulties--Egypt--
Manetho's list--Statement of Herodotus--Mariette's
explorations--Borings in the mud deposits of the Nile--
Dr. Schliemann's discoveries at Troy--History of Chaldea
by Berosus--Astronomical calculations--Chinese history--
Mexican History. 123
CHAPTER XVI.
LANGUAGE.
A field for study--Three divisions of language--Rhematic
period--Origin of--Various theories--Change of--Views of
Ancients--Number of--Comparative permancy of written
language. 132
CHAPTER XVII.
UNITY OF THE HUMAN RACE.
Objections to the Unity of the Race--Anatomical--
Geographical--Disparity of--Non-existence of medium types--
Phenomena caused by two united types--Objections answered--
Both man and animals affected by climate, food, and
condition--Examples--Argument from language--Ocean navigated
by frail crafts--Examples--Captain Tyson and party--The two
extremes exist in all nations, and even in families--People
who have retrograded--Races will amalgamate and perpetuate
their kind--Griquas--Papuas--Pitcairn Islanders--Law of
hybridity--Close affinity of the races--Slow change of. 136
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE BIBLE.
Controversy--Perversion of meaning--Men of science branded--
Design of the chapter--Creation--"Bara"--Day--Man's
appearance--Two accounts--Case of Cain--Sons of God--Remarks
of Dr. Livingstone--Doctrine of unity of the race--
Chronology--The Deluge--Septuagint--Monarchies--The
Dispersion--Opinion of Dr. Hedge--No supernatural aid in the
formation of Language--What God may do does not imply what
he has done--Dean Stanley on the Biblical account of Creation. 143
A MANUAL OF THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION.
No subject, of late years, has so much engrossed the attention of
geologists as the antiquity of the human race. The interest was greatly
increased by the publication of Sir Charles Lyell's "Antiquity of Man."
This work called the attention of the public to the subject, and so
great became the interest that many volumes and memoirs have been added
to the list, discussing the question in various ways, and, for the most
part, in such a manner as to add fresh interest and throw more light on
the subject. The scientific men were slow to take advantage of the
discoveries continually being made of the bones and works of man found
in caves and associated with the remains' of extinct animals. It is
probable, even at this late day, there would not have been so much
discussion of this subject had not Sir Charles Lyell lent the weight of
his great name to it. Educated men, everywhere, began to doubt the
correctness of Archbishop Usher's chronology, and so complete has been
the revolution of opinion that it is almost impossible to find an
intelligent man who would limit the period of man's existence to 6,000
years.
To Aime Boue, a French geologist, must be attributed the honor of having
been the first to proclaim the high antiquity of the human race; to Dr.
Schmerling, the learned Belgian osteologist, on account of his
laborious investigations, untiring zeal, and great work on the subject,
the merited title of being the founder of the new science; to M. Boucher
de Perthes, its great apostle; while to Sir Charles Lyell and Sir John
Lubbock must be ascribed the honor of having made the new theory
popular.
The new science soon became permanently established, and the geologists
at once set about classifying the facts before them, in order to assign
to them their respective places in the geological epochs. All are agreed
in respect to the chronological orders, but all have not used the same
nomenclature, in consequence of which more or less confusion has been
the result. Sir J. Lubbock has divided pre-historic archaeology into four
great epochs, as follows:
"I. That of the Drift; when man shared the possession of Europe with the
mammoth, the cave-bear, the woolly-haired rhinoceros, and other extinct
animals. This we may call the 'Palaeolithic' period.
"II. The later or polished Stone Age; a period characterized by
beautiful stone weapons and instruments made of flint and other kinds of
stone; in which, however, we find no trace of the knowledge of any
metal, excepting gold, which seems to have been sometimes used for
ornaments. This we may call the 'Neolithic' period.
"III. The Bronze Age, in which bronze was used for arms and cutting
instruments of all kinds.
"IV. The Iron Age, in which that metal had superseded bronze for arms,
axes, knives, etc."[1]
These divisions are recognized by Lyell and Tylor.
Edward Lartet has proposed the following classification:
I. THE STONE AGE.
1st. Epoch of extinct animals (or of the great bear and mammoth).
2d. Epoch of migrated existing animals (or the reindeer epoch).
3d. Epoch of domesticated existing animals (or the polished stone
epoch).
II. THE METAL AGE.
1st. The Bronze Epoch.
2d. The Iron Epoch.
This mode of division is adopted by M. Figuier, in his "Primitive Man,"
by the Museum of Saint-Germain in that portion devoted to pre-historic
antiquities, and adhered to in essential points by Troyon and d'Archiac.
