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Title: Cave Hunting - Researches on the evidence of caves respecting the early - inhabitants of Europe
Author: Dawkins, William Boyd
Language: English
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CAVE HUNTING.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: _Fig. 1._
_Fig. 2._
_Fig. 3._
_Fig. 4._
_Fig. 5._
_Fig. 6._
_Fig. 7._
_Fig. 8._
C. F. Kell Lath. London F.C.
ENAMELS FROM THE VICTORIA CAVE. p98.
London; Macmillan & C^o. 1874.]
CAVE HUNTING,
RESEARCHES ON
THE EVIDENCE OF CAVES
RESPECTING THE
EARLY INHABITANTS OF EUROPE
BY
W. BOYD DAWKINS, M.A., F.R.S., F.G.S., F.S.A.,
_Curator of the Museum and Lecturer in Geology in
The Owens College, Manchester_.
_ILLUSTRATED BY COLOURED PLATE AND WOODCUTS._
London:
MACMILLAN AND CO.
1874.
[_The Right of Translation and Reproduction is reserved._]
LONDON:
R. CLAY, SONS, AND TAYLOR, PRINTERS,
BREAD STREET HILL.
TO
THE BARONESS BURDETT COUTTS,
THE FOUNDER OF THE SCHOLARSHIPS
FOR THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF GEOLOGICAL SCIENCE
IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD,
This Work is Dedicated,
AS A SLIGHT ACKNOWLEDGMENT FROM HER FIRST SCHOLAR.
PREFACE.
The exploration of caves is rapidly becoming an important field of
inquiry, and their contributions to our knowledge of the early history
of the sojourn of men in Europe are daily increasing in value and in
number. Since the year 1823, when Dr. Buckland published his famous
work, the “Reliquiæ Diluvianæ,” no attempt has been made to correlate,
and bring into the compass of one work, the crude mass of facts which
have been recorded in nearly every country in Europe. In this volume
I have attempted to bring the history of cave-exploration down to the
knowledge of to-day, and to put its main conclusions before my readers
in one connected and continuous narrative. Since Dr. Buckland wrote,
the momentous discovery of human relics along with the extinct animals
in caves and river deposits has revolutionised the current ideas as to
the antiquity and condition of man; and works of art of a high order,
showing a familiarity with nature and an aptitude for the delineation
of the forms of animals by no means despicable, have been discovered in
the caves of Britain, France, Belgium, and Switzerland, that were the
dwellings of the primeval European hunters of reindeer and mammoths.
The discoveries in Kent’s Hole and in the caves of Belgium led to those
in the caves of Brixham and Wookey Hole, and finally to those of
Auvergne and the south of France, as well as of Germany and Switzerland.
Archæology, also, by the use of strictly inductive methods, has grown
from a mere antiquarian speculation into a science; and its students
have proved the truth of the three divisions of human progress
familiar to the Greek and Roman philosopher, and expressed in the
pages of Hesiod and Lucretius--the Ages of Stone, Bronze and Iron. The
subdivision of the first of these into the older, or palæolithic, and
newer, or neolithic, by Sir John Lubbock, is the only refinement which
has been made in this classification. Sir Charles Lyell has discussed
the various problems offered by the general consideration of the first
of these divisions in “The Antiquity of Man;” while Sir John Lubbock,
in “Prehistoric Man,” has followed Dr. Keller and others in working out
the past history of mankind by a comparison of the habitations, tombs,
implements and weapons found in Europe, with those of modern savages.
This work is intended to be to a considerable extent supplementary to
theirs,--to treat of the formation of caves, and of the light thrown by
their contents on the sojourn of man in Europe, on the wild animals,
and on the changes in climate and geography.
In treating of the caves of the historic period, I have given
considerable prominence to the exploration of the Victoria Cave, near
Settle, which has led to the discovery that many caverns were inhabited
in this country during the fifth and sixth centuries, and that they
contain works of art of a high order. In the difficult task of bringing
them into relation with British history and art, I have to acknowledge
the kind assistance of Mr. E. A. Freeman, the Rev. J. R. Green, and Mr.
A. W. Franks.
In the neolithic division of the prehistoric period, I have
published at length my recent discoveries in the sepulchral caves of
Denbighshire, and am allowed by my friend, Professor Busk, to reprint
his description of the human bones. To his suggestive essay on the
Gibraltar caves, as well as to the works of the late Dr. Thurnam, and
of Professors Broca and Huxley, I am indebted for the clue to the
identification of the neolithic dwellers in caves with the ancient
Iberians or Modern Basques. That portion of the evidence which relates
to France I have verified by a personal examination of the human
remains from caves and tombs in the Museums of Bordeaux, Toulouse,
Lyons and Paris.
The results of the exploration of the Hyæna-den of Wookey Hole have
been given in greater detail in the portion of the work devoted to the
palæolithic age than they would have been, had they been before fully
recorded. And in this division of the subject I have largely made
use of the “Reliquiæ Aquitanicæ,” which embodies the discoveries in
Auvergne of my late friends Professor E. Lartet and Mr. Christy. To the
editors of that work I am indebted for permission to use some of the
plates and letterpress.
The history of the pleistocene mammalia, in which palæolithic man
forms the central figure, has been my especial study for many years.
And the evidence which is offered by the animals as to the geography
and climate of Europe, which I have published from time to time in the
works of the Palæontographical Society, the _Geological Journal_, and
in the _Popular Science_, _British Quarterly_, and _Edinburgh Reviews_,
is collected together in this work, and brought into relation with the
inquiry into the extension of ice over Europe in the glacial period,
and into the soundings of the European seas. In approaching these
and the like problems, I have done my best to arrive at the truth by
visiting as far as possible the foreign localities and collections, and
by correspondence with the discoverers of new facts.
In addition to those names which I have already mentioned, I have
to express my thanks to the Councils of the Society of Antiquaries,
the Geological Society, and of the Anthropological Institute and to
Mr. John Evans, for the use of woodcuts; to Mr. Rooke Pennington for
looking over some of the proof sheets; and to Professors Gaudry,
Rütimeyer, Lortet, Nilsson, and Steenstrüp, and the Rev. Canon
Greenwell for aid of various kinds. But especially do I feel grateful
to my old friend and master, the late lamented Professor Phillips, for
frequent help and prudent counsel.
In laying this book before my readers I would merely further remark,
that it is a faint outline of a new and vast field of research, in
which I have attempted to give prominence to the more important points,
rather than a finished and detailed history of cave-exploration.
W. B. D.
THE OWENS COLLEGE, MANCHESTER,
_20th July, 1874_.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION.
PAGE
Legends and Superstitions connected with Caves 1-5
The Physical Division of the Subject 5, 6
The Biological Division 6
Men and Animals 6
Ethnological, Archæological, and Geographical Bearings 7-9
The Three Classes of Bone-Caves 10, 11
History of Cave-Exploration in Europe 11
” ” Germany 11, 12
” ” Great Britain 13-18
” ” France 18-20
” ” Belgium 20, 21
” ” Southern Europe 21, 22
CHAPTER II.
PHYSICAL HISTORY OF CAVES.
Caves formed by the Sea and by Volcanic Action 23
Caves in Arenaceous Rocks 24
Caves in Calcareous Rocks of various ages 25-27
Their Relation to Pot-holes, “Cirques,” and Ravines 27, 28
Water-Cave of Wookey Hole 29-31
Goatchurch Cave 31-34
Water-Caves of Derbyshire 34
Water-Caves of Yorkshire--Ingleborough 35-39
Rate of Deposit of Stalagmite 39-41
Descent into Helln Pot 41-47
Caves and Pots round Weathercote 47-50
Formation of Caves, Pot-holes, and Ravines 50-57
Caverns not generally formed in line of Faults 57
Various Ages of Caves 58-61
Filling up of Caves 61
Cave of Caldy 62-68
Black-Rock Cave, Tenby 68
Carbonate of Lime dissolved by Atmospheric Water 69-70
Circulation of Carbonate of Lime 71
Temperature of Caves 71-72
Conclusion 73
CHAPTER III.
HISTORIC CAVES IN BRITAIN.
Definition of Historic Period 74
Wild Animals in Britain during the Historic Period 75-77
Animals living under the care of Man 77
Classificatory Value of Historic Animals 78-81
The Victoria Cave, Settle, Yorkshire--History of Discovery 81-85
The Romano-Celtic or Brit-Welsh Stratum 86-88
Bones of the Animals 88-90
Miscellaneous Articles 90-92
The Coins 93
The Jewellery, and its relation to Irish Art 94-101
Similar remains in other Caves in Yorkshire 101
Caves used as places of Refuge 102
The evidence of History as to Date 103-111
Britain under the Romans 103-105
The inroads of the Picts and Scots 105
The English Conquest 107
The Neolithic Stratum 111-115
Approximate Date of the Neolithic Occupation 115
The Grey Clays 116-118
The Pleistocene Occupation by Hyænas 118-121
Probable Pre-glacial Age of the Pleistocene Stratum 121-125
The Kirkhead Cave 125
Poole’s Cavern, Buxton 126
Thor’s Cave, near Ashbourne 127-129
Historic Value of Brit-Welsh group of Caves 129
Principal Animals and Articles in Brit-Welsh Caves 130-132
The Use of Horse-flesh 132
Cave of Longberry Bank, Pembrokeshire 133
CHAPTER IV.
CAVES USED IN THE AGES OF IRON AND BRONZE.
Difference between Historic and Prehistoric Time 134-136
The Prehistoric Fauna 136-138
Archæological Classification 138-140
Caves of the Iron Age 140
Caves of the Bronze Age in Britain 141-145
The Caves of the Césareda in Portugal probably occupied by
Cannibals 145-147
Cave of Reggio in Modena 148
CHAPTER V.
CAVES OF THE NEOLITHIC AGE.
Neolithic Caves in Great Britain--Perthi-Chwareu 149-156
Rhosdigre 156-158
Neolithic Caves in the neighbourhood of Cefn, St. Asaph 159-161
Chambered Tomb near Cefn 161-164
Correlation of Chambered Tomb with the Caves of Perthi-Chwareu
and Cefn 164
Contents of Caves and Tombs, tabulated 165-166
Description of Human Remains by Professor Busk 166-187
General conclusions as to Human Remains 197-188
CHAPTER VI.
THE RANGE OF NEOLITHIC DOLICHO-CEPHALI AND BRACHY-CEPHALI.
Cranial Terminology 189-190
Dolicho-cephali and Brachy-cephali 191-194
Range of the Dolicho-cephali in Britain and Ireland 194-197
Range of the Brachy-cephali 197
Their Range in France 198
Caverne de l’homme Mort 198-202
Sepulchral Cave of Orrouy 202
Skulls from French Tumuli 203
The Dolicho-cephali of Iberian Peninsula--Gibraltar 204-208
Spain--Cueva de los Murcièlagos 208-210
The Woman’s Cave near Alhama 210
The Guanches of the Canary Isles 211
Iberic Dolicho-cephali of the same race as those of Britain 212
Dolicho-cephali cognate with the Basque 213-215
Sepulchral Cave of Chauvaux 215-218
Cave of Sclaigneaux 218-220
Evidence of History as to the Peoples of Gaul and Spain 220-223
The Basque Population the oldest 223
Population of Britain 224
Basque Characters in British and French Populations present 225-227
Whence come the Basques? 227
The Celtic and Belgic Brachy-cephali 228-230
The Ancient German Race 230
General conclusions 231
CHAPTER VII.
CAVES CONTAINING HUMAN REMAINS OF DOUBTFUL AGE.
The Paviland Cave 232-234
Cave of Engis 234, 235
Trou du Frontal 236-239
Cave of Gendron 239
” Gailenreuth 240
” Neanderthal 240-241
” Aurignac 242-247
” Bruniquel 247, 248
” Cro-Magnon 249-256
” Lombrive 256
” Cavillon, near Mentone 257
Grotta dei Colombi, Palmaria, inhabited by Cannibals 258-261
General conclusions as to Prehistoric Caves 261-263
CHAPTER VIII.
THE PLEISTOCENE CAVES OF GERMANY AND GREAT BRITAIN.
Relation of Pleistocene to Prehistoric Period 264
Magnitude of Interval 265
Animals 265, 266
Physical Changes--Excavation and filling up of Valleys 267-272
Fisherton, near Salisbury 267
Freshford, near Bath 269
Comparison of Deposits in Valleys with those in Caves 272
Difference of Mineral Condition 273
Pleistocene Caves of Germany--Gailenreuth 273-276
Kühloch 276-278
Pleistocene Caves of Great Britain 278
” ” Yorkshire--Kirkdale 279-284
” ” Derbyshire--Dream Cave 284, 285
” ” North Wales, near St. Asaph 286, 287
Caves of South Wales in Glamorgan and Carmarthen 288
” Pembrokeshire 289
” Monmouth 290
” Gloucestershire and Somersetshire 291
” the Mendip Hills--Hutton 292
Banwell 293
Uphill 294
Hyæna Den, Wookey Hole 295-314
The district of the Mendip higher in Pleistocene Age than now 314
The condition of Bones gnawed by Hyænas 314-317
The Caves of Devonshire--Oreston 317, 318
Caves at Brixham 319-324
Kent’s Hole 324-330
Probable Age of the Machairodus in Kent’s Hole 330-335
Caves of Ireland--Shandon 335
CHAPTER IX.
THE INHABITANTS OF THE CAVES OF NORTH-WESTERN EUROPE, AND THE
EVIDENCE OF THE FAUNA AS TO THE ATLANTIC COAST-LINE.
The Caves of France 336
Cave of Baume 337
Caves of Périgord 337-347
” Belgium 347, 348
Trou de Naulette 349
Caves of Switzerland 350
Cave-dwellers and Palæolithic Men of the River-gravels 351
Classification of Palæolithic Caves 351-353
Relation of Cave-dwellers to Eskimos 353-359
Pleistocene Animals living north of the Alps and Pyrenees 359
Relation of Cave to River-bed Fauna 362
The Atlantic Coast-line 362-366
Distribution of Palæolithic Implements 366, 367
CHAPTER X.
THE FAUNA OF THE CAVES OF SOUTHERN EUROPE, AND THE EVIDENCE
AS TO THE MEDITERRANEAN COAST-LINE IN THE PLEISTOCENE AGE.
Changes of Level in Mediterranean Area in Meiocene and
Pleiocene Ages 369
Bone-caves of Southern Europe 370
Caves of Gibraltar 371, 372
Bone-caves of Provence and Mentone 373-375
” Sicily 375-377
” Malta 377
Range of Pigmy Hippopotamus 378
Fossil Mammalia in Algeria 379
Living Species common to Europe and Africa 379
Evidence of Soundings 380-382
The Glaciers of Lebanon 382
Glaciers of Anatolia 383-386
” of the Atlas Mountains 386
” probably produced by elevation above the Sea 387-389
Mediterranean Coast-line comparatively modern 389
Changes of Level in the Sahara 390
CHAPTER XI.
THE EUROPEAN CLIMATE IN THE PLEISTOCENE AGE.
Evidence of the Mammalia as to Climate 392
Southern Group of Animals 393-395
Northern Group 395-397
Probable cause of Association of Northern and Southern
Groups 397, 398
The Temperate Group 399
Species common to Cold and Tropical Climates 400
Extinct Species 400
Two Periods of Glaciation in Britain 401-403
Three Climatal Changes on the Continent 403
Europe invaded by Pleistocene Animals before the Glacial
Period 404-406
Mammalia lived in Europe during the second Glacial Period 406
The Glacial Period does not separate one Life-era from another 407
Bone-caves inhabited before and after the Glacial Period 408
Relation of Palæolithic Man to Glacial Period 409
Age of Contents of Caves in Glacial Districts 410
CHAPTER XII.
CONCLUSION.
Classification of Pleistocene Strata by the Mammalia 412-414
Late Pleistocene Division 414
Middle Pleistocene Division 415-417
Early Pleistocene Mammalia 417-420
The Pleiocene Mammalia 420-423
Summary of Characteristic Pleistocene and Pleiocene Species 423, 424
Antiquity of Man in Europe 424-426
Man lived in India in the Pleistocene Age 426-428
Are the Palæolithic Aborigines of India related to those of
Europe? 428
Palæolithic Man in Palestine 429
Conclusion 430
APPENDIX I.
ON THE INSTRUMENTS AND METHODS OF CAVE-HUNTING.
Instruments used in Cave-hunting 435
Search after Bone-caves 437
Three modes of Cave-digging 438
Stalagmitic floors to be broken up 440
The Preservation of Fossil Remains 440
APPENDIX II.
Observations on the Accumulation of Stalagmite in the
Ingleborough Cave 442
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
FIG. PAGE
Coloured Enamels from Victoria Cave _Front._
1 Diagram of Wookey Hole, Cave and Ravine 30
2 Diagram of Helln Pot and the Long Churn Cavern 41
3 Diagram of Helln Pot 42
4 Diagram of Helln Pot, showing Waterfall at the bottom 45
5 Waterfall in Pot-hole, at Weathercote 48
6 Diagram of Subterranean Course of Dalebeck 49
7 Diagram of an acid-worn joint, Doveholes, Derbyshire 52
8 Diagram of the Source of the Aire at Malham 55
9 A View in the Fairy Chamber, Caldy 63
10 Stalagmites in the Fairy Chamber, Caldy 63
11 The Fairy Chamber, Caldy 64
12 Pools in Fairy Chamber 65
13 Pool in Fairy Chamber 65
14 Edge of Pool in Fairy Chamber 65
15 Cone with Straw-column 65
16 Basin containing Cave-pearls 67
17 Fungoid Structures, magnified 67
18 Fungoid Structure, Black-rock Cave 68
19 View of King’s Scar, Settle, showing the Entrances of the
Victoria and Albert Caves 82
20 Longitudinal Section of Victoria Cave 86
21 Vertical Section at the Entrance to the Victoria Cave 87
22 Spoon-brooch 91
23 Ornamented Bone Fastener 92
24 Two Bone Links 92
25 Bronze Brooch 95
26 Bone Harpoon 112
27 Bone Bead 113
28 Stone Adze of doubtful origin 114
29 Section below Grey Clay, at Entrance to Victoria Cave 117
30 Skull of Woolly Rhinoceros, showing the part which is not
eaten by Hyænas 119
31 Bronze Bracelet from Thor’s Cave 129
32 Bronze Knife, Heathery Burn 142
33 Bronze Armlet, Heathery Burn 143
34 Bronze Spear-head, Heathery Burn 143
35 Bronze Mould for casting a socketed Celt 143
36 Section of Cave at Perthi-Chwareu 152
37 Plan of Cave at Perthi-Chwareu 154
38 Greenstone Celt, Rhosdigre Cave 157
39 Plan of Chambered Tomb at Cefn 162
40, 41, 42 Skull from Sepulchral Cave at Perthi-Chwareu 168
43, 44, 45 Skull from Sepulchral Cave at Perthi-Chwareu 169
46 Section of Femur 172
47, 48, 49, 50, 51 Section of Tibiæ 176
52, 53, 54 Platyenemic Tibiæ 177
55, 56, 57, 58 Human Femora 182
59, 60, 61 Skull from Cave at Cefn, St. Asaph 185
62, 63, 64 Skull from Genista Cave 207
65, 66 Skull from Cave of Sclaigneaux 219
67 Platyenemic Tibia from Sclaigneaux 219
68 Map of the Distribution of Iberic, Celtic, and Belgic
Peoples at dawn of History 221
69 Section of the Trou du Frontal 237
70 Diagram of the Cave of Aurignac 245
71 Section across the valley of the Vezère and rock of
Cro-Magnon 249
72 Detailed Section of the Cave of Cro-Magnon 251
73 Thigh-bone of Child from Grotta dei Colombi 260
74 Section of Valley-gravels at Fisherton 268
75 Section of Valley-gravels at Freshford, Bath 270
76 Section of Gailenreuth Cave 274
77 Plan of Kirkdale Cave 279
78 Sections of Kirkdale Cave 280
79 Molar of Hippopotamus 281
80 Leg-bones gnawed by Hyænas 282
81 The Dream-cave, Wirksworth 285
82 Left Lower Jaw of Glutton, Plas Heaton Cave 287
83 Plan of Hyæna Den, Wookey Hole 297
84, 85, 86, 87 Four Views of Flint Implements from Wookey Hole 299
88 Section showing Contents of Hyæna Den 304
89 Transverse section of ditto 305
90 Longitudinal section 306
91 Longitudinal section 311
92 Gnawed Jaw of Hyæna from Wookey 313
93 Upper and Lower Jaws of Hyæna Whelp, Wookey 315
94 Thigh-bone of Woolly Rhinoceros gnawed by Hyænas, Wookey 316
95 Diagram of deposits in Brixham Cave 320
96 Lanceolate Implement from Kent’s Hole 326
97 Oval Implements from Kent’s Hole 326
98 Harpoon from Kent’s Hole 327
99 Harpoon-head from Kent’s Hole 327
100 Hammer-stone 328
101, 102 Upper Canine of Machairodus, Kent’s Hole 331
103, 104, 105 Incisors of Machairodus, Kent’s Hole 333
106 Flint-flake, Les Eyzies 339
107 Flint Scraper, Les Eyzies 339
108 Flint Javelin-head, Laugerie Haute 339
109 Flint Arrow-head, Laugerie Haute 340
110 Bone needle, La Madelaine 340
111, 112 Harpoons of Antler, La Madelaine 342
113, 114 Arrow-heads, Gorge d’Enfer 342
115 Bone Awl, Gorge d’Enfer 342
116 Carved Handle of Reindeer Antler 343
117 Two sides of Reindeer Antler, La Madelaine 344
118 Horses engraved on Antler, La Madelaine 344
119 Group of Reindeer, Dordogne 345
120 Mammoth engraved on Ivory, La Madelaine 346
121 Carved Implement of Reindeer Antler, Goyet 348
122 Eskimos Spear-head, bone 353
123 Eskimos Arrow-straightener of Walrus-tooth 354
124 Eskimos Plane, or Scraper 355
125 Eskimos Hunting Scene 357
126 Map of the Physiography of Great Britain in Late Pleistocene
Age 363
127 Molar of _Hippopotamus Pentlandi_ 377
128 Molar of _Elephas Melitensis_ 378
129 Map of the Physiography of the Mediterranean in the
Pleistocene Age 381
LISTS OF SPECIES AND TABLES OF MEASUREMENTS.
PAGE
List of Animals extinct during the Historic Age 78
” Animals introduced during the Historic Age 79
” Coins found in the Victoria Cave 93
” Principal Animals and Objects found in Brit-Welsh Strata
in Caves 131
” Animals found in the Refuse-heap, Perthi-Chwareu 150
” Contents in Neolithic Caves and Cairn, North Wales 166
Dimensions of Perthi-Chwareu Skulls 171
Dimensions of Perthi Chwareu Tibiæ 173
Proportions of ordinary Tibiæ 174
Comparative Measurements of Skulls 179
Table of Long Skulls from Britain and Ireland 197
” Measurements of British Brachy-cephali, and Gaulish
and Belgic Brachy-cephali and Dolicho-cephali 199
Measurements of various Skulls 213
Measurements of Skulls of doubtful antiquity 236
List of Late Pleistocene Animals unknown in Britain in the
Prehistoric Age 266
” Remains found in Wookey Hyæna Den 310
Late Pleistocene Fauna north of Alps and Pyrenees 360, 361
List of Animals from the Caves of Gibraltar 372
Fauna from the Caves of Mentone 373
” Bone-caves of Sicily 376
List of Animals from the Middle Pleistocene 415
” ” ” Early Pleistocene 418
” Pleistocene Mammalia 420, 422
” Characteristic Animals of the Pleistocene Period 423
” ” ” ” Pleiocene Period 424
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS.
Page 1, line 7, _for_ “Cythæron” _read_ “Cithæron.”
Page 8, line 4, _for_ “that” _read_ “who.”
Page 17, line 5, _for_ “Seine” _read_ “Somme.”
Page 60, lines 29, 30, _for_ “non-ossiferous” _read_ “no ossiferous.”
Page 82, fig. 19, _for_ “A, B, Albert, C, Victoria” _read_ “A, B,
Victoria, C, Albert.”
Page 95, fig. 25.--This design is to be seen in the chalice discovered
in 1868, in a rath at Ardagh, Limerick, and described by the Earl of
Dunraven (Trans. Royal Irish Acad. xxiv. Antiquities). The chalice is
made of gold, silver, bronze, brass, copper, and lead, and from the
identity of its inscription and ornament with those of Irish MSS. of
ascertained age, may be referred to a date ranging from the 5th to
the 9th centuries. It is also adorned with squares of blue and red
enamel of the same kind as that of the brooches from the Victoria Cave,
figured in the coloured plate. The same design is also presented by
the “bronze head-ring” found in 1747 at Stitchel, in Roxburgh, (Wilson
“Prehistoric Annals of Scotland,” ii. 146) as well as by one of the
silver articles known as “The Norrie Law Relics,” found in a tumulus
on the shore of the Bay of Largo, Firth of Forth. Of the coins found
at the same place, the latest, belonging to Tiberius Constantine (d.
682), fixes the date as not earlier than the 7th century. Some of
the sculptured stones of Scotland, such as the Dunnichen stone, are
ornamented also in the same style, and, according to Professor Wilson,
belong to “the transition period from the 4th to the 8th centuries,
when pagan and Christian rites were obscurely mingled,” (ii. 259). In
Scotland, therefore, as well as Ireland, this style of ornamentation
is of the same age, corresponding in the main with that of Brit-Welsh
articles in the Victoria Cave, proved by the associated coins to be
later than the 4th century.
Page 120, line 4.--These teeth are considered by Dr. Leith Adams to
belong to _Elephas antiquus_, which has been discovered in other places
in Yorkshire. They may possibly belong to that animal; but they may,
with equal justice, be identified with the wide-plated variety of the
teeth of the Mammoth. The great variation in the width of the component
plates of the fossil teeth of Mammoth observable in the large series
from Crayford and the caves of the Mendip Hills, and in those in the
magnificent Museum of Lyons, causes me to hesitate in considering them
to belong to the rarer species.
Page 130, line 2.--This has been verified while these sheets were
passing through the press by the discovery of Brit-Welsh articles in
a cave in Kirkcudbrightshire by Messrs. A. R. Hunt and A. J. Corrie,
among which are bone fasteners similar in outline to that from the
Victoria Cave (Fig. 23).
Page 190.--In using this classification of crania, I have purposely
attached higher value to the two extremes of skull form, or the long
and the broad, than to the intermediate oval forms, which cannot be
viewed as distinctive of race, because they may be the results either
of the intermarriage of a long-headed with a short-headed people, or of
variation from the type of one or other of them.
Page 196, heading, _for_ “Dolicho-cepha” _read_ “Dolicho-cephali.”
Page 201, heading, _dele_ “A”.
Page 213, note 2.--The “tête annulaire,” or annular depression, is
also visible on some of the broad as well as the long skulls from
a “Merovingian” cemetery at Chelles in the same collection. The
association in this cemetery of the two skull-forms is probably due to
the Merovingians being the masters, and the Celts the servants, and the
conquerors and the vanquished being buried in the same spot.
Page 220, line 24, _for_ “Volscæ” _read_ “Volcæ.”
Page 223, line 25, _for_ “east” _read_ “west.”
Page 228, line 3, _dele_ “that.”
Page 229, line 3, _for_ “set foot” _read_ “settled.” The statement in
the text is too strong. The conquest of Gaul by the Huns under Attila
was averted by his defeat in the famous battle of Chalons.
Page 275, line 21, _for_ “are” _read_ “is.”
Page 279.--Since this was written a new ossiferous deposit has been
found in a fissure at Lothorsdale, near Skipton, from which the remains
of the _Elephas antiquus_ and _Hippopotamus amphibius_ have been
obtained.
Page 284.--The ossiferous fissure at Windy Knoll, near Castleton,
recently explored by Messrs. Tym, Pennington, Plant, Walker and
others, has added several animals to the pleistocene fauna of that
district--the bison, roe, reindeer, bear, wolf, fox, and hyæna, the
first of these species being remarkably abundant, and of all ages. The
remains were probably introduced by a stream from a higher level.
Page 337, note 2, line 2, _for_ “the Revue” and “les Matériaux” _read_
“in the Revue” and “in the Matériaux.”
Page 337, note 5, _for_ “Aquitainicæ” _read_ “Aquitanicæ.”
Page 347, line 6, _for_ “mind” _read_ “minds.”
Page 356, line 15, _for_ “Port” _read_ “Fort.”
Page 361.--Mr. Ayshford Sanford adds the _Felis Caffer_ to the list
from Bleadon, and the _Gulo borealis_ to that of the animals from
Kent’s Hole.
Page 386, line 10, _dele_ inverted commas.
Page 386, line 17, _for_ “or from 1,000 to 2,000 feet lower than the
glacial covering” _read_ “thus differing by a line of from 1,000 to
2,000 feet from the glacial covering” (Palgrave).
CAVE-HUNTING.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION.
Legends and Superstitions connected with Caves.--The Physical
Division of the Subject.--The Biological.--The Inhabitants
of Caves.--Men and Animals.--Ethnological, Archæological,
and Geographical Bearings.--The three Classes of Bone-Caves:
Historic, Prehistoric, Pleistocene.--History of Cave Exploration
in Europe: Germany, Great Britain, France, Belgium, Southern Europe.
Caves have excited the awe and wonder of mankind in all ages, and
have figured largely in many legends and superstitions. In the Roman
Mythology, they were the abode of the Sibyls, and of the nymphs, and
in Greece they were the places where Pan, Bacchus, Pluto, and the Moon
were worshipped, and where the oracles were delivered, as at Delphi,
Corinth, and Mount Cithæron; in Persia they were connected with the
obscure worship of Mithras. Their names, in many cases, are survivals
of the superstitious ideas of antiquity. In France and Germany they are
frequently termed “Fairy, Dragons’, or Devils’ Caves,” and, according
to M. Desnoyers, they are mentioned in the invocation of certain
canonized anchorites, who dwelt in them after having dispossessed and
destroyed the dragons and serpents, the pagan superstition appearing in
a Christian dress.
In the Middle Ages they were looked upon as the dwellings of evil
spirits, into the unfathomable abysses of which the intruder was lured
to his own destruction. Long after the fairies and little men had
forsaken the forests and glens of Northern Germany, they dwelt in their
palaces deep in the hearts of the mountains,--in “the dwarf holes,” as
they were called--whence they came, from time to time, into the upper
air. Near Elbingrode, for example, in the Hartz, the legend was current
in the middle of the last century, that when a wedding-dinner was being
prepared the near relations of the bride and bridegroom went to the
caves, and asked the dwarfs for copper and brass kettles, pewter dishes
and plates, and other kitchen utensils.[1] “Then they retired a little,
and when they came back, found everything they desired set ready for
them at the mouth of the cave. When the wedding was over they returned
what they had borrowed, and in token of gratitude, offered some meat to
their benefactors.” Allusions, such as this, to dwarfs, according to
Professor Nilsson, point back to the remote time when a small primeval
race, inhabiting Northern Germany, was driven by invaders to take
refuge in caverns,--a view that derives support from the fact that in
Scandinavia the tall Northmen were accustomed to consider the smaller
Lapps and Finns as dwarfs, and to invest them with magic power, just
as in Palestine the smaller invading peoples considered their tall
enemies giants. The cave of Bauman’s hole, also in the Hartz district,
was said, in the middle of the last century, to have been haunted
by divers apparitions, and to contain a treasure guarded by black
mastiffs; and in Burrington Combe, in Somersetshire, some twenty years
ago, a cave was dug out by a working man, under the impression that it
contained gold. The hills of Granada are still believed, by the Moorish
children, to contain the great Boabdil and his sleeping host, who will
awake when an adventurous mortal invades their repose, and will issue
forth to restore the glory of the Moorish kings.
It is, indeed, no wonder that legends and poetical fancies such as
these should cluster round caves, for the gloom of their recesses,
and the shrill drip of the water from the roof, or the roar of the
subterranean water-falls echoing through the passages, and the white
bosses of stalagmite looming like statues through the darkness, offer
ample materials for the use of a vivid imagination. The fact that
often their length was unknown, naturally led to the inference that
they were passages into another world. And this is equally true of
the story of Boabdil, of that of the Purgatory of St. Patrick, in the
north of Ireland, and of the course of the river Styx, which sinks
into the rocks and flows through a series of caverns that are the dark
entrance-halls of Hades. The same idea is evident in the remarkable
story, related by Ælian (Lib. xvi. 16). “Among the Indians of Areia
there is an abyss sacred to Pluto, and beneath it vast galleries,
and hidden passages and depths, that have never been fathomed. How
these are formed the Indians tell not, nor shall I attempt to relate.
The Indians drive thither (every year) more than 3,000 different
animals--sheep, goats, oxen, and horses--and each acting either from
dread of the dreadful abyss, or to avert an evil omen in proportion to
his means, seeks his own and his family’s safety by causing the animals
to tumble in; and these, neither bound with chains nor driven, of their
own accord finish their journey as if led on by some charm; and after
they have come to the mouth of the abyss they willingly leap down, and
are never more seen by mortal eyes. The lowing, however, of the cattle,
the bleating of the sheep and of the goats, and the whinnying of the
horses are heard above ground, and if anyone listen at the mouth, he
will hear sounds of this kind lasting for a long time. Nor do they ever
cease, because beasts are driven thither every day. But whether the
sound is made by those recently driven in, or by some of those driven
in some time before, I do not express an opinion.” The Roman Catholic
Church took advantage of this feeling of superstitious awe, as late as
the Middle Ages. At the time of the Reformation it was believed that a
cave at Bishofferode would prove the death of some person in the course
of the year, unless a public yearly atonement were made. Accordingly
a priest came, on a certain day, to the chapel on the hill opposite,
whence he passed in solemn procession to the cave, “and let down into
it a crucifix, which he pulled up again, and took this occasion to
remind them of hell, and to avoid the punishment due to their sins.”
The beauty of the interiors of some of the caves could not fail to give
rise to more graceful fancies than these. The fantastic shapes of the
dripstone, with which they are adorned, now resembling Gothic pillars
supporting a crystalline arcade, or jutting out in little spires and
minarets, and very generally covering the floor with a marble-like
pavement, and in some cases lining the pools of water with a fretwork
of crystals that shine like the facets of a diamond, were fitting
ornaments for the houses of unearthly beings, such as fairies.
_The Physical Division of the Subject._
It is by no means my intention in this work to give a history of
legends such as these, but to take my readers with me into some of
the more important and more beautiful caves in this country. The
exploration of the chambers and passages of which they are composed,
the fording of the subterranean streams by which they are frequently
traversed, or the descent into deep chasms which open in their floors,
have the peculiar charm of mountaineering, not without a certain
pleasurable amount of risk. But to physicist and geologist they offer
far more than this. They give an insight into the wonderful chemistry
by which changes are being wrought, at the present time, in the solid
rock. Nor are the conclusions to which we are led by the investigation
of these chemical changes merely confined to the interior of caves.
They enable us to understand how some of the most beautiful scenery
in Europe has been formed, and to realize the mode by which all
precipices and gorges have been carved out of the calcareous rock. In
the next chapter we shall see why it is that the combination of hill
and valley, ravine and precipice, present the same general features in
all limestone districts--why, for instance, the ravines of Palestine
are the same as those of Greece, and both are identical with those
in Yorkshire. The origin and the history of caves will be examined,
as well as their relation to the general physical geography of the
calcareous strata. All these subjects are comprehended in the first or
the physical division of cave-hunting.
_The Biological Division._
We must now proceed to the definition of the scope and object of the
second, or Biological, division of the subject.
Caves have been used by man, and the domestic animals living under his
protection, from the earliest times recorded by history down to the
present day. Those penetrating the rugged precipices of Palestine,
we read in the Old Testament, served both for habitation and for
burial, and, from the notices which are scattered through the early
Greek writers, we may conclude that those of Greece were used for
dwelling-places. The story of the Cyclops proves that they were also
used as folds for goats. The name of Troglodytes, given to many peoples
of the most remote antiquity, implies that there was a time in the
history of mankind when Pliny’s statement “specus erat pro domibus”
was strictly true (“Hist. Nat.” I. v. c. 56). The caves of Africa
have been places of retreat from the remotest antiquity down to the
French conquest of Algeria, and in 1845 several hundred Arabs were
suffocated in those of Dahra by the smoke of a fire kindled at the
entrance by Marshal (then Colonel) Pelissier. Dr. Livingstone alludes
in his recent letters to the vast caves of Central Africa, which
offer refuge to whole tribes with their cattle and household stuff.
In France, according to M. Desnoyers, there are at the present time
whole villages, including the church, to be found in the rock, which
are merely caves modified, extended, and altered by the hand of man.
The caves of the Dordogne were inhabited in the middle ages. Floras
writes that the Aquitani, “callidum genus in speluncas se recipiebant,
Cæsar jussit includi,”[2] and the same caves afforded shelter to the
inhabitants of the same region in the wars of King Pepin against
the last Duke of Aquitaine. In this country a small cave in Cheddar
Pass was occupied till within the last few years. The caves in the
northern counties are stated by Gildas to have offered a refuge to
the Brit-Welsh inhabitants of Britain during the raids of the Picts
and Scots; and in the year 1745 those of Yorkshire were turned to the
same purpose during the invasion of the Pretender. We might reasonably
expect to find in caves turned to these uses objects left behind, which
would tell us something of the manners and customs of their possessors,
and light up the catalogue of battles and intrigues of which history
generally consists. The results obtained from the Brit-Welsh group of
caves, treated in the third chapter, show that this hitherto neglected
branch of the inquiry is not without value to the historian.
Caves containing remains of this kind may be conveniently termed
historic, because they may be brought into relation with history. It
must, however, be carefully remarked that the term does not relate
to history _in general_, but to that _in particular_ of each country
which happens to be under investigation. The misapprehension of
this has caused great confusion, and many mistakes in archæological
classification and reasoning.
Again, our experience of the habits of rude and uncivilized peoples
would naturally lead us to look to caves, as the places in which we
should be likely to meet with the remains of the men who lived in
Europe before the dawn of history. Such remains we do find that,
placed side by side with others from the tombs and dwellings, enable
us to discover some, at least, of the races who lived in Europe
in long-forgotten times, and to ascertain roughly the sequence of
events in the remote past, far away from the historical border. It
may, indeed, seem a hopeless quest to recover what has been buried
in oblivion so long, and it is successful merely through the careful
comparison of the human skeletons in the caves and tombs of Britain,
France, and Spain, with those of existing races, and of the implements
and weapons with those which are now used among savage tribes. By this
means we shall see that there are good grounds for extending the range
of the Iberian people over a considerable area in Europe, and for
the belief that the Eskimos once lived as far south as Auvergne. In
discussing both these problems it will be impossible to shut our eyes
to the continuity that exists between geology, archæology, biology, and
history--sciences which at first sight appear isolated from each other.
The bones of the domestic animals in the caves will necessarily lead to
the further examination of the appearance and disappearance of breeds
under the care of man. And this complicated question has an important
bearing not merely on the ethnology, but also on the history, of some
of the European peoples. It must be admitted, however, that this
branch of the subject is, as yet, known merely in outline, and we can
only hope to ascertain a few facts which may form a basis for future
investigation.
From another point of view the contents of caves are peculiarly
valuable. They have been used as places of shelter, not merely by man,
but by wild animals, from the time they first became accessible to
the present day. In the same way, therefore, as now they contain, in
their superficial layers, the bones of sheep, oxen, and horses, foxes,
rabbits, and badgers, so in their deeper strata lie buried the remains
of the animals which were living in Europe long before the historic
times. In other words, they enable us to make out the groups of animals
inhabiting the neighbouring districts, and which in many cases have
either forsaken their original abodes or have become extinct. And since
those which are extinct, or which have migrated, could not have lived
where their remains are found under the present conditions of life, an
inquiry into their history leads us into the general question of the
ancient European climate and geography. It is obvious, for example,
that the spotted hyæna, which formerly inhabited the caves of Sicily,
could not have crossed over to that island after it was separated from
Africa and Italy; and it would be impossible for the musk-sheep, the
most arctic of the herbivora, to live as far south as Auvergne under
the present climatal conditions. The presence, therefore, of these
animals in these districts is proof in the one case of a geographical,
and in the other of a climatal, change.
The discussion of all these questions is comprehended under the second,
or biological, division of cave-hunting, which may be defined as an
inquiry into the remains of man and animals found in the caves, and
into the conditions under which they lived in Europe.
_The three Classes of Bone-caves._
In the biological branch of the subject the caves will be treated
first which are comprehended within the limits of history; then we
shall pass on to the investigation of Prehistoric caves, or those
which have been inhabited in the interval that separates history from
the remote geological era, which is characterized by the existence of
the extinct mammalia in Europe. And, lastly, those will be examined
which have furnished the remains of the extinct animals, and which
are termed by the geologists Pleistocene, from the fact that a larger
percentage of existing species were then living than in the preceding
Pleio-, Meio-, and Eocene periods. The equivalent terms “Quaternary,”
used by many French geologists, and the “Post-pleiocene division of the
Post-tertiary Formation,” used by Sir Charles Lyell, are not adopted
in this work, because they imply a break in the continuity of life,
which does not exist. “Pleistocene” was invented and subsequently
discarded by Sir C. Lyell,[3] and is at present used by many eminent
writers, such as Forbes, Phillips, Gervais, and others. The ossiferous
caves will therefore be divided into the Historic, Prehistoric, and
Pleistocene groups. And it will be more convenient to work backwards
in time from the basis offered by history, than to begin with the
Pleistocene, or oldest division, and bring the narrative down to the
present day.
This classification, founded in part on the principle of change
in the animal world, and partly on the basis offered by history,
coincides, only in part, with that of the archæologists based on the
remains of man’s handiwork. The Pleistocene age is the equivalent of
the Palæolithic, or that of rude unpolished stone; the Prehistoric
represents the ages of polished stone, bronze, and iron in part, or
those stages in human progress when the use of these materials became
general for the purposes of every-day life; while the Historic covers
merely the later portion of that of iron.
_History of Cave-Exploration in Europe._
_Germany._--The rest of this chapter must be devoted to an outline of
the history of cave-exploration during the last two centuries. The
dread of the supernatural, which preserved the European caves from
disturbance, was destroyed in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
by the search after “ebur fossile,” or unicorn’s horn, which ranked
high in the materia medica of those days as a specific for many
diseases, and which was obtained, in great abundance, in the caverns of
the Hartz, and in those of Hungary and Franconia. As the true nature
of the drug gradually revealed itself, the German caves became famous
for the remains of the lions, hyænas, fossil elephants, and other
strange animals, which had been used for medicine. We owe the first
philosophical discussion on the point to Dr. Gesner,[4] who, although
he maintained that the fossil unicorn consisted, in some cases, of
elephant’s teeth and tusks, and in others of its fossil bones, did not
altogether give up the idea of its medicinal value. It is a singular
fact, that fossil remains of a similar kind are, at the present time,
used by the Chinese for the same purpose, and sold in their druggists’
shops.[5] The cave which was most famous at the end of the seventeenth
century was that of Bauman’s Hole, in the Hartz, in the district of
Blankenbourg. It is noticed in the Philosophical Transactions for the
year 1662, and was subsequently described by Dr. Behrens,[6] Leibnitz,
De Luc, and Cuvier, along with others in the neighbourhood. Those of
Hungary come next in point of discovery, the first notice of them
being due to Patterson Hayne in 1672. They penetrate the southern
slopes of the Carpathian ranges, and are known by the name of dragons’
caves, because the bones which they contain had been considered from
time immemorial to belong to those animals by the country people.
These remains were identified by Baron Cuvier as belonging to the
cave-bear.[7]
It was not, however, until the close of the eighteenth century that the
exploring of caves was carried on systematically, or their contents
examined with any scientific precision. The caves of Franconia, in
the neighbourhood of Muggendorf, were described by Esper in 1774, by
Rosenmuller in 1804, and six years later by Dr. Goldfuss. The most
important was that of Gailenreuth, both from the vast quantity of
remains which it was proved to contain, and the investigations to which
it led. The bones of the hyæna, lion, wolf, fox, glutton, and red
deer were identified by Baron Cuvier; while some of the skulls which
Dr. Goldfuss obtained have been recently proved, by Professor Busk,
to belong to the grizzly bear. They were associated with the bones of
the reindeer, horse and bison. Rosenmuller was of opinion that the
cave had been inhabited by bears for a long series of generations; and
he thus realized that these remains proved that the animals found in
the cave had once lived in that district, and had not been swept from
the tropics by the deluge. The interest in these discoveries was at
its height in the year 1816, when Dr. Buckland visited the cave, and
acquired that knowledge of cave-exploring which he was subsequently
to use with such good effect in this country.[8] From this time down
to the present day, no new fact of importance has been added to our
knowledge of caves by explorations in Germany.
_Great Britain._--The first bone-cave systematically explored in
this country was that discovered by Mr. Whidbey,[9] in the Devonian
limestone at Oreston, near Plymouth, in 1816; and the remains obtained
from it were identified by Sir Everard Home as implying the existence
of the rhinoceros in that region. This discovery followed close upon
the researches in Gailenreuth, and was due in some degree to the
request which Sir Joseph Banks made, that Mr. Whidbey, in quarrying the
stone for the Plymouth breakwater, should examine the contents of any
caverns that he might happen to meet with. It preceded Dr. Buckland’s
exploration of Kirkdale by about four years.
In the summer of 1821 a cave was discovered, in a limestone quarry at
Kirkdale, in Yorkshire, which was found to contain bones and teeth of
animals. On hearing of the discovery, Dr. Buckland posted at once from
South Wales to the spot, and published the result of the explorations
in the Philosophical Transactions for the next year. He brought forward
evidence that the cave had been inhabited by hyænas, and that the
broken and gnawed bones of the rhinoceros, mammoth, stag, bison, and
horse belonged to animals which had been dragged in for food. He also
established the fact that all these animals had lived in Yorkshire
in ancient times, and that it was impossible for the carcases of the
hyæna, rhinoceros, and mammoth to have been floated from those regions
where they are now living into the position where he found their bones.
He subsequently followed up the subject by investigating bone-caves
in Derbyshire, South Wales, and Somerset, as well as in Germany, and
published his great work, “Reliquiæ Diluvianæ,” in 1822, which laid the
foundations of the new science of cave-hunting in this country. The
exploration of Kirkdale followed closely upon that of Gailenreuth, and
was merely the application of those principles of research which had
been discovered in Germany to caves in a new district.
From this time forward bone-caves were discovered in Great Britain
in increasing numbers, and explored by many independent observers.
The famous cavern of Kent’s Hole, near Torquay, furnished the Rev. J.
McEnery, between 1825 and the year 1841, in which he died, with the
first flint implements ever discovered in a cave along with the bones
of extinct animals. He recognized the fact that they may be proof of
the existence of man during the time that those animals were alive;
but the scientific world was not then sufficiently educated to accept
the antiquity of the human race on the evidence brought forward, and
Dr. Buckland himself was so influenced by the opinions of his times,
that he refused even to entertain the idea. Although the discovery
was verified by the independent researches of Mr. Godwin Austin in
1840, and by the Torquay Natural History Society in 1846, the force of
prejudice was so strong, that the matter was not thought even worthy of
investigation. Mr. McEnery’s manuscripts were lost until the year 1859,
when an abstract of them was published by Mr. Vivian, and subsequently
they were printed in full by Mr. Pengelly, the able superintendent of
the exploration which has been carried on by a committee of the British
Association since 1865, by whom several thousand flint implements have
been obtained, under the conditions pointed out by the Rev. J. McEnery
and Mr. Godwin Austen.[10]
While the important question of the antiquity of man was being passed
by as of no account, other caves were being examined in this country.
Those of Banwell, Burrington, Sandford Hill, Bleadon, and Hutton,
in the mountain limestone of the Mendip hills, were being worked by
the Rev. J. Williams and Mr. Beard, and furnished the magnificent
collection of mammalian bones now in the museum at Taunton. In North
Wales, also, Mr. Lloyd discovered a similar suite of bones in the
limestone caves in the neighbourhood of St. Asaph at Cefn, and in South
Wales numerous remains were obtained by many explorers in those of
Pembrokeshire and Gower.
The result of these discoveries was the proof that certain extinct
animals, such as the woolly rhinoceros and the mammoth, had lived in
this country in ancient times, along with two other groups of species
which are at present known only to live in hot and cold climates--the
spotted hyæna and hippopotamus of Africa, with the reindeer and the
marmot of the colder regions of the earth.
The discovery in 1858, and the exploration, of the now famous cave
of Brixham, by the Royal and Geological Societies, marked the dawn
of a new era in cave-hunting. Under the careful supervision of Mr.
Pengelly, flint implements were discovered underneath stalagmite, and
in association with the remains of the hyæna and woolly rhinoceros and
mammoth, in undisturbed red loam, under conditions that prove man to
have been living in Devonshire at the same time as those animals. This
singularly opportune discovery destroyed for ever the doubts that had
overhung the question of the antiquity of man, and of his co-existence
in Europe in company with the animals whose remains occur both in the
caverns and river-deposits.
In 1847 M. Boucher de Perthes described certain rude flint implements
that he obtained from the fluviatile gravels of Abbeville (“Antiquités
Celtiques,” vol. i.), along with the bones of extinct animals; and
his discovery was treated with the same scepticism in France as that
of the Rev. J. McEnery in England, although it was verified by flint
implements being discovered, under exactly the same conditions, in the
gravels of Amiens, some forty miles away, by Dr. Rigollot.[11] In the
autumn of 1858, Dr. Falconer, who had been superintending the work
in the Brixham cave, visited the collection made by M. de Perthes,
while on his way to examine the caves of Sicily, and recognizing
man’s handiwork in the implements, he asked his friend Mr. Prestwich
to explore the Valley of the Somme. This he accordingly did, and in
company with Mr. John Evans, F.R.S., dug out with his own hands an
implement from the undisturbed strata,[12] and thus finally settled the
disputed question. It is undoubtedly true, that scientific opinion was
tending towards the acceptance of the evidence in favour of man having
lived in Europe in the Pleistocene age; but the researches in Brixham
cave established the fact on the highest possible authority, and
confirmed the long-neglected discoveries in the valley of the Somme.
By the end of 1859 it was fully accepted by the scientific world, and
caused the exploration of caves to be carried on with increased vigour.
In December 1859,[13] I began the exploration of the hyæna-den of
Wookey Hole, near Wells, Somerset, in company with the Rev. J.
Williamson, and obtained flint instruments along with the remains
of the mammoth, hyæna, woolly rhinoceros, and other animals, under
conditions that proved the contemporaneity of man with the extinct
mammalia. And from that time down to the present date I have carried
on researches in caves in various parts of Great Britain. In the
district of Gower also, many ossiferous caverns were investigated,
in 1858-9-60-1 by Colonel Wood and Dr. Falconer, and in one of them
flint implements were obtained along with the bones of the extinct
mammalia.[14] Kent’s Hole, begun in 1865 by the British Association,
and still being worked, furnishes annually a vast number of bones
and teeth of hyænas, rhinoceroses, cave-bears, and horses, and other
animals, along with flint and bone implements.[15]
In 1869 I had the good fortune to discover, and subsequently to
explore, a group of sepulchral caves in Denbighshire, which had been
used by an Iberian or Basque race in the Neolithic age (Chapter V.);
and in the following year the Settle Cave Committee began their work
in Yorkshire under my advice. And this has led to the important
conclusion, that a group of caves, extending over a wide area in the
centre and north of England, was occupied by the Brit-Welsh in the
obscure interval which elapsed between the departure of the Roman
legions and the English conquest.
_France._--The researches of Buckland into the caves of Great Britain,
and of Goldfuss and others into those of Germany, and more especially
the publication of the “Ossemens Fossiles,” by Cuvier, gave an impetus
to cave-exploration in France which yielded the same results as in
our own country. The mammalia obtained from the cave of Fouvent (Haut
Saone) in 1800 were described in the “Ossemens,” as well as those
from Gondenans. In the Gironde, the Cave of Avison was explored by
M. Billaudel in 1826-27. In the south, Marcel de Serres, aided by
MM. Dubrueil and Jeanjean, examined the important Cave of Lunel-viel
in 1824, and published their results in a work that holds the same
position in France as the “Reliquiæ Diluvianæ” in England. The caverns
of Pondres, Souvignargues, and of Bize were explored, the two first
by M. Christol in 1829, the last by M. Tournal in 1833, and those of
Villefranche (Pyrénées-orient), Mialet (Gard), and Nabrigas (Lozère)
were described by De Serres in 1839, who subsequently added those of
Carcas-sonne to the list in 1842. In this year MM. Prevost and J.
Desnoyers explored the caves of Montmorency in the neighbourhood of
Paris, and described the remains discovered in those of Bicêtre. The
Cave of Pontil (Hérault) described by M. de Serres in 1847, was proved
in 1864, by Professor Gervais, to contain two distinct strata, the
neolithic lying over the palæolithic, as in Kent’s Hole.[16]
In 1860,[17] the famous Cave of Aurignac was proved, by the
investigations of Professor Lartet, to have been inhabited by man in
the life-time of the extinct mammalia. Three years later the caves
of Périgord were explored by that gentleman, along with Mr. Christy,
and yielded results which mark a new era in the history of man in the
remote past. From the remarkable collection of implements and weapons,
the habits and mode of life of the occupants can be ascertained with
tolerable certainty, and from their comparison with the like articles
now in use among savage tribes, it may be reasonably inferred that
they were closely related in blood to the Eskimos. This most important
question will be investigated in its proper place, in the chapter
relating to the palæolithic caves of France. Professor Lartet, M. Louis
Lartet, Sir Charles Lyell, and other eminent observers believe further,
that the interments that have been discovered in Aurignac and in Cro
Magnon,[18] in Périgord, are to be assigned to the same relative age
as the occupation of the caves by man. From the fact, however, that
the skeletons in both these cases were _above_ the strata accumulated
by the palæolithic cave-dwellers, it may be concluded that they were
deposited after those strata were formed, in other words, that they are
of a later age.
From 1863 down to the present time very many caves have been explored
in France without any further addition to our knowledge, excepting the
verification of the facts, afforded by the caves of Brixham and of
Périgord, as to the co-existence of man with the extinct mammalia, and
his probable identity in race with the Eskimos.
_Belgium._--The caves of Belgium[19] have afforded evidence of
precisely the same nature as those of England and France. Dr.
Schmerling, of Liège, published the results of his researches, begun
in 1829, into the bone-caves on the banks of the Meuse and its
tributaries, in 1833-4, and proved that the mammoth, rhinoceros,
cave-bear, and hyæna formerly lived in that district. He also arrived
at the conclusion that man was living at that remote time, from the
discovery of flint-flakes and human bones along with the remains
of those animals in the caves of Engis and Engihoul. In 1853,[20]
Professor Spring discovered a quantity of burned, broken, and cut
bones belonging to women and children, in the Cave of Chauvaux, which
he considered to imply that it had been inhabited by a family of
cannibals. Axes of polished stone were also met with, that indicated
the relative age to be neolithic.
To pass over the human skeleton found in the Neanderthal Cave in 1857
by Dr. Fuhlroth, which is of doubtful antiquity, the next discoveries
of importance are those made by M. Dupont in the years 1864-70, in
the province of Namur, that established the fact that the same race
of men who inhabited Auvergne in the palæolithic age had also lived
in Belgium. M. Dupont considers that the interments in the Trou de
Frontal[21] belong also to the palæolithic age, and that therefore man
at that remote time was possessed of religious ideas. Before, however,
this view can be accepted, it will be necessary to show the exact
relation of the bones of the reindeer, chamois, mammoth, and other
animals found outside the slab of stone, at the mouth of the sepulchral
chamber, to the human remains within. In this case, as in Aurignac
and Cro Magnon, the evidence seems to me insufficient to establish so
important a conclusion.
_Southern Europe._--In southern Europe the bone-caves of Sicily,
worked in 1829 for the sake of the animal remains to be used in sugar
refining, were scientifically examined by Dr. Falconer in 1859; those
of Malta by Captain Spratt in the same year; and those of Gibraltar by
Captain Broome in the years 1862-8. They established the existence of
the serval and the African elephant, and other characteristic African
species, in Europe, and offer as we shall see in this work, important
testimony as to the geography of the Mediterranean area in the
Pleistocene age.
In this outline of the history of cave-exploration it will be seen,
that the additions to our knowledge of the past have been neither
few nor insignificant, nor in one line of inquiry. And if the
attention which is now being directed to the subject be due to the
general development of scientific thought, it is equally true, that
the results have reacted on scientific thought in general, and have
especially benefited the sciences of geology, archæology, and history.
A rich field of investigation lies before the cave-hunter, in Greece,
Palestine, Lycia, Persia, and the limestone plateaux of central
Asia; and since these discoveries have been so valuable in central
and north-western Europe, what may we not recover from the grasp of
oblivion, of the infancy and early culture of mankind in the very
birth-place and “pathway of the nations”?
CHAPTER II.
PHYSICAL HISTORY OF CAVES.
Caves formed by the Sea and by Volcanic Action.--Caves in
Arenaceous Rocks.--Caves in Calcareous Rocks of various ages.
--Their Relation to Pot-holes, “Cirques,” and Ravines.--
The Water-cave of Wookey Hole.--The Goatchurch Cave.--The
Water-caves of Derbyshire.--Of Yorkshire.--The Ingleborough
Cave.--The Rate of Deposit of Stalagmite.--The Descent into
Helln Pot.--The Caves and Pots round Weathercote.--The Formation
of Caves, Pot-holes, and Ravines.--Caverns not generally formed
in line of Faults.--Of various Ages.--Their Filling-up.--
The Cave of Caldy.--The Blackrock Cave.--Great quantity
of Carbonate of Lime dissolved by Atmospheric Water.--The
Circulation of Carbonate of Lime.--The Temperature of Caves.--
Conclusion.
_Caves formed by the Sea and by Volcanic Action._
In this chapter we shall treat of the origin of caves and of their
place in physical geography. The most obvious agent in hollowing out
caves is the sea. The set of the current, the tremendous force of the
breakers, and the grinding of the shingle, inevitably discover the weak
places in the cliff, and leave caves as the results of their work,
modified in each case by the local conditions of the rock. Caves formed
in this manner have certain characters which are easily recognized.
Their floors are very rarely much out of the horizontal, their outlook
is over the sea, and they very seldom penetrate far into the cliff.
A general parallelism is also to be observed in a group in the same
district, and their entrances are all in the same horizontal plane, or
in a succession of horizontal and parallel planes. In some cases they
are elevated above the present reach of the waves, and mark the line
at which the sea formerly stood. From their generally inaccessible
position sea-caves have very rarely been occupied by man, and the
history of their formation is so obvious that it requires no further
notice. Among them the famous Fingal’s Cave, off the north coast
of Ireland, and that of Staffa, on the opposite shore of Scotland,
hollowed out of columnar basalt, are perhaps the most remarkable in
Europe.
In volcanic regions also there are caves formed by the passage of lava
to the surface of the ground, or by the imprisoned steam and gases in
the lava while it was in a molten state: but these are of comparatively
little importance so far as relates to the general question of caves,
from the very small areas which are occupied by active volcanoes
in Europe. They have been observed in Vesuvius, Etna, Iceland, and
Teneriffe.
_Caves in Arenaceous Rocks._
Caves also occur sometimes in sandstones, in which case they are the
result of the erosion of the lines of the joints by the passage of
subaërial water, and if the joints happen to traverse a stratum less
compacted than the rest, the weak point is discovered, and a hollow
is formed extending laterally from the original fissure. The massive
millstone grit of Derbyshire and Yorkshire present many examples of
this, as for instance in Kinderscout in the former county. The rocks
at Tunbridge Wells also show to what extent the joints in the Wealden
sandstones may become open fissures, more or less connected with caves,
on a small scale, by the mere mechanical action of water. M. Desnoyers
gives instances of the same kind in the Tertiary sandstones of the
Paris basin, which have furnished remains of rhinoceros, reindeer,
hyæna, and bear. Caverns, however, in the sandstone are rarely of
great extent, and may be passed over as being of small importance in
comparison with those in the calcareous rocks.
_Caves in Calcareous Rocks of various ages._
It has long been known that wherever the calcareous strata are
sufficiently hard and compact to support a roof, caves are to be found
in greater or less abundance. Those of Devonshire occur in the Devonian
limestone; those of Somerset, Nottinghamshire, Yorkshire, Derbyshire,
and Northumberland, as well as of Belgium and Westphalia, in that
of the carboniferous age. In France also, those of Maine and Anjou,
and most of those of the Pyrenees and in the department of Aude, are
hollowed in carboniferous limestone, as well as the greater part of
those in North America, in Virginia, and Kentucky. The cave of Kirkdale
in Yorkshire, and most of those in Franconia and in Bavaria penetrate
Jurassic limestones, which have received the name of Hohlenkalkstein
from the abundance of caverns which they contain. They are developed on
a large scale in the Swiss and French Jura, and in some cases afford
passage to powerful streams, and in others are more or less filled
with ice, thus constituting the singular “glacières” that have been so
ably explored by the Rev. G. F. Browne.[22]
The compact Neocomian and Cretaceous limestones contain most of the
caverns of Périgord, Quercy, and Angoumois, and some of those in
Provence and Languedoc, those of Northern Italy, Sicily, Greece,
Dalmatia, Carniola, and Turkey in Europe, of Asia Minor and Palestine.
The tertiary limestones, writes M. Desnoyers,[23] offer sometimes, but
very rarely, caves that have become celebrated for the bones which
they contain, such as those of Lunel-Viel, near Montpelier, those of
Pondres and Souvignargues, near Sommières (Gard), and of Saint Macaire
(Gironde). The same may also be said of the calcaire grossier of the
basin of Paris.
Certain rocks composed of gypsum also contain caverns of the same sort
as those in the limestones. In Thuringia, for example, near Eisleben,
they occur in the saliferous and gypseous strata of the zechstein,
and are connected with large gulfs and cirques on the surface, which
are sometimes filled with water. In the neighbourhood of Paris, and
especially at Montmorency, they contain numerous bones of the extinct
mammalia. M. Desnoyers points out their identity, in all essentials,
with those in calcareous strata, and infers that they have been
produced in the same way. Some of them may have been formed by the
removal of the salt, which is very frequently interbedded with the
gypsum, by the passage of water. In Cheshire the pumping of the brine
from the saliferous and gypseous strata produces subterranean hollows,
which sometimes fall in and eventually cause depressions on the
surface, such as those which are now destroying the town of Northwich,
and causing the neighbouring tidal estuary to extend over what was
formerly meadow land. This explanation, however, will not apply to
those in the neighbourhood of Paris, because there is no trace of their
ever having contained salt.
_The Relation of Caves to Pot-holes, “Cirques,” and Ravines._
The caverns hollowed in calcareous rocks present features by which they
are distinguished from any others. They open, for the most part, on the
abrupt sides of valleys and ravines at various levels, being arranged
round the main axis of erosion just as branches are arranged round
the trunk of a tree--as, for example, in Cheddar Pass. The transition
in some cases from the valley to the ravine, and from the ravine to
the cave, is so gradual, that it is impossible to deny that all three
are due to the same cause. The caves themselves ramify in the same
irregular fashion as the valleys, and are to be viewed merely as the
capillaries in the general valley system, through which the rainfall
passes to join the main channels. Very frequently, however, the
drainage has found an outlet at a lower level, and its ancient passage
is left dry; but in all cases unmistakeable proof of the erosive action
of water is to be seen in the sand, gravel, and clay which compose the
floor, as well as in the worn surfaces of the sides and the bottom.
In all districts in which caves occur are funnel-shaped cavities of
various sizes, known as “pot-holes” or “swallow-holes” in Britain, as
“betoires,” “chaldrons du diable,” “marmites de géants,” in France,
and as “kata-vothra” in Greece, in which the rainfall is collected
before it finally disappears in the subterranean passages. They are to
be seen in all stages; sometimes being mere shallow funnels, that only
contain water after excessive rain, and at others as profound vertical
shafts, into which the water is continually falling, as in Helln Pot,
in Yorkshire. The cirques, also, described by M. Desnoyers, belong to
the same class of cavities, although all those which are mentioned by
the Rev. T. G. Bonney,[24] at the head of valleys, and in some cases
hollowed in shale and igneous rocks, are most probably to be referred
to the vertical, chisel-like action of streams flowing under physical
conditions, that resemble those under which the cañons of the Colorado,
or of the Zambesi, are being excavated, and in which frost, ice, and
snow have played a very subordinate part.
The intimate relation between pot-holes, caves, ravines, and valleys
will be discussed in the rest of this chapter, and illustrated by
English examples; and then we shall proceed to show that the chemical
action of the carbonic acid in the rain-water, and the mechanical
friction of the sand and gravel, set in motion by the water, by which
Professor Phillips explains the origin of caves, will equally explain
the pot-holes and ravines by which they are invariably accompanied.
_The Water-Cave of Wookey Hole, near Wells, Somerset._
Caves may be divided into two classes: those which are now mere
passages for water, in which the history of their formation may be
studied, and those which are dry, and capable of affording shelter
to man and the lower animals. Among the water-caves, that of Wookey
Hole[25] is to be noticed first, since its very name implies that it
was known to the Celtic inhabitants of the south of England, and since
it was among the first, if not the first, of those examined with any
care in this country, Mr. John Beaumont[26] having brought it before
the notice of the Royal Society in the year 1680.
The hamlet of Wookey Hole nestles in a valley, through which flows the
river Axe, and the valley passes insensibly, at its upper end, into a
ravine, which is closed abruptly by a wall of rock (Fig. 1), about two
hundred feet high, covered with long streamers and festoons of ivy, and
affording scanty hold, on its ledges and in its fissures, to ferns,
brambles, and ash saplings. At its base the river Axe issues, in full
current, out of the cave, the lower entrance of which it completely
blocks up, since the water has been kept back by a weir, for the use
of a paper-mill a little distance away. A narrow path through the
wood, on the north side of the ravine, leads to the only entrance
now open.[27] Thence a narrow passage leads downward into the rock,
until, suddenly, you find yourself in a large chamber, at the water
level. Then you pass over a ridge, covered with a delicate fretwork
of dripstone, with each tiny hollow full of water, and ornamented
with brilliant lime crystals. One shapeless mass of dripstone is
known in local tradition as the Witch of Wookey, turned into stone by
the prayers of a Glastonbury monk. Beyond this the chamber expands
considerably, being some seventy or eighty feet high, and adorned with
beautiful stalactites, far out of the reach of visitors. The water,
which bars further entrance, forms a deep pool, which Mr. James Parker
managed to cross on a raft (see Appendix I.) into another chamber,
which was apparently easy of access before the construction of the
weir. It was in this further chamber that Dr. Buckland found human
remains and pottery.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.--Diagram of Wookey Hole Cave and Ravine.]
The cave has been proved to extend as far as the village of Priddy,
about two miles off, on the Mendip hills, by the fact observed by Mr.
Beaumont, that the water used in washing the lead ore at that spot, in
his time, found its way into the river Axe, and poisoned cattle in
the valley of Wookey. And this observation has been verified during
the last few years by throwing in colour and chopped straw. The stream
at Priddy sinks into a swallow-hole (Fig. 1), and has its subterranean
course determined by the southerly dip of the rock, by which the
joints running north and south afford a more free passage to the water
than those running east and west. The cave is merely a subterranean
extension of the ravine in the same line, as far as the swallow-hole,
and all three have been hollowed, as we shall see presently, by the
action of the stream and of carbonic acid in the water.
_The Goatchurch Cave._
The largest cavern in the Mendip hills is that locally known as the
Goatchurch, which opens on the eastern side of the lower of the two
ravines that branch from the magnificent defile of Burrington Combe,
about two miles from the village of Wrington, at the height of about
120 feet from the bottom of the ravine. After creeping along a narrow,
muddy passage, with a steep descent to the west, at an angle of about
30°, you suddenly pass into a stalactitic chamber of considerable
height and size. From it two small vertical shafts lead into the
lower set of chambers and passages; the first being blocked up, and
the second being close to a large barrel-shaped stalagmite, to which
Mr. Ayshford Sanford, Mr. James Parker, and myself fastened our ropes
when we explored the cave in 1864. The latter affords access into a
passage, beautifully arched, and passing horizontally east and west,
and just large enough to admit a man walking upright. At the further
end numerous open fissures, caused by the erosion of the joints in the
limestone, cross it at right angles, and pass into several ill-defined
chambers, partially stalactitic, but for the most part filled with
loose, bare, cubical masses of limestone. Two of the transverse
fissures lead into a large chamber, at a lower level. At its lower end,
on crawling along a narrow passage, we came into a second chamber,
also of considerable height and depth, at the bottom of which the
noise of flowing water can be heard through two vertical holes, just
large enough to admit of access. On sliding down one of these we found
ourselves in a third chamber, which was traversed by a subterranean
stream, doubtless in part the same which disappears in the ravine, at a
point eighty feet above by aneroid measurement. The temperature of the
water, as compared with that of the stream outside (49° : 59°), renders
it very probable that, between the point of disappearance in the ravine
and reappearance in the cave, it is joined by a stream of considerable
subterranean length, since the water could not have lost ten degrees
in the short interval which it had to traverse, were it supplied only
from the stream in the ravine. From the point of its disappearance in
the cave, the water passes downwards to join the main current flowing
underneath Burrington Combe, that gushes forth in great volume at
Rickford. The lowest portion of the cave was eighteen or twenty feet
below the stream, and 220 feet below the entrance of the cavern.
On examining the floors of the chambers and passages, we discovered
that they were composed of the same kind of sediment as that which is
now being deposited by the water in Wookey Hole, and there could be
no doubt but that they had been originally traversed by water. For
this to have taken place it is necessary to suppose that, while the
Goatchurch was a water cave, the ravine on which it opens was not
deeper than the entrance--in other words, that in the interval between
the formation and excavation of the chambers and passages, to the
present time, the ravine has been excavated in the limestone to a depth
of a hundred and twenty feet, and the water which originally passed
through the entrance has found its way, by a new series of passages, to
the point where it appears at the bottom of the cave.
We obtained evidence that the horizontal passage, immediately below the
first vertical descent, had been inhabited at a very remote period. At
the spot where Mr. Beard, of Banwell, obtained a fine tusk of mammoth,
we found a molar of bear, and a fragment of flint, which were imbedded
in red earth, and were underneath a crust of stalagmite of about two
inches in thickness. It would follow from this, that the date of the
formation of this part of the cave was before the time when the traces
of elephants, bears, and of man were introduced.
The cave is the resort of numerous badgers. On hiding ourselves in
one of the transverse fissures, and throwing our light across the
horizontal passage, these animals ran to and fro across the lighted
field with extraordinary swiftness, and had it not been for the white
streaks on the sides of their heads, which flashed back the light, they
would not have been observed. Though they are rarely caught, they must
be abundant in the district.
Like all the other large caverns in the district, it has its legends.
The dwellers in the neighbourhood, who have never cared to explore its
recesses, relate that a certain dog put in here found its way out,
after many days, at Wookey Hole, having lost all its hair in scrambling
through the narrow passages. At Cheddar the same legend is appropriated
to the Cheddar cave. At Wookey the dog is said to have travelled back
to Cheddar. Some eighteen years ago, while exploring the limestone
caves at Llanamynech, on the English border of Montgomeryshire, I
met with a similar story. A man playing the bagpipes is said to have
entered one of the caves, well provisioned with Welsh mutton, and after
he had been in for some time his bagpipes were heard two miles from the
entrance, underneath the small town of Llanamynech. He never returned
to tell his tale. The few bones found in the cave are supposed to be
those which he had picked on the way. This is doubtless another form of
the story of the dog; both owe their origin to the vague impression,
which most people have, of the great extent of caverns, and both
versions are equally current in France and Germany.
_The Water-caves of Derbyshire._
The celebrated cavern of the Peak, at Castleton in Derbyshire, presents
the same essential character as that of Wookey Hole. It runs into the
hill-side at the end of the ravine, and is traversed by a powerful
stream of water, which has been met with in driving an horizontal
adit in lead-mining at a considerable distance from the entrance, and
finally traced to a distant swallow-hole. At a little distance from
Buxton a smaller cave, known as Poole’s Cavern, is in part traversed
by water, which has found an outlet at a lower level, and allowed of
the present entrance being used by the Brit-Welsh (Romano-Celtic)
inhabitants of the district as a habitation in the fifth and sixth
centuries.[28] There are, besides these, very many others, some known,
others unknown, that debouch on the sides of the dales in Derbyshire
and Staffordshire, and are all well worthy of examination, since they
illustrate not merely the history of the formation of caves, but also
have been proved to contain works of art, pottery and flint implements,
and the remains of animals, such as the mammoth and rhinoceros.
_The Water-caves of Yorkshire._
The caves in the mountain limestone of Yorkshire rival in size those
of Carniola, or those of Greece, and they are to be seen in all stages
of formation. In their gloomy recesses all the higher qualities of a
mountaineer may be exercised, and there is sufficient danger to give a
keen zest to their exploration. The mountain streams sometimes plunge
into a yawning chasm, locally known as a pot, and at others emerge from
the dark portals of a cave in full current. There is, perhaps, no place
in the world where the subterranean circulation of water may be studied
with better advantage.
Ingleborough forms a centre from which the rainfall on every side
finds its way into the dales, through a system of caves more or less
complicated, which during the last forty years have been thoroughly
explored by Mr. Farrer, Mr. Birkbeck, and Mr. Metcalfe. On the south
it collects in a ravine, and then leaps into a deep bottle-shaped hole
called “Gaping Gill,” into which Mr. Birkbeck unsuccessfully attempted
to descend, the sharp edges of the rock cutting the rope, and very
nearly causing a serious accident. In depth it is about three hundred
feet. The stream thence finds its way through a series of chambers and
passages until it reappears in the famous Ingleborough cave, that was
explored by Mr. Farrer in the year 1837, and proved to pass into the
rock between seven and eight hundred yards.
The present entrance of the Ingleborough cave[29] is dry, except after
heavy rains, when the current reverts to its old passage. The following
admirable account of the interior is given by Professor Phillips:--[30]
“From Mr. Farrer’s plan and description, as given in the ‘Proceedings
of the Geological Society,’ June 14, 1848, and from information
obligingly communicated to me, a clear notion of the history of this
most instructive spar grotto may be formed. For about eighty yards
from the entrance the cave has been known immemorially. At this point
Josiah Harrison, a gardener in Mr. Farrer’s service, broke through a
stalagmitical barrier which the water had formed, and obtained access
to a series of expanded cavities and contracted passages, stretching
first to the N., then to the N.W.; afterwards to the N. and N.E., and
finally to the E., till after two years spent in the interesting toil
of discovery, at a distance of 702 yards from the mouth, the explorers
rested from their labours in a large and lofty irregular grotto, in
which they heard the sound of water falling in a still more advanced
subterranean recess. It has been ascertained, at no inconsiderable
personal risk, that this water falls into a deep pool or linn at a
lower level, beyond which further progress appears to be impracticable.
