INTER-GLACIAL EPOCH.
The glaciers have departed. Summer comes again. The forests bloom and
the wild beast roams about. Many species withstood the long siege of
cold; others perished; still others followed the ice as it retreated,
preferring the cold to the coming heat. The floods had abated and man
spread himself over the different tracts blooming with flowers and
radiant with earthly splendors.
The evidences of man's existence during this period are numerous,
consisting in works of art and fossil remains. Only a few examples are
given, as not many will be required to present the evidence and show
man's condition.
The hyena-den at Wokey Hole, explored by Mr. Dawkins, affords specimens
of the works of man. When discovered this den was filled to the roof
with _debris_. Under this rubbish was found several layers of the
excrement of the cave-hyena (_H. spelaea_), each of which indicates an
old floor and a separate period of occupation.
The implements were under these layers of excrement, showing that the
cave had been occupied by the hyenas after the time of the savages.
These implements had not been disturbed by the action of water. In the
bone earth along with the remains of the cave-hyena were found those of
the mammoth, Siberian rhinoceros, (_R. tichorrhinus_), gigantic ox (_Bos
primigenius_), gigantic Irish deer (_Megaceros Hibernicus_), reindeer,
cave-bear, cave-lion (_Felis spelaea_), wolf (_Canis lupus_), fox (_Canis
vulpes_), and the teeth and bones of the horse in great numbers.
Intermixed with these bones were chipped flints, a bleached flint
weapon of the spear-head Amiens type, and arrow-heads made of bone.
[Illustration: FIG. 11. IDEAL SCENE IN THE POST-TERTIARY.
On the right is shown the megatherium. This animal belonged to the
sloth tribe, and was a native of South America. It exceeded in
size the largest rhinocerous, and the length of its skeleton
sometimes attained eighteen feet. In front, near the centre, is
the glyptodon another South American animal of the armadillo
tribe. The length of its shell, along the curve, was five feet,
and the total length of the animal, nine feet. Just back of the
glypodon, and holding on to a tree, is the mylodon, belonging to
both North and South America, one species of which was much larger
than the western buffalo. On the left, and in the rear, is the
mastodon, the remains of which are found in both North and South
America, though of different species. While this scene does not
represent the animals with which we are dealing, yet the general
features give an idea of those with which we are interested.]
[Illustration: FIG. 12. SECTION OF THE SEPULCHRAL GROTTO, IN THE HILL
OF FAJOLES, AURIGNAC.
_a._ Vault in which the seventeen human skeletons were found.
_b._ Layer of made ground, two feet thick, inside the grotto in
which a few human bones, with entire bones of extinct and
living species of animals, and many works of art, were
imbedded.
_c._ Layers of ashes and charcoal eight inches thick, containing
broken, burned, and gnawed bones of extinct and living
mammalia, also hearth-stones and works of art; no human
bones.
_d._ Deposit with similar contents; also a few scattered cinders.
_e._ Talus of rubbish washed down from the hill above.
_f_, _g._ Slab of rock which closed the vault.
_i_, _f._ Rabbit-burrow.
_h_, _k._ Original terrace.
_N._ Nummulitic limestone.]
In the cavern of Maccagnone, in Sicily, there were found ashes and rude
flint implements in a breccia containing the bones of the elephant (_E.
antiquus_), hyena, a large bear, lion, (probably _F. spelaea_), and large
numbers of bones belonging to the hippopotamus. The concrete of ashes
had once filled the cavern, and a large piece of bone breccia was still
cemented to the roof.
The vast number of hippopotamuses implies that the physical condition of
the country was different from what it is at present. The bone breccia
cemented to the roof, and coated with stalagmite, testifies that the
cave, at some time since the formation of the breccia, has been washed
out. The exact time of the formation of this breccia cannot be given,
but, in all probability, not long after the extinction of the cave-bear,
if not before.
The cave or grotto of Aurignac, in which the seventeen human skeletons
were found, was carefully examined by Lartet eight years after its
discovery. The recess was formed in nummulitic limestone. In front of
the grotto, and next to the limestone (_c_, Fig. 12) was a layer of
ashes and charcoal, eight inches thick, containing hearth-stones, works
of art, and broken, burned, and gnawed bones of extinct and recent
mammalia. Immediately above this layer (_d_) was another, of made
ground, two feet thick, extending into the grotto; and its contents
similar to the other, save that within the grotto were found a few human
bones. The grotto was closed by a slab, and the made earth without was
covered by a talus of rubbish (_e_), washed down from the hill above.
In these layers were found not less than one hundred flint instruments,
consisting of knives, projectiles, sling-stones, chips, and a stone made
for the purpose of modelling the flints. The bone implements were
barbless arrows, a well-shaped and sharply pointed bodkin made of the
horn of the roe-deer, and other tools made of reindeer horn. Besides
these there were found eighteen small round and flat plates, of a white
shelly substance, made of some species of cockle (_cardium_), pierced
through the middle; also the tusk of a young cave-bear, the crown of
which had been carved in imitation of the head of a bird.