Professor Renevier, of Lausanne, has proposed a somewhat different
scheme, founded upon the epochs of Swiss glaciation. It is as follows:
"I. _Pre-glacial Epoch_, in which man lived cotemporaneously with the
elephant (_Elephas antiquus_), rhinoceros (_R. hemitaechus_), and the
cave-bear (_Ursus spelaeus_).
"II. _Glacial Epoch_, in which man lived cotemporaneously with the
mammoth (_Elephas primigenius_), rhinoceros (_R. tichorrhinus_),
cave-bear, etc.
"III. _Post-glacial Epoch_, in which man lived cotemporaneously with the
mammoth and reindeer (_Cervus tarandus_).
"IV. _Last Epoch_, or epoch of the _Pile-buildings_, in which man lived
cotemporaneously with the Irish elk (_Megaceros hibernicus_), aurochs
(_Bison Europaeus_)," etc.[2]
Westropp divides the periods of man, in respect to his stages of
civilization, as follows: _Savagery_, _hunters_, _herdsmen_, and
_agriculturists_.
In the following pages a somewhat different classification has been
adopted, and may be thus explained:
I. _Pre-glacial Epoch_; that period antedating the glaciers of the
post-tertiary, in which man lived cotemporaneously with the animals of
the tertiary, southern elephant (_E. meridionalis_), etc.
II. _Glacial Epoch_; that period of the post-tertiary when man was
forced to contend with the great ice-fields and the floods immediately
succeeding them, when the mammoth (_E. primigenius_), rhinoceros (_R.
tichorrhinus_), cave-bear, etc., began to flourish.
III. _Interglacial Epoch_; that period between the glacial and the
second advance of the ice, in which man lived cotemporaneously with the
animals of the preceding epoch, and the cave bear became extinct.
IV. _Reindeer Epoch_; that period when the glaciers again advanced; in
which man's chief food consisted of the flesh of the reindeer (_C.
tarandus_), that animal having made its way in numerous herds as far
south as the Pyrenees.
V. _Neolithic Epoch_; that period in which man polished his weapons of
stone, and sought to domesticate certain animals, the dog, etc.
VI. _Bronze Epoch_; that period characterized by weapons and implements
being made chiefly of bronze.
VII. _Iron Epoch_; that period in which bronze was generally superseded
by iron.
This classification, on the whole, seems to be the best that could be
devised, for the reason it attempts to place the evidences of the
existence of man in their relative geological positions.
Other methods have misled the student. There was no universal Stone,
Bronze, or Iron Age. The classification given by Lubbock applies to
Europe, but is too general. I have adopted the word "Neolithic" for want
of a better term, although the signification of the word is appropriate
to the period it is intended to represent.
These various epochs are not sharply defined, the one from the other;
but one merges into the other by gradual progression covering a period
of thousands of years. The growth of the various plants and animals, and
their retreat or final extinction, have also been very slow.
An outline of the history of the discoveries which led to a careful
investigation of the question, and which resolved the question into a
science, is not only one of interest but also of importance to the
careful thinker seeking information on the subject.
Prior to the study of the ancient implements the "people had so little
notion of the nature and signification of the stone axes and weapons of
earlier and later times that they were regarded with superstitious fear
and hope, and as productions of lightning and thunder. Hence for a long
time they were called thunderbolts even by the learned.... As late as
the year 1734 when Mahndel explained in the Academy of Paris that these
stones were human implements, he was laughed at, because he had not
proved that they could not have been formed in the clouds."[3]
As early as the year 1700, a human skull was dug out of the calcareous
tuff of Constatt, in company with the bones of the mammoth. It is
preserved in the Natural History Museum at Stuttgart.
In the year 1715, an Englishman named Kemp found in London, by the side
of elephants' teeth, a stone hatchet, similar to those which have been
subsequently found in great numbers in different parts of the world.
This hatchet is still preserved in the British Museum.
In 1774, in the cavern of Gailenreuth, Bavaria, J. F. Esper discovered
some human bones mingled with the remains of extinct animals.
In 1797, unpolished flint axes were dug out in great numbers from a
brick-field near Hoxne, county of Suffolk, where they occurred at a
depth of twelve feet, mingled with the bones of extinct species of
animals. They were gathered up and thrown by basketsful upon the
neighboring road. In the year 1801, before the Society of Antiquaries,
John Frere read a paper upon them, in which he stated that they pointed
to a very remote period. This communication, short as it was, contained
the essence of all subsequent discoveries and speculations as to the
antiquity of man. But the society regarded the subject as of no
importance.