In fact Mr. Farrer explored this dark lake by swimming--a candle in his
cap and a rope round his body.
“In this long and winding gallery, fashioned by nature in the
marble heart of the mountain, floor, roof, and sides are everywhere
intersected by fissures which were formed in the consolidation of the
stone. To these fissures and the water which has passed down them, we
owe the formation of the cave and its rich furniture of stalactites.
The direction of the most marked fissures is almost invariably N.W.
and S.E., and when certain of these (which in my geological work I
have called master fissures) occur, the roof of the cave is usually
more elevated, the sides spread out right and left, and often ribs and
pendants of brilliant stalactite, placed at regular distances, convert
the rude fissure into a beautiful aisle of primæval architecture. Below
most of the smaller fissures hang multitudes of delicate translucent
tubules, each giving passage to drops of water. Splitting the rock
above, these fissures admit, or formerly admitted, dropping water:
continued through the floor, the larger rifts permit, or formerly
permitted, water to enter or flow out of the cave. By this passage of
water, continued for ages on ages, the original fissure was in the
first instance enlarged, through the corrosive action of streams of
acidulated water; by the withdrawal of the streams to other fissures,
a different process was called into operation. The fissure was bathed
by drops instead of streams of water, and these drops, exposed to air
currents and evaporation, yielded up the free carbonic acid to the
air and the salt of lime to the rock. Every line of drip became the
axis of a stalactitical pipe from the roof; every surface bathed by
thin films of liquid became a sheet of sparry deposit. The floor grew
up under the droppings into fantastic heaps of stalagmite, which,
sometimes reaching the pipes, united roof and floor by pillars of
exquisite beauty.”
At the time of its exploration, the water stood at a considerably
higher level inside than at the present time, and formed deep pools.
The barrier of dripstone has been cut through, and the water level
lowered, and a passage made for a considerable distance. Inside, the
old water line, which separated the subaërial from the subaqueous
dripstone, is very distinct, the former being deposited in thick
bosses, crumpled curtains, drops, straws, pyramids, and other fantastic
drip-structures, while the latter is honeycombed, and composed of
rounded, grape-like masses. Between them an ice-like coating of
stalagmite forms a dividing line, now supported in mid air, but that
formerly shot across the surface of the pools that have been drained,
or rested on the mud and stones which had been brought down by the
stream in ancient times. In some places it still rests on the surface
of the pools.
A stalactitic curtain on the right-hand side presents a very singular
appearance, its surface being covered with an abundant crop of tiny
club-like bodies about one-tenth of an inch in length, and consisting
each of a shining drop of water, enclosing a minute fungus. These may
possibly explain in some degree the peculiar fungoid-appearance of
certain small bosses of dripstone which I have met with in the caves
of Pembrokeshire: for an accumulation of carbonate of lime on such a
nucleus would produce the forms which they assume (see Fig. 17).
There are also magnificent groups of dripstone, and each joint in the
rock is adorned with lines, and pipes, and fringes of calc spar, or
widened out into roof-shaped hollows, and traversed by deep, vertical
grooves, caused by the passage of water laden with carbonic acid.
The general surface of the roof, where the rock is bare, has had its
fossils etched out by the acidulated water. In one place you may stand
under a branching coral, with its sides and base distinctly marked, and
in another fossil shells stand out almost in their original beauty.
_Rate of the Accumulation of Stalagmite._
The rate at which the calcareous matter is being deposited at the
present time is very easy to be estimated, for that accumulated since
the passage was cleared out is white, and contrasts with the dirty,
grey-red colour of the older kind. In one case a thickness of 0·24
had been formed in thirty-five years, by the water flowing down the
side of the passage excavated by Mr. Farrer, while in another, in
about the same time, 0·05 inch had been formed. This would give an
annual accumulation of 0·0068 in the one case, and in the other about
one-fifth of that amount. This rate does not agree with the rate of
increase noted by Mr. Farrer and Professor Phillips in the case of a
large stalagmite called the Jockey Cap, on which a line of drops is
continually falling from one point in the roof. Its circumference in
1839 measured 118 inches, in 1845, 120 inches, and in 1873, I found
it to be 128 inches. The annual rate of increase from 1845 to 1873 is
·2941 inch, and that from 1839 to 1845 is ·2857. I found, however,
that the most remarkable increase was that in height. In 1845 its
apex was 95·25 inches from the roof, in 1873, 87 inches, which would
imply an annual deposit of not less than ·2946. (See Appendix II.)
At this rate it will arrive at the roof in about 295 years. But even
this comparatively short lapse of time will probably be diminished by
the growth of a pendant stalactite above, that is now being formed in
place of that which measured 10 inches in 1845, and has since been
accidentally destroyed.
It is very possible that the Jockey Cap may be the result, not of the
continuous, but of the intermittent drip of water containing carbonate
of lime, and that therefore the present rate of growth is not a measure
of its past or future condition. Its age in 1845 was estimated by
Professor Phillips at 259 years, on the supposition that all or nearly
all of the carbonate of lime in each pint was deposited. If, however,
it grew at its present rate, it may be not more than 100 years old; and
if it be taken as a measure of the rate generally, all the stalagmites
and stalactites in the cave may not date further back than the time of
Edward III.
It is evident, from this instance of rapid accumulation, that the value
of a layer of stalagmite in measuring the antiquity of deposits below
it, is comparatively little. The layers, for instance, in Kent’s Hole,
which are generally believed to have demanded a considerable lapse of
time, may possibly have been formed at the rate of a quarter of an inch
per annum, and the human bones which lie buried under the stalagmite
in the cave of Bruniquel, are not for that reason to be taken to be
of vast antiquity. It may be fairly concluded, that the thickness of
layers of stalagmite cannot be used as an argument in support of the
remote age of the strata below. At the rate of a quarter of an inch
per annum, twenty feet of stalagmite might be formed in 1,000 years.
_The Descent into Helln Pot._
The subterranean passages grouped round Helln Pot, a tremendous chasm
near Selside, on the east of Simon’s Fell in Ribblesdale, illustrate
in a remarkable degree the mode in which the water is at present
wearing away the rock. Those which have been explored constitute the
Long Churn Cavern, which is comparatively easy of access through a
hole known as Diccan Pot (Fig. 2, _a_). On descending into it, the
visitor finds himself in the bed of a stream that now roars in a
waterfall, now gurgles over the large fallen blocks from the roof, and
that here and there has worn for itself deep pools by the mechanical
friction of the sand and pebbles brought down by the current. If it be
followed down after passing over a waterfall, the light of day is seen
streaming upwards beneath the feet from the point where the water leaps
into the great chasm of Helln Pot (Figs. 2, _b_. 3, _a_). Above the
entrance there is a complicated network of passages, some dry, and some
containing streams which have not yet been fully explored.
[Illustration: FIG. 2.--Diagram of Helln Pot and the Long Churn
Cavern.]
The two actions by which caves are hewn out of the calcareous rock are
seen here in operation side by side. Below the level of the stream
the rock is seen to be smoothed and polished by the mechanical action
of the materials swept down by the current. Above the water-level the
sides of the cave are honeycombed and eaten into the most fantastic and
complex shapes, the resultant surface (see Fig. 7) bearing small points
and keen knife-edges of stone, that stand out in relief and mark the
less soluble portions of the rock. This is due to the chemical effect
of the carbonic acid in the water percolating through the strata.
[Illustration: FIG. 3.--Diagram of Helln Pot.]
The Helln Pot, into which the stream flowing through the Long Churn
Cave falls, is a fissure (Figs. 2, 3, 4) a hundred feet long by thirty
feet wide, that engulfs the waters of a little stream on the surface,
which are dissipated in spray long before they reach the bottom.
From the top you look down on a series of ledges, green with ferns
and mosses, and, about a hundred feet from the surface, an enormous
fragment of rock forms a natural bridge across the chasm from one ledge
to another. A little above this is the debouchement of the stream
flowing through the Long Churn Cave (Fig. 3, _a_), through which Mr.
Birkbeck and Mr. Metcalfe made the first perilous descent in 1847. The
party, consisting of ten persons, ventured into this awful chasm with
no other apparatus than ropes, planks, a turn-tree, and a fire-escape
belt. On emerging from the Long Churn Cave they stood on a ledge of
rock about twelve feet wide, and which gave them free access to the
“bridge” (Fig. 2, _b_). This was a rock ten feet long, which rested
obliquely on the ledges. Having crossed over this, they crept behind
the waterfall which descended from the top, and fixed their pulley,
five being let down while the rest of the party remained behind to
hoist them up again. In this way they reached the bottom of the pot,
which before had never been trod by the foot of man. Thence they
followed the stream downwards as far as the first great waterfall, down
which Mr. Metcalfe was venturesome enough to let himself with a rope,
and to push onwards until daylight failed. He was within a very little
of arriving at the end of the cave into which the stream flows, but
was obliged to turn back to the daylight without having accomplished
his purpose. The whole party eventually, after considerable danger and
trouble, returned safely from this most bold adventure.
A second descent was made in 1848 from the surface, and a third in
the spring of 1870, in both of which Mr. Birkbeck took the lead. The
apparatus employed consisted of a windlass (Fig. 3), supported on two
baulks of timber, and a bucket, covered with a shield, sufficiently
large to hold two people, and two guiding ropes to prevent the
revolution of the bucket in mid air. There was also a party of navvies
to look after the mechanical contrivances, and two ladders about eight
feet long to provide for contingencies at the bottom. Thirteen of
us went down, including three ladies. As we descended, the fissure
gradually narrowed, until at the bottom it was not more than ten feet
wide. The actual vertical descent was a hundred and ninety-eight feet.
After running the gauntlet of the waterfall we landed in the bed of
the stream, which hurried downwards over large boulders of limestone
and lost itself in the darkness of a large cave, about seventy feet
high. We traced it downwards, through pools and rapids to the first
waterfall, of about twenty feet. This obstacle prevented most of the
party going further, for the ladders were too short to reach to the
bottom. By lashing them together, however, and letting them down, we
were able to reach the first round with the aid of a rope, and to
cross over the deep pool at the bottom. Thence we went on downwards
through smaller waterfalls and rapids, until we arrived at a descent
into a chamber, where the roar of water was deafening. Down to this
point the daylight glimmered feebly, but here our torches made but
little impression on the darkness. One of the party volunteered to go
down with a rope, and was suddenly immersed in a deep pool; the rest,
profiting by his misadventure, managed to cling on to small points of
rock, and eventually to reach the floor of the chamber. We stood at
last on the lowest accessible point of the cave, about 300 feet from
the surface. It was indeed one of the most remarkable sights that
could possibly be imagined. Besides the waterfall down which we came,
a powerful stream poured out of a cave too high up for the torches to
penetrate the darkness, and fell into a deep pool in the middle of the
floor, causing such a powerful current of air that all our torches were
blown out except one. The two streams eventually united and disappeared
in a small black circling pool, which completely barred further ingress.
[Illustration: FIG. 4.--Diagram of Helln Pot, showing Waterfall at the
Bottom.]
The floor of the pot and the cave was strewn with masses of limestone
rounded by the action of the streams; and the water-channels were
smoothed and grooved and polished, in a most extraordinary way, by the
silt and stones carried along by the current. Some of the layers of
limestone were jet black, and others were of a light fawn-colour, and
as the strata were nearly horizontal, the alternation of colours gave
a peculiarly striking effect to the walls. Beneath each waterfall was
a pool more or less deep, and here and there in the bed of the stream
were holes, drilled in the rock by stones whirled round by the force
of the water. High up, out of the present reach of the water, were old
channels, which had evidently been watercourses before the pot and
cave had been cut down to their present level. In the sides of the pot
there are two vertical grooves reaching very nearly from the top to the
bottom, which are unmistakeably the work of ancient waterfalls. There
was no stalactite, but everywhere the water was wearing away the rock
and enlarging the cave. We found our way back without any difficulty,
a small passage on the right-hand side enabling us to avoid the very
unpleasant task of scrambling up two of the waterfalls. We arrived
finally at the top, after about five hours’ work in the cave, wet to
the skin.
We had very little trouble in making this descent, because of the
completeness of Mr. Birkbeck’s preparations; but we could fully realize
what a dangerous feat the first explorers performed when they ventured
into an unknown chasm, comparatively unprepared. The very name “Helln
Pot,” = Ællan Pot, or Mouth of Hell, testifies to the awe with which
the Angles looked down into its recesses.[31]
Such is the interior of one of those great natural laboratories in
which water is wearing away the solid rock, either hollowing it into
caves or cutting it into ravines. At the bottom of Helln Pot it was
impossible not to realize, that the enormous chasm had been formed by
the same action as that by which it was being deepened before our eyes.
It was merely a portion of the vast cave into which it led, which had
been deprived of its roof, and opened out to the light of heaven. The
bridge was but a fragment of the roof which happened to fall upon the
two ledges. The rounded masses of rock at the bottom are fragments that
have fallen probably within comparatively modern times. The absence of
stalactites and of stalagmites proves that the destructive action is
rapidly going on.
The water-course at the bottom contained pebbles and boulders of
limestone, and gritstone rounded by friction against one another and
the rocky floor. The gritstone has probably been derived from the wreck
of the boulder clay on the surface above the Helln Pot, and ultimately
torn from the millstone grit of the higher hills in the district.
_Caves and Pots at Weathercote._
[Illustration: FIG. 5.--Waterfall in Pot-hole at Weathercote.]
On the north side of Ingleborough the series of caves and pots round
the little Church of Chapel-en-le-Dale are especially worthy of
attention. The chasm at Weathercote opens suddenly in the hill-side,
and is perfectly accessible to visitors. You come suddenly upon a cleft
a hundred feet deep, with its ledges covered with mosses, ferns, and
brambles; at one end a body of water rushes from a cave, and under a
great bridge of rock, and falls seventy-five feet, a mass of snow-white
foam filling the bottom with spray (Fig. 5). The large masses of
rock piled in wild confusion at the bottom, the dark shadows of the
overhanging ledges, and the thick covering of green moss, to which the
spray clings in tiny glittering drops, form a picture which cannot
easily be forgotten. In the sunshine an almost circular rainbow is
to be seen from the bottom. The stream passes from the bottom into
a cave, and thence downwards to two large pots (Fig. 6), about two
hundred yards away. In flood-time the channel has been known to become
blocked up, and Weathercote has been filled to the brim. Usually after
heavy rains the current is said to flow so violently into the first of
the pot-holes, that it throws up stones at least thirty or forty feet
from the bottom, with a peculiar rattling noise. From this strange
phenomenon it is known as Jingle Pot, while the lower of the two is
termed Hurtle Pot, because in flood-time the water whirls so fast
round, that it is “hurtled” out at the top. The water flowing through
Weathercote is derived from the little stream of Ellerbeck, which
disappears in the limestone hills about a mile to the north, and runs
at right angles to Dalebeck, or the stream flowing down to Ingleton,
which it has been proved to join at a spot below Jingle Pot, by Mr.
Metcalfe, who made his way down into it from the chasm of Weathercote.
[Illustration: FIG. 6.--Diagram of Subterranean Course of Dalebeck.]
The course of Dalebeck, as you pass up the valley of Chapel-en-le-Dale,
affords a striking instance of the dependence of scenery upon the
nature of the rock. In its lower portion it has cut out for itself
a deep ravine in the hard Silurian strata, in which you come upon
the waterfalls, deep pools, and trees, that look as if they had been
transported bodily from the district of Cader Idris, and inserted into
the limestone scenery of the dales. The Silurian rocks are very much
contorted, and on their waterworn edges lie the nearly horizontal
limestone strata, in which the upper part of the valley has been
scooped. As we rise the ravine opens into a valley (Fig. 6), along
which the beck flows, until suddenly it is lost in a fissure, at a
place called Godsbridge. Its subterranean course is marked, first of
all, by a small depression known as Sandpot, and still higher by Hurtle
Pot. It ultimately reappears at the surface, above Weathercote, and
after passing through a picturesque cavern, known as the Gatekirk, its
fountainhead is reached. The subterranean portions of its course are
in the same right line as the open valley, and the pot-holes have been
formed in the same manner as Helln Pot, by the passage of water at a
time when the drainage found its way down the valley at a higher level
than at present, very much as it does now in times of extraordinary
floods.
Water-caves such as these are by no means uncommon in Yorkshire. In the
dales there is scarcely a mass of limestone without its subterranean
water system, as well as channels deserted by water, which are now
dry caves situated at higher levels. These are always arranged on the
line of the natural drainage, and generally open on the sides of the
valleys and precipices. If you look northward from the flat crown of
Ingleborough, you can see the ravines which radiate from it on the
surface of the shale below, abruptly ending in pot-holes when they
reach the limestone. In each case the streams reappear, issuing out of
the caves at the points in Chapel-en-le-Dale, where the horizontal beds
of limestone rest on the upturned edges of the impermeable Silurian
rocks.
_The Formation of Caves and their Relation to Pot-holes and Ravines._
The general conditions under which caves occur in limestone rocks,
and the phenomena which they present, may be gathered from the above
examples. Universally the pot-holes, ravines, and caverns are so
associated together, that there can be but little doubt that they are
due to the operation of the same causes.
It requires but a cursory glance to see at once that running water
was the main agent. The limestone is so traversed by joints and lines
of shrinkage, that the water rapidly sinks down into its mass, and
collects in small streams, which owe their direction to the dip of
the strata and the position of the fissures. These channels are being
continually deepened and widened by the mere mechanical action of the
passage of stones and silt. But this is not the only way in which the
rock is gradually eroded. The limestone is composed in great part of
pure carbonate of lime, which is insoluble in water. It is, however,
readily dissolved in any liquid containing carbonic acid, which is
an essential part of our atmosphere, is invariably present in the
rain-water, and is given off by all organic bodies. By this invisible
agent the hard crystalline rock is always being attacked in some form
or another. The very snails that take refuge in its crannies leave an
enduring mark of their presence in a surface fretted with their acid
exhalations, which sometimes pass current among geologists for the
borings of pholades, and are the innocent cause of much speculation as
to the depression of the mountain-tops beneath the sea in comparatively
modern times. The carbonic acid taken up by the rain is derived, in the
main, from the decomposing vegetable matter which generally forms the
surface soil on the limestone.
[Illustration: FIG. 7.--Diagram of an acid-worn joint, Doveholes,
Derbyshire.]
The view from the ancient camp on the top of Ingleborough offers a
striking example of the effect of rain-water in eroding the surface of
the limestone. As you look down over the dark crags of millstone grit,
great, grey, pavement-like masses of limestone strike the eye, standing
above the heather, perfectly bare, and in the distance resembling
clearings, and in rainy weather sheets of snow. On approaching them
the surface of erosion becomes more and more apparent, and the shapes
due to the mere accident of varying hardness in the rock, or the
varying quantity of water passing over it, present a most astonishing
variety. There are, however, general principles underlying the
confusion. The lines of joints in the strata being lines of weakness,
searched out by the acid-laden water, have been widened into chasms,
sometimes of considerable depth; and as they cross at right angles,
the whole surface is formed of rectangular masses, each insulated
from its fellow, and some of them detached from the strata beneath so
as to form rocking-stones. The mode in which the acid has attacked
one of these joints in the limestone of Doveholes in Derbyshire is
represented in Figure 7, the surface being honeycombed and worn into
sharp points, solely by chemical action. The minute fossil-shells
also, and fragments of crinoid standing out in bold relief, lead to
the same conclusion--that the denuding agent is chemical and not
mechanical. Each of the upper surfaces of the blocks is traversed by
small depressions, which are valley systems in miniature, in which the
tiny valleys converge into a main trunk leading into the nearest chasm.
There are also tiny caves and hollows, that are sometimes mistaken for
borings made by pholas. In the chasms the vegetation is most luxuriant,
and the dark green fronds of harts-tongue, the delicate Lady-fern, and
the graceful _Asplenium nigrum_, grow with a rare luxuriance.
In these pavements every feature of limestone scenery is represented on
a minute scale. There are the valley systems on the surface, determined
by the direction of the drainage; the long chasms represent the open
valleys and ravines, and the caves and hollows, for the most part, run
in the line of the joints.
The carbonic acid has left precisely the same kind of proof of its work
within the caves as we find above-ground; and it would necessarily
follow, that to it, as well as to the mechanical power of the waters
flowing through them, their formation and enlargement must be due, as
Professor Phillips has pointed out in his “Rivers, Mountains, and Sea
Coast of Yorkshire,” pp. 30-1.
From the preceding pages it will be seen that caves in calcareous
rocks are merely passages hollowed out by water, which has sought out
the lines of weakness, or the joints formed by the shrinkage of the
strata during their consolidation. The work of the carbonic acid is
proved, not merely by the acid-worn surfaces of the interior of the
caves, but also by the large quantity of carbonate of lime which is
carried away by the water in solution. That, on the other hand, of the
mechanical friction of the stones and sand against the sides and bottom
of the water-courses, is sufficiently demonstrated by their grooved,
scratched, and polished surfaces, and by the sand, silt, and gravel
carried along by the currents. The generally received hypothesis, that
they have been the result of a subterranean convulsion, is disproved by
the floor and roof being formed, in very nearly every case, of solid
rock; for it would be unreasonable to hold that any subterranean force
could act from below, in such a manner as to hollow out the complicated
and branching passages, at different levels, without affecting the
whole mass of the rock. Nor is there cause for holding the view put
forth by M. Desnoyers[32] or M. Dupont,[33] that they are the result
of the passage of hydrothermal waters. The causes at present at work,
operating through long periods of time, offer a reasonable explanation
of their existence in every limestone district; and those which are
no longer watercourses can generally be proved to have been formerly
traversed by running water, by the silt, sand, and rounded pebbles
which they contain. In their case, either the drainage of the district
has been changed by the upheaval or depression of the rock, or the
streams have searched out for themselves a passage at a lower level.
But if caves have been thus excavated, it is obvious that ravines and
valleys in limestone districts are due to the operation of the same
causes. If, for instance, we refer to Figures 1 and 6, we shall see
that the open valley passes insensibly into a ravine, and that into
a cave. The ravine is merely a cave which has lost its roof, and the
valley is merely the result of the weathering of the sides of the
ravine. There can be no manner of doubt but that, in both these cases,
the ravine is gradually encroaching on the cave, and the valley on
the ravine; and if the strata be exposed to atmospheric agencies long
enough, the valley of the Axe will extend as far as Priddy (Fig. 1),
and that of Dalebeck to the watershed above the Gatekirk cave (Fig. 6).
In the same manner the lofty precipice of Malham Cove, near Settle,
in Yorkshire (Fig. 8), is slowly falling away and uncovering the
subterranean course of the Aire. Eventually the ravine thus formed will
extend as far as Malham Tarn, and the Aire flow exposed to the light of
day from its source to the sea.[34]
[Illustration: FIG. 8.--Diagram of Source of the Aire at Malham.]
This view is applicable to many if not to all ravines and valleys in
calcareous rocks, such as the Pass at Cheddar, or the gorge of the Avon
at Clifton, and those of Derbyshire, Yorkshire, and Wales. And since
the agents by which the work is done are universal, and calcareous rock
for the most part of the same chemical composition, the results are the
same, and the calcareous scenery everywhere of the same type. In the
lapse of past time, so enormous as to be incapable of being grasped by
the human intellect, these agents are fully capable of producing the
deepest ravines, the widest valleys, and the largest caves.
This view of the relation of caves to ravines was so strongly held by
M. Desnoyers, that he terms the latter “cavernes à ciel ouvert.” I
arrived independently at the same conclusion after the study of the
scenery of limestone for many years.
In many cases, however, in northern latitudes and in high altitudes,
the ravine or valley so formed has been subsequently widened and
deepened by glacial action. That, for instance, of Chapel-en-le-Dale
bears unmistakeable evidence of the former flow of a glacier, in the
_roches moutonnées_ and travelled blocks that it contains. To this is
due the flowing contour and even slope of its lower portion.
The pot-holes and “cirques” in calcareous rocks with no outlet at the
surface, may also be accounted for by the operation of the same causes
as those which have produced caves. Each represents the weak point
towards which the rainfall has converged, caused very generally by
the intersection of the joints. This has gradually been widened out,
because the upper portions of the rock would be the first to seize the
atoms of carbonic acid, and thus be dissolved more quickly than the
lower portions. Hence the funnel shape which they generally assume, and
which can be studied equally in the compact limestone or in the soft
upper chalk. They are to be seen on a small scale also in all limestone
“pavements.” Sometimes, however, the first chance which the upper
portions of the funnels have of being eroded by the acidulated water,
is more than counter-balanced by the increased quantity converging at
the bottom, and the funnel ends in a vertical shaft. If the area in the
rock thus excavated be sufficiently large to allow of the development
of a current of water, the mechanical action of the fragments swept
along its course will have an important share in the work, as we have
seen to be the case in Helln Pot.
_Caves not generally found in Line of Faults._
In some few cases the lines of weakness which have been worn into
caves, pot-holes, ravines, and valleys, may have been produced, as
M. Desnoyers believes, by subterranean movements of elevation and
depression; but in all those which I have investigated the faults do
not determine the direction of the caverns. The mountain limestone
of Castleton, in Derbyshire, offers an example of caves intersecting
faults without any definite relation being traceable between them. The
ramifications of the Peak cavern traverse the Speedwell Mine nearly
at right angles, and the water flowing through it has been traced,
Mr. Pennington informs me, to a swallow-hole near Chapel-en-le-Frith,
running across two, if not three faults, which are laid down in the
geological map. As a general rule caverns are as little affected by
disturbance of the rock as ravines and valleys which have been formed
in the main irrespective of the lines of fault.
M. Desnoyers points out the close analogy between caverns and mineral
veins, and infers that both are due to the same causes. This,
undoubtedly, exists in that class of veins which are known to miners as
“pipe” and “flat veins;” and there is clear proof, in the majority of
cases, that the cavities in which the minerals occur have been formed
by the action of running water, and have subsequently been more or less
filled with their mineral contents; and these have been deposited on
the sides of the cavity by the same “incretionary[35]” action, as that
by which dripstone is now being formed in the present caves from the
solution of carbonate of lime. Such veins present every conceivable
form of irregularity, and frequently contain silt, sand, and gravel,
which have been left behind by their streams, and their history is
identical with that of the caverns.
It is not so, however, with the second class of veins, the “rake,”
“right running,” and “cross courses,” as the miners term them, or
those which occupy lines of fault. The fissures which contain the ore
are proved very frequently, by their scratched and grooved sides,
and polished surfaces or slicken-sides, to have been the result of
subterranean movements by which the rock has been broken by mechanical
force. They have been subsequently modified, in various ways, by the
passage of water, and filled with minerals, in the same manner as
the preceding class. With this exception they present no analogy to
the caverns, with which they contrast strongly in their rectilinear
direction, as well as in their purely mechanical origin.
_The various Ages of Caves._
It is very probable that caves were formed in calcareous rocks from
the time that they were raised to the level of the sea, since they
abound in the Coral Islands. “Caverns,” writes Prof. Dana,[36] “are
still more remarkable on the Island of Atiu, on which the coral-reef
stands at about the same height above the sea as on Oahu. The Rev.
John Williams states--that there are seven or eight of large extent on
the Island of Tuto; one he entered by a descent of twenty feet, and
wandered a mile in one only of its branches, without finding an end to
‘its interminable windings.’ He says--‘Innumerable openings presented
themselves on all sides as we passed along, many of which appeared to
be equal in height, beauty, and extent to the one we were following.
The roof, a stratum of coral-rock fifteen feet thick, was supported by
massy and superb stalactitic columns, besides being thickly hung with
stalactites from an inch to many feet in length. Some of these pendants
were just ready to unite themselves to the floor, or to a stalagmitic
column rising from it. Many chambers were passed through whose
fret-work ceilings and columns of stalactites sparkled brilliantly,
amid the darkness, with the reflected light of our torches. The effect
was produced not so much by single objects, or groups of them, as by
the amplitude, the depth, and the complications of this subterranean
world.’”
Calcareous rocks might, therefore, be expected to contain fissures and
caves of various ages. In the Mendip Hills they have been proved by
Mr. Charles Moore to contain fossils of Rhætic age, the characteristic
dog-fishes, _Acrodus minimus_, and _Hybodus reticulatus_, the elegant
sculptured Ganoid fish, _Gryrolepis tenuistriatus_, and the tiny
marsupials, Microlestes and its allies. This singular association of
terrestrial with marine creatures is due to the fact, that while that
area was being slowly depressed beneath the Rhætic and Liassic seas,
the remains were mingled together on the coast-line, and washed into
the crevices and holes in the rock.
The older caves and fissures have very generally been blocked up by
accumulations of calc-spar or other minerals, and they are arranged on
a plan altogether independent of the existing systems of drainage.
It is a singular fact that no fissures or caves should, with the
above exception, contain the remains of animals of a date before the
Pleistocene age. There can be but little doubt that they were used
as places of shelter in all ages, and they must have entombed the
remains of the animals that fell into them, or were swept into them by
the streams. Caves there must have been long before, and the Eocene
Palæotheres, and Anoplotheres met their death in the open pit-falls,
just as the sheep and cattle do at the present time. The Hyænodon
of the Meiocene had, probably, the same cave-haunting tastes as his
descendant, the living Hyæna, and the marsupials of the Mesozoic age
might be expected to be preserved in caves, like the fossil marsupials
of Australia. The chances of preservation of the remains when once
cemented into a fine breccia, or sealed down with a crystalline
covering of stalagmite, are very nearly the same as those under
which the Pleistocene animals have been handed down to us. The only
reasonable explanation of the non-discovery of such remains seems to
be, that the ancient suites of caves and fissures containing them,
and for the most part near the then surface of the rock, have been
completely swept away by denudation, while the present caverns were
either then not excavated or inaccessible.
Such an hypothesis will explain the fact that the no ossiferous caverns
are older than the Pleistocene age, not merely in Europe, but in North
and South America, Australia, and New Zealand. The effect of denudation
in rendering the geological record imperfect, may be gathered from
the estimate, which Mr. Prestwich has formed, of the amount of rock
removed from the crests of the Mendips and the Ardennes, which is in
the one case a thickness “of two miles and more,” and in the other as
much as “three or four miles.”[37] Under these conditions we could not
expect to find a series of bone caves reaching far back into the remote
geological past, since the caves and their contents would inevitably be
destroyed.
_The Filling up of Caves._
We must now consider the condition under which caves become filled up
with various deposits. If the velocity of the stream in a water-cave
be lessened, the silt, sand, or pebbles it was hurrying along will
be dropped, and may ultimately block up the entire watercourse. In
bringing this to pass, however, the carbonate of lime in the water
plays a most important part. If the excess of carbonic acid by which it
is held in solution be lost by evaporation, it immediately reassumes
its crystalline form, and shoots over the surface of the pool like
plates of ice, or is deposited in loose botryoidal masses at their
sides and on their bottoms; and, since the atmospheric water very
generally percolates through the crannies in the rock, the sides and
roof of the channel, above the level of the water, are adorned with
a stony drapery of every conceivable shape. The rate at which this
accumulation takes place depends upon the free access of air necessary
for evaporation, and is therefore variable,--as in the case of the
Ingleborough cave. In all the caves which I have examined there is a
free current of air. If a water-channel becomes blocked up by either
or both these causes, the joints and fissures in the rock offer an
outlet to the drainage, more or less free, at a lower level, as in
the Ingleborough cave, Poole’s cave, near Buxton, and many others.
Sometimes, however, owing to the increased rain-fall, or to the
obstruction of the lower channels, the water re-excavates the old
passages, as we shall see to have been the case with the famous caverns
of Kent’s Hole and Brixham. In the summer of 1872, a sudden rain-fall
not merely opened out for itself a new passage into a swallow-hole
close to Gaping Gill, on the flanks of Ingleborough, but forced its way
out through the old entrance of the Ingleborough cave, breaking up the
calcareous breccia, and removing the large stones in its course. A cave
obviously may become dry, either by the drainage passing along a lower
level, or by the elevation of the district by subterranean energy.
After it has been forsaken by the stream, the particles brought down by
the atmospheric water percolating through the joints, tend to fill it
up on the surface, and these may be either of clay, loam, or sand.
These actions may be studied in this country in the well-known caves of
Ingleborough, Buxton, Cheddar, Wookey Hole, and a great many others in
Derbyshire, Yorkshire, Staffordshire, Durham, Cumberland, and Wales.
_The Cave of Caldy._
[Illustration: FIG. 9.--A View in the Fairy Chamber, Caldy.]
[Illustration: FIG. 10.--Stalagmites in the Fairy Chamber, Caldy.]
[Illustration: FIG. 11.--The Fairy Chamber, Caldy.]
Among the most beautiful stalactite caverns in this country is that on
the island of Caldy, immediately opposite to Tenby in Pembrokeshire,
discovered some years ago in the limestone cliff, and explored by Mr.
Ayshford Sanford and the Rev. H. H. Winwood, in 1866, and subsequently
by the writer in 1871 and 1872. On creeping through a narrow entrance
with an outlook to the sea on a precipitous side of a quarry, a passage
leads to a chamber of considerable horizontal extent, the bottom being
covered with silt, on which stand pedestals of dripstone from an inch
to two feet in length, each rising from a thin calcareous crust which
does not altogether conceal the silt below. From it a low entrance
leads into a fairy-like chamber, the floor consisting of a rich red,
crystalline pavement, perfectly horizontal, and studded here and there
with round bosses (Figs. 9, 10, 11), either red or snow-white. From
the roof hang stalactites offering the same beautiful contrast of
colours, forming a delicate canopy of tassels, or passing downwards to
the floor and constituting slender shafts about three feet long, and
about the diameter of straws. Each of these is hollow, translucent, and
more or less traversed by water, and in some places each stood next
its fellow, almost as close as the straws in a cornfield. Sometimes
the shaft stands on a cone (Fig. 11) of dripstone, more or less raised
above the floor. Small pools of water occupy hollows in the pavement,
each lined with glittering crystals of calcite (Fig. 12), which are
slowly shooting over the surface, and converting some of the open
hollows into bottle-shaped cavities (Fig. 13). Their sides and bottoms
are covered with a crystalline growth of singular beauty, of which an
idea may be formed by woodcut 14, which represents the edge. Where the
drip happened to fall into a shallow pool, it gradually built up for
itself a cone, on the lower portion of which the varying water-level
is marked by horizontal rings of crystals (Fig. 15), and the normal
waterline by the upper horizontal plate. Sometimes these were united
to the roof by a slender straw-shaft. In Figure 11 the original shaft
has been broken away, and as the direction of the drip has slightly
shifted, a new one gradually descended, until finally it became
cemented to the side of the cone.
[Illustration: FIG. 12.--Pools in Fairy Chamber.]
[Illustration: FIG. 13.--Pool in Fairy Chamber.]
[Illustration: FIG. 14.--Edge of Pool in Fairy Chamber.]
[Illustration: FIG. 15.--Cone with Straw-column.]
The history of these structures is very evident. The straw-like
stalactites were formed by the evaporation of the carbonic acid from
the surface of each drop of water, as it accumulated in one spot, and
the consequent deposit of carbonate of lime around its circumference.
It could not be formed in the centre, because of the continual movement
of the successive drops in falling. By a circumferential growth of
this kind a small crystal tube, of the diameter of a drop, is slowly
developed, which continues to lengthen until the result is one of the
straw-columns, with a hole in the centre for the passage of the water,
which cannot readily part with its carbonic acid till it arrives at the
end of the tube. Sometimes the hole has been subsequently blocked up
by calc-spar, or the general surface been covered over with successive
layers, until it becomes a mass of considerable diameter. If the drop
fell into a deep pool, the straw-column was continued down to the
water-line; if in shallow water, or on the floor, a pedestal was built
up, as is represented in the preceding figures. The crystallization
going on in the pools is greater at the surface than below, because
of the greater evaporation, and consequently the stalagmitic film is
gradually extending over it on every side from the edges (Figs. 12, 13).
As I broke my way into some of the unexplored recesses, through the
thickly planted straw-shafts, and scene after scene of fairy beauty,
unsullied by man, opened upon my eyes, the ringing of the fragments on
the crystalline floor that accompanied almost every movement made me
feel an intruder, and sorry for the destruction.
In some places, where the drip was continuous, and the calcareous basin
which it had built up for itself shallow, small spherical bodies of
calcite were so beautifully polished by friction in the agitated water,
that they deserve the name of cave-pearls from their lustre. In Fig. 16
I have represented a tiny basin with its pearly contents. Where the
drip had ceased to be continuous each of these formed a nucleus for the
deposit of calcite crystals, by which they were united to the bottom of
the basin.
[Illustration: FIG. 16.--Basin containing Cave-pearls.]
[Illustration: FIG. 17.--Fungoid Structures, magnified.]
In the principal chamber in the cave, which is very nearly free from
drip, the upper surfaces of the stones and stalagmites on the floor are
covered with a peculiar fungoid-like deposit of calcite, consisting
of rounded bosses, attached to the general surface by a pedicle (see
Figs. 17, 18) sometimes not much thicker than a hair. They stood
close together at various levels, following the inequalities of the
surface of attachment, and being on an average about 0·2 inch long.
Several microscopical sections (Fig. 17) showed that each was formed
originally on a slight elevation of the general surface, which would
cause a greater evaporation of water than the surrounding portions,
and therefore be covered with a greater deposit of calcite. This
process would go on until the height was reached to which the water
slowly passing over the general surface would no longer rise. Hence
the remarkable uniformity of the height of the bosses. The evaporation
is greater at the point furthest removed from the general surface, and
therefore the apex is larger than the base (see Fig. 17). In Figure
18 they stand as thickly together as trees in a virgin forest, and
are developed in greatest vigour where the small eminences cause a
greater evaporation than the small depressions, and are stoutest and
strongest at the free edges. Some of the pedicles, as in the figure,
present traces of erosion, the outer layers having been eaten away by
acid-laden water.
Some of these singular little bosses may have been moulded on minute
fungi, such as those in the cave of Ingleborough, but their presence is
not revealed by the microscope.
_The Black-rock Cave, near Tenby._
[Illustration: FIG. 18.--Fungoid Structure, Black-rock Cave.]
I met with this remarkable kind of calcareous deposition in a second
cave in the neighbourhood of Tenby. When examining the Black-rock
quarries in 1871, the workmen pointed out a small opening which they
believed to be the entrance of a cave, but which was too small for them
to enter. By knocking off, however, a few sharp angles, I got into
a small chamber about five feet high, with sides, roof, and bottom
covered with massive dripstone. A few loose stones rested on the
bottom. The whole surface, even including the stones upon the floor,
one of which is figured (Fig. 18), was so completely covered with
these peculiar fungoid bodies, that it was impossible to move without
destroying hundreds of them. All were about the same height, 0·2
inches, snow-white, or of a rich reddish brown, and conformed to the
unequal surface on which they stood. It is quite impossible to describe
the effect of a whole chamber bristling with these peculiar structures.
The only author by whom they are mentioned, Mr. John Beaumont--who
described the caves of Mendip in 1680, considered them to be veritable
plants of stone.[38] The beautiful forms assumed by the dripstone in
the caves of Caldy and Black-rock are by no means uncommon, but I have
never met with them anywhere else in such perfection. They may be
studied in all stalactitic caverns.
_Great Quantity of Carbonate of Lime dissolved by Atmospheric Water._
A small portion only of the carbonate of lime is deposited as tufa
or dripstone in the neighbourhood of the rock from which it has been
derived, as compared with that carried by the streams into the rivers,
and the rivers into the sea. An idea of this quantity may be formed
from the calculation of the solid matter conveyed down by the Thames,
given by Mr. Prestwich in his Presidential Address to the Geological
Society in 1871, p. lxvii.
“Taking the mean daily discharge of the Thames at Kingston at
1,250,000,000 gallons, and the salts in solution at nineteen grains per
gallon, the mean quantity of dissolved mineral matter there carried
down by the Thames every twenty-four hours is equal to 3,364,286 lbs.,
or 150 tons, which is equal to 548,230 tons in the year. Of this daily
quantity about two-thirds, or say 1,000 tons, consist of carbonate of
lime and 238 tons of sulphate of lime, while limited proportions of
carbonate of magnesia, chlorides of sodium and potassium, sulphates of
soda and potash, silica and traces of iron, alumina, and phosphates,
constitute the rest. If we refer a small portion of the carbonates and
the sulphates and chlorides chiefly to the impermeable argillaceous
formations washed by the rain-water, we shall still have at least
ten grains per gallon of carbonate of lime, due to the chalk, upper
greensand, oolitic strata, and marlstone, the superficial area of
which, in the Thames basin above Kingston, is estimated by Mr. Harrison
at 2,072 square miles. Therefore the quantity of carbonate of lime
carried away from this area by the Thames is equal to 797 tons daily,
or 290,905 tons annually, which gives 140 tons removed yearly from
each square mile; or, extending the calculation to a century, we have
a total removal of 29,090,500 tons, or of 14,000 tons from each square
mile of surface. Taking a ton of chalk, as a mean, as equal to fifteen
cubic feet, this is equal to the removal of 210,000 cubic feet per
century for each square mile, or of 9/100 of an inch from the whole
surface in the course of a century, so that in the course of 13,200
years a quantity equal to a thickness of about one foot would be
removed from our chalk and oolitic districts.”
This destructive action, operating through long periods of time,
destroys not merely the general surface of the limestone, but, where it
is localized by the convergence of water, is capable of excavating the
deepest gorges and the longest caves. The quantity of material carried
away in solution is a measure of the power of carbonic acid in the
general work of denudation.
_The Circulation of Carbonate of Lime._
The circulation of carbonate of lime in nature presents us with a
never-ending cycle of change. It is conveyed into the sea to be built
up into the tissues of the animal and vegetable inhabitants. It
appears in the gorgeous corallines, nullipores, calcareous sea-weeds,
sea-shells, and in the armour of crustaceans. In the tissues of
the coral-zoophytes it assumes the form of stony groves, of which
each tree is a colony of animals, and in the wave-defying reef it
reverts to its original state of limestone. Or, again, it is seized
upon by tiny masses of structureless protoplasm, and fashioned into
chambers of endless variety and of infinite beauty, and accumulated
at the bottom of the deeper seas, forming a deposit analogous to our
chalk. In the revolution of ages the bottom of the sea becomes dry
land, the calcareous _débris_ of animal and vegetable life is more
or less compacted together by pressure and by the infiltration of
acid-laden rain-water, and appears as limestone of various hardness and
constitution. Then the destruction begins again, and caves, pot-holes,
and ravines are again carved out of the solid rock.
_The Temperature of Caves._
The air in caves is generally of the same temperature as the mean
annual temperature of the district in which they occur, and therefore
cold in summer and warm in winter. This would be a sufficient reason
why they should be chosen by uncivilized peoples as habitations.
The very remarkable glacières, or caves containing ice instead of
water, in the Jura, Pyrenees, in Teneriffe, Iceland, and other
districts of high altitude and low temperature, in which the
temperature even in summer does not rise much above freezing-point, may
be explained by the theory advanced independently by De Luc and the
Rev. G. F. Browne. “The heavy cold air of winter,” writes the latter,
“sinks down into the glacières, and the lighter, warm air of summer
cannot on ordinary principles dislodge it, so that heat is very slowly
spread in the caves; and even when some amount of heat does reach the
ice, the latter melts but slowly, since a kilogramme of ice absorbs 79°
C. of heat in melting; and thus when ice is once formed, it becomes a
material guarantee for the permanence of cold in the cave. For this
explanation to hold good it is necessary that the level at which the
ice is found should be below the level of the entrance to the cave;
otherwise the mere weight of the cold air would cause it to leave its
prison as soon as the spring warmth arrived.” It is also necessary that
the cave should be protected from direct radiation and from the action
of wind. These conditions are satisfied by all the glacières explored
by Mr. Browne.[39] The apparent anomaly that one only out of a group
of caves exposed to the same temperatures should be a glacière, may be
explained by the fact that these conditions are found in combination
but rarely, and if one were absent there would be no accumulation of
perpetual ice. It is very probable that the store of cold laid up in
these caves, as in an ice-house, has been ultimately derived from the
great refrigeration of climate in Europe in the Glacial Period.
_Conclusion._
In this chapter we have examined the physical history of caves, their
formation, and their relation to pot-holes, cirques, and ravines; and
we have seen that they are not the result of subterranean disturbance,
but of the mechanical action of rain-water and the chemical action
of carbonic acid, both operating from above. We have seen that
cave-hunting is not merely an adventurous amusement, but also a quest
that brings us into a great laboratory, so to speak, in which we can
see the natural agents at work that have carved out the valleys and
gorges, and shaped the hills wherever the calcareous rocks are to be
found.
The rest of this treatise will be devoted to the evidence which they
offer as to the former inhabitants, both men and animals, of Europe.
CHAPTER III.
HISTORIC CAVES IN BRITAIN.
Definition of Historic Period.--Wild Animals in Britain during
the Historic Period.--Animals living under the care of Man.--
Classificatory value of Historic Animals.--The Victoria Cave,
Settle, Yorkshire.--History of Discovery.--The Romano-Celtic or
Brit-Welsh Stratum.--The Bones of the Animals.--Miscellaneous
Articles.--The Coins.--The Jewelry, and its Relation to Irish
Art.--Similar Remains in other Caves in Yorkshire.--These
Caves used as Places of Refuge.--The evidence of History as to
Date.--Britain under the Romans.--The Inroads of the Picts and
Scots.--The English Conquest.--The Neolithic Stratum.--The
approximate Date of the Neolithic Occupation.--The Grey Clays.
--The Pleistocene Occupation by the Hyænas.--The probable
Preglacial Age of the Pleistocene Stratum.--The Kirkhead Cave.
--Poole’s Cave, near Buxton.--Thor’s Cave, near Ashbourne.--
Historic value of Brit-Welsh Group of Caves.--Principal Animals
and Articles.--The use of Horse-flesh.--The Cave of Long-berry
Bank.
_Definition of Historic Period._
In the preceding chapter the origin of caves has been discussed, as
well as their relation to the physical geography of the districts in
which they are found. We must now pass on to the biological division
of the subject, which relates to the animals that they contain and the
inferences that may be drawn from their occurrence. The caves will be
divided into historic, prehistoric, and pleistocene, according to the
principles laid down in the first chapter.
It is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to define with precision
the point where legend ends and history begins; but the line may be
drawn with convenience at the first beginning of a connected and
continuous narrative, rather than at the first isolated notice of a
country. If we accept this definition, the historic period in Great
Britain cannot be extended further back than the temporary invasion
of Julius Cæsar, B.C. 55, even if so far, since of the interval that
elapsed between that event and the subjugation under Claudius, in the
year A.D. 43, we know scarcely anything. Of the events which happened
in this country before Cæsar’s invasion there is no documentary
evidence, although, by the modern method of scientific research, we are
able to extend the narrative away from the borders of history far back
into the archæological and geological past.
_Wild Animals in Britain during the Historic Period._
During the historic period great changes have taken place in the
animals inhabiting Great Britain. The wild animals have been diminished
in number, and their area of occupation has been narrowed by the
increase of population and the improvement in weapons of destruction.
The brown bear, inhabiting Britain during the time of the Roman
occupation, was extirpated probably before the tenth century. The
current belief that it was destroyed in Scotland by the founder of
the Gordon family in 1057 is unsupported by any documentary evidence
which I have been able to discover; the crest of the Gordons, which
is supposed to have been derived from the last of those animals slain
in the island, consisting of three boars’, not _bears’_, heads. The
last wolf is said to have been destroyed in Scotland in 1680, while in
Ireland the animal lingered thirty years later to be a terror to the
defenceless beggars. It was deemed worthy of a special decree for its
destruction in the reign of Edward I. The wild boar was extinct before
the reign of Charles I., while the beaver, which was hunted for its fur
on the banks of the Teivi in Cardiganshire during the time of the first
Crusade, became extinct shortly afterwards. The stag was so abundant in
the south of England as recently as the reign of Queen Anne, that she
saw a herd of no less than five hundred between London and Portsmouth.
At present the animal lives only in a half-wild condition, in the
forest of Exmoor and the Highlands of Scotland; while the roedeer is
now only found wild in Scotland, although it formerly ranged throughout
the length and breadth of the country.
The reindeer is proved to have been living in Caithness as late as the
year 1159, by a passage in the Orkneyinga Saga.
The common rat, _Mus decumanus_, is the only wild or semi-wild animal
that has migrated into this country during the historic period contrary
to the will of man. In 1727 it (_Pallas, Glires_) had begun to invade
Southern Russia from the regions of Persia and the Caspian Sea. Thence
it swiftly spread over Asia Minor, and while it was advancing to the
west overland, it was carried by ships to nearly all the ports in the
world. It arrived in Britain certainly before the year 1730, and has
since nearly exterminated the black indigenous species. It is the only
wild animal which is known to have invaded Europe since the pleistocene
age, with the exception, perhaps, of the true elk.
_Animals living under the care of Man._
The fallow-deer, indigenous in the countries bordering on the
Mediterranean, was probably introduced by the Romans, since its remains
occur in refuse-heaps of Roman age, such as that of London Wall, and
of Colchester, while it has not been met with in older deposits. To
them, also, we probably owe the introduction of the pheasant, which
was sufficiently abundant in the neighbourhood of London in the time
of Harold to be mentioned as one of the articles of food eaten on
feast-days by the households of the Canons at Waltham Abbey in 1059.
The domestic fowl has left the first traces of its presence in this
country in the Roman refuse-heaps, although it was known to the Belgæ,
according to the testimony of Cæsar, before the first Roman invasion.
The earliest mention of the domestic cat in this country is to be
found in the laws of Howel Dha,[40] that were probably codified at
the end of the tenth or in the eleventh century, although many of the
enactments may be of a much earlier date. The king’s cat is assessed
at eightpence, or twice as much as that belonging to any subject. The
ass[41] was certainly known in Britain in the days of Æthelred (A.D.
866-871), when, according to Professor Bell, its price was fixed at the
large sum of twelve shillings. The larger breed of cattle represented
by the Chillingham ox, and descended from the great Urus, first
appears in this country about the time of the English invasion. It
gradually spread over those districts conquered by the English, until
the small aboriginal dark-coloured, short-horn _Bos longifrons_, which
was the only domestic breed in the prehistoric and Roman times, is now
only to be met with in the hill country of Wales and of Scotland, in
which the Brit-Welsh or Romano-Celtic inhabitants still survive.
_Classificatory value of Historic Animals._
The principal changes in the fauna of Great Britain during the historic
age are the extinction of the bear, wolf, beaver, reindeer, and
wild boar, and the introduction of the domestic fowl, the pheasant,
fallow-deer, ass, the domestic cat, the larger breed of oxen, and the
common rat; and as this took place at different times, it is obvious
that these animals enable us to ascertain the approximate date of the
deposit in which their remains happen to occur. And for this purpose
the following table[42] may be consulted:--
ANIMALS EXTINCT.
A.D.
Brown bear circa 500-1000
Reindeer ” 1200
Beaver ” 11-1200
Wolf ” 1680
Wild boar ” 1620
ANIMALS INTRODUCED.
Domestic fowl before 55 B.C.
Fallow-deer circa ”
Pheasant ” ”
Domestic ox of Urus type ” 449 A.D.
Ass ” 800-850
Cat ” 800-1000
Common rat ” 1727-30
Some or other of these animals are met with in the peat-bogs and
alluvia, and in caves, but far more abundantly in the refuse-heaps left
behind by man, by whom they have here been used either for service or
for food.
The disappearance of certain wild species, from the areas in which they
lived on the continent, in historic times, has not been ascertained
so accurately as in this country, and many animals, which have become
extinct in our restricted and highly-cultivated island, are still to
be found in the continental forests, morasses, and mountains. The
brown bear is still to be met with in the Pyrenees, the Vosges, and
in the wilder and more inaccessible portions of northern, middle, and
southern Europe. The wolf still survives in France, and during the late
German war preyed upon the slain after some of the battles. It, as well
as the wild boar, ranges throughout the uncultivated regions of the
continent. The beaver still lives in the waters of the Rhone, as well
as in the rivers of Lithuania and of Scandinavia, and the reindeer,
now restricted to the regions north of a line passing east and west
through the Baltic, extended further south, in sufficient numbers to
be remarked by Cæsar, among the more noteworthy animals living in the
great Hercynian forest, which overshadowed northern Germany in his
days. This forest also afforded shelter to the true elk and the bison,
both of which still live in Lithuania, as well as to the Urus, which
was hunted by Charles the Great, near Aachen, and probably became
extinct in the fifteenth or sixteenth century. The lion inhabited the
mountains of southern Thrace in the days of Herodotus and of Aristotle,
and became extinct in Europe between 330 B.C. and the days of Dio
Chrysostom Rhetor (A.D. 100), who expressly says that there were no
lions in Greece in his time. The panther also inhabited the same
district when Xenophon wrote his “Treatise on Hunting.”
The fallow-deer was believed by the late Professor Edouard Lartet to
have been introduced into France by the Romans. On a visit, however, to
Paris in September 1873, Professor Gervais called my attention to an
antler of the animal in the Jardin des Plantes, said to have been found
in a refuse-heap along with axes of polished stone. It must therefore
have lived in France in the Neolithic age, if it were obtained from an
undisturbed deposit. It gradually spread into Germany and Switzerland,
until in the eleventh century it was sufficiently abundant to be
mentioned among the articles of food in a metrical grace of the monks
of St. Gall.
“Imbellem damam faciat benedictio summam.”[43]
The domestic fowl is to be recognized on Gallic coins before the
Roman invasion, and therefore was probably known at the very dawn of
Gallic history. The larger breed of oxen, descended from the Urus
type, has been known in France, Germany, Lombardy, Scandinavia, and
Switzerland, in the remote division of the prehistoric age known
as the Neolithic.[44] The buffalo, on the other hand, of the Roman
Campagna, was introduced into Italy, according to Paulus Diaconus, in
the year 596, and the domestic cat,[45] known to the Greeks from their
intercourse with Egypt, became familiar to the eyes of the inhabitants
of Rome and Constantinople as early as the fourth century after Christ.
It is evident from the survival of the wolf, the bear, beaver,
reindeer, and the wild boar on the continent at the present time,
that the chronological table which I have constructed for Britain
is inapplicable to Europe in general. In the present state of our
knowledge of the varying ranges of the animals, it seems impossible to
form any similar scheme.
The historic caves are characterized by the presence of some of these
animals, as well as of coins and pottery, and other articles by which
the date of their occupation may be ascertained.
_The Victoria Cave, Settle, Yorkshire._
The most important historic cave in this country is that discovered
by Mr. Joseph Jackson, near Settle, in Yorkshire, on the coronation
day of Queen Victoria, in 1838, and which has therefore been called
the Victoria Cave. It runs horizontally into the precipitous side of
a lonely ravine known as King’s Scar (Fig. 19), at a height of about
1,450 feet above the sea, according to Mr. Tiddeman, and it consists of
three large ill-defined chambers filled with débris nearly up to the
roof.
[Illustration: FIG. 19.--View of King’s Scar, Settle, showing the
entrances of the Victoria and Albert Caves (from a photograph). A, B,
Victoria; C, Albert.]
The entrances face to the south-west, and open at the bottom of an
overhanging cliff at the point where a scree, or accumulation of
fragments from the cliff above, gradually slopes down to the bottom of
the valley, about one hundred feet below. When Mr. Jackson made his
discovery, he passed inwards through a small entrance,[46] and was
rewarded by finding in the earth on the floor a number of Roman coins,
together with ornaments and implements of bronze, and some brooches
of singular taste and beauty, with implements of bone, and large
quantities of broken bones and fragments of pottery. The collection
was very miscellaneous; for besides iron spear-heads, nails, daggers,
spoon-brooches of bone, spindle-whorls, beads of amber and of glass,
there were bronze brooches, finger-rings, armlets, bracelets, buckles,
and studs. All were lying pêle-mêle together, side by side with the
broken bones of the animals, and the whole set of remains, with the
exception of some of the brooches, was of the kind which is usually met
with in the neighbourhood of Roman camps, cities, and villas which have
been sacked.
The fragments of Samian ware and Roman pottery scattered through the
mass, as well as coins of Trajan and Constantine, proved further,
that the cave had been inhabited after the Roman invasion, and not
earlier than the middle of the third century; and the rude imitations
of Roman coins were, according to Mr. Roach Smith,[47] probably in
circulation for some centuries after the departure of the Romans
from Britain.--“And although some of these remains are indicative
of sepulture, yet from the evidence furnished there appears no
positive proof of their having formed part of funereal deposits. A
more satisfactory conclusion seems to arise in considering that these
caves (_i.e._ the group) may have been used as places of refuge by the
Romanized Britons during the troublous times at and after the close of
the fourth century.” This conclusion we shall see fully borne out by
the evidence subsequently obtained. Mr. Jackson gives the following
account of the discovery:--
“The entrance was nearly filled up with rubbish, and overgrown with
nettles. After removing these obstructions, I was obliged to lie down
at full length to get in. The first appearance that struck me on
entering was the large quantity of clay and earth, which seemed as if
washed in from without, and presented to the view round pieces like
balls of different sizes. Of this clay there must be several hundred
waggon loads, but abounding more in the first than in the branch caves.
In some parts a stalagmitic crust has formed, mixed with bones, broken
pots, &c. It was on this crust I found the principal part of the coins,
the other articles being mostly imbedded in the clay. In the other
caves very little has been found. When we get through the clay, which
is very stiff and deep, we generally find the rock covered with bones,
all broken and presenting the appearance of having been gnawed. The
entrance into the inner cave has been walled up at the sides. In the
inside were several large stones lying near the hole, any one of which
would have completely blocked it up by merely turning the stone over.
I pulled the wall down, and the aperture was now about a yard wide,
and two feet high. On digging up the clay at about nine or ten inches
deep, I found the original floor; it was hard and gravelly, and strewed
with bones, broken pots, and other objects. The roof of the cave was
beautifully hung with stalactites in various fantastic forms and as
white as snow.”[48]
The interest in these discoveries led Mr. Denny, Mr. Farrer, and other
gentlemen to examine the superficial stratum from time to time,
until, in 1870, Sir James Kay-Shuttleworth, Mr. Walter Morrison, Mr.
Birkbeck, and other gentlemen in the neighbourhood formed a committee
for the investigation of the contents of the cave, which had been
placed at their disposal by the courtesy of the owner, the late Mr.
Stackhouse. They were aided by the assistance of Sir C. Lyell, Sir. J.
Lubbock, and Mr. Darwin, Professor Phillips, Mr. Franks, and others,
and by a grant obtained from the British Association, and have carried
on the work since that time with comparatively little interruption.
Mr. Jackson, the original discoverer, superintended the workmen;
while I identified the works of art and the mammalian remains that
were discovered, and drew up for the committee the reports brought
before the British Association in 1870, 1871, and 1872, and before
the Anthropological Institute in 1871. Mr. Tiddeman also contributed
a report on the physical history of the cave, which is printed in the
British Association Report for 1872, and subsequently in the Geological
Magazine, January 1873.[49]
_The Romano-Celtic or Brit-Welsh Stratum._
[Illustration: FIG. 20.--Longitudinal Section of Victoria Cave.]
The committee resolved not to begin at the entrance which Mr. Jackson
discovered in 1838 (Fig. 19 A), but to make a new passage, at a point
where daylight could be seen through the chinks of the broken débris,
which there prevented access. Ground was broken on a small plateau
in front of this (Figs. 19 B, 20), which, from the sunny aspect and
commanding view, would naturally be chosen by the dwellers in the
cave as their more usual place for eating and lounging, and in which
we might therefore expect to find the remains of whatever they had
dropped or lost. The gloomy recesses of a cave, indeed, even if
lit up by large fires or by torches, are not fitted for any other
purpose than for sleeping or concealment; and if we add in this case
the damp cold clay under foot and the constant drip of the water
overhead, it was only reasonable to infer that most of their life
was spent out of doors, and that the cave was used merely as a place
of retirement for shelter. As the trench progressed we dug first of
all through a thickness of two feet (Figs. 20, 21) of angular blocks
of limestone, that had fallen from the cliff above, and that rested
on a black layer (No. 4) containing the kind of remains which we had
expected. The layer was composed of fragments of bone and charcoal,
surrounding the burnt stones which had formed the ancient hearths,
and contained large quantities of the broken bones of animals which
had been used for food, and coins and articles of luxury, as well as
those instruments which were more naturally suited for the half-savage
life of dwellers in caves. As we opened out the new mouth, the angular
fragments disappeared and the black layer rose to the surface,
composing the floor, and lying in some places beneath enormous blocks
of limestone which had fallen from the roof since its accumulation, and
being continuous with the layer in which Mr. Jackson first made his
discoveries.
[Illustration: FIG. 21.--Vertical Section at the Entrance to the
Victoria Cave.]
It was evident that this stratum had been formed during the sojourn of
man in the cave, and we shall find, in the examination of the remains
which it furnished, proof that it is connected with the obscure history
of Britain during the fifth and sixth centuries. We will take each
group of objects in its proper class, beginning with what at first
sight seems the least promising, the broken bones of the animals that
supplied the inhabitants with food.
_The Bones of the Animals._
The bones of the Celtic short-horn (_Bos longifrons_) were very
abundant, and proved that a variety of ox, indistinguishable from the
small dark mountain cattle of Wales and Scotland, was the chief food
of the inhabitants. A variety of the goat with simple recurved horns,
which is commonly met with in the Yorkshire tumuli explored by Canon
Greenwell, and in the deposits round Roman villas in Great Britain,
furnished the mutton; while the pork was supplied by a domestic breed
of pigs with small canines; and since the bones of the last animal
belong for the most part to young individuals, it is clear that the
young porker was preferred to the older animal. The bill of fare was
occasionally varied by the use of horse-flesh, which formed a common
article of food in this country down to the ninth century. To this list
must be added the venison of the roedeer and stag, but the remains of
these two animals were singularly rare. Two spurs of the domestic fowl,
and a few bones of wild duck and grouse, complete the list of animals
which can with certainty be affirmed to have been eaten by the dwellers
in the cave. The numerous unbroken bones, some very gigantic, of the
badger, and those of the fox, wildcat, hare, and water-vole, commonly
called water-rat, have probably been introduced subsequently, from
those animals having used the cave as a place of shelter. There were
also bones of the dog, which from their unbroken condition proved that
the animal had not been used for food, as it certainly was used by
the men who lived in the caves of Denbighshire in the Neolithic age.
The whole group of remains implies that the dwellers in the Victoria
Cave lived upon their flocks and herds, rather than by the chase. And
since the domestic fowl was not known in Britain until about the time
of the Roman invasion, the presence of its remains fixes the date of
the occupation as not earlier than that time. On the other hand, since
the small Celtic short-horn (_Bos longifrons_) was the only domestic
ox in use known in Roman Britain, and since it disappeared from those
portions of the country which were conquered by the English, along
with its Celtic possessors, the date is fixed in the other direction
as being not much later than the Northumbrian conquest of that portion
of Yorkshire. I shall return to this part of the subject presently;
here I will only remark, that the present distribution of the lineal
descendants of the Celtic short-horn, the small, dark-coloured Scotch
and Welsh cattle, corresponds with those regions on which the Celtic
population fell back before the English. And its survival in Wales, and
until comparatively recently in Cornwall, Cumberland, and Westmoreland,
may be accounted for by the fact, that in those districts the Celtic
populations of Roman Britain were not displaced by the English
invaders.[50]
The larger breed of cattle known in its purity as the white ox of
Chillingham, from which all our purely English breeds have been
derived, was imported originally by the English, and spread over the
whole country which they occupied, until at last the smaller and more
ancient oxen survived only in a few isolated areas in the north and
west of Britain. This displacement of the Celtic short-horn by the
English oxen of the Urus type corroborates, in a striking degree, the
truth of Mr. Freeman’s view of the ruthless destruction of everything
Roman and Celtic at the hands of the English. It is clear, therefore,
that from the examination of the bones we may infer that the cave was
occupied before the Celtic short-horn was supplanted in this district
by the larger domestic breed of oxen, and after the introduction of the
domestic fowl, that is to say, in the interval which elapsed between
the Roman and English invasions.
We must now treat of the remains of man’s handiwork in the cave.
_Miscellaneous Articles._
[Illustration: FIG. 22.--Spoon-brooch (natural size).]
The ornaments and implements of bone consist of carefully smoothed
pins, and points intended to be fitted to a handle, knife-handles made
of bone and antler; three spindle-whorls made of the perforated head
of a femur; a stud; a perfect spoon-shaped fibula (Fig. 22), which
corresponds with one of those in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy,
as well as several fragments, and which when in use was passed through
holes in the clothes, in such a manner that the two ends alone were
visible. These are ornamented, and the shaft and the whole back is more
or less polished by wear. Eight articles bear a close resemblance to
the handles of gimlets (Figs. 23, 24), and most probably have been
used as studs, or links, for fastening together clothing. The fact,
indeed, that some have the central hole worn by the friction of a thong
or string of some kind, coupled with the worn state of some of their
surfaces, renders this guess very likely to be true. In Fig. 24, _a_,
the ornament in right lines, which once covered the surface as in Fig.
24, _b_, is very nearly obliterated by friction against some soft body
such as clothing. A reference to the figures will give a better idea of
their shape and ornamentation than a mere description. Two perforated
discs may have been used as studs. There are also many nondescript
articles, consisting of sockets made of antler of stag, and bone rods
carefully rounded, together with cut bones of uncertain use. For the
identification of the ivory boss of a sword-hilt I am indebted to the
kindness of Mr. Franks.
Besides the ornaments in bone and antler, there were seven glass beads,
five transparent and two of a bluish tint, and one of jet turned in
a lathe; as well as a fragment of a jet bracelet. Among the articles
of daily use were many rounded pebbles, with marks of fire upon them,
which had probably been heated for the purpose of boiling water.
Pot-boilers, as they are called, of this kind are used by many savage
peoples at the present day, and if we wished to heat water in a vessel
that would not stand the fire, we should be obliged to employ a similar
method. Other stones formed parts of ancient hearths, and two or three
grooved slabs of sandstone had evidently been used for rounding and
sharpening bone pins. The fragments of pottery were very abundant, and
were all of the type usually found round Roman villas. One fragment of
Samian ware was ornamented with the representation of a hunt.
[Illustration: FIG. 23.--Ornamented Bone-fastener (natural size).]
[Illustration: FIG. 24.--Two Bone-links; _a_ worn, _b_ unworn (natural
size).]
This group of articles throws but little light on the date of the
occupation of the cave. The Samian ware, and the ivory boss of a Roman
sword, merely imply that it was either Roman or post-Roman.
_The Coins._
If we turn now to the coins, we shall find the date to lie within
narrower limits than those fixed by the animals. They consist of:--
Two silver of Trajan, d. 117.
Four bronze of Tetricus I., 267-274.
One bronze of Tetricus II., 267-274.
One bronze of Gallienus, d. 268.
One bronze of Constantine II., d. 343.
One bronze of Constans, d. 353.
Three barbarous imitations in bronze of coins of Tetricus,
circa 400-500 A.D.
In a group of coins such as this the latest only give a clue to the
date, since the earlier may have remained in circulation long after
they were struck. In India, for example, those of Alexander the Great
have not yet disappeared from the country, and in Spain, in the shops
of Malaga, Moorish, Roman, and even Phœnician coins were current in
1863, as well as all those which have been struck since.[51] We may
therefore disregard the earliest coins, and fix our attention more
particularly on those of the Constantine family, and the bronze minimi
mentioned last in the list. The presence of the coin of Constans
implies that the cave was occupied either during or after 337 A.D.,
when he ascended the throne; while the date of the minimi has not been
ascertained with accuracy. “They abound upon all Roman sites, such as
Verulam and Richborough. In size they come nearest to those struck
under Arcadius and his successors, and I think that you will not be
far wrong in assigning them to the first half of the fifth century.
The latest of the genuine Roman coins found in this country are those
of Arcadius and Honorius; at least, the finding of any of later date
is quite exceptional. What the currency was between that time and the
commencement of the Saxon coinage it is hard to say. It seems probable,
however, that gold and silver had nearly disappeared, and that the
needs of a small local commerce were supplied by the Roman copper
coins of which abundance remained in the country, and by small pieces
struck after their model, not improbably by private speculators.” This
opinion, which Mr. John Evans, F.R.S., has been kind enough to write
me, coincides with that of Mr. Newton, as well as that of Mr. Roach
Smith; and we may therefore assume, with tolerable certainty, that
the cave was inhabited during the first half of the fifth century or
afterwards, at a time when the withdrawal of the Roman Legions had left
the colony of Britain, whose youth and vigour had been consumed in the
fierce struggle of the rivals for the throne of the West, a prey to the
barbarian invaders.
It is of course conceivable that some of these coins may have been
dropped at one time, and some at another, but nevertheless it seems
very probable that the whole accumulation belongs to the same relative
age. But whether this be accepted or not, it is certain the cave was
inhabited during the time that the minimi were in circulation,--that is
to say, during the first half of the fifth century, or from that time
forwards.
_The Jewellery, and its Relation to Irish Art._
This conclusion as to the date, derived from the coins, is confirmed
in a remarkable degree by the examination of the articles of
luxury. Besides two bronze brooches of the Roman pattern, known by
archæologists as harp-shaped (Coloured Plate, fig. 5), was one of the
split-ring type, with a moveable pin, which is generally assigned to
the later period of the Roman occupation of this country. One type
of brooch was composed of two circular plates of bronze, soldered
together, the front being very thin and bearing flamboyant and spiral
patterns in relief (Fig. 25), of admirable design and execution. The
original of the figure was discovered by Mr. Jackson, and is more
perfect than any of those which we obtained in our excavations. It
is altogether unlike any Roman brooch properly so called, both in
its composite make and style of ornament. A similar brooch has been
discovered at Brough Castle, in Westmoreland, and was figured in the
Proceedings of the Antiquarian Society (vol. iv. 129), by Sir James
Musgrave, and a second is preserved in the Museum of the Royal Irish
Academy (492). The style corresponds with that of a medallion on a
Runic casket of silver-bronze, figured by Prof. Stevens, and stated
to have been obtained from Northumbrian Britain, as well as that of a
brooch in the Museum at Mainz, assigned by the same authority to the
third or fourth century. It is also to be met with in the illuminations
of one of the Anglo-Saxon Gospels at Stockholm, as well as in those
of the Gospels of S. Columban, preserved in the library of Trinity
College, Dublin, and in the “Book of Kells” (8-900).[52] In all these
cases it cannot be affirmed to be Roman, and it is not presented by
ornaments of either purely English or Teutonic origin. It is most
closely allied to that work which is termed by Mr. Franks “late
Celtic.” From its localization in Britain and Ireland, it seems to be
probable that it is of Celtic derivation; and if this view be accepted,
there is nothing at all extraordinary in its being recognized in the
illuminated Irish Gospels. Ireland, in the sixth and seventh centuries,
was the great centre of art, civilization, and literature; and it is
only reasonable to suppose that there would be intercourse between
the Irish Christians and those of the west of Britain during the time
that the Romano-Celts, or Brit-Welsh, were being slowly pushed to the
westward by the heathen English invader. Proof of such an intercourse
we find in the brief notice in the “Annales Cambriæ,” in which Gildas,
the Brit-Welsh historian, is stated to have sailed over to Ireland in
the year A.D. 565. It is by no means improbable that about this time
there was a Brit-Welsh migration into Ireland, as well as into Brittany.
[Illustration: FIG. 25.--Bronze Brooch (natural size).]
Nor is it at all strange that the same style of ornament should occur
in some few cases in North Germany.
“The conquest of Britain,” writes the Rev. J. R. Green (“History of the
English People,” p. 16[53]), “had thrust a wedge of heathendom into
the heart of the Western Church. On the one side lay Italy and Gaul,
whose Churches owned obedience to the see of Rome, on the other the
free Celtic Church of Ireland. But the condition of the two portions
of Western Christendom was very different. While the vigour of Latin
Christianity was exhausted in a bare struggle for life, Ireland as yet
unscourged by invaders had drawn from its conversion an energy such as
it has never known since. Christianity had been received there with
a burst of popular enthusiasm. Letters and arts sprang up rapidly in
its train; the science and Biblical knowledge which had fled from the
continent took refuge in famous schools which made Durrow and Armagh
the universities of the West. The new life soon beat too strongly to
brook confinement within insular bounds. Patrick, the first missionary
of Ireland, had not been half a century dead, when Celtic Christianity
flung itself with a fiery zeal into battle with the mass of heathenism
which had rolled in upon the Christian world. Irish missionaries
laboured among the Picts of the Highlands, among the Frisians of
the northern seas; Columban founded monasteries in Burgundy and the
Apennines; the canton of St. Gall still commemorates in its name the
missionary before whom the spirits of flood and fell fled wailing over
the waters of the Lake of Constance. For a time it seemed as if the
course of the world’s history was to be changed, as if the older race
that Roman and Teuton had swept before them had turned to the moral
conquest of its conquerors, as if Celtic and not Latin Christianity was
to mould the destinies of the Churches of the West.”
It is impossible that Irish-Celtic art should not have made itself
felt wherever the Irish missionaries penetrated, and especially
in the gorgeous illuminated Gospels, which it was the pride of S.
Columban and his school to have made, and which now excite our wonder
and admiration. The early Christian art in Ireland grew out of the
late Celtic, and was, to a great extent, free from the influence of
Rome, which is stamped on the Brit-Welsh art of the same age in this
country. The style, therefore, of these circular brooches, from its
correspondence with that of the Irish illuminated gospels, affords
reasonable grounds for the belief that the Victoria Cave was inhabited
in the sixth century, or possibly later, but before the English
invaders had swept the Brit-Welsh away from the district.
Two other brooches were also discovered in the black layer, which are
even of greater interest than those which have just been described.
The one represents a dragon (colored Plate, fig. 3), with its eye made
of red enamel; the other (colored Plate, fig. 7) shaped, like the
letter S, has its front composed of an elaborate cloissonnée pattern
in red, blue, and yellow enamels, and is of the same design as two
brooches in the British Museum, discovered, one near Whittington Hill,
in Gloucestershire, and the other near Malton, in Yorkshire. All three
were, undoubtedly, turned out of the same artistic school, and they may
have been made by one workman. The enamel, in all these examples, seems
to have been inserted into hollows in the bronze, and then to have
been heated so as to form a close union with them, and in some cases
where it has been broken, as in colored Plate, fig. 7, small fragments
still remain to attest the completeness of the fusion with the bronze.
