Part 10 (2/2)
There have also been collected here and there pebbles of granite or quartzite hollowed out at the centre, and more or less perfectly rounded on the edges. It has been conjectured that these were mortars, although their small dimensions scarcely countenance this hypothesis. Neither is it probable that they were used for pounding seed, as fancied by M. de Vibraye. Nor does the idea which has been entertained of their being used for producing fire seem to have any sufficient ground.
Among the most interesting specimens in the vast collection of flints belonging to the reindeer epoch which have been found in the countries of France and Belgium, we must mention the delicate and very finely-toothed double-edged saws. The one we here represent (fig. 51) is in the Archaeological Museum of Saint-Germain. It does not measure more than three-quarters of an inch in length, and about one-tenth of an inch in width. It was found by M. V. Brun in one of the _rock-shelters_ at Bruniquel.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 51.--Small Flint Saw, found in the Rock-shelter at Bruniquel.]
Saws of this kind were, no doubt, employed for fas.h.i.+oning the antlers of the reindeer, and other ruminants that shed their horns. The antler was cut into on each side, and the fracture was finished by hand.
The objects of bone and reindeer-horn found in the caves of Perigord show a still greater variety, and a no less remarkable skilfulness in workmans.h.i.+p.
We may mention, for instance, the arrow and javelin-heads. Some are slender and tapering off at both ends; in others, the base terminates in a single or double bevel. Among the latter, the greater part seem made to fix in a cleft stick; some are ornamented with lines and hatching over their surface. Others have notches in them, somewhat similar to an attempt at barbing.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 52.--The Chase during the Reindeer Epoch.]
We now come to the barbed dart-heads, designated by the name of _harpoons_. They taper-off considerably towards the top, and are characterised by very decided barbs, shaped like hooks, and distributed sometimes on one side only, and sometimes on both (figs. 53, 54). In the latter case the barbs are arranged in pairs, and are provided with a small furrow or middle groove, which, according to some naturalists, was intended to hold some subtle poison. Like the present race of Indians of the American forests, primitive man may possibly have poisoned his arrows; and the longitudinal groove, which is noticed in so many reindeer arrow-heads, may have served to contain the poison.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 53.--Barbed Arrow of Reindeer Horn.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 54--Arrow of Reindeer Horn with double Barbs.]
We must not, however, fail to state that this opinion has been abandoned since it has been ascertained that the North American Indians used in former times to hunt the bison with wooden arrows furnished with grooves or channels of a similar character. These channels are said to have been intended to give a freer vent to the flow of the animal's blood, which was thus, so to speak, sucked out of the wound. This may, therefore, have been the intention of the grooves which are noticed on the dart-heads of the reindeer epoch, and the idea of their having been poisoned must be dismissed.
These barbed darts or harpoons are still used by the Esquimaux of the present day, in pursuing the seal. Such arrows, like those of the primitive hordes of the reindeer epoch which are represented above (figs. 53, 54), are sharply pointed and provided with barbs; they are fastened to a string and shot from a bow. The Esquimaux sometimes attach an inflated bladder to the extremity of the arrow, so that the hunter may be apprized whether he has. .h.i.t his mark, or in order to show in what direction he should aim again.
We give here (fig. 55) a drawing of a fragment of bone found in the cave of Les Eyzies (Perigord); a portion of one of these harpoons remains fixed in the bone.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 55.--Animal Bone, pierced by an Arrow of Reindeer Horn.]
We must a.s.sign to the cla.s.s of implements the bone bodkins or stilettoes of different sizes, either with or without a handle (figs. 56, 57), and also a numerous series of needles found in the caves of Perigord, some of which are very slender and elegant, and made of bone, horn, and even ivory. In some of the human settlements of the reindeer epoch, bones have been found, from which long splinters had been detached, fitted for the fabrication of needles. The delicate points of flint have also been found which were used to bore the eyes of the needles, and, lastly, the lumps of sandstone on which the latter were polished.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 56.--Tool made of Reindeer Horn, found in the Cave of Laugerie-Ba.s.se (Stiletto?).]
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 57.--Tool made of Reindeer Horn, found in the Cave of Laugerie-Ba.s.se (Needle?).]
We must, likewise, point out the _smoothers_, intended to flatten down the seams in the skins used for garments.
One of the most important instruments of this epoch is a perfect drill with a sharpened point and cutting edge. With this flint point rapidly twirled round, holes could be bored in any kind of material--bone, teeth, horn, or sh.e.l.ls. This stone drill worked as well as our tool made of steel, according to the statement of certain naturalists who have tried the effect of them.
The primitive human settlement at Laugerie-Ba.s.se has furnished several specimens of an instrument, the exact use of which has not been ascertained. They are rods, tapering off at one end, and hollowed out at the other in the shape of a spoon. M. edouard Lartet has propounded the opinion that they were used by the tribes of this epoch as spoons, in order to extract the marrow from the long bones of the animals which were used for their food. M. Lartet would not, however, venture to a.s.sert this, and adds: ”It is, perhaps, probable that our primitive forefathers would not have taken so much trouble.” Be this as it may, one of these instruments is very remarkable for the lines and ornaments in relief with which it is decorated, testifying to the existence in the workman of some feeling of symmetry (fig. 58).
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 58.--Spoon of Reindeer Horn.]
In various caves--at Les Eyzies, Laugerie-Ba.s.se, and Chaffant, _commune_ of Savigne (Vienne)--whistles of a peculiar kind have been found (fig.
59). They are made from the first joint of the foot of the reindeer or some other ruminant of the stag genus. A hole has been bored in the base of the bone, a little in front of the metatarsal joint. If one blows into this hole, placing the lower lip in the hollow answering to the above-named joint, a shrill sound is produced, similar to that made by blowing into a piped key. We ourselves have had the pleasure of verifying the fact, at the Museum of Saint-Germain, that these primitive whistles act very well.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 59.--Knuckle-Bone of a Reindeer's Foot, bored with a hole and used as a Whistle.]
The settlements at Perigord have also furnished a certain number of staves made of reindeer horn (figs. 60, 61), the proper functions of which no one has succeeded in properly explaining. They are invariably bored with one or more holes at the base, and are covered with designs to which we shall hereafter refer. M. Lartet has thought that they were perhaps symbols or staves of authority.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 60.--Staff of authority in Reindeer's Horn, found in the Cave of Perigord.]
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