During the construction of a canal (1815-1823) in Hollerd, there was
found, near Maestricht, in the _loess_, a human jaw in company with the
bones of extinct animals. This bone is preserved in the museum at
Leyden.
In 1823, Aime Boue disinterred portions of a human skeleton from ancient
undisturbed loess near Lahr, a small village nearly opposite Strasbourg.
These bones were placed in the care of Cuvier, but, having been
neglected, are now lost.
In the same year, Dr. Buckland, an English geologist, published his
"Reliquiae Diluvianae," a work principally devoted to a description of the
Kirkdale Cave. The author combined all the known facts which favored the
coexistence of man, with the extinct animals.
In 1828, M. Tournal and M. Christol explored numerous caverns in the
south of France. In the cavern of Bize, Tournal found human bones and
teeth, and fragments of rude pottery, together with the bones of both
living and extinct species of animals, imbedded in the same mud and
breccia, cemented by stalagmite. The human bones were in the same
chemical condition as those of the extinct species.
M. Christol found in the cavern of Pondres, near Nimes, some human bones
in the same mud with the bones of an extinct hyena and rhinoceros.
In 1833, Dr. Schmerling explored the two bone-caverns of Engis and
Enghihoul (Belgium). In the former he found the Engis skull (now in the
museum of the University of Liege), at a depth of nearly five feet,
under an osseous breccia. The earth also contained the teeth of
rhinoceros, horse, hyena, and bear, and exhibited no marks of
disturbance. He also found the skull of a young person imbedded by the
side of a mammoth's tooth. It was entire, but so fragile, that it fell
to pieces before it was extracted. In the cave of Enghihoul he found
numerous bones belonging to three human individuals, mingled with the
bones of extinct animals. In these caves he noted rude flint
instruments, but did not collect many of them. In the care of Chokier,
he discovered a polished and jointed needle-shaped bone, with a hole
pierced through it, at its base. The caves of Engis and Chokier have
been annihilated, while only a part of Enghihoul remains.
Soon after these discoveries Dr. Schmerling published a work which
described and represented a vast quantity of objects which had been
discovered in the Belgian caverns. The scientific men were not yet
prepared to receive the new discoveries, and it attracted but little
attention at that time.
Too much praise cannot be bestowed upon Dr. Schmerling for his
unremitting labors. Of these labors Sir Charles Lyell has said: "To have
undertaken, in 1832, with a view of testing its truth (antiquity of
fossil human bones) to follow the Belgian philosopher through every
stage of his observations and proofs, would have been no easy task even
for one well-skilled in geology and osteology. To be let down, as
Schmerling was, day after day, by a rope tied to a tree, so as to slide
to the foot of the first opening of the Engis cave, where the
best-preserved human skulls were found; and, after thus gaining access
to the first subterranean gallery, to creep on all fours through a
contracted passage leading to larger chambers, there to superintend by
torchlight, week after week and year after year, the workmen who were
breaking through the stalagmitic crust as hard as marble, in order to
remove piece by piece the underlying bone-breccia nearly as hard; to
stand for hours with one's feet in the mud, and with water dripping from
the roof on one's head, in order to mark the position and guard against
the loss of each single bone of a skeleton; and at length, after finding
leisure, strength, and courage for all these operations, to look
forward, as the fruits of one's labor, to the publication of unwelcome
intelligence, opposed to the prepossessions of the scientific as well as
the unscientific public;--when these circumstances are taken into
account, we need scarcely wonder.... that a quarter of a century should
have elapsed before even the neighboring professors of the University
of Liege came forth to vindicate the truthfulness of their indefatigable
and clear-sighted countryman."[4]
In 1835, M. Joly, then professor at the Lyceum of Montpellier, found in
the cave of Nabrigas (Lozere) the skull of a cave-bear, on which an
arrow had left its mark. Close by, was a fragment of pottery marked by
the finger of the moulder.