The style of workmanship is neither Roman nor Teutonic. An enamelled
fibula with spirals in relief, found at Reichenbach[54] (Soleure) in
a post-Roman sepulchre, and figured by Bonstettin, is of a similar
design, and it may be traced also in two brooches obtained by the Abbé
Cochet, from the Merovingian Cemetery of Envermeu,[55] although they
are of more massive and square construction than those of Yorkshire.
One harp-shaped brooch (colored Plate, fig. 1) is ornamented with
diamonds of blue enamel, separated by small triangles of red, and shows
in its Roman design and Celtic ornamentation the union between Celtic
and Roman art. A similar specimen from Brough Castle, Westmoreland, is
preserved in the British Museum, and may have been turned out of the
same workshop. We also met with an enamelled disk (colored Plate, fig.
6), and a finger-ring (fig. 4) of bronze-gilt, ornamented with blue
enamel.
Several enamelled fibulæ in the British Museum, obtained by Sir James
Musgrave, at Kirby Thore, Westmoreland, belong to the same style of art
as those of the Victoria cave, and were associated with the same class
of remains. Shields,[56] scabbards, horse trappings, and other articles
have also been discovered in this county, decorated in the same fashion
with coloured enamels, and especially a bronze vase from the late Roman
tumuli, called the Bartlow Hills. They all belong to the class termed
“late Celtic” by Mr. Franks, and are considered by him to be of British
manufacture.
This view is supported by the only reference to the art of enamelling
which is furnished by the classical writers. Philostratus, a Greek
sophist, who left Athens in the beginning of the third century to join
the Court of Julia Domna, the wife of the Emperor Severus, writes:--“It
is said that the barbarians living in or by the ocean, pour these
colors (those of the horse trappings) on heated bronze, that these
adhere, grow as hard as stone, and preserve the designs that are made
in them.”[57] Mr. Franks’ opinion that this passage relates to Britain,
seems to be more probable than that of the eminent French archæologist,
M. de Laborde, who holds that it relates to Gaul and especially to
“Belgica.”[58]
When we consider the variety of enamelled objects which have been
discovered in the north of England, it seems to be by no means
improbable that the principal centre of the art enamelling was
here rather than in the south; and this conclusion is considerably
strengthened by the fact that under the Romans political power centered
in the district between the Humber and the Tyne, and that York, and not
London, was the capital of Britain and the seat of the Roman Prefect.
It is worthy of remark, that since the Emperor Severus built the wall
which bears his name, marched in person against the Caledonians, and
died at York, the account of the enamels may have been brought to the
court of the Empress Julia from this very region, and thus come to be
recorded by Philostratus.
Two harp-shaped fibulæ, obtained by Mr. Jackson from the Victoria
cave, and ornamented with enamel, are coated with silver, and in one
of them two small blocks of that metal still remain firmly imbedded in
the bronze. It is very probable that most of the ornaments were plated
either with silver or gold, traces of which, in some cases, still
remain.
Among the miscellaneous objects in metal are a bronze wire brooch
(colored Plate, fig. 8), two bracelets, composed of twisted bronze-gilt
wire; and one fragment in solid bronze, ornamented with right lines;
one plain bronze finger-ring; two small buckles, respectively of bronze
and of iron, and a small bronze flattened pin (colored Plate, fig. 2),
ending in two points to which, at first, we were unable to assign a
use. When, however, the two points were compared with the circles on
the ornaments of bone (Fig. 22), there was but little doubt that this
curious object was employed as a pair of fixed compasses. There were
also iron articles which were too much corroded to admit of a guess at
their probable use, besides a Roman key, knife-blades, and a spear-head
discovered by Mr. Jackson.
The number of ornaments found in the Victoria Cave from time to time
by various explorers is very considerable. They are scattered in the
private collections of Messrs. Jackson and Eckroyd Smith, and in the
Museums of Giggleswick Grammar-school, and of Leeds, and the British
Museum.
_Similar remains in other Caves in Yorkshire._
The Victoria cave is by no means the only one in the district that
has furnished works of art and the remains of animals. The Albert
cave (Fig. 19, _c_.) close by is, as yet, only explored sufficiently
to prove that it contains the same kind of objects; and from that
of Kelko, overlooking Giggleswick, they have been obtained by Mr.
Jackson;[59] as well as from that of Dowker-bottom between Arncliffe
and Kilnsay, by Mr. James Farrer and Mr. Denny.[60] From the last,
seven spoon-shaped brooches of bone, and two spindle-whorls of Samian
ware of the bottom of a vase, are preserved in the British Museum, as
well as a bronze needle, and brooches both harp-shaped and discoid,
and fragments of pottery. Three coins in bronze, according to Mr.
Farrer,[61] prove that the date of the accumulation is late or
post-Roman, one being of Claudius Gothicus, whose reign ended A.D. 270,
and two belonging to the Tetrici, A.D. 267-273, since they would remain
in circulation for some time after they were struck. A bronze pin, in
the possession of Mr. Jackson, from Dowker-bottom, is remarkable for
the head being plated with silver.
The fragment of flattened antler from this cave, referred by Mr. Denny
to the elk, most probably belongs to the crown of an old antler of the
stag, and the remains of the “Canis primævus” of that author cannot be
distinguished from those of a large dog. The bones of the wolf, and an
enormous stag in the Museum of the Philosophical Society at Leeds, are
probably much older than the Brit-Welsh stratum.
_These Caves used as Places of Refuge._
The presence of these works of art, in association with the remains
of the domestic animals used for food, is only to be satisfactorily
accounted for in the way proposed by Mr. Dixon. Men accustomed to
luxury and refinement were compelled, by the pressure of some great
calamity, to flee for refuge, and to lead a half-savage life in
these inclement caves, with whatever they could transport thither
of their property. They were also accompanied by their families, for
the number of personal ornaments and the spindle-whorls imply the
presence of the female sex. We may also infer that they were cut off
from the civilization to which they had been accustomed, since they
were compelled to extemporize spindle-whorls out of the pieces of the
vessels that they brought with them, instead of using those which had
been manufactured for the purpose.
_The evidence of History as to the Date._
We have already seen from the examination of the coins, that the
Victoria cave was occupied during or after the first half of the fifth
century, and from the works of art that it may have been, and probably
was, occupied at a later time. To fix the latest possible limit to the
occupation of the group of caves to which it belongs, we must appeal to
contemporary history.
During the first four centuries of Roman dominion in Britain, the
spread of the manners and arts of the great mistress of the world
followed close upon her success in arms; and the policy of one of the
greatest of her generals, Agricola, bore fruit in the adoption of her
civilization by the British provincials. The population clustered
round the Roman stations, and cities sprang up, such as Chester, Bath,
York, and Lincoln, between which a ready communication was maintained
by the roads that still remain as monuments of engineering skill, and
which, in many cases, have been used uninterruptedly from that time to
the present day. Agriculture was carried on to such an extent, that
Britain became one of the principal corn-producing regions of the Roman
Empire; and a commerce with foreign countries was carried on from
the ports on the banks of the Thames and the Severn (Gildas, i.).
The mineral sources were also fully explored; tin was sought in the
mines of Cornwall, lead in those of Derbyshire and Somersetshire, and
iron in the forest of Dean, Sussex, and Northumberland. Nor was this
material prosperity unaccompanied by the signs of luxury and culture.
Numerous villas were dotted throughout the province, resembling in size
and plan the quadrangle of a mediæval college at Oxford or Cambridge,
and even in ruins astonishing us by their magnitude and the beauty
of their tessellated pavements. York was the capital of the province
and the centre of government, and consequently Yorkshire must have
been, if anything, more completely penetrated with the Roman arts and
civilization than any other part of Britain. The relation of the Roman
conquerors to the conquered Celtic inhabitants was somewhat analogous
to that which now exists between the English and the subject nations
in India. Latin was the language spoken by the higher classes in the
cities, of the army, and probably of the courts of law; while in the
country the Celtic tongue held its ground, and still survives in the
language of Wales. Christianity was probably professed in this country
about the time of Constantine, and became the dominant religion by the
middle of the fifth century, if not before.
Underneath all the outward signs of prosperity during the Roman rule
in Britain, there were causes at work which ensured the ruin of the
province. The policy of centralization, and the very perfection of
the machinery for government on autocratic principles, which brought
about the destruction of the Roman Empire, as in our own days they have
nearly ruined France, bore fruit in Britain in the helpless apathy of
the provincials when the machinery was broken up. It is therefore no
wonder that when the Roman garrison was finally withdrawn from this
country, in the year 409, the provincials were left an easy prey to
their enemies. Nor need we wonder that they set up isolated centres of
government, which we may term communes, in the year 410, in which each
city stood out for itself, instead of combining together for the common
weal. From this time forward the inhabitants of the Roman province
of Britain, severed from the Roman Empire, became a prey to the many
tyrants who sprang up, and the anarchy followed so pathetically
described by Gildas. It was at this time that the coinage became
debased, and Roman coins afforded the patterns for the small bronze
minimi of the Settle cave,[62] which are so abundant among the ruins of
Roman cities in this country, such as St. Alban’s.
The invaders of Britain must now be considered. The Picts and Scots
had secured a rude liberty under the protection of their mountains
and morasses, rather than by their success in arms against the Roman
legions, and their raids into the Roman province had been curbed by the
walls and lines of forts, extending, the one from the Firth of Forth
to the Firth of Clyde, the other from the Solway Firth to the Tyne.
In spite of these, however, from time to time, in the fourth century,
they carried desolation into Northumberland and Yorkshire, even if they
did not penetrate farther into the south. And on the withdrawal of the
Roman legions, at the beginning of the fifth century, their raids were
organized on a much larger scale. In the pages of Gildas we have a
melancholy picture of their results. In the letter written to Ætius,
the Roman commander in Gaul, in 446, the Britains are described as
sheep, and the Picts and Scots as wolves. “The barbarians drive us back
to the sea; the sea drives us back again to perish at the hands of the
barbarians,” are the words put into the mouth of the embassy.[63] One
plea for aid, which they advanced, is especially interesting, because
it shows incidentally that the Roman civilization did not disappear
with the withdrawal of the legions--the plea that unless they were
succoured the name of Rome would be dishonoured. Nerved by despair, the
British in the following year take up arms, and, according to Gildas,
leave their houses and lands, and taking shelter in mountains and
forests, and in caves,[64] succeed in driving back their Pictish and
Scottish enemies.
It is very significant that _caves_ should be mentioned in this
account; for the region of Craven is one of the very few in the country
in which they are sufficiently abundant to allow of their being used
as places of shelter on a scale sufficiently large to be recorded in
history; and when we consider that one of the natural highways from
Scotland into central England lies through that district, it seems to
me extremely probable that the group of caves of which Victoria is
one is that referred to. On this point it is worthy of record, that
in the year 1745, when the younger Pretender was at Shap, and it was
doubtful whether he would take the route through Ribblesdale or by way
of Preston, the eldest son of one of the landowners near Settle, was
hidden, along with the family plate, in a Cave close to the Victoria,
in the belief that the Highlanders were in the habit of eating children
as well as of laying hands on the precious metals. The historical
notice tallies exactly with the geographical position, and is not
inconsistent with the evidence offered by the coins and other remains.
The date, therefore, of the occupation may probably be assigned as
about the middle of the fifth century.
This, however, is not the latest date that can be assigned. In the year
449, the three ships which contained Hengist and his warriors, landed
at Ebbsfleet, in Thanet, and the first English colony was founded
among a people who were known to the strangers as “Brit-Welsh.”[65]
From that time a steady immigration of Angle, Jute, Saxon, and Frisian
set in towards the eastern coast of Britain, as far north as the
Firth of Forth, until, in the first half of the sixth century, the
whole of the eastern part of our island was taken possession of by
various tribes,[66] whose names, for the most part, still survive in
the names of our counties. The principal rivers also afforded them a
free passage into the heart of the country, and the kingdom of Mercia
gradually expanded until it embraced, not only the basin of the Trent,
but reached as far as the line of the Severn. The river Humber afforded
a base of operations for the Anglian freebooters, who founded the
kingdom of Deira or modern Yorkshire; while the camp of Bamborough
was the centre from which Ida, who landed with fifty ships in the
year 547, conquered Bernicia, or the region extending from the river
Tees to Edinburgh. The tide of English colonization rolled steadily
westward, until, at the close of the sixth century, the hilly and
impassable districts culminating in the Pennine Chain, and extending
southwards from Cumberland and Westmoreland, through Yorkshire and
Derbyshire, formed the barrier between the Brit-Welsh kingdoms of Elmet
and Strathclyde on the east, and the English on the west. To the south
of this the Brit-Welsh dominion was bounded by the river Severn, and
included Chester and the whole of the basin of the Dee; while Somerset,
Devon, and Cornwall, and the district round Bradford and Malmesbury
formed the kingdom of West Wales.[67]
The long war by which the borders of England were gradually pushed to
the west, at the expense of the Brit-Welsh, was one of the most fearful
of which we have any record. The English invaders came over, with
their wives and children and household stuff, in such force that the
country which they left behind was left desolate for several centuries.
Worshippers of Thor and Odin, and living a free life, equally
divided between farming, hunting, and war, they were mortal foes to
Christianity and to Roman civilization. They destroyed the Brit-Welsh
cities with fire and sword; and the ashes of the Roman villas, which
are to be found in nearly every part of the Roman province of Britain,
testify to the keenness of their hate to everything which was at once
Christian, Roman, and Celtic. Gildas forcibly describes the destruction
which they wrought among his countrymen, by the metaphor that “the
flame kindled in the east, raged over nearly all the land, until it
flared red over the western ocean.”[68] In the conquered districts the
Brit-Welsh were either exterminated or enslaved, and their civilization
was wholly replaced by the rude culture of the English.
It follows, from the nature of this conquest, that any group of
remains, such as those in the caves under consideration, must be
assigned to the time before the English had possession of the district,
and we must therefore see what historical proof is to be found on the
point.
At the close of the sixth century the Brit-Welsh kingdom of Elmet
(in the basin of the river Aire)--a name which still survives in
Barwick-in-Elmet, a little village about seven miles to the north-east
of Leeds--extended over the country round Leeds and Bradford, passing
westwards towards, if not into, Lancashire, and northwards probably
so as to embrace Ribblesdale, and forming a barrier to the westward
advance of the English possessors of eastern Yorkshire. Its downfall
will give us the latest possible limit which we are seeking for the
Brit-Welsh occupation of the Victoria Cave. The two kingdoms of Deira
and Bernicia had united to form the powerful state of Northumbria,
at the beginning of the seventh century, under Æthelfrith, who
carried on the war against the Brit-Welsh with greater vigour than
his predecessors. In 607[69] he marched along the line of the
Trent, through Staffordshire, avoiding thereby the difficult and
easily-defended hilly country of Derbyshire and East Lancashire, to
the battle near Chester, famous for the destruction of the power of
Strathclyde, and the death of the monks of Bangor, who fought against
him with their prayers. By this decisive blow, the English first set
foot on the coast of the Irish Channel, and Strathclyde and Elmet, on
the one hand, were cut asunder from Wales. On the other Chester was
so thoroughly destroyed that it remained in ruins for nearly three
centuries, to be rebuilt by Æthelflæd, “the Lady of the Mercians,” in
907, and the plains of Lancashire lay open to the invader.[70] This
western advance of the Northumbrians was completed by the conquest of
Elmet, in 616, by Eadwine, and the whole district from Edinburgh, as
far south as the Humber, and as far west as Chester, became subject to
his rule.[71] The latest possible date, therefore, that can be assigned
for the occupation of these caves by the Brit-Welsh is determined by
that event. It cannot be later than the first quarter of the seventh
century, or the time when what remained of Roman art and civilization
in that district was swept away by the ancestors of the present
dalesmen. The relics in the caves must have been accumulated in the two
centuries which elapsed between the recall of the legions in the days
of Honorius and the English conquest. They are traces of the anarchy
which existed in those times, and they tell a tale of woe, wrought on
the Brit-Welsh, by Pict, Scot, or Englishman, as eloquently as the
lament of Gildas, or the mournful verses of Talliesin. They complete
the picture of the desolation of those times revealed by the ashes of
the villas and cities which were burned by the invaders.
We have now examined the evidence as to date offered by the contents
of these caves, and we have seen that it agrees with the contemporary
history. It may therefore be concluded that it lies in the fifth and
sixth centuries, possibly the first quarter of the seventh.
_The Neolithic Stratum._
[Illustration: FIG. 26.--Bone Harpoon (natural size).]
This occupation of the Victoria Cave by the Brit-Welsh is a mere
episode in its history. It was inhabited by man in the neolithic age,
at a time so remote that the interval between it and the historical
period can only be measured by the rude method by which geologists
estimate the relative age of the rocks. At the entrance the dark
Romano-Celtic or Brit-Welsh stratum (Fig. 20, No. 4; Fig. 21, No. 4)
lay buried, as we have seen, under an accumulation of angular fragments
of stone which had fallen from the cliff. It rested on a similar
accumulation (Fig. 20, No. 3; Fig. 21, No. 3) which was no less than
six feet thick, and at the bottom of this, at the point where it was
based on a stiff grey clay, a bone harpoon (Fig. 26) was discovered, as
well as charcoal; a bone bead (Fig. 27), three rude flint flakes, and
the broken bones of the brown bear, stag, horse, and Celtic shorthorn
(_Bos longifrons_). The harpoon is a little more than three inches
long, with the head armed with two barbs on each side, and the base
presenting a mode of securing attachment to the handle which has not
before been discovered in Britain. Instead of a mere projection to
catch the ligatures by which it was bound to the shaft, there is a
well-cut barb on either side, pointing in a contrary direction to those
which form the head. Ample use for such an instrument would be found in
Malham tarn, some three miles off, and very probably also in that which
formerly existed close by at Attermire, but which has been choked up by
peat, and is now turned into grass-land by drainage. The remains of the
brown bear consist of numerous hollow bones and teeth, and the shaft
of a femur with its articular ends broken off, has been polished by
friction against some soft substance, so that its surface has a lustre
like that of glass.
[Illustration: FIG. 27. Bone-bead (natural size.)]
The question naturally arises, who were the ancient inhabitants of the
cave whose rude implements occur in this lower stratum? From the few
remains which we discovered, they were hunters and fishermen, and the
possessors of domestic oxen, and possibly horses, and in a much lower
state of civilization than the Brit-Welsh inhabitants who succeeded
them in the cave after a long interval. There is no proof that they
used a coinage, or that they were acquainted with metal. The conclusion
that they were neolithic is based on the following evidence:--In 1871
the Exploration Committee examined a small cave about 200 yards off,
in King’s Scar, and obtained the broken bones of the stag, Celtic
short-horn (_Bos longifrons_), goat, and horse, a whetstone, and a
rudely chipped scraper, to which, subsequently, Mr. John Birkbeck,
jun., made the important addition of part of a human thigh-bone. This
set of remains, the human thigh-bone excepted, agrees with those in the
lower stratum in the Victoria Cave, not merely in the absence of metal,
but also in affording signs of a comparatively rude civilization;
and we might reasonably expect that the two caves so close to each
other, would have been occupied by the same people at approximately
the same time. If this be allowed, the thigh-bone may be assigned to
one of these earlier inhabitants, the place of habitation being, as
is frequently the case, subsequently used for purposes of burial. The
thigh-bone itself is characterized by the great development of the
muscular ridge known to anatomists as the _linea aspera_, implying
the peculiar flatness of shin which is termed by Professor Busk
platycnemism. This peculiar form has been met with in the neolithic
tumuli of Yorkshire, explored by the Rev. Canon Greenwell, as well as
in the human remains which I have discovered in the neolithic caves and
chambered tombs of Denbighshire; and since it has not been observed
in any human skeletons in this country which are not of that age, it
may be fairly taken to prove that a neolithic people formerly lived in
Ribblesdale. And further, since the traces of rude culture met with
in these two caves are the same as those which characterize neolithic
burial and dwelling places throughout Europe, they may be assigned to
that remote age. Similar human remains were obtained by Mr. Farrer from
the Dowker-bottom Cave, and imply that that cave also was used as a
neolithic burial-place.
The identification of this race with the Basque or Iberian stock, from
which are descended the small, dark peoples of Derbyshire, Wales, and
certain parts of Ireland, must be referred to the chapters on the
Neolithic Caves.
[Illustration: FIG. 28.--Stone Adze: _a_, side view; _b_, edge (natural
size).]
The reputed discovery of an adze (Fig. 28), of a variety of greenstone
which Mr. Wyndham identifies with melaphyr, many years ago in the
Victoria Cave, may offer additional evidence as to its having been
occupied by a neolithic tribe. It was presented to the Museum of the
Philosophical Society at Leeds by Mr. Jackson, and figured by Mr. Denny
among the remains from the Caves of Craven, and presents characters
that have not, to my knowledge, been met with in any other neolithic
implement found in Great Britain: one end being roughly chipped for
insertion into a socket, while the other is carefully ground into a
chisel edge. In these respects, as Mr. O’Callaghan and Mr. Denny have
observed, it bears a striking resemblance to the stone adzes used by
the South Sea Islanders, and especially in Tahiti;--a resemblance
so strong that, unless it had been traced from the hands of the
discoverer into the Museum at Leeds, it would be considered by many
archæologists as an implement actually obtained from the South Seas.
It may have been derived from the lower stratum, which furnished the
equally peculiar harpoon, Fig. 26.
_The Approximate Date of the Neolithic Occupation._
From the position in which these remains occurred, it is obvious that
a neolithic tribe occupied the cave before the accumulation of the
angular fragments, six feet in thickness (Fig. 20, No. 3; Fig. 21, No.
3), just as the date of the Brit-Welsh occupation is fixed as being
after this, and before the accumulation of the two feet of débris
above (No. 5). And in this we have a means of roughly estimating the
interval of time between them. It is clear that the accumulation of
two feet of angular fragments, torn away by the action of the weather
from the cliff, has been formed in about 1,200 years, _i.e._ between
the Brit-Welsh occupation and the present time. If it be admitted that
equal quantities of the cliff have been weathered away in equal times,
it will follow that the thickness of six feet between the Brit-Welsh
stratum and that under examination was formed during a time thrice as
long, or 3,600 years; and that consequently the date of the earlier
occupation of the cave by man is fixed as being about 4,800, or 5,000
years ago. It is perfectly true, that in ancient times the frosts
may have been more intense than they are now, and therefore that
the rate of weathering may have been faster. To the objection that
possibly a large mass of cliff may have tumbled down at one time, and
subsequently been disintegrated, it may be answered, that at the point
at the entrance where the section was taken there was no evidence of
any such fall; the angular blocks, both above and below the Brit-Welsh
stratum, being as nearly as possible of the same size, and not lying
with their faces parallel to each other, as would have been the case
had they been disintegrated fallen blocks. Nevertheless this attempt
to fix a date cannot lay claim to scientific precision, and in that
respect is neither better, nor worse, than any other similar attempt
founded on the rate at which a valley is being excavated, or alluvium
being deposited, or on the retrocession of a waterfall, such, for
example, as Niagara. It is merely valuable as enabling us to form some
sort of idea of the high antiquity of the neolithic men who left these
remains behind in the cave.
As the trench (see Figs. 20, 21) begun on the outside passed into the
entrance of the cave, the accumulation of stones above the neolithic
stratum disappeared, and the latter became intermingled with the
Brit-Welsh layer above, so that it would have been impossible to
distinguish the one from the other had not the talus marked the
interval in the plateau outside. The talus also above the Brit-Welsh
stratum ceased at the entrance, although here and there large blocks
of stone, fallen from time to time from the roof, rested on its upper
surface.
_The Grey Clays._
Immediately below the neolithic stratum, a deposit of stiff grey clay
of unknown depth occupies both the entrance and the inside of the cave
(Figs. 20, 21), containing fragments of limestone and large angular
blocks which had fallen from the roof. A shaft sunk to a depth of
twenty-five feet near the entrance failed to arrive at the bottom, but
presented the following section in descending order: stiff grey clay
with layer of stalagmite six feet thick; a finely laminated calcareous
clay twelve feet thick; and below, a similar bed of clay to that on the
surface. In a second shaft sunk to the depth of twelve feet farther
within the cave, the base of the grey clay was not reached.[72]
[Illustration: FIG. 29.--Section below Grey Clay at entrance.]
A third shaft, at the entrance, however, penetrated the clay, No.
1 of Figs. 20, 21, 29, at a depth of about five feet, and revealed
the existence below of a reddish-grey loamy cave-earth (Fig. 29, A),
containing bones and teeth of the same animals as those from the
caverns of Kent’s Hole, Wookey Hole, and others, which belonged to a
group that invaded Europe before the glacial period, and that inhabited
the region north of the Alps and the Pyrenees in pre- and post-glacial
times.[73]
We subsequently discovered the cave-earth to be from three to four feet
thick, and that it rested on an accumulation (Fig. 29, B) of large
blocks of limestone, the interstices between which were filled with
clay, sometimes laminated and at others homogeneous, as well as with
coarse sand. Below this we broke into an empty passage, one side of
which was formed by the solid rock, and the other of blocks of stone
imbedded in the clay.
As we opened out a horizontal passage towards the cave-earth, A, from
the outside, the talus (Fig. 29, C) of angular débris was cut through
first, which gradually became more and more clayey in its lower
portions: at one point, D, there were several glaciated blocks, some
imbedded in clay and others perfectly free. It rested obliquely on the
edges of the cave-earth, and passed gradually at the entrance into the
clay occupying the interior of the cave.
_The Pleistocene Occupation by Hyænas._
The remains of the spelæan variety of the spotted hyæna were very
abundant in the cave-earth, consisting of fragments of skulls, jaws,
and bones, and especially of coprolites, which formed irregular floors,
accumulated during successive occupations of the cave by that animal.
All the bones were gnawed and scored by teeth, the lower jaws were
without the angle and coronoid process (see Fig. 92), and the hollow
bones which contain marrow were broken, while those which were solid
and marrowless were for the most part perfect: and this held good, not
merely of the remains of the hyæna, but of those of all the animals
which constituted their prey. The bones, for example, of the woolly
rhinoceros are represented merely by the hard distal portion of the
shaft of the humerus, and of the solid bones of the ulna and radius,
while the only portions of skull are the solid pedestal offered by the
nasal bones on which the front horn was supported, and a few smaller
fragments. The pedestal in question is depicted by the dark shaded
portion of Fig. 30, the outline of the skull and lower jaw being taken
from one of Professor Brandt’s plates of the Woolly Rhinoceros found in
Siberia.[74] The teeth which imply the presence of the mammoth (milk
molars 3 and 4) were those of a young individual, as is very generally
the case in caves which have been occupied by hyænas. The young would
naturally be more exposed to the attack of those cowardly beasts of
prey than the adult, armed with its long curved tusks, and defended,
not merely by its thick skin, but also by the covering of wool and
long hair which is peculiar to the species. Besides these animals, the
reindeer, red-deer, bison, horse, the brown, grizzly, and great cave
bears, were preyed upon by the hyænas and dragged into the cave. All
these species were discovered within an area of a few square yards of
cave-earth, which passes into the interior of the cave under the grey
clay. They belong to that well-defined group known as pleistocene,
quaternary, or post-pleiocene, which was proved to have inhabited
Yorkshire[75] in ancient times from Dr. Buckland’s discoveries in
Kirkdale, and Mr. Denny’s examination of the river-deposit at Leeds, in
which the remains of the hippopotamus were obtained.
[Illustration: FIG. 30.--Skull of Woolly Rhinoceros, showing the part
which is not eaten by the hyænas.]
The last and most important addition to this fauna is that of man, a
fragment of fibula in the same mineral condition as the rest of the
pleistocene bones, having been identified by Professor Busk with an
unusually massive recent human fibula. Although the fragment is very
small, its comparison with the abnormal specimen in Professor Busk’s
possession removes all doubt from my mind, as to its having belonged
to a man, who was contemporary with the cave-hyæna and the other
pleistocene animals found in the cave.
_The probable Pre-glacial Age of the Pleistocene Stratum._
Is this occupation of the Victoria Cave by the pleistocene mammalia
pre-glacial or post-glacial?--before, or after, the great lowering
of the temperature in northern Europe? This difficult question can
only be answered by an appeal to the physical history of the clay and
cave-loam, and to the evidence as to glacial action in the district,
and to the distribution of the mammalia in Great Britain during the
pleistocene period. Glaciers have left their marks in nearly every
part of Lancashire and Yorkshire, and especially in the neighbourhood
of the Victoria Cave. The hill-sides around are studded with large
ice-borne Silurian rocks; boulder-clay occupies nearly every hollow on
the elevated plateaux; and moraines are to be observed in nearly every
valley. At the entrance of the cave itself, ice-scratched Silurian
grit-stones are imbedded in the clay, which abuts directly on the
cave-loam, and passes insensibly into the clay, with angular blocks of
limestone within the cave. They may possibly be the constituents of a
lateral moraine _in situ_, as Mr. Tiddeman suggests, or they may merely
be derived from the waste of boulder-clay which has dropped from a
higher level.
The latter view seems to me to be most likely to be true, because some
of the boulders have been deprived of the clay in which they were
imbedded, and are piled on each other with empty space between them,
the clay being carried down to a lower level and re-deposited. Their
position, however, on the edges of the cave-earth implies, in any case,
that they had been dropped after its accumulation.
There is another point to be considered in the physical evidence. The
deposits above the cave-earth, occupying the interior and entrance
of the cave, have been introduced by the rains, either through the
entrance, or through the crevices which penetrate the roof, and consist
of a finer detritus washed out of the boulder-clay on the surface at a
higher level. The cave-earth, however, although it has been introduced
in the same way, cannot be accounted for on the supposition that it was
derived from the boulder-clay, with which it contrasts in the fact that
it is a loam, of a reddish grey colour, containing a large percentage
of carbonate and phosphate of lime.
Similar deposits, characterized by their red colour, are to be found
in nearly all the caves of the south of England, in France, and
southern Europe, not complicated, as here, by the glacial phenomena
of the district. Had the layer been formed in the Victoria Cave, from
the destruction of the boulder-clay, it would have been identical in
composition with the deposits above.
The laminated portions of the grey clay are considered by Mr. Tiddeman
to have been formed by the flow of water through the entrance, derived
from the daily melting of the glacier which occupied the valley in
ancient times, and he compares it with a similar lamination in the
boulder-clay at Ingleton, which has been described by Mr. Binney in
the neighbourhood of Clifton, near Manchester, under the expressive
name of “book-leaves.” Since, however, similar accumulations are being
formed at the present time at the bottom of pools in many caves, as,
for example, in that of Ingleborough, they cannot be taken to imply a
glacial origin. They are not found merely in one spot in the Victoria
Cave, but are scattered, more or less, through the general mass of
the clay, and occur abundantly even below the cave-earth, having been
deposited in the interstices between the large blocks of limestone.
In these positions they are of uncertain age, and there is no reason
why some of the hollows which we discovered below the cave-earth (Fig.
29, B) should not be filled with them at the present time by the heavy
rains. They dip at all angles, and are conformable to the surfaces on
which they have been dropped.
The most important argument in favour of the pre-glacial age of the
mammaliferous cave-earth is afforded by the range of the animals in
Great Britain during the time that certain areas were occupied by
glaciers. In a paper read before the Geological Society in 1869, I
showed that those areas in Great Britain in which the marks of glaciers
were the freshest and most abundant coincided with those which were
barren of the remains of the pleistocene mammalia, and I therefore
inferred that this was due to the fact, that the areas in question were
covered by ice at the time that pleistocene animals were so numerous in
the caves, and river-deposits of southern and eastern England, and on
the continent. In a map published in 1871, Cumberland, Westmoreland,
Lancashire, and the greater portion of Yorkshire are represented as
being one of these barren areas, in which no pleistocene mammalia
have been observed. It is obvious that the hyænas, bears, mammoths,
and other creatures found in the pleistocene stratum, could not have
occupied the district when it was covered by ice; and had they lived
soon after the retreat of the ice-sheet, their remains would occur in
the river-gravels, from which they are absent throughout a large area
to the north of a line drawn between Chester and York, whilst they
occur abundantly in the glacial river deposits south of that line. On
the other hand, they belong to a fauna, that overran Europe, and must
have occupied this very region before the glacial period, since their
remains have been found in pre-glacial strata to the north in Scotland,
to the south at Selsea, and to the east in Norfolk and Suffolk. It
may, therefore, reasonably be concluded that they occupied the cave
in pre-glacial times, and that the stratum in which their remains
lie buried, was protected from the grinding of the ice-sheet, which
destroyed nearly all the surface accumulations in the river-valleys, by
the walls and roof of rock, which has since, to a great extent, been
weathered away.[76] This view is also held by Mr. Tiddeman.
The exploration of the Victoria Cave, which has hitherto yielded such
interesting evidence of three distinct occupations--first by hyænas,
then by neolithic men, and lastly by the Brit-Welsh, is by no means
complete. The cave itself is of unknown depth and extent, and the mere
removal of so much earth and clay as it is at present known to contain
will be a labour of years. The results of the exploration, up to the
present time, are of almost equal value to the archæologist, to the
historian, and the geologist, and prove how close is the bond of union
between three branches of human thought which at first sight appear
remote from each other. The discussion of the problems connected with
the neolithic and pleistocene strata must be referred to the fifth and
following chapters.
_The Kirkhead Cave._
Other caves in this country, besides the group under consideration in
Yorkshire, have been occupied by the Brit-Welsh. That known as the
Kirkhead Cave, on the eastern shore of the Promontory of Cartmell, on
the northern shore of Morecambe Bay, explored by Mr. J. P. Morris,[77]
and a Committee of the Anthropological Society in 1864-5, contained
remains of the same type as those of the Brit-Welsh stratum in the
Victoria Cave. In the débris which formed the floor and extended to
an unknown depth below, a coin of Domitian, “a trefoil-shaped Roman
fibula,” a pin, ornamented with green enamel, and a bronze ring were
discovered in association with broken remains of domestic animals--_Bos
longifrons_, pig and goat, dog and horse, as well as stag, roe, wild
goose, and many human bones. A bronze celt and a spear-head were also
found, at a depth respectively of five and six feet, and a flint flake
at a depth of seven feet; and fragments of pottery, a bead of amber,
cut bones, the perforated head of the femur, and other articles. From
this group of remains it may be inferred that the cave was occupied by
the Brit-Welsh, and before them by the users of bronze, and possibly by
a neolithic people, and that it had at some time or another been used
as a place of burial. Just inside the entrance, which overlooked the
sea at a height of 45 feet, a semi-circular breastwork of large stones
rendered the cave habitable, and capable of easy defence.
Mr. Morris’s view that the discovery of a bronze celt, flint flakes,
and coins in this cave proves that all three were in use at the same
time, and by the same people, is not borne out by the published account
of the excavation. There is no proof that the deposit had not been
disturbed, or that the articles were not dropped at different times.
And in support of this conclusion, it may be advanced, that there is
no case on record of the discovery of bronze celts or swords along
with any Roman coins under conditions which would prove that they were
in use at the same time. Had such been the case the ruins of the many
Roman villas and cities, destroyed by the English, would have furnished
some examples. At Silchester, even such a rare article as a Roman eagle
has been met with. There is every reason to believe with Sir John
Lubbock, Mr. Evans, and other eminent archæologists, that the use of
bronze for weapons had been superseded by that of iron before the dawn
of history in this country. It is otherwise with the flint flakes;
since my discovery of several inside a Roman coffin at Hardham, near
Pulborough, in Sussex, in a cemetery that belongs to the later portion
of the Roman dominion in Britain, proves that they were used for some
purpose at that time.[78]
_Poole’s Cave, near Buxton._
In the collection of articles obtained from Poole’s Cave, in Buxton,
in Derbyshire, I identified, in 1871, in company with Mr. Pennington,
bronze Roman coins, minimi, Samian and other ware, and large quantities
of broken bones of the same animals as those from the Victoria Cave. A
bronze harp-shaped fibula of the type of Fig. 5 of the coloured Plate
is inlaid with silver, and is so perfect that it might still be used.
_Thor’s Cave, near Ashbourne._
A cave also, in Staffordshire, four miles from Ilam, explored by the
Midland Scientific Association in 1864,[79] under the supervision of
Mr. Carrington, has furnished articles of the same kind as those of
Yorkshire. It is known as Thor’s cave, and penetrates the lofty cliff
of limestone, on the south side of the river Manifold, at a height of
about 254 feet from the bottom of the valley, and about 900 feet above
the sea, running horizontally inwards, and being divided inside by a
row of buttressed columns into two noble gothic aisles. Its bottom was
occupied by clay, in which, near the entrance, there were thick layers
of charcoal at depths of two, three, and four feet below the surface,
mingled with broken bones and pottery, that indicated the spots where
fires had been kindled. The articles discovered were as follows:--
“_Bronze._--Armlet, two fibulæ of harp pattern (see coloured Plate,
Fig. 5), two plain breast-pins and rings, a curious wheel-shaped
instrument.
“_Iron._--Large triangular fork, arrow-heads, lance-heads, several
knives and a chopper, of singular shapes, reaping hook (?), adze, pins,
two girdle hooks (?), &c.
“_Bone._--Seven snags of deer’s horns, variously cut and perforated,
several others not perforated, curious bone comb ornamented with
circles, flat bone perforated with four holes, two leg-bones carved
at the ends, pin, a large quantity of bones of animals that had been
consumed for food.
“_Stone._--Greenstone pounder, fragments of querns, perforated disk, &c.
“_Pottery._--A large collection of fragments of various periods, among
the rest several pieces of true Samian ware.”
Mr. Edwin Brown, from whose report this list is taken, concludes that
Thor’s cave was occupied during “the late Celtic and Romano-Celtic
periods.” The harp-fibulæ are of a pattern identical with several of
those discovered in the Victoria Cave, and the holes at their upper
ends were probably intended for the reception of enamel. The bronze
instrument, consisting of a disk cut out into a flamboyant pattern
like that of the round brooch from the Victoria Cave (Fig. 25), and
joined to a central stem ornamented with waved lines, was intended for
suspension; possibly, as Mr. Carrington suggests, it may have been
used for spinning. It is a remarkably fine example of Brit-Welsh or
late Celtic art. The bone comb is of the same type as those from the
Brit-Welsh caves of Yorkshire. It is evident, from Mr. Brown’s account,
that there were distinct layers of occupation; but, unfortunately, the
articles found in each were not separated from the rest. One armlet
(Fig. 31), composed of a thin plate of bronze, and ornamented with a
dotted-line pattern, is of the peculiar type which is characteristic of
the bronze age.
The cave had also been used as a place of sepulture, for near “the
pulpit rock,” and at a depth of five feet from the surface, a skeleton
rested in the sitting posture which is so characteristic of neolithic
interments in Europe. It had also been entered by man even before any
of these accumulations. “In the south recess, behind and below any
traces of man’s occupation, the diggers came upon a kind of flooring
of tabular masses of breccia stretching almost across the cave, and on
one side attached firmly to the wall,” beneath which rested, in the
undisturbed clay, a deer’s horn, rudely sawn across and perforated by
two holes.
[Illustration: FIG. 31.--Bronze Bracelet from Thor’s Cave.]
Thor’s Cave, therefore, like the Victoria, has been occupied by man in
the Brit-Welsh stage of the historic period, as well as in the bronze,
and possibly in the neolithic ages.
_Historic Value of Brit-Welsh Group of Caves._
The discovery that caves were used as habitations by men accustomed
to the elegance of civilized life, not merely in Yorkshire, but in
districts so far removed from each other as Staffordshire and the
extreme north of Lancashire, during the fifth and sixth centuries,
implies the pressure of a far-reaching calamity by which they were
driven from their homes. It completes and rounds off the story of the
social condition of the country during these troubled times, which is
revealed in the sacked and burned Brit-Welsh cities and villas, as
well as in the scanty records of the English invasion.
Subsequent investigation will probably show that caves were occupied
at this time in every part of the country which was conquered by
the English. In the upper stratum of Kent’s Hole, for example, near
Torquay, similar articles, with the exception of the enamels, have been
discovered. There, however, the occupation may have been considerably
later than in the caves of Yorkshire, because the Roman civilization
was not supplanted in Devonshire by the English until the beginning of
the ninth century. The river Tamar then marked the frontier between
the English, and the Brit-Welsh of the promontory of Cornwall, which
represented the dominion of West Wales in the days of Ecgberht.[80]
In the numerous caves of Wales, on the other hand, which I have
explored, there is no trace of inhabitants of the fifth and sixth
centuries, a circumstance that is easily accounted for by the fact
that Wales was not invaded at that time by the English. There would
therefore be no reason for the civilized Brit-Welsh to fly to caves for
refuge.
_Principal Animals and Articles in Brit-Welsh Caves._
The following are the more important animals and articles found in the
group of caves under consideration. The species are identical with
those which I have tabulated from refuse-heaps of Roman age.[81]
_List of Principal Animals and Objects found in Brit-Welsh Strata in
Caves._
+-------------------------+--------+-----+-------+-----+-------+------+
| ANIMALS. |Victoria|Kelko|Dowker |Kirk |Poole’s|Thor’s|
| | | |Bottom.|head.|Cavern.|Cave. |
+-------------------------+--------+-----+-------+-----+-------+------+
| | | | | | | |
| DOMESTIC. | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
|_Canis familiaris_--Dog | X | X | X | X | X | ? |
| | | | | | | |
|_Sus scrofa_--Pig | X | X | X | X | X | ? |
| | | | | | | |
|_Equus caballus_--Horse | X | X | X | X | X | ? |
| | | | | | | |
|_Bos longifrons_--Celtic | | | | | | |
| Short-horn | X | X | X | X | X | ? |
| | | | | | | |
|_Capra hircus_--Goat | X | X | X | X | X | ? |
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| WILD. | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
|_Canis vulpes_--Fox | X | ... | X | X | X | ? |
| | | | | | | |
|_Meles taxus_--Badger | X | ... | X |... | ... | x |
| | | | | | | |
|_Cervus elaphus_--Stag | X | ... | X | X | X | ? |
| | | | | | | |
|_Cervus capreolus_--Roe | X | ... | X | X | ... | ? |
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
|Roman coins or imitations| X | X | X | X | X | X |
| | | | | | | |
|Enamelled ornaments in | | | | | | |
| bronze | X | X | X | X | ... | ... |
| | | | | | | |
|Bronze ornaments inlaid | | | | | | |
| with silver | X | X | X | ... | X | ... |
| | | | | | | |
|Iron articles | X | X | X | ... | X | X |
| | | | | | | |
|Samian ware | X | ... | X | ... | X | X |
| | | | | | | |
|Black ware | X | X | X | ... | X | X |
| | | | | | | |
|Bone-spoon fibulæ | | | | | | |
| (Fig. 22) | X | X | X | ... | ... | ... |
| | | | | | | |
|Bone combs | X | X | X | ... | ... | X |
+-------------------------+--------+-----+-------+-----+-------+------+
All the less important animals and articles are omitted from this list.
It will be observed that the brown bear, the wolf, and the fallow-deer
are absent. The brown bear was probably at this time very rare in
Britain, since its remains have been met with in but two out of the
many Roman refuse-heaps in the country, at London and Colchester. The
well-known lines of Martial, however, imply that it was imported from
Britain to Rome at this time--
“Nuda Caledonio sic pectora præbuit urso,
Haud falsa pendens in cruce Laureolus.”
It probably became extinct about the ninth or tenth century. The wolf
obviously would not be likely to be used for food, although it probably
was abundant in the district. The fallow-deer also had not penetrated
into the hilly districts, although it had become naturalized in this
country by the Romans, so as to have been frequently used as an article
of food before the English invasion. I have seen its characteristic
antlers in refuse-heaps, both in London and Colchester, which have
furnished Roman coins and pottery.
The beaver was probably very rare in the fifth and sixth centuries, and
has been met with in no cave-deposit, either historic or prehistoric,
in this country. It was, however, known to the Anglian conquerors of
Yorkshire (Northumbria), who called Beverley (lea, leag-) after its
name.
_The Use of Horseflesh._
The broken bones of the horse, in all the caves above mentioned,
leave no room to doubt that horseflesh was a common article of food
at that time. It was so, indeed, throughout Roman Britain, and after
the English invasion was used as late as the Council of Celchyth,[82]
in the year 787. It was forbidden by the Church because it was eaten
by the Scandinavian peoples in honour of Odin. In Norway,[83] Hacon,
the foster-son of Æthelstan, was compelled to eat it by the bonders,
in 956, and the revolt of the bonders which ended in the bloody battle
of Stikklestadt, in which Olaf met his death, in 1030, was caused by
his cruelties to the eaters of horseflesh. As Christianity prevailed
over the worship of Thor and Odin, it was banished from the table.
The present prejudice against its use is a remarkable instance of the
change in taste, which has been brought about by an ecclesiastical
rule aimed against a long-forgotten faith. The rule was not, however,
always obeyed, for the Monks of St. Gall, in the eleventh century, not
only ate horseflesh, but returned thanks for it, in a metrical grace,
written by Ekkehard the Younger (died 1036):--
“Sit feralis equi caro dulcis sub cruce Christi.”[84]
_The Cave of Longberry Bank._
The cave of Longberry Bank, near Penally, in Pembrokeshire, may also
be classed with those which were inhabited in historic times, since
it contained red fine-grained pottery of a kind commonly found in the
ruins of Roman villas. It was explored by the Rev. H. H. Winwood, in
1866, in whose collection are the remains of the _Bos longifrons_,
goat, badger, dog, as well as shells of oyster, large limpets and
mussel from the neighbouring shore. Some of the bones are burned.
Several human vertebræ and a metacarpal were probably the traces of an
interment of unknown date; and the two flint flakes are of uncertain
age.
The results obtained by the exploration of the caves described in this
chapter are to be taken merely as the first-fruits of a new line of
inquiry, which is likely to throw light on many points relating to art,
history, and the range of the animals, and not as being perfect or
final. On the continent, no historic caves of importance have as yet
been explored.
CHAPTER IV.
CAVES USED IN THE AGES OF IRON AND OF BRONZE.
The Difference between Historic and Prehistoric Time.--The
Prehistoric Fauna.--The Archæological Classification.--Caves of
the Iron Age.--Caves of the Bronze Age in Britain.--The Caves
of Césareda in Portugal probably occupied by Cannibals.--The Cave
of Reggio in Apulia.
_The Difference between Historic and Prehistoric Time._
It will be necessary before we examine the group of caves used by man
in prehistoric times, to point out the important difference in the
measurement of time within and beyond the borders of history. When we
speak, for example, of the date of the Norman Conquest, we imply that
we can ascertain by historical records, not merely that it succeeded
the invasion of Britain by the English or Danes, and happened before
our own time, but that the interval which separates it from those
events can be accurately measured by the unit of years. If, however,
we attempt to ascertain the date of any event which happened outside
the historical limit, we shall find that it is a question solely
of relation. When we speak, for example, of the neolithic age, we
merely mean a certain stage of human progress which succeeded the
palæolithic, and preceded the bronze age, but we have no proof of
the length of the interval dividing it from the one or the other. The
historic “when?” implies “how long ago?” the prehistoric “when?” merely
implies a definition before and after certain events, without any idea
of the measurement of the intervals.
An attempt to ascertain the absolute date of prehistoric events must
of necessity fail, since it is based on the improbable assumption
that the physical agents have acted uniformly, and that therefore the
results may be used as a natural chronometer. The present rate of the
accumulation of _débris_, as at the Victoria Cave of the preceding
chapter, or of that of silt in the deltas of rivers, such as the Nile,
or the Tinière, may convey a rough idea of the high antiquity of
prehistoric deposits; but a slight change either of the climate, or of
the rainfall, would invalidate the conclusion. When the greater part
of Europe lay buried under forest, when Palestine supported a large
population, and when glaciers crowned some of the higher mountains of
Africa, such as the Atlas, the European and Egyptian climates were
probably moister than at the present time, and the rainfall and the
floods greater, and consequently the accumulation of sediment quicker
than the observed rate under the present conditions. And in the same
way all estimates of the lapse of past time, based upon the excavation
of a river valley, or the retrocession of a waterfall, such as Niagara,
lie open to the same kind of objection. It is not at all reasonable to
suppose that the complex conditions which regulate the present rate of
erosion, have been the same during the time the work has been done,
and it therefore follows that the work done is a measure of the power
employed, and not of the length of time during which it has been in
operation. We must, therefore, give up the idea of measuring the past
beyond the memory of man, as represented in historical documents, by
the historic unit of years. We can merely trace a definite sequence of
events, separated one from another by uncertain intervals. And for that
series of events which extends from the borders of history back to the
remote age where the geologist, descending the stream of time, meets
the archæologist, I have adopted the term prehistoric.[85]
_The Prehistoric Fauna._
The prehistoric period is characterized by the arrival of the domestic
animals in Europe, under the care of man. The dog, swine, horse,
horned-sheep, goat, _Bos longifrons_, and the larger ox descended from
an ancestor, according to Professor Rütimeyer, of the type of the great
Urus, make their appearance together, in association with the remains
of man, in the neolithic stage of civilization.[86] Subsequently they
spread over the whole of our continent, for the most part under the
care of man. The _Bos longifrons_, however, and possibly also the
Urus, reverted to feral conditions, just as the horses and oxen, in
the Americas and Australia, have done at the present time, and their
remains are therefore frequently found in association with animals
undoubtedly wild. The domestic horse, the variety of hog descended
from the wild boar, and the domestic cattle derived from the Urus, may
possibly have passed under the yoke of man, in Europe, since their
wild stocks were to be found in that area, both in the prehistoric
and pleistocene times. This, however, cannot be affirmed of the swine
descended from the southern variety of _Sus Indica_, or of the Celtic
shorthorn, of the sheep, or goat, since their wild ancestors were not
indigenous in Europe. These animals must have been domesticated in
some area outside Europe; and since central Asia is the region where
the wild stocks still exist, from which all the domestic animals are
descended, it is reasonable to suppose that they were domesticated
in that region, and thence introduced, by a race of shepherds and
herdsmen, into our quarter of the world.
This conclusion is considerably strengthened by the evidence which
Professor Heer has advanced, as to the vegetables used by the dwellers
on piles in the Swiss lakes, among which some, such as the two kinds of
millet, the six-rowed barley (hordeum hexastichon), the Egyptian wheat
(triticum turgidum), and a weed (Silene cretica), accidentally brought
along with them, are distinctively of southern derivation.
The most important wild animals living in this country during the
prehistoric period are the urus, the gigantic skulls of which occur
in the peat bogs of England and Scotland, the Irish elk, the moose
(_Cervus alces_), and the reindeer. The two last are far more abundant
in the north than in the south of Britain; their remains have been
discovered in the neighbourhood of London, those of both animals at
Walthamstow, and those of the latter at Crossness in Kent, on the banks
of the Thames. The remains of the bison have not been recorded from any
prehistoric deposit in this country.
The Irish elk is the only animal which has become extinct; while the
moose, or true elk, is the only wild species which has not been proved
to have been living in the preceding age. The stag was very abundant.
The prehistoric fauna is distinguished from that of the pleistocene
not merely by the appearance of the animals above mentioned, which
were hitherto unknown, but by the absence of many species which were
living during the latter period. The cave bear, woolly rhinoceros, and
mammoth, for example, became extinct, the musk-sheep and lemming were
banished from a temperate latitude to take refuge in the regions of the
north, while the spotted hyæna, the hippopotamus, and Felis caffer,
retired to the warm regions of Africa, where they are still living.
_The Archæological Classification._
The prehistoric period has been classified by the archæologists
according to the stages of human progress which it presents. At the
frontier of history, in each country, we find that the dwellers
were acquainted with the use of iron, and had found it to be the
most convenient material for the manufacture of cutting weapons and
implements. Before this the voice of tradition points out that bronze
was the only material used for these purposes, and stone before bronze.
These three stages of human culture, or the ages of iron, bronze, and
stone, have been fully verified by investigations which have been
made in various parts of Europe, into the prehistoric habitations and
burial-places of man.
This classification by no means implies an exact chronology, or that
any one of these ages, with the exception perhaps of the first, covered
the whole of Europe at the same point of time, but that the order in
which they followed each other is the same in each country which has
been explored. There is good reason for the belief, that at the time
the Egyptian and Assyrian empires were in the height of their glory,
Northern Europe was inhabited by rude polished-stone-using races. And
it is a well-ascertained fact, that while the inhabitants of Britain
and Scandinavia were in their bronze age, the Etruscans and Phœnicians
were in their full power in the south. It is obvious again, that, even
in the same country, the poorer classes must have been long content
to use the ruder and more common materials for their daily needs,
while the richer and more powerful used the rarer and more costly.
These three ages must therefore necessarily overlap. “Like the three
principal colours of the rainbow,” writes Mr. Evans,[87] “these three
stages of civilization overlap, intermingle, and shade off the one
into the other; and yet their succession, as far as Western Europe
is concerned, appears to be equally well defined with that of the
prismatic colours, though the proportions of the spectrum may vary in
different countries.” They cannot reasonably be viewed as hard and fast
lines of division, mapping off successive quantities of time.
The age of stone is subdivided by Sir John Lubbock into the neolithic
periods, or that in which polished stone was the only material used
for cutting, and the palæolithic, in which mankind had not learnt to
grind and polish his implements. The latter belongs to the pleistocene,
or quaternary period, since the palæolithic implements are found in
association with the remains of the animals characteristic of that age.
The prehistoric caves, therefore, may be divided into three classes
if the archæological method of analysis be employed: 1, into those
containing evidence of the use of iron; 2, those containing proof
of the knowledge of bronze; 3, and lastly, those in which traces of
polished stone weapons have been discovered unassociated with metals.
By the animal remains which they contain they may be distinguished
from those of the pleistocene age, both by the absence, as well as the
presence of certain species which have been enumerated.
From the archæological point of view, two out of the four ages are
still represented. Stone is, at the present time, the only material
used in the more remote regions of Australia, although it is fast being
replaced by iron, which has superseded bronze, and is spreading rapidly
over the whole earth. The group of historic caves described in the
preceding chapter may be said to belong to the iron age, that is to
say, to that later portion of it in which the events are recorded in
history.
The traces of the occupation of caves by man in the iron and bronze
ages are so extremely scarce, that it is certain that they were
but rarely used as habitations. Man had sufficiently advanced in
civilization in those times to construct artificial dwellings and tombs
for himself, instead of using the natural shelters which were so very
generally occupied in Europe by his ruder neolithic predecessors.
_Cave of the Iron Age._
In the course of the systematic exploration of caves in the Mendip
Hills, carried on by Messrs. Ayshford Sanford, Parker, and myself, a
cave was examined in Burrington Combe, near Wrington, in Somerset,
which may be referred to the iron age, and which we named Whitcombe’s
Hole. It opened upon the side of that magnificent combe, at a height
of about 135 feet from the bottom and fifteen from the top, and ran
horizontally inwards, the floor being formed of an accumulation of
earth mingled with charcoal, and containing numerous broken bones
and teeth. The latter belonged to the wolf, fox, badger, rabbit,
hare, stag, goat, and Celtic shorthorn. In the lower portion were the
fragments of a rude, unornamented urn of a coarse black ware, with the
rim turned at right angles, along with a bent piece of iron, which
bears a strong resemblance to those found strengthening the corners of
wooden coffins in the Gallo-Roman graves on the banks of the Somme. The
fractures of the bones, with one exception, were caused by the hand
of man, and not by the teeth of the carnivora. The position renders
the cave eminently fitted for concealment, for while commanding an
extensive view down the Combe, it is invisible both from above and
below, and opening on the face of an almost vertical cliff, it is
easily defended. If the urn be sepulchral, the interment must be of
a later date than the occupation, because it is made in the _débris_
which resulted from the latter.[88]
_Caves of the Bronze Age in Britain._
The cave of Heathery Burn,[89] near Stanhope, in Weardale, co. Durham,
is the only one in this country that has furnished a large series of
articles of the bronze age. It is described by Mr. Elliott as running
into the precipitous side of a ravine, at a height of about 10 to
12 feet above the level of the Stanhope Burn, and as being partially
traversed by water. Since its discovery in 1861, it has been altogether
destroyed by the removal of the stone to be used as a flux in smelting
the ore of the Weardale Iron Company, and an admirable section of its
contents was therefore visible from time to time. A stratum of sand at
the bottom, two feet nine inches thick, deposited by the stream, and
containing angular masses of limestone that had dropped from the roof,
was covered by a sheet of stalagmite three inches in thickness. On this
rested a mass of bones and implements imbedded in silt or sand, and
sealed over by a thickness of stalagmite of from two to eight inches.
[Illustration: FIG. 32.--Bronze Knife, Heathery Burn (natural size).]
[Illustration: FIG. 33.--Bronze Armlet, Heathery Burn.]
[Illustration: FIG. 34.--Bronze Spearhead, Heathery Burn (½ size).]
[Illustration: FIG. 35.--Bronze Mould for casting a socketed celt.]
On removing the upper of these two stalagmitic floors a perfect human
skull was discovered, along with broken bones of animals, charcoal,
limpet shells, bone pins, an instrument of bone like a paper-knife,
coarse pottery with fragments of chert imbedded in its mass, a portion
of a jet armlet, as well as several boars’ tusks. The same stratum
at another place furnished a singular bronze knife with a socket for
the handle (Fig. 32),[90] bronze pins, celts, an armlet of twisted
wire (Fig. 33), along with shells of limpet, mussel, and oyster, and
charcoal, and at a third, on the other side of the watercourse, a
bronze spear-head. Subsequently, many articles were added to the
above list, seven pins, three rings, two split-rings, a “razor,” disk,
three socketed celts, one chisel, two gouges, and four spear-heads of
bronze, and a fine bracelet, and two ornaments of the horse-shoe, or
split-ring type, made of thin plates of gold. One of the spear-heads,
in the collection of the Rev. Canon Greenwell, is represented in Fig.
34. There were also waste pieces of bronze, and the half of a bronze
mould for casting celts, Fig. 35, in which one of the associated celts
had actually been cast, since it is of the same pattern. These articles
were probably concealed in the cavern by workers in bronze, who were
prevented, by some unforeseen accident, from obtaining them again. The
charcoal and the broken bones of the _Bos longifrons_, badger, and dog,
imply that the cave had been used as a habitation; and possibly the
two human skulls, which have been described by Professor Huxley and
Mr. Carter Blake, may have belonged to the possessors of the hoard of
bronze and gold. Both were discovered in the same stratum and below the
floor of stalagmite.
The more perfect of the two skulls is considered by Professor Huxley to
belong to the same long-headed race of men as that found at Muskham, in
the valley of the Trent,--to a form which he terms the River-bed type,
and that cannot be separated from those obtained from the long tumuli
of the South of England, and considered by Dr. Thurnam to belong to a
Neolithic Basque, or Iberian population.
Articles distinctly of the bronze age have been already noticed as
having been met with in the caves of Kirkhead, in Cartmell, and in
Thor’s Cave, in Staffordshire. From the latter the bracelet of thin
bronze, Fig. 31, was obtained by Mr. Carrington, of Wetton. The rarity
of bronze implements in caves in Britain and the Continent is probably,
to a large extent, due to the value of the material, and to the fact
that it could be re-melted. If a bronze article happened to be broken,
the pieces would naturally be kept for future use, and not thrown away,
as in the case of a fractured stone implement. The former, therefore,
are rare, the latter comparatively abundant.
The cave called the Cat-Hole, in Gower (Glamorgan), explored by
Colonel Wood in 1864, contained several human skeletons, flint flakes,
fragments of red pottery marked with a string, cut bones, a stone
muller, and a bronze socketed celt. The last is of the same pattern
as some of those in the collection of the Rev. Canon Greenwell, from
Heathery Burn, and has been cast in a mould similar in size and
ornamentation to that figured in woodcut 35.
_The Caves of Césareda probably occupied by Cannibals._
The contents of three caves[91] in the Iberian peninsula, referable to
the dawn of the bronze age, render it very probable that the use of
human flesh was not unknown in those times.
In 1867 Senhor J. L. Delgado described his researches in the caverns
of Césareda, in the valley of the Tagus, in the Casa da Maura, Lapa
Furada, and Cova da Maura. The first of these contained two distinct
strata. The lower, consisting of sand mixed with fragments of rock,
rested on the stalagmite, and contained fragments of charcoal, one
implement of bone, and many of flint, a scraper, a flake, and an
arrow-head. The broken bones and teeth belonged to the following
animals:--The lynx, fox, brown-bear, dog and wolf, a species of deer,
the water-vole, and the rabbit. None of the remains of the carnivora
had been subjected to the action of fire, or had been used for food. A
human skull with lower jaw was dug out of the deepest part, but, since
the matrix had been disturbed, it had probably been interred after the
accumulation of the deposit.
It is recognized by Professor Busk[92] as belonging to the same long
type as the skulls of the caves of Gibraltar and the Basque graveyard,
measuring in length 6·7 inches, in breadth 5·3, in height 5·5, and
therefore possessing cephalic and latitudinal indices of ·785 and
·820.[93]
The upper stratum, a sandy loam, contained a large quantity of stones,
and numerous articles fabricated by man: polished-stone axes, flakes,
and other instruments of flint, bone, and antler, fragments of coarse
black pottery, with bits of calcareous spar imbedded in its substance,
and two plates of schist ornamented with a rude design, which may have
been used as amulets. Fragments of charcoal were scattered throughout
the matrix, and adhered to some of the pottery and to the burnt
pebbles. The most abundant remains were those of man. They were to be
counted by thousands, and were so fragmentary and scattered that it was
impossible to put together one perfect skeleton. The teeth, belonging
for the most part to children or fully-grown adults, were particularly
abundant. The long bones had lost, very generally, their articular
ends, had been fractured longitudinally, and some of them had been cut
and scraped. It is therefore probable that this accumulation was formed
by a tribe of cannibals: the evidence that human flesh formed their
principal food being precisely of the same nature as that by which the
flint-folk of the Périgord are proved to have subsisted on the flesh of
the reindeer. Professor Busk,[94] however, is inclined to believe the
facts in support of cannibalism insufficient. The associated animals
consisted of the bat, dormouse, rabbit, horse, a small ox, allied to
_Bos longifrons_, sheep or goat, wild cat, wolf, fox, and dog. The
contents of the other two caves were precisely of the same nature, and
had been accumulated under the same conditions.
A bronze arrow-head, discovered in the upper stratum, and the
ornamentation of the stone amulet, consisting of alternate triangles
and zigzag ladders, as remarked by Mr. John Evans, indicate that the
upper deposit belongs to the age of bronze, and probably to an early
stage, when stone was being superseded by bronze, since many stone
celts were found in the same spot.
The ancient burial-places of Ultz, in Westphalia, furnish a second
case of the practice of cannibalism, according to M. Schaaffhausen of
Bonn[95]. They are probably of the age of bronze.
_The Cave of Reggio, in Modena._
The human remains in a cave in the province of Reggio,[96] on the
northern flank of the Apennines, brought before the Prehistoric
Congress at Bologna by M. l’Abbé Chierici, and considered by him to be
proofs of cannibalism, are probably merely the result of interment in a
refuse-heap that had previously been accumulated. They were associated
with bronze pins, rivets, polished-stone axes, and various implements
of bone, fragments of pottery and of charcoal, bones of pig, sheep,
and dog, and belong therefore to the period of transition from the
neolithic to the bronze age.
The caves have contributed but very little to our knowledge of the
bronze-folk in any part of Europe. Examples, such as those given above,
are scattered through France and Spain, but they are not sufficiently
important to require notice. We could not expect that men, in the high
state of civilization implied by the beautiful jewellery and ornaments
which are distinctive of the bronze-folk, would have chosen the wild,
half-savage life which is involved in cave-habitation.
CHAPTER V.
CAVES OF THE NEOLITHIC AGE.
Neolithic Caves in Great Britain.--The Refuse-heap at
Perthi-Chwareu.--The Sepulchral Caves.--The Neolithic Caves in
the neighbourhood of Cefn, St. Asaph.--The Chambered Tomb near
Cefn.--Interments in Tomb and Caves of the same age.--Contents
of Tomb and Caves.--Description of Human Remains by Professor
Busk--From Cave No. 1 at Perthi-Chwareu--from Cairn at Cefn--from
Cave at Cefn.--General Conclusions as to Human Remains.
It is evident, from the scanty remains found in caves, that they were
not the normal habitations of men in the Bronze or Iron stages of
culture. We shall, however, find that they were used by the neolithic
peoples, both for shelter and for burial, in nearly every portion of
Europe which has been explored.
_Neolithic Caves in Great Britain.--Perthi-Chwareu._
The most remarkable examples of caves, turned to both these uses, in
Britain, are offered by the group clustering round a refuse-heap at
Perthi-Chwareu, a farm high up in the Welsh hills, about ten miles to
the east of Corwen, and a mile to the west of the little village of
Llandegla, in Denbighshire.
_The Refuse-heap._
The first intimation of any prehistoric remains in that locality was
afforded by a small box of bones forwarded to me by Mr. Darwin, in
1869; and this I was able to follow up, through the kind assistance of
Mrs. Lloyd, the owner of the property on which they were found, from
time to time, during 1869-70-71-2. The mountain limestone, which there
forms hill and valley, consists of thick masses of hard rock, separated
by soft beds of shale, and contains large quantities of _producti_,
crinoids and corals. The strata dip to the south, at an angle of about
1 in 25, and form two parallel ridges, with abrupt faces to the north,
and separated from each other by a narrow valley, passing east and west
along the strike. The remains sent by Mr. Darwin were obtained from a
space between two strata near the top of the northern ridge, whence the
intervening softer material had been carried away by water. Its maximum
height was 6 inches, and its width 20 feet or more; and it extended
in a direction parallel to the bed of the rocks. The bones, which
had evidently been washed in by the rain, and not carried in by any
carnivora, belong to the following species:--
_Canis familiaris_--The Dog.
_Canis vulpes_--The Fox.
_Meles taxus_--The Badger.
_Sus scrofa_--The Pig.
_Cervus capreolus_--The Roe-deer.
_Cervus elaphus_--The Red-deer.
_Capra hircus_--The Goat.
_Bos longifrons_--The Celtic Short-horn.
_Equus caballus_--The Horse.
_Arvicola amphibius_--The Water-rat.
_Lepus timidus_--The Hare.
_Lepus cuniculus_--The Rabbit.
The Eagle.
Nearly all the bones were broken, and belonged to young animals. Those
of the Celtic short-horn, of the sheep or goat, and of the young pig,
were very abundant; while those of the roe and stag, hare and horse,
were comparatively rare. The remains of the domestic dog were rather
abundant, and the percentage of young puppies implies also that they,
like the other animals, had been used for food. Possibly the hare may
also have been eaten, but its remains were scarce, and belonged to
adults. Some of the bones had been gnawed by dogs. The only reasonable
cause that can be assigned for the accumulation of the remains of these
animals is, that the locality was inhabited by men of pastoral habits,
but yet to a certain extent dependent on the chase, and that the relics
of their food were thrown out to form a refuse-heap. The latter had
altogether disappeared from the surface of the ground, from the action
of the rain and other atmospheric causes, while those portions of it
which chanced to be washed into the narrow interspace between the
strata were preserved, to mark the spot which it once occupied.
There was nothing in the deposit that fixes the date of its
accumulation. It may have been of the stone, bronze, or iron age; but
from the presence of the goat, short-horned ox, and dog, it certainly
does not date so far back as the epoch of the reindeer, mammoth,
rhinoceros, and cave-hyæna. The presence of the Celtic short-horn
throws no light upon the antiquity, because for centuries after it
had ceased to be the domestic breed in England it remained in Wales,
and still lives in the small black Welsh cattle, that are lineal
descendants of those which furnished beef to the Roman provincials in
Britain.
_The Sepulchral Caves._
[Illustration: FIG. 36.--Section of Cave at Perthi-Chwareu. Scale 12
feet to 1 inch.]
While the refuse-heap was being explored, I chose a small depression
(Fig. 36 A) in the precipitous side of the southern ridge, that formed
a kind of rock shelter overlooking the valley, and that seemed to be
a likely place for the abode of man, or of wild animals. On setting
the men to work, in a few minutes we began to discover the remains of
dog, marten-cat, fox, badger, goat, Celtic short-horn, roe-deer and
stag, horse, and large birds. Mixed with these, as we proceeded, we
began to find human bones, between and underneath large masses of rock,
that were completely covered up with red silt and sand. As these were
cleared away, we gradually realized that we were on the threshold of
a sepulchral cave. In the small space then excavated, human remains,
belonging to no fewer than five individuals, were found. Subsequently
the work was carried on by Mrs. Lloyd, under the careful supervision
of her agent Mr. Reid. The rock-shelter narrowed into a “tunnel cave,”
that penetrated the rocks in a line parallel to the bedding, and,
roughly speaking, at right angles to the valley, having a width varying
from 3 feet 4 inches to 5 feet 6 inches, and a height from 3 feet 4
inches to 4 feet 6 inches.
The entrance was completely blocked up with red earth and loose stones,
the latter, apparently, having been placed there by design (Figs. 36,
37). The inside of the cave was filled with red earth and sand to
within about a foot of the roof. The remains were found, for the most
part, on or near the top; but in some cases they were deep down. One
human skull, for example, was found six inches only above the rocky
floor. The human bones were associated with those of the animals of
which a list has been given, and occurred in little confused heaps.
One human femur was in a perpendicular position. The account of the
continuation of the digging is given almost in the words of Mrs.
Lloyd. On the second day, after an hour’s work, a human skull was
found near the roof of the cave, resting on a femur; then eleven feet
explored brought to light a large quantity of human bones, including
nine femurs. The third and fourth days were devoted to clearing out
the cave (Fig. 36-7 B) up to this point, and to excavating about four
feet further in, or fifteen from the entrance. During the work two
teeth of a horse were found, resting on the floor near the entrance,
and nine more about ten feet within the cave; also a boar’s tusk of
remarkable size, and close by a mussel and cockle-shell, and valve
of _Mya truncata_, along with a quantity of human and other bones;
including five skulls, more or less perfect, and many fragments. All
these skulls were found between the tenth and fifteenth feet from the
entrance. During the fifth and sixth days, the work was superintended
by Mr. Reid, who entirely cleared the cave for about thirteen feet
further: the first eight feet yielded a small quantity of human and
other bones, including the perfect skull of a marten-cat and the
incisor of a wild boar. The only implement found in the cave, a broken
flint flake, occurred here, and a nearly perfect human skull, lying
face downwards, with the pelvis adhering to one side. The last five
feet furnished only two bones, both of the short-horned ox. The end of
the cave was composed of unproductive grey clay. (Figs. 36-7 C.)
[Illustration: FIG. 37.--Plan of Cave at Perthi-Chwareu.]
Small fragments of charcoal occurred throughout the cave, and a great
many rounded pebbles from the boulder clay of the neighbourhood.
The human remains belong for the most part to very young or adolescent
individuals, from the small infant to youths of twenty-one. Some,
however, belong to men in the prime of life. All the teeth that had
been used were ground perfectly flat. The skulls belong to that type
which Professor Huxley terms the “river-bed skull.” Some of the tibiæ
present the peculiar flattening parallel to the median line, which
Professor Busk denotes by the term platycnemic, and some of the femora
were traversed by a largely developed and prominent _linea aspera_;
but these peculiarities were not seen on all the femora and tibiæ,
and cannot therefore be considered characteristic of race, but most
probably of sex. They were not presented by any of the younger bones.
All the human remains had undoubtedly been buried in the cave, since
the bones were in the main perfect, or only broken by the large stones
which had subsequently fallen from the roof. From the juxtaposition
of one skull to a pelvis, and the vertical position of one of the
femora, as well as the fact that the bones lay in confused heaps, it
is clear that the corpses had been buried in the contracted posture,
as is usually the case in neolithic interments. And since the area was
insufficient for the accommodation of so many bodies at one time, it is
certain that the cave had been used as a cemetery at different times.
The stones blocking up the entrance were probably placed as a barrier
against the inroads of wild beasts.
These remains are the first in this country which present the peculiar
character of platycnemism, noticed by Professor Busk and Dr. Falconer
in human remains in the caves of Gibraltar, and by Dr. Broca in some of
those from the dolmens of France, and subsequently in the celebrated
skeletons found in the cave of Cro-magnon. I have also observed the
same peculiar flattening of the tibia in the only fragment of human
bone obtained by Mr. Foote, in the Lateritic deposits of the eastern
coast of Southern India, along with the stone implements figured in the
Norwich Volume of the International Congress of Prehistoric Archæology
(1868, p. 224).
The remains of the animals associated with the human bones belong
to the same species as those mentioned above from the débris of a
refuse-heap, and are in a similar broken and split condition. They may
have been deposited at the same time as the human skeletons, but, from
the fact that some of them are gnawed by dogs, it is most probable
that they were accumulated while the cave was used as a dwelling. If
the bodies were placed on an old floor of occupation, and afterwards
disturbed by rabbits and badgers, the remains would be mingled together
as they were found to be mingled. The contents had evidently been
disturbed by the burrowing of all these animals.
Subsequently we discovered and explored no less than four other
sepulchral caves, within a few hundred yards of the refuse-heap, in
which the corpses had been buried in the same crouching posture. From
one on the farm of Rhosdigre we obtained a perfect celt of polished
greenstone which had never been used (Fig. 38), together with several
flint flakes, and numerous fragments of pottery, rude, black inside,
hand-made, and containing in their substance small fragments of
limestone.
Similar potsherds are preserved in the Oxford Museum, from the
superficial deposits of the caves of Gailenreuth and Kuhlock, and I
have observed them also among the remains from Kent’s Hole. The celt
was most probably, from its unworn condition, buried with the dead, and
it stamps the neolithic age of the interments of the whole group.
[Illustration: FIG. 38.--Greenstone Celt, Rhosdigre Cave. (Nat. size.)]
Among the broken bones from this cave were the teeth of the brown
bear, and the lower jaw of a wolf; and the fractured bones of the
dog implied that that animal ministered to the appetite, as well as
obeyed the commands, of the neolithic inhabitants. I have met with
similar evidence of the use of dog’s flesh for food among the broken
bones which Canon Greenwell obtained from the neolithic tumuli of the
Yorkshire Wolds. On the other hand, the marks of the teeth of dogs, or
wolves, on some of the human femora, implied that those animals made
their way into this cave and feasted on the corpses.