The following is a list of the different species found in the layers,
together with the approximate number of individuals belonging to each:
I.--CARNIVORA.
Number of Individuals.
1. Cave Bear (_U. Spelaeus_) 5-6
2. Brown Bear (_U. arctos_) 1
3. Badger (_Meles taxus_) 1-2
4. Polecat (_Putorius vulgaris_) 1
5. Cave Lion (_Felis spelaea_) 1
6. Wild Cat (_Felis Catus ferus_) 1
7. Hyena (_H. spelaea_) 5-6
8. Wolf (_Canis lupus_) 3
9. Fox (_C. vulpes_) 18-20
II.--HERBIVORA.
1. Mammoth (_E. primigenius_) Two molars and an astragalus.
2. Rhinoceros (_R. tichorrhinus_) 1
3. Horse (_Equus caballus_) 12-15
4. Ass (_E. asinus_) 1
5. Boar (_Sus scrofa_) Two incisors.
6. Stag (_Cervus elephas_) 1
7. Gigantic Irish Deer (_Megaceros Hibernicus_) 1
8. Roebuck (_C. capreolus_) 3-4
9. Reindeer (_C. tarandus_) 10-12
10. Aurochs (_Bison Europaeus_) 12-15
The bones on the outside of the grotto were found to be split open, as
if for the extraction of the marrow, and many of them burned. The spongy
parts were wanting, having been gnawed off by the hyenas.
M. Lartet came to the conclusion that this grotto was a place of
sepulchre, and the broken or split bones were the remnants of the
funeral feasts. This he argued from the fact that the bones within the
grotto were not split, broken or gnawed, save the astragalus of the
mammoth. This meat was placed in the grotto, probably as an offering to
the dead. The bones without the cave were scraped, and while the men
were yet engaged in the funeral feast, the hyenas prowled about the
spot, and at the close of the banquet, devoured the flesh that
remained. The slab in front of the cave debarred their entrance, and
consequently the bones and human remains within were left untouched.
The observations made by M. Cartailhac, in 1870, lead to different
conclusions. On close inspection, he discovered a difference in the
color of the walls of the cave, indicating that the lower deposit was of
a yellow color, and the next above of a much lighter tint. In the
crevices of the lower he found a tooth of the rhinoceros, one of the
reindeer, and some fractured bones of the cave-bear. In the higher
deposit occurred some small bones of living animals and of man, and a
fragment of pottery. From these evidences, M. Cartailhac inferred that
the lower deposits of the grotto corresponded with that outside of it,
and the layer containing human bones was formed at a subsequent time.
That this grotto was a place of resort at a very early period is proven
from the numerous remains of the cave-bear. This animal was one of the
first of those great post-tertiary mammalia to become extinct. The exact
position of the remains of the reindeer is not given. If its bones were
intermixed with the others and found in the lowest as well as the other
layers, it would indicate that the climate was not very warm during the
deposit of the layers, but to have been similar to that of Switzerland
of the present day. The probability is, the reindeer bones did not occur
in the lowest layer, and hence that layer was formed during the tropical
climate, and the reindeer bones and human skeletons were consigned to
the grotto about the close of the inter-glacial, or beginning of the
reindeer epoch.
The fossil man of Denise, taken from an old volcanic tuff, must be
assigned to this period, since there have been found, in similar blocks
of tuff in the same region, the remains of the cave-hyena and
hippopotamus major. This fossil man consists of a frontal part of the
skull, the upper jaw, with teeth, belonging to both an adult and young
individual; a radius, some lumbar vertebrae, and some metatarsal bones.
The tuff is light and porous, and none of the bones penetrate into the
more compact rock.
In the rubbish heap, or reindeer station, at the source of the Schusse,
there were discovered more than six hundred split flints, with a
quantity of partly worked antlers and bones of the reindeer. The bones
were so numerous that Mr. Oscar Fraas was enabled to put together a
complete skeleton of the reindeer which is now preserved in the museum
of Stuttgart. Most of the bones were split open for the purpose of
extracting the marrow. There were numerous remains of fishes, and a
fish-hook manufactured from reindeer horn. There were also the bones of
other animals, such as the glutton, arctic fox, and other animals now
living in high northern latitudes.
Speaking of this station, Dr. Buchner says, "Not only the careful
investigations of the geognostic conditions of the place, but also the
flora of the time (for remains of mosses were found which now live only
in the extreme north), leave no doubt that the reindeer station on the
Schusse belongs to the glacial epoch, or that it probably belongs
exactly to the interval between the two glacial epochs which in all
probability Switzerland has experienced. Mr. E. Desor declared this
deposit to be _the terminal moraine of the Rhine-glacier_, which was
formerly very large. Moreover, according to him, this discovery is
particularly remarkable, because it is the first example of a station of
the reindeer-men in a free and open deposit, their remains having
hitherto been found only in caves."[62]
From the remarks of Dr. Buchner, the great number of bones of the
reindeer, and some show of advancement in the arts, it may be safe to
conclude that this station belongs to the close of the inter-glacial.