It was in the valley of the Somme (a river in the north of France) that
M. Boucher de Perthes found those famous flint-axes of the rudest form.
His explorations had been going on for a long time. He did all he could
to bring these discoveries before the public. In the year 1836 he began
to proclaim the high antiquity of man, in a series of communications
addressed to the Societe d'Emulation of Abbeville. To the same society,
in the year 1838, he exhibited the flint-axes he had found, but without
result. In 1839, he took these hatchets to Paris, and showed them to
some of the members of the Institute. At first they gave some
encouragement toward these researches; but this favorable feeling did
not last long. In 1841 he began to form his collection, which has since
become so justly celebrated. He engaged trained workmen to dig in the
diluvial beds, and in a short time he had collected twenty specimens of
flint wrought by the hand of man, though in a very rude state. In 1846,
he published his first work on the subject, entitled "De l'Industrie
Primitive, ou les Arts et leur Origine." In the following year he
published his "Antiquites Celtiques et Antediluviennes," in which he
gave illustrations of these stone implements. This work attracted no
attention until the year 1854, when a French _savant_, named Rigollot,
made a personal examination and was successful in his search for these
relicts in the neighborhood of Amiens. He was soon followed by Sir C.
Lyell, Sir John Lubbock, Dr. Falconer, Sir Roderick I. Murchison, and
other eminent scientists.
Boucher de Perthes, continuing his researches, was rewarded, in the year
1863, by finding the lower half of a human jaw bone, covered with an
earthy crust, which he extracted with his own hands from a gravel-pit at
Abbeville. A few inches from it a flint hatchet was discovered. They
were at a depth of fifteen feet below the surface. This bone has been
called the jaw of Moulin-Quignon, and is preserved in the Museum of
Natural History at Paris.
The discovery of this bone produced a great sensation among English
geologists. Christy, Falconer, Carpenter, and Busk went to France and
examined the locality where the bone was found. They went away satisfied
with both its authenticity and antiquity. Some geologists, however,
doubted its authenticity; but at the present time all, or nearly all,
recognize the truth of the conclusions of Boucher de Perthes.
Not far from the same locality, he was again successful, in 1869, in
finding a number of human bones presenting the same character as the jaw
of Moulin-Quignon.
In 1840, Rev. J. MacEnery, of Devonshire, England, found in a cave,
called Kent's Hole, human bones and flint knives among the remains of
the mammoth, cave-bear, hyena, and two-horned rhinoceros, all from under
a crust of stalagmite. Mr. MacEnery began the explorations of this cave
as early as 1825. He did not publish his notes on his discoveries but
they remained in manuscript until 1859, when they were obtained by Mr.
Vivian.
Mr. Godwin-Austen, in his communication to the Geological Society in the
year 1840, states, in his description of Kent's Hole, he found works of
art in all parts of the cave.
The fossil Man of Denise was discovered by a peasant, in an old volcanic
tuff, near the town of Le Puy-en-Velay, Central France, an account of
which was first published by Dr. Aymard, in 1844. Able naturalists, who
have examined these bones, especially those familiar with the volcanic
regions of Central France, declared that they believed them to have
been enveloped by natural causes in the tufaceous matrix in which they
are now seen.
In the years 1845-1850, Casiano de Prado made discoveries on the banks
of the Manzanares, near Madrid. They consisted of portions of the
skeletons of the rhinoceros, and a nearly perfect skeleton of an
elephant in the diluvial sand. Lying beneath this ossiferous sand, were
several flint axes of human workmanship.
[Illustration: FIG. 1. SIR CHARLES LYELL.]
Near the town of Aurignac, France, a workman named Bonnemaison, in the
year 1852, accidently discovered a cave containing the remains of
seventeen human skeletons. These bones were taken by Dr. Amiel, the
mayor of Aurignac, who was ignorant of their value, and consigned to the
parish cemetery. The spot of their re-inhumation has been forgotten, and
this treasure is now lost to science. In 1860, the cave was explored by
Edward Lartet. After a long and patient examination, he came to the
conclusion that the cave was a human burial place, cotemporary with the
mammoth and other great animals of the quaternary epoch.
It was at the meeting of the British Association, in 1855, that Sir
Charles Lyell declared his belief in the great antiquity of the human
race. He had before opposed the idea, but was convinced of the truth by
personal examination of human bones and flint hatchets, from the
quarries of St. Acheul. He became enthusiastic in his investigations,
and, in order to present the discussion clearly to the scientific
public, he published his "Geological Evidences of the Antiquity of Man,"
in 1863. In the last edition of his "Principles of Geology," he bestows
considerable space to the discussion of the subject. He was closely
followed, in the same view, by other eminent geologists.