The neolithic age of these interments is proved, not merely by the
presence of the stone axe, or of the flint flakes, but by the burial in
a contracted posture,[97] and the fact that the skulls are identical
with those obtained from chambered tombs in the south of England proved
to be neolithic by Dr. Thurnam.
The number of skeletons of all ages, and of both sexes, buried in
these caves was very considerable; and they had been placed on the
old floor of occupation at successive times. In that of Rhosdigre
the accumulation of charcoal, broken bones, and fragments of pottery
below some of the human skeletons, proved that it had been used for a
habitation before it was used for a burial-place. It is very probable
that originally the head of a family, or a clan, or a tribe, was buried
in his own cave-dwelling, and that it was afterwards used as a cemetery
for his blood relations and followers.
_The Neolithic Caves in the neighbourhood of Cefn, near St. Asaph._
The same class of remains, referable to the neolithic age, have been
met with in the caves in the limestone cliffs of the beautiful valleys
of the Clwyd and the Elwy, near St. Asaph. In the collection of fossil
bones in the possession of Mrs. Williams Wynn, discovered in 1833, in a
cave at Cefn, by Mr. Edward Lloyd,[98] is a human skull and lower jaw,
along with platycnemic limb-bones. They were found mingled with the
bones of goat, pig, fox, and badger, and cut antlers of the red-deer,
inside the lower entrance of the cave, in which the extinct pleistocene
animals were found in the valley of the Elwy. Four flint flakes also
were discovered along with them.
The skull in its general features strongly resembles those found in the
group of caves at Perthi-Chwareu, and presents a cephalic index[99]
of ·770, which comes within the limits of the extreme forms from that
locality. Professor Busk, however, as will be seen in his account of
this skull, because of its low altitudinal index--·702, as compared
with ·710 of the lowest Perthi-Chwareu skull--is inclined to view it as
of a different type. The conditions, on the other hand, under which it
was found appear to me to be circumstantial evidence that the interment
is of the same relative age as that of Perthi-Chwareu. Both were in
caves: in both the remains of the same domestic and wild animals were
found in the same fragmentary condition. Flint flakes also occurred
in both; and what is more important, the platycnemic limb-bones in
both imply a somewhat similar mode of life in the people to whom they
belonged. This body of evidence, in favour of the interments having
been made by the same race of men who lived some time in Denbighshire,
seems to me of greater weight than that to the contrary afforded by
the difference of ·008 in the altitudinal indices of the skulls. After
a comparison of the carefully prepared measurements of the crania
published in the “Crania Britannica” with those published elsewhere,
I cannot resist the conviction, that if similar modes of life and of
burial in Britain imply an identity of race, cranial variation within
the limits of that race is by no means very small. Absolute purity of
blood in an island so near the Continent as Britain cannot be looked
for; and unity of type resulting from isolation from other races, such
as that presented by the Australians, is not likely to be met with. It
is therefore very probable that some of the variations may be accounted
for by the blending of different ethnical elements in one race. I am
consequently inclined to view the interments in these two caves as
having been made by the same people, in spite of the small cranial
difference manifested by the Cefn skull.
The cave in Brysgill, a small ravine leading into the valley of the
Elwy, explored by Mr. Mainwaring and Mrs. Williams Wynn in 1871,
furnished evidence of the occupation of man, probably of the neolithic
age. From a dark layer composed of loam, black with fragments of
charcoal, a flint arrow-head, a core, a flake, and broken bones of the
horse, _Bos longifrons_, goat, and dog, were obtained, as well as a few
human bones which had not been broken by design.
The excavations carried on in the small tunnel-cave of Plas-Heaton, by
Mr. Heaton and Professor Hughes, have shown that it was inhabited at
two different ages. In the upper or prehistoric stratum were broken
bones of the dog, badger, goat, _Bos longifrons_, and stag; while in
the lower, or pleistocene, were the remains of the hyæna, reindeer,
cave-bear, and the lower jaw of the glutton.
_The Chambered Tomb near Cefn, St. Asaph._
While the caves at Perthi-Chwareu were being explored, the accidental
discovery of human remains in the cairn of Tyddyn Bleiddyn, near Cefn,
St. Asaph, in 1869, led to a systematic examination of its contents by
Mrs. Williams Wynn, under the superintendence of the Rev. D. R. Thomas,
myself, and the Rev. H. H. Winwood, which has resulted in the proof,
that the people who buried their dead in caves used stone-chambered
tombs for the same purpose.
The cairn of loose fragments of limestone had been removed for
road-mending before the cap-stones of the stone chamber were exposed,
and these were broken before any scientific observation was made. The
Rev. D. R. Thomas, however, rescued many of the human remains from
destruction, and began the exploration which defined the extent of the
chamber A (Fig. 39).
[Illustration: FIG. 39.--Plain of Chambered Tomb at Cefn.]
Subsequently it was resumed in my presence, and the chamber A (Fig.
39) fully cleared out. At the point _c_ it was partially shut off
from the passage B by a slab of stone 18 inches high. The passage led
from the chamber in a northern direction, and was 6 feet long by 2
wide. The chamber gradually narrowed towards the passage, being 5 feet
wide at its broad end, and 9 feet long. In the passage, as well as
in the chamber, there were human bones belonging to individuals who
had been buried in a crouching posture. Unfortunately, as the remains
have been scattered, it is impossible to ascertain the exact number of
the burials. I have, however, restored one skull and examined seven
frontal bones, and other remains, which indicate that there were at
least twelve persons, varying in age from infancy to full prime, buried
in this tomb. In addition to these, there is a large box of bones in
the possession of the Rev. D. R. Thomas, as well as other remains in
other hands. But although the exact number of bodies interred cannot
be made out, there is full proof that there were too many to have
been deposited at one time in so small a cubic area; and therefore
they must have been deposited at different times, as in the caves
at Perthi-Chwareu. There were no remains of either wild or domestic
animals; and the only foreign object was a small slightly chipped flint
pebble. From the remarkable conformation of the nasal bones of some of
the skulls, it would seem likely that the burial-place belonged to one
family; but, for a reason (see Notes on Human Remains, p. 183) stated
by Professor Busk, this is by no means a certain inference.
The plan of the chamber and passage corresponds with that of the long
barrow of West Kennet, figured in the “Crania Britannica,” and with
that of the cromlech of Le Creux des Fées, Guernsey, described by
Lieutenant Oliver.[100] In the former of these the corpses were buried
in a contracted posture, along with flint scrapers and fragments of
rude pottery. In the latter the original contents have disappeared. To
speak in general terms, the chamber and passage belong to the class of
tombs which Dr. Thurnam names “Long Barrows,” and Professor Nilsson
“Ganggräben,” and which are found in Scandinavia and France, as well
as in Britain. And it is worthy of note that the partial insulation of
the chamber A (Fig. 39) from the passage B by a slab (_c_), which does
not reach up to the height of the walls, is to be seen in similar tombs
both in Guernsey and in Brittany.
A second and larger chamber, composed of cave slabs of limestone,
was discovered in the same cairn in 1871 by the Rev. D. R. Thomas,
and completely excavated by him along with myself and the Rev. H. H.
Winwood. It was of a rudely triangular form, 10 feet long by 6 wide,
traversed by a partition of slabs, and provided with a narrow passage
10 feet long by 2 feet 6 in width, opening to the north, and fenced off
completely from the chamber by a slab, as in the preceding case. Both
the chamber and the passage were full of human remains of all ages,
buried in a contracted posture; the number of interments being far too
great to have allowed the bodies to have been deposited at one time.
From the former I identified the broken jaw of a roebuck and remains of
goat, a broken flint, and round pebbles of quartz, while in the latter
there were the teeth and bones of the dog and the pig.
Some of the tibiæ from both the chambers were platycnemic, but that
character was only to be recognized in the older bones. The skulls,
from the second of the two chambers, agree so exactly with those from
the caves, that it is not necessary to add to the table of measurements
which Professor Busk has drawn up (p. 171).
_Correlation of Chambered Tomb with Interments in the Caves of
Perthi-Chwareu and Cefn._
Nor are we without evidence that the builders of this cairn belonged
to the same race as those who buried their dead in the caves of
Perthi-Chwareu and of Cefn. The crania and the limb-bones are
identical, and in both the tombs and caves the dead were buried in a
contracted posture.
Why then, it may be asked, were the remains of animals so rare in the
one and so abundant in the other? In my opinion this difference may
be explained by the hypothesis, invented by Professor Nilsson, of the
origin of chambered tombs.[101] The idea of the “gallery graves,”
according to that high authority, was derived from the subterranean
house in which the deceased lived, and in which he was buried after
his death, after the fashion of the Eskimos at the present day. The
plan of the houses, like that of the ancient Lycian dwellings described
by Sir Charles Fellowes, was preserved in the tombs, and probably for
many ages after houses were no longer made in that fashion; since the
principle of conservatism and the force of custom are more deeply
rooted in religious and solemn ceremonial than in the changes of
every-day life.
The rarity of the remains of the animals may be explained by the
fact of these tombs never having been used as dwellings, while their
abundance in the caves may be accounted for by the latter having been
inhabited by man, and thus the idea of the dead resting in his own
house would be the cause of burial both in caves and chambered tombs.
It is not at all strange that the same race should have used both for
sepulture, when we consider that a “gallery grave” is an artificial
cave, and that natural caves are few in number.
This ancient race is proved by the remains to have been pastoral,
rather than dependent on the chase, their principal food being the
domestic goat, the short-horn (_Bos longifrons_), the horse, and
hog. They are also proved to have been neolithic, not merely by the
discovery of a polished stone axe in one of the caves, but also by the
shape of the “gallery graves,” which Professor Nilsson and Dr. Thurnam
agree in referring to that stage of culture.
_Table of Contents of Caves and Chambered Tomb._
The contents of the caves and the stone chambers may be gathered from
the Table which we give on the next page.
The broken bones of the hare prove that there was no prejudice against
its flesh, as was the case among the neolithic dwellers in the Swiss
Pfahlbauten. We shall see in the next chapter that the animal was
also eaten by the dwellers in the neolithic caves both of France and
Belgium.
_List of Objects in Neolithic Caves and Cairn in North Wales._
Column-heading Key:
A Refuse-heap, Perthi-Chwareu.
B Cave No. 1.
C Cave No. 2.
D Cave Rhosdigre No. 1.
E Cave Rhosdigre No. 2.
F Cave Rhosdigre No. 3.
G The Cefn Cave.
H Cairn of Tyddyn Bleiddyn, near Cefn.
+------------------------------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| ANIMALS. | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H |
+------------------------------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| DOMESTIC. | | | | | | | | |
|_Canis familiaris_--Dog | X | X | X | X | X | X | | X |
|_Sus scrofa_--Pig | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
|_Equus caballus_--Horse | X | X | X | X | X | X | | |
|_Bos longifrons_--Celtic Short-horn | X | X | X | X | X | X | | |
|_Capra hircus_--Goat | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| | | | | | | | | |
| WILD. | | | | | | | | |
|_Canis lupus_--Wolf | | | | X | | | | |
|_Canis vulpes_--Fox | X | X | X | X | X | | X | |
|_Meles taxus_--Badger | X | X | X | X | X | | X | |
|_Ursus arctos_--Bear | | | | X | | | | |
|_Sus scrofa_--Wild Boar | | X | | | | | | |
|_Cervus elaphus_--Stag | X | X | | X | | | | |
|_Cervus capreolus_--Roe | X | X | | | | | | X |
|_Lepus cuniculus_--Rabbit | X | X | X | X | X | | | |
|_Lepus timidus_--Hare | X | X | | X | X | | | |
| | | | | | | | | |
|Polished Celts | | | | X | | | | |
|Flint Flakes or Chips | | X | | X | | | X | X |
|Pottery | | | | X | X | X | X | |
|Human Skeletons | | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
|Platycnemic bones | | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
+------------------------------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
_Description of the Human Remains by Professor Busk._
For the following account of the human remains, reprinted from the
“Journal of the Ethnological Society,” January 1871, I am indebted to
the kindness of my friend Professor Busk, to whom examples of all the
forms were forwarded:--
_Notes on the Human Remains._ By Professor BUSK, F.R.S.
§ 1. INTRODUCTION.
The remains discovered in the sepulchral cave at Perthi-Chwareu,
according to a list furnished by Mr. Boyd Dawkins, are as under;
but I believe this catalogue does not include all that were found
in the locality.[102]
1. Eleven more or less perfect skulls, some, however, represented
by mere fragments.
2. Twelve mandibles.
3. Seven arm-bones or _humeri_--four right and three left.
4. Six _ulnæ_.
5. Twenty-two thigh-bones, including five pairs, five odd ones of
the right side, and seven of the left; and amongst them are three
of very young children.
6. Seventeen _tibiæ_ or leg-bones, nine of the right and eight of
the left side, and apparently none of them in pairs; so that there
must probably have been a good many more.
7. Eight _astragali_.
8. Nine _calcanea_, or heel-bones.
The number of individuals, therefore, whose relics were deposited
in this cavern could not have been less than sixteen, and may have
been many more. They appear to have been of all ages and of both
sexes.
Of the other bones of the skeleton, of which there must have been
abundance, I have received no information.
In the Cefn Cave there were discovered:--
1. One mandible.
2. One _humerus_.
3. Two _ulnæ_.
4. A pair of thigh-bones.
5. A pair of leg-bones.
and in the tumulus:--
1. Portions of seven skulls.
2. Two right _humeri_.
3. A pair of _ulnæ_.
4. A right _femur_.
From St. Asaph the only bone that has come under my observation is
a single _calvaria_.
§ 2. DESCRIPTION OF THE BONES FROM THE CAVERN AT PERTHI-CHWAREU.
(a.) _General Condition._--In general condition, as regards colour
and texture, these bones present some, but no very striking,
differences; on the whole they are much alike, though it might
be supposed that some have lain longer in the ground than the
others. One or two among them (but these are apparently the
younger bones) are fragile; the majority, however, are as firm as
common churchyard bones, and some have quite the natural degree of
hardness. They are of a lightish-yellow colour, do not adhere to
the tongue, and afford scarcely any earthy smell when breathed upon
or moistened: only one among them presents any staining from oxide
of manganese; and this exists in diffuse blotches, and is not at
all of the dendritic form. Many are partially covered with a very
thin film of crystalline carbonate of lime.
[Illustration: FIGS. 40, 41, 42.--Skull from Sepulchral Cave at
Perthi-Chwareu.]
(b.) _The Skulls._--Of these only three of the more perfect have
come under my observation. These alone will form the subject of
what I have to remark on this portion of the skeleton. But in
the subjoined Table I. (p. 171) I have given, together with the
dimensions of these three, those of five others which have been
furnished to me by Mr. Dawkins.
In the specimen No. 1 (Figs 40, 41, 42) the entire facial part
is wanting, together with the whole of the base and a great part
of one side of the _calvaria_. The skull is of an oval form,
symmetrical, with a rather prominent occiput. The region of the
vertex is slightly and evenly arched; and the forehead, though
not high, is vertical, and slightly compressed on the sides. The
sutures are all open and finely serrated. The frontal sinuses
are distinct though small. The supra-orbital ridge is thin, but
rather prominent towards the external angular process. The mastoid
processes are very large, and the digastric _fossa_ remarkably
deep. The occipital spine is very prominent, as are the lateral
ridges. The temporal ridges, also, and, in short, all the muscular
impressions, are very strongly marked.
The skull is evidently that of a powerful, muscular man, in the
prime of life, and apparently of robust, but not coarse build.[103]
[Illustration: FIGS. 43, 44, 45.--Skull from Sepulchral Cave at
Perthi-Chwareu.]
Skull No. 2 (Figs. 43, 44, 45) is that of an adult male,
presenting as nearly as possible the same dimensions, form,
and other characters as that above described, except that the
bone is somewhat thicker and heavier. The muscular ridges and
impressions are even more strongly developed than in the former,
and especially the temporal ridges immediately above the external
angular processes. The left _maxilla_ remains loosely attached,
containing the two bicuspid teeth, which are of small size, and
worn quite flat, and to such an extent as to render it probable
that the man was somewhat advanced in years, although none of the
sutures are closed. The face is strictly orthognathous, and the
skull dolichocephalic and aphanozygous.[104]
Skull No. 3 is the entire _calvaria_ of a very young individual.
The two milk-molars remain on either side; and behind them the
first true molar is fully out, but not in the least worn. The
incisors and canines have fallen out. The former, from the size of
the _alveoli_, were of the permanent set, but not the latter. The
age of the individual, therefore, may be estimated as about seven
or eight.
The only point worthy of notice in this _calvaria_ is the existence
of a well-marked depression across the middle of the occipital
bone, which appears exactly as if it had been caused by the
constriction of a bandage. The depression barely extends beyond
the lambdoidal suture into the parietals. It requires, perhaps,
some imagination to perceive the slight traces of a corresponding
depression in the forepart of the skull; but I think a faint
depression may be there perceived on careful inspection. The effect
of the occipital constriction, if it be such, reminds one of some
of the deformed French skulls described by M. Foville[105] and by
M. Gosse.[106] In all other respects the skull is well formed and
symmetrical. It is strictly orthognathous, and of a broad oval
shape.
If deformed artificially, it would come under the head of “tête
annulaire” of M. Gosse; and Dr. Foville shows that this kind of
deformation arises from the popular custom of applying a kind of
bandage round the head of the new-born infant, which, passing
over the anterior fontanelle, descends obliquely, and is crossed
behind the occiput and brought back and tied in front. This band,
or “serre-tête,” he states, is worn during the first year, and
for a longer period by female children than by males. Dr. Lunier
gives pretty nearly the same account, adding, however, further
particulars.[107] It may be remarked, also, that the Berbers, who
formed great part of the Moorish forces that invaded Europe in
the eighth, ninth, and tenth centuries, used to elongate the skull
posteriorly and flatten the forehead.
TABLE I.--_Dimensions of Perthi-Chwareu Skulls._
+--------------+-------+--------+-------+--------+--------+--------
| | | | | Least |Greatest|
| | | | |frontal |frontal |Parietal
| No. |Length.|Breadth.|Height.|breadth.|breadth.|breadth.
+--------------+-------+--------+-------+--------+--------+--------
| 1. | 7·5 | 5·7 | -- | 4·0 | 5·0 | 5·5
| 2. | 7·6 | 5·7 | 5·4 | 4·0 | 4·9 | 5·5
| 3. | 6·5 | 5·2 | 5·5 | 3·4 | 4·5 | 5·1
| 4. | 7·4 | 5·8 | 5·8 | 3·9 | 5·0 | 5·8
| 5. | 6·7 | 5·0 | -- | 3·5 | 4·4 | 5·4
| 6. | 6·8 | 5·4 | -- | 3·6 | 4·3 | 5·3
| 7. | -- | 5·5 | -- | -- | -- | 5·3
| 8. | 7·0 | 5·2 | -- | 3·6 | 4·4 | 5·2
+--------------+-------+--------+-------+--------+--------+--------
|Mean[A] | 7·07 | 5·5 | 5·6 | 3·8 | 4·64 | 5·4
+--------------+-------+--------+-------+--------+--------+--------
|Cefn Cave | 7·4 | 5·7 | 5·2 | 3·8 | 4·7 | 5·5
+--------------+-------+--------+-------+--------+--------+--------
|Cefn Tumulus | 7·38 | 5·65 | -- | 3·6 | 4·5 | 5·55
+--------------+-------+--------+-------+--------+--------+--------
|Ditto | 7·2 | 5·6 | 5·7 | 3·6 | 4·35 | 5·5
+--------------+-------+--------+-------+--------+--------+--------
| | 7·5 | 5·4 | 5·9 | 4·0 | 4·6 | 5·35
+--------------+-------+--------+-------+--------+--------+--------
|Genista Cave, | 7·95 | 5·5 | 5·7 | 3·9 | 5·0 | 5·4
|Gibraltar | | | | | |
+--------------+-------+--------+-------+--------+--------+--------
|Ditto | 7·35 | 5·6 | 6·1 | 3·8 | 4·9 | 5·4
+--------------+-------+--------+-------+--------+--------+--------
+--------------+---------+---------+-------+--------+--------
| | | | | |
| |Occipital|Zygomatic|Frontal|Vertical|Parietal
| No. |breadth. |breadth. |radius.|radius. |radius.
+--------------+---------+---------+-------+--------+--------
| 1. | 4·6 | -- | -- | -- | --
| 2. | 4·8 | -- | 4·9 | 5·0 | 5·2
| 3. | 4·1 | 3·9 | 4·2 | 4·5 | 4·7
| 4. | 4·4 | 4·7 | 4·4 | 4·6 | 4·7
| 5. | 4·1 | -- | 4·0 | 4·3 | 4·6
| 6. | 4·0 | -- | 4·3 | 4·5 | 4·8
| 7. | -- | -- | -- | -- | 4·6
| 8. | 4·1 | -- | 4·1 | 4·3 | 4·5
+--------------+---------+---------+-------+--------+--------
|Mean[A] | 4·3 | -- | 4·3 | 4·5 | 4·7
+--------------+---------+---------+-------+--------+--------
|Cefn Cave | 4·8 | -- | 4·6 | 4·6 | 4·7
+--------------+---------+---------+-------+--------+--------
|Cefn Tumulus | -- | -- | 4·5 | 4·6 | 4·9
+--------------+---------+---------+-------+--------+--------
|Ditto | 4·35 | 4·6 | 4·45 | 4·8 | 4·9
+--------------+---------+---------+-------+--------+--------
| | 4·35 | 4·9 | 5·0 | 5·0 | 5·05
+--------------+---------+---------+-------+--------+--------
|Genista Cave, | 4·45 | 5·2 | 4·7 | 4·8 | 4·9
|Gibraltar | | | | |
+--------------+---------+---------+-------+--------+--------
|Ditto | 4·5 | 5·2 | 4·75 | 4·9 | 5·1
+--------------+---------+---------+-------+--------+--------
+--------------+---------+---------+-------+--------------
| | | |Fronto-|
| |Occipital|Maxillary| nasal |
| No. | radius. | radius. |radius.|Circumference.
+--------------+---------+---------+-------+--------------
| 1. | -- | -- | -- | 21·2
| 2. | 4·4 | -- | 3·7 | 21·6
| 3. | 4·1 | 3·2 | 3·0 | 19·0
| 4. | 4·3 | 3·9 | 3·6 | 23·5
| 5. | 4·0 | -- | -- | 18·5
| 6. | 4·2 | -- | -- | 19·8
| 7. | 4·0 | -- | -- | --
| 8. | 4·1 | -- | 3·4 | 19·5
+--------------+---------+---------+-------+--------------
|Mean[A] | 4·2 | 3·5 | 3·42 | 20·0
+--------------+---------+---------+-------+--------------
|Cefn Cave | 4·0 | -- | 3·8 | 21.0
+--------------+---------+---------+-------+--------------
|Cefn Tumulus | 4·5 | -- | 3·6 | --
+--------------+---------+---------+-------+--------------
|Ditto | 4·3 | -- | 3·7 | 20·1
+--------------+---------+---------+-------+--------------
| | 4·35 | 4·2 | 4·2 | 20·9
+--------------+---------+---------+-------+--------------
|Genista Cave, | 4·25 | 4·1 | 3·75 | 20·6
|Gibraltar | | | |
+--------------+---------+---------+-------+--------------
|Ditto | 4·9 | 4·0 | 3·65 | 20·8
+--------------+---------+---------+-------+--------------
+--------------+--------------+------------+--------+---------
| | | | |
| | |Longitudinal| (_a_) | (_b_)
| No. |Circumference.| arc. |Frontal.|Parietal.
+--------------+--------------+------------+--------+---------
| 1. | 21·2 | -- | 5·0 | 5·5
| 2. | 21·6 | 15·9 | 5·5 | 5·6
| 3. | 19·0 | 14·7 | 4·9 | 5·3
| 4. | 23·5 | 16·9 | 5·0 | 5·0
| 5. | 18·5 | -- | 4·4 | 5·2
| 6. | 19·8 | 14·6 | 4·8 | 5·3
| 7. | -- | -- | -- | --
| 8. | 19·5 | -- | 4·5 | 4·9
+--------------+--------------+------------+--------+---------
|Mean[A] | 20·0 | 15·3 | 4·9 | 5·2
+--------------+--------------+------------+--------+---------
|Cefn Cave | 21.0 | 15·1 | 5·0 | 5·5
+--------------+--------------+------------+--------+---------
|Cefn Tumulus | -- | -- | 5·2 | 5·2
+--------------+--------------+------------+--------+---------
|Ditto | 20·1 | -- | 5·0 | 5·0
+--------------+--------------+------------+--------+---------
| | 20·9 | -- | 4·9 | 5·6
+--------------+--------------+------------+--------+---------
|Genista Cave, | 20·6 | 14·0 | 5·2 | 4·8
|Gibraltar | | | |
+--------------+--------------+------------+--------+---------
|Ditto | 20·8 | 15·3 | 4·8 | 5·6
+--------------+--------------+------------+--------+---------
+--------------+----------+----------+----------+----------
| | | Frontal | Vertical | Parietal
| | (_c_) |transverse|transverse|transverse
| No. |Occipital.| arc. | arc. | arc.
+--------------+----------+----------+----------+----------
| 1. | -- | 12·0 | 13·0 | 14·0
| 2. | 4·8 | 13·0 | 13·5 | 13·8
| 3. | 4·5 | 11·6 | 12·45 | 13·4
| 4. | 6·? | 11·0 | 13·0 | 14·0
| 5. | -- | 11·0 | 12·5 | 13·4
| 6. | 4·5 | 14·0 | 12·0 | 13·0
| 7. | -- | -- | -- | --
| 8. | 4·8 | 11·0 | 11·5 | 13·0
+--------------+----------+----------+----------+----------
|Mean[A] | 5·0 | 12·0 | 12·5 | 13·5
+--------------+----------+----------+----------+----------
|Cefn Cave | 4·6 | 12·2 | 12·8 | 13·8
+--------------+----------+----------+----------+----------
|Cefn Tumulus | -- | 12·4 | 12·4 | 12·8
+--------------+----------+----------+----------+----------
|Ditto | 4·9 | 12·0 | 13·1 | 13·25
+--------------+----------+----------+----------+----------
| | 4·6 | 12·8 | 13·25 | 13·25
+--------------+----------+----------+----------+----------
|Genista Cave, | 4·0 | 12·5 | 13·2 | 13·3
|Gibraltar | | | |
+--------------+----------+----------+----------+----------
|Ditto | 4·9 | 12·3 | 13·2 | 13·3
+--------------+----------+----------+----------+----------
+--------------+----------+-----------+-----------+
| |Occipital |Latitudinal| |
| |transverse|or cephalic|Altitudinal|
| No. | arc. | index. | index. |
+--------------+----------+-----------+-----------+
| 1. | 12·0 | ·760 | -- |
| 2. | 12·4 | ·750 | ·710 |
| 3. | 11·2 | ·800 | ·846 |
| 4. | 12·0 | ·797 | ·797 |
| 5. | -- | ·746 | -- |
| 6. | 11·0 | ·794 | -- |
| 7. | -- | -- | -- |
| 8. | 12·0 | ·743 | -- |
+--------------+----------+-----------+-----------+
|Mean[A] | 11·8 | ·765[A] | -- |
+--------------+----------+-----------+-----------+
|Cefn Cave | 12·0 | ·770 | ·702 |
+--------------+----------+-----------+-----------+
|Cefn Tumulus | 10·9 | ·765 | -- |
+--------------+----------+-----------+-----------+
|Ditto | 11·5 | -- | -- |
+--------------+----------+-----------+-----------+
| | 10·5 | -- | -- |
+--------------+----------+-----------+-----------+
|Genista Cave, | 11·4 | ·748 | ·714 |
|Gibraltar | | | |
+--------------+----------+-----------+-----------+
|Ditto | 11·6 | ·761 | ·889 |
+--------------+----------+-----------+-----------+
[A] In taking this mean, the cephalic index of the young skull,
No. 3, is omitted; if included, the mean would be ·785.
[Illustration: FIG. 46.]
(c.) _Thigh-bones._--I have had an opportunity of examining only
a single perfect specimen of the thigh-bones. This is an entire
bone, 18·2 inches long, with a least circumference of 3·5. Its
perimetral index[108] consequently is ·192, which is about the
normal standard. The _linea aspera_, at the middle of the bone more
especially, is very prominent, so that the bone may be termed, in
some degree, carinated (Fig. 46). The shaft is straight; and the
chief peculiarities, besides the prominent _linea aspera_, which it
presents, are (1) an unusual compression in the antero-posterior
direction in the upper part, for the extent of about three inches
below the _trochanter minor_. At about two inches below that
process, or at a point corresponding with the lower part of the
insertion of the _pectineus_ muscle, the shaft measures ·9 × 1·45,
whilst in three other ordinary _femora_ with which I have compared
it, the bone at the corresponding part measures ·9 × 1·20, ·9
× 1·10, ·9 × 1·15, showing that the Perthi-Chwareu _femur_ is
unusually expanded laterally in the upper part of the shaft. The
consequence is to give the bone at that part a peculiar aspect,
which is especially seen in an acute internal angle, and one rather
less acute externally, instead of the usually rounded internal and
external borders. (2) The distal extremity appears to be rather
disproportionately large as compared with a recent well-formed bone
of the same length, the condyles measuring 2·5 × 3·3 instead of 2·4
× 3·05; and the lower part of the shaft is also somewhat expanded.
But the chief peculiarity, as above remarked, is the compression of
the shaft in the upper part. Besides the _linea aspera_, all the
muscular impressions are strongly marked, and especially those for
the insertion of the _gluteus maximus_ and the _trochanter minor_.
The neck is long and very oblique, and the head, upon which only
a small portion of the articular surface is left, must have had a
diameter of about 1·9.
Mr. Boyd Dawkins has furnished me with the principal dimensions of
several other _femora_, varying in length from 16 to 18 inches,
and affording an average length of about 17, corresponding to a
mean height of the individuals of about 5 ft. 4 in. to 5 ft. 5 in.,
the tallest being perhaps 5 ft. 6 in., and the shortest about
5 ft. 2 in., no doubt a woman. The mean perimetral index of the
eight _femora_ is ·186, which shows, in comparison with the usual
thickness of well-formed male thigh-bones of the present day, a
certain degree of slenderness. That this is not altogether owing
to the circumstance that the bones include those of perhaps more
than one female is proved by the fact that in no instance does the
perimetral index exceed ·192, and in one thigh-bone, 18″·2 long, it
is not more, if the circumference is correctly given, than ·178,
the normal perimetral index for the adult male _femur_ in this
country being taken as about ·194.
(d.) _Tibiæ._--Of the leg-bones brought under my notice, five are
entire and five more or less defective. The principal dimensions
and proportions of these bones, so far as they could be taken, are
given in the subjoined Table.
TABLE II.--_Dimensions, &c., of Perthi-Chwareu Tibiæ._
+-----+-------+----------+--------+----------+----------+-----------+
| | | | | Antero- | | |
| | |Transverse| |posterior | | |
| | | diameter,| Least | diameter |Perimetral|Latitudinal|
| No. |Length.| proximal |circum- | and | index. | index. |
| | | end. |ference.|transverse| | |
| | | | | diameter | | |
| | | | | of shaft.| | |
+-----+-------+----------+--------+----------+----------+-----------+
| | | | | | | |
| 1. | 14·9 | 2·8 | 3·2 | 140 × 80 | ·214 | ·571 |
| 2. | 13·7 | 2·7 | 2·9 | 120 - 75 | ·211 | ·625 |
| 3. | 13·2 | 3·0 | 3·0 | 135 × 80 | ·227 | ·592 |
| 4. | 12·9 | 2·5 | 2·5 | 125 × 70 | ·193 | ·541 |
| 5. | 12·9 | 2·5 | 2·75 | 100 × 70 | ·211 | ·700 |
| 6. | -- | -- | -- | 135 × 90 | -- | ·666 |
| 7. | -- | -- | -- | 140 × 90 | -- | ·642 |
| 8. | -- | -- | -- | 130 - 70 | -- | ·538 |
| 9. | -- | -- | -- | 135 × 85 | -- | ·629 |
+-----+-------+----------+--------+----------+----------+-----------+
| | | | | | | |
|Mean.| 13·5 | 2·7 | 2·86 | 129 × 79 | ·211 | ·611 |
| | | | | | | |
+-----+-------+----------+--------+----------+----------+-----------+
In this Table the _length_ means the extreme length of the bone as
measured from the summit of the spinous process to the point of the
internal malleolus; and the numbers in the fifth column represent
the antero-posterior and the transverse diameter of the shaft at
the point where the popliteal line terminates at the inner border
of the bone, which is usually about an inch and a half below the
nutritive foramen. The _latitudinal_ index represents the relation
that the transverse diameter bears to the antero posterior, and
it is employed to indicate, with some degree of precision, the
actual amount of compression or flattening of the shaft as compared
with the normal form, which may, so far as my observations
show, be taken for the ordinary English _tibiæ_ as from ·700 or
·800, or in the mean at ·730, as will be seen in the subjoined
Table, which contains the proportions of thirteen leg-bones taken
indiscriminately from a drawer in the College of Surgeons.
TABLE III.--_Proportions, &c., of ordinary Tibiæ._
+-----+-------+----------+--------+----------+----------+-----------+
| | | | | Antero- | | |
| | |Transverse| |posterior | | |
| | | diameter,| Least | diameter |Perimetral|Latitudinal|
| No. |Length.| proximal |circum- | and | index. | index. |
| | | end. |ference.|transverse| | |
| | | | | diameter | | |
| | | | | of shaft.| | |
+-----+-------+----------+--------+----------+----------+-----------+
| | | | | | | |
| 1. | 16·7 | 3·15 | 3·4 | 130 × 100| ·202 | ·769 |
| 2. | 16·4 | 3·2 | 3·5 | 150 × 115| ·213 | ·766 |
| 3. | 15·8 | 2·95 | 3·0 | 120 × 90 | ·189 | ·750 |
| 4. | 15·5 | 2·95 | 2·9 | 140 × 90 | ·122 | ·642 |
| 5. | 15·3 | 2·9 | 2·8 | 130 × 90 | ·150 | ·692 |
| 6. | 15·2 | 3·0 | 3·2 | 140 × 90 | ·213 | ·642 |
| 7. | 15·0 | 2·8 | 2·8 | 140 × 90 | ·187 | ·642 |
| 8. | 15·0 | 2·6 | 2·8 | 120 × 85 | ·187 | ·709 |
| 9. | 15·0 | 2·6 | 2·8 | 120 × 90 | ·187 | ·782 |
| 10. | 15·5 | 3·0 | 2·9 | 120 × 95 | ·193 | ·791 |
| 11. | 13·5 | 2·8 | 2·9 | 120 × 90 | ·214 | ·750 |
| 12. | 13·4 | 2·75 | 2·7 | 120 × 85 | ·201 | ·708 |
| 13. | 12·8 | 2·5 | 2·4 | 100 × 85 | ·187 | ·850 |
+-----+-------+----------+--------+----------+----------+-----------+
| | | | | | | |
|Mean.| 15·1 | 2·88 | 2·9 | 126 × 91 | ·188 | ·730 |
| | | | | | | |
+-----+-------+----------+--------+----------+----------+-----------+
Comparison of the mean proportions given in the two Tables shows:--
(1) That the Perthi-Chwareu leg-bones are, on the whole, shorter,
and absolutely smaller in all dimensions but one, viz. in the
antero-posterior diameter of the shaft, which, notwithstanding the
smaller size generally of the bones, is rather greater (that is to
say, in the proportion of 129 to 126) than in the ordinary run of
English _tibiæ_.
(2) That their perimetral index is greater, showing that, in
proportion to their length, the Welsh bones are somewhat thicker,
or in the proportion of 211 to 188.
(3) But the most marked difference is seen in the latitudinal
index, which in the Perthi-Chwareu bones is ·611, and in those of
the ordinary type ·730, varying in the former case from ·538 to
·700, and in the latter from ·642 to ·850; but the last is probably
an exceptional case. In accordance with this, we find that the mean
transverse diameter of the shaft at the point above indicated is
greatly under the usual mark, viz. as 79 to 91.
It is clear, therefore, that the Perthi-Chwareu _tibiæ_ are more
compressed or flattened than the usual run of modern European
_tibiæ_; in other words, they belong to the platycnemic type.
As this is, I believe, the first instance in which the occurrence
of _tibiæ_ of this peculiar conformation has been observed in
this country, the circumstance is of some interest, especially
with relation to the occurrence of priscan bones of the same type
elsewhere.
This peculiar conformation of the _tibia_, to which we gave the
name of “platycnemic,” was, I believe, first noticed by Dr.
Falconer and myself, in 1863, in the human remains procured by
Captain Brome from the Genista Cave, on Windmill Hill, Gibraltar,
of which an account will be found in the Transactions of the
International Congress of Prehistoric Archæology for the year 1868
(p. 161); and about the same time, or in May 1864, M. Broca[109]
independently observed the same condition in _tibiæ_ procured from
the dolmen of Chamant (Oise), and afterwards in bones from the
dolmen of Maintenon (Eure-et-Loire). Similar bones have since been
noticed in other localities on the Continent, as, for instance,
in the diluvium of Montmartre, by M. Eugène Bertrand. But that
the peculiarity in question is not common in all the varieties of
priscan man belonging to the reindeer period is shown by the fact
that it has not been observed in any of the _tibiæ_ exhumed by M.
Dupont in the Belgian caves.
M. Broca’s almost exhaustive remarks upon the anatomical,
physiological, and pathological relations of this form of _tibia_
leave but little to be said under those heads. I would, however,
venture to add a few words as to its ethnological significance. But
before doing so I would remark that there appear to be two forms
of platycnemism, apparently indicative of some difference in the
cause or nature of this aberration from the more usual shape of the
bone. To save many words, I subjoin outlines of several well-marked
instances of platycnemic bones, all drawn of the natural size and
in the same position, the letter (_a_) in each corresponding to the
interosseous ridge, and (_b_) to the _crista_ or shin.
The line _b c_, drawn through the _crista_ and the middle of the
posterior surface of the bone, is bisected by another (_a d_),
drawn at right angles to it, at the level of the interosseous
ridge.
In Fig. 47, which represents what may be regarded as a normal
_tibia_, the length of that portion of the antero-posterior line
which is behind the transverse line is to that of the anterior as
274 to 1,000, whilst in Fig. 48, taken from M. Broca’s outline of
the Cro-magnon _tibia_, which would seem to represent the extremest
degree of platycnemism as yet observed, the proportion in question
is as 623 to 1,000.
[Illustration: FIGS. 47, 48.]
[Illustration: FIGS. 49, 50, 51.]
Figs. 49, 50, 51, are taken from as many of the Gibraltar
_tibiæ_,[110] in which the proportion varies from 600 to 523,
whilst it will be observed that in Figs. 52, 53, 54, taken from
the most platycnemic of the Perthi-Chwareu _tibiæ_, the proportion
in one only differs in any considerable degree from the extreme
normal proportion shown in Fig. 47; and in this it is as 512
to 1,000, whilst in Fig. 53, which is nevertheless undoubtedly
platycnemic, the proportion is exactly the same as in the most
triangular form of bone.
It would seem, therefore, that platycnemism may arise from an
unusual antero-posterior expansion of the bone, either in front or
behind the level of the interosseous ridge. What this difference
may indicate, or of what importance it may be in the consideration
of questions relating to platycnemism, I am not prepared to
discuss; but as in all probability it is connected with a
difference in the cause of the deformation (if it be deformation),
I have thought that the observation should be recorded, and would
merely, in addition, remark that, so far as I have noticed,
the occasional and not infrequent platycnemism observed in the
shin-bones of negroes is what may be termed anterior.
[Illustration: FIGS. 52, 53, 54.]
With respect to the ethnological value of the platycnemic _tibia_,
I conceive we are as yet very much in the dark. That it is a
race-character would seem to me in the highest degree improbable,
seeing that it would be difficult to find any other points of
resemblance between the Cro-magnon platycnemic men and those
whose remains were met with in the Gibraltar caves, although the
platycnemism is of the same kind in each; and still less could
the former gigantic race be identified with the occupants of
the Perthi-Chwareu sepulchre, from whom they differ not only in
stature, but even more remarkably in cranial conformation.
If, then, platycnemism cannot be regarded as of any value as a
race-character, it can _a fortiori_ be still less looked upon as
indicative of simian tendencies, a notion that M. Broca seems
somewhat inclined to favour. It is quite true that the _tibiæ_
of the gorilla and of the chimpanzee are, to a certain extent,
platycnemic; but it is by no means so much so as the human
platycnemic bone. The _tibia_ of a male gorilla in the College of
Surgeons has a latitudinal index of ·681, and that of a female of
·650, whilst that of the chimpanzee is ·611, or exactly the mean of
the Perthi-Chwareu bones. It is needless to insist upon the other
marked distinctions between the simian and the human _tibia_; but
as regards platycnemism it will be obvious, if we are disposed to
trace it to any genetic descent, that the descendant has, in this
respect, at one time far out-simianized the Simiæ.
But this comparison with the anthropoid apes may, perhaps, afford
ground for a suggestion respecting some possible connection
between this peculiar form of the _tibia_ and the habits of the
people amongst whom it has been observed. One great distinction
between the human and the simian foot consists in their respective
adaptations to totally distinct functions. In the one case it
is simply an organ of support and progression; in the other,
for the most part, of prehension. This necessarily involves a
considerable difference in the proportions, &c., of the muscles by
which the greater mobility and adaptability of the foot, and more
particularly of the digits, are ensured. Would it not, then, be
admissible to inquire how far, at any rate, posterior platycnemism
may be connected with the greater freedom of motion and general
adaptability of the toes enjoyed by those peoples whose feet have
not been subjected to the confinement of shoes or other coverings,
and who at the same time have been compelled to lead an active
existence in a rude and rugged or mountainous and wooded country,
where the exigencies of the chase would demand the utmost agility
in climbing and otherwise?
Some common cause of this kind would seem to be not improbable; and
it would not, perhaps, be difficult to ascertain whether it is a
_vera causa_ or not. But, with respect to this, observations are at
present wanting.
From the foregoing data we may conclude:--
(1) That the Perthi-Chwareu bones belonged to a race characterized
by the proportionally rather large dimensions of the cranium,
whose form presents nothing very remarkable, and is pretty nearly
conformable to several of those found by Mr. Laing in the ancient
shell-mounds in Shetland.[111]
(2) That this form is distinctly different from that of the
Mewslade skull, in which the vertical region is somewhat
flattened, as is the case also with several Anglesey crania,
which, however, appear to pass, by gradual transition, into the
Keiss and Perthi-Chwareu shape, through such a form as that of the
Towyn-y-capel skull figured by Professor Huxley;[112] and the whole
of them consequently may be regarded as belonging to the so-called
“River-bed skulls” of that author, excepting the Borris cranium,
which appears to belong to a different type altogether.
(3) That the people whose remains were found in this locality were
of low stature (the mean height, deduced from the lengths of the
long bones, being little more than 5 feet), the tallest being 5
ft. 6 in., and the shortest adult not more than 4 ft. 10 in., the
intermediate ones being 5 ft. 1 in. and 5 ft. 2 in.
(4) That the proportions of the long bones are rather thick, and
the muscular impressions in all are very strongly marked.
(5) That the _tibiæ_ are, for the most part, of a much more
compressed form than those of the modern English, but that this
platycnemism does not appear to be exactly of the same kind as
that which is exhibited in the Gibraltar bones and in those from
Cro-magnon (as figured by M. Broca), the difference consisting in
the fact that in the two latter instances the bone is expanded
backwards behind the transverse plane at the interosseous ridge as
much as it is in front of that plane, whilst in the Welsh _tibiæ_
it is the anterior portion of the shaft only which is expanded;
or, in other words, the platycnemism in them is due simply to an
absolute compression of the shaft.
§ 3. HUMAN REMAINS FROM THE CEFN TUMULUS.
These remains, as submitted to my inspection, consist of:--
(1) Portions of three frontal bones, two of which are nearly
complete, and one constituted of little more than the superciliary
region.
(2) Two parietals and a left temporal, probably belonging to the
same skull as the more mutilated frontal.
(3) Portions of four thigh-bones, two left and two right, one of
the latter wanting the proximal, the other both extremities.
We have thus the remains of three individuals from this interment.
I. _The Frontal Bones._--No. 1. The least transverse diameter,
immediately behind the external angular processes, is 3″·6, and
its greatest (at the coronal suture) about 4″·3. Longitudinal arc,
4″·1. The profile outline of the forehead is slightly receding;
the frontal sinuses moderately developed; and the supraorbital
border thin and acute, whilst the glabellar eminence is large
and prominent. The bone is a good deal compressed on the sides,
so as to have almost the appearance of having formed part of a
cymbecephalic skull. The bone itself is thin, and probably without
any _diploë_.
No. 2 presents exactly the same characters, except that the
longitudinal arc is greater, being 5″·3. The postorbital or least
transverse diameter is 3″·4, and the coronal or greatest 4″·4.
The frontal sinuses are well developed; the supraorbital ridge
rather prominent, but thin and sharp; the external angular process
prominent and thick. Glabellar eminence large and prominent.
The nasals remain _in situ_, and project almost, if not quite,
horizontally forwards, with a rapid curve at first, and then
straight out. The general contour of the bone is exactly like that
of No. 1, in which also, although the nasals are wanting, the
position of the surface by which they were attached shows that they
must in all probability have resembled those of No. 2. The _crista
galli_ of the ethmoid, which is left _in situ_, is remarkably thick
and high.
No. 3 is a portion of a larger and wider bone, the postorbital
diameter being at least 4″·0. The frontal sinuses are very large,
but distinctly defined, as the remainder of the supraorbital border
is not thickened. Owing perhaps to the greater prominence of the
sinuses, the glabella does not appear so protuberant as in the
other instances. The nasal bones remain and project forwards in
the same curious fashion as in No. 2. The frontal crest on the
inner surface is remarkably developed, being at least half an inch
high, though it is separated by a wide notch from the equally
strongly developed _crista galli_ of the ethmoid.
No. 4, when the three bones of which it is composed are put
together, consists of the greater part of the parietal region of
the skull, to which, as before said, the last-described frontal
may have belonged. The left parietal is quite perfect; and a
considerable portion of the right also remains, together with the
entire left temporal; so that a very sufficient estimate of the
proportions of the parietal region of the skull can be obtained.
As well as can be estimated, the parietal longitudinal arc, or
length of the sagittal suture, is 5″·2. The vertical transverse
arc, or that drawn from one auditory foramen to the other, over
the point of junction of the coronal and sagittal sutures, is
12″·2, the parietal 13″, and the occipital 12″·2. In the temporal
bone, the external auditory foramen is large, the mastoid process
of moderate size, but the digastric fossa is wide and deep. The
channels for the middle meningeal artery and its branches are large
and deep; and very deep depressions on the sides of the sagittal
suture show that the _glandulæ Pacchioni_ must have been greatly
developed. The bone is very thin, and with scarcely a trace of
_diploë_ where its structure is visible. None of the sutures,
however, which are strongly serrated, are in the slightest degree
closed, although, as I should imagine, the skull must have been
that of a man beyond the middle period of life.
II. _The Thigh-bones._--Two of these bones, which, though much
alike, differ sufficiently to show that they did not belong to the
same individual, are decidedly carinate.
No. 1 wants the upper and lower ends. The least circumference
of the shaft, which is at a point about 3½ inches below the
_trochanter minor_, is 3″·2. That process, as well as all the
other muscular impressions, is strongly developed; and that for
the insertion of the _gluteus maximus_ is peculiar in presenting
the form of a deep elongated pit instead of a roughened elevation
as usual. The antero-posterior and transverse diameters of the
shaft, about 1½ inches below the _trochanter minor_, are ·85 × 1·4;
and the shaft at this part, like that of the above-described from
Perthi-Chwareu, presents a rather acute or narrow external and
internal border instead of the usual more rounded form. Lower down,
the shaft becomes strongly carinate; and, owing to the flattened
form of the anterior surface, its transverse section affords a
subtriangular figure (fig. 55). The walls, or cortical substance,
are rather thicker than usual, and the substance of the bone is
dense and hard.
[Illustration: FIG. 55.]
[Illustration: FIG. 56.]
No. 2 is very similar in character to the foregoing, but is not
quite so much compressed in the upper part, measuring ·8 × 1·2.
Nevertheless the inner border is very acute, and the outer more so
than in the common form of _femur_. The shaft lower down is not so
strongly carinate as it is in the former instance, but is still so
in some degree (Fig. 56); and the walls (or cortical substance) are
still thicker in proportion.
[Illustration: FIG. 57.]
[Illustration: FIG. 58.]
No. 3. A third specimen consists of the lower half, or rather
more, of the right _femur_. The least circumference is 3″·2.
The bone exhibits no special external characters, and is in no
degree carinated. The shaft, at about the middle of its length,
is somewhat angular in front; and the pit for the origin of the
_popliteus_ muscle is deeper and perhaps larger than in most
bones of the same size. The texture of the cortical substance is
quite eburneous; and it is extremely thick, so that the medullary
canal is reduced to a calibre of little more than 0″·25 in its
longest diameter. The shaft, however, is straight, and exhibits
no other sign whatever of having been affected with _rachitis_.
It is, however, a curious circumstance that many of the Gibraltar
thigh-bones, most of which are carinate, present the same
thickening of the cortical substance (Fig. 57).
No. 4. A fourth specimen is constituted of merely a portion of the
shaft, about 12 inches long, and without either extremity. Its
least diameter is 3″·3, and its antero-posterior and transverse
diameters, at the same point as in the other bones, 1 × 1·25, or
pretty nearly in the usual proportions. Nevertheless the bone,
throughout its whole remaining extent, is less rounded on the
inner side of the shaft than is usual. The _trochanter minor_ is
of gigantic size; and the shaft of the bone, about and below the
middle, exhibits a subtriangular aspect (Fig. 58), though scarcely
to be called carinate. The cortical substance is of the normal
thickness.
III. _Tibiæ._--No. 1 consists of the greater portion of the left
tibia, wanting only the lower extremity. The proximal end measures
2·9 × 1·9; and the diameters of the shaft, about the middle,
are 1·2 × ·75, giving a latitudinal index of ·620. The shin is
remarkably sharp and prominent, and rather curved over to the outer
side; and the apparent compression or tendency to platycnemism may
in some measure be referred more to the production in front of the
anterior part of the bone than to actual narrowing of the posterior
side of the triangle, which is nevertheless rather more rounded
than in most cases. The axis of the shaft is quite straight; and
the bone has not the least rickety appearance.
No. 2 is also a portion of the left tibia. Both extremities are
wanting, and the bone offers nothing worthy of remark. Its least
circumference is 2″·65; and the shaft, at the middle, measures
1″·1 × ·65; so that the latitudinal index is about ·640, showing a
slight degree of compression. The entire length of the bone may be
estimated as rather more than 13 inches, corresponding to a height
of about 5 ft. 4 in. or 5 ft. 5 in., so that the subject may be
supposed to have been a female.
These remains represent at least four individuals--one probably
somewhat aged, another of strong and robust make, and one, in all
probability, a woman--in fact, a family group. No correct idea can
be formed of the cranial conformation of these persons. In general
shape it would seem to correspond with that of the Perthi-Chwareu
skulls; but two of them at any rate are of smaller size, if we
may judge from the least frontal diameter. The forehead also is
perhaps a little more reclined. The most striking feature in two
of the specimens, and which appears also to have existed in a
third, is the extraordinary projection forwards of the nasal bones.
In the present case this may probably be regarded as a family
peculiarity; but with reference to it, it should be remembered
that M. Broca[113] has described a very similar condition in the
skull of the “Old man” of Cro-magnon, in whom, he says, “the ridge
of the nose, slightly depressed at its base, rises again almost
immediately, and advances boldly forward, making a rapid curve,
with the concavity directed rather forward and especially upward,
so that the lower ends of the _ossa nasi_ are placed 18 mm. (·7
inch) in front of a line dropped vertically from the fronto-nasal
suture.”
The condition of the bones from the Cefn tumulus differs very
considerably from that of the remains from Perthi-Chwareu. They all
have an appearance of much greater antiquity. With the exception of
the very dense _femur_, they adhere to the tongue; and they are all
deeply stained with manganous oxide, by which the substance even of
the hardest portions is stained to a depth of more than one-eighth
of an inch. That this discoloration, which for the most part does
not assume the dendritic appearance, is due to manganese and not to
any vegetable stain, is quite certain.
The form of the skull, so far as it can be ascertained from
such imperfect remains, and the rather platycnemic shape of the
_tibiæ_, may perhaps justify our supposing that the Cefn bones
belong to a cognate race to those whose remains were deposited at
Perthi-Chwareu, or to one which had lived under similar conditions.
But the cranial data are hardly sufficient to allow of any
satisfactory inference being drawn from them: and as regards the
_tibiæ_, it has already been pointed out that platycnemism cannot,
in the present state of our knowledge, be regarded as an important
ethnological character amongst priscan peoples, though it may
undoubtedly be considered a character betokening remote antiquity.
§ 4. SKULL FROM THE CEFN CAVE, NEAR ST. ASAPH.
The only specimen of human remains from this locality is a nearly
entire _calvaria_, wanting the whole of the face below the
superciliary border.
In the middle of the left parietal bone is a small irregular
opening, with short radiating lines of fracture proceeding from it;
but this appears to have been recently caused, and from the inside.
The bone generally is of a brown colour, and, as regards firmness,
in a natural condition; and it does not adhere to the tongue.
Judging from its aspect alone, it would not appear to be of any
very great antiquity; but as it has lain in a dry soil, and
sheltered from rain or moisture, this appearance may be deceptive.
Its dimensions are given in Table I. (_supra_), from which it
will be seen that the cephalic or latitudinal index is ·770, and
the altitudinal ·702. It belongs, therefore, to the category of
subbrachy-cephalic skulls of Thurnam and Professor Huxley.
[Illustration: FIGS. 59, 60, 61.--Skull from Cave at Cefn, St.
Asaph.]
In the side view (_norma lateralis_--Plate 7, Fig. 59), it so
closely resembles, except in one respect, that described and
figured by Professor Huxley (_loc. cit._ p. 125, Figs. 60, 61) from
the bed of the Nore, at Borris, in Ireland, that we can scarcely
refuse to recognize a common character between them, which, since
in the present case it cannot be looked upon as denoting a mere
family relationship, may reasonably be regarded as indicative of
some affinity of race. The chief difference observable in this view
of the two skulls is the greater development of the frontal sinuses
in the Borris _calvaria_. The occipital view (_norma occipitalis_,
Fig. 8) is also very similar, except that in the Borris skull the
greatest width appears to be in the temporal, and in the other the
parietal region. In the Borris skull, also, there is a shallow
groove in the course of the sagittal suture, which does not exist
in that from St. Asaph.
The Borris skull is said to be of the extraordinary length of 8
inches; and this may account for the much lower cephalic index
of the skull, whose absolute width in reality somewhat exceeds
the Cefn specimen (5″·9 and 5″·7), whilst the altitudinal as
compared with the latitudinal is but very little greater than it
would be were the skulls reduced to the same breadth. They may
both, therefore, be regarded as “low,” or, as this class of skull
might be termed, in the euphonious language of craniologists,
“tapinocephalic.” One great peculiarity of the Cefn _cranium_
(which exists also, but apparently not to quite so great a
degree, in the other) is the absolute horizontality of the plane
of the subinial portion of the occipital bone. And it is to this
flattening that the comparative lowness may perhaps be chiefly
attributed.
The sutures, where visible, appear to be open. The mastoid
processes and all other muscular impressions are strongly marked.
A third skull of very similar character, except that it is not so
much depressed, has come under my observation. It was discovered in
a submarine or, rather, subterranean peat-bed or ancient forest,
30 feet below the sea-level, at Sennen, near the Land’s End, in
Cornwall; and a brief notice and outline figure of it will be found
in the “Natural History Review” for 1861.[114] The Sennen skull has
the same elongated form; but it is higher than either the Cefn, St.
Asaph, or Borris crania, having an altitudinal index of ·730.
On the whole, these three skulls (_i.e._ those from Borris, Sennen,
and St. Asaph) would appear to have a common character, and to be
of a different type from either the Perthi-Chwareu or the Mewslade
form.
As a rule it may, I think, be stated that in all brachy-cephalic
skulls the breadth exceeds the height, whilst the reverse is the
case in the dolicho-cephalic. Individual exceptions are of course
not unfrequently met with, more especially among very mixed races,
such as the modern English; but I am myself acquainted with only
two dolicho-cephalic _races_, properly so termed, in which the rule
does not hold good. These are the Tasmanian (not Australian) and
the Bushman.
Any exceptions, therefore, to either rule among ancient and,
consequently, less mixed races are worthy of being noted.
As regards modern brachy-cephalic skulls the law holds almost
universally, the only marked exception, except in an individual
here and there, being in two Karén skulls, in which, although both
decidedly brachy-cephalic, the respective indices stand as ·848 to
·924, and as ·790 to ·842.
Among priscan brachy-cephalic skulls the most remarkable and
important exceptions I have met with occur among the neolithic
crania in the Copenhagen Museum, more than half of which are
brachy-cephalic, and most of the others nearly so, the mean
cephalic index of 21 skulls being ·790, whilst the mean altitudinal
is as high as ·810. In fact, out of 12 skulls whose indices vary
from ·795 to ·838, no fewer than 10 have the latitudinal index less
than the altitudinal.
The exceptions to the rule as applied to dolicho-cephalic skulls
also appear to be far more common among the ancient than among the
modern, excepting the two races I have above referred to.
In a long list of ancient and priscan skulls, I find the following
having the tapino-cephalic character:--
+-------------------------------------------+----------+------------+
| | L. Ind. | Alt. Ind. |
+-------------------------------------------+----------+------------+
| 1. From the Thames alluvium at Old Ford | ·792 | ·753 |
| 2. From the same deposit at East Ham | ·774 | ·690 |
| 3. From the same deposit at Battersea | ·763 | ·745 |
| 4. From the same deposit at London Bridge | ·762 | ·611 |
| 5. From tumulus at Stanshope | ·763 | ·684 |
| 6. A Guanche skull | ·775 | ·737 |
| 7. A Guanche skull | ·763 | ·684 |
| 8. Cefn, St. Asaph’s | ·770 | ·702 |
+-------------------------------------------+----------+------------+
The number is but small, it must be confessed, and perhaps hardly
sufficient to do more than prove the rule; but still I think it
will be found worth inquiry whether a departure from the rule
in question was more frequent among the unmixed or little-mixed
races of ancient times than it is amongst similarly unmixed races
of the present day; and whether consequently its infraction in a
considerable number of instances may or may not be indicative of a
lower type, as which we are accustomed to regard the Tasmanian and
Bushman races.
_General Conclusions as to Human Remains._
The human remains in the caves of Perthi-Chwareu and Cefn, and in the
cairn near the latter place, imply that the men to which they belonged
were a short race, the tallest being about 5 feet 6 inches, and the
shortest 4 feet 10 inches.[115] Their skulls are orthognathic,[116] or
not presenting a lower jaw advancing beyond the vertical line dropped
from the forehead; in shape ortho-cephalic, or subbrachy-cephalous,
and of fair average capacity. The face was oval and the cheek-bones
were not prominent. Some of the individuals were characterised by the
peculiar flattening of shin (platycnemism), which probably stood in
relation to the free action of the foot that was not impeded by the use
of a rigid sole or sandal. This character, however, is neither peculiar
to race, nor to be viewed as a tendency towards the simian type of
leg. These conclusions, which Professor Busk has arrived at from the
examination of the remains which were submitted to him, have been
fully borne out by the numerous skeletons which have been subsequently
discovered, both in the sepulchral caves at Rhosdigre and in a second
chamber in the cairn of Tyddyn Bleiddyn near Cefn.
CHAPTER VI.
THE RANGE OF NEOLITHIC DOLICHO-CEPHALI AND BRACHY-CEPHALI.
Relation of Human Remains to those found in Tumuli in Britain.
--The Dolicho-cephali and Brachy-cephali.--Their Range in
Britain and Ireland--in France.--The Caverne de l’Homme Mort.
--The Sepulchral Cave of Orrouy.--The Tumuli.--In Belgium.
--The Sepulchral Caves of Chauvaux and Sclaigneaux.--The
Dolicho-cephali of the Iberian Peninsula--Gibraltar--Spain.
--Cueva de los Murcièlagos.--The Woman’s Cave near Alhama
in Granada.--The Guanches of the Canary Isles.--Iberic
Dolicho-cephali of the same race as those of Britain, France, and
Belgium--Cognate or Identical with the Basque Race.--Evidence
of History as to the Peoples of Gaul and Spain.--The Basque
Populations the Oldest.--The Population of Britain.--Basque
characters in Present Population of Britain and France.--Whence
came the Basques?--The Celtic and Belgic Brachy-cephali.--The
Ancient German Race.--General Conclusions.
_The Relation of the Human Remains to those found in British Tumuli._
Before we examine the relation of this ancient neolithic race of men to
those who have left their remains in tumuli and caves in other regions,
it is necessary to define the cranial terminology, as adopted by
Professors Busk, Huxley, Dr. Thurnam, and other high authorities. The
term “cephalic index” indicates “the ratio of the extreme transverse to
the extreme longitudinal diameter of the skull, the latter measurement
being taken as unity” (Huxley).
The most convenient classification of crania is that adopted by Dr.
Thurnam and Professor Huxley,[117] and based on the cephalic index.
I. Dolicho-cephali, or long skulls with cephalic index at or below ·73
Subdolicho-cephali ” ” from ·70 to ·73
II. Ortho-cephali, or oval skulls ” ·74 to ·79
Subbrachy-cephali ” ·77 to ·79
III. Brachy-cephali or broad skulls at or above ·80
It has been objected that skull form is of no value in determining
race, because it varies so much at the present time among the same
peoples, presenting the extremes of dolicho- and brachy-cephalism as
well as every kind of asymmetry. This, however, is due to our very
abnormal conditions of life, and to the mixture of different races
brought about by the needs of commerce, as in Manchester and Vienna, as
is pointed out by Mr. Bradley.[118]
In prehistoric times, neither of these causes of variation made
themselves seriously felt. There was little, if any, peaceful movement
of races, but war was the normal condition, and society was not
sufficiently advanced to remove man from the influence of his natural
environment. The objection may therefore be dismissed as not applicable
to the skulls in question.
The extent to which abnormal conditions of life are capable of
modifying the shape of skulls may be gathered from the comparison of
the skull of an Irish hog with that of its ancestor the wild-boar, or
even that of a hyæna kept in confinement with that of a wild animal of
the same species. (See Osteol. Series, Brit. Mus.)
_The British Dolicho-cephali and Brachy-cephali._
The materials for working out the craniology of Europe, in prehistoric
times, do not justify any sweeping conclusion as to the distribution
of the various races, but those which Dr. Thurnam (_op. cit._) has
collected in Britain offer a firm basis for such an inquiry. In the
numerous long barrows and chambered “gallery graves” of our island,
which from the invariable absence of bronze, and the frequent presence
of polished stone implements, may be referred to the neolithic age, the
crania belong, with scarcely an exception, to the first two of these
divisions. In the round barrows, on the other hand, in which bronze
articles are found, they belong mainly to the third division, although
some are ortho-cephalous. Sometimes, as in the case of Tilshead, the
crania in the primary interment, over which the long barrow was raised,
are long, while those in the secondary, which have been made after the
heaping up of the barrow, are broad.
On evidence of this kind Dr. Thurnam concludes, that Britain was
inhabited in the neolithic age by a long-headed people, and that
towards its close it was invaded by a bronze-using race, who were
dominant during the bronze age. This important conclusion has been
verified by nearly every discovery which has been made in this country
since its publication. The long skulls graduate into the broad, the
oval skulls being the intermediate forms; and this would naturally
result from the intermingling of the blood of the two races. There
may, however, have been a tendency towards ortho-cephalism in the
dolicho-cephali, without any admixture of foreign blood, since absolute
unity of form could not be expected.
The skull of the primary interment in the barrow of Winterbourne Stoke
is taken by Dr. Thurnam as typical of the dolicho-cephalic class.
“The greatest length is 7·3 inches (the glabello-inial diameter 7·1
inches); the greatest breadth is 5·5 inches, being in the proportion
of 75 to the length taken as 100. The forehead is narrow and receding,
and moderately high in the coronal region, behind which is a trace of
transverse depression. The parietal tubers are somewhat full, and add
materially to the breadth of this otherwise narrow skull. The posterior
borders of the parietals are prolonged backwards, to join a complex
chain of Wormian bones in the line of the lambdoid suture. The superior
scale of the occiput is full, rounded, and prominent; the inion more
pronounced than usual in this class of dolicho-cephalic skulls. The
superciliaries are well marked, the orbits rather small and long; the
nasals prominent, the facial bones short and small; the molars flat
and almost vertical; the alveolars short, but rather projecting. The
mandible is comparatively small, but angular; the chin square, narrow,
and prominent.”[119]
Dolicho-cephalic skulls in general (and in part ortho-cephalic) are
possessed, according to Dr. Thurnam, of the following characters (Vol.
iii. p. 69):--“The supraciliary ridges are less strongly marked than
in the brachy-cephalic. There is none of the prognathism, exaggerated
malar breadth or great width of the nasal openings, which give such
an air of savageness and ferocity to the New Caledonians and Caroline
Islanders; but the very reverse of all these. They are indeed more
orthognathic even than many Europeans, and the facial characters
generally are mild, and without exaggerated development in any one
direction.” Their faces are oval. The upper jaw is small, and the
sockets of the incisors and canine almost vertical. The supra-occipital
region is full and rounded, and there is a post-coronal annular
depression on the skull, termed by Dr. Gosse “tête annulaire.” The
length is mainly due to the development of the occiput, a condition
that is termed by M. Broca “dolicho-cephalie occipitale,” as
distinguished from the “dolicho-cephalie frontale” of other races.
The teeth are worn flat. The bones associated with the skulls of this
character show that the stature of the race was short, 5 feet 5 inches
being the average height.
In the brachy-cephalic, or broad skulls, on the other hand, the
supraciliary ridges are more strongly marked than in the preceding
group; the cheek-bones are high and broad, the sockets for the front
teeth are oblique, and the mouth projects beyond the vertical dropped
from the forehead, presenting the character of prognathism. The face,
instead of being oval, is angular or lozenge-shaped. On the back of
the head the occipital tuberosity, or probole, is the most prominent
feature, and there is also generally an occipital flattening, which may
have been caused by the use of an unyielding cradle-board in infancy.
The entire maxillary apparatus is so largely developed, that the
term “macrognathic,” introduced by Professor Huxley, is particularly
applicable to them. The “type mongoloide” of Dr. Pruner-Bey is closely
allied to, if not identical with, this form of skull.
The stature of the British brachy-cephali is much greater than that of
the dolicho-cephali, the average for the adult male being 5 feet 8·4
inches, according to Dr. Thurnam.
The human remains from the caves and chambered-tombs of Denbighshire
belong to the first of these divisions, in the possession of every one
of the characters assigned to it by Dr. Thurnam, although the crania
belong to the ortho-cephalous portion of the series, that is, tending
towards broad-headedness. It may therefore be inferred that they belong
to the same race as the neolithic raisers of the long-barrows, a race
which we shall presently see to be identical with the ancient Iberians
and modern Basques.
_The Range of the Dolicho-cephali in Britain and Ireland._
The same class of human remains has been obtained from caves in other
districts in Great Britain. In the Oxford Museum a human skull, from
the cave of Llandebie, possesses cephalic index of ·72; while a second,
from the cave of Uphill in Somersetshire, explored by Mr. James Parker
in 1863, measures ·723. (See p. 197.) The latter was associated with
rude pottery, charcoal, and the remains of the following animals: the
wild-cat, dog, fox, badger, pig, stag, _Bos longifrons_, goat, and
water-rat. Most of the remains belong to young individuals, and some
have been gnawed by dogs, wolves, or foxes.
In Yorkshire a human femur presenting an enormous development of
the linea aspera, which implies the possession of the platycnemic
character, has been met with in a cave in King’s Scar, near Settle (see
p. 113), and fragments of a long skull are preserved in the Museum at
Leeds from that of Dowkerbottom.
Professor Turner has described[120] the remains found in a cave in
the Old Red sandstone on the shore of the bay of Oban in 1869 by Mr.
Mackay. There were two human skeletons, along with the broken and burnt
bones of the roe and stag, limpet-shells, flint nodules, and flint
flakes. One of the leg-bones is platycnemic, and the fragments of skull
may probably be referred to the dolicho-cephalic type.
The same type of skull has also been obtained by the Rev. Canon
Greenwell, from the neolithic tumuli of Yorkshire, along with the
same group of animals as in the caves at Perthi-Chwareu, the _Bos
longifrons_, goat, horse, dog, and stag; and Professor Rolleston,
F.R.S., informs me that some of the associated human leg-bones are
platycnemic. It is also recognized by Professor Huxley as identical
with his river-bed type of skulls from alluvial deposits near Muskham
in the valley of the Trent, Ledbury Hall in the valley of the Dove, and
in Ireland from the bed of the Nore in Queen’s County, and from that
of the river Blackwater. To it also Professor Huxley refers[121] five
or six out of the seven skulls obtained by Mr. Laing from the stone
cists in the burial mound at Keiss in Caithness, and associated with
rude weapons and implements of bone and stone. They probably belonged
to the inhabitants of the neighbouring burgh, or circular stone
dwelling, in and around which were the broken bones of the following
animal remains: the _Bos longifrons_, goat, stag, hog, horse, dog, fox,
grampus or small whale, dolphin or some other small cetacean, great auk
(_Alca impennis_, now extinct in Europe), lesser auk, cormorant, shag,
solan goose, cod, lobster, and shell-fish. A lower jaw also of a child,
broken after the same manner as other refuse bones, is considered by
Professor Owen and Mr. Laing to prove that human flesh was sometimes
used for food. The reindeer was living in the district at this time,
since its remains have been identified by Dr. Campbell from the Harbour
mound, one of the many refuse-heaps in the neighbourhood.
The same kind of skull is also described by Professor Wilson under
the name of “boat-shaped” or “kumbe-cephalic,” from the ancient stone
chambers and tumuli of Scotland.[122]
In the Table on the next page, showing the relative size and shape of
the more important long skulls of Britain and Ireland, it will be seen
that the extreme long-headedness of those from the long barrows is not
possessed by those either of the caves and tombs of Denbighshire or of
the river-bed type of Huxley, represented by the skulls from Muskham,
Ledbury, Blackwater (Ireland), and Keiss.
The greater breadth of the skulls from the caves and tombs of
Denbighshire, as compared with those of the typical long skulls
from the long barrows, may possibly be due to a mixture with the
broad-headed race. In that case, however, none of the tallness, or
prognathism, of the latter has been handed down. It is most probably a
mere variation within the limits of one race, and is unaccompanied by
the fusion of dolicho-cephalic with brachy-cephalic characters, such
as M. Broca and Dr. Thurnam have observed in the skulls from tombs and
caves in France.
+--------------------------------------+-------+--------+-------+--------+--------+------+
| | | | | |Latitud.| |
| SKULLS. |Length.|Breadth.|Height.|Circum- |or Ceph.| Alt. |
| | | | |ference.| Index. |Index.|
+--------------------------------------+-------+--------+-------+--------+--------+------+
|Mean of 48 males, Brit., Thurnam, | 7·7 | 5·5 | 5·62 | 21·3 | ·715 | ·730 |
| long barrows | | | | | | |
|Mean of 19 females, Brit., Thurnam | 7·45 | 5·3 | 5·3 | 20·6 | ·710 | ·730 |
| long barrows | | | | | | |
|Mean of 10 skulls, Perthi-Chwareu Cave| 7·07 | 5·5 | 5·6 | 20·0 | ·765 | -- |
|Skull from Llandebie Cave | 7·3 | 5·3 | -- | -- | ·720 | -- |
| ” Uphill | 7·36 | 5·43 | -- | -- | ·723 | -- |
|Mean of 6 skulls from Keiss. (Huxley) | 7·22 | 5·45 | 5·19 | -- | ·755 | ·716 |
|Skull from Muskham ” | 7·0 | 5·4 | -- | -- | ·770 | -- |
| ” Ledbury Hall ” | 7·15 | 5·5 | -- | -- | ·770 | -- |
| ” Blackwater, Ireland ” | 7·2 | 5·65 | -- | -- | ·780 | -- |
+--------------------------------------+-------+--------+-------+--------+--------+------+
From the examples given in the preceding pages it is evident that, in
ancient times, long-headed men of small stature inhabited the whole of
Britain and Ireland, burying their dead in caves, but more generally in
chambered tombs. They were farmers and shepherds, and in this country
in the neolithic stage of culture. In the solitary case offered by the
Harbour mound at Keiss they were cannibals.[123]
_The Range of the Brachy-cephali._
No human remains of the brachy-cephalic, or broad type, as defined
by Dr. Thurnam have been obtained from the caves in Britain. The
evidence, however, is decisive that, in the Bronze age, a tall,
round-headed, rugged-featured race occupied all those parts of Britain
and Ireland that were worth conquering, and drove away to the west or
absorbed the smaller neolithic inhabitants. And the identity of their
skull-form, in the series of interments in the round and bowl-shaped
barrows, extending from the Bronze age down to the date of the Roman
occupation of Britain, shows that, both in the North and the South,
this large-sized coarse-featured people was in possession at the time
of the Roman conquest.
The size and shape of the typical broad crania may be gathered from the
first two columns of the following Table, which is an abstract of those
published by Dr. Thurnam in “Crania Britannica,” and the “Memoirs of
the Anthropological Society.”
_Measurements of British Brachy-cephali, and Gaulish and Belgic
Brachy-cephali and Dolicho-cephali._
Column-heading Key:
A Date.[B]
B Length.
C Breadth.
D Height.
E Circumference.
F Latitudinal or Cephalic index.
G Altitudinal index.
+-------------------------------------+-------+----+-----+----+----+------+-----+
| SKULL. | A | B | C | D | E | F | G |
+-------------------------------------+-------+----+-----+----+----+------+-----+
| | | | | | | | |
|TYPICAL BROAD SKULLS.--BRITAIN. | | | | | | | |
| Mean of 56 males, Brit. Round | {N.} |7·28|5·9 |5·6 |21·1| ·81 | ·77|
| Barrows | {B.} | | | | | | |
| Mean of 14 females, Brit. Round | {I.} |6·9 |5·6 |5·3 |20· | ·81 | ·77|
| Barrows | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
| LONG AND SHORT SKULLS.--FRANCE. +-------+----+-----+----+----+------+-----+
| Tumulus, Noyelles-sur-mer-Somme | N. |6·9 |5·6p |5·5 |20·3| ·81 | ·79|
| “Grotto,” Nogent les Vièrges, Oise | N. |7·2 |5·8p |5·5 |21· | ·80 | ·76|
| ” ” ” ” | |7·3 |5·2p |5·2 |20·1| ·71 | ·71|
| ” ” ” ” | |7·1 |5·7p |5·2 |20·8| ·80 | ·73|
| ” ” ” ” | |6·9 |5·9p |5·5 |20·9| ·85 | ·79|
| ” ” ” ” | |7·3 |5·4p |5·5 |20·6| ·74 | ·75|
| ” ” ” ” | |7·4 |5·2p |5·6 |20·8| ·70 | ·75|
| Dolmen Du Val, Senlis, Oise | N. |6·6 |5·6p |5·4 |19·7| ·84 | ·81|
| ” ” ” ” | |7·1 |5·5p |5·6 |20·2| ·77 | ·78|
| ” ” ” ” | |7·2 |5·5 |5·8 |20·8| ·76 | ·80|
| ” ” ” ” | |7·2 |5·8 | -- | -- | ·80 | -- |
| ” Chamant ” ” | N. |7·4 |5·3 | -- | -- | ·71 | -- |
| ” ” ” ” | |7·1 |5·5 | -- | -- | ·78 | -- |
| ” ” ” ” | |7·4 |5·5 |5·4 | -- | ·74 | ·72|
| Cave, Orrouy, Oise |N.B.(?)|7·4 |5·8 |5·3 |21·2| ·78 | ·72|
| ” ” ” | |7·1 |5·8p |5·3 | -- | ·77 | ·74|
| ” ” ” | |7·2 |5·4p |5·7 |20·1| ·75 | ·81|
| ” ” ” | |7·1 |5·9p |5·6 |20·7| ·83 | ·78|
| ” ” ” | |6·7 |5·5p |5·4 |19·2| ·82 | ·80|
| ” ” ” | |6·6 |5·6p |5·5 |19·9| ·85 | ·83|
| ” ” ” | |7·2 |5·9 |5·4 |20·9| ·81 | ·75|
| ” ” ” | |6·8 |5·75 |5·1 |20·4| ·84 | ·75|
| ” ” ” | N. |7·4 |5·8 |5·7 | -- | ·78 | ·77|
| ” ” ” | |7·2 |5·9 | -- |20·8| ·81 | -- |
| Lombrive, Ariège | N. |6·7 |5·5 |5·5 |19·2| ·82 | ·82|
| Dolmen, Meudon, Seine et Oise | |7· |5·95p|5·9 |20·7| ·85 | ·84|
| ” ” ” ” | |7·2 |5·7 |5·5 |20·8| ·79 | ·76|
| Lozerres | |7·3 |5·8p |5·7 |21· | ·79 | ·78|
| Tomb, Maintenon; Eure et Loire | |7·25|5·5 | -- |20·3| ·75 | -- |
| ” ” ” ” | |7·7 |5·5 | -- |20·8| ·71 | -- |
| Tumulus, Bougon, Deux Sèvres | |6·7 |5·4p | -- |20· | ·80 | -- |
| Dolmen, Meloisy, Côte d’Or | N. |7·3 |5·5 | -- |20·9| ·75 | -- |
| Avignon(?), Vaucleuse | |6·9 |5·8 | -- |20·7| ·84 | -- |
| ” ” | |7·8 |5·5p | -- |21·8| ·70 | -- |
| Genthod, Geneva | I. |7·4 |5·6p |5·5 |21·1| ·75 | ·74|
| ” ” | |6·9 |5·6p |5·4 |20·5| ·81 | ·78|
+-------------------------------------+-------+----+-----+----+----+------+-----+
| Mean | |7·1 |5·6 |5·5 |20·5| ·78 | ·77|
| Judge’s Cave, Gibraltar (Busk) | (?) |6·9 |5·4 |5·4 |19·5| ·792| -- |
| Chauvaux Cave (Virchow) | N |7·35|5·3 |5·3 | -- |71·8 | 1·8 |
| Sclaigneaux Cave. Skull 1. (Arnould)| N |7·35|6·5 |5·4 | -- |81·1 |73·7 |
| ” ” ” 2. | |7·25|6·25 |5·25| -- |81·6 |70·6 |
| ” ” ” 3. | |6·9 |5·75 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| ” ” ” 4. | |6·95| -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
+-------------------------------------+-------+----------+----+----+------+-----+
[124] N, Neolithic; B, Bronze; I, Iron.
_The Range of the Dolicho-cephali and Brachy-cephali in France in
the Neolithic Age.--The Caverne de l’Homme Mort._
The researches of M. Broca and Dr. Thurnam into the caves and tombs of
France prove that the small dolicho-cephali and the tall brachy-cephali
lived in that country in the neolithic age. We are indebted to the
former for a most important account of the Caverne de l’Homme Mort,
which reproduces all the essential points which we have observed in the
sepulchral caves of Denbighshire.
The Caverne de l’Homme Mort[124] is situated in a lonely ravine that
penetrates the wild limestone plateau, in the south-west of the
department of Lozère, near the hamlet of Vialle, in the commune of St.
Pierre des Tripiés. It was discovered by the peasants, and its contents
were partially disturbed by their search after hidden treasure before
it was explored by Dr. Prunières. In front of the cave was a platform,
composed of earth mingled with fragments of charcoal, forming a layer
about forty centimetres thick, in which were the stones of seven
hearths, flint-flakes and scrapers, lance-heads, broken bones of the
hare, fallow-deer, roe, pig (or wild-boar). All the flints were worked,
and one lance-head had been chipped out of the stump of a celt and
presented portions of the polished surface, thus fixing the neolithic
age of the accumulation. Coarse pottery was also met with.
The bones of the hare were very abundant, and proved that there was no
prejudice against the use of its flesh. In the caves of Perthi-Chwareu
we have also seen that this was the case.
The refuse-heaps ceased abruptly at the entrance of the cave, at
a point where the traces of a wall, composed of large stones, was
visible. Immediately behind this were human bones, in a thick layer
of dry sand, scattered about in the wildest confusion, which was
probably the result of successive interments, as well as of subsequent
disturbance by burrowing animals and treasure-seekers. Two bone-points
and a flint arrow-head were the only implements discovered within the
sepulchral chamber.
Two small human bones, bearing undoubted marks of having been burnt,
were discovered in the refuse-heap; but they do not, as M. Broca justly
observes, imply the practice of cannibalism, since they may have fallen
out of the burial-place, and subsequently have come into contact with
the fire on one of the hearths.
It is impossible to estimate the number of interments in this cave.
Exclusive of the many skulls which have been destroyed or lost, M.
Prunières obtained nineteen very nearly perfect, which are described by
M. Broca as seven male, six female, three of uncertain sex, and three
children. They are remarkable for the softness of their contours, the
delicacy of their features, and the orthognathism of their faces. The
forehead is wide and high, and the vertex and the occipital region of
the skull well rounded. The cephalic index varies between ·680 and ·78,
the mean of the whole series being ·732.
M. Broca remarks, that these crania contrast strongly with those of
the present broad-headed inhabitants of the district, and that they
differ from those found in the dolmens by M. Prunières in their greater
length, in the smallness of their features, and the weakness of their
muscular impressions. The study of the bones of the skeleton confirms
these differences. The men who buried their dead in the Caverne de
l’Homme Mort were smaller than the dolmen builders, their bones were
more slender, and they were altogether a less muscular race. They are
considered by M. Broca to represent the neolithic aborigines; and
if his description and measurements be compared with those of the
dolicho-cephali of Britain, given by Dr. Thurnam (p. 191 _et seq._),
it will be seen that they are identical with the latter, which is the
oldest race yet known to have occupied Great Britain since the close of
the pleistocene period.
At a little distance from the sepulchral cave, and in the same ravine,
M. Broca explored a large cavern, which had been occupied, probably by
the same people, since the same kind of instruments were discovered as
in the refuse-heap. So that we have here, side by side, the abode and
the sepulchre of the same ancient tribe.
_The Sepulchral Cave of Orrouy._
The sepulchral cave of Orrouy (Oise) described by M. Broca, in which
the remains of about fifty individuals were interred, furnished both
types of skull, united, according to Dr. Thurnam and M. Broca,[125] by
a series of intermediate forms, that prove a fusion of blood between
the broad- and the long-headed peoples. On referring to the preceding
Table (p. 199) it will be seen that the cephalic index varies from
·75 to ·88. Eight out of the series of twenty-one skulls united the
characteristic dolicho-cephalous fore-head with the brachy-cephalous
middle and hind-head. “We have here,” writes Dr. Thurnam, “a veritable
hybrid form of cranium, resulting from the mixture or crossing, under
certain circumstances unknown to us, of a dolicho-cephalous with a
brachy-cephalous race.”
“... In the Orrouy skulls of hybrid form, two encephalic
growth-tendencies appear to me distinguishable; one, the longitudinal
or fronto-occipital; the other a transverse, or bi-parietal and
temporal one. Now the remarkable supramastoid depressions, visible
in the hindhead of these skulls, seem to be well explained by the
idea of an intersection or crossing of these two tendencies in the
brain-growth; corresponding, as they must have done, to the angles
formed by the posterior surfaces of the middle, the lower surfaces
of the posterior and temporal lobes of the cerebrum, and the upper
surface of the cerebellum.”[126]
In eight out of thirty-four humeri the fossa of the olecranon is
perforated.
The human remains occurred in the same confusion as at Perthi-Chwareu,
and were associated with fragments of coarse pottery, flint flakes, and
bones of ruminants. The occurrence of polished stone celts indicates
the neolithic age of the interment.
_Skulls from French Tumuli._
Both long and broad skulls also occur in the chambered tombs of France,
although the latter by far predominate. Those from the Long Barrow at
Chamant are dolicho-cephalic and ortho-cephalic, with cephalic index
ranging from ·71 to ·78 (Broca), and other similar cases are quoted by
Dr. Thurnam from Noyelles-sur-Mer, Fontenay, and other tumuli. In the
large sepulchral chamber at Meudon, that contained 200 skeletons, the
majority of the skulls were brachy-cephalic, although twenty of them
were of the ortho-cephalic type. This mixture may be accounted for,
most probably, by the two races, which are clearly defined from each
other in Britain, being intermingled in France.
Dr. Thurnam, summing up the whole evidence as regards the distribution
of races in the tombs of Gaul, concludes that the two races came
into contact in Gaul at an earlier period in the neolithic age than
in Britain. And this must necessarily have been the case from the
geographical position of our island, which could only be invaded, in
those times, by the races in possession of the contiguous mainland of
France and Belgium. Both these regions must have been conquered before
an invasion could have taken place.
_The Dolicho-cephali of the Iberian Peninsula, Gibraltar._
The researches carried on from 1863 to 1868, by Captain Brome, aided by
Dr. Falconer and Professor Busk,[127] into the caves of Gibraltar, have
resulted in the proof that, in the neolithic age, that barren rock was
inhabited by a race of men identical with that which is found in the
long barrows and caves of Great Britain.
The enlargement of the military prison on the top of Windmill Hill
revealed the existence of a deep fissure, containing dark earth,
mingled with charcoal and broken bones, which led into a series of
chambers. The upper of these is described by Captain Brome as being
completely choked up to the roof with earth, charcoal, and decomposed
bones of mammals, birds, and fishes, flint flakes, and pottery. Below
were two floors of stalagmite, filled with loose stones and earth,
through which a shaft penetrated into a fissure at a lower level,
leading into a lower chamber that had a free communication with the
surface, since the current of air was so strong as to extinguish the
lamps. In this also human remains and works of art were met with. The
passages were very complicated, and in some of them a red breccia
contained the remains of the pleistocene mammals, the spotted hyæna,
the _Rhinoceros hemitœchus_, and others. This series of passages and
chambers is described by Captain Brome and Professor Busk as “Genista
Cave No. 1.”
A second, or “Genista, No. 2,” was discovered by Captain Brome opening
on the surface near the West Cliff, with its floor covered with
stalagmite, under which was the same class of remains as that above
mentioned. Subsequently a third and fourth, “Genista, 3 and 4,” were
explored with the same results, of which the latter, opening on the
face of a vertical cliff 40 feet below the summit, from its difficulty
of access must have been used as a place of refuge rather than of
habitation or burial. With this exception, the whole group of Genista
Caves contained human bones, resting in the greatest confusion, and
proving that since the bodies had been interred the contents had been
disturbed, either by the burrowing of animals or by the action of
water, pools of which were present in some of the chambers. Evidence of
the former presence of water was to be seen in the sheets of stalagmite
on most of the floors. The same confusion would result, as is suggested
by Professor Busk, by interments at successive times. The intimate
association of the fractured bones of the animals, and the charcoal,
broken pottery, and other traces of occupation, with the human bones,
may be accounted for in the same manner as the similar mixture of
remains in the caves of Denbighshire. If the caves had been inhabited
at one time, and subsequently set apart for burials, the human bones
would become intermingled with the accumulation of refuse on the floors
by the causes above mentioned.
The bones of the animals associated with the human remains belong,
according to Professor Busk, to the domestic ox of various sizes,
goat, ibex, hog, arvicola, hare, rabbit, badger, dog, and a species
of phocæna, fish, birds, and marine and land molluscs. The pottery is
for the most part hand-made, coarse and imperfectly burnt; and the
vessels in some cases had singular perforated spouts, similar to those
still in use by the Kabyles of Algeria, and some of the Berber tribes.
Some of it, however, is of a fine red ware turned in the lathe, and
probably introduced at a later period, even, as remarked by Mr. Franks,
after the Roman occupation of Spain, to which he refers a bronze
fish-hook, the only metallic article found in the group of caves. The
implements of bone consist of a needle, and rounded pins and spikes.
One cannon-bone of a small ox bears marks of sharp cuts with an edge of
metal, inflicted probably, as Professor Busk suggests, “in an attempt
to hamstring the animal, as is sometimes done at the present day in
the Spanish bull-ring.” It may possibly be more modern than the stone
implements found in the same cave.
The associated stone articles are celts of polished greenstone,
similar to that found in the neolithic cave at Perthi-Chwareu (Fig.
38), flakes, a greenstone chisel, querns and rubbing-stones, a
whetstone perforated for suspension, and a fragment of an armlet made
of alabaster. A small lump of coarse plumbago may have been used for
personal ornament.
The human remains examined by Professor Busk belonged to a large number
of individuals of all ages, and are for the most part in a fragmentary
condition. Some of the thigh-bones are carinate, and remarkable for the
enormous development of the _linea aspera_ and the thickness of their
walls (Fig. 57), the medullary cavity being reduced to a small size,
as in those figured from the tumulus at Cefn. Some of the tibiæ are
platycnemic, presenting the peculiar lateral flattening which first
attracted the attention of Dr. Falconer and Professor Busk (Figs. 49,
50, and 51), but which M. Broca has since determined in the tumuli
and caves of France, and I have discovered in those of Denbighshire
(p. 177).
[Illustration: FIGS. 62, 63, 64.--Cranium from Genista Cave (Busk).]
The only two crania sufficiently perfect to allow of a comparison being
made, from Genista Cave No. 3, are perfectly symmetrical, and belong to
a high type (Figs. 62, 63, and 64). “They are dolicho-cephalic, quite
orthognathous, and wholly aphanozygous. In one the frontal sinuses are
considerably more developed than they are in the other, but in neither
is there any thickening of the supra-orbital border” (Busk). The
teeth are worn flat. They both belonged to men in the prime of life.
A third skull, from Genista Cave No. 1, belongs to the same type. The
measurements of the two most perfect skulls are given in the same table
as those from North Wales (p. 171).
Gibraltar has also been occupied in ancient times by broad-headed
men, similar, in M. Broca’s opinion, to those interred in the cave of
Orrouy. In 1864 human bones, together with a skull (for measurements
see p. 199), were dug out of the Judge’s Cave by Sir James Cochrane.
The tibiæ are platycnemic, and the skull is described by Professor Busk
as being “perfectly symmetrical, brachy-cephalic, slightly prognathous,
but with vertical teeth, aphanozygous. The forehead is well arched, and
the supra-orbital border slightly elevated, the orbits being square,
and the nasal opening elongated and pyriform.” The cephalic index is
·792. The age of these skeletons is uncertain.
_Spain.--Cueva de los Murcièlagos._
Professor Busk[128] calls attention to the fact, that a long skull
similar to that from Gibraltar has been found in Spain, in an ancient
copper-mine of the Asturias, together with hammers made of antler,
and that it bears “the closest possible resemblance” to the Basque
skulls, described by M. Broca, from Guipuscoa on the Spanish and St.
Jean de Luz on the French side of the Pyrenees. He points out, also,
the resemblance which exists between the crania figured by Don Gongora
y Martinez, from the caverns and dolmens of Andalusia and those under
consideration; finally arriving at the conclusion that “a pretty
uniform priscan race at one time pervaded the peninsula from one end to
the other, and that this race is at the present day represented by, at
any rate, a part of the population now inhabiting the Basque provinces.”
In the work of Don Manuel Gongora y Martinez[129] referred to, there is
a most interesting account of the prehistoric antiquities of Andalusia.
Several interments are described in the Cueva de los Murcièlagos, a
cave running into the limestone rock, out of which the grand scenery
of the southern part of the Sierra Nevada has been, to a great extent,
carved. In one spot, a group of three skeletons was met with, one of
which was adorned with a plain coronet of gold, and clad in a tunic
made of esparto-grass, finely plaited, so as to form a pattern which
resembles some of the designs on gold ornaments from Etruscan tombs.
At a spot further within, a second group of twelve skeletons lay in
a semicircle, around one considered by Don Manuel to have belonged
to a woman, covered with a tunic of skin, and wearing a necklace of
esparto-grass, a marine shell pierced for suspension, the carved tusk
of a wild boar, and earrings of black stone. There were other articles
of plaited esparto-grass, such as baskets and sandals; flint flakes,
pieces of a white marble armlet, polished axes of the type of fig. 38,
bone awls, and a wooden spoon, together with pottery of the same type
as that from Gibraltar, fragments of charcoal, and bones of animals.
Although, in this cave, there were no traces of metal, except gold, in
a second, in the same neighbourhood, similar interments were met with
in association with copper (bronze) implements, and with pottery of the
same kind.
These interments in caves are of the same order as those from
Gibraltar; and since the skulls agree with those from the latter, there
can be little doubt but that, in the neolithic age, the long-headed
small race under discussion had possession of the southern provinces.
_The Woman’s Cave, near Alhama._
This conclusion derives additional support from the discoveries
subsequently made by Mr. McPherson[130] in the Woman’s Cave, near
Alhama, in Grenada, of implements of bone, flint, and greenstone of the
neolithic age, mingled with charcoal, pottery, and human skeletons of
the same type as those from Gibraltar. The human skull, figured by Mr.
McPherson, is dolicho-cephalic, and the thigh-bone is remarkable for
the extreme development of the _linea aspera_, which assumes the form
of a stout ridge sweeping from one extremity of the shaft to the other.
This long-headed race, burying their dead in caves, also erected
dolmens in Andalusia. In the dolmen of De los Eriales[131] human
remains were discovered along with bronze (copper?) lance-heads, and
pottery of the same sort as that of the caves. It is, therefore,
evident that the practice of burial in caves, and of erecting dolmens,
was carried on by the same people in Britain, in France, and in Spain.
_The Guanches of the Canary Isles._
The Guanches,[132] the ancient inhabitants of the Canary Isles, are
considered by Berthollet, Glas, and other high authorities, to be
allied to the Berbers of North Africa in language. At the time of
their discovery and conquest by the Spaniards, they are described by
Miss Haigh as being unacquainted with the use of any metal, and as
fashioning their weapons out of a black, hard stone. The Guanches of
Teneriffe lived principally in caves, preferring for their winter
residence those near the coast, and “in the summer those in the
higher parts in the interior of the island, whence they could enjoy
the fresh air of the hills.” Some of these caves have been excavated
by the hand of man, and are divided into square chambers, containing
rock-hewn benches, “and deep niches made to contain vessels of milk
or water.” They had also stone houses, thatched with straw or fern.
They also buried their dead in sepulchral caves, belonging each to a
family or clan, entrances to which are carefully concealed, and are
now discovered only by accident. In them the dead were placed either
upright, or lying side by side on wooden scaffolds, after having been
prepared with salt and butter and thoroughly dried and wrapped in the
tanned skins of sheep or goat. In some cases the prepared body was
placed in the sitting posture.
They were possessed of a settled government by “Menceys,” or chiefs
subordinate to one head, and were divided into “nobles and common
people, and had a code of punishment for the robber, murderer, and
adulterer.”
Their food consisted of sheep and goats, roasted barley ground between
two stones, and the fruit of the arbutus, date-palm and fig, as well
as fish and rabbits. Their fences were made of reed, their ropes and
nets of rushes, and their baskets, mats, and bags, of palm-leaves. They
manufactured vessels out of clay or hard wood, needles of fishbones,
beads of clay, and they especially excelled in the art of tanning. The
civilization of this very interesting people may fairly be taken to
be a fragment of that of North Africa and of Europe in the neolithic
age, protected by insulation from the influences by which it was swept
away from the countries bordering on the shores of the Mediterranean,
just as the old Norse customs and legends are preserved by the present
inhabitants of Iceland in greater purity than in Norway.
The Berbers are viewed by Professor Busk as of the same non-Aryan stock
as the Basque, and the civilization of the Guanches may therefore be
taken to represent that of the Iberic peoples of Spain, among whom
caves were used in like manner for habitation and burial.
_Iberic Dolicho-cephali of the same Race as those of Britain._
If this group of Iberic skulls be compared with those from the caves
and tumuli of Great Britain (see Table, p. 197 and that below) it will
be seen, that what Professor Busk observes of the ancient population of
Spain is equally true of that of our country in the neolithic age. And
the identity of form is especially remarkable in the crania from the
sepulchral caves at Perthi-Chwareu, the difference between them being
so small as to be of little account:--
+-------------------------+-------+--------+-------+--------+------+
| | | | |Circum- |Ceph. |
| |Length.| Brdth. |Height.|ference.|index.|
+-------------------------+-------+--------+-------+--------+------+
| | | | | | |
|Mean of 10 skulls from | | | | | |
| Perthi-Chwareu | 7·07 | 5·5 | 5·6 | 20·0 | ·765 |
|Mean of 2 skulls from | | | | | |
| Genista Cave, No. 3 | | | | | |
| (Busk) | 7·35 | 5·55 | 5·9 | 20·7 | ·755 |
|Mean of 40 male Basque | | | | | |
| skulls from Guipuscoa | | | | | |
| (Thurnam) | 7·2 | 5·5 | 5·4 | -- | ·760 |
|Mean of 20 female, ditto | 6·9 | 5·3 | 5·0 | -- | ·760 |
|Mean of 19 skulls, | | | | | |
| chiefly male | 7·4 | 5·6 | 5·4 | -- | ·760 |
|Mean of 57 female ditto, | | | | | |
| St. Jean de Luz | 7·02 | 5·6 | -- | -- | ·799 |
+-------------------------+-------+--------+-------+--------+------+
_The Dolicho-cephali cognate with the Basque._
Nor can the truth of Professor Busk’s conclusion, that the group of
skulls in question belong to a people akin in blood to the modern
Basques, be disputed. We are indebted to M. Broca[133] for the
elaborate description of seventy-eight Basque crania from a village
cemetery in Guipuscoa, and of fifty-eight from an ossuary at St. Jean
de Luz, in which they had been collected in the reign of Francis I.,
1532. In both these groups the long and oval types predominated, the
broad type being represented by 6·4 (Thurnam) per cent. in the one, and
37·36 per cent. (Broca) in the other; a difference that is doubtless
caused by the greater mixture of blood in the south-west of France
than in the north-west of Spain, shut off from the broad-headed Gallic
tribes by the Pyrenees.[134] Six skulls, obtained by Professor Virchow
from Bilbao, agree in all particulars with those from Guipuscoa. M.
Broca has further shown, that this group of Spanish skulls offers
all the characters of the black-haired, swarthy, oval-faced, Basque
population of the surrounding region, and it therefore follows, that
they may be taken as standards of comparison, as typical of the ancient
Basque crania, modified, it may be, to some extent, by the infusion of
other blood. Their agreement, therefore, with the skulls from Gibraltar
implies that the latter are also Basque. And since they agree also with
those from the cave of Perthi-Chwareu, as may be seen in the preceding
Table, the men who buried their dead in the caves of North Wales in the
neolithic age, are proved to belong to the same stock.
The same long-headed, small race also inhabited France, side by side
with the broad-headed Gallic tribes; and since to it belong the
skeletons in the Cave de l’Homme Mort, which M. Broca refers to the
neolithic aborigines, it may reasonably be concluded that in Gaul, as
in Britain, it was the older of the two races. The two have also been
met with in the caves of Belgium. If we allow that an aboriginal Basque
population spread over the whole of Britain, France, and Belgium, and
that it was subsequently dispossessed by broad-headed invaders, the two
extremes of skull-form and of stature, and of the gradations between
them, may be satisfactorily explained. And this view coincides with the
well-ascertained facts of history.
Dr. Thurnam was the first to recognize that the long skulls, out of
the long barrows of Britain and Ireland, were of the Basque or Iberian
type, and Professor Huxley holds that the river-bed skulls belong to
the same race.[135] (Compare Table p. 197 with the preceding.) We have
therefore proof, that an Iberian or Basque population spread over the
whole of Britain and Ireland in the neolithic age, inhabiting caves,
and burying their dead in caves and chambered tombs, just as in the
Iberian Peninsula also in the neolithic age.
_Dolicho-cephali and Brachy-cephali in Neolithic Caves of
Belgium.--Chauvaux._
Both these forms of skull have been met with in Belgium, the one in the
famous cave of Chauvaux, the other in that of Sclaigneaux.
The first of these is a rock-shelter passing into a small cave, at the
base of the limestone cliff on the Meuse, opposite the little village
of Rivière, between Dinant and Namur. It was known to contain human
remains in 1837-8, and was partially explored in 1842 by Dr. Spring,
who published his account of the discoveries in 1853, and subsequently
in 1864 and 1866. Below a thin layer of loam was a floor of stalagmite,
concealing a vast number of broken human bones mixed pêle-mêle with
those of wild and domestic animals, and associated with charcoal and
coarse pottery. Two polished stone celts indicated the neolithic age
of the accumulation; one of them resting close to a skull which had
been fractured by a blow from a blunt instrument, such as it may have
inflicted. The human bones belonged to infants and young adults.
From the fractured and burnt bones of the animals it is clear that
they had been accumulated in the cave daring the time that it was
inhabited by man. Dr. Spring[136] inferred that the broken human bones
proved that human beings, as well as the animals, formed the food of
the cave-dwellers, and further, since all the human remains belong to
young individuals, that the cannibalism was not accidental, or caused
by famine, but the result of a deliberate selection.
The facts which induced Dr. Spring to come to this conclusion are
interpreted by M. Dupont[137] in a different manner. He holds, that the
proportion of young individuals is not greater in Chauvaux than that
which he has observed in other sepulchral caves in Belgium, and that
there is nothing which forbids the supposition that this also was used
as a place of interment. The human bones may have been broken by the
foxes and badgers, which are so abundant in the district, and have been
mixed, by their continual burrowing, with the remains of the animals in
the old refuse-heap accumulated on the floor during the habitation of
man. Such a mixture of remains we have already observed in the caves
of North Wales and Gibraltar. The recent researches of M. Soreil[138]
leave no room for doubting the truth of M. Dupont’s interpretation.
Two perfect human skeletons were discovered along with flint flakes,
pottery, a barbed arrow-head, and many scattered human bones not
broken by design, while the long bones of the associated animals bore
unmistakeable traces of having been split for the sake of the marrow.
On one long bone, for example, of the ox, there were cuts made by a
flint implement, as well as the mark of the blow by which it had been
split longitudinally; and another ox-bone, and the canine of a boar,
bore marks of burning. The bones of the animals were very abundant,
and belonged to the following species: beaver, hamster, and other
small rodents, hare, badger, fox, boar, stag, roe, ox, and goat. In
this case, as in the caves of Perthi-Chwareu, and of l’Homme Mort, the
inhabitants had used the hare for food, as well as the other animals,
and did not share the prejudice against the use of its flesh for food,
which Cæsar remarks of the inhabitants of Britain (Comm. 1, xii.).
The cave must, therefore, be viewed as a place of sepulture for a
neolithic people, whose implements abound in the neighbourhood, and not
as having been inhabited by a race of cannibals.
The bodies had been interred in the crouching posture, with their
thighs bent, their heads resting on their arms, and their faces turned
towards the valley. They rested side by side in two small holes, which
had been dug in the deposit containing the bones of the animals, and
the skeletons were cemented to the rock by stalagmite, and surrounded
by large stones. They belonged to individuals far past the prime of
life.
Both skulls were dolicho-cephalic, and the most perfect of them is
described by Professor Virchow as presenting a parietal flattening,
which is probably analogous to the “tête annulaire,” so commonly
present in the long skulls of the neolithic age. It possesses a
cephalic index of ·72 (·718 Virchow). The sutures in both the skulls
were very nearly obliterated. The measurements are given in the Table
in page 199.
The crania, in all these characters, are to be classified with the
long skulls from the caves and chambered tombs of France, Britain,
and Spain. They belong to people in the same stage of culture, and
practising the same mode of burial in a crouching posture. Chauvaux
is the furthest cave to the east on the continent of Europe, in which
traces of this long-headed race have been observed.
_The Cave of Sclaigneaux._
The cave of Sclaigneaux,[139] explored by M. Arnould, near the hamlet
of that name, fourteen miles from Namur, has been proved to contain
human bones, lying mixed with those of the animals in the refuse-heap
on the floor, as in the cave of Chauvaux. The animals belonged to
existing species:--
Hedgehog.
Badger.
Beech-marten.
Weazel.
Fox.
Dog.
Wild Cat.
Hare.
Rabbit.
Ox.
Goat.
Stag.
Boar.
Horse.
Rodents.
Bones of birds, frogs, and fishes were also met with. Intermingled
with these were human skeletons, disposed in a rude sort of order,
and belonging to bodies which had been interred at different times.
From the lower jaws M. Arnould calculates that the number of bodies
interred was not less than sixty-two, of which twelve belonged to aged
individuals, twenty-one to those in the prime of life, sixteen to young
adults, and thirteen to children.
[Illustration: FIGS. 65, 66.--Skull from Cave of Sclaigneaux.
(Arnould.)]
The crania (Figs. 65, 66) are brachy-cephalic (see Table, p. 199), and
are possessed, according to M. Arnould, of the following characters.
The apex of the cranial vault is flattened, probably artificially, and
the parietal bosses are largely developed, to which is due the great
width of the skull. The surciliary ridges are strongly marked, and the
malar bones are prominent. In all these particulars they agree with the
broad skulls, as defined by Dr. Thurnam, discovered in the round tumuli
of Britain and the sepulchral caves of France.
[Illustration: FIG. 67.--Platycnemic tibia, from Sclaigneaux.]
Some of the leg-bones presented the antero-posterior flattening, or
platycnemism, observed in the skeletons from the caves of Gibraltar,
and in France and Great Britain (Fig. 67). It is due, as in those from
North Wales, to the anterior expansion of the bone, and not to the
posterior, as is the case with those from the cave of Cro-Magnon.
A beautifully chipped arrow-head, with barbs and central tongue for
insertion into the shaft, of the same type as one from Chauvaux,
implies that these remains belong to the neolithic age. Implements of
bone, and a shell perforated for suspension, were also found.
_The Evidence of History as to the Peoples of Gaul and Spain._
The extension of this non-Aryan race through France, Spain, and
Britain, in ancient times, based solely on the evidence of the human
remains, is confirmed by an appeal to the ethnology of Europe within
the historic period. In the Iberian peninsula the Basque populations
of the west are defined from the Celtic of the east by the Celtiberi
inhabiting the modern Castille (see Map, Fig. 68). In Gaul the province
of Aquitania extended as far north, in Cæsar’s time,[140] as the river
Garonne, constituting the modern Gascony, to which was added, in the
days of Augustus, the district between that river and the Loire;
a change of frontier that was probably due to the predominance of
Basque blood in a mixed race in that area similar to the Celtiberi
of Castille. The Aquitani were surrounded on every side, except the
south, by the Celtæ, extending as far north as the Seine, as far to
the east as Switzerland and the plains of Lombardy, and southwards,
through the valley of the Rhone and the region of the Volcæ, over the
Eastern Pyrenees into Spain. The district round the Phocæan colony
of Marseilles was inhabited by Ligurian tribes, who held the region
between the river Po and the Gulf of Genoa, as far as the western
boundary of Etruria, and who probably extended to the west along
the coast of Southern Gaul as far as the Pyrenees.[141] They were
distinguished from the Celtæ, not merely by their manners and customs,
but by their small stature and dark hair and eyes, and are stated by
Pliny and Strabo to have inhabited Spain. They have also left marks of
their presence in Central Gaul in the name of the Loire (Ligur), and
possibly in Britain in the obscure name of the Lloegrians. They invaded
Sicily[142] as the Sikelians, and _if_ the latter be identified with
the Sikanians considered by Thucydides[143] and other writers to be
of Iberian stock, it will follow that they are a cognate race. Their
stature and swarthy complexion, as well as the ancient geographical
position conterminous with the Iberic population of Gaul and Spain,
confirm this conclusion. The non-Aryan and probably Basque population
of Gaul was therefore cut into two portions by a broad band of Celts,
which crosses the Eastern Pyrenees, and marks the route by which the
Iberian peninsula was invaded.
[Illustration: FIG. 68.--Distribution of Basque, Celtic, and Belgic
Peoples, at dawn of History.]
The ancient population of Sardinia is stated by Pausanias to be of
Libyan extraction, and to bear a strong resemblance to the Iberians in
physique and in habits of life, while that of Corsica is described by
Seneca as Ligurian and Iberian. The ancient Libyans are represented
at the present day by the Berber and Kabyle tribes which are, if
not identical with, at all events cognate with the Basques. We may
therefore infer that these two islands were formerly occupied by this
non-Aryan race, as well as the adjacent continents of Northern Africa
and Southern Europe.
_The Basque Population the Oldest._
The relative antiquity of these two races in Europe may be arrived at
by this distribution. The Basques, Sikani or Ligurian, are the oldest
inhabitants, in their respective districts, known to the historian;
while the Celts appear as invaders, pressing southwards and westwards
on the populations already in possession, flooding over the Alps and
under Brennus sacking Rome, and by their union with the vanquished
in Spain constituting the Celtiberi. We may therefore be tolerably
certain that the Basques held France and Spain before the invasion of
the Celts, and that the non-Aryan peoples were cut asunder, and certain
parts of them left--Ligurians, Sikani, and in part Sardinians and
Corsicans--as ethnological islands, marking, so to speak, an ancient
Basque non-Aryan continent which had been submerged by the Celtic
populations advancing steadily westwards.
At the time of the Roman conquest of Gaul, the Belgæ were pressing on
the Celts, just as the latter pressed the Basques, the Seine and the
Marne forming their southern boundary, and in their turn being pushed
to the west by the advance of the Germans in the Rhine provinces. Thus
we have the oldest population, or Basque, invaded by the Celts, the
Celts by the Belgæ, and these again by the Germans; their relative
positions stamping their relative antiquity in Europe.
_The Population of Britain._
The Celtic and Belgic invasion of Gaul repeated itself, as might
be expected, in Britain. Just as the Celts pushed back the Iberian
population of Gaul as far south as Aquitania, and swept round it into
Spain, so they crossed over the Channel and overran the greater portion
of Britain, until the Silures, identified by Tacitus[144] with the
Iberians, were left only in those fastnesses that formed subsequently
a bulwark for the Brit-Welsh against the English invaders. And just
as the Belgæ pressed on the rear of the Celts as far as the Seine,
so they followed them into Britain, and took possession of the “Pars
Maritima,”[145] or southern counties. The unsettled condition of the
country at the time of Cæsar’s invasion was, probably, due to the
struggle then going on between Celts and Belgæ.
The evidence offered by history as to the distribution of these races
confirms that which has been arrived at by the examination of the caves
and tumuli. In the one case the Basque peoples are merely known in a
fragmentary condition in Britain, Gaul, and Sicily, while in the other
those fragments are joined together in such a way as to show that, in
the neolithic age, they extended uninterrupedly through Western Europe,
from the Pillars of Hercules in the south to Scotland in the north,
before they were dispossessed by their broad-headed enemies. It is
impossible to define with precision their ethnological relation to the
non-Aryan inhabitants of Italy and the coasts of the Mediterranean,
such as the Etruscans and Tyrrhenians. I am, however, inclined to hold
that they are all branches of the same race of “Melanochroi,” differing
far less from each other than the Celtic from the Scandinavian branch
of the Aryan family.[146]
_Basque Element in present British and French Populations._
This non-Aryan blood is still to be traced in the dark-haired,
black-eyed, small, oval-featured peoples in our own country in the
region of the Silures, where the hills have afforded shelter to the
Basque populations from the invaders.[147] The small swarthy Welshman
of Denbighshire is in every respect, except dress and language,
identical with the Basque inhabitant of the Western Pyrenees, at
Bagnères de Bigorre.
The small dark-haired people of Ireland,[148] and especially those
to the west of the Shannon, according to Dr. Thurnam and Professor
Huxley, are also of Iberian derivation, and singularly enough there is
a legendary connection between that island and Spain. The human remains
from the chambered tombs as well as the riverbeds prove that the
non-Aryan population spread over the whole of Ireland as well as the
whole of Britain. The main mass of the Irish population is undoubtedly
Celtic, crossed with Danish, Norse, and English blood.
The Basque element in the population of France is at the present time
centered in the old province of Aquitaine, in which the jet-black hair
and eyes, and swarthy complexion, strike the eye of the traveller, now
as in the days of Strabo,[149] and form a vivid contrast with the brown
hair and grey eyes of the inhabitants of Celtica and Belgica (see Map,
Fig. 68). If Fig. 68 be compared with the map published by Dr. Broca
(“Mémoires d’Anthropologie,” t. i. p. 330), which shows at a glance
the average complexion prevailing in each department, and the relative
number of exemptions per 1,000 conscripts, on account of their not
coming up to the standard of height (1·56 metre = 5 feet 1½ inches),
it will be seen that the only swarthy people outside the boundary of
Aquitaine constitute five ethnological islands. Of these Brittany is by
far the largest, probably because its fastnesses afforded a shelter to
the Basques, who were being driven to the south-west. The department
of the Meuse, in the north, and those of Tarn and Arriège, in the
south, are also sundered from the main body, while those of the Upper
and Lower Alps present us with the descendants of the ancient Ligurian
tribes.
The people with dark-brown hair, considered by Dr. Broca to be the
result of the intermingling of a dark with a fair race, are scattered
about through Aquitaine, and occur only in two departments in northern
Celtica. The fair people, on the other hand, are massed in northern
Celtica and Belgica. The relation of complexion to stature may be
gathered from the following table of exemptions per 1,000 for each
department:--
Départements noirs 98·5 to 189
” gris-foncés 64· ” 97
” gris-clairs 48·8 ” 63·8
” blancs-clairs 23· ” 48·5
From this table it is evident that the swarthy people are the smallest
and the fair the tallest, the intermediate shades being the result of
fusion between the two extremes.
The distribution therefore of the small swarthy Basque, and tall fair
Celtic and Belgic races in France at the present time, corresponds
essentially with that which we might have expected from the evidence
both of history and of the neolithic caves and tombs.[150]
When we consider the many invasions of France, and the oscillations
to and fro of peoples, the persistence of the Basque population is
very remarkable. It is not a little strange that the type should be so
slightly altered by intermarriage with the conquering races.
_Whence came the Basques?_
From what region did the Basques invade Europe? M. Broca, from their
identity with the Kabyles and Berbers, holds that they entered Europe
from northern Africa, spreading over Spain, and passing over the
Pyrenees into southern France. It seems, however, to me, from their
range as far north as Scotland, and at least as far to the east as
Belgium, that they travelled by the same route that the Celtic, Belgic,
and Germanic tribes travelled long ages afterwards, coming from the
east and pushing their way to the west: and that while one section
chose this route, another mastered northern Africa, following the same
westward direction as the Saracens. On this hypothesis this great
pre-Aryan migration would start from the central plateau of Asia, from
which all the successive invaders of Europe have swarmed off.
This view of the eastern derivation of the Basque peoples is confirmed
by the examination of the breeds of domestic animals which they
possessed. The _Bos longifrons_, the sheep, and the goat are derived
from wild stocks that are now to be found only in central Asia; and the
dog and breed of swine with small canines were also probably imported
after they had become the servants of man in the east.[151]
_The Celtic and Belgic Brachy-cephali._
The occurrence of broad-skulls in the tumuli in this country, and
in caves and tumuli in France, proves that the Basque peoples were
invaded during the neolithic age. And since Dr. Thurnam has shown
that they are identical in form with Celtic and Belgic skulls,[152]
it follows that one or the other of these, probably the Celtic or the
older, was in possession of portions of Britain, Ireland, and Gaul at
that remote time. It is of course conceivable that non-Celtic races,
physically allied to the Celts or Belgæ, are represented by the human
remains in question; but in that case they have left no mark behind
by which they can be identified. And the supposition is rendered
improbable to the last degree by the fact, that the older or conquered
race--the Basque--still survives, in the area under consideration,
the invasions and vicissitudes which it has undergone. _A fortiori_,
would their conquerors have had a still greater chance of survival, in
the fastnesses which are offered by these countries. It is therefore
reasonable to presume that the broad-headed peoples in the neolithic
caves and tombs are represented by the Celts, and possibly, though not
probably, in part by the Belgæ, rather than by the equally broad-headed
Wends, Sclavonians, and Fins, which are not known by the historian to
have settled in Gaul or in Britain. The successive invasions of Europe
have been invariably from the east to the west, so far as we have any
certain knowledge; and it is most improbable that Wends, Fins, or
Sclaves should have occupied these countries and subsequently have
retreated eastwards against the current of the Celtic, Belgic, and
Germanic invasions.
The Celtæ may, therefore, be inferred to have occupied Gaul and Britain
in the ages of polished stone, bronze, and of iron, their encroachment
on the non-Aryan peoples being regulated by their strength, and the
amount of pressure on their rear. The Belgæ probably were not known
in Gaul until the later portion of the iron age, and were of small
importance as compared with the Celts, whose arms were felt alike in
Greece, Italy, Spain, and Asia Minor.
The Celts were a tall, fair-haired, blue-eyed race (Xanthochroi),
contrasting strongly with the Basque “Melanochroi”, and in those
particulars agreeing with the Germans.[153]
_The Ancient German Race._
The Germans, in the days of Cæsar, were advancing on the Belgæ in the
Rhine provinces, and on the Helvetii in Switzerland, and are recognized
by Tacitus,[154] in Britain as the red-haired, tall inhabitants of
Caledonia. Subsequently they spread over the west and south of Europe,
as Goths, Franks, Scandinavians, English and Normans; in this country
sweeping the Brit-Welsh into the hilly fastnesses of Wales, making
settlements on many points of the coasts of Ireland, and leaving
behind them, to this day, a considerable infusion of German blood
in the Celtic and Basque populations. They were, unlike the present
inhabitants of North Prussia and southern and middle Germany, a
dolicho-cephalic people, their length of head being due, according to
Gratiolet, to a frontal instead of an occipital development, which
causes the long-headedness of the Basques. The Anglo-Saxon skull is
defined by Dr. Thurnam as prognathous, with large facial bones, and
with a cephalic index averaging ·75. And these characters are equally
to be found in the Gothic, Frankish, and Scandinavian crania.
_General Conclusions._
In this outline of the ethnology of Gaul and Britain, it will be seen
that two out of the three ethnical elements (if the Belgic be classed
with the Celtic), of which the present population is composed, can be
recognized in the neolithic users of caves and builders of chambered
tombs. A non-Aryan race either identical or cognate with the Basque
is the earliest traceable in these areas in the neolithic age, and
it probably arrived in Europe by the same route as the Celtic and
Germanic, passing westwards from the plains of central Asia.
There is no evidence of Spain having been peopled from northern Africa,
the identity of the Berber and Kabyle with the Basque being due to
their being descended from the same non-Aryan stock in possession of
southern and western Europe, and northern Africa. They are to be looked
upon as cousins rather than as connected by descent in a right line.
The Basque race was probably in possession of Europe for a long series
of ages, before hordes either identical or cognate with the Celts
gradually crept westward over Germany into Gaul, Spain, and Britain,
driving away, or absorbing, the inhabitants of the regions which they
conquered.
CHAPTER VII.
CAVES CONTAINING HUMAN REMAINS OF DOUBTFUL AGE.
The Caves of Paviland.--Engis.--Trou du Frontal.--Gendron.
--Neanderthal.--Gailenreuth.--Aurignac.--Bruniquel.--
Cro-Magnon.-- Lombrive.--Cavillon, near Mentone.--Grotta dei
Colombi in Island of Palmaria, inhabited by Cannibals.--General
Conclusions.
There are many prehistoric caves in Britain and on the Continent which
do not contain remains sufficiently characteristic to fix the date of
their use, either for occupation or burial, unless the term neolithic
be understood to cover the wide interval between the palæolithic stage
of the pleistocene on the one hand, and the bronze age on the other.
_The Paviland Cave._
The Cave of Goat’s Hole[155] at Paviland, in Glamorganshire, explored
by Dr. Buckland in 1823, offers an instance of an interment having been
made in a pre-existent deposit of the pleistocene age. It consists of
a chamber facing to the sea, in a cliff of limestone 100 feet high, at
a level of from 30 to 40 feet above the high-water mark. Its floor was
composed of red loam, containing the remains of the woolly-rhinoceros,
hyæna, cave-bear, and mammoth. Close to a skull with tusks of the
last animal a human skeleton (equalling in size the largest male
skeleton in the Oxford Museum) was discovered; and in the soil, “which
had apparently been disturbed by ancient diggings,” were fragments of
charcoal, a small chipped flint, and the sea-shells of the neighbouring
shore. Certain small ivory ornaments, found close to the skeleton, are
considered by Dr. Buckland to have been carved out of the tusks of the
mammoth near which they rested; and he justly remarks that, “as they
must have been cut to their present shape at a time when the ivory was
hard, and not crumbling to pieces, as it is at present at the slightest
touch, we may from this circumstance assume for them a high antiquity.”
May we not also infer, from the fact of the manufactured ivory and
the tusks from which it was cut being in precisely the same state of
decomposition, that the tusks were preserved from decay, during the
pleistocene times, by precisely the same agency as those now found
perfect in the polar regions--namely, the intense cold; that after
the skull of the mammoth had been buried in the cave, the tusks, thus
preserved, were used for the manufacture of ornaments; and that, at
some time subsequent to the interment of the ornaments with the corpse,
a climatal change has taken place, by which the temperature in England,
France, and Germany has been raised, and the ivory became decomposed
that up to that time had preserved its gelatine? On this point it is
worthy of remark that fossil tusks have been discovered in Scotland
sufficiently perfect to be used as ivory. The ornaments may, however,
not have been made from the fossil tusks.
The presence of the bones of sheep underneath the remains of mammoth,
bear, and other animals, coupled with the state of the cave earth,
which had been disturbed before Dr. Buckland’s examination of the cave,
would prove that the interment is not of pleistocene date. No traces of
sheep or goat have as yet been afforded by any pleistocene deposit in
Britain, France, or Germany.
Dr. Buckland’s conclusion, that the interment is relatively more
modern than the accumulation with remains of the extinct mammalia,
must be accepted as the true interpretation of the facts. The intimate
association of the two sets of remains, of widely diverse ages, in this
cave show that extreme care is necessary in cave exploration.
_The Cave of Engis._
Human remains have been obtained from some of the caves of Belgium
under circumstances which are generally considered to indicate that
they are of the same antiquity as the skeletons of the animals with
which they are associated. The possibility, however, of the contents
of caves of different ages being mixed by the action of water, or by
the burrowing of animals, or by subsequent interments, renders such an
association of little value, unless the evidence be very decided. The
famous human skull discovered by Dr. Schmerling[156] in the cave of
Engis, near Liége, in 1833, is a case in point. It was obtained from
a mass of breccia, along with bones and teeth of mammoth, rhinoceros,
horse, hyæna, and bear; and subsequently M. Dupont[157] found in
the same spot a human ulna, other human bones, worked flints, and a
small fragment of coarse earthenware. The discovery of this last is
an argument in favour of the human remains being of a later date than
the extinct mammalia, since pottery has not yet been proved to have
been known to the palæolithic races who co-existed with them, while
it is very abundant in neolithic burial-places and tombs. The fact of
all the objects being cemented together by calcareous infiltration is
no test of relative age, which cannot be ascertained without distinct
stratification, such as that in the caves of Wookey and Kent’s Hole.
It seems therefore to me, that the conditions of the discovery are too
doubtful to admit of the conclusion of Sir Charles Lyell and other
eminent writers, that the human remains are of palæolithic age.
The skull is described by Professor Huxley[158] as being of average
size, its contour agreeing equally well with some Australian and
European skulls; it presents no marks of degradation, “and is in fact a
fair average human skull, which might have belonged to a philosopher,
or might have contained the thoughtless brains of a savage.” Its
measurements fall within the limits of the long-skulls described in the
preceding chapter, and it certainly belongs to the same class.
The following Table will show the variation in size and form of the
skulls mentioned in this chapter:
_Measurements of Skulls of doubtful antiquity._
+-------------------------+-------+--------+-------+--------+--------+-------+
| | | | |Circum- |Cephalic|Altitu-|
| |Length.|Breadth.|Height.|ference.| index. | dinal |
| | | | | | | index.|
+-------------------------+-------+--------+-------+--------+--------+-------+
|Engis (Huxley) | 7·7 | 5·4 | -- | 20·5 | ·700 | -- |
|Trou du Frontal | | | | | | |
| (Pruner-Bey) | 6·9 | 5·6 | -- | 21·55 | ·811 | ·704 |
|Gailenreuth (Dawkins) | 6·82 | 5·5 | -- | 21·55 | ·813 | ·813 |
|Neanderthal | | | | | | |
| (Schaaffhausen) | 12·0 | 5·75 | -- | 23· | ·720 | -- |
|Cro-Magnon, No. 1 (Broca)| 7·95 | 5·86 | -- | 22·36 | ·730 | -- |
| ” ” 2 ” | 7·52 | 5·39 | -- | 21·26 | ·71 | -- |
| ” ” 3 ” | 7·94 | 5·94 | -- | 22·24 | ·74 | -- |
+-------------------------+-------+--------+-------+--------+--------+-------+
_Trou du Frontal._
The human skeletons in the Trou du Frontal, situated in a picturesque
limestone cliff on the banks of the Lesse, near Furfooz, are considered
by M. Dupont to be of the same age as the contents of the caves close
by the Trou des Nutons and Trou Rosette, which have been inhabited by
palæolithic savages. The following is the section (Fig. 69) which he
gives of the deposits. Close to the river Lesse is the alluvium (No.
1), below which is a clay (No. 2), with angular blocks passing upwards
under the rock shelter, and filling the cave. Under this is a stratum
of loam (No. 3), resting on gravel (No. 4). Sixteen human skeletons
were discovered in the sepulchral cavity (S), at the mouth of which
was a large slab of rock (D), by which it was originally blocked up.
A singular urn, with a round bottom and with the handles perforated
for suspension, was found at the entrance, together with flint flakes,
ornaments in fluorine, and eocene shells perforated for suspension.
Outside, at the points H H, was an accumulation of broken bones,
belonging to the lemming, tailless hare (Lagomys), beaver, wild cat,
boar, horse, stag, urus, chamois, goat, and other animals, birds and
fishes. From the occurrence of fragments belonging to two reindeer,
it is considered by M. Dupont to belong to the reindeer age. The old
hearth was close by, at F (Fig. 69).
[Illustration: FIG. 69.--Section of the Trou du Frontal. (Dupont.)]
From this section we may infer, that the rock-shelter was used by man
at the points H H and F before the formation of the stratum No. 2,
which is probably merely subaerial rain-wash, due to the disintegration
of the adjacent rocks, and that the sepulchral cavity was a place of
burial either before, or while No. 2 was accumulated. Can we further
conclude that there is any necessary connection between the refuse-heap
and the sepulchre in point of time? M. Dupont holds that the contents
of all the caves in the cliff are palæolithic, and that the sepulchral
cavity is therefore of that age.[159] It seems to me, however, that the
evidence in favour of this view is not conclusive. The burial place may
have belonged to one people, and the refuse-heaps in the neighbouring
caves and _outside_ the slab in the rock-shelter of the Trou du Frontal
to another. The form of the urn is remarkably like some of those which
have been obtained from the neolithic pile-dwellings of Switzerland,
and therefore may possibly imply that the interment is of that age.
The human remains were mixed _pêle mêle_ with stones and yellow
clay within the chamber. Two skulls, sufficiently perfect to allow
of measurement, show that their possessors were broad-headed
(brachy-cephalic), and of the same type as those of Sclaigneaux.
They are considered by the late Dr. Pruner-Bey to belong to the
“type Mongoloide,” and are believed by M. Dupont to prove that the
palæolithic inhabitants of Belgium were a Mongoloid race. They seem,
however, to be of the same general order as the broad-skulls from the
neolithic caves and tombs of France, and from the round barrows of
Great Britain, as well as those from the neolithic tombs of Borreby and
Moën in Scandinavia. And they are looked upon by MM. de Quatrefages,
Virchow, and Lagneaux,[160] as presenting the same type as that which
is to be recognized in the present population of Belgium, in the
neighbourhood, for example, of Antwerp.
These affinities may be explained by the view advanced by Dr. Thurnam,
that the broad-heads of the British, French, and Scandinavian tombs
are cognate with the modern Fin; or by the higher generalisation of
Prof. Huxley, that the Swiss “Dissentis” skull, the South German, the
Sclavonian, and the Finnish, belong to one great race of fair-haired,
broad-headed, Xanthochroi “who have extended across Europe from
Britain to Sarmatia, and we know not how much further to the east and
south.”[161]
Besides these broad crania, M. Lagneaux[162] calls attention to a
fragment, sufficiently perfect to indicate a skull of the long type
(très dolicho-céphale), and that differed from them in many other
particulars. In the Trou du Frontal, therefore, there is proof that
a long and a short-headed race lived in Belgium side by side, just
as a similar association in the cave of Orrouy establishes the same
conclusion as to the neolithic dwellers in France. And since skulls
of both these types have been discovered in the neolithic caves of
Sclaigneaux and Chauvaux, the interment in the Trou du Frontal may
probably be referred to that date.
_The Cave of Gendron._
The sepulchral cave of Gendron[163] on the Lesse, in which fourteen
skeletons were discovered lying at full length, and in regular order,
along with one flake and some fragments of pottery, is of uncertain
age, since those articles were found at the entrance, and have no
necessary connection with the interments. And if they were deposited
at the same time, M. Dupont’s view that they stamp the neolithic age
is rendered untenable by the fact that flakes and rude pottery were
in use as late as the date of the Roman conquest of Britain, and are
frequently met with in association with articles of bronze and of iron.
And for the same reasons the neolithic age of the human bones in the
Trou de Sureau and of the Trou de Pont-à-Lesse is open to considerable
doubt. The contents, however, prove these caves to be post-pleistocene.
_Cave of Gailenreuth._
The same uncertainty overhangs the age of the interments in the cave
of Gailenreuth, in Franconia, from which Dr. Buckland[164] obtained
a human skull of the same broad type as that from Sclaigneaux, along
with fragments of black coarse pottery, one of which is ornamented with
a line of finger-impressions. The skull is remarkable for the great
width of the parietal protuberances, and the flattening of the upper
and posterior region of the parietal bone. Its measurements are given
in the Table, p. 236, from which it will be seen that it belongs to the
same class of skulls as those from the neolithic caves and tumuli of
France.
_Cave of Neanderthal._
The extraordinary skull found in 1857 in the cave of Neanderthal,[165]
by Dr. Fuhlrott, with some of the other bones of the skeleton, was
not associated with any other animals from which its age could be
inferred. “Under whatever aspect,” writes Professor Huxley, “we view
this cranium, whether we regard its vertical depression, the enormous
thickness of its supraciliary ridges, its sloping occiput, or its
long and straight squamosal suture, we meet with ape-like characters,
stamping it as the most pithecoid of human crania yet discovered. But
Prof. Schaaffhausen states that the cranium, in its present condition,
holds 1033·24 cubic centimetres of water, or about 63 cubic inches, and
as the entire skull could hardly have held less than an additional 12
cubic inches, its capacity may be estimated at about 75 cubic inches,
which is the average capacity given by Morton for Polynesian and
Hottentot skulls.
So large a mass of brain as this would alone suggest that the pithecoid
tendencies, indicated by this skull, did not extend deep into the
organization, and this conclusion is borne out by the dimensions of
the other bones of the skeleton, given by Prof. Schaaffhausen, which
show that the absolute height and relative proportions of the limbs
were quite those of a European of middle stature. The bones are indeed
stouter, but this, and the great development of the muscular ridges
noted by Dr. Schaaffhausen, are characters to be expected in savages.
The Patagonians, exposed without shelter or protection to a climate
possibly not very dissimilar from that of Europe at the time during
which the Neanderthal man lived, are remarkable for the stoutness of
their limb-bones.
In no sense, then, can the Neanderthal bones be regarded as the remains
of a human being intermediate between men and apes; at most they
demonstrate the existence of a man whose skull may be said to revert
somewhat towards the pithecoid type--just as a carrier, or a poulter,
or a tumbler may sometimes put on the plumage of its primitive stock,
the _Columba livia_.”
This skull, like the preceding, belongs to the dolicho-cephalic
division, reaching the enormous length of twelve inches, with a
parietal breadth of 5·75.
A long-skull found near Ledbury Hill in Derbyshire, and belonging
to the river-bed type of Prof. Huxley, comes so close to this one
of Neanderthal, that were it flattened a little and elongated, and
possessed of larger supraciliary ridges, it would be converted into the
nearest likeness which has yet been discovered.[166]
_The Caves of France.--Aurignac._
In the cave of Neanderthal, the question of the antiquity of the human
remains is not complicated by the juxtaposition of extinct pleistocene
animals or of palæolithic implements. Those caves, however, in France
which claim especial attention, Aurignac, Bruniquel, and Cro-Magnon,
are equally famous for their interments, and the palæolithic implements
which they have furnished, along with the remains of the mammoth,
woolly rhinoceros, and other extinct animals.
They have both been inhabited by palæolithic man, and been used some
time for burial. Does the period of habitation coincide with that
of the burial? This important question has been answered almost
universally in the affirmative, and the interments are viewed as
evidence of a belief in the supra-natural among the most ancient
inhabitants of Europe, as well as offering examples of their physique.
The famous cave of Aurignac, near the town of that name, in the
department of the Haute Garonne, was explored and described by the late
M. Ed. Lartet, and his conclusions were adopted by Sir Charles Lyell
in the first three editions of the “Antiquity of Man.” In the fourth
edition,[167] however, the latter author, after a reconsideration of
all the circumstances, qualifies his acceptance of the palæolithic age
of the interments, and shares the doubts which have been expressed by
Sir John Lubbock and Mr. John Evans. The evidence is as follows:--
M. Lartet’s account falls naturally into two parts: first, the
story which he was told by the original discoverer of the cave;
and, secondly, that in which the results of his own discoveries are
described. We will begin with the first. In the year 1852, a labourer,
named Bonnemaison, employed in mending the roads, put his hand into a
rabbit-hole (Fig. 70, _f_), and drew out a human bone, and having his
curiosity excited, he dug down until, as his story goes, he came to a
great slab of rock. Having removed this, he discovered on the other
side a cavity seven or eight feet in height, ten in width, and seven
in depth, almost full of human bones, which Dr. Amiel, the Mayor of
Aurignac, who was a surgeon, believed to represent at least seventeen
individuals. All these human remains were collected, and finally
committed to the parish cemetery, where they rest to the present day,
undisturbed by sacrilegious hands. Fortunately, however, Bonnemaison in
digging his way into the grotto, had met with the remains of extinct
animals, and works of art; and these were preserved until, in 1860,
M. Lartet accidentally heard of the discovery, and investigated the
circumstances on the spot. He found that Bonnemaison, and the sexton
who had buried the human remains, had taken so little note of the place
where they were interred, that it could not be identified, and on
examining the cave he found that the interior had been ransacked, and
the original stratification to a great extent disturbed. M. Lartet’s
exploration showed that a stratum containing the remains of the
cave-bear, lion, rhinoceros, hyæna, mammoth, bison, horse, and other
animals, and palæolithic implements, like those of Périgord, extended
from the plateau (_d_) outside into (_b_) the cave. On the outside he
met with ashes, and burnt and split bones, which proved that it had
been used as a feasting-place by the palæolithic hunters; within he
detected no traces of charcoal, and no traces of the hyænas, which
were abundant outside. Inside he met with a few human bones in the
earth which Bonnemaison had disturbed, which were in the same mineral
condition as those of the extinct animals, and he, therefore, inferred
that they were of the same age. Such is the summary of the facts which
M. Lartet discovered. He has, of his own personal knowledge, only
proved that Aurignac was occupied by a tribe of hunters during the
palæolithic age, and that it had been used as a burial-place.
[Illustration: FIG. 70.--Diagram of the Cave of Aurignac.]
Is he further justified in concluding that the period of palæolithic
occupation coincides with that in which the burial took place?
Bonnemaison’s recollections may be estimated at their proper value
by the significant fact, that, in the short space of eight years
intervening between the discovery and the exploration, he had forgotten
where the skeletons had been buried. And even if his account be true
in the minutest detail, it does not afford a shadow of evidence in
favour of the cave having been a place of sepulchre in palæolithic
times, but merely that it had been so used at some time or another. If
we turn to the diagram constructed by M. Lartet to illustrate his views
(“Ann. des Sc. Nat. Zool.,” 4^e sér., t. xv., pl. 10), and made for the
most part from Bonnemaison’s recollections; or to the amended diagram
(Fig. 70) given by Sir Charles Lyell (“Antiquity of Man,” 1st ed., Fig.
25), we shall see that the skeletons are depicted _above_ the stratum
(_b_) containing the palæolithic implements and pleistocene mammalia;
and therefore, according to the laws of geological evidence, they must
have been buried after the subjacent deposit was accumulated. The
previous disturbance of the cave-earth does away with the conclusion,
that the few human bones found by M. Lartet are of the same age as the
extinct mammalia in the deposit. The absence of charcoal inside was
quite as likely to be due to the fact that a fire kindled inside would
fill the grotto with smoke, while outside the palæolithic savage could
feast in comfort, as to the view that the ashes are those of funereal
feasts in honour of the dead within, held after the slab had been
placed at the entrance. The absence of the remains of hyænas from the
interior is also negative evidence, disproved by subsequent examination.
The researches of the Rev. S. W. King, in 1865, complete the case
against the current view of the palæolithic character of the
interments, since they show that M. Lartet did not fully explore the
cave, and that he consequently wrote without being in possession of all
the facts. The entrance was blocked up, according to Bonnemaison, by a
slab of stone, which, if the measurements of the entrance be correct,
must have been at least nine feet long and seven feet high, placed,
according to M. Lartet, to keep the hyænas from the corpses of the
dead. It need hardly be remarked, that the access of these bone-eating
animals to the cave would be altogether incompatible with the
preservation of the human skeletons, had they been buried at the same
time. The enormous slab was never seen by M. Lartet, and it did not
keep out the hyænas. In the collection made by the Rev. S. W. King from
the interior there are two hyænas’ teeth, and nearly all the antlers
and bones bear the traces of the gnawing of these animals. The cave,
moreover, has _two_ entrances instead of one, as M. Lartet supposed
when his paper in the “Annales” was published. The bones of the sheep,
or goat, also obtained from the inside, and preserved in the Christy
Museum, afford strong evidence that the interment is not palæolithic;
and a fragment of pottery, agreeing exactly with that used in the
neolithic age, probably indicates its relative antiquity. This
conclusion has also been arrived at by the two most recent explorers,
MM. Cartaillac and Gautier.
The skeletons, therefore, in the Aurignac cave cannot be taken to be of
the same age as the stratum on which they rested; but, so far as there
is any evidence, may probably be referred to the neolithic age, in
which the custom of burial in caves prevailed throughout Europe.
_Cavern of Bruniquel._
The famous cavern of Bruniquel, explored by the Vicomte de Lastic in
1863-4,[168] and described by Professor Owen, is also one of the class
which has furnished human bones, along with the remains of the extinct
mammalia. It penetrates a cliff in the Jurassic limestone, opposite
the little village of Bruniquel (Tarn and Garonne), about forty feet
above the level of the river Aveyron. The bottom was covered with a
sheet of stalagmite, resting on earth and blocks of stone, for the most
part finely cemented into a breccia, that is black with the particles
of carbon constituting the “limon noir” of the workmen, four or five
feet thick, beneath which is the “limon rouge,” or red earth without
charcoal, from three to four feet thick. Every part of the breccia
is charged with the broken remains of the wolf, rhinoceros, horse,
reindeer, stag, Irish elk and bison, and palæolithic implements of
flint and bone; some of the latter having well-executed designs of the
heads of horses and reindeer, which prove that the cave had been used
as a place of habitation by the hunters of those animals. Imbedded in
the breccia at a depth of from three to five feet human bones were
met with, and in two recesses several individuals, including a child,
were found, one of which Professor Owen and the Vicomte de Lastic
disinterred with sufficient care to prove that the body had been buried
in the crouching posture. The only calvarium sufficiently perfect to
allow of a comparison belonged to the dolicho-cephalic type, and was
very fairly developed.
Professor Owen infers, from the intimate association of the human
bones with the palæolithic implements and mammalia, that the cave
of Bruniquel was used as a burial-place by the same people who had
used it for habitation, and advances, in support of this, that the
bones of man and of the animals are exactly in the same state of
preservation, having lost the same amount of gelatine. The evidence,
however, does not seem to be altogether conclusive. If the interment
had been made after the palæolithic inhabitants had forsaken the cave,
the association of the human bones with the refuse bones in their
old refuse-heap must inevitably have taken place. And if, further,
water charged with carbonate of lime percolated the mass, it would be
converted into a hard breccia, and ultimately covered with a sheet of
stalagmite. This calcification may have taken place in modern times.
A modern bone, as Mr. Evans has observed in the case of Aurignac, may
lose its gelatine in a comparatively short time, and become chemically
identical with those which have been imbedded in the same matrix for
long ages. The mineral condition, therefore, is an uncertain test of
relative antiquity.
For these reasons it seems to be doubtful whether the interment is of
the same age as the occupation. The skull-shape, and the burial in the
crouching posture, point rather in the direction of the long-headed
race, that buried their dead in caves, in the neolithic age, in France,
Spain, Belgium, and Great Britain.
_The Cave of Cro-Magnon._
The human skeletons in the cave of Cro-Magnon, at Les Eyzies, a little
village on the banks of the Vezère in Périgord, fall into the same
doubtful category as those of Aurignac. The cave (Fig. 71, _f_),
situated at the base of a low cliff, was completely concealed by a
talus of loose débris, four metres thick, which had fallen from above.
(Fig. 71, _b_.)
[Illustration: FIG. 71.--Section across the Valley of the Vezère, and
through the rock of Cro-Magnon.
Level of the Vezère at low water, 58·25 metres above the sea.
Height of cave above the Vezère, 15 metres; above the sea-level, 73·25
metres.
Distance from the cave to the river, 177 metres.
_a_ Railroad.
_b_ Talus.
_c_ Great block of stone.
_d_ Ledge of rock.
P Limestone.
M Detritus of the slopes and alluvium of the Valley.
_e_ Rock of Cro-Magnon.
_f_ Cave.
_g_ Château and Village of Les Eyzies, in the Valley of the Beaune.
_h_ Gatekeeper’s house.
_i_ Railway bridge over the Vezère.
_j_ Caves of Le Cingle.
]
It forms one of a group of caves at various heights above the Vezère,
which are very well represented in the preceding figure, which I am
kindly allowed to borrow from the “Reliquiæ Aquitanicæ” (Fig. 39).
At the time of its discovery in 1868, in the course of making an
embankment for the railway close by, and of obtaining material for
mending the roads, it was completely blocked up. On the removal of this
(_b_), by the contractors MM. Bertoú-Meyroú and Delmarés, the entrance
was exposed, and human remains and worked flints revealed, which were
carefully exhumed in the presence of MM. Laganne, Galy, and Simon.
At this stage of the exploration M. Louis Lartet was deputed, by the
Minister of Public Instruction, to superintend the work, and from his
report the following account is taken (Lartet and Christy, “Rel. Aq.,”
p. 66) by the courtesy of the editors.
“The cave of Cro-Magnon is formed by a projecting ledge of cretaceous
limestone (rich with fossil corals and polyzoans), having a thickness
of 8 metres and a length of 17 metres (Fig. 72, P). The bed which it
overlies, and the destruction of which has given rise to the cave,
abounds with _Rhynchonella vespertilio_, which is a type fossil,
fixing the geological horizon. The débris of this marly and micaceous
limestone had accumulated on the original floor of the cavern to a
great thickness, at least for 0·70 metres (see Fig. 72, A), when the
hunters of the reindeer stopped here for the first time, leaving as a
trace of their short stay a blackish layer (Fig. 72, B), from 0·05 to
0·15 metre thick, containing worked flints, bits of charcoal, broken
or calcined bones, and in its upper portion the elephant tusk before
alluded to (Fig. 72, _a_).
[Illustration: FIG. 72.--Detailed Section of the Cave of Cro-Magnon,
near Les Eyzies. Scale = 1/100 (1 centimetre to 1 metre).
A Débris of soft limestone.
B First layer of ashes, &c.
C Calcareous débris.
D Second layer of ashes, &c.
E Calcareous débris, reddened by fire under the next layer of
ashes, &c.
F Third layer of ashes, &c.
G Red earth, with bones, &c.
H Thickest layer of ashes, bones, &c.
I Yellowish earth, with bones, flints, &c.
J Thin bed of hearth-stuff.
K Calcareous débris.
L Rubbish of the Talus.
N Crack in the projecting ledge of rock.
P Projecting shelf of hard limestone.
Y Place of the pillar made to support the roof.
_a_ Tusk of an elephant.
_b_ Bones of an old man.
_c_ Block of gneiss.
_d_ Human bones.
_e_ Slabs of stone fallen from the roof at different times.
]
“This first hearth is covered by a layer (C), 0·25 metre thick, of
calcareous débris, detached bit by bit from the roof, during the
temporary disuse of the shelter. Then follows another thin layer of
hearth-stuff (D), 0·10 metre thick, also containing pieces of charcoal,
bones, and worked flints. This bed is in its turn overlain by a layer
of fallen limestone rubbish (E), 0·50 metre thick. Lastly, there is
over these a series of more important layers, all of them containing,
in different proportions, charcoal, bones (broken, burnt, and worked),
worked flints (of different types, but chiefly scrapers), flint cores,
and pebbles of quartz, granites, &c. from the bed of the Vezère, and
bearing numerous marks of hammering. Altogether these layers seem to
have reference to a period during which the cave was inhabited, if
not continuously, at least at intervals so short as not to admit of
intercalations of débris falling from the roof between the different
hearth-layers which correspond with the successive phases of this (the
third) period of habitation. The first (lowest) of these layers (F) is
full of charcoal, and has a thickness of 0·20 metre; it does not touch
the back of the cave, but extends a little further than the earlier
layers. At its line of contact with the calcareous débris beneath, the
latter is strongly reddened with the action of fire.
“On the last-mentioned hearth-layer is a bed of unctuous reddish earth
(G), 0·30 metre thick, containing similar objects, though in less
quantities. Last in succession is a carbonaceous bed (H), the widest
and thickest of all, having an average thickness of 0·30 metre; at the
edges it is only 0·10 metre thick; but in the centre, where it cuts
into the subjacent deposits, which were excavated by the inhabitants
in making the principal hearth, it attains a depth of 1·60 metre. This
bed, being by far the richest in pieces of charcoal, in bones, pebbles
of quartz, worked flints, flint cores, and bone implements, such as
points or dart-heads, arrowheads, &c., may be regarded as indicative of
a far more prolonged habitation than the previous.
“Above this thick hearth-layer is a bed of yellowish earth (I), rather
argillaceous, also containing bones, flints, and implements of bone,
as well as amulets or pendants. This appears to be limited upwards by
a carbonaceous bed (J), very thin, and of little extent, 0·05 metre
thick, which M. Laganne observed before my arrival, but of which only
slight traces remained afterwards.
“It was on the upper part of this yellow band (I), and at the back of
the cave, that the human skeletons and the accessories of the sepulture
were met with; and all of them were found in the calcareous débris
(K), except in a small space in the furthest hollow at the back of the
cave. This last deposit also contains some worked flints, mixed up with
broken bones, and with some uninjured bones referable to small rodents
and to a peculiar kind of fox.
“Lastly, above these different layers, and all over the shelter itself,
lay the rubbish of the talus (four to six metres thick), sufficient
in itself, according to what we have said above about its mode of
formation, to carry back the date of the sepulture to a very distant
period in the prehistoric age.
“As for the human remains, and the position they occupied in bed I, the
following are the results of my careful inquiries in the matter. At
the back of the cave was found an old man’s skull (_b_), which alone
was on a level with the surface, in the cavity not filled up in the
back of the cave, and was therefore exposed to the calcareous drip
from the roof, as is shown by its having a stalagmitic coating on some
parts. The other human bones, referable to four other skeletons, were
found around the first, within a radius of about 1·50 metre. Among
these bones were found, on the left of the old man, the skeleton of a
woman, whose skull presents in front a deep wound, made by a cutting
instrument, but which did not kill her at once, as the bone has been
partly repaired within; indeed our physicians think that she survived
several weeks. By the side of the woman’s skeleton was that of an
infant which had not arrived at its full time of fœtal development. The
other skeletons (Fig. 70, _d_) seem to have been those of men.
“Amidst the human remains lay a multitude of marine shells (about 300),
each pierced with a hole, and nearly all belonging to the species
_Littorina littorea_ so common on our Atlantic coasts. Some other
species, such as _Purpura lapillus_, _Turritella communis_, &c., occur,
but in small numbers. These are also perforated, and, like the others,
have been used for necklaces, bracelets, or other ornamental attire.