The remains of the ancient Lake Dwellings of Switzerland were discovered
in the winter of 1853-1854. That winter was so dry and cold that the
water of the lakes fell far below its ordinary level. On account of
this, a large tract of ground of Lake Zurich was gained by the people
throwing up embankments. In the process of the work, the piles on which
stood the dwellings, fragments of pottery, bone and stone implements,
and various other relics, were discovered.[5] Dr. Keller, of Zurich,
examined the objects, and at once came to a right understanding as to
their signification. He carefully examined the remains, and described
these lake habitations in six memoirs presented to the Antiquarian
Society of Zurich, in 1854, 1858, 1860, 1863, and 1866. In 1866 these
memoirs were translated into English by J. E. Lee, together with
articles from other antiquaries, under the title of "The Lake Dwellings
of Switzerland, and other parts of Europe." This work contains
ninety-seven plates, besides many wood-cuts.
Memoirs of the Dwellers of different lakes have, from time to time, been
published, but they are included in the translated work of Dr. Keller.
The far-famed Neanderthal skull was discovered by Dr. Fuhlrott, in the
year 1857, in a limestone cavern, near Duesseldorf, in a deep ravine
known by the name of Neanderthal. This skull, with parts of the skeleton
to which it belonged, was found under a layer of mud, about five feet in
thickness. It is now in the cabinet of Dr. Fuhlrott, Elberfeld, Rhenish
Prussia.
In 1858, a bone-cavern was found near Torquay, not far from Kent's Hole.
This cave was examined by a scientific commission. At first it was
undertaken by the Royal Society, but when its grants had failed, Miss
Burdett-Coutts paid the expenses of completing the work. In this cave,
under a layer of stalagmite, were found many flint knives, associated
with the bones of extinct mammals.
M. A. Fontan found in the cave of Massat (Department of Ariege), in
1859, human teeth and utensils associated with the remains of the
cave-bear, the fossil hyena, and the cave-lion (_Felis speloea_).
In 1861, M. A. Milne Edwards found certain relics of human industry
mingled with the fossil bones of animals, in the cave of Lourdes,
France.
In 1862, Dr. Garrigou published the result of the researches which he,
in conjunction with Rames and Filhol, had made in the caverns of Ariege.
These explorers found the jaw-bones of the cave-bear and cave-lion,
which had been wrought by the hands of man.
In the upper strata of the tertiary beds (pliocene) at St. Prest
(Department of Eure), in the year 1863, M. Desnoyers found the bones of
extinct animals which were cut or notched by flint instruments. In the
same strata Abbe Bourgeois discovered implements of stone. He
communicated his discoveries to the International Congress held at Paris
in 1867.
In 1864, James Brown found flint implements midway between Gosport and
Southampton, included in gravel from eight to twelve feet thick, capping
a cliff which at its greatest height is thirty-five feet above
high-water mark. These flint tools exactly resemble those found at
Abbeville and Amiens. Some of them are preserved in the Blackmore Museum
at Salisbury.
In 1865, there was found in the loess of the Rhine, near Colmar, Alsace,
human bones in the same bed with bones of the mammoth, horse, stag,
auroch, and other animals.
In 1866, Alfred Stevens first dug out a hatchet from the gravel at the
top of the sea-cliff east of the Bournemouth opening, Southampton river.
Soon after, Dr. Blackmore, to the west of the valley, obtained two other
flint implements. The spot was examined by Lyell in 1867.
Dr. Edward Dupont, an eminent Belgian cave explorer, in the year 1866,
found a fragment of a human jaw in the Trou de la Naulette, a bone cave
situated on the bank of the river Lesse not far from Chaleux.
At the International Congress of 1867, M. A. Issel reported he had found
several human bones in beds of Pliocene age, near Savonia, in Liguria.
The Reindeer Station on the Schusse, in Swabia, was discovered in 1867,
during the operations undertaken for the improvement of a mill-pond. The
Schusse is a little river which flows into the lake of Constance, and
its source is upon the high plateau of Upper Swabia between the lake of
Constance and the upper course of the Danube.
In 1868, Thomas Codrington discovered an oval flint implement in gravel
at the top of the Foreland Cliff, Isle of Wight, five miles southeast of
Ryde.
The fossil Man of Mentone was discovered, in 1873, by M. Riviere, in a
cave near Nice, France. The skeleton was almost entire, and imbedded
twenty feet below the surface of the deposit.
In 1873, M. Riviere discovered another human skeleton, by the side of
which lay a few unpolished stone implements, in one of the caves in the
same neighborhood.
In 1873 and 1874, M. Riviere was again so fortunate as to discover, in
neighboring caves, the remains of three persons, two of them those of
children. The skeletons were in the same condition, and decked with
similar ornaments, as those he had previously discovered.