Not far from the skeletons, I found a pendant or amulet of ivory, oval,
flat, and pierced with two holes. M. Laganne had already discovered a
smaller specimen; and M. Ch. Grenier, schoolmaster at Les Eyzies, has
kindly given me another, quite similar, which he had received from
one of his pupils. There were also found near the skeletons several
perforated teeth, a large block of gneiss, split and presenting a large
smoothed surface; also worked antlers of reindeer, and chipped flints,
of the same types as those found in the hearth-layers underneath.
“... The presence, at all levels, of the same kind of flint scrapers,
as finely chipped as those of the Gorge d’Enfer, and of the same
animals as in that classic station, evidently shows them to be
relics of the successive habitation of the Cro-Magnon shelter by the
same race of nomadic hunters, who at first could use it merely as a
rendezvous, where they came to share the spoils of the chase taken
in the neighbourhood; but coming again, they made a more permanent
occupation, until their accumulated refuse and the débris gradually
raised the floor of the cave, leaving the inconvenient height of
only 1·20 metre between it and the roof; and then they abandoned it
by degrees, returning once more at last to conceal their dead there.
No longer accessible, except perhaps to the foxes above noticed,
this shelter, and its strange sepulture, were slowly and completely
hidden from sight by atmospheric degradation bringing down the earthy
covering, which, by its thickness, alone proves the great antiquity of
the burial in the cave.”
These conclusions as to the age of the burial do not seem to me to be
supported by the facts of the case. That the cave was inhabited by a
tribe of palæolithic hunters there can be no doubt, but no evidence
has been brought forward that it was used by them for the burial of
their dead. They “abandoned it by degrees,” but what proof is there
that _they_ “returned once more to conceal their dead”? The interments
are at a higher horizon than the strata of occupation, and therefore
later, and although palæolithic implements have been found “near” them,
the value of the latter, in indicating the date, is destroyed by their
occurrence throughout the old floors below. If we suppose that long
after the cave had been inhabited by the hunters of the reindeer, it
was chosen by a family as a burial-place, all the conditions of the
discovery will be satisfied. The pre-existent strata would be disturbed
in the process of burial, and the burrowing of foxes, and possibly of
rabbits, might bring the palæolithic implements into close association
with the human bones. Taking the whole evidence into account, I should
feel inclined to assign the interment to the neolithic age, in which
cave-burial was so common; but whatever view be held, the facts do not
warrant the human skeletons being taken as proving the physique of the
palæolithic hunters of the Dordogne, or as a basis for an inquiry into
the ethnology of the palæolithic races.
The largest cranium (see Table, p. 236), belonging to an old man, had
the frontal region well developed, is orthognathic, with upturned
nasals, and dolicho-cephalic. The occipital protuberance, or probole,
is small. The bones of the extremity imply a stature of not less than
five foot eleven inches for the man; the femur is carinate, and the
tibiæ platycnemic (see Fig. 48).
_The Cave of Lombrive._
The human bones, obtained by MM. Garrigou, Filhol, and Rames, from the
cave of Lombrive[169] in the Department of Ariège, are, equally with
those cited above, of doubtful antiquity. They were discovered on the
superficial sandy loam, passing in places into a calcareous breccia,
which rests at various levels in the chambers, passages, and fissures,
along with bones of the brown-bear, urus, small ox, reindeer, stag,
horse, and dog. From the occurrence of the reindeer the deposit is
assigned to the palæolithic age. But since this animal has been proved
to have been eaten in Scotland by the neolithic men of Caithness, and
to have inhabited Britain in the prehistoric age, it is by no means
improbable that it may also have lived in the region of the Pyrenees in
post-pleistocene times. The presence of the dog and the small domestic
ox (_Bos longifrons?_) fixes the date of the accumulation as not being
earlier than prehistoric; for both those animals were introduced into
Europe by neolithic peoples.
The two human skulls, described by Professor Vogt, from this deposit
confirm this conclusion, since they are of the broad type, and differ
in no important character (Thurnam) from those of the neolithic
brachy-cephali of France and Belgium.
_The Cave of Cavillon, near Mentone._
The cave of Cavillon, explored by M. Rivière, in 1872, in the
neighbourhood of Mentone, a few hundred yards on the Italian side of
the frontier of France, is another case of the occurrence of human
remains in association with those of the extinct animals. The floor
is composed of dark earth, full of charcoal and fragments of bones,
mingled with blocks of stone which have dropped from the roof. Below
it, at a depth of six and a half metres, a skeleton was met with, as
well as flint-flakes, rude instruments of bone, and a number of shells
perforated for suspension. The skull was covered with a head-dress
of more than 200 perforated sea-shells. It rested in an attitude
of repose, with the legs and arms bent,[170] as may be seen in the
admirable photo-lithograph given by M. Rivière in the volume of the
“International Congress of Prehistoric Archæology,” published at
Brussels, pl. 6. The teeth and bones of hyæna, lion, woolly rhinoceros,
mammoth, and other pleistocene animals occurred both in the soil above
and below, and for that reason both the discoverer and Sir Charles
Lyell believe that the interment dates back to the time when those
animals were living. If, however, neolithic savages, or those of a
later age, had buried the skeleton in the earth containing the extinct
animals, all the circumstances which have been noticed, either by Mr.
Pengelly or Mr. Moggridge,[171] may be satisfactorily explained. There
are no stalagmites to divide one stratum from another, and were an
interment made in the cave at the present time, the discoverer two or
three centuries hence might assert, with equal justice, that it took
place in the pleistocene age, because of the association with the
animals characteristic of that remote period.
The superficial portions of the cave-earth had certainly been
disturbed, and there is no evidence that the disturbance did not extend
down to the horizon where the skeleton rested. Nevertheless, Mr.
Pengelly concludes that the interment is of palæolithic age from its
analogy with that of Cro-Magnon and Paviland, which we have seen to be
of equally doubtful antiquity. It seems to me that this conclusion,
which is almost universally accepted, is not warranted by the facts,
and that it cannot be used in support of any speculation as to the
condition of man in the pleistocene age.
The skull is described by M. Rivière as long, the thigh-bones are
strongly carinate, and the tibiæ are platycnemic as in the case of
those from Cro-Magnon, Gibraltar, Sclaigneaux, and North Wales.
_Grotta dei Colombi in Island of Palmaria, inhabited by Cannibals._
We are indebted to Professor Capellini for an account of the
exploration of the Grotta dei Colombi, a cave in a vertical cliff
in the island of Palmaria,[172] overlooking to the south the Gulf of
Spezzia. In the red loam, composing the floor, were numerous flakes and
scrapers, a rounded “striker” of Saussurite, quartz, pebbles, fragments
of pottery, a bone needle, a whistle made of the first phalange of a
goat’s foot, shells perforated for suspension, _Natica mille-punctata_,
_Pectunculus glycimeris_, and _Patella cærulea_, together with bones of
goat, hog, ox, wolf, wild cat, and broken and cut human bones belonging
to children and young adults.
Among the remains Professor Capellini draws attention in particular to
the thigh-bones, scorched by fire, one of which bears incisions on its
posterior face made by a flint implement in cutting away the flesh (Pl.
73, _a_), and is also marked by scraping. He considers that they belong
to an ape, closely allied to the _Macacus innuus_ of Gibraltar and
North Africa, and concludes, therefore, that the animal was living in
Palmaria at the time that the cave was inhabited. This identification
is forbidden by the spongy texture, the rounded contour, and the
absence of epiphyses that imply that the bone was very young, and that
in the adult it would be far larger than any thigh-bone of the apes. On
comparing his figures with eight femora belonging to young children,
from the cairn at Cefn, and the caves at Perthi-Chwareu, I find that
they agree in every particular with two, the flattening of the inferior
extremity, considered by Prof. Calori to be a non-human character,
being equally met with in all, and being relatively greater in the
younger than the older. They offer, therefore, unmistakeable proof that
the inhabitants of the cave were cannibals (Fig. 73). I am informed by
my friend, Prof. Busk, that the bone figured belonged to a child about
eight years old. The outline _b_ in the figure represents the contour
of one of the femora from the cavern at Cefn, described in the fifth
chapter.
[Illustration: FIG. 73.--Thigh-bone of child from Grotta dei Colombi
(Capellini). _a_, Cuts; _b_, Outline of corresponding thigh-bone from
cavern at Cefn.]
In this cave, as in those quoted above, there are no polished stone
implements, or works of art, that establish that these feasts
were carried on in the cave by neolithic cannibals, for the rude
flint-flakes and bone articles, taken by Professor Capellini to fix
its date, are common both to the palæolithic and the bronze ages.
Nevertheless, since the inhabitants have left behind no trace of
any metal, and since their food was wholly supplied by the existing
animals, they were probably in the neolithic stage of culture, if this
be taken to cover the wide interval extending from the pleistocene
to the age of bronze. They are proved, by the rudeness of their
implements, to have been savages of a very low order.
We may gather from various allusions, and stories scattered through the
classical writers, such for example as that of the Cyclops, that the
caves on the shores of the Mediterranean were inhabited by cannibals
in ancient times. In the island of Palmaria we meet with unmistakeable
proof that it was no mere idle tale or poetical dream. But we have no
proof that cannibalism was universally practised at any stage in the
history of man. All the caves of Europe, explored up to the present
time, merely afford some three or four examples in the neolithic
and bronze ages. In the pleistocene there is no instance which is
devoid of doubt. This atrocious practice is therefore to be viewed as
abnormal, and it probably became ingrafted into the religious ideas of
the nations of antiquity from the horror by which it was surrounded,
ultimately surviving in the form of human sacrifices to the offended
gods.
_General Conclusions as to Prehistoric Caves._
We have seen in the fifth and sixth chapters that the prehistoric caves
which are so unimportant in the ages of bronze and iron, were used
in the neolithic age throughout western Europe both for habitation
and burial, and that they therefore offer us most valuable materials
for working out the ethnology of Europe at that remote time. The two
races of men, the remains of which they contain, are represented by
the modern Basque and Berber on the one hand, and on the other by the
Celt, and in Russia and Germany by the cognate Finn, Sclave, and Wend.
And since all the human remains described in the present chapter, those
of Cro-Magnon and possibly of the Grotta dei Colombi being exempted,
belong to one of other of these types, they may be referred to the
neolithic age with a high degree of probability. In the present stage
of the inquiry, it is much safer to put them into a distinct class,
apart from those to which we can assign a relative age with tolerable
certainty.
In the long ages which elapsed between the close of the pleistocene
period and the dawn of history other races than these may have occupied
Europe, and have passed away without leaving any clue as to their
identity. But in the present state of our knowledge we are justified
only in concluding, that the oldest population in prehistoric times
was non-Aryan, the traces of which are left behind not merely in the
caves and tombs, but in language,[173] and in the small dark-haired
inhabitants of western and southern Europe.
The prehistoric peoples lived under physical conditions very different
from those of central and western Europe at the present time; the
surface of the country being covered with rock, forest, and morass,
which afforded shelter to the elk, bison, urus, stag, megaceros, and
wild boar, as well as to innumerable wolves. They arrived from the
east with cereals and domestic animals, some of which, such as the
_Bos longifrons_ and _Sus palustris_, reverted to their original wild
state. From the very exigencies of their position they lived partly by
hunting, and they gradually pushed their way westward, carrying with
them the rudiments of that civilization which we ourselves possess.
It is an open question whether they came into contact with the
palæolithic races which preceded them.
The climate which they enjoyed was sufficiently severe to allow the
reindeer to inhabit the district on which now stands the city of
London, and its severity may also be inferred from the thickness of
the bark of the Scotch firs, observed by Mr. Godwin-Austen in the
submarine forests of the south of England, and by Mr. James Geikie
in those of Scotland. The area of Great Britain was greater then,
than now, since a plain extended seawards from the coast-line, nearly
everywhere, supporting a dense forest of Scotch fir, oak, birch, and
alder, the relics of which are to be seen in the beds of peat, and the
stumps of the trees, near low-water mark on most of our shores. And
it may be inferred that the forest extended a considerable distance
from the present sea margin, from the large size of the trunks of the
trees.[174]
CHAPTER VIII.
THE PLEISTOCENE CAVES OF GERMANY AND GREAT BRITAIN.
Relation of Pleistocene to Prehistoric Period.--Magnitude of the
Interval.--Animals.--Physical changes.--Excavation and
filling up of Valleys: Fisherton; Freshford.--Comparison of
Deposits in Valleys with those of Caves.--Differences of Mineral
Condition.--The Pleistocene Caves of Germany: Gailenreuth;
Kühloch.--Of Great Britain.--The Caves of Yorkshire:
Kirkdale.--Of Derbyshire: The Dream Cave.--Of North Wales,
near St. Asaph.--Of South Wales, in counties of Glamorgan,
Caermarthen, Pembroke.--Of Monmouth.--Of Gloucestershire.--
Of Somersetshire: Uphill, Banwell, Bleadon, Sandford Hill, Wookey
Hole.--The District of Mendip higher in Pleistocene age than
now.--The condition of bones gnawed by Hyænas.--The Caves of
Devonshire: Oreston; Brixham; Kent’s Hole.--The probable age of
the Machairodus of Kent’s Hole.--Those of Ireland, Shandon.
_Relation of Pleistocene to Prehistoric Period._
We have seen, in the fifth and sixth chapters, that the caves offer
valuable information as to the prehistoric ethnology of Europe, and
that they prove the ancient neolithic population to stand directly
related to the Basque and Celtic elements in the present inhabitants
of Britain, France, and Spain. We shall discover in the course of
this and the following chapters that no such continuity can be made
out between the palæolithic man of the pleistocene age and any of the
races now living in our quarter of the world; and we shall see that
he is separated from his neolithic successor by an interval of time,
the length of which cannot be measured in terms of years. Before the
pleistocene group of caves be examined, it will be necessary to define
the relation that exists between the prehistoric and the pleistocene
periods.
_The Animals--Magnitude of Interval._
The prehistoric mammalia consist, as we have seen (p. 136), with the
solitary exception of the Irish elk, of the wild animals at present
living in Europe, together with the domestic species and varieties
introduced by man, probably from central Asia. In the rest of this
work we shall have to deal, not merely with the wild animals at
present inhabiting Europe, but also with those which have either
become extinct, or have migrated to Asia, America, or Africa. Besides
this addition to the European fauna in the pleistocene age, the total
absence of the domestic animals is a most important feature. The dog,
goat, sheep, Celtic short-horn, and domestic swine are conspicuous
by their absence: the reputed association of their remains with
those of the pleistocene mammals being due, in all the cases which I
have examined in France and Britain, to a confusion between distinct
strata in the same cave or river-deposit, which are respectively of
pleistocene and prehistoric or historic ages. Thus in the excavations
in the gravel underneath London, the Celtic short-horn and goat of the
superficial strata are very generally mixed with the reindeer and
mammoth of the pleistocene gravels below, by the collectors, and the
names of the domestic animals have crept into the pleistocene lists.
None of the domestic animals have been recorded from any carefully
explored strata of that age in any part of Europe.
The following late pleistocene species were unknown in Britain in the
prehistoric age:--
Glutton.
Spotted hyæna.
Panther.
Lion.
Lynx.
_Felis Caffer._
Musk-sheep.
Bison.
Hippopotamus.
Lemming.
Pouched marmot.
Tailless hare.
_Lepus diluvianus._
_Arvicola Gulielmi._
Cave-bear.
_Rhinoceros hemitœchus._
_R. tichorhinus._
_Elephas antiquus._
Mammoth.
The glutton, lynx, bison, and lemming, still live in Europe, the
spotted hyæna, _Felis Caffer_, and hippopotamus are peculiar to Africa,
the lion to Africa and Asia, and the last seven species are extinct.
The _Machairodus cultridens_ and _Rhinoceros megarhinus_ probably
disappeared in an early stage of the pleistocene. It may reasonably be
inferred, from the migration and extinction of so many species between
the close of the pleistocene and beginning of the historic period, that
the interval was of considerable length; for it would be impossible for
such changes to have taken place in a short time.
The same sharp line of demarcation exists between the two faunas on
the continent. The panther, _Felis Caffer_, lynx, spotted hyæna,
musk-sheep, hippopotamus, and the extinct group disappeared. The
African elephant forsook Spain and Sicily, the striped hyæna the
south of France, before the prehistoric period; while the _Elephas
meridionalis_ and pigmy hippopotamus of Sicily, and the pigmy elephant
and gigantic dormouse of Malta, became extinct. Speaking in general
terms, the wild fauna of Europe, as we have it now, dates from the
beginning of the prehistoric age, and consists merely of those animals
which were able to survive the changes by which their pleistocene
congeners were banished or destroyed. The arrival of the domestic
animals under the care of man in the neolithic age, and their extension
over the whole of Europe in a wild or semi-wild state, coupled with the
disappearance of the wild species mentioned above, constitutes a change
in the mammal life at least as important as any of those which define
the meiocene from the pleiocene, or the pleiocene from the pleistocene
periods.
_Physical changes--The excavation and filling up of Valleys._
The magnitude of the interval between the two periods may also be
gathered from the great changes which have taken place in physical
geography. In nearly every valley in Great Britain, certain areas to be
mentioned presently excepted, are strata of sand and gravel, proved to
be of pleistocene age by their fossil mammals, and by their fluviatile
shells to have been deposited by rivers. They occur at various heights,
forming sometimes terraces, and at others isolated patches, which
were accumulated when the river flowed at their level, and before the
valleys were cut down to their present depth. Those at Fisherton near
Salisbury, described by Sir Charles Lyell, Mr. Prestwich, Mr. John
Evans,[175] and others, may be taken as an example.
[Illustration: FIG. 74.--Section of Valley-gravels at Fisherton.
(Evans.)]
The valley through which the river Wily flows is excavated in the chalk
(Fig. 74), and on its northern side fluviatile deposits occur at two
levels, represented in the accompanying section. One patch of gravel,
about twelve feet thick, _a_, lies about eighty feet above the present
level of the Wily; while a second, _b_, consisting of clayey brickearth
or loam, with seams of gravel, and fluviatile shells, sweeps down
from a lower point to the bottom of the valley, and passes under the
river. From the deposit _a_, Dr. Blackmore obtained many rudely-chipped
implements, of the same palæolithic type as those found with the
extinct mammalia in the gravel beds at Amiens and Abbeville in the
valley of the Somme. In the deposit _b_, fossil mammalia were met with
belonging to the following animals:--
Spotted hyæna.
Lion.
Reindeer.
Stag.
Bison.
Urus.
Musk-sheep.
Wild boar.
Horse.
Woolly rhinoceros.
Mammoth.
Lemming.
Pouched marmot.
Hare.
Dr. Blackmore subsequently discovered a flint implement along with
these animals, of the same type as those previously met with in the
deposit _a_.
A horizontal stretch of alluvium, _c_, deposited by the floods,
occupies the present bottom of the valley. In this section it is plain
that the gravels and brickearth at _a_ and _b_ were deposited by a
river, which formerly flowed at those levels. In other words, the
valley of the Wily was excavated during the time that the pleistocene
strata _a_ and _b_ were being formed, while palæolithic man and the
extinct animals were living in the neighbourhood. The position also of
_b_ below the present bottom of the valley proves that the latter then
was deeper than it is now. The prehistoric alluvium, _c_, represents
the last stage in the history of the valley in which it is beginning to
be filled with the deposits of floods. While it was being accumulated
none of the animals of _a_ and _b_ were living in the district except
the hare, urus, stag, horse, and wild boar.
A somewhat similar section is exposed in the valley of the Avon at
Freshford, near Bath, in a railway cutting, at a height of about
thirty-five feet above the river. A thick mass of gravel abuts directly
against a cleft of inferior oolite (Fig. 75), and gradually dies down
to the alluvium. In it Mr. Charles Moore discovered the remains of the
musk-sheep, and the Rev. H. H. Winwood those of the mammoth, bison,
horse, and reindeer. In this case the pleistocene strata occupied the
side of one of the valleys which had been deepened since the time of
their deposit.
[Illustration: FIG. 75.--Section of Valley-gravels at Freshford, Bath.
4, Red loam, 5ft. 6in.; 3, Oolitic wash, 1ft.; 2, Clay with flints,
4ft. 10in.; 1, Gravel with fossil mammals, 8ft.]
The alluvium in the neighbourhood of Bath contains in its lower
portion a layer of peat, with bones of the Celtic short-horn (_Bos
longifrons_), stag, roe, horse, goat, and pig; and in its upper part
are old refuse heaps, proved to be Roman by the coins and ware, which
are also met with at various points underneath the surface soil, and
sometimes at considerable depths. It is, therefore, of prehistoric and
historic age, and since it is found only in the valley bottoms, we
may conclude that the present courses of the rivers along the sides
of which it is found date back from the prehistoric age; while their
ancient courses are marked by the fluviatile deposits with the extinct
mammalia standing at various levels, the higher being the older. In the
section at Fisherton we have evidence that the river flowed at a lower
level in the pleistocene age than in the prehistoric, and in that at
Freshford that the lower portion of the valley had been excavated after
the pleistocene strata had been formed. One or other of these physical
changes is to be traced in nearly all river valleys.[176] We may
conclude that both imply a considerable lapse of time, because similar
changes are now produced with extreme slowness. In the pleistocene
river deposits, which lie scattered about at various heights on the
valley sides, we seek in vain for neolithic implements, or domestic
animals. In the low-lying alluvia, and accumulations of peat, we seek
equally in vain for traces of palæolithic man, or of the extinct
mammalia, except the Irish elk.
We may also gather, from the localization of the prehistoric alluvia
close to the present streams, that the time represented by its
accumulation is insignificant in comparison with the long lapse of ages
implied by the pleistocene gravels and brickearths, that were deposited
at various heights during the excavation of the valleys. The general
surface of the valleys has undergone but little change since history
began, and the excavation by the rivers has been so small as to have
escaped accurate measurement. The alluvia represent the principal work
done since the close of the pleistocene period.
The most important testimony that the interval between the two periods
was very long, is offered by the climatal change, and the severance
of Britain from the continent. The arctic severity of the pleistocene
winter in these latitudes had passed away before the prehistoric age,
and the pleistocene valleys of the North Sea, St. George’s Channel, the
British, and Irish Channels had been depressed beneath the waves of the
sea before any prehistoric strata yet known had been deposited. The
evidence that these changes actually took place must be referred to the
two following chapters.
_Comparison of Deposits in Valleys with those in Caves._
If these valley deposits be compared with the contents of some of
the bone caves, such, for example, as those of the Victoria Cave
(compare Figs. 74 and 75 with Figs. 20, 21, 29), it will be seen
that they present the same section. The pleistocene gravels and
brick-earths of the one correspond with the lower strata of the other,
and contain the same extinct animals. The prehistoric alluvium of the
one is represented by the layer containing neolithic bronze or iron
implements, as well as the same animals; while the historic strata
are represented in both by the superficial accumulations. The only
difference indeed between the one and the other is, that in the former
the strata of the three periods are spread over a wide area, while in
the latter they are super-imposed in vertical order, the pleistocene
below, the prehistoric in the middle, and the historic on the surface.
_Difference in Mineral Condition of Deposits in Caves._
The prehistoric, and the historic strata in caves differ from the
pleistocene in their physical constitution. They are darker in colour,
and more loosely stratified, and contain bones in a more friable and
less mineralized condition, and are more free from stalagmite.
_The Caves of Germany: Gailenreuth._
The use of fossil bones for medicinal purposes led, as I have already
mentioned in the first chapter, to the exploration of caves, which
were first scientifically examined in Germany towards the close of
the eighteenth century. They abound in all the limestone plateaux,
especially in the region of Franconia, and in that of the Hartz. Among
them the most interesting, perhaps, is that of Gailenreuth, explored
by Esper, Rosenmüller, Goldfuss, Buckland, Lord Enniskillen, and Sir
Philip Egerton. It penetrates a lofty cliff, that forms a side of the
deep gorge which the river Weissent has cut in the rock, at a point
about three hundred feet above the water level.
The entrance, Dr. Buckland[177] writes, is about seven feet high
and twelve feet broad, and within it a short passage leads into two
chambers (Fig. 76, A and B),[178] hung with stalactites, and with the
floors covered by a dense stalagmitic pavement, that has been more
or less broken up by repeated diggings. These floors are perfectly
horizontal, the level of that of B being considerably below that of A.
They rest on an accumulation of reddish grey loam, containing pebbles,
and angular limestone blocks, and vast quantities of the bones and
teeth of the animals formerly living in the district. The depth of this
ossiferous deposit has not been ascertained, but in the further end
of the chamber B, it has been proved to be more than twenty-five feet
thick.
[Illustration: FIG. 76.--Section of Gailenreuth Cave. (Buckland.)]
The remains of the animals lie scattered in the wildest confusion;
sometimes being completely matted together, but more generally each
bone is enveloped in earth. They belong to the lion, the cave variety
of the spotted hyæna, the cave-bear, grizzly bear, mammoth, Irish elk,
and reindeer, as well as to those species which are still to be found
in Germany, such as the glutton, brown bear, wolf, fox, and stag.
It is very difficult to account for such an accumulation as this, but
it was probably introduced through the present entrance, and thence
into the chamber B, passing from the higher to the lower levels. The
teeth-marks on the bones show that some of the animals had formed
the prey of the hyænas, but had they introduced all the bones there
would have been distinct strata marking the floors of occupation, as
in Wookey Hole (Fig. 88). Moreover, no perfect skulls, such as those
of the bears, would have escaped their powerful teeth. The pebbles in
the loam bear testimony to the passage of a current of water. And if
we suppose that the cave was subject to floods, such as those in the
water-caves described in the second chapter, the scattering of the
bones through the loam may be explained. This, however, could not have
happened had the cave then opened on the face of a nearly vertical
cliff, and the only condition under which it would have been possible
is, that the present entrance should have been directly connected with
a stream flowing from the surface, that is to say, over the space now
occupied by the gorge of the Weissent. If this view, advanced by Dr.
Buckland, be accepted, the remoteness of the date of the filling up of
the cave may be measured by the fact, that since that time the gorge
has been cut down by the Weissent to a depth of more than 300 feet.
The stream by which the contents of the cave were introduced had a
course probably analogous to that of Dalebeck (Fig. 6) and the remains
of the animals were caught up from the surface, and accumulated in
the subterranean chambers which it traversed. Their abundance offers
no obstacle to this view, since wild animals frequent their drinking
places in vast numbers, and fall a prey to the carnivora which lurk
near the streams, and very many tumble into the natural pitfalls, or
swallow-holes, so universal in limestone districts.
_The Cave of Kühloch._
Very many other caves occur in the neighbourhood, most of them, such as
those of Zahnloch, celebrated for the abundance of fossil teeth, Mokas,
Rabenstein, and others, of which the cave of Kühloch alone demands
notice.
The cave of Kühloch is situated opposite to the castle of Rabenstein,
in the gorge of the Esbach, at about thirty feet from the bottom. Its
exterior presents a lofty arch in a nearly perpendicular cliff, about
thirty feet wide and twenty feet high, and the entrance gradually leads
into two large chambers “both of which terminate in a close round end,
or cul-de-sac, at the distance of about 100 feet from the entrance.
It is intersected by no fissures, and has no lateral communications
connecting it with any other caverns, except one small hole close to
its mouth, and which opens also to the valley.” The first thirty feet
present a steep slope towards the entrance. Dr. Buckland describes the
contents of the chambers in the following words:[179]--
“It is literally true that in this single cavern (the size and
proportions of which are nearly equal to those of the interior of a
large church) there are hundreds of cart-loads of black animal dust
entirely covering the whole floor, to a depth which must average at
least six feet, and which, if we multiply this depth by the length
and breadth of the cavern, will be found to exceed 5,000 cubic feet.
The whole of this mass has been again and again dug over in search
of teeth and bones, which it still contains abundantly, though in
broken fragments. The state of these is very different from that of
the bones we find in any of the other caverns, being of a black, or,
more properly speaking, dark umber colour throughout, like the bones
of mummies, and many of them readily crumbling under the finger into
a soft dark powder resembling mummy powder, and being of the same
nature with the black earth in which they are embedded. The quantity
of animal matter accumulated on this floor is the most surprising, and
the only thing of the kind I ever witnessed; and many hundred--I may
say thousand--individuals must have contributed their remains to make
up this appalling mass of the dust of death. It seems in great part to
be derived from comminuted and pulverized bone; for the fleshy parts
of animal bodies produce by their decomposition so small a quantity of
permanent earthy residuum, that we must seek for the origin of this
mass principally in decayed bones. The cave is so dry, that the black
earth lies in the state of loose powder, and rises in dust under the
feet; it also retains so large a proportion of its original animal
matter that it is occasionally used by the peasants as an enriching
manure for the adjacent meadows. I have stated that the total quantity
of animal matter that lies within this cavern cannot be computed at
less than 5,000 cubic feet; now allowing two cubic feet of dust and
bones for each individual animal, we shall have in this single vault
the remains of at least 2,500 bears, a number which may have been
supplied in the space of 1,000 years by a mortality at the rate of two
and a half per annum.”
Dr. Buckland’s explanation, that the cave was inhabited by bears for
long generations, is probably true. The absence of pebbles and silt
show that water had no share in the introduction of the remains; their
preservation is due to the dryness of the cave, and to its proximity to
the outer atmosphere.
The famous caves of Sundwig, Schartsfeld, and Bauman’s Hole, belong to
the same class as Gailenreuth, and offer no differences which need be
described.
These explorations establish the fact that, in the antediluvian age
which we now term pleistocene, the lion, the cave-bear and grizzly
bear, and cave-hyæna abounded in Germany, and that they sought as
their prey not merely the wild animals now living in that region,
but the reindeer, mammoth, woolly rhinoceros, and Irish elk. All the
discoveries in the German caves from the date of the exploration of
Gailenreuth have merely verified this conclusion without adding any new
fact of importance.
_The Caves of Great Britain._
These discoveries in the German caves led to the exploration of those
in our country. Dr. Buckland visited Gailenreuth in 1816, and in
1821 applied the result of his knowledge gained in Germany to the
investigation of the famous cavern of Kirkdale.[180]
_The Hyæna-den at Kirkdale._
[Illustration: FIG. 77.--Plan of Kirkdale Cave. (Taylor.)]
The cave of Kirkdale (Figs. 77, 78) was discovered in a quarry in
the vale of Pickering, about twenty-five miles to the NN.E. of
York, at a point where the dale of Holmbeck joins Kirkdale. The
entrance, eighty feet above the valley bottom and twenty feet from
the surface of the plateau above, was about three feet high and six
feet wide, and led into a passage from five to ten feet wide, which
ran nearly horizontally into the rock, and branched off into smaller
ramifications. Its general form and size may be gathered from the
examination of the accompanying woodcuts, which were published by Mr.
Taylor in “Macmillan’s Magazine,” in September 1862. The roof was for
the most part free from stalactite, and there was no continuous coating
of stalagmite on the floor, but merely here and there a few calcareous
bosses termed “cows’ paps” by the workmen.
[Illustration: FIG. 78.--Sections of Kirkdale Cave. (Taylor.)]
A layer of fine red loam covered the bottom, in the lower portions
of which were large numbers of gnawed and broken bones, and teeth,
for the most part of the same species as those formed in the German
caves. In some places they were lying in little confused heaps, and in
others, where the loam was thin, were exposed to the calcareous drip
and cemented into a mass, their upper portions projecting through the
stalagmite “like the legs of pigeons through pie-crust,” and their
irregular distribution resembling that of the fragments scattered on
the floor of a dog-kennel.
The remains of the animals were incredibly abundant, when the small
space in which they were packed was taken into consideration. Those of
the hyæna are estimated by Dr. Buckland as belonging to between two or
three hundred individuals of all ages. The lion and the cave-bear, the
wild boar, the hippopotamus (Fig. 79) an extinct kind of elephant (_E.
antiquus_), and the rhinoceros named by Dr. Falconer _R. hemitœchus_,
the reindeer, and Irish elk are also represented, but the species
of most common occurrence are the bison and the horse. With a few
exceptions all the bones with marrow were broken, and scarred by teeth,
while the solid and marrowless were more or less perfect.
[Illustration: FIG. 79.--Molar of Hippopotamus. (Buckland.)]
Dr. Buckland’s method of solving the problem of the introduction of
remains of so many and different animals into so small a space, is
a model of scientific analysis. He argues from the abundance of the
remains of the hyæna, and from the correspondence of their teeth with
the marks on the bones, and from the quantity of their coprolites,
that the cave was inhabited by many generations of those animals, and
that the gnawed fragments were relics of their prey. The hyænas of the
present day inhabit caves strewn with the bones of their prey, which
are crushed by their powerful jaws into the same form as those of
Kirkdale. He further demonstrated the truth of his conclusion by the
crucial experiment of subjecting the leg-bone of an ox to a spotted
hyæna from the Cape of Good Hope, in Wombwell’s Menagerie. “I was
able,” he writes,[181] “to observe the animal’s mode of proceeding in
the destruction of bones: the shin-bone of an ox being presented to
this hyæna, he began to bite off with his molar teeth large fragments
from its upper extremity, and swallowed them whole as fast as they were
broken off. On his reaching the medullary cavity, the bone split into
angular fragments, many of which he caught up greedily and swallowed
entire: he went on cracking it till he had extracted all the marrow,
licking out the lowest portion of it with his tongue: this done, he
left untouched the lower condyle, which contains no marrow, and is
very hard. The state and form of this residuary fragment are precisely
like those of similar bones at Kirkdale; the marks of teeth on it
are very few, as the bone usually gave off a splinter before the
large conical teeth had forced a hole through it; these few, however,
entirely resemble the impressions we find on the bones at Kirkdale;
the small splinters also in form and size, and manner of fracture, are
not distinguishable from the fossil ones. I preserve all the fragments
and the gnawed portions of this bone, for the sake of comparison by
the side of those I have from the antediluvian den in Yorkshire: there
is absolutely no difference between them, except in point of age. The
animal left untouched the solid bones of the tarsus and carpus, and
such parts of the cylindrical bones as we find untouched at Kirkdale,
and devoured only the parts analogous to those which are there
deficient. The keeper, pursuing this experiment to its final result,
presented me the next morning with a large quantity of _album græcum_,
disposed in balls, that agree entirely in size, shape, and substance
with those that were found in the den at Kirkdale. The power of his
jaws far exceeded any animal force of the kind I ever saw exerted, and
reminded me of nothing so much as of a miner’s crushing mill, or the
scissors with which they cut off bars of iron and copper in the metal
foundries.”
[Illustration: FIG. 80.--Leg-bones gnawed by Hyænas--1, of Ox in
Menagerie; 2, of Bison in Kirkdale. (Buckland.)]
The exact correspondence of one of the fragments of the tibia of an ox,
gnawed by the Cape hyæna, with the corresponding bone of the bison from
Kirkdale, may be gathered from a comparison of the two figured in Fig.
80, in which the teeth-marks _a_, _b_, and _c_, are very distinct. The
same kind of identity runs through the whole series of bones gnawed by
the living and fossil hyænas.
Dr. Buckland’s conclusion, that the Kirkdale cave was the den of the
spotted hyænas (_H. crouta_) that preyed upon the animals of Yorkshire
in ancient times, and that it was undisturbed down to the time of its
exploration, cannot be disputed. The tread of the hyænas in their
passage to and fro had polished some of the bones and jaws scattered on
the floor, and the polished surfaces were uppermost, the rest of the
fragments being rough. And Prof. Phillips informs me that the leg-bone
of a ruminant was discovered wedged into a small fissure in the floor,
with that portion which was within reach of the hyæna’s teeth gnawed
away, while the rest was uninjured. The hyæna had lost his bone in the
fissure, and was only able to nibble the end which projected. In these
incidents we have a vivid picture of an hyæna’s den in Yorkshire during
the pleistocene age, with the contents left in their natural order and
not rearranged by the passage of water.
The Victoria cave near Settle, in Yorkshire, described in the third
chapter, has also been occupied by hyænas.
_Caves of Derbyshire: the Dream-cave near Wirksworth._
The Dream-cave, near Wirksworth,[182] in Derbyshire, contrasts with
that of Kirkdale in the perfect state of the bones which it contains.
It was discovered in 1822, in following a vein of lead (Fig. 81).
The miners suddenly broke into a hollow, _c_, filled with red earth
and stones, and as they continued their shaft downwards the sides
continually closed upon them until the roof of a cave was revealed.
A nearly perfect skeleton of the rhinoceros was discovered in the
earth, as well as bones of the horse, reindeer, and urus. After a large
quantity of the earth had been removed, the surface soil, _i_, at a
little distance began to sink, and ultimately a vertical shaft was
found to connect the cave with the surface. Into this the animals had
fallen, just as at the present time sheep and oxen frequently perish in
similar natural pitfalls in the limestone strata.
[Illustration: FIG. 81.--The Dream-cave, Wirksworth. (Buckland.)
A Shaft following lead-vein.
B Supposed continuation of lead-vein.
C Cave.
D Swallow-hole.
E Ossiferous loam.
F Antler of deer.
G Rhinoceros.
H Limestone.
I Natural entrance.
]
Other caves and fissures in Derbyshire have yielded remains of the
extinct animals: those of Balleye, near Wirksworth, and of Doveholes,
near Chaple-en-le-Frith, the mammoth, and a small cave in Hartle Dale,
near Castleton, explored by Mr. Pennington and myself in 1872, the
mammoth and the woolly rhinoceros.
_The Caves of North Wales, near St. Asaph._
The ossiferous caves and fissures at Cefn, near St. Asaph, in the
mountain limestone that forms the south side of the Vale of Clwyd, were
first described in 1833,[183] by the Rev. Edward Stanley, afterwards
Bishop of Norwich, who explored that which Mr. E. Lloyd had discovered
about half-way down the vertical cliff, in the grounds of Cefn Hall.
It consists of a narrow passage, turning on itself, and communicating
with the surface of the cliff by two entrances, which were completely
blocked up with red silt, containing a vast quantity of bones in very
bad preservation. The bottom has not yet been reached. In one portion I
found, in 1872, a deposit of comminuted bone with scarcely any mixture
of loam, that rose in clouds of dust as it was disturbed. The animals
belonged to the same class as those of Germany, the cave-bear, spotted
hyæna, and reindeer, as well as the hippopotamus, _Elephas antiquus_
and _Rhinoceros hemitœchus_ of the Kirkdale cave. Pebbles derived from
the boulder clay, and rounded waterworn fragments of bone, showed that
the contents had been introduced into this cave by a stream. Some of
the remains, which were marked with teeth, may have been introduced by
the hyænas. The flint-flakes found with the human skull and cut antlers
of stag, already referred to in the fifth chapter, were discovered in
the lower entrance.
The same group of animals has been obtained by Mrs. Williams Wynn, the
Rev. D. R. Thomas, and myself out of a horizontal cave at the head
of the defile leading down from Cefn to Pont Newydd, in which the
remains are embedded in a stiff clay, consisting of rearranged boulder
clay, and are in the condition of waterworn pebbles. From it I have
identified the brown, grizzly, and cave-bear. A further examination by
the Rev. D. R. Thomas, and Prof. Hughes, has recently resulted in the
discovery of rude implements of felstone, and a tooth which has been
identified by Prof. Busk as a human molar of unusual size.[184]
[Illustration: FIG. 82.--Left Lower Jaw of Glutton, Plas Heaton Cave.]
A third cave in the neighbourhood at Plas Heaton, explored in 1870 by
Mr. Heaton and Prof. Hughes, furnished the remains of the cave-bear,
spotted hyæna, bison, and reindeer, and a remarkably fine specimen
of the lower jaw of a glutton (Fig. 82), which I have described in
the “Geological Journal” (vol. xxvii. p. 406). In a fourth cave, at
Gallfaenan, the bear and reindeer were discovered. It is evident from
the presence of numerous bones gnawed by hyænas in these caves, that
the valleys of the Clwyd and the Elwy were the favourite haunts of that
animal in the pleistocene age.
_Caves of South Wales in the counties of Glamorgan and Caermarthen._
The earliest cavern explored in South Wales is that of Crawley
Rocks,[185] Oxwich Bay, about twelve miles from Swansea. It was
discovered in quarrying the mountain limestone in 1792, and contained
the remains of the elephant, rhinoceros, ox, stag, and hyæna. It was
completely destroyed before Dr. Buckland identified these animals in
the collection of Miss Talbot of Penrice Castle.[186]
The line of cliffs, bounding the rocky peninsula of Gower, contains
the cave of Paviland, described in the seventh chapter (p. 232), as
well as the group explored by Colonel Wood of Start Hall, from the
year 1848[187] to the present time, Bacon Hole, Minchin Hole, Bosco’s
Den, Devil’s Hole, Crow Hole, Raven’s Cliff, Spritsail Tor, and Long
Hole, which are described by the late Dr. Falconer. The _Rhinoceros
hemitœchus_ was met with in comparative abundance, and in association
with the woolly rhinoceros, mammoth, and _E. antiquus_. In Bosco’s
Den there were no less than 750 shed antlers of reindeer; and in
Long Hole, many flint-flakes were discovered in 1860 underneath the
stalagmite, and in association with the extinct mammalia, which prove,
as Dr. Falconer points out, that man inhabited that district in the
pleistocene age.
These caves and fissures were at all levels in the cliff, and in some
the bottoms were covered with a stratum of marine sand with sea shells,
which showed that they had been washed by the sea before they had been
filled by the ossiferous débris. Most of them had probably been filled
by streams in the same manner as Gailenreuth and Wirksworth. They
abound on the coast merely because a clear section has been worn by the
waves. A straight cut through the rocks in any part of the district
would probably show them to occur in equal abundance inland.
_Caves in Pembrokeshire._
The patches of limestone on the opposite side of Caermarthen Bay, in
the neighbourhood of Tenby, also contain ossiferous caverns. The Rev.
G. N. Smith,[188] of Gumfriston, has made a fine collection of bones
and teeth of mammoth and hyæna, from a fissure in the Blackrock Quarry,
close to Tenby, from a fissure in the cliff on Caldy Island, and from
the Coygan cave in an outlier of limestone, near Pendine, and has
discovered flakes of flint and of a peculiar hornstone in the “tunnel
cave” termed the Hoyle, underneath stalagmite, in a stratum containing
bones of the bear and reindeer. With the exception of the fissure in
the Blackrock Quarry none of these have been fully explored. On a visit
to Tenby, in 1872, I obtained many flint flakes, and bones broken by
man, from the breccia in the Hoyle; and from a fissure on Caldy Island,
numerous bones and teeth of young wolves, which represented a whole
litter, and two metatarsals of bison, cemented together into a compact
mass.
The discovery of mammoth, rhinoceros, horse, Irish elk, bison, wolf,
lion, and bear, on so small an island as Caldy, indicates that a
considerable change has taken place in the relation of the land to
the sea in that district since those animals were alive. It would have
been impossible for so many and so large animals to have obtained
food on so small an island. It may therefore be reasonably concluded
that, when they perished in the fissures, Caldy was not an island, but
a precipitous hill, overlooking the broad valley now covered by the
waters of the Bristol Channel, but then affording abundant pasture. The
same inference may also be drawn from the vast numbers of animals found
in the Gower caves, which could not have been supported by the scant
herbage of the limestone hills of that district. We must, therefore,
picture to ourselves a fertile plain occupying the whole of the Bristol
Channel, and supporting herds of reindeer, horses, and bisons, many
elephants and rhinoceroses, and now and then being traversed by a stray
hippopotamus, which would afford abundant prey to the lions, bears, and
hyænas inhabiting all the accessible caves, as well as to their great
enemy and destroyer man. We shall see in the ninth chapter that the
elevation of the whole district above its present level is part of the
general elevation of north-western Europe, and no mere small or local
phenomenon.
_Cave in Monmouthshire._
King Arthur’s cave,[189] on the side of a beautifully wooded knoll,
overlooking the valley of the Wye, near Whitchurch, in Monmouthshire,
explored by the Rev. W. S. Symonds in 1871, is a hyæna den, like that
of Kirkdale, containing the gnawed remains of the lion, Irish elk,
mammoth, woolly rhinoceros, and reindeer. Flint flakes, however,
occurred in the undisturbed strata, which prove that it was also the
resort of man. Mr. Symonds believes that the sand and gravel inside
were deposited by the Wye, at a time when it flowed 300 feet above its
present course, or before the valley was cut down to that depth. If
this conclusion be true, the date of the occupation must be separated
from the present day by a vast interval, which is only to be measured
by the subsequent erosion of the valley by the slow operation of the
subaerial agents, running water, ice, snow, and carbonic acid.
The only remains of the mammoth which I have examined belong to young
individuals, and consist of the second and third milk-molars, a fact
which I have very generally observed in hyænas’ dens. The older
mammoths would not fall an easy prey to so cowardly an animal. The cave
had also been inhabited by man after the pleistocene age, for coarse
pottery of the neolithic kind, and flint flakes, were dug out of an
upper stratum, while I was watching the excavation, in company with the
Rev. W. S. Symonds, and the “Wanderers” field club.
_Caves of Gloucestershire and Somersetshire._
The outliers of mountain limestone, on the southern side of the
Bristol Channel, have long been known for their ossiferous caverns and
fissures. From a fissure in Durdham Down,[190] near Bristol, Mr. J. S.
Miller obtained fragments of bones, about the year 1820, and among them
Dr. Buckland notices the fossil joint of the hind-leg of a horse, the
astragalus being held in natural position, between the tibia and the
calcaneum, by stalagmite. Subsequently a large series of animals of the
same species as those of Gower were discovered in it by Mr. Stutchbury,
and are preserved in the Bristol Museum.
_Caves of the Mendip Hills._
The caves of the Mendip Hills were known to contain bones as early as
the middle of the eighteenth century, when that of Hutton,[191] near
Weston-super-Mare, was discovered in working the ochre and calamine
which fills some of the fissures. The miners having opened an ochre
pit, south of the little village of Hutton, discovered a fissure in
the limestone full of good ochre, which they followed to a depth
of eight yards, until it led into a cavern, the floor of which was
formed of ochre, with large quantities of white bones on the surface,
and scattered through its mass. Dr. Calcott describes the bones as
projecting from the sides, roof, and floor of the excavation in such
quantities as to resemble the contents of a charnel-house. Subsequently
it was fully explored by the Rev. D. Williams, and Mr. Beard, of
Banwell.
We owe the exploration of the neighbouring caves of Banwell, Sandford
Hill, Bleadon, Goat’s Hole, in Burrington Combe, and Uphill,[192] to
the joint labours of the two above-mentioned gentlemen, extending over
the period which elapsed between 1821 and 1860. The vast quantity of
remains which they obtained can only be realized by a visit to the
Museum of the Somerset Archæological and Natural History Society,
at Taunton.[193] They belong to the same species as those already
mentioned from the caves of South Wales. The fauna of the Mendip is,
however, characterized by the great number of lions, and by a few
fragments of the glutton. Of the former animal, Mr. Ayshford Sanford
and myself have met with sufficient remains to figure nearly every
portion of the skeleton, and the skulls prove that it was not a tiger,
as it is considered to be by some naturalists, but a true lion,
differing in no respect, except in its large size, from those now
living in Asia and Africa.
All these caverns consist of chambers at various levels more or less
connected with fissures, and, from the perfect condition of the bones
they must have been inaccessible to the bone-destroying hyæna. Their
contents were introduced, as is suggested by Dr. Buckland, from the
surface by streams falling into swallow-holes (see Fig. 81), which have
now, under the changed physical conditions, ceased to flow.
The extraordinary quantity of remains preserved in one cave may be, to
some extent, verified by a visit to that at Banwell. It consists of two
large chambers, the upper one filled with thousands of bones of bison,
horse, and reindeer, taken out of the red silt which originally filled
it to the roof; the lower one full of the undisturbed contents, from
which the bones project in the wildest confusion. This accumulation
has been introduced by water, through a vertical fissure which opened
on the surface. It is evident, from the very nearly perfect skulls of
wolf and bear which were discovered, that the cave was not used as a
den by the hyænas. They are, however, proved to have been living close
by at the time, since their skulls, and the gnawed antlers of reindeer,
have been discovered inside. They were probably swept in by the stream
along with the other bones.
_The Uphill Cave._
The Cave of Uphill,[194] discovered in 1826, by some workmen, and
explored by the Rev. D. Williams, merits especial notice, from the
peculiar conditions under which the remains of the extinct animals
occurred. Like the other caves of the Mendips, it consists of fissures
opening into chambers. In the upper part of one of these fissures were
the remains of rhinoceros, hyæna, bear, horse, bison, and wild boar,
imbedded in loam which rested on two large masses of limestone that had
fallen so as to block up the fissure. Below this were no remains of the
extinct animals, and the fissure ultimately led into a cave opening
upon the line of cliffs. This latter had been inhabited within historic
times, since many bones of sheep, or goat, and pieces of pottery, were
met with, as well as a coin of the Emperor Julian. In this case, owing
to the extraordinary accident of the fissure being blocked up by a
fall of stone, the pleistocene accumulation is vertically above the
historic; and had the barrier given way, Mr. Williams would undoubtedly
have discovered the remains of the extinct mammalia, lying in a heap
above the comparatively modern historic stratum. It seems to me very
probable that some such accident may have caused the occurrence of
the pleiocene machairodus in the Kent’s Hole cavern, in association
with the pleistocene mammalia. In the long lapse of ages between the
pleistocene and the present day, such accidents would be likely to
occur in some few caverns, and we might expect to find remains of
widely different ages, in certain exceptional cases, lying side by
side, or even the older resting vertically over the newer. At all
events we must conclude, that superposition, or association, cannot be
rigidly enforced as tests of relative age in all ossiferous caverns.
_The Hyæna-den of Wookey Hole._
The Hyæna-den of Wookey Hole,[195] near Wells, on the south side of
the Mendips, which I explored with the Rev. J. Williamson in 1859,
and in the following years with Messrs. Willett, Parker, and Ayshford
Sanford, is worthy of a more detailed notice, because it was among
the first caverns in this country in which works of art were found
under conditions that proved the co-existence of man with the extinct
mammalia.
The ravine in which it was discovered, in 1852, is one of the many
which pierce the dolomitic conglomerate, or petrified sea-beach, of
the Triassic age, resting at the foot of the cliffs from which it
was torn by the waves, and overlying the lower slopes of the Mendips
(see Fig. 1). Open to the south, it runs almost horizontally into the
mountain-side, until closed abruptly northwards by a perpendicular
wall of rock, 200 feet or more in height, ivy-covered, and affording
a dwelling-place to innumerable jackdaws. Out of a cave at its base,
in which Dr. Buckland discovered pottery and human teeth, flows the
river Axe, in a canal cut in the rock. In cutting this passage, that
the water might be conveyed to a large paper-mill close by, the mouth
of the hyæna-den was intersected in 1852, and from that time up to
December 1859 it was undisturbed save by rabbits and badgers, and even
they did not penetrate far into the interior, or make deep burrows.
Close to the mouth of the cave the workmen (employed in making this
canal) found more than 300 Roman coins, among which were those of
Allectus and of Commodus. When the Rev. J. Williamson and myself began
our exploration, about twelve feet of the entrance of the cave had been
cut away, and large quantities of the earth, stones, and animal remains
had been used in the formation of an embankment for the stream which
runs past the present entrance of the cave.
According to the testimony of the workmen, the bones and teeth formed
a layer about twelve inches in thickness, which rested immediately
upon the conglomerate-floor, while they were comparatively scarce in
the overlying mass of stones and red earth. The workmen state also
that at the time of the discovery of the cave the hillside presented
no concavity to mark its presence. So completely was the cave filled
with débris up to the very roof, that we were compelled to cut our way
into it. Of the stones scattered irregularly through the matrix of
red earth, some were angular, others water-worn; all are derived from
the decomposition of the dolomitic conglomerate in which the cave is
hollowed. Near the entrance, and at a depth of five feet from the roof,
were three layers of peroxide of manganese, full of bony splinters,
and, passing obliquely up towards the southern side of the cave and
over a ledge of rock that rises abruptly from the floor: further
inwards they became interblended one with another, and at a distance
of fifteen feet from the entrance were barely visible. In and between
these the animal remains were found in the greatest abundance.
[Illustration: FIG. 83.--Plan of Hyæna-den at Wookey Hole.
Right lines = sections; dotted areas = bone-beds; shaded areas = ashes
and implements.]
While cutting our way inwards (Figs. 83 and 88), we found an angular
piece of flint, which had evidently been chipped by human agency, and
a water-worn fragment of a belemnite, which probably had been derived
from the neighbouring marlstone rocks. Bones and teeth of the woolly
rhinoceros, reindeer, stag, Irish elk, mammoth, hyæna, cave-bear,
lion, wolf, fox, and horse rewarded our labours; and frogs’ remains,
cemented together by stalagmite, were abundant at the mouth. The teeth
preponderated greatly over the bones, and the great bulk were those of
the horse. The hyæna-teeth also were very numerous, and in all stages
of growth, from the young unworn to the old tooth worn down to the
very gums. Those of the mammoth had belonged to a young animal, and
one had not been used at all. The hollow bones were completely smashed
and splintered, and scored with tooth-marks, while the solid carpal,
tarsal, and sesamoid bones were uninjured, as in the Kirkdale Cave. The
organic remains were in all stages of decay, some crumbling to dust
at the touch, while others were perfectly preserved and had lost very
little of their gelatine.
[Illustration: FIGS. 84, 85, 86, 87.--Four Views of Flint Implements
found in the Hyæna-den at Wookey Hole, near Wells.]
In 1860 we resumed our excavations; and, in addition to the above
remains, found satisfactory evidence of the former presence of man in
the cave. Our search was rewarded by one oval implement of white flint,
of rude workmanship (Figs. 84, 85, 86, 87), one chert arrow-head,
a roughly-chipped and a round flattened piece of chert, together
with various splinters of flint, which had apparently been knocked
off in the manufacture of some implement. Two rudely-fashioned bone
arrow-heads were also found, which unfortunately were subsequently lost
by the photographer to whom they were sent; they resembled in shape an
equilateral triangle with the angles at the base bevelled off. All were
found in and around the same spot, in contact with some hyæna-teeth,
between the dark bands of manganese, at a depth of four feet from the
roof, and at a distance of twelve feet from the present entrance (Fig.
83, _a_).
That there might be no mistake about the accuracy of the observations,
I examined every shovelful of débris as it was thrown out by the
workman; while the exact spot where they were excavating was watched by
my colleague. The figured implement was picked out of the undisturbed
matrix by him; the rest were found by me in the earth thrown out from
the same place.
The lines of peroxide of manganese must have been accumulated on the
old floors of the cave, because they were associated with numerous
splinters and gnawed animal remains; and there can be no doubt that the
latter were introduced by the hyænas. Those animals have a peculiar
habit, as Dr. Buckland proved by experiment, of gnawing similar bones
in precisely the same way; and a comparison of the relics of the
meals of the hyænas in the Zoological Gardens with those in the cave,
shows that the latter have passed between the jaws of a like animal
that once inhabited Somersetshire. Coprolites of the same animal were
very abundant, and in some places formed a greyish-white layer of
phosphate of lime. There were also other equally unmistakeable traces
of the animal in fragments of bone, polished by their tread, as in the
Kirkdale cave. It is, therefore, only reasonable to suppose that these
remains of animals were brought into the cave from time to time by
hyænas, and left on the floors. That they were not introduced by water
is proved by the preservation of the delicate processes and points of
bone, which would certainly have been broken _in transitu_. Since,
then, the implements, which, beyond doubt, had been fashioned by man,
were underneath one of these old floors, it was certain that man was
contemporary in the district with the hyæna and the animals on which it
preyed, and the fact that they were found only on one spot implies that
they were deposited by the hand of man. To suppose that a savage would
take the trouble to excavate a trench twenty-four feet long--for twelve
feet of the former mouth of the cave had been cut away--with miserable
implements, and consequently with great labour, and having excavated
it again to fill it up to the very roof, is little less than absurd.
Nor could such an operation take place in such a deposit, without the
stratification of the layers being destroyed. The absence of pottery
and human bones precludes the idea of the cave ever having been a place
of sepulture, such as Aurignac or Bruniquel. This discovery, therefore,
of itself stamps the contemporaneity of man with the extinct mammalia,
and following close on the similar discoveries in Brixham cave, to be
mentioned presently, puts the question beyond all doubt.
In April 1861 we resumed our excavations; and, as we made our way
inwards, found that the cave began to narrow, and ultimately to
bifurcate, one branch extending vertically upwards, while the other
appeared to extend almost horizontally to the right hand. As we reached
the middle constricted passage, the teeth became fewer, while the
stones were of larger size than any that we had hitherto discovered.
The great majority of the gnawed antlers of deer were found at this
part, also the posterior half of a cervine skull, the right upper jaw
of wolf, and, what is more remarkable, a stone with one of its surfaces
coated with a deposit apparently of stalagmite: this, however, was much
lighter than stalagmite, and not so good a conductor of heat; and,
on analysis, I found that it consisted of phosphate of lime, with a
little carbonate, and a very small portion of peroxide of manganese.
Doubtless the surface of the stone, covered with phosphate of lime,
formed part of the ancient floor of the cave, and hence was coated with
_album græcum_; while the lower part, being imbedded in the earth on
the floor, was not so coated. This deposit may, perhaps, explain the
absence of round balls of coprolite, which, assuming that the cave at
the time was more damp than that at Kirkdale, would be trodden down
on the floor by the hyænas, instead of presenting a rounded form. The
stone also itself exhibits tooth-marks underneath the coating of _album
græcum_, and probably was gnawed by the hyænas, like the antlers, for
amusement. This discovery proves that violent watery action had but
small share, if any, in filling the cave; for in that case the soft
covering would have been removed from the stone. Similar evidence is
offered by the wonderful preservation of some of the more delicate
fragments of bone, such as the palatine process of the maxilla of the
wolf.
The section made in cutting this passage presented irregular layers of
peroxide of manganese, full of bony splinters, and each more or less
covered by a layer of bones in various stages of decay. These layers
were absent from the upper portion of the passage. There were masses
of prisms of calc-spar scattered confusedly through the matrix. After
excavating the vertical branch as far as we dared (for the large stones
in it made the task dangerous), we were compelled to leave off, having
penetrated altogether only thirty-four feet from the entrance. No flint
implements rewarded our search this year. Teeth were far more numerous
than bones, probably because they are more durable as well as because
of their rejection by the hyænas. One jaw was bitten in two, and the
fragments found about a foot apart in the undisturbed matrix, just as
they had been dropped from the mouth of the hyæna.
In the spring of 1862 Mr. Parker, Mr. Willett, and myself resolved
to verify the association of articles of man’s handiwork along with
the extinct mammalia, by cleaning out the cave, which was courteously
placed at our disposal by the owner, Mr. Hodgekinson.
Our first task was to clear the contents out of the portion of the cave
nearest the mouth, or the antrum (Fig. 83, A), and as we excavated
onwards many traces of the presence of man were met with. A wide area
on the left-hand side (_b_), where the roof and floor of the cave
gradually met together, furnished innumerable fragments of charcoal,
and many flint implements associated with the remains of the horse,
rhinoceros, and hyæna. One fragment of bone in particular, belonging to
the rhinoceros, had been calcined, and its carbonized condition bore
unmistakeable testimony that it had been burnt while the animal juices
were present. There were many other bones also burnt, which indicated
the place where fires had been kindled, and food cooked. As we dug our
way forward we met with a third area (_c_), that furnished flint and
chert implements under the same conditions of deposit as that which
tempted us to carry on our excavations. Its relation to the old floors
of hyæna-occupation is shown by the dark lines over the area _c_ in
Fig. 88. At last the large open chamber (A) was cleared; it measured
about thirty feet wide by six feet high, and it extended forty feet
inwards. On the left there was a small upward-turning passage, very
nearly blocked up with a mass of stalagmite; at the farther end a
vertical fissure extended upwards (F), to the surface. This fissure
has subsequently been proved to extend downwards to the right, and
will doubtless furnish large quantities of animal remains to future
explorers.
[Illustration: FIG. 88.--Section through A of Fig. 83, showing contents
of Hyæna-den. _c_ = flint implements; thick lines above = old floors.]
[Illustration: FIG. 89.--Transverse Section through B of Fig. 83. 1 =
red earth; 2 = bone-bed; 3 = dark earth.]
The large chamber now turned abruptly to the left, and we gradually
worked our way into a small horizontal passage about four feet high.
Here there was an interval of from three to four inches between the
roof and contents, traversed by stalactites, which in some places
formed a smooth undulating drapery with stony tassels, and in others
tiny pillars extending down to the débris, and, as it were, propping
up the roof. These pedestals (see Fig. 15) gradually expanded into
round plates of stalagmite, which sometimes met and formed a continuous
crust. In some places an infiltration of carbonate of lime had
cemented organic remains, stones, and earth into a hard mass, which had
to be broken up with gunpowder before it could be removed out of the
cave. The excitement of extracting from these blocks their treasures
was of the very keenest, for we could not tell what a stroke of the
hammer would reveal. Sometimes an elephant’s tooth suddenly came to
light, at others a hyæna’s jaw, or a rhinoceros’ tooth, or the antler
of a reindeer, or the canine of a bear. The bones were so numerous that
they scarcely attracted attention. In one fragment of this breccia, now
in the Brighton Museum, are a tusk and carpal of mammoth, the right
ulna of the woolly rhinoceros, and an antler of reindeer. In a second,
two shoulder-blades and two haunch bones of the woolly rhinoceros, with
a coprolite and lower jaw of cave hyæna. As the men removed the large
blocks they were brought to the mouth of the cave to be broken up by
our smaller instruments. Presently the passage narrowed to about six
feet, and presented the following section (Fig. 89). On the floor of
the cave there was a layer of red earth two feet in thickness, and, as
usual, containing a few organic remains and many stones (Fig. 89, 1).
Upon this rested a most remarkable accumulation of bones, and teeth,
matted and compacted together, from three to four inches thick, and
extending horizontally from one side of the passage to the other (Fig.
89, 2). Next came a layer of dark red earth (Fig. 89, 3), loose and
friable, three to four inches thick, supporting in its surface a few
rounded stalagmites, and a few stalactitic pillars, that spanned the
interval of from three to four inches between it and the roof. This
bone-bed was about seven feet wide and fourteen feet long, affording,
therefore, a square area of ninety-eight feet (see dotted area B Fig.
83, and in Fig. 90). The enormous quantity of the remains of animals
present cannot fairly be estimated even by the large number preserved,
because most of the bones were as soft as wet mortar. The five hundred
and fifty specimens obtained must be looked upon merely as a small
fraction of the whole.
[Illustration: FIG. 90.--Longitudinal Section through B and C of Fig.
83, showing bone-beds. Dotted area = bone-bed.]
We presently passed beyond the bone-bed, and found that the passage
bifurcated (Fig. 83, C and D), the smaller branch going straight
forwards and gently upwards (Fig. 90), while the larger stretched
at right angles from it and passed gently downwards. In the former
there was a second bone-bed similar in every respect to that already
described, which continued undiminished in thickness until it rested
directly on the floor. It afforded a square area of about fifteen
feet. The passage was about sixteen inches high and three feet wide,
and gradually narrowed until at a distance of twelve feet from the
bifurcation a stalactite six inches long reached the floor and formed
a vertical bar, as if to forbid another ingress. When this had been
explored as far as we could crawl, the larger branch (Fig. 83, D,
and Fig. 91) engaged our attention, and we soon discovered a third
layer of bones of the same character as the others, and in the same
position, excepting that in some places it was in immediate contact
with the roof. In width it was six, in length fourteen, and in square
area eighty-four feet. From its further end to the termination of the
passage there was not the slightest vestige of bones or teeth, and a
stiff grey clay rested on a horizontal layer of sand on the floor. Here
the passage suddenly turned upwards until it became so small and barren
that it was not worth our while to pursue it farther. It doubtless
rises to the surface, like the large fissure opposite the entrance of
the cave shown in Fig. 88.[196]
The exploration was resumed the following year by Mr. Ayshford Sanford
and myself, and yielded vast quantities of fossil remains. We cleared
out the space marked 1863 in the plan, and discovered a flint implement
at the point marked _d_, in Fig. 83. My friend the late Mr. Wickham
Flower has also worked the cave, more particularly at the right-hand
side of the entrance chamber.
The ashes and implements were found in positions, near the mouth of
the cave, where man himself may have placed them (see Figs. 83, 88),
with the exception of the flint implement at _d_, and an ash of bone
imbedded in the earthy matrix between the canine tooth and a coprolite
of the hyæna, and cemented to a fragment of dolomitic conglomerate.
This was found far in the cave, either at the entrance of the passage
B, or in the middle of the passage D. The latter passage yielded the
only rolled flint without traces of man’s handiwork. The materials
out of which the implements were made were used pretty equally. All
those, like Fig. 84, were of flint; all those chipped into a rounded
form and flat-oval in section of chert from the Upper Greensand; while
the flakes consisted of both used indifferently. Besides these three
typical forms, which were most abundant, is a fourth, in form roughly
pyramidal, with a smooth and flat base, and a cutting edge all round.
Of these we found but two examples, both consisting of chert. In form
they are exactly similar to several hundreds found in a British village
at Stanlake, in Berkshire, and to those I discovered in a cemetery of
the same age at Yarnton, near Oxford. They strongly resemble a cast I
have of one found by M. Lartet in the cave of Aurignac. Were it not for
this similarity, I should look upon them as cores from which flakes
had been struck. The rest are mere splinters, irregular in form,
and probably made in the manufacture of the various flint and chert
implements. All the flint implements have been altered in colour and
structure, either by heat or, as is more probable, by some chemical
action. Without exception, the old surfaces present a waxy lustre (by
the absence of which forgeries are easily detected), the colour is of
a uniform milk-white, and the ordinary conchoidal fracture is replaced
by that of porcelain. Some are not harder than chalk. I have met with
weathered and calcined flints in Sussex in which similar changes are
observable, and in which the difference in the results of chemical
action and heat can hardly be detected. The chert implements, on the
other hand, show no traces of any such changes, but are similar in
colour and structure to the rocks from which they came--the Upper
Greensand of the Blackdown Hills.
All the fragments of calcined bone, with the exception of one already
mentioned, were found near the entrance (see Fig. 83, _b_), and in
a place more suitable for a fire than any other in the cave. I can
identify none of them as human. The coarse texture, the structure,
and the thickness of one indicate a fragment of a long bone of
the rhinoceros.[197] All resemble many splinters strewn about in
other parts of the cave, which are not calcined, but were evidently
introduced by the hyænas. The calcination may therefore be due to the
accident of their lying upon the surface at the time the fire was
kindled.
The remains obtained in 1862-3 from three to four thousand in number,
afford a vivid picture of the animal life of the time in Somerset. They
belong to the following animals, the numbers representing the jaws and
teeth only, and the implements:--
Man 35
Cave-Hyæna 467
Cave-Lion 15
Cave-Bear 27
Grizzly Bear 11
Brown Bear 11
Wolf 7
Fox 8
Mammoth 30
Woolly Rhinoceros 233
_Rhinoceros hemitœchus_ 2
Horse 401
The Great Urus 16
Bison 30
The Irish Elk 35
Reindeer 30
Red Deer 2
Lemming 1
The remains of these animals were so intermingled that they must have
been living together at the same time. They lie large with small, the
more with the less dense, and are not in the least degree sorted by
water. There is no evidence of the hyæna succeeding to the cave-bear,
or the reindeer to the urus, or that the bears came here to die, as in
some of the German caves, or that the herbivores fell, or were swept
into open fissures, and left their remains, as in the caves of Hutton
and Plymouth. On the contrary, the numerous jaws and teeth of hyæna,
and the marks of those teeth upon nearly every one of the specimens,
show that they alone introduced the remains that were found in such
abundance. And they preyed not merely upon horses, uri, and other
herbivores, but upon one another (Figs. 92, 93), and they even overcame
the cave-bear and lion in their full prime. Some of the bones of the
larger animals, and in particular a leg-bone of a gigantic urus, have
been broken short across and not bitten through--a circumstance which
points towards one of the causes of the vast accumulation of bones
in so small a cave. It is well known that wolves and hyænas at the
present day are in the habit of hunting in packs, and of forcing their
prey over precipices. The Wookey ravine is admirably situated for this
mode of hunting, and would not fail to destroy any animal forced into
it from the hill-side. It is therefore very probable that the hyænas
sometimes caught their prey in this manner. They would not have dared
to attack the bears and lions unless these had been disabled.
[Illustration: FIG. 91.--Longitudinal Section through D of Fig. 83.
Dotted area = bone-bed.]
But if all the remains of the animals were introduced by the hyænas,
they certainly in some cases do not occupy the exact position in which
they were left by those animals. One of the bone layers (Fig. 91) for
instance, actually touched the roof. This, indeed, has been used as
an argument in favour of their having been introduced by water, from
some unknown repository. But if this hypothesis be admitted, we are
landed in the following dilemma: either the introducing current of
water must have passed down the vertical passages, or upwards through
the horizontal mouth of the cave. In the former case the three bone
layers would not have been found in the narrow passages, but would
have been swept out into the wide chamber, where the force of the
hypothetical current must have abated. In the latter case the great
bulk of the remains would have been found in the chamber, and not in
the smaller passages. Moreover, the absence of marks of transport by
water, and especially of that sorting action which water as a conveying
agent always manifests, renders the view of their being so introduced
untenable. On the other hand, the horizontality of the layers of bone,
and the presence of sand and of red earth, imply that water was an
agent in re-arranging the bones and in introducing some of the contents
of the cave. The only solution of the difficulty that I can hazard is
the occurrence of floods from time to time, during the occupation of
the hyænas, similar to those which now take place in the caverns of the
neighbourhood. A few years ago, the outlet of the Axe in the great cave
was partially blocked up, and the water rose to a height of upwards of
sixteen feet, leaving a horizontal deposit of red earth of the same
nature as that in the hyæna-den. Now if we suppose that similar floods
were caused by an obstruction in the ravine below the hyæna-den, it
may have been flooded, just as the upper galleries of the great cave,
and the water laden with sediment might have elevated the layers of
matted bone, and some of the scattered remains on the surface, while
the current was insufficient to disturb the stones, or to affect to
any extent the deposits of former floods. The buoyancy of the organic
remains is not required to be greater, on this hypothesis, than in
that of their having been introduced by a current through the vertical
passages. Some of the wet bones taken straight from the cave were
sufficiently light to be carried down by the current of the Axe.
All these facts taken together enable us to form a clear idea of
the condition of things at the time the hyæna-den was inhabited.
The hyænas were the normal occupants of the cave, and thither they
brought their prey. We can realize those animals pursuing elephants and
rhinoceroses along the slopes of the Mendip, till they scared them into
the precipitous ravine, or watching until the strength of a disabled
bear or lion ebbed away sufficiently to allow of its being overcome by
their cowardly strength. Man appeared from time to time on the scene,
a miserable savage armed with bow and spear, unacquainted with metals,
but defended from the cold by coats of skin.[198] Sometimes he took
possession of the den and drove out the hyænas; for it is impossible
for both to have lived in the same cave at the same time. He kindled
his fires at the entrance, to cook his food, and to keep away the wild
animals; then he went away, and the hyænas came to their old abode.
While all this was taking place there were floods from time to time
until eventually the cave was completely blocked up with their deposits.
[Illustration: FIG. 92.--Gnawed jaw of Hyæna, from Hyæna-den at Wookey
(1/2). Dotted outline = portion eaten.]
The winter cold at the time must have been very severe to admit of the
presence of the reindeer and lemming.
_The district of the Mendip Hills at a higher level than now._
When we reflect on the vast quantities of the remains of the animals
buried in the caves of so limited an area as the Mendip Hills, it is
evident that there must have been abundance of food to have enabled
them to live in the district. The great marsh now extending from Wells
to the sea, and cutting off the Mendips from the fertile region to the
south, was probably a rich valley at a higher level than at present,
joining the westward plains now submerged under the Bristol Channel. An
elevation of from 100 to 300 feet would produce the physical conditions
necessary for the sustenance of the herbivora found in the caves both
in South Wales and Somersetshire.
_The characters of a Hyæna-den._
[Illustration: FIG. 93.--A and B, upper and lower jaws of Hyæna-whelp,
Wookey.]
The remains of the animals which have been eaten by the cave-hyæna,
may be recognized by the following characters. All are more or less
scored by teeth, and the only perfect bones are those which are solid,
or of very dense texture. The skulls are represented merely by the
harder portions. That of the woolly rhinoceros, for example, by the
hard pedestal which supports the anterior horn (see Fig. 30). Several
of these pedestals occurred in the Wookey hyæna-den. The lower jaws
also have lost their angle and coronoid process, and are gnawed to
the pattern of the shaded portion of Fig. 92, the less succulent part
bearing the teeth being rejected. This holds good of the jaws of all
the animals so persistently, that out of more than two hundred from
Wookey there was only one exception. The jaw of the glutton (Fig. 82),
from Plas Heaton, is also gnawed to the same shape, and one of those
of the cave-bear from the cavern of Lherm, considered by M. Garrigou
to have been fashioned by the hand of man into an implement, seems to
me, after a careful comparison in company with Dr. Falconer, referable
solely to the gnawing of the hyæna. In Fig. 92, the lower jaw of an
adult hyæna is represented, and in Fig. 93 (1) the upper and lower
jaws of a hyæna-whelp. In the latter the teeth marks _a_ and _b_ are
remarkably distinct.[199]
[Illustration: FIG. 94.--Left Thigh-bone of Woolly Rhinoceros gnawed by
Hyænas; Shaded parts left. (Wookey Hole.)]
The marrow-containing bones are also universally splintered away,
until either the articular ends alone are left, as in Fig. 80, or in
some cases, as in that of the femur of woolly rhinoceros (Fig. 94),
the dense central portion bearing the third trochanter is preserved.
This fragment is extremely abundant in nearly all the hyæna-caves in
this country. From the invariable habit of the hyæna leaving the bones
of its prey in fragments of this kind, their dens are characterized
by the absence of perfect long-bones and skulls, and consequently,
when these occur in a cave it is certain proof that it was not
occupied by these animals. In a great many caves, however, the gnawed
fragments are associated with the perfect bones, as, for example, at
Banwell, a circumstance that may be accounted for by the untouched
carcases and the gnawed fragments being swept in from the surface by a
stream falling into a swallow-hole. In all hyæna-dens also are large
quantities of _album græcum_, as well as fragments of bone more or less
polished by the friction of the hyæna’s feet.
_The Caves of Devonshire._
The ossiferous caves on the south coast of Devonshire, explored during
the last fifty years, are by far the most important in this country,
since they were the first which were scientifically examined, and
the first which established the co-existence of man with the extinct
mammalia.
We owe the full details of their history to the labours of the
distinguished cave-hunter Mr. Pengelly, F.R.S.,[200] whose writings are
freely used in the following account.
_The Oreston Caves._
The first intimation of the presence of fossil bones in the district
was furnished by Mr. Whidbey, the engineer in charge of the
construction of the Plymouth breakwater, who discovered numerous
bones and teeth, imbedded in clayey loam, in some cavernous fissures
at Oreston, which were brought before the Royal Society by Sir
Everard Home in 1817. Thus Dr. Buckland’s researches in Kirkdale were
anticipated by four years. From time to time, since that date, several
other fissures and caves close by have furnished remains of rhinoceros,
mammoth, hyæna, lion, and other animals. Among the bones and teeth
originally sent up by Mr. Whidbey are several which were identified by
Prof. Busk,[201] as belonging to the _Rhinoceros megarhinus_, a species
that is vastly abundant in the pleiocene strata of northern Italy and
is also represented in the early pleistocene forest-bed of Norfolk and
Suffolk, and in the lower brickearths of the valley of the Thames at
Grays and Crayford. This is the only case on record of the discovery of
the animal in a cavern deposit.
The cavernous fissures in the neighbourhood of Yealmpton,[202] about
seven miles east-south-east from Plymouth, explored by Mr. Bellamy and
Colonel Mudge, R.A., F.R.S. in 1835-6, contained the remains of the
hyæna and rhinoceros, and the other animals more usually associated
with them. They were probably filled, as in the case of Oreston, mainly
by the streams which introduced the pebbles. They may, however, from
time to time have been inhabited by the hyænas, although the presence
of three skulls of that animal forbids the supposition that they
dragged in all the fossil bones.
_The Caves at Brixham._
The series of fissures accidentally discovered in 1858, in quarrying
the rock which overlooks the little fishing town of Brixham, known as
the Windmill cave, was selected by the late Dr. Falconer,[203] as a
spot in which thorough investigation would be likely to decide the then
doubtful question of the co-existence of man with the extinct mammalia.
Kent’s Hole had been disturbed by repeated diggings, and the results
might be viewed with suspicion. He, therefore, urged the importance of
a systematic examination of this virgin cave with such effect, that it
was undertaken by the Royal and Geological Societies, and a committee
was appointed, comprising, amongst others, Dr. Falconer, Prof. Ramsay,
Mr. Prestwich, Sir Charles Lyell, Prof. Owen, Mr. Godwin-Austen, and
Mr. Pengelly. To the superintendence of the last is mainly due the
minute care with which the exploration was conducted. The remains have
been identified by Dr. Falconer and Prof. Busk. The work was commenced
in July 1858, and completed in the summer of 1859.[204]
The cave consists of three principal galleries, with diverging
passages, running in the direction of the joints from north to south,
and from east to west, communicating with the surface at four points.
The following is the general section (Fig. 95) of the deposits in
descending order.
(A.) On the floor was a layer of stalagmite, varying from a few inches
to upwards of a foot in thickness, and containing only twenty-five
bones, among which were the humerus of a bear, and the antler of a
reindeer.
[Illustration: FIG. 95.--Diagram of Deposits in Brixham Cave.
(Pengelly.)]
(B.) Reddish cave-earth with fragments and blocks of limestone, and
of stalagmite, generally averaging from two to four feet. In it 1,102
bones were discovered irregularly scattered through its mass, and
belonging to mammoth, woolly rhinoceros, lion, cave, grizzly, and brown
bears, reindeer, and others. They varied in state of preservation, and
some were scored and marked by teeth. Associated with these, thirty-six
rude flint implements were met with, of indisputable human workmanship,
and of the same general order as those figured by the Rev. J. MacEnery
from Kent’s Hole. Among them was one lanceolate implement with rounded
point and unworked butt end, considered by Mr. John Evans, F.R.S.,
of the type of those usually found in the valley gravels.[205] There
was, therefore, the most conclusive evidence that man inhabited the
neighbourhood, either before or during the time of the accumulation of
B, and before those physical changes took place by which the red silt
ceased to be deposited, or the stalagmite above began to be formed.
(C.) At the bottom of the cave-earth was a deposit of gravel,
principally of rounded pebbles and devoid of fossils.
The early history of the cave, as shown by these deposits, is given
by Mr. Prestwich, in the report presented to the Royal Society, as
follows:--
“Looking at all the phenomena of Brixham cave, the conclusion your
reporter has arrived at is, that the formation of the cave commenced
and was carried on simultaneously with the excavation of the valley;
that the small streams flowing down the upper tributary branches of
the valley entered the western openings of the cave and, traversing
the fissures in the limestone, escaped by lower openings in the chief
valley, just as the Grotto d’Arcy was formed by an overflow from the
cave taking a short cut through the limestone hills, round which the
river winds. These tributary streams brought in the shingle bed (Fig.
95, C), which fills the bottom of the fissure. It was only during
occasional droughts, when the streams were dry, that the cave seems
to have been frequented by animals, their remains being very scarce
in that bed, while indications of man are comparatively numerous. As
the excavation of the valley proceeded, the level of the stream was
lowered and became more restricted to the valley-channel. The cave
consequently became drier, and was more resorted to by predatory
animals, who carried in their prey to devour, and was less frequented
by man. At the same time with the periodical floods, which there is
every reason to believe, from other investigations, were so great
during the quaternary period, the cave would long continue to be
subject to inundations, the muddy waters of which deposited the silt
forming the cave-earth, burying progressively the bones left from
season to season by succeeding generations of beasts of prey. By the
repetition at distant intervals of these inundations, and by the
accumulation during the intervening periods of fresh crops of bones,
the bone-bearing cave-earth, B, was gradually formed. During this time
the occasional visits of man are indicated by the rare occurrence of
a flint implement, lost, probably, as he groped his way through the
dark passages of the cave. As the valley became deeper, and as with the
change of climate at the close of the (pleistocene) quaternary period
the floods became less, so did the cave become drier and more resorted
to by animals. At last it seems to have become a place for permanent
resort for bears; their remains in all stages of growth, including
even sucking cubs, were met with in the upper part of the cave-earth,
in greater numbers than were the bones of any other animals. These
animals resorted especially to the darker and more secluded flint-knife
gallery, where 221 out of 366 of their determinable bones were found,
whereas only twenty-six were met with in the reindeer gallery.
“Finally, as the cave became out of the reach of the flood waters, the
drippings from the roof, which up to this period had, with the single
exception before mentioned, been lost in the accumulating cave-earth,
or deposited in thin calcareous incrustations on the exposed bones,
now commenced that deposit of stalagmite which sealed up and preserved
undisturbed the shingle and cave-earth deposited under former and
different conditions. The cave, however, still continued to be
the occasional resort of beasts of prey; for sparse remains of the
reindeer, together with those of the bear and rhinoceros, were found in
the stalagmite floor. After a time the falling in of the roof at places
(and any earthquake movement may have detached blocks from it), and the
external surface weathering, stopped up some parts of the cave, and
closed its entrances with an accumulation of débris. From that time it
ceased to be accessible, except to the smaller rodents and burrowing
animals, and so remained unused and untrodden until its recent
discovery and exploration.”[206]
Mr. Pengelly points out[207] an episode in the history of the cave,
between the formation and the filling up with its present contents,
which is of considerable importance, viewed in relation to the deposits
in Kent’s Hole. Over the empty space in D, of Fig. 95, is an ancient
stalagmite floor, E, constituting the present ceiling, and shutting off
D from the true roof above, E. At the time this was formed, the cave
must have been filled up to that level with débris, fragments of which
are set in the inferior portion of the calcareous sheet. Subsequently,
and before the present contents, A and B, were introduced, the whole
of this material has been swept away, probably by an unusual flood
similar to that alluded to in the second chapter in the Clapham cave.
The pieces of stalagmite in the cave-earth are, probably, some of
the relics of the older floor. This filling up, re-excavating, and
re-filling with its present contents, are phenomena which considerably
complicate the problems offered not merely by Brixham cave, but also
by those of Kent’s Hole.
Two other caverns in the neighbourhood of Brixham, the “Ash Hole” and
“Bench,” have also yielded the remains of the reindeer, hyæna, and
several other pleistocene species, and are fully described by Mr.
Pengelly, in his essays contributed to the Devonshire Association.[208]
_Kent’s Hole._
The celebrated cave of Kent’s Hole,[209] known from time immemorial,
was first found to contain fossil bones by Mr. Northmore, and Sir
W. C. Trevelyan in 1824, and was subsequently explored by the Rev. J.
MacEnery in the five following years, during which he met with flint
implements in association with the extinct animals in the undisturbed
strata, and obtained the teeth of the sabre-toothed feline, named by
Prof. Owen _Machairodus latidens_, which has never before or since
been discovered in any other cavern in Britain. His manuscripts
unfortunately were not used until they passed into the hands of Mr.
Vivian, of Torquay, who published an abstract in 1859. Subsequently
they were published in full by Mr. Pengelly, in 1869. The discovery of
the flint implements, verified by Mr. Godwin Austen in 1840, and six
years later also by a committee of the Torquay Natural History Society,
was received with incredulity by the scientific world, until the result
of the exploration of the Brixham cave had placed the fact of the
co-existence of man with the extinct mammalia beyond all doubt. In
1864 a committee[210] was appointed by the British Association for the
carrying on the investigation, which from that time to the present has
been conducted under the careful supervision of Mr. Pengelly.
The cave consists of two parallel series of chambers and galleries,
an eastern and a western, which penetrate the low cliff of Devonian
limestone in the direction of the joints, with a northern and southern
entrance, very nearly at the same level, “about fifty feet apart, from
180 to 190 feet above the level of mean tide, and about seventy feet
above the bottom of the valley immediately adjacent.” The largest
chamber of the eastern series is sixty-two feet from east to west, and
fifty-three from north to south. The extent of the cave has not yet
been ascertained.
The contents, examined with the minutest care (on Mr. Pengelly’s
method, see Appendix I.), were found to be arranged in the following
order.
(A.) The surface was composed of dark earth varying in thickness from
a few inches to a foot, on which rested large blocks of limestone,
fallen from the roof. It contained mediæval remains, Roman pottery,
and combs fashioned out of bone, similar to those discovered in the
Victoria and Dowkerbottom caves in Yorkshire, which prove that the cave
was frequented during the historic period. A barbed iron spear-head,
a bronze spear-head, other bronze articles, and polished stone celts,
establish the fact that it was also used during the iron, bronze,
and neolithic ages. This stratum contained the broken bones of the
short-horn (_Bos longifrons_), goat, and horse, large quantities of
charcoal, and was to a great extent a refuse-heap like that in the
Victoria cave.
[Illustration: FIG. 96.--Lanceolate Implement from Kent’s Hole (1/1).
(Evans.)[211]]
[Illustration: FIG. 97.--Oval Implement from Kent’s Hole (1/1) (Evans.)]
(B.) Below this was a stalagmite floor, varying in thickness from one
to three feet, covering
(C.) The red earth, with stones, bones of the extinct animals, and
flint implements, associated together in the greatest confusion, as
well as large lumps of stalagmite and of breccia, which had been torn
out of a pre-existent floor. In the “vestibule,” near one of the
entrances, a black layer beneath the stalagmite, composed, to a great
extent, of charcoal, indicated the position of the fire-places, and
contained a vast number of rude unpolished palæolithic implements.
There were also local stalagmitic bands. The flint implements were
met with at various depths, and consist of three distinct types: the
lanceolate, Fig. 96, the oval, with edge carefully chipped for cutting,
Fig. 97, and the flake (see Fig. 106). Besides these a few implements
have been discovered of the same shape as those found in the gravel
beds; in outline and section roughly triangular, and tapering to a
point from a blunt base, which was probably intended to be held in the
hand.[212] Several articles of bone and antler were also met with,
comprising an awl, or piercer, a needle with the eye large enough to
admit small packthread, and three harpoon-heads, one of which is barbed
on both sides (Fig. 98), the others being merely barbed on one side
(Fig. 99). A rounded pebble of coarse red sandstone, battered into a
cheese-like form, by being used as a hammer (Fig. 100), was also found.
All these articles bring the palæolithic inhabitants of Kent’s Hole
into relation with those of the caves and rock-shelters of the south
of France, to be described in the next chapter.
[Illustration: FIG. 98.--Harpoon from Kent’s Hole (1/1). (Evans.)]
[Illustration: FIG. 99.--Harpoon-head from Kent’s Hole (1/1). (Evans.)]
(D.) The cave-earth rested on a compact, dark red breccia composed of
angular fragments of limestone and pebbles of sandstone embedded in a
sandy calcareous paste, identical in constitution with the fragments
of the older breccia discovered in the cave-earth. It has furnished
bones of bears, and four flint implements. The cave-earth, C, and the
breccia, E, seem to stand to one another in an inverse ratio as regards
thickness: where the former was thin, the latter was sometimes as much
as twelve feet thick. From this relation, as well as from the imbedded
fragments of the latter, it may be concluded that the former is the
more modern, and that in the interval between their accumulation the
latter had been, to a considerable extent, broken up.
[Illustration: FIG. 100.--Hammer-stone (1/2). (Evans.)]
There is very good reason for the belief, that before any of the
present cave-earth was introduced, Kent’s Hole had been filled nearly
to the roof by an older cave accumulation, now represented by the
undisturbed breccia and the included fragments. In a portion of the
cave termed the “gallery,” there is a sheet of stalagmite, extending
overhead from wall to wall, and constituting a ceiling that reaches
from wall to wall, without further support than that offered by its
own cohesion. Above it, in the limestone rock, there is a considerable
alcove. This branch of the cavern, therefore, is divided into three
stories or flats, that below the floor occupied with cave-earth, that
between the floor and the ceiling entirely unoccupied, and that above
the ceiling also without a deposit of any kind. For such a sheet of
stalagmite to have been formed it is absolutely necessary for the cave
to have been filled up to its level with materials of some kind, just
as it is necessary for the formation of a film of ice that it should be
crystallized from the surface of water. We may, therefore, infer that
Kent’s Hole, like Brixham, was originally filled up to the level of the
ceiling (see Fig. 95, E), then that the contents were swept out, with
the exception of the breccia, and lastly, that the present cave-earth
was introduced. The occurrence of the remains of bear, and of flint
implements, in this breccia also proves that man and bears were living
in the district, while it was being accumulated, probably by the action
of the floods to which, from time to time, the cave was subjected. All
the flint implements in the breccia are of the ruder and larger form
which is presented by those from the pleistocene deposits of the Somme,
Seine, and the rivers of the south and east of England.
While engaged in the identification of the mammals in 1869, with
Mr. W. A. Sanford, I detected splinters of bears’ canines, from the
cave-earth, remarkable for their density, crystalline structure, and
semi-conchoidal fracture, which were in the same mineral state as those
from the older breccia. One of these had been fashioned into a flake
after its mineralization, and presented an edge chipped by use. The
tooth from which it was struck was, probably, imbedded and mineralized
in the older breccia, then washed out of it, and afterwards chosen for
the manufacture of an implement. It was already fossil and altered in
structure in the palæolithic age.
_The probable Age of the Machairodus of Kent’s Hole._
The most remarkable animal discovered in the cave, by the Rev. J.
MacEnery, is the _Machairodus latidens_,[213] or large lion-like
animal, armed with double-edged canines, in shape like the blade of a
sabre, and with two serrated edges. Five canines and two incisors were
dug out of the cave-earth, C, in the Wolf’s Passage, along with vast
quantities of bones and teeth of the mammoth, rhinoceros, Irish elk,
horse, and hyæna. One of the canines is represented in Figs. 101, 102,
which are taken from one of the original plates drawn for Dr. Buckland,
and now in the Museum of the Torquay Natural History Society. The two
incisors, Figs. 103, 104, 105, are also characterised by their serrated
edges. A third was discovered by the exploration committee in the same
spot, in 1872, scarcely to be distinguished from that in Figs. 103,
104, which finally dispelled the scepticism of some eminent naturalists
as to whether any of these teeth had been obtained in the cave by the
Rev. J. MacEnery.
[Illustration: FIGS. 101, 102.--Upper Canine of Machairodus, Kent’s
Hole (1/1). (MacEnery.)]
The _Machairodus latidens_ has been found in pleistocene strata in two
localities in France: in a deposit of diluvium, near Puy, by M. Aymard,
and in the cavern of Baume in the Jura, considered by M. Lartet to
be of preglacial age.[214] In the latter it was associated with the
horse, ox, wild-boar, elephant, a non-tichorine species of rhinoceros,
the cave-bear, and the spotted hyæna. In the autumn of 1873, I met
with proof that the animal also lived in France in the pleiocene
period. M. Lortet, the Director of the Museum of Natural History, at
Lyons, called my attention to a canine, in the Palais des Beaux Arts,
which coincides exactly in all its dimensions with one of those from
Kent’s Hole. It was found at Chagny (Saône et Loire) near Dijon, along
with _Mastodon arvernensis_, the Etruscan or megarhine species of
rhinoceros, horse, beaver and hyæna, somewhat resembling that from
the Crag (_Hyæna antiqua_) of Suffolk described by Mr. Lankester. The
species, therefore, is pleiocene, and it belongs to a genus which is
widely distributed in the meiocene strata of Europe and North America,
as well as in the pleiocene of Europe.
To what era in the complicated history of Kent’s Hole is this animal
to be assigned? The more ancient, or the more modern? The evidence on
this point is, to a certain extent, contradictory. On the one hand it
is a pleiocene species, belonging to a group of animals that inhabited
Europe before the lowering of the temperature caused the invasion
of the arctic mammalia from the north and the east: it is moreover
of a distinctly southern type. In the teeth marks on the incisors,
Figs. 103, 104, 105, as well as on the canines, we have unmistakeable
traces of the presence of the hyæna; and since the spotted hyæna
abounds in the cave, to its teeth the marks in question may probably
be referred. It seems, therefore, probable that the animal inhabited
Devonshire during an early stage of the pleistocene period, before
the arctic invaders had taken full possession of the valley of the
English Channel, and of the low grounds which now lie within the
100-fathom line off the Atlantic shore of Western France. There must
necessarily have been a swinging to and fro of animal life over the
great, fertile low-lying region, which is now submerged (see Map,
Fig. 126); and before the temperature of France had been sufficiently
lowered to exterminate or drive out the southern forms, it is most
natural to suppose that in warm seasons some of the southern mammalia
would find their way northwards, and especially a formidable carnivore
such as the machairodus. The extreme rarity of its remains forbids
the hypothesis that it was a regular inhabitant of Britain during the
pleistocene age.
[Illustration: FIGS. 103, 104, 105.--Incisors of Machairodus, Kent’s
Hole (1/1). (MacEnery.)[215]]
On the other hand, the recent discovery of a second incisor in the
uppermost portion of the cave-earth, in July 1872, in the same
condition as the remains usually found, and associated with the bones
and teeth of hyæna, horse, and bear, is considered by Sir Charles Lyell
and Mr. Pengelly proof of the animal having lived during the deposition
of the later cave-earth, or in the later stage of the pleistocene.
The condition of a bone, however, is a very fallacious guide to its
antiquity, and although the fragments of the older contents of the cave
are in a different mineral state, it is improbable that the ossiferous
contents of so large a cave should have been mineralized exactly in
the same way. Nor is an appeal to its perfect state conclusive, since
several teeth of bear, which I have examined from the breccia, are
equally perfect.
The view of the high antiquity of machairodus in Kent’s Hole derives
support from the discovery of _Rhinoceros megarhinus_ at Oreston, a
species which is very abundant in the Italian pleiocene strata, and
not uncommon in those of France,--a species with its headquarters in
the south, but ranging as far north as Norfolk in the early stage of
the pleistocene age, represented by the forest bed of Cromer, and that
lived in the valley of the Thames, while the gravel-beds of Crayford
and Grays Thurrock were being deposited by the ancient river. The
occurrence of either of these animals in a cave is exceptional, and
the presence of both in caves on the edge of the great plain extending
southwards from the present coastline of Devon, seems to me to imply
that both were open during the early stage of the pleistocene, while
the pleiocene mammalia were retreating before the southward advance
of the mammoth, woolly rhinoceros, spotted hyæna, reindeer, and their
congeners, at a time anterior to the lowering of the temperature that
culminated in the glacial period. For these reasons it seems to me
probable that the machairodus belongs to an early rather than a late
stage in the history of Kent’s Hole.
There is an important point of resemblance between the mode of the
occurrence of the machairodus in Kent’s Hole, and of the megarhine
rhinoceros at Oreston. The remains of both were met with only _in
one spot_, and were not scattered through the chambers and passages.
It may have happened that in the physical changes which those caves
have undergone, both were preserved in a fissure like that described
in the Uphill cave (p. 294), and that subsequently they dropped
down and became imbedded in a newer deposit. In fixing the age of
strata in caves it seems to me that the zoological evidence is of far
greater weight than that of mere position, which may be the result of
accidental circumstances.
_The Caves of Ireland._
The caves of Ireland would probably afford as rich a fauna as those
of Britain, had they been explored with equal care. In one at
Shandon, near Dungarvan, Waterford, remains of the brown bear (_U.
arctos_) reindeer, horse, and mammoth were discovered in 1859, by Mr.
Brenan.[216] The first of these animals became extinct in Ireland
before the historic period, while it survived in Britain at least as
late as the Roman occupation.
The cave-bear is also recorded by Dr. Carte,[217] from the same place,
but the thigh bone assigned to it seems to me to belong to the brown,
or common species. The mammoth, so abundant in Britain, has only been
discovered in two other localities in Ireland, at Whitechurch near
Dungarvan, and at Magherry near Belturbet.[218]
The range of these animals over Great Britain and Ireland in the
pleistocene age enables us to realize the ancient physical geography,
which will be treated in the next and following chapters as part of the
general question of the physical condition of north-western Europe at
that time.
CHAPTER IX.
THE INHABITANTS OF THE CAVES OF NORTH-WESTERN EUROPE, AND THE
EVIDENCE OF THE FAUNA AS TO THE ATLANTIC COASTLINE.
The Caves of France, Baume, of Périgord.--Caves and Rock-shelters
of Belgium, Trou de Naulette.--Caves of Switzerland.--
Cave-dwellers and Palæolithic Men of River-deposits.--
Classification of Palæolithic Caves.--Relation of Cave-dwellers
to Eskimos.--Pleistocene animals living north of Alps and
Pyrenees.--Relation of Cave to River-bed Fauna.--The Atlantic
Coastline.--Distribution of Palæolithic Implements.
_The Caves of France._
The caves of France have been proved, by the explorations carried on
during the course of the present century, to contain the same animals,
introduced under the same conditions as those which we have already
described. Some species, however, have been met with which have not
been discovered in this country. In the cave of Lunel-viel, for
example, the common striped hyæna of Africa (_Hyæna striata_) has been
found by Marcel de Serres, to whom belongs the credit of being the
first systematic explorer of caverns in France. In that of Bruniquel,
the ibex, now found only in the higher mountains in Europe, the chamois
and the _Antelope saiga_, an animal inhabiting the plains of the
region of the Volga and of southern Siberia, have been identified by
Prof. Owen; while in the collection obtained by Mr. Moggridge from the
caves of Mentone, Prof. Busk has recognized the marmot. With these
exceptions there is no distinction between the faunas of the bone-caves
of this country and of France.[219]
_The Cave of Baume._
The _Machairodus latidens_,[220] or great sabre-toothed feline of
Kent’s Hole, has been discovered in the cave of Baume in the Jura,
according to M. Gervais,[221] along with the horse, ox, wild-boar,
elephant, a non-tichorhine species of rhinoceros, the spotted hyæna,
and the cave-bear, or the same group of animals as that with which it
is found in Kent’s Hole. The cave is considered by M. Lartet[222] to be
of preglacial age.
_The Caves of Périgord._
The caves and rock-shelters of Périgord, explored by the late M.
Lartet and our countryman, Mr. Christy,[223] 1863-4, have not only
afforded cumulative proof of the co-existence of man with the extinct
mammalia, but have given us a clue as to the race to which he belonged.
They penetrate the sides of the valleys of the Dordogne and Vezère at
various levels, as may be seen in Fig. 71, and are full of the remains
left behind by their ancient inhabitants, which give as vivid a picture
of the human life of the period, as that revealed of Italian manners
in the first century by the buried cities of Herculaneum and Pompeii.
The old floors of human occupation consist of broken bones of animals
killed in the chase, mingled with rude implements, weapons of bone, and
unpolished stone, and charcoal and burnt stones which point out the
position of the hearths.
Flakes (Fig. 106) without number, rude stone-cutters, awls,
lance-heads, hammers, saws made of flint or of chert, rest pêle-mêle
with bone needles, sculptured reindeer antlers, engraved stones,
arrow-heads, harpoons, and pointed bones, and with the broken remains
of the animals which had been used as food, the reindeer, bison, horse,
the ibex, the saiga antelope, and the musk sheep. In some cases the
whole is compacted by a calcareous cement into a hard mass, fragments
of which are to be seen in the principal museums of Europe. This
strange accumulation of débris marks, beyond all doubt, the place where
ancient hunters had feasted, and the broken bones and implements are
merely the refuse cast aside. The reindeer formed by far the larger
portion of the food, and must have lived in enormous herds at that time
in the centre of France. The severity of the climate at the time may be
inferred by the presence of this animal, as well as by the accumulation
of bones on the spots on which man had fixed his habitation. Indeed,
had not this been the case, the decomposition of so much animal matter
would have rendered the place uninhabitable even by the lowest savage.
[Illustration: FIG. 106.--Flint-flake, Les Eyzies (1/1). (Lartet and
Christy.)
FIG. 107.--Flint Scraper, Les Eyzies (1/1). (Lartet and Christy.)
FIG. 108.--Flint Javelin-head, Laugerie Haute (1/1). (Lartet and
Christy.)]
Besides the animals mentioned above, the cave-bear and lion have been
met with in one, and the mammoth in five localities, and their remains
bear marks of cutting or scraping, which show that they fell a prey to
hunters. The Irish elk, also, and the hyæna occur respectively in the
cave of Laugerie Basse, and of Moustier, but the latter certainly did
not gain access to the refuse-heaps, because the vertebræ are intact
which it is in the habit of eating. For the same reason also, M.
Lartet infers that the hunters were not aided in the chase by the dog.
There is no evidence that they were possessed of any domestic animal.
There were no spindle wheels to indicate a knowledge of spinning, nor
potsherds to show an acquaintance with the potter’s art. In both these
respects they resemble the Fuegians, Eskimos, and Australians, and
contrast strongly with the neolithic races.
[Illustration: FIG. 109.--Flint Arrow-head, Laugerie Haute (1/1).
(Lartet and Christy.)]
[Illustration: FIG. 110.--Bone needle, La Madelaine (1/1). (Lartet and
Christy.)]
The broken bones show that the reindeer furnished the more usual food,
and next to that the horse, and then the bison. And from the absence
of the vertebræ and pelvic bones of the two latter animals, M. Lartet
concludes that they were cut up where they were killed, and the meat
stripped from the backbone and the pelvis. Their food was probably
cooked by boiling, the number of round stones used for heating water
and bearing marks of fire, like the “pot boilers” of some of the
American Indians, being very considerable.
Among the stone implements flint flakes were incredibly numerous, and
the number of chips scattered about as well as the blocks of flint
from which they had been struck, proved that they had been made on the
spot; most of these flakes were notched by use (Fig. 106). Instruments
with the ends carefully rounded off (Fig. 107) were also abundant, and
from their analogy with similar instruments used by the Eskimos, there
can be but little doubt that they were intended for the preparation
of skins (compare Fig. 107 with Fig. 124). The ends of some were
chipped to a point for insertion into a handle, while others rounded
at both ends were probably used freely in the hand. In the cave of
Moustier oval implements were met with, resembling those figured from
the caverns of Kent’s Hole and Wookey (Figs. 84 and 97). The spear,
javelin, and arrow-heads of flint presented two modes of attachment to
the shaft, the base of some being squared off with a notch above for
the ligature (as in Fig. 108), while in others (Fig. 109) it tapered
off into a point intended for insertion. This latter form has been
obtained also in Kent’s Hole.
The bone needles are carefully smoothed, and were pierced with a
neatly-made eye (Fig. 110) by means of pointed flakes which were
found along with them, and the use of which M. Lartet demonstrated
by experiment. They had been sawn out of the compact metacarpals and
tarsals of the reindeer[224] and the horse, and subsequently rounded
on fragments of sandstone, the grooves of which fitted them. In this,
therefore, we have not merely the evidence that the hunters were
in the habit of sewing, but also we have vividly brought before us
the very method by which their needles were manufactured. They were
probably used for sewing skins together, the tendon of a reindeer
forming the thread, as among the modern Eskimos.
[Illustration: FIGS. 111, 112.--Harpoons of Antler, La Madelaine.
(Lartet and Christy.)
FIGS. 113, 114.--Arrow-heads, Gorge d’Enfer. (Broca.)
FIG. 115.--Bone Awl, Gorge d’Enfer (1/1). (Broca.)]
The heads of arrows and lances are made principally out of reindeer
antler, and are barbed, the barbs generally being grooved, and carved
on both sides of the axis (Figs. 111, 112, 113); but in some cases,
as in Fig. 114, the barbs are only on one side. Many bones and antlers
are variously carved into shapes for which it is impossible to assign a
definite use. Fig. 115 is a bone awl.
[Illustration: FIG. 116.--Carved Handle of Reindeer Antler (1/2).
(Lartet and Christy.)]
[Illustration: FIG. 117.--Two sides of Reindeer Antler, La Madelaine
(1/1). (Lartet and Christy.)]
[Illustration: FIG. 118.--Horses engraved on Antler, La Madelaine
(1/1). (Lartet and Christy.)]
The most remarkable remains left behind by man in these refuse-heaps
are the sculptured reindeer antlers, and the figures engraved on
fragments of schist and on ivory. A well-defined outline of an ox
stands out boldly from one piece of antler. A second presents us with
a most elegant design: a reindeer is kneeling down in an easy attitude
with its head thrown up in the air, so that the antlers rest on the
shoulders, and the back of the animal forms an even surface for a
handle, which is too small to be grasped in an ordinary European hand
(Fig. 116). In a third a man stands close to a horse’s head, and hard
by is a fish like an eel; and on the other side of the same cylinder
are two heads of bison, drawn with sufficient clearness to ensure
recognition by anyone who had ever seen that animal (Fig. 117). On
a fourth the natural curvature of one of the tines has been taken
advantage of by the artist to engrave the head, and the characteristic
recurved horns of the ibex; and on a fifth are figures of horses (Fig.
118), in which the upright disheveled mane and shaggy ungroomed tail
are represented with admirable spirit. At first sight it would appear
that the artist had drawn the heads out of all proportion to the
bodies. A horse’s skeleton, however, from the palæolithic “station”
at Solutré, lately set up in the Museum at Lyons, proves that this is
not the case, since, as M. Lortet pointed out to me, it is remarkable
for its massive head, and small body. In Fig. 119 a group of reindeer
are seen, two on their backs, and two in the act of walking. The
Irish elk, red-deer, and probably rhinoceros, are also depicted, the
figures upon the hard schist being feebly and uncertainly drawn, as
might be expected from the character of the tools. The most clever
sculptor of modern times would, probably, not succeed very much better
if his graver was a splinter of flint, and stone and bone were the
materials to be engraved. One peculiarity runs through the figures of
animals. With but two exceptions none of the feet are represented, a
circumstance which is probably due, as Mr. Franks has suggested to me,
to the fact that the hunters merely represented what they saw of the
animal, of which the feet would be concealed by the herbage.
[Illustration: FIG. 119.--Group of Reindeer, Dordogne. (Broca.)]
The most striking figure that has been discovered is that of the
mammoth,[225] Fig. 120, engraved on a fragment of its own tusk, the
peculiar spiral curvature of the tusk and the long mane, which are not
now to be found in any living elephant, proving that the original was
familiar to the eye of the artist. The discovery of whole carcases of
the animal in northern Siberia, preserved from decay in the frozen
cliffs and morasses, has made us acquainted with the existence of
the long hairy mane. Had not it thus been handed down to our eyes,
we should probably have treated this most accurate drawing as a mere
artist’s freak. Its peculiarities are so faithfully depicted that it is
quite impossible for the animal to be confounded with either of the
two living species. These drawings probably employed the idle hours of
the hunter, and perpetuate the scenes which he witnessed in the chase.
They are full of artistic feeling, and are evidently drawn from life.
The mammoth is engraved on its own ivory, the reindeer generally on
reindeer antler, and the stag on stag antler.
[Illustration: FIG. 120.--Mammoth engraved on Ivory, La Madelaine
(1/2). (Lartet and Christy.)]
From all these facts we must picture to our minds, that these ancient
dwellers in the caves of Aquitaine lived by hunting and fishing, that
they were acquainted with fire, and that they were clad with skins
sewn together with sinews or strips of intestines. That they did not
possess the dog is shown, not merely by the negative evidence of its
not having been discovered, but also by the fact that the bones which
it invariably eats, such as the vertebræ, are preserved. They did not
possess any domestic animals, and there is no evidence that they were
acquainted with the potter’s art. M. de Mortillet’s view, that the
art of making pottery was unknown in the palæolithic age, seems to me
to be probably true, the reputed cases of the discovery of potsherds
being always connected with suspicious circumstances, which render it
probable that they were subsequently introduced.
Besides the remains of the animals in the refuse-heaps were fragmentary
portions of human skeletons, which, however, were not scraped or broken
so as to imply the practice of cannibalism.
_Caves of Belgium._
[Illustration: FIG. 121.--Carved Implement of Reindeer Antler, Goyet
(1/2). (Dupont.)]
The researches of Dr. Schmerling[226] into the caves of Belgium, in
1829-30, revealed the fact that the animals so abundant in the caves
of Germany, were equally numerous in those in the neighbourhood of
Liége, and the flint flakes, and the fragments of human bones, which
he found may possibly be of palæolithic age. He also discovered
the remains of the porcupine, a species no longer living north of
the Alps and Pyrenees. The systematic exploration, however, of the
palæolithic caves in that district was not carried out until, in the
year 1864, M. Dupont[227] began the investigation of those in the
neighbourhood of Dinant-sur-Meuse, on behalf of the Belgian Government.
His results, based upon the examination of upwards of twenty caves
and rock-shelters, are published in a series of papers read before
the Royal Academy of Belgium and subsequently in a separate work.
Besides the remains of the animals living in Belgium within the
historic period, he met with the ibex, chamois, and marmot, which
are now to be found only in the mountainous districts of Europe, the
tailless hare, lemming, and arctic fox, of the northern regions, the
_Antelope saiga_, grizzly bear, lion, hyæna, and others. Most of these
species occurred in refuse accumulations, their remains being in the
fragmentary condition of those of the French caves. The associated
implements are of the same type as those of Périgord, and some of
them are ornamented in the same manner as, for example, that from
the cavern of Goyet, Fig. 121, termed a “bâton de commandement,” but
which, from its analogy with similar articles in the British Museum,
is most probably an arrow-straightener. Those of flint are also of the
same kind, and in several of the caves there was the same association
of fragmentary human remains with the relics of the feasts as in the
French refuse-heaps.
_Trou de Naulette._
The human remains consisting of a lower jaw, ulna and metatarsal,
discovered in the large cavern of Naulette,[228] on the left bank of
the Lesse, in association with the broken remains of the rhinoceros,
mammoth, reindeer, chamois, and marmot, are undoubtedly of palæolithic
age, since they rested in an undisturbed stratum. M. Dupont gives the
following section in descending order.
METRES.
1. Sandy grey and yellow clay 2·90
2. Yellow grey clay with stones and bones of ruminants 0·45
3. Stalagmite.
4. Tufa.
5. Three bands of clay alternating with stalagmite.
6. Sandy clay with human bones at the depth of four metres.
7. Stalagmite.
8. Cave-earth with bones gnawed by hyænas.
The human jaw is remarkable for its prognathism, which, according to
Dr. Hamy, is greater than that which has been observed in any living
races. The cave had afforded shelter to the hyænas before it had been
used by man.
_The Caves of Switzerland._
The caves of Switzerland also contain the same class of rude
implements and carvings. Prof. Rupert Jones has called my attention
to a recent discovery of carved reindeer antlers, and harpoon-heads,
similar to those figured from the Dordogne, in a cave in the Canton
of Schaaffhausen,[229] along with the bones of hyæna, reindeer, and
mammoth. In that of Veyrier,[230] carved implements were found along
with the remains of the ox, horse, chamois, and ibex, some of which,
shown to me by Dr. Gosse, at the meeting of the French Association for
the Advancement of Science, at Lyons in 1873, are of the same form and
size as the arrow-straightener from the cave of Goyet (Fig. 121).
We may, therefore, infer that the same palæolithic race of men once
ranged over the whole region from the Pyrenees and Switzerland, as far
to the north as Belgium. And since Prof. Fraas has obtained similar
implements from a refuse-heap at Schussenreid in Würtemberg, they
wandered as far to the east as that district, while the discoveries in
Kent’s Hole and Wookey Hole prove that they extended as far to the west
as Somersetshire and Devonshire.
_Cave-dwellers and Palæolithic Men of the River-gravels._
These palæolithic cave-dwellers are considered by Mr. Evans[231]
to belong to the same race as those who have left their rude flint
implements in the river-gravels in the valleys of the Thames, the
Somme, the Seine, and in the eastern counties, as far to the north as
Peterborough. We must, however, allow that a marked difference is to be
observed between a series of flint implements found in the caves, as
compared with a series found in the river-strata, although some forms
are common to the two; as for instance some of those found in Brixham
and Kent’s Hole. This difference can scarcely be explained on the
supposition that the small things would be less likely to be preserved
in the fluviatile deposits, because it leaves the rarity in the caves
of the larger fluviatile forms unaccounted for. It is perhaps safer,
in the present state of our knowledge, to consider the two sets to be
distinct from each other. The direct superposition in Kent’s Hole of
the stratum with the ordinary cave-type of implement, over that with
the ordinary fluviatile type, may perhaps prove that the latter is the
older.
_Classification of Palæolithic Caves._
The palæolithic caves are divided by M. Lartet[232] into four groups,
according to the species of animals which they contain; into those
of the age of the cave-bear, of the age of the mammoth and woolly
rhinoceros, of the age of the reindeer, and of the age of bison. Dr.
Hamy follows Sir John Lubbock,[233] in considering the age of the
cave-bear to be co-extensive with that of the mammoth, and in the
classification of caves he adopts a series of transitions. M. Dupont
divides the caves of Belgium into those belonging to the age of the
mammoth, and to that of the reindeer.
It is easy to refer a given cave to the age of the reindeer or of the
mammoth because it contains the remains of those animals, but the
division has been rendered worthless for chronological purposes, by the
fact that both these animals inhabited the region north of the Alps
and Pyrenees at the same time, and are to be found together in nearly
every bone-cave explored in that area. The difference between the
contents of one palæolithic cave and another, is probably largely due
to the fact that man could more easily catch some animals than others,
as well as to the preference for one kind of food before another. And
the abundance of the reindeer, which is supposed to characterise the
reindeer period, may reasonably be accounted for by the fact, that it
would be more easily captured by a savage hunter, than the mammoth,
woolly rhinoceros, cave-bear, lion, or hyæna. The classification will
apply, as I have shown in my essay on the pleistocene mammalia,[234]
neither to the caves of this country, of Belgium, nor of France, and
my views are shared by M. de Mortillet,[235] after a careful and
independent examination of the whole evidence.
The division of the caves also into ages, according to the various
types of implements found in them, proposed by M. de Mortillet, seems
to be equally unsatisfactory; for there is no greater difference in the
implements of any two of the palæolithic caves, than is to be observed
between those of two different tribes of Eskimos, while the general
resemblance is most striking. The principle of classification by the
relative rudeness, assumes that the progress of man has been gradual,
and that the ruder implements are therefore the older. The difference,
however, may have been due to different tribes, or families, having
co-existed without intercourse with each other, as is now generally the
case with savage communities; or to the supply of flint, chert, and
other materials for cutting instruments, being greater in one region
than in another.
_Relation of Cave-dwellers to Eskimos._
[Illustration: FIG. 122.--Eskimos Spear-head, bone (1/2).]
[Illustration: FIG. 123.--Eskimos Arrow-straightener of Walrus Tooth
(1/1). (Brit. Mus.)]
Can these cave-dwellers be identified with any people now living on the
face of the earth? or are they as completely without representatives as
their extinct contemporaries, the mammoth and the woolly rhinoceros?
Absolute certainty we cannot hope to obtain on the point, but the
cumulative evidence enables an answer to be given which is probably
true. Along the American shore of the great Arctic Ocean, in the
region of everlasting snow, dwell the Eskimos, living by hunting and
fishing, speaking the same language, and using the same implements from
the Straits of Behring on the west, to Greenland on the east. Their
implements and weapons, brought home by the arctic explorers, enable us
to institute a comparison with those found in the palæolithic caves.
The harpoons in the Ashmolean collection at Oxford, brought over by
Captain Beechey and Lieut. Harding from West Georgia, as well as those
in the British Museum, are almost identical in shape and design with
those from the caves of Aquitaine and Kent’s Hole; the only difference
being that some of the latter have grooved barbs. The heads of the
fowling and fishing spears, darts, and arrows, as well as the form of
their bases for insertion into the shafts, are also identical (Fig.
122), as may be seen from a comparison of Fig. 122 with Figs. 99 and
114. The curiously carved instrument, Fig. 123, which the Eskimos use
for straightening their arrows is variously ornamented with designs of
animals, analogous to those cut on the reindeer antlers in Aquitaine;
and if it be compared with the so-called “bâton de commandement,”
Fig. 121, it will be seen, that the latter also was probably intended
for the same purpose; the difference in the shape of the hole in the
two figured specimens being also observable in the series of Eskimos
arrow-straighteners in the British Museum, and being largely due to
friction by use. Many of the implements are the same in form. An
Eskimos stone scraper for preparing skins, or plane for smoothing wood,
is represented in Fig. 124, which is inserted in a handle of fossil
mammoth ivory, obtained from the frozen ice-cliffs on the shores of the
Arctic sea. If it be compared with Fig. 107 from the caves, it will be
seen to be of the same pattern. It is indeed not a little singular,
that the handle in which it is imbedded should have been formed out of
the tusks of the same species of elephant as that which was depicted by
the palæolithic hunter (see Fig. 120), in the south of France.
[Illustration: FIG. 124.--Eskimos Plane or Scraper (1/1). (Lartet and
Christy.)]
Some of the Eskimos lance-heads of stone in the British Museum are of
the same type as that figured from the caves of the Dordogne (Fig.
108).
The most remarkable objects brought home from the northern regions
are the implements of bone and antler which are ornamented with the
figures of animals hunted by the Eskimos on sea or land. On the side
of one bow in the Ashmolean Museum, used for drilling holes, you see
them harpooning the whale from their skin boats, and catching birds.
On a second they are harpooning walrus and catching seals; on a third
the seals are being dragged home. The huts in which they live, the
tethered dogs, the boat supported on its platform, and their daily
occupations are faithfully represented. One bow is ornamented with a
large number of porpoises, while on another is a reindeer hunt in which
the animals are being attacked while they are crossing a ford. On a
bone implement in the British Museum from Fort Clarence, the reindeer
are being shot down by archers (Fig. 125). The arrow straightener, Fig.
123, is adorned with a reindeer hunting scene, in which the animals are
seen browsing and unsuspicious of the approach of the hunters, who are
advancing, clad in reindeer skins and wearing antlers on their heads.
A comparison of these various designs with those from the caves of
France and Belgium shows an identity of plan and workmanship, with this
difference only, that the hunting scenes familiar to the palæolithic
cave-dweller were not the same as those familiar to the Eskimos on
the shores of the Arctic Ocean. Each sculptured the animals he knew,
and the whale, walrus, and seal were unknown to the inland dwellers
in Aquitaine, just as the mammoth, bison, and wild horse are unknown
to the Eskimos. The reindeer, which they both knew, is represented in
the same way by both. The West Georgians made their dirks of walrus
tooth, and ornamented them with carvings of the backbones of fishes;
the people of Aquitaine used for the same purpose reindeer antlers,
and ornamented them with figures of that animal (see Fig. 116). And it
is worthy of remark that the latter had sufficient artistic feeling to
depict the mammoth on mammoth ivory, the reindeer generally on reindeer
antler, and the stag on its own antler.
[Illustration: FIG. 125.--Eskimos Hunting-scene (1/1). (Fort Clarence.)]
An appeal to the habits of these two peoples, now separated by so
wide an interval of space and time, tends also to show that they
are descended from the same stock. The method of accumulating large
quantities of the bones of animals around their dwelling-places, and
the habit of splitting the bones for the sake of the marrow, is the
same in both. Their hides were prepared by the same sort of instruments
and in the same manner, and the needles with which they were sewn
together are of the same pattern. The few remains of man among the
relics of feasts in the caves of Belgium and France, show the same
disregard of sepulture as that implied by the human skulls lying about
along with numerous bones of walrus, seal, dog, bear, and fox, in an
Eskimos camp in Igloolik, which were carried away by Captain Lyon,
without the slightest objection on the part of the relatives of the
dead.
All these facts can hardly be mere coincidences, caused by both peoples
leading a savage life under similar circumstances: they afford reasons
for the belief that the Eskimos of North America are connected by
blood with the palæolithic cave-dwellers of Europe. To the objection
that savage tribes living under similar conditions use similar
instruments, and that, therefore, the correspondence of those of the
Eskimos with those of the reindeer folk does not prove that they belong
to the same race, the answer may be made, that there are no two savage
tribes now living which use the same set of implements, without being
connected by blood. The agreement of one or two of the more common and
ruder instruments may be perhaps of no value in classification, but if
a whole set agree, fitted for various uses, and some of them rising
above the most common wants of savage life, we must admit that the
argument as to race is of very great value. The implements found in
Belgium, France, or Britain differ scarcely more from those now used in
West Georgia, than the latter do from those now in use in Greenland or
Melville Peninsula. The conclusion, therefore, seems inevitable, that
so far as we have any evidence of the race to which the dwellers in
the Dordogne belong, that evidence points only in the direction of the
Eskimos.
This conclusion is to a great extent confirmed by a consideration of
the animals found in the caves. The reindeer and the musk sheep afford
food to the Eskimos now, just as they afforded it to the palæolithic
hunters in Europe. No naturalist would deny that the pleistocene musk
sheep is of the same species as that of North America, and although the
animal is extinct in Europe and Asia, its remains, scattered through
Germany, Russia in Europe, and Siberia, show that it formerly ranged in
the whole of that area. The enormous distance, therefore, of southern
France from the northern shores of America, cannot be considered as
an obstacle to this view, for, to say the least, palæolithic man would
have had the same chance of retreating to the north-east as the musk
sheep. The mammoth and bison have also been tracked by their remains in
the frozen river gravels and morasses through Siberia, as far to the
north-east as the American side of the Straits of Behring. Palæolithic
man appeared in Europe with the arctic mammalia, lived in Europe
along with them, and disappeared with them. And since his implements
are of the same kind as those of the Eskimos, it may reasonably be
concluded that he is represented at the present time by the Eskimos,
for it is most improbable that the convergence of the ethnological,
and zoological evidence should be an accident. These views,[236] which
I advanced in 1866, have been to a great extent accepted by Sir John
Lubbock in his last edition of Prehistoric Man.
_Pleistocene Animals living to the North of the Alps and Pyrenees._
The principal mammalia inhabiting Britain, France, and Germany during
the pleistocene age, and contemporary with man in Europe, are given in
the following table, which shows that the fauna of the region to the
north of the Alps and Pyrenees was remarkably uniform. The cave-fauna
of Provence, Italy, and Spain, will be treated of in the next chapter.
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| King Arthur’s Cave|
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+ |
| Hoyle Cave| |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+ | |
| Coygan Cave| | |
+-------------------------------------------------------------+ | | |
| Caldy Fissure| | | |
+-----------------------------------------------------------+ | | | |
| Blackrock Fissure| | | | |
+---------------------------------------------------------+ | | | | |
| Long Hole| | | | | |
+-------------------------------------------------------+ | | | | | |
| Spritsail Tor| | | | | | |
+-----------------------------------------------------+ | | | | | | |
| Ravenscliff| | | | | | | |
+---------------------------------------------------+ | | | | | | | |
| Crow Hole| | | | | | | | |
+-------------------------------------------------+ | | | | | | | | |
| Bosco’s Den| | | | | | | | | |
+-----------------------------------------------+ | | | | | | | | | |
| Minchin Hole| | | | | | | | | | |
+---------------------------------------------+ | | | | | | | | | | |
| Bacon’s Hole| | | | | | | | | | | |
+-------------------------------------------+ | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Paviland| | | | | | | | | | | | |
+-----------------------------------------+ | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Gallfaenan| | | | | | | | | | | | | |
+---------------------------------------+ | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Plas Heaton| | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
+-------------------------------------+ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Plas-newydd| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
+-----------------------------------+ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Cefn| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
+---------------------------------+ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Victoria| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
+-------------------------------+ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Kirkdale| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
+-----------------------------+ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Gailenreuth Cave| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
+---------------------------+ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Species. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
+---------------------------+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
|_Homo palæolithicus_-- | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Palæolithic Man |x| |x| |x| | | | | | | | | |x| | | |x|x|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Spermophilus citillus_-- | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Pouched Marmot | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Arctomys marmotta_-- | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Common Marmot | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Castor fiber_--Beaver | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Lepus timidus_--Hare | |x| | | | | | | | | | | |x|x| | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Lepus variabilis_-- | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Alpine Hare | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Lepus cuniculus_--Rabbit |x|x| | | | | | | | | | | | |x| | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Lepus diluvianus_-- | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Extinct Hare | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Lagomys pusillus_-- | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Tailless Hare | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Mus lemmus_--Lemming | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Hystrix dorsata_-- | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Porcupine |x| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Felis leo_ (_var. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| spelæa_)--Lion | |x| |x| | | | | | | | |x|x|x| | | | |x|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Felis pardus_--Leopard | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Felis Lynx_--Lynx | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Felis caffer_--Caffir Cat | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Felis catus_--Wild Cat |x| | | | | | | | | | | |x| |x| | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Machairodus latidens_ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Gulo borealis_--Glutton |x| | | | |x| | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Hyæna crocuta_ (_var. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| spelæa_)--Spotted Hyæna |x|x|x|x| |x|x|x|x|x| |x|x|x|x|x|x|x|x|x|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Hyæna striata_--Striped | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Hyæna | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Mustela martes_--Marten | | | | | | | | | | | | |x|x|x| | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Mustela putorius_-- | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Polecat | | | | | | | | |x| | | | |x|x| | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Mustela erminea_--Weasel | |x| | | | | | |x| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Lutra vulgaris_--Otter | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |x| | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Ursus arctos_--Brown Bear |x|x|x| | | | |?| | | | | |x| | | | |x| |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Ursus ferox_--Grizzly Bear|x|x|x|x|x| | | |x|x| | | |x| | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Ursus spelæus_--Cave-Bear |x|x|x|x|x|x|x|x|x|x|x|x|x|x|x|x| | | |x|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Canis lupus_--Wolf |x|x|x|x|x|x| |x|x|x|x|x|x|x|x|x| | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Canis vulpes_--Fox |x|x|x|x|x|x| |x|x|x|x|x|x|x|x| | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Canis lagopus_--Arctic Fox| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Elephas primigenius_-- | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Mammoth |x| |x| | | | |x| | | | |x|x|x|x|x|x| |x|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Elephas antiquus_ | |x| |x|x| | | |x|x| |x|x|x|x| | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Elephas Africanus_-- | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| African Elephant | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Equus caballus_--Horse |x|x|x|x| |x| |x| | | | |x|x|x| |x|x| |x|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Rhinoceros tichorhinus_-- | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Woolly Rhinoceros |x| |x|x| | | | | | | | | |x|x|x|x|x| | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Rhinoceros hemitœchus_ | |x| |x|x| | | |x|x| |x|x| |x| | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Rhinoceros megarhinus_ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Bos urus_--Urus | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Bos bison_--Bison |x|x|x|x|x|x| |x|x|x|x|x|x|x|x| |x|x| |x|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Ovibos moschatus_-- | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Musk Sheep | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Capra ibex_--Ibex | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Capella rupicapra_-- | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Chamois | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Antilope saiga_--Saiga | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Sus scrofa_--Wild Boar |x|x| |x| | | |x|x|x|x|x|x|x|x| | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Cervus elaphus_--Stag |x|x|x|x|x| | | |x| | | | |x|x| | | | |x|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Cervus capreolus_--Roe |x| | | | | | | |x| |x| | |x| | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Cervus megaceros_-- | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Irish Elk |x|x|x|x|x| | | | | | | | |x|x| | | | |x|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Cervus tarandus_-- | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Reindeer |x|x|x|x|x|x|x|x|x|x|x| | |x|x|x|x|x| |x|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Hippopotamus amphibius_ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| (_var. major_)-- | |x| |x|x| | | | | | | |x| | | | | | | |
| Hippopotamus | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
+---------------------------+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| River Deposits, France |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+ |
| River Deposits, Britain| |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+ | |
| Belgian Caves| | |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+ | | |
| Lunel Viel| | | |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+ | | | |
| Les Eyzies| | | | |
+-------------------------------------------------------------+ | | | | |
| Cro Magnon| | | | | |
+-----------------------------------------------------------+ | | | | | |
| Gorge d’Enfer| | | | | | |
+---------------------------------------------------------+ | | | | | | |
| Laugerie Basse | | | | | | | |
+------------------------------------------------------+ | | | | | | | |
| Laugerie Haute | | | | | | | | |
+---------------------------------------------------+ | | | | | | | | |
| La Madelaine| | | | | | | | | |
+-------------------------------------------------+ | | | | | | | | | |
| Moustier| | | | | | | | | | |
+-----------------------------------------------+ | | | | | | | | | | |
| Kent’s Hole| | | | | | | | | | | |
+-------------------------------------------+ | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Brixham| | | | | | | | | | | | |
+-----------------------------------------+ | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Wookey Hole| | | | | | | | | | | | | |
+---------------------------------------+ | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Sandford Hill| | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
+-------------------------------------+ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Uphill| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
+-----------------------------------+ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Bleadon| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
+---------------------------------+ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Banwell| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
+-------------------------------+ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Hutton| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
+-----------------------------+ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Durdham| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
+---------------------------+ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Species. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
+---------------------------+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+---+-+-+--+--+-+-+-+-+-+-+---+
|_Homo palæolithicus_-- | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Palæolithic Man | | | | | | |x|x| x |x|x|x |x |x|x|x| |x|x| x |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Spermophilus citillus_-- | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Pouched Marmot | | | | | |x|x| | | | | | | |x|x| |x|x| |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Arctomys marmotta_-- | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Common Marmot | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |x| | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Castor fiber_--Beaver | | | | | | | | | x | | | | | | | |x|x|x| x |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Lepus timidus_--Hare | | | | | | |x|x| x |x|x|x?|x?| |x|x| |x|x| x |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Lepus variabilis_-- | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Alpine Hare | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |x| | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Lepus cuniculus_--Rabbit | | | | | | | |x| x | |x| | | |x| | | | | x |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Lepus diluvianus_-- | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Extinct Hare | | | | | | |x| | | | | | | | | |x|x| | x |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Lagomys pusillus_-- | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Tailless Hare | | | |x| | | |x| x | | | | | | | | |x| | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Mus lemmus_--Lemming | | | |x| | |x| | | | | | | | |x| |x|x| |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Hystrix dorsata_-- | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Porcupine | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |x| | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Felis leo_ (_var. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| spelæa_)--Lion |x|x|x|x|x|x|x|x| x | | | | |x|x|x|x|x|x| x |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Felis pardus_--Leopard | |x|x|x| | | | | | | | | | | | |x| | | x |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Felis Lynx_--Lynx | | |x| | | | | | | | | | | | | | |x| | x |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Felis caffer_--Caffir Cat | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |x|x| | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Felis catus_--Wild Cat | | | |x|?| | | | x | | | | | | | |x|x|x| x |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Machairodus latidens_ | | | | | | | | | x | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Gulo borealis_--Glutton | | |x|x| | | | | | | | | | | | | |x| | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Hyæna crocuta_ (_var. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| spelæa_)--Spotted Hyæna |x|x|x|x|x|x|x|x| x |x| | | | | | |x|x|x| x |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Hyæna striata_--Striped | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Hyæna | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |x| | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Mustela martes_--Marten | | | |x| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | x |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Mustela putorius_-- | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Polecat | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |x| | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Mustela erminea_--Weasel | | | | | | | | | x | | | | | | | | |x|x| |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Lutra vulgaris_--Otter |x| | |x| | | | | x | | | | | | | | |x|x| |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Ursus arctos_--Brown Bear |x| | |x| |x|x|x| x | | | | | | | | |x|x| x |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Ursus ferox_--Grizzly Bear| | |x| | | |x|x| x | | | | | | | | |x|x| x |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Ursus spelæus_--Cave-Bear | |x|x|x| |x|x|x| x | | | |x |x|x| |x|x| |(?)|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Canis lupus_--Wolf | |x| |x|x|x|x|x| x | |x|x |x |x|x|x|x|x|x| x |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Canis vulpes_--Fox | |x| |x|x|x|x|x| x | |x|x |x |x|x|x|x|x|x| x |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Canis lagopus_--Arctic Fox| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |x| | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Elephas primigenius_-- | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Mammoth |x|x|x|x| |x|x|x| x |x|x|x |x | |x|x| |x|x| x |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Elephas antiquus_ |x| | |x| | | | | | | | | | | | | |x|x| x |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Elephas Africanus_-- | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| African Elephant | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Equus caballus_--Horse |x|x|x|x|x|x|x|x| x |x|x|x |x | |x|x|x|x|x| x |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Rhinoceros tichorhinus_-- | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Woolly Rhinoceros | | |x| | |x|x|x| x | | | | | | | | |x|x| x |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Rhinoceros hemitœchus_ |x| | | | | |x| | | | | | | | | |x| |x| |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Rhinoceros megarhinus_ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |x| x |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Bos urus_--Urus | | |x|x| |x|x|x| x | | | | | | | |x|x|x| x |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Bos bison_--Bison | |x|x|x|x|x|x| | ? |x|x|x |x |x|x|x| |x|x| x |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Ovibos moschatus_-- | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Musk Sheep | | | | | | | | | | |x| | |x| | | | |x| x |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Capra ibex_--Ibex | | | | | | | | | | |x|x |x |x|x|x| |x| | x |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Capella rupicapra_-- | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Chamois | | | | | | | | | | |x| |x | | |x| |x| | x |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Antilope saiga_--Saiga | | | | | | | | | | | | |x | | |x| |x| | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Sus scrofa_--Wild Boar | |x| |x|x| |x| | x | |x| | | |x| |x|x|x| x |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Cervus elaphus_--Stag | | |x|x| | |x|x| x |x|x|x |x | |x|x|x|x|x| x |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Cervus capreolus_--Roe | | | |x| | | |x| | | | | | | | | |x|x| x |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Cervus megaceros_-- | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Irish Elk | |x|x|x| | |x| | x | | |x | | | | | |x|x| x |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Cervus tarandus_-- | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Reindeer |x|x|x|x|x| |x|x| x |x|x|+ |x |+|x|x| |x|x| x |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|_Hippopotamus amphibius_ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| (_var. major_)-- |x| | | | | | | |(?)| | | | | | | | | |x| x |
| Hippopotamus | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
+---------------------------+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+---+-+-+--+--+-+-+-+-+-+-+---+
_Cave Fauna the same as River-bed Fauna._
If this list[237] of animals from the caves be compared with that of
the river-deposits of Britain and the continent, it will be seen that
the same fauna is present in both, and that they are therefore of the
same geological age.[238] This was the conclusion to which Dr. Falconer
was led by the examination of the caves of Gower, and it has been
confirmed by every subsequent discovery.
_The Pleistocene Coast-line of North-Western Europe._
The identity of the British pleistocene fauna with that of the
continent, leads to the conclusion that in the pleistocene age Britain
was connected with the adjacent countries by a bridge of land, over
which the wild animals had free means of migration. And this might
be brought about by a comparatively small elevation of the area. The
soundings show that Britain and Ireland constitute merely the uplands
of a plateau now submerged to the extent of about 100 fathoms, on the
side of the Atlantic. On the east it extends at a depth of from twenty
to fifty fathoms, in the direction of Belgium; and on the south it is
only sunk from twenty to forty fathoms below the sea-level. Immediately
to the westward of this line the sea deepens so suddenly, that there is
scarcely any difference between the lines of 100 and of 200 fathoms,
and the depth rapidly increases to 2,000. Were this plateau elevated
above the sea to an extent of 100 fathoms, the tract shaded in the
map (Fig. 126) would unite the British Isles to the continent, and the
Thames and other rivers on the eastern coast would unite with the Elbe
and the Rhine to form a river debouching on the North Sea, somewhat
after the manner which I have represented by taking the deepest line
of soundings. The Straits of Dover would then be the watershed between
this valley of the German Ocean, as it may be termed, and that of the
English Channel, in which the Seine and the Somme and other French
rivers joined those of the south coast, and ultimately reached the
Atlantic. Evidence that the latter river flowed in the course assigned
to it in the map is afforded by the discovery of the fresh-water mussel
(_Unio pictorum_), recorded by Mr. Godwin Austen[239] to have been
dredged up by Captain White from a depth of from 50 to 100 fathoms, not
very far from what I have taken to be its mouth. We are also indebted
to Mr. Godwin Austen for the discovery near this spot of banks of
shingle and littoral shells, which indicate the position of the ancient
coast-line.
[Illustration: FIG. 126.--Physiography of Great Britain in Late
Pleistocene Age.
Shaded area = land now submerged; dotted area = region occupied by
animals; plain area = region occupied by glaciers.]
The view that the 100-fathom line marks the limit of the pleistocene
land surface to the west, is held by Sir H. de la Bêche, Mr. Godwin
Austen, Sir Charles Lyell, and other eminent geologists, and it is
supported by many facts that can be explained in no other manner. To
pass over the discovery of a fresh-water shell at the bottom of the
English Channel, quoted above, the distribution of fossil mammalia at
the bottom of the German Ocean (represented in Fig. 126 by the dotted
area) is analogous to that which we find in the river gravels and
brick-earths on the land. The quantity of teeth and bones belonging to
the mammoth, woolly rhinoceros, horse, reindeer, and spotted hyæna,
and other animals, dredged up by the fishermen in the German Ocean is
almost incredible. Mr. Owles, of Yarmouth, informed me in 1868 that
off that place there is a bank on which the fishing nets are rarely
cast without bringing up fossil remains. It seems most probable, that
these accumulations have been formed under subaerial conditions near
the drinking places, or below the fords, which were used for ages by
the pleistocene animals. I might quote as an example of a similar
deposit of fossils on the land, that discovered in 1866 by Captain
Luard, R.E., in digging the foundations of the new cavalry barracks at
Windsor, which consisted mainly of bones and antlers of reindeer, with
a few carnivores, such as the brown bear and wolf, that usually follow
reindeer in their migrations in Siberia.[240] Were this submerged it
would be a case precisely similar to that off Yarmouth.
The ancient forest, exposed at low water under the cliffs on the
Norfolk and Suffolk shores, flourished when the land stood higher than
it does now. Traces of a similar forest, also at, and below, low-water
mark, have been met with on the shore at Selsea, near Chichester, in
Sussex; and remains of the mammoth have been dredged up in several
places off the coast, as for example in Torbay and in Holyhead harbour,
or found in gravel beds near low-water mark, as in the Isle of Wight,
and on the north coast of Somerset at St. Audries, near Watchet,
where a skull with gigantic tusks rested in the gravel. In all these
facts we have ample proof that Britain stood at a higher level in the
pleistocene age than at the present day.
The vast abundance also of the mammalia in the caves of South Wales
and Somerset, and their presence in the Island of Caldy, and it may
be added in Ireland, can only be accounted for by the elevation of
the present sea-bottom, so as to allow of their migration over plains
covered with abundant pasture. It seems, therefore, to me that the
accompanying map, Fig. 126, represents with tolerable accuracy the
ancient coast-line of Britain, and of the adjacent parts of the
continent in the pleistocene age. The fertile valleys of the English
Channel, Bristol Channel, and the German Ocean, would afford sustenance
to a large and varied fauna, and numerous herbivores, such as the
reindeer, bison, and horse, would supply food to the palæolithic
hunters, who followed them in their annual migrations. And it must
be remarked on this hypothesis, that the valley of the Garonne would
offer a free passage both to the animals and to the hunters of Auvergne
down to the prairie, extending as far as the 100-fathom line off the
French coast, and that the hunting grounds would reach to Devonshire
and Somerset without any barrier except that offered by the rivers. It
is therefore no wonder that the implements in the caves of Kent’s Hole,
Wookey Hole, and the South of France, should be of the same type.
_Distribution of Palæolithic Implements in this Area._
This geographical configuration in pleistocene times may perhaps
account for the distribution of the palæolithic implements in the
river gravels. The Seine and the Somme debouch into the same valley
as the rivers of the south of England, and the Straits of Dover mark
the position of a low watershed leading into the valley of the German
Ocean, on the sides of which, in the eastern counties, river-bed
implements are so numerous. These are of the same type in northern
France, Sussex, Hampshire, Kent, and as far north as the Wash; and were
therefore used by the same race of men. The difference between them and
those of the cave-dwellers in the south and west, may be due to their
possessors occupying different hunting grounds. Each tribe of American
Indians at the present time has its own territory for hunting, which
is jealously guarded against encroachment, and in which the articles
peculiar to the tribe are being accumulated in the refuse-heaps, while
other sets are being accumulated in other districts. If we suppose
that the palæolithic savages divided up their hunting grounds in this
manner, the difference which exists between the implements of the
river-beds and caves may be readily explained, as well as their being
found for the most part in different areas.
The pleistocene climate in the area north of the Alps and Pyrenees
will be treated in the eleventh chapter, after the examination of the
cave-fauna of southern Europe.
CHAPTER X.
THE FAUNA OF THE CAVES OF SOUTHERN EUROPE AND THE EVIDENCE AS TO
THE MEDITERRANEAN COAST-LINE IN THE PLEISTOCENE AGE.
Changes of Level in the Mediterranean area in Meiocene and Pleiocene
Ages.--Bone-caves of Southern Europe.--Of Gibraltar.--Of
Provence and Mentone.--Of Sicily.--Of Malta.--Range of Pigmy
Hippopotamus.--Fossil Mammalia in Algeria.--Living Species
common to Europe and Africa.--Evidence of Soundings.--The
Glaciers of Lebanon.--Of Anatolia.--Of Atlas.--Glaciers
probably produced by elevation above the Sea.--Mediterranean
Coast-line comparatively modern.
In the preceding chapter we have seen that north-western Europe was
elevated, during the pleistocene age, to an extent of at least 600 feet
above its present level; so that Ireland was united to Britain, and
Britain was joined to the mainland of Europe, proof of this elevation
being dependent upon the soundings on one hand, and the distribution
of the fossil mammalia on the other. Such a change must necessarily
have affected the whole physical conditions of the area, since the
substitution of a mass of land for a stretch of sea, and the higher
altitude of the land, would tend to produce climatal extremes of
considerable severity. It is indeed no wonder that during this time
of continental elevation, the hills of Wales, Yorkshire, Derbyshire,
Cumbria, and Scotland should be crowned with glaciers, or that there
should have been a migration to and fro of animals, comparable to
that which is now going on in Siberia and the northern portions of
North America. The condition of southern Europe at that time has a
most important bearing on any conclusion which may be drawn as to the
pleistocene climate in France, Germany, or Britain. For if it be proved
that the Mediterranean Sea was then smaller than it is now, the greater
land-surface would increase both the heat of the summer and the cold of
the winter in central and north-western Europe.
_Changes of Level in Mediterranean area in Meiocene and Pleiocene Ages._
The geological evidence that the Mediterranean region has been
subjected to oscillations of level during the tertiary period, is
clear and decisive. Prof. Gaudry[241] has proved, in his work on
the fossil remains found at Pikermi, that the plains of Marathon,
now so restricted, must have extended in the meiocene age far south
into the Mediterranean, so as to afford pasture to the enormous
troops of hipparions and herds of antelopes, the mastodons and large
edentata, revealed by his enterprise. The rocky area of Attica, as now
constituted, could not have supported such a large and varied group
of animals, nor could the broken hills and limestone plateaux have
been inhabited by hipparions and antelopes, if their habits at all
resembled those of their descendants living at the present time. It
may, therefore, reasonably be concluded that Greece, in those times,
was prolonged southwards, and united to the islands of the Archipelago
by a stretch of land. If Africa were then as now the head-quarters of
the antelopes, it is very probable that one of the lines by which they
passed over into Europe, and spread over France and Germany, was in
this direction. Nevertheless, it must be admitted that the changes of
level, which have taken place since the meiocene age in those regions,
are so complicated as to render it almost impossible to restore the
meiocene geography.
In the succeeding, or the pleiocene age, the presence of the African
hippopotamus in Italy, France, and Germany, can only be accounted for
by a more direct connection with the African mainland than is offered
by a route through Asia Minor. It would seem, therefore, that the
Mediterranean Sea could not then have formed the same barrier to the
northern migration of the animals which it does now. In many regions,
however, the present land was then sunk beneath the sea, and marine
strata, of pleiocene age, were accumulated in the Val d’Arno, Sicily,
and southern France.
The physical geography[242] of the Mediterranean in the pleistocene age
may be ascertained with considerable accuracy by the distribution of
the animals, coupled with the evidence of the soundings.
_Bone-caves of Southern Europe._
The mammalia in the bone-caves of southern Europe differ from those
of the region north of the Alps and Pyrenees in the absence of the
arctic species, and the presence of some which are of a more strictly
southern type. Nevertheless, the influence of the mountains in lowering
the temperature in their neighbourhood is to be traced in the presence
of the remains of certain animals. Thus, in the caves of Gibraltar we
find an ibex, which cannot be distinguished from those of the Spanish
sierras, and in Mentone and Provence, a marmot, specifically identical
with that of the Alps.
The bone-caves in the neighbourhood of the Mediterranean afford most
important testimony as to the geographical changes which have taken
place, since the animals found in them lived in that region. We will
take those of the Iberian peninsula first.
_Caves of Gibraltar._
Ossiferous caverns have long been known to occur in the fortified rock
of Gibraltar,[243] but were not examined scientifically until the
year 1863, when the researches of Captain Brome, Prof. Busk, and Dr.
Falconer, proved that pleistocene species were buried in considerable
numbers in its cavities and fissures. Of these the most important is
the great perpendicular fissure in Windmill Hill, called the Genista
cave, which has been traced down to more than a depth of 200 feet. From
the upper portion were obtained the polished stone implements, human
skulls, and other neolithic remains described in the sixth chapter, p.
204, which prove that Gibraltar was inhabited by the Basques in the
neolithic age, while the remains from the lower revealed the presence
of a singularly mixed group of animals.
The fossil bones have been referred by Prof. Busk and Dr. Falconer to
the following species:--
_Lepus cuniculus_, rabbit.
_Felis leo_, lion.
_F. pardus_, panther.
_F. caffer._
_F. pardina_, lynx.
_F. serval_, serval.
_Ursus ferox_, grizzly bear.
_Canis lupus_, wolf.
_Equus caballus_, horse.
_Rhinoceros hemitœchus._
_Capra ibex_, ibex.
_Sus scrofa_, wild-boar.
_Cervus elaphus_, red deer.
_C. capreolus_, roe.
_C. dama_, fallow deer.
The spotted hyæna, the serval, and _Felis caffer_, are species now
peculiar to Africa, and it is obvious that they could not have found
their way into Gibraltar under the present physical conditions of the
Mediterranean. Elephants and rhinoceroses could not have lived on so
barren and treeless a rock, unless it had overlooked a fertile plain,
nor would the carnivora have chosen it for their dens, had it then been
cut off from the feeding-grounds of the herbivores. Their presence,
therefore, as Dr. Falconer justly remarks, implies the existence of
land now sunk beneath the waves, but then extending southwards to join
Africa.
To the African animals, mentioned above as inhabiting the Iberian
peninsula in the pleistocene age, M. Lartet has added the African
elephant (_E. Africanus_) and the striped hyæna (_II. striata_), which
have been found in a stratum of gravel near Madrid along with flint
implements.[244] None of the purely arctic mammalia, such as the
reindeer, musk sheep, or woolly rhinoceros, so abundant in France,
Germany, and Britain, have been met with south of the Pyrenees.
_Bone-caves of Provence and Mentone._
The arctic animals are also absent from the numerous bone-caves and
bone breccias of Provence and Mentone. The pleistocene fauna of
Provence consists, according to M. Marion,[245] of the spotted hyæna,
and lion, _Elephas antiquus_ or straight-tusked elephant, _Rhinoceros
hemitœchus_, wild-boar, urus, stag, horse, and rabbit. The breccias in
the island of Ratonneau have also furnished the porcupine, brown bear,
and tailless hare. Man is proved to have been living in the district at
the time by the discovery of perforated and cut bones, in the cave of
Rians.
The fissures and caves of Mentone, explored by Mr. Moggridge[246] in
1871, and subsequently by M. Rivière, contained a fauna composed,
according to Prof. Busk, of the following species:--
Marmot.
Field-vole.
Lion.
Panther.
Lynx.
Wild-cat.
Spotted hyæna.
Wolf.
Fox.
Brown bear.
Cave-bear.
Roe.
Stag.
Ibex.
Urus.
Horse.
Wild-boar.
_Rhinoceros hemitœchus._
Along with these were large quantities of charcoal and flint flakes,
which proved that man had inhabited the district while the deposits
were being formed.
Mr. Moggridge gives the following account of the results of his
exploration:--[247]
“The caves of the red rocks, half a mile out of Mentone, are in lofty
rocks of jurassic limestone on the shore of the Mediterranean, and at
an average height of 100 feet above that sea, the rocks themselves
attaining an elevation of 260 feet. They have now been repeatedly
rifled by the learned or the curious; but when the principal cave
(Cavillon) was nearly intact, the author made a section of it from the
modern or highest floor, down to the solid rock. There were five floors
formed in the earth by long-continued trampling; on each, and near the
centre, were marks of fire, around which broken bones and flints were
abundant, except upon the lowest, where but few bones occurred, and no
flints. The bones were those of animals still existing. Few implements
were found, but many chips of flint, some cores and stones used as
hammers. Perhaps this cave was used as a place for manufacturing
flints, which must have been carried from their native bed, distant
about one mile.
“There is nothing to evince the action of water; on the contrary, the
numerous stones that occur are all angular.... Below these caves a
slope of about 180 feet descends to the edge of the sea. Through the
upper part of this slope, at distances from the cave of from 0 to ten
feet, is a railway cutting 600 feet long, fifty-four feet deep, and
sixty feet above the sea. The mass removed in making this cutting was
composed of angular stones not waterworn. Loose at the surface, it soon
became a more or less mature breccia, for the most part so hard that it
was blasted with gunpowder.” In this breccia, and at various depths,
some of more than thirty feet, the author has taken out teeth of the
bear (_Ursus spelæus_) and of the hyæna (_Hyæna spelæa_) while with and
below those teeth he found flints worked by man.
The subsequent exploration by M. Rivière[248] has resulted in no
important addition to the fauna: the famous human skeleton having been,
as I have already remarked in the seventh chapter, interred in the
pleistocene strata, and probably not palæolithic. It may possibly be of
the era of the upper floors described by Mr. Moggridge, in which all
the remains belong to living species.[249]
This cave-fauna is more closely related to that of southern Europe than
to that north of the Alps and Pyrenees. The striped hyæna found in
the cave of Lunel-viel, Hérault, by Marcel de Serres, along with the
reindeer and other animals, probably belongs to the same southern group.
_Bone-caves of Sicily._
Certain members of the African fauna are also proved to have ranged
northwards over Europe in the direction of Sicily, by the discoveries
in the caves of that island. The Sicilian bone-caves have been worked
for the sake of the bones since the year 1829; and of these many
shiploads were sent to Marseilles from San Ciro, belonging, according
to M. de Christol, principally to the hippopotamus. In 1859,[250] Dr.
Falconer examined the collections made from this cave, as well as those
which remained _in situ_, and carried on further researches into a
second in the neighbourhood, known as the Grotto di Maccagnone, and in
the following year two others were discovered and explored in northern
Sicily by Baron Anca. The species were as follows:--
_Homo_, man.
_Felis leo_, lion.
_Hyæna crocuta_, spotted hyæna.
_Ursus ferox_,[251] grizzly bear.
_Canis._
_Cervus_, deer.
_Bos_, ox.
_Equus_, horse.
_Sus scrofa_, boar.
_Elephas antiquus._
_Elephas Africanus_, African elephant.
_Hippopotamus major_, hippopotamus.
_Hippopotamus Pentlandi._
_Lepus._
The presence of man was indicated by charcoal and flint flakes.
The African elephant was obtained from three caves: from that of San
Teodoro, by Baron Anca; from Grotta Santa, near Syracuse, by the Canon
Alessi; and from a cave near Palermo, by M. Charles Gaudin. It is
obvious that the presence of this animal, as well as of the spotted
hyæna, in Sicily can only be accounted for on the hypothesis that a
bridge of land formerly existed, by which they could pass from their
head-quarters, that is to say Africa. On the other hand the presence
of the grizzly bear, and of the _Elephas antiquus_ implies that they
passed over into Sicily, from their European headquarters, before the
existence of the Straits of Messina, since both animals are abundant on
the mainland of Europe. The larger species of hippopotamus, doubtfully
referred by Dr. Falconer to the _H. major_ (= _H. amphibius_), may have
crossed over either from Italy, where its remains are very abundant in
the pleiocene and pleistocene strata, or from Africa.
[Illustration: FIG. 127.--Molar of _Hippopotamus Pentlandi_ (1/1).
(Sicily.)]
A small species of hippopotamus, _H. Pentlandi_, Fig. 127, occurs in
incredible abundance in the Sicilian caves. It bears the same relation,
in point of size, to the fossil variety of the African hippopotamus, as
the living _H. liberiensis_ does to the latter.
_Bone-caves of Malta._
The bone-caves of Malta were first scientifically explored by Admiral
Spratt, in 1858, and subsequently by Dr. Leith Adams, and others. The
Maghlak Cave near the town of Crendi, contained large quantities of the
_Hippopotamus Pentlandi_, together with the gigantic dormouse, named
_Myoxus Melitensis_. A short distance off a second cavern, explored by
Dr. Leith Adams, contained numerous remains of at least two species
of pigmy elephant about the height of a small horse. Its small size
may be gathered from the accompanying woodcut (Fig. 128) of the last
lower true molar, taken from the lithograph published in Dr. Falconer’s
“Palæontographical Memoirs,” vol. ii. pl. xii.
[Illustration: FIG. 128.--Molar of _Elephas Melitensis_, Malta (2/3).
(Falconer.)]
_Range of Pigmy Hippopotamus._
The pigmy hippopotamus has lived also in other districts in the
Mediterranean region. One of its teeth, now preserved in the British
Museum, was discovered by Dr. Leith Adams, in Candia. In 1872 I
identified in the Oxford Museum a last lower true molar, which extends
the range of this species to the mainland of Europe. It was obtained
by Dr. Rolleston from a Greek tomb at Megalopolis, in the Peloponese,
and was probably derived from one of the many caves in the limestone of
that district. For this extinct animal to have spread from Sicily to
Malta, from Malta to Candia, and from Candia to the Peloponese, or vice
versâ, these three islands must have been united to the Peloponese and
have been the higher grounds of land, now submerged beneath the waves
of the Mediterranean.
The view therefore, advanced by Dr. Falconer and Admiral Spratt, that
Europe was connected with Africa by a bridge of land, extending
northwards from Sicily, is fully borne out by an examination of the
fossil remains both of that island and of Malta (see Fig. 129).[252]
_Fossil Mammalia in Algeria._
If the African mainland extended to Europe in the direction of the
Straits of Gibraltar, and of Malta and Sicily, so as to afford passage
for the African mammalia into Europe, it would equally afford passage
for the southern advance into Africa of some of the European mammalia.
Evidence of this we meet with in a stratum of clay at Mansourah,
near Constantine, in Algeria, described by M. Bayle in 1854.[253]
The animals which he obtained, consisting of the ox, antelope,
hippopotamus, and elephant, have been described by Prof. Gervais. An
examination of his figure of a fragment of a molar tooth leaves no room
for doubt, that the _Elephas meridionalis_ was living in north Africa
during the pleistocene age; that is to say an extinct animal, the
head-quarters of which are to be found in Italy, ranged as far south as
northern Africa.
_Living Species common to Europe and Africa._
The former continuity of Africa by way of the Iberian peninsula and
Sicily, may also be inferred by the distribution of the mammalia at the
present time. Prof. Gervais[254] observes that most of the insectivora
are the same in Europe and north Africa. The genette and ferret
(_Fœtorius furo_), the _Mangousta Widdringtoni_ (Gray), and the fallow
deer, are common to Spain and Africa. The porcupine of Algeria belongs
to the same species as that of Italy and Sicily, and the wild boar does
not present any characters of importance by which it can be separated
from that of Europe. From the present range, therefore, of the mammalia
the same conclusion may be drawn as to the continuity of Africa with
Europe as is afforded by their distribution in the pleistocene age.
_Evidence of Soundings._
These conclusions derived from the study of the mammalia, are
corroborated and supplemented by the evidence of the soundings. As we
enter the Straits of Gibraltar (Fig. 129) the Atlantic Ocean shallows,
until between Tangiers and Tarifa it is not more than from 270 to 300
fathoms. Between Tarifa and Ceuta the sea measures from 300 to 400
fathoms, and thence, in passing eastwards, suddenly deepens to the
extent of over 1,500 fathoms. An elevation of 400 fathoms would be
quite sufficient to raise a barrier of land between Morocco and Spain,
and to insulate the deep Mediterranean basin from the Atlantic. The
soundings between Sicily and Tunis are 260 fathoms; between the former
place and Malta, 55 fathoms; between Malta and the African mainland,
34·4 fathoms. An elevation of 400 fathoms would suffice therefore
to connect Africa with Sicily, and to insulate the eastern from the
western Mediterranean depths. To the east of Sicily the soundings
reveal a depth of over 2,000 fathoms, and this deep basin extends
as far to the east as Cyprus and Asia Minor. Between Candia and the
Peloponese, the sea is 460 fathoms deep. An elevation therefore
from 400 to 500 fathoms would allow of the passage of _Hippopotamus
Pentlandi_ from Candia to the Peloponese, and thence by southern
Italy into Sicily and Malta. I have therefore represented in the map
what would be the necessary result of the elevation of the bottom of
the Mediterranean to that extent. Two great barriers of land would
unite Africa with Spain and Italy, and enable the African mammalia to
find their way into the regions north of the Mediterranean Sea. The
shallowness of the sea at those two points indicates the existence of
the sunken barriers. The African elephant however did not pass far
northwards, since it has only been met with in Spain and Sicily.
[Illustration: FIG. 129.--Physiography of Mediterranean in Pleistocene
Age.]
Such a change in level as this would convert the Adriatic into dry
land, and cause the islands of the Grecian Archipelago to rise high
above the surrounding plains. The 500-fathom line is therefore taken to
represent the probable sea margin of the pleistocene age, although in
centres of volcanic activity, such as Sicily and the Archipelago, local
changes of level, even of greater magnitude, may have taken place.
This view of the former elevation of the Mediterranean area to a height
of from two to three thousand feet above the present level will go
far to explain the remarkable traces of glaciers discovered in Syria,
Anatolia, and Morocco.
_The Glaciers of Lebanon._
Dr. Hooker, in his journey to Syria in 1860, discovered that the
cedars of Lebanon grew principally on one spot, on old moraines which
traverse the head of the Kedisha valley. This valley terminates in
broad, shallow, open basins at a height of about 6,000 feet above
the sea, resembling the corries of the Highlands; and one of these,
in which the cedars grew, was divided into two distinct flats by a
transverse range of ancient moraines from 80 to 100 feet high and with
perfectly defined boundaries. “The rills from the surrounding heights
collect in the upper flat, and form one stream, which winds among the
moraines on its way down to the lower flat, whence it is precipitated
into the gorge of the Kedisha. The cedars grow on that portion of the
moraine which immediately borders this stream, and nowhere else; they
form one group about 400 yards in diameter, with an outstanding tree
or two not far from the rest, and appear as a black speck in the great
area of the corry and its moraines, which contain no other arborious
vegetation, nor any shrubs, but a few berberry and rose bushes that
form no feature in the landscape.”[255]
In ancient times, therefore, the glaciers descended to a height
of about 6,000 feet above the sea, and were fed by the perennial
snow-fields of the crest of Lebanon.
_The Glaciers of Anatolia._
The former presence of glaciers at nearly the same altitude has also
been proved by the travels of Mr. Gifford Palgrave in Anatolia,[256]
especially in the valley through which the Chorok flows, and in the
mountainous country to the north-east, between Georgia and the
Black Sea. The river Chorok runs about 120 miles in a north-easterly
direction, and is separated from the Euxine by a mountain chain
reaching a height of 11,000 feet, thus forming a long strip of land,
which is called Lazistan after its inhabitants, a tribe of Lazes. It
then turns suddenly to the north, where it falls into the sea. The
southern side is determined by mountains of Cretaceous, Jurassic, and
Plutonic rocks, which form the watershed between the tributaries of
the Black Sea and Persian Gulf. Three large moraines are to be found
on the southern side of the valley, their lower extremity about 5,000,
their upper origin nearly 8,000 feet above the sea. No moraines are
seen where the chain does not reach an altitude of 7,000 feet, though
angular boulders are not uncommon. The upper mountain contours are
invariably rounded, and smoothed off, and the sides are scooped too
widely for the depressions to have been caused by water. Low down in
the valley the slopes terminate in rifted precipices.
That these moraines were posterior to the volcanic eruptions in the
district, is evident from the examination of a broad stone ridge, near
the highest point to the east of Erzeroum, where at a height of 7,000
feet the Jurassic limestone was interrupted by a volcanic outbreak of
several miles in extent. Traces of a crater were visible. Above, the
granite peaks rose to a height of 9,000 feet; below, a wide moraine
crossed the road, composed of volcanic fragments mixed with granite.
Consequently, it must have been formed after the volcano had become
extinct. Similar traces are to be found at Keskeem Boughaz. Mr.
Palgrave concludes “that the ice-cap of the north-eastern Anatolian
watershed, in post-pleiocene (pleistocene) times, must have reached
downwards, on the northern side of the range, to 7,000 feet above the
present sea-level, while some of the glaciers issuing from it descended
to about 4,500 of the same measurement.” Striated and ice-worn
boulders, especially of granite, were very abundant. This region,
it must be observed, is within sight of the lofty granite range of
Tortoom, which is “streaked with perpetual snow.”
After leaving the Chorok valley and getting on to the watershed, at
a distance of fifty miles to the north-east, Mr. Palgrave reached
the main ridge or backbone of the land. Here, among the limestone
ledges, about 6,400 feet above the sea, is a colossal moraine, formed
of worn granite blocks, partly overgrown with forest, and descending
from a height of over 8,000 feet. It is divided, by a valley, from a
lofty undulating granite plateau that is scooped out here and there
into deep oval lakes, always full of blue water. The sides of the
plateau are strewn with boulders of granite, brought from the higher
peaks about five miles off. These boulders occur in greater or less
abundance down to the basin of the Ardahan, near the sources of the
Kur or Cyras, which joins the Araxes before flowing into the Caspian.
The height of this Ardahan basin is about 6,500 feet; it is, but for
a slight easterly slope, a water level. The bottom consists of deep
alluvial soil mixed with detritus and boulders; the sides are rounded
and smoothed, and bear every mark of long ice-covering. These plateaux,
studded with lakes, stretch east to Russo-Georgia, till their greatest
height is gained at Kel Dagh, a mountain about 11,000 feet high: thence
they descend to the plains of Georgia and the Black Sea.
No glacial marks have been observed on the seaward side of the range,
except at Hamshun in the Lazistan mountains, between the River Riom
and Trebizond. Here, at 6,900 feet, is a granite-strewn plateau,
thinly green with grass, sheltered from the sea by lofty peaks on the
north-west, and backed to the south-east by tremendous jagged granite
cliffs, the highest 12,500 feet above the sea. The plateau itself is
about forty miles in length, irregular in breadth, its surface rounded
and jotted over with boulders. But just as my track led near under the
base of Verehembek, at an altitude of 8,300 feet, it crossed a large
broad moraine, descending from the higher slopes, and having its base
in a broad bare valley not far below, which showed that here, at the
highest and widest part of the Lazistan chain, perpetual ice had once
existed in sufficient quantity to furnish at least one glacier. From
this case it seems that the limited ice-cap of the Hamshun highlands
extended no further down than 8,500 or 9,000 feet, thus differing by
a line of from 1,000 to 2,000 feet from the glacial covering of the
inland range.
_The Glaciers of the Atlas Mountains._
Similar traces of glaciers have been observed in the Atlas mountains
by Mr. George Maw,[257] in his travels in Morocco with Dr. Hooker and
Mr. Ball in 1871. “After four hours’ continued ascent,” he writes
(p. 19), “the termination of the glen comes into full view, and we
observe with great interest that it is closed by a group of moraines,
proving the former existence of glaciers in the Atlas, and confirming
my opinion that the great boulder beds flanking the chain are also of
glacial origin. Two villages, probably the highest in the Atlas, are
built on the principal moraine; Eitmasan, at its base, at a height of
6,000 feet, and Arroond, near its summit, at a height of 6,800 feet;
the terminal angle of the larger moraine having a vertical height of
800 feet. It is composed of immense blocks of porphyry, lying at a
steep angle of repose, up which it takes us nearly an hour to climb.
The existence of these moraines in latitude 30½° N. (the latitude of
Alexandria) is perhaps the most interesting fact we noticed during our
journey, for this is the most southerly point at which the evidence of
extinct glaciers has been observed, and tends to confirm the opinion
entertained by many geologists, that the refrigeration during the
glacial period was almost Universal.”
_Glaciers probably the result of elevation above the Sea._
The elevation of the African moraines above the sea, of about 6,000
feet and upwards, is nearly the same as those of Asia Minor. If the
mountains of the Atlas, Lazistan, and Lebanon shared in the upward
movement of the Mediterranean area, the addition of 3,000 feet to the
height could not fail to leave marks behind of the low temperature
thereby caused. It is very probable, that during the time the
Mediterranean was reduced to two land-locked seas, these mountains were
covered with snow-fields, and constituted the ice-sheds of glaciers.
From the range of the mammalia we have inferred the existence of land
barriers, extending across from Africa to Spain and Italy, and from
Candia to Greece, and their actual existence beneath the sea has been
proved by soundings, which necessitate an elevation of from 400 to
500 fathoms to bring them above the sea-level. We have also seen
that the higher mountains, which most probably participated in this
upward movement, bear traces of a lower temperature in the moraines
of the Atlas and Lazistan. The hypothesis of such an elevation during
the pleistocene age may therefore be taken to be proved so far as it
explains two widely different classes of facts, the distribution of the
mammals and the existence of glaciers where they are now unknown.
The physical condition of the Mediterranean area, in the pleistocene
age, may be summed up as follows. The mainland of Africa extended
northwards to join Europe, in the direction of Gibraltar and Italy.
The islands of Malta and Sicily were hilly plateaux, overlooking an
undulatory plain. Corsica and Sardinia were joined to Italy, Majorca
and Minorca to Spain, Candia to Peloponese, and Cyprus to Asia Minor.
The area now occupied by the Adriatic Sea constituted the lower valley
of the Po, and the Archipelago was a plain studded with volcanic cones;
and at the same time glaciers crowned the higher mountains of northern
Africa and of Asia Minor.
The substitution of land for a stretch of sea, in the Mediterranean,
could not fail to cause the summer heat to be more intense in the
region to the north than at the present time, while the increased
elevation would produce a greater severity of winter cold, as Mr.
Godwin Austen has pointed out in the case of the hills of Devonshire.
When, indeed, we consider that the pleistocene land surface extended
from the snowy heights of Atlas, as far north as the 100-fathom line
off the coast of Ireland, we might expect to find African animals,
such as the spotted hyæna and _Felis caffer_, ranging as far north
as Yorkshire, for the only barrier to their migration would be that
offered by the severity of a pleistocene winter.
_Mediterranean Coast-line comparatively modern._
The submergence of the barriers, and the constitution of the
Mediterranean as we find it now, have probably taken place but a short
time ago, from the geological point of view, though we know that for
the last 3,000 years the coast-line has been on the whole unchanged,
except from the silting out of the sea by the sediment of rivers, such
as the Po, and the elevation and depression of small areas by volcanic
energy, as at Santorin. The physical character of the shores testifies
to the truth of this view.
“On entering the Straits of Gibraltar,” Mr. Maw writes, “from the
Atlantic, a notable change takes place in the aspect of the coast. Cape
St. Vincent, on the Atlantic coast, presents a bold line of cliffs to
the sea, and bluff cliffs extend many miles towards the Straits; but
as soon as these are passed, a change of coast-form takes place, which
must be noticeable to every observer. Cliffs on the sea-board become
the exception, and the general line of the coast is merely a shelving
under the sea of the general hill-and-valley system of the land, the
sea running up all the depressions, and the land elevations spreading
out into the sea with scarcely any abrupt cliff-line of demarcation.
The uneven sea-bottom of the Straits seems to be a continuation of the
contour of the adjacent land, consisting of rolling alternations of
hill and valley, which must have received its conformation by subaerial
agencies.”
“Corsica, and the adjacent islands of Elba, Capraja, and Monte Christo,
are also remarkable for the absence of cliffs, and are wanting in those
abrupt escarpements separating land and water which are so abundant on
our own coasts. Their aspect is that of mountain-tops rising out of the
sea, suggesting to the eye the seaward prolongation of their subaerial
contour of sloping hillsides and river-cut valleys, as though the sea
had not stood sufficiently long at its present level to excavate an
escarpement. The deep intersecting bays that occur along the coast from
Marseilles to the Riviera suggest the same conclusion, the undulating
land surface spreading down to the water’s edge, and the deep bays
running up the intervening valleys, which must have had an origin
common with that of their landward prolongations.”
It is impossible to shut our eyes to the full force of this reasoning.
The present aspect of the Mediterranean is, geologically speaking, a
thing of yesterday.
_Changes of Level in the Sahara coincident with those in the
Mediterranean._
But if the Mediterranean area has been depressed to an amount of from
2,000 to 3,000 feet since the pleistocene age, we have proof that the
region to the south has been elevated to that extent in comparatively
modern times. Mr. Maw,[258] in his journey in 1873 to the Northern
Sahara, observed raised beaches at a height of 2,000 feet, and loam and
shingle-beds as high as 2,700 feet. He therefore concludes that the
part of the Sahara which he explored had been raised at least 3,000
feet above the sea. These changes of level, the same in amount, but
in opposite directions, were probably compensatory and simultaneous.
Northern Africa may have been cut off from the central and southern
portions of the continent by the sea extending over the Sahara, during
the time that the Mediterranean was represented by the two inland
salt lakes figured in the accompanying map (Fig. 129). And while the
region of the Sahara was being elevated, that of the Mediterranean was
probably being depressed.
These changes in the relation of sea to land, and the greater elevation
of the mountains in the neighbouring countries, must have affected
not merely the climate of southern, but also of north-western Europe,
and ought not to be left out of account in any theory relating to
pleistocene climate.
CHAPTER XI.
THE EUROPEAN CLIMATE IN THE PLEISTOCENE AGE.
The evidence of the Mammalia as to Climate.--The Southern Group.--
The Northern Group.--Probable cause of Association of Northern
and Southern Groups.--The Temperate Group.--Species common to
Cold and Tropical Climates.--Extinct Species.--Two Periods of
Glaciation in Britain.--Three Climatal Changes represented on
the Continent.--Europe invaded by Pleistocene Mammals before
the Glacial Period.--Mammals lived in Britain during the Second
Ice or Glacial Stage.--The Glacial Period does not separate one
Life-era from another.--Relation of Palæolithic Man to Glacial
Period.--Age of Contents of Caves in Glaciated Districts.
_The Evidence of the Mammalia as to Climate._
In the last three chapters we have seen that the cave-mammalia throw
great light on the pleistocene geography of Europe, and that there is
reason for the belief that the land surface then extended northwards
and westwards, so as to include Ireland; and southwards to join Africa,
in the direction of Sicily, Malta, and Gibraltar. We must now pass on
to the consideration of the climate on this great continental area,
which would allow of so large and varied a fauna existing in our
quarter of the world.
_The Southern Group of Animals._
The pleistocene fauna is remarkable for the mixture of species. It
consists of forms now banished to South Africa, Northern Asia, and
America, or to the severe climate of high mountains, mingled with those
which lived in Europe in the historic age, and those which have wholly
disappeared from the face of the earth. We will take the living species
first.
The southern group consists of the following animals:--
Lion.
Caffir Cat.
Spotted Hyæna.
Striped Hyæna.
Serval.
Hippopotamus.
African Elephant.
Porcupine.
At the present day the lion ranges over the whole of Africa, with the
exception of Egypt and the Cape Colony, whence it has been driven out
by the hand of man. In Asia, the maneless variety inhabits the valley
of the Tigris and Euphrates, and the districts bordering on the Persian
Gulf; and in India, according to Mr. Blyth, the province of Kattywar
in Guzerat. Although now only found in these hot regions, it is
proved, by the concurrent testimony of Herodotus, Aristotle, Xenophon,
Ælian, and Pausanias, to have inhabited the mountains of Thrace, and
of Asia Minor, and it probably became extinct in Europe before the
end of the first century after Christ.[259] We may therefore infer
that it possessed a sufficient elasticity of constitution to endure
a considerable degree of cold, although its present distribution
implies that it is better fitted to thrive in a tropical than in a cold
climate. The Caffir cat (_Felis caffer_ of Desmarest) is an African
species, which has been discovered by Mr. Ayshford Sanford and myself,
in Somersetshire; it also occurs in the caves of Germany, France, and
Gibraltar. The spotted hyæna now lives only in South Africa, while
the striped species ranges through Africa and the warmer regions of
Asia. It was extremely rare in Europe in the pleistocene age, and
has not been identified in any deposit further north than Lunelviel,
in southern France. The hippopotamus, now found only in middle and
southern Africa, is proved by its fossil remains to have formerly dwelt
in the region of the Lower Nile, as well as in Algeria. The serval and
African elephant have been found in the Iberian peninsula, and the
latter in Sicily.
The evidence afforded by the animals, as to the pleistocene climate of
those portions of Europe which they inhabited, differs considerably in
point of value, but on the whole indicates that it was temperate, or
comparatively hot; for although the elasticity of constitution which
we know to have been possessed by the lion, was probably shared by
the spotted hyæna, it is very unlikely that so aquatic an animal as
the hippopotamus could have ranged from southern Europe, as far north
as Yorkshire, under any other than temperate conditions. It could not
have endured a winter sufficiently severe to cover the rivers with a
thick coating of ice, without having its present habits profoundly
modified; and such an alteration of habits would certainly leave its
mark, in other modifications in the fossil skeleton than those minute
differences which have been observed, when it is compared with that of
the living _Hippopotamus amphibius_. The porcupine of southern Europe
has been found as far north as the caves of Belgium (Schmerling).
_The Northern Group._
The northern group consists of those animals which are now only to be
met with in the colder regions of the northern hemisphere, either in
low latitudes or at great altitudes.
Marmot.
Pouched Marmot.
Lemming.
Alpine Hare.
Tailless Hare.
Glutton.
Arctic Fox.
Musk-sheep.
Reindeer.
Ibex.
Chamois.
To this list the palæolithic man of the caves must be added, since he
is probably related by blood to the Eskimos, and appeared in Europe
simultaneously with the arctic group of animals.
The testimony of these animals as to climate is directly opposed to
that of the preceding group, since they now only flourish in the arctic
regions, or in mountainous districts in which the climate is severe.
The marmot, in the pleistocene age, lived in Belgium, and descended
from the Alpine heights as far as the shores of the Mediterranean,
where it has been met with in the caverns near Nice. The pouched
marmot, _Spermophilus citillus_ of the Don and Volga, penetrated as
far to the west as Somersetshire. The Alpine hare, now found only in
the colder climates of northern Europe, Asia, and America (with the
solitary exception of Ireland), ranged as far down the valley of the
Rhine as Schussenreid, in Suabia. The two carnivores now dwelling in
the colder regions of the north, the glutton or wolverine, and the
arctic fox, have been discovered, the one as far south as France, the
other as far as Schussenreid, and both probably occupied the whole of
Germany, and of northern Russia, in the pleistocene age.
The musk-sheep,[260] the most arctic in its habit of all the
herbivores, is, at the present time, restricted to the high latitudes
of North America, where it thrives in the desolate, treeless, barren
grounds, not even being driven from its haunts by the extreme severity
of the winter. It has been traced, by its fossil remains, from its
present abode, across Behring’s Straits, and through the vast Siberian
steppes, into Russia in Europe, Germany, Britain, and as far south and
west as the barrier offered by the Pyrenees. Throughout this large area
its remains occur in association with the reindeer, and both these
animals, as I have remarked above, were hunted by the palæolithic
dwellers in the caves of Aquitaine, just as they are now hunted by the
Eskimos on the shores of the Arctic Ocean.
If the present habits of these animals be any index to their mode
of life in the pleistocene age, their presence in the area north of
the Alps and Pyrenees implies that the climate in France, Germany,
and Britain was severe, or analogous to that which they now enjoy
on the tops of lofty mountains, or in the northern Asiatic steppes,
or the high northern latitudes of America. But this conclusion is
diametrically opposed to that which is based on the evidence of the
southern group of animals.[261] And the remains of the two groups of
animals are so associated together in the caves, and river-deposits of
Europe, north of the Pyrenees, that it is impossible to deny the fact
that it was the common feeding-ground of both during the same era.[262]
_Probable Cause of Association of Northern and Southern Groups._
Must we then infer that in the pleistocene age the present habits of
the musk-sheep, the reindeer, chamois, or ibex, were so changed as to
allow them to flourish side by side with the hippopotamus, or _vice
versâ_? Was the climate colder than it is now in Europe, or was it
hotter? How was this singular association of northern and southern
species brought about? The problem may be solved if we refer to the
present distribution of animals in northern Asia and North America. As
the winter comes on the arctic species gradually retreat southwards,
and occupy the summer feeding-grounds of the elk, red-deer, and other
creatures which are unable to endure the extreme severity of an arctic
winter. In the spring the latter pass northwards, to enjoy the summer
herbage of that area, which had been the winter-quarters of the
arctic group of animals. Thus there is a continued swinging to and
fro, over the same region, of the arctic and the temperate animals,
and their remains must necessarily become more or less associated in
the river-deposits, as well as in caves, where these last happen to
occur. In northern Asia, and in America, the only boundary between the
northern and temperate zoological provinces is that constituted by the
fluctuating annual temperature, and there are no great hilly barriers
running east and west, to prevent free migration to the north or south.
If reference be made to the map, Fig. 126, it will be seen that these
conditions were amply satisfied in the pleistocene age. There were no
physical barriers to migration, from the shores of the Mediterranean,
as far north as Ireland. If the winter cold were severe, the reindeer
and musk-sheep might advance as far south as the Pyrenees, and if
the summer heat were intense there would be nothing to forbid the
hippopotamus and the African carnivores advancing northwards. It seems
to me that this is the only hypothesis which will satisfy all the facts
of the case. The traces of glaciers and snow-fields where they are no
longer found prove that the winter was severe; while the warmth of the
summer seems to be sufficiently demonstrated by the presence of African
species. Such extremes of temperature are presented, more or less, by
all continents extending from high to low latitudes. They are modified
in Europe at the present time by the warm current of the Gulf Stream,
by the large area now occupied by the Mediterranean Sea, and by the
submergence of the pleistocene lowlands on the Atlantic border.
_The Temperate Group._
The third group of pleistocene mammalia consists of those still living
in the temperate zones of Europe, Asia, and America:
Beaver.
Hare.
Rabbit.
Wild Cat.
Martin.
Stoat.
Weasel.
Otter.
Brown Bear.
Grizzly Bear.
Wolf.
Fox.
Horse.
Urus.
Bison.
_Antelope saiga._
Wild Boar.
Stag.
Roe.
The range of many of these animals has been profoundly modified since
the pleistocene age. The _Antelope saiga_ of the Don and Volga lived
as far to the west as Aquitaine. The grizzly bear, instead of being
restricted to its American habitat in the Rocky Mountains, ranged
over the whole of Siberia into Europe, as far to the south as the
Mediterranean, and westwards as far as Gibraltar.
The urus[263] still lives in the larger domestic cattle, and the bison
is represented in Europe by those which are protected by the forest
laws of Lithuania, and in North America by the vast herds which are
rapidly being exterminated, like the red Indian, by the rifles of the
settlers. The horse was as abundant, and as widely spread over Europe,
as the urus and the bison; according to Prof. Brandt it now no longer
lives in Siberia in a wild state.
_Species common to Cold and Tropical Climates._
The panther or leopard, which has been found alike in Britain, France,
and Germany, has at the present day a most extended range through
Africa, from Barbary to the Cape of Good Hope, and throughout Persia
into Siberia. In this latter country Dr. Gothelf Fischer describes
it as living in the same districts in the Altai Mountains, and in
Soongaria, as the tiger. The fox and wolf are like instances of
carnivores being able to endure great variations in temperature without
being specifically modified. These three animals, therefore, tell us
nothing as to the pleistocene climate.
_Extinct Species._
The extinct pleistocene species may also be divided into the same
classes as the living, by an appeal to their geographical distribution.
Two out of the three species of rhinoceros found in the caves (_R.
megarhinus_ and _R. hemitœchus_), and an elephant with slightly curved
tusks (_E. antiquus_), had their head-quarters south of the Alps and
Pyrenees, whence they wandered northward as far as the latitude of
Yorkshire. The pigmy elephant and the dwarf hippopotamus are peculiar
to the south, and the _Machairodus latidens_, or large sabre-toothed
felis, is a survival, from the pleiocene age, of a peculiarly southern
type.
The woolly rhinoceros, on the other hand, may be viewed as a northern
form, since it is met with in vast abundance in the arctic regions
of Siberia, as well as in Europe, and has not been found south of
the Alps and Pyrenees. The cave-bear has not been discovered either
in the extreme north or in the south of Europe, and may therefore be
considered of temperate range; and the Irish elk, identified by Prof.
Brandt, from the caves of the Altai Mountains, had a similar range in
middle Europe. The mammoth, endowed with an elastic constitution, was
able to endure the severity of an arctic climate in Siberia and North
America, and the temperature of the latitude of Rome and the Gulf of
Mexico,[264] and consequently tells us as little of the pleistocene
climate as the panther, fox, or wolf.
The evidence, therefore, as to climate, offered by the extinct animals
in the caves is of the same nature as that of the living. There is
the same mixture of northern and southern forms, which can only be
accounted for satisfactorily by seasonal migrations, according to the
summer heat and winter cold, such as those which are now observed to
take place in Siberia and North America.
Before we consider the relation of the pleistocene animals buried in
the caves and river deposits to the glacial period, it is necessary to
define what is meant by the term glacial.
_Two Periods of Glaciation in Britain._
At the close of the pleistocene period the climate gradually became
colder, until ultimately it was arctic in severity in northern Europe.
The researches of many eminent observers prove that an enormous sheet
of ice, like that under which Greenland now lies buried, extended
over North Britain, Wales, and Ireland, leaving its mark in the
far-travelled blocks of stone, the moraines, and the grooves which pass
over the surface irrespective of the minor contours. The land then,
most probably, as Prof. Ramsay and Sir Charles Lyell believe, stood
higher than it does now. To this succeeded a period of depression,
during which the mountains of Wales were submerged to a height of
at least 1,300 feet; and the waves of the sea washed out of the
pre-existing glacial detritus the shingle and sand, termed the “middle
drift,” which occurs also in Scotland and Ireland.[265] Then the land
was re-elevated above the waves, and a second period of glaciers set
in, traces of which occur abundantly in Wales, Scotland, and Ireland,
in the white areas in Fig. 126. They were, however, of far less extent
than those which preceded them, occupying isolated areas instead
of forming one continuous icy covering to the country. The glacial
phenomena may be briefly summed up as follows: 1. As the pleiocene
temperature was lowered, the glaciers crept down from the tops of the
mountains, until at last they united to form one continuous ice sheet,
moving resistlessly over the smaller hills and valleys to the lower
grounds, and the first ice or glacial period set in. 2. Then followed
the era of depression beneath the sea. 3. And, lastly, on the land
re-emerging from the sea the second ice or glacial period began. The
climate during the marine depression must obviously have been milder
than that of either of the glacial periods, because of the moderating
effect of the wide extent of sea.
The exact relation of the boulder clays with marine shells, in the
centre and south of Britain, to the detritus left behind by the
ice-sheet in the north, has not as yet been satisfactorily ascertained.
It is very probable that the elevation of land in the north was
simultaneous with a southern depression, which allowed of icebergs
depositing their burdens in the eastern counties, in the valley of the
Thames, and as far south as Selsea, on the coast of Sussex.
_Three Climatal Changes represented on the Continent._
These changes of climate have also been observed on the continent
of Europe. The Swiss geologists have shown that the Alpine glaciers
extended farther than they do at the present time, and that they
present two stages of extension, the first of which is of greater
magnitude than the second. The Alpine blocks and moraines have been
traced far down into the plains of Lombardy, northwards into the
valley of the Rhine, and in France as far south in the valley of the
Rhone as Valence. The admirable essay and map brought by MM. Falsan
and Chantre, before the meeting of the French Association for the
Advancement of Science at Lyons, in 1873, show that there were two
periods of glaciation in the valley of the Rhone, the one being due to
the movement of an ice-sheet irrespective of the lower hills, the other
being merely the work of the glaciers localized in the valleys. These
in all probability correspond in point of time with the like stages of
the complicated glacial phenomena in Britain. At this time the glaciers
of the Pyrenees, now so small, extended at least from thirty to forty
miles from their present position down into the plains, leaving behind
most astounding evidences of their presence in the valley of the
Garonne and elsewhere. On the Spanish frontier, for example, one of the
precipitous sides of the valley, near the Pont du Roy, is so smoothed
and polished that it is bare of vegetation except in the deep grooves,
which offer a precarious support to the roots of ferns and of dwarf
beeches. The hills of Dauphiny also and Auvergne were crowned with
glaciers, and those of the latter have been shown by MM. Falsan and
Chantre to have been conterminous with those of the Alps.
The interglacial period of marine depression in Britain is represented
in Switzerland by the lignite beds of Dürnten, Utznach, and Pfaffikon,
the last of which rests upon and is covered by the boulder drift. The
fossil remains from Dürnten, identified by Dr. Falconer and Prof.
Rütimeyer, prove that two southern animals, _Elephas antiquus_ and
_Rhinoceros megarhinus_, inhabited the district in the interval between
the retreat of one set of glaciers and the advance of another. They
probably migrated from the plains of Lombardy, where they abounded in
the pleistocene age.
_Europe invaded by Pleistocene Mammals before the Glacial Period._
What is the precise relation of the pleistocene mammals to these two
periods of cold? Did they invade northern and central Europe during
the first or the second, before or after, the marine submergence
indicated by the “middle drift?” We might expect, _à priori_, that as
the temperature became lowered, the northern mammalia would gradually
invade the region occupied before by the pleiocene forms, and that the
reindeer, the mammoth, and woolly rhinoceros would gradually supplant
the southern _Rhinoceros Etruscus_ and _Elephas meridionalis_. Traces
of such an occupation would necessarily be very rare, since they would
be exposed to the grinding action both of the advancing glacial sheet,
and subsequently to that of the waves on the littoral zone during the
depression and re-elevation of the land. At the time also that the
greater part of Great Britain was buried under an ice-sheet, it could
not have been occupied by animals, although they may have been, and
most probably were, living in the districts farther to the south,
which were not covered by ice. The labours, however, of Dr. Bryce,
Prof. Archibald Geikie, and others prove that one at least of the
characteristic pleistocene mammalia--the mammoth--lived in Scotland
along with the reindeer before the deposit of the lower boulder-clay;
while Mr. Jamieson has pointed out that it could not have occupied
that area at the same time as the ice, and therefore must be referred
to a still earlier date.[266] The teeth and bones discovered in the
ancient land surface at Selsea, under the boulder drift, also very
probably indicate that the mammoth lived in Sussex before the glacial
submergence, although they were never admitted by Dr. Falconer to be
of the same age as the remains of _Elephas antiquus_ from the same
preglacial horizon. The animal also occurs in the preglacial forest-bed
of Norfolk and Suffolk. On a careful examination of the whole evidence,
I am compelled to believe, with Mr. Godwin-Austen and Prof. Phillips,
that the _à priori_ belief that the pleistocene mammalia occupied
Great Britain before the period of the ice-sheet and submergence is
fully borne out by the few incontestable proofs that have been brought
forward of the remains being found in preglacial deposits. And the
scanty evidence on the point is just what might be expected from the
rare accidents under which the bones in superficial deposits could have
withstood the grinding of the ice-sheet, and the subsequent erosive
action of the waves on the coast-line. It may therefore be concluded,
that the pleistocene mammalia arrived in Europe before the temperature
had reached its minimum in the glacial period. On the other hand, the
occurrence of mammaliferous river strata, either in hollows of the
boulder-clay as at Hoxne, or in valleys excavated after its deposition
as at Bedford, prove that the characteristic animals occupied Britain
after the retreat of the ice-sheet, and after the re-emergence of the
land from beneath the glacial sea.
_Mammalia lived in Britain during the Second Ice or Glacial Period._
The distribution of the animals in the river deposits gives us a clue
to the physical geography during the second ice period. In an essay
read before the Geological Society in 1869, and in a second printed
in the “Popular Science Review” in 1872, I showed that there was a
singular irregularity in the contents of the river strata, and that
while the fossil mammalia were abundant throughout the area (marked
with dots in the map, Fig. 126), there were certain districts in which
they had not been met with. One of these barren areas comprises (plain
in the map, Fig. 126), nearly the whole of Wales. A second includes a
large portion of Lancashire, Yorkshire, Cumberland, Westmoreland, and
the whole of Scotland (if the preglacial mammals in the low district
between the Frith of Forth and Frith of Clyde in the map be omitted),
and a third is represented by nearly the whole of Ireland. These areas
are remarkable for the absence of the mammalia from the river deposits.
They are also characterised by the freshness of the ice marks which
they present. Nearly every valley has its own system of grooves and its
own set of moraines; and the mounds of clay and marl left behind by the
local glacier, as it slowly retreated to higher levels till it finally
disappeared, are to be observed in great abundance. If we bring these
facts into relation, the barrenness of the areas may be reasonably
explained by the presence of glaciers, _while_ the pleistocene mammals
were living in the south and east (see map, Fig. 126). A barrier of
some kind may reasonably be inferred to have prevented their range over
those districts, and its nature is indicated by the ice marks. It is
very probable that these glaciers had not passed away before the close
of the pleistocene age: for in that case the characteristic animals
would be discovered in the river gravels, which are later than the
deposits of local glaciers in those districts.
_The Glacial Period does not separate one Life-era from another._
The lowering of the temperature which culminated in the glacial period
has left palpable traces behind in the changes which it caused in the
European fauna. As the pleiocene climate became colder, the animals
unfitted to endure the cold, such as the deer of the Indian types of
Axis and Rusa, either migrated to the south or became extinct, while
their feeding-grounds were invaded by the dwellers in the temperate
zone, the stag, roe, bison, and other animals. These in their turn were
pushed forward by the arctic group of animals, the musk-sheep, lemming,
reindeer, and others, the progress being in the main steadily to the
south while the cold was increasing, and the retreat being steadily to
the north while it was decreasing. It will follow from this, that the
same district in central or north-western Europe would be traversed by
these migratory bodies of animals, both in their southern advance in
preglacial and glacial times and their northern retreat in postglacial
times, and that, therefore, their fossil remains cannot afford a
means of fixing the preglacial, glacial, or postglacial, age of the
deposit in which they are found, where it is not marked by traces of
glaciation. Sir Charles Lyell’s view, that the glacial period cannot be
taken as a landmark in the classification of the European pleistocene
deposits, is fully borne out by the facts, and still less can it be
taken as a hard and fast line between one fauna and another. It cannot
be considered a life-era like the eocene, meiocene, pleiocene, or
prehistoric divisions of the tertiary period.
_Bone-caves inhabited before and after Ice Period._
If we allow that the lowering of the temperature was the principal
cause of the presence of temperate and arctic animals, in a region
before inhabited by species fitted to live in a comparatively warm
climate, it will follow that bone-caves cannot be said to be either
pre- or postglacial, by an appeal to their fossil mammalia. If they
were open before the minimum of temperature was reached, they would
afford shelter to the animals then in the neighbourhood, and they would
continue to be occupied in the south during the vast period of time
represented by the enormous physical changes in the region north of
the line of the Thames, during the development of the ice-sheet, the
submergence and the re-elevation of nearly the whole of Britain and
Ireland. As, however, the cold increased, the percentage of arctic
animals would also increase, and the more temperate species be weeded
out. For these reasons it has seemed to me, that the machairodus of
Kent’s Hole, and the _Rhinoceros megarhinus_ of Oreston, represent
an early stage of the pleistocene period, before the arctic mammalia
were present in full force in the caves. It is very probable that vast
herds of reindeer lived in the south of France, while northern Britain
lay buried under the ice-sheet, as well as during the two succeeding
physical changes.
_Relation of Palæolithic Man to Glacial Period._
What then is the relation of the palæolithic hunter of reindeer in
France and Britain to the glacial period? Is he pre- or postglacial?
The only evidence on the point is that offered by the associated
mammalia which occupied France, Germany, and Britain before and after
the point of minimum temperature was reached in these latitudes. Man
may have inhabited the caves not merely of France, but of Devonshire
and Somerset, at any time during that long period. The position of the
palæolithic refuse-heap discovered by Prof. Fraas at Schussenreid,
resting on a moraine of the extinct glacier of the Rhine, proves that
the palæolithic Eskimos lived in Suabia after the retreat of the
glacier when the temperature became warmer, towards the close of the
pleistocene age or in the later glacial stage. The same conclusion
has been arrived at by Mr. Prestwich as to the sojourn of palæolithic
man (of the river-bed type) in Bedfordshire and Suffolk, the gravels
in which the implements are found being of a later age than the
boulder-clay of those districts. We have therefore proof that man
lived in Germany and Britain after the maximum glacial cold had passed
away, and we may also infer with a high degree of probability that
he migrated into Europe along with the pleistocene mammalia in the
preglacial age.
_Test of age of contents of caves in Glaciated Districts._
The probable date of the introduction of the contents into ossiferous
caves in glaciated areas may be ascertained by an examination of
the river deposits. If the animals found in the caves inhabited the
surrounding country after the melting of the ice, their remains will
occur in the postglacial gravels. If they are not found, it may be
inferred that they had retreated from the district, before the latter
were deposited. It is obvious that they could not have lived in any
district while it was covered with ice or by the sea. It may therefore
be concluded that their remains in the caves were most probably
introduced before the glacial conditions had set in. Preglacial
deposits in a cavern would be protected from the grinding of the
ice-sheet, the action of the waves in the depression, and re-elevation
of the land, and the subsequent glacial erosion which would inevitably
destroy nearly all the fluviatile ossiferous strata. By this test the
pleistocene strata in the Victoria Cave, near Settle, may be considered
preglacial, as well as the hyæna-den at Kirkdale, which has always been
referred by Prof. Phillips to that age. If this be allowed, the small
fragment of human bone found by the Settle Cave Exploration Committee
in the former cave in 1872 establishes the fact that man lived in
Yorkshire before the glacial period. The man to whom it belonged was
probably devoured by the hyænas which dragged into their den the woolly
rhinoceros, reindeer, and other creatures whose gnawed bones were
strewn on the floors.
CHAPTER XII.
CONCLUSION.
Classification of Pleistocene Strata by means of the Mammalia.--The
late, middle, and early Pleistocene Divisions.--The Pleiocene
Mammalia.--Summary of characteristic Pleiocene and Pleistocene
Species.--Antiquity of Man in Europe.--Man lived in India
in Pleistocene Age.--Are the Palæolithic Aborigines of India
related to those of Europe?--Palæolithic Man lived in Palestine.--
Conclusion.
The animals inhabiting the caves have been enumerated in the last
three chapters, and we have discussed the inferences drawn from their
distribution as to the pleistocene climate and geography of Europe. It
remains for us now, in conclusion, to define the pleistocene, and to
see in what relation it stands to the pleiocene period.
_Classification of Pleistocene Strata by means of the Mammalia._
The pleistocene period was one of very long duration, and embraced
changes of great magnitude in the geography of Europe, as we have seen
in the ninth and tenth chapters. The climate, which in the preceding
pleiocene age had been temperate in northern and middle Europe, at the
beginning of the pleistocene gradually passed into the extreme arctic
severity of the glacial period. This change caused a corresponding
change of the forms of animal life; the pleiocene species, whose
constitutions were adjusted to temperate or hot climates, yielding
place to those which were better adapted to the new conditions. And
since there is reason for the belief that it was not continuous in
one direction, but that there were pauses or even reversions towards
the old temperate state, it follows that the two groups of animals
would at times overlap, and their remains be intermingled with each
other. The frontiers also of each of the geographical provinces must
naturally have varied with the season; and the competition for the
same feeding-grounds between the invading and retreating forms must
have been long, fluctuating, and severe. The passage, therefore, from
the pleiocene to the pleistocene fauna might be expected to have been
extremely gradual in each area. The lines of definition between the
two are to a great extent arbitrary, instead of being marked with
sufficient strength to constitute a barrier between the tertiary and
post-tertiary groups of life of Lyell, or between the tertiary and
quaternary of French geologists. The principle of classification which
I have proposed[267] is that offered by the gradual lowering of the
temperature, which has left its mark in the advent of animals before
unknown in Europe; and according to it I have divided the pleistocene
deposits into three groups.
1. Those in which the pleistocene immigrants had begun to disturb
the pleiocene mammalia, but had not yet supplanted the more southern
animals. No arctic mammalia had as yet arrived. To this group belongs
the forest-bed of Norfolk and Suffolk, and the deposit at St. Prest,
near Chartres.
2. That in which the characteristic pleiocene deer had disappeared. The
even-toed ruminants are principally represented by the stag, the Irish
elk, the roe, bison, and urus. _Elephas meridionalis_ and _Rhinoceros
etruscus_ had retreated to the south. To this group belong the
brick-earths of the lower valley of the Thames, the river-deposit at
Clacton, the cave of Baume in the Jura, and a river-deposit in Auvergne.
3. The third division is that in which the true arctic mammalia were
among the chief inhabitants of the region; and to it belong most of the
ossiferous caves and river-deposits in middle and northern Europe.
These three do not correspond with the preglacial, glacial, and
postglacial divisions of the pleistocene strata, in central and north
Britain; since there is reason to believe that all the animals which
occupied Britain after the maximum cold had passed away, had arrived
here in their southern advance before that maximum cold had been
reached; or, in other words, were both pre- and postglacial.
This classification does not apply to pleistocene river-strata south of
the Alps and Pyrenees, into which the arctic mammalia never penetrated.
_The Late Pleistocene Division._
The late pleistocene division corresponds in part with the reindeer
period of M. Lartet; but it comprehends also his other three periods;
for the spotted hyæna, the lion, the cave-bear, the mammoth, the woolly
rhinoceros, the bison, the reindeer, and the urus are so associated
together in the caves and river deposits of Great Britain and the
continent that they do not afford a means of classification. The
arctic division of the mammalia, defined in the preceding chapter, was
then in full possession of the area north of the Alps and Pyrenees, and
the _Rhinoceros megarhinus_ and _Elephas meridionalis_ had disappeared.
With three exceptions, to be noticed presently, all the ossiferous
caverns of France, Germany, and Britain, belong to this division of the
pleistocene.
_The Middle Pleistocene Division._
The middle division of the pleistocene mammalia may now be examined,
or that from which the characteristic pleiocene deer had vanished,
and were replaced by the invading forms from the temperate zones of
northern Asia. It is represented in Britain by the mammalia obtained
from the lower brick-earths of the Thames valley, at Crayford, Erith,
Ilford, and Gray’s Thurrock, by those from the deposit at Clacton, and
most probably by those of the older deposit in Kent’s Hole, and by the
_Rhinoceros megarhinus_ of Oreston.[268] They consist of--
Man, _Homo_.
Lion, _Felis leo spelæa_.
Wild Cat, _F. catus_.
Spotted Hyæna, _Hyæna crocuta var. spelæa_.
Grizzly Bear, _Ursus ferox_.
Brown Bear, _U. arctos_.
Wolf, _Canis lupus_.
Fox, _C. vulpes_.
Otter, _Lutra vulgaris_.
Urus, _Bos primigenius_.
Bison, _Bison priscus_.
Irish Elk, _Cervus megaceros_.
Stag, _C. elaphus_.
Brown’s Fallow Deer, _C. Browni_.
Roedeer, _C. capreolus_.
Musk Sheep, _Ovibos moschatus_.
_Elephas antiquus._
Mammoth, _E. primigenius_.
Horse, _Equus caballus_.
Woolly Rhinoceros, _Rhinoceros tichorhinus_.
_R. hemitœchus._
_R. megarhinus._
Wild-boar, _Sus scrofa_.
Hippopotamus, _Hippopotamus amphibius_.
Beaver, _Castor fiber_.
Water-Rat, _Arvicola amphibia_.
The discovery of a flint-flake in the undisturbed lower brick-earths
of Crayford, by the Rev. O. Fisher, in the presence of the writer, in
April 1872, proves that man was living while these fluviatile strata
were being deposited.
If these mammalia be compared with those of the forest-bed or the
pleiocene age on the one hand, and with the late pleistocene on
the other, it will be seen that they are linked to the former by
_Rhinoceros megarhinus_, and to the latter by the musk sheep. The
presence of the latter, the most arctic of the herbivores, in such
strange company is most abnormal, and suggests the idea that the
remains belong to two distinct eras. The skull, however, which I found
at Crayford in 1867, and presented to the Museum of the Geological
Survey, rested in intimate association with the bones of other species,
is in the same mineral state, and bears no marks of being a “derived
fossil.” It is the only trace of the animal as yet obtained from the
lower brick-earths.
The absence of the reindeer, so numerous in the valley of the Thames,
while the late pleistocene strata were being accumulated by the
river, and the abundance of remains of the stag, seem to me to point
backwards rather than forwards in time, and to imply that the lower
brick-earths are not of late pleistocene age; just as the absence
of the characteristic early pleistocene species shows that they are
not of that age. The evidence seems to be sufficient to establish a
stage intermediate between the two. Nevertheless, it is sufficiently
conflicting to cause Dr. Falconer to come to the conclusion that these
strata are of pleiocene date, and Mr. Prestwich to believe that they
belong to a late stage in the pleistocene.
During the middle pleistocene, in the Thames valley, and at Clacton,
the woolly rhinoceros, elephant, and mammoth competed for the same
feeding-grounds with _Rhinoceros hemitœchus_, _R. megarhinus_,
hippopotamus, and _Elephas antiquus_. Although all the characteristic
pleiocene deer had retreated, the reindeer had not yet invaded that
area: it was occupied by the stag, roe, the Irish elk, and Brown’s
fallow deer. The whole assemblage of animals, the musk sheep being
excepted, implies that the climate was less severe at this time, than
when the reindeer spread over the same area in the late pleistocene
age, and was far more numerous than the stag. It may, indeed, be
objected that the classificatory value of the musk sheep is quite as
great as that of _Rhinoceros megarhinus_; but in the case of the lower
brick-earths, the evidence of the latter as to climate agrees with
that of the whole assemblage of animals, while that of the former is
altogether discordant.
There are no caves either in Britain or on the continent which can
be referred with certainty to this middle division. The machairodus,
however, of Kent’s Hole, and of the cavern of Baume in the Jura (see
p. 337), and the megarhine species of rhinoceros from the fissures of
Oreston, probably inhabited those regions, while the temperate group of
animals held possession of the valley of the Thames, and of that now
sunk beneath the North Sea.
_The Early Pleistocene Mammalia._
The fossil mammalia must now be examined, which inhabited Great Britain
during the early pleistocene period, and before the maximum severity
of glacial cold had as yet been reached. The fossil bones from the
forest-bed, which underlies the boulder-clay on the shores of Norfolk
and Suffolk, have for many years attracted the attention of naturalists
and geologists. The magnificent collections of the Rev. John Gunn, and
the late Rev. S. W. King, gave Dr. Falconer the means of proving that
the fauna of the ancient submerged forest differed from that of any
geological period which we have hitherto discussed: and the careful
diagnosis of all the fossils from this horizon which I have been able
to meet with, shows that it was of a very peculiar character, being
closely allied to the pleiocene of the south of France and of Italy,
and yet possessing species which are undoubtedly pleistocene. The
following list is necessarily very imperfect, since the fragmentary
nature of the fossils renders a specific identification very hazardous;
and it only includes those which I have been able to identify with any
degree of certainty.
_Sorex moschatus._
_S. vulgaris._
_Talpa Europæa._
_Trogontherium Cuvieri._
_Castor fiber._
_Ursus spelæus._
_U. arvernensis._
_Canis lupus._
_C. vulpes._
_Machairodus._
_Cervus megaceros._
_C. capreolus._
_C. elaphus._
_Cervus Polignacus._
_C. carnutorum._
_C. verticornis._
_C. Sedgwickii._
_Bos primigenius._
_Hippopotamus major._
_Sus scrofa._
_Equus caballus._
_Rhinoceros etruscus._
_R. megarhinus._
_Elephas meridionalis._
_E. antiquus._
_E. primigenius._
From the examination of this list, the peculiar mixture of pleiocene
and pleistocene species is evident. The _Ursus arvernensis_, _Cervus
Polignacus_, _Hippopotamus major_, _Rhinoceros etruscus_, and _R.
megarhinus_, the horse, _Elephas meridionalis_, and _E. antiquus_
were living in the pleiocene age in France and Italy, and probably in
Norfolk. The cave-bear, the wolf, fox, mole, beaver, Irish elk, roe,
stag, urus, wild-boar, and the mammoth have not as yet been discovered
in the continental pleiocenes, as judged by the standards offered by
the Val d’Arno and Southern France. They are more or less abundant in
the late pleistocene age. This singular association seems to me to
imply that the fauna of the forest-bed is intermediate between the two,
and, from the fact that only three out of the whole series, viz. _Ursus
arvernensis_, _Rhinoceros etruscus_, and _Cervus Polignacus_, are
peculiar to the continental pleiocene, that it is more closely allied
to the pleistocene than to the pleiocene.
It is also very probable that this early pleistocene age was of
considerable duration; for in it we find at least two forms (and the
number will probably be very largely increased) which are unknown in
continental Europe, although pleiocene and pleistocene strata have
been diligently examined in France and Germany. The very presence of
the _Cervus Sedgwickii_ and _C. verticornis_ implies that the lapse
of time was sufficiently great to allow of the evolution of forms of
animal life hitherto unknown, and which disappeared before the middle
and late pleistocene stages. The _Trogontherium_ also, as well as the
_Cervus carnutorum_, both of which occur in the forest-bed and in the
gravel-beds of St. Prest, near Chartres, and which are peculiar to this
horizon, point to the same conclusion.
The deer of the forest-bed, in this list, do not represent
approximately the number of species: there are at least five, and
perhaps six, represented by a series of antlers, which I do not venture
to quote, because I have not been able to compare them with those of
the pleiocenes of the Val d’Arno, of Marseilles, or of Auvergne.
Dr. Falconer pointed out that one of the peculiar characters of the
fauna of the forest-bed is the presence of the mammoth; and the
evidence on which he considered the animal to be of preglacial age
in Europe has been fully verified by the molars from Bacton, which
are now in the Manchester Museum. They are associated with _Elephas
meridionalis_ and _E. antiquus_, and are incrusted with precisely the
same matrix as the teeth and bones of those species.
No caves have been discovered containing this peculiar assemblage of
fossil animals.
_The Pleiocene Mammalia._
The relation of the pleistocene to the pleiocene fauna is a question
of very great difficulty, because the latter has not yet been
satisfactorily defined, although Prof. Gervais and Dr. Falconer have
given the more important species from Auvergne, Montpellier, and
the Val d’Arno. The following list is taken from Prof. Gervais’s
great work “Zoologie et Paléontologie Françaises,” p. 349, the term
pseudo-pleiocene merely implying that the fauna differs from that of
the marine deposit of Montpellier, which he takes as his standard.
_Pseudo-pleiocene of Issoire._
_Hystrix refossa._
_Castor issiodorensis._
_Arctomys antiqua._
_Arvicola robustus._
_Cervus pardinensis._
_C. arvernensis._
_C. causanus._
_Sus arvernensis.
Lepus Lacosti._
_Mastodon arvernensis._
_Tapirus arvernensis._
_Rhinoceros elatus?_
_Bos elatus._
_Cervus polycladus._
_C. ardens._
_C. cladocerus._
_C. issiodorensis._
_C. Perrieri._
_C. etueriarum._
_Ursus arvernensis._
_Canis borbonidus._
_Felis pardinensis._
_F. arvernensis._
_F. brevirostris._
_F. issiodorensis._
_Machairodus cultridens._
_Hyæna arvernensis._
_H. Perrieri._
_Lutra Bravardi._
To these animals Dr. Falconer[269] adds _Hippopotamus major_, _Elephas
antiquus_, and _Rhinoceros megarhinus_, and he identifies _Rhinoceros
elatus_ with his new species _Rhinoceros etruscus_. Prof. Gaudry agrees
with me in the belief that _Hyæna Perrieri_ is identical with _H.
striata_ or the striped species.
Prof. Gervais also identifies the _Equus robustus_ of M. Pomel, from
the same locality, with the common Horse, _Equus fossilis_.
The fauna of Montpellier is certainly very different from that of
Issoire; but since it is neither meiocene nor pleistocene, it must
belong to one of the intermediate stages of the pleiocene. It includes
_Semnopithecus monspessulanus._
_Macacus priscus._
_Chalicomys sigmodus._
_Lagomys loxodus._
_Mastodon brevirostris._
_Rhinoceros megarhinus._
_Tapirus minor._
_Antilope Cordieri._
_A. hastata._
_Cervus Cuvieri._
_C. australis._
_Sus provincialis._
_Hyænodon insignis._
_Hyæna ----?_
_Machairodus._
_Felis Christolii._
_Lutra affinis._
The _Mastodon brevirostris_ of this list is considered by Dr. Falconer
to be identical with _M. arvernensis_ of MM. Croiset and Jobert.
The fauna of the Val d’Arno differs from that of Montpellier and of
Auvergne, and yet is considered by Dr. Falconer to be eminently typical
of the European pleiocene.[270] The animals identified by him in the
museums of Italy are as follow:--
_Felis._
_Hyæna._
_Machairodus cultridens._
_Mastodon arvernensis._
_M. Borsoni._
_Elephas antiquus._
_Elephas meridionalis._
_Rhinoceros etruscus._
_R. megarhinus._
_R. hemitœchus._
_Hippopotamus major._
All these animals, with the exception of _Rhinoceros hemitœchus_, have
been discovered in the pseudo-pleiocene of Issoire, while the megarhine
rhinoceros and _Mastodon arvernensis_ are the only two which have been
obtained from the marine sands of Montpellier. The pleiocene animals,
therefore, inhabiting Northern Italy are more closely allied to those
of Auvergne than to those of Montpellier.
If these three localities be taken as typical of the pleiocene strata,
we shall find that several of the species range as far north as
Britain, and occur in deposits which from the evidence of the mollusca,
have been assigned to that age. _Mastodon arvernensis_, _Elephas
meridionalis_, and _Ursus arvernensis_, have been obtained from the old
land-surface which underlies the sand and shingle of the Norfolk Crag,
in company with many forms of deer and antelopes which have not yet
been identified, while the _Hipparion_ is found in the marine crags of
Suffolk.
The animals which especially characterize the pleiocene strata of
Europe are _Machairodus cultridens_, _Mastodon arvernensis_ and _M.
Borsoni_, besides the genus _Tapir_.
If this fauna be compared with that of the preglacial forest-bed,
it will be seen that the difference between them is very great. The
pleiocene mastodon, tapir, the majority of the deer, and the antelopes
are replaced by forms such as the roe and the red-deer, unknown up to
that time. Nevertheless many of the pleiocene animals were able to hold
their ground against the pleistocene invaders, although, subsequently,
as I have already shown, they disappeared one by one, being ultimately
beaten in the struggle for life by the new comers. The progress of
this struggle has been used in the preceding pages as a means of
classification. This fauna has not been discovered in any cave.
_Summary of Characteristic Pleistocene and Pleiocene Species._
The following are the salient points of the pleistocene age offered
by the study of the land mammalia in the area north of the Alps and
Pyrenees.
THE PLEISTOCENE PERIOD.
A.--_The latest stage._
Palæolithic Man.
Woolly Rhinoceros, abundant.
Mammoth, abundant.
Reindeer, abundant.
Stag, comparatively rare.
Northern forms of life in full possession of area north of Alps
and Pyrenees.
B.--_The middle stage._
Palæolithic Man.
_Machairodus latidens._
Stag, abundant.
Northern forms of life present, but not in force.
_Rhinoceros megarhinus_, still living.
Woolly Rhinoceros, present.
C.--_The early stage._
The following are animals peculiar to this stage:--
_Trogontherium Cuvieri._
_Cerus verticornis._
_Cervus Sedgwickii._
_C. carnutorum._
The following make their appearance:--The beaver, musk-shrew,
cave-bear, roe, stag, Irish elk, urus, and bison, wild-boar, horse,
(2), mammoth, wolf, and fox.
The pleiocene _Ursus arvernensis_, _Cervus Polignacus_, _Rhinoceros
etruscus_, and _Elephas meridionalis_ still living.
THE PLEIOCENE.
_Mastodon arvernensis._
_M. Borsoni._
_Hipparion gracile._
No living species of European Deer.
The three subdivisions of the pleistocene do not apply to the region
south of the Alps and Pyrenees, because the northern group of animals
did not pass into Spain and Italy. In these two countries we find
southern and pleiocene animals living throughout the pleistocene age,
which in France and Britain lived only in the two earlier stages.
_Antiquity of Man in Europe._
No remains have been discovered up to the present time in any part of
Europe which can be referred with certainty to a higher antiquity than
the pleistocene age. The palæolithic people or peoples arrived in
Europe along with the peculiar fauna of that age, and after dwelling
here for a length of time, which is to be measured by the vast physical
and climatal changes, described in the last three chapters, finally
disappeared, leaving behind as their representatives the Eskimos
tribes of arctic America. There is no evidence that they were inferior
in intellectual capacity to many of the lower races of the present
time, or more closely linked to the lower animals. The traces which
they have left behind tell us nothing as to the truth or falsehood of
the doctrine of evolution, for if it be maintained on the one hand,
that the first appearance of man as a man, and not as a man-like
brute, is inconsistent with that doctrine, it may be answered that
the lapse of time between his appearance in the pleistocene age and
the present day, is too small to have produced appreciable physical
or intellectual change. Also, it must not be forgotten, that we have
merely investigated the antiquity of the sojourn of man in Europe, and
not the general question of his first appearance on the earth, with
which it is very generally confounded. Dr. Falconer well remarked that
the _origines_ of mankind are to be sought, not in Europe, but in the
tropical regions, probably of Asia. To these we have no clue in the
present stage of the inquiry. The higher apes are represented in the
European meiocene and pleiocene strata, by extinct forms uniting in
some cases the characters of different living species, but they do
not show any tendency to assume human characters. It must indeed be
allowed, that the study of fossil remains throws as little light as the
documents of history on the relation of man to the lower animals. The
historian commences his labours with the high civilization of Assyria
and Egypt, and can merely guess at the steps by which it was achieved;
the palæontologist meets with the traces of man in the pleistocene
strata, and he too can merely guess at the antecedent steps by which
man arrived even at that culture which is implied by the implements.
The latter has proved that the antiquity of man is greater than the
former had supposed. Neither has contributed anything towards the
solution of the problem of his origin.
_Man lived in India in Pleistocene Age._
The researches of the Geological Surveyors has shown that in ancient
times man, in the same stage of civilization as the palæolithic man of
Europe, lived in Southern India and in the valley of the Narbadá. In
1868[271] Mr. Bruce Foote described the flint implements which were
discovered over a large area in the districts of Madras, either in the
red clayey deposit known as Laterite, or in such positions as implied
that they had been washed out of it. They all belong to the same rude
types as those of the pleistocene strata of North-western Europe. A
small fragment of bone was the only fossil which had up to that time
been discovered in the Laterite, and this I was able to identify
in 1869 as a portion of a human tibia of the abnormal platycnemic
variety, which has been described in the fifth chapter of this work,
from the European caves and tombs. The Lateritic deposits themselves
are strictly analogous to our river-strata and brick-earths in their
constitution, and in their resting at various levels above the sea,
and were, as Mr. Foote remarks, formed under conditions different to
those which are now going on in that district. They prove that the
period of the sojourn of palæolithic man in Southern India is divided
from the present day by considerable geographical changes, such as the
elevation of land, and the erosion and breaking up of accumulations
which were once continuous. We have seen that somewhat similar
changes have happened in Europe, in the interval which separates the
palæolithic period from our own time.
The discovery of a rudely chipped implement of quartzite, of the
pointed oval shape common in the gravels of Britain and France,
published by Mr. Medlicott in 1873, in the “Records of the Geological
Survey of India,” proves further that man was a member of the
remarkable fauna which inhabited the valley of the Narbadá in ancient
times. It was dug out of reddish unstratified clay by Mr. Hacket at a
depth of three feet from the upper surface, which was covered by twenty
feet of ossiferous gravel, on the left bank of the Narbadá near the
valley of Bhutra. The clay belongs to the same fluviatile series as
that from which the mammalia were obtained and named by Dr. Falconer in
1828. Both clay and gravel are shown to be of fluviatile origin, by the
presence of fresh-water mussels of the varieties still living in the
adjacent river.
The fossil bones belong to extinct and living animals. Among the
former are two kinds of elephant (_E. namadicus_) and (_E. stegodon
insignis_), one of which is closely allied to the European _E.
antiquus_, two species of hippopotamus, one (_H. palæindicus_) with
four incisors in front of the jaws like the African, and a second with
six incisors belonging to the extinct division of hexaprotodon, a
large ox (_Bos namadicus_), a deer and a bear. The living forms are
represented by the buffalo (_Bubalus namadicus_), which is identical
with the wild arnee from which the Indian domestic buffaloes have
descended, and the gavial, or long-snouted Gangetic crocodile. This
imperfect list, borrowed from Dr. Falconer,[272] shows that there is
the same mixture of extinct with living forms in the valley of the
Ganges, while the clays and gravels were being accumulated, as we
have observed in the pleistocene deposits of Europe, and the fauna
may therefore be referred to the pleistocene age, and probably, as
Mr. Medlicott proposes, to the late division of that age. The exact
correspondence of the quartzite implements with those which are so
abundant in the European river-strata of the same age, adds additional
weight to this conclusion.
_Are the Palæolithic Aborigines of India related to those of Europe?_
It is not a little remarkable that Dr. Falconer, writing in 1865 of the
peculiar fauna of the Narbadá, should have held the view that man was
living in India at that time, and that the memory of the hippopotamus
was handed down in Aryan traditions, under the striking name of the
water elephant. “After reflecting,” he writes, “on the question during
many years in its palæontological and ethnological bearings, my leaning
is to the view that _Hippopotamus namadicus_ was extinct in India long
before the Aryan invasion, but that it was familiar to the earlier
indigenous races.” (ii. p. 644.) This inference is proved to be
literally true by the discovery of the palæolithic implements in the
ossiferous strata of the Narbadá, which must have required long ages
for their accumulation and subsequent erosion.
We may, therefore, conclude that palæolithic man inhabited both Europe
and India in the pleistocene age. And possibly the identity of the
implements, in these two remote regions, may be accounted for in the
same manner as the identity of Aryan root-words, by the view that their
fabricators may have come from the same centre of dispersal, by the
same routes as those which were subsequently used by the pre-Aryan, and
Aryan, invaders of Europe and India. But whether this be accepted or
not, it cannot be denied that the man who inhabited both these regions
was in the same rude stage of human progress, and played his part in
the same life-era.
_Palæolithic Man lived in Palestine._
The discovery, by the Abbé Richard,[273] of a palæolithic flint
implement, of the ordinary river-bed type, on the surface of a stratum
of gravel between Mount Tabor and the lake of Tiberias, lends great
weight to the view that the Aborigines of India and Europe, whose
implements are found in the deposits of rivers, migrated from the same
centre, since it bridges over the great interval of space by which
they were isolated. It is very probable, that future discoveries may
reveal the presence of a tolerably uniform priscan population, in the
pleistocene age, throughout this vast area: which as yet has only been
explored by archæologists in a few isolated points, with the important
results recorded in the preceding pages.
_Conclusion._
It now remains for us to sum up the results of the exploration of
European caves, of which an imperfect outline has been given in this
work. Their formation, and filling up, have an important bearing on the
physical geography of the districts in which they occur, and reveal
the great changes which are going on, in the calcareous rocks, at the
present time. The study of the remains which they contain has led to
the recognition of the fact, that the climate and geography of Europe,
in ancient times, were altogether different from those of the present
day.
It has also made large additions to the history of the sojourn of man
in Europe. We find a hunting and fishing race of cave-dwellers, in the
remote pleistocene age, in possession of France, Belgium, Germany, and
Britain, probably of the same stock as the Eskimos, living and forming
part of a fauna, in which northern and southern, living and extinct,
species are strangely mingled with those now living in Europe. In the
neolithic age caves were inhabited, and used for tombs, by men of
the Iberian or Basque race, which is still represented by the small,
dark-haired, peoples of western Europe. They were rarely used in the
bronze age. When we arrive within the borders of history in Britain,
we find them offering shelter to the Brit-Welsh flying from their
enemies after the ruin of the Roman empire, and throwing great light
on the fragmentary records of those obscure times. In treating of these
questions, it has been necessary to discuss problems of deep and varied
interest to the ethnologist, physicist, and historian, some of which
have been partially solved, while others await the light of the higher
knowledge which will be the fruit of a wider experience.
APPENDICES.
APPENDIX I.--P. 30.
ON THE INSTRUMENTS AND METHODS OF CAVE-HUNTING.
Instruments used in Cave-hunting.--The Search after Bone-caves.--
The three modes of Cave-digging.--Stalagmitic Floors to be broken
up.--Preservation of Fossil Bones.
_Instruments used in Cave-hunting._
The instruments which Mr. James Parker, Mr. Ayshford Sanford and myself
have found most valuable in cave-hunting, apart from the tools of the
workman, are as follow:--
1. A hammer with an ash handle about twenty inches long, inserted into
a square head of best steel, ending in a chisel edge in the same plane
as the handle, weighing almost eight ounces, and seven inches in length.
2. A steel chisel ten inches long.
3. A prismatic compass.
4. A thermometer for taking the temperatures of the air and water.
5. An aneroid.
6. A steel measuring tape.
7. Abney’s patent level which is used for laying down datum-line for
plan, as well as for taking the dips and angles.
In making a plan we have found it useful to mark the datum-line by
a stout string or wire and to measure from it as the work proceeds,
indicating on the sides and floor of the cave the points of
measurement, with paint or wooden pegs.
8. A stout rope not less than twenty feet long with a horse’s girth at
the end is necessary for the exploration of vertical fissures, so that
the explorer may be let down without any great danger. No large unknown
caves should be explored without a rope, or by a party less than three
in number. In exploring the caves of Burrington Combe we used a rope
sixty feet long. The descent into Helln Pot, described in the second
chapter, p. 41, was effected in the following manner. A strong platform
of timber was made over the open fissure, and from it a square “cage”
or “basket” of the ordinary kind used in mining was let down for the
first drop of 198 feet. It was prevented from twisting round by two
guide ropes. For the rest of the falls we had two ladders eight feet
long, and a rope, without which we should have been unable to reach the
bottom.
[Illustration:
| | a | |
--+-----+--------------+-----+--
g | ... | | ... | g
| | | |
b | e | c d c | e | b
| | | |
g | ... | | ... | g
--+-----+--------------+-----+--
| | a | |
]
9. In the exploration of water-caves, in which there are sometimes
sheets of water of considerable size and depth, a raft may be used,
such as that devised by Mr. James Parker for the navigation of the
great cave of Wookey Hole. It consisted of a platform supported on
barrels and built as follows: A frame of stout poles was made; two,
_a a_, being eight feet long, with four others, _b_, _c_, lashed
firmly across, each four feet in length. The space _d_ was converted
into a platform by nailing boards across, and this was buoyed up by
a beer-barrel at each end in the interspace _e_. The barrels were
attached to the raft by two loops of rope _g_, passing over from _b_
to _c_, and thus kept in place, although they freely twisted and
turned in actual use. The ropes had an advantage over iron hoops for
the attachment of the barrels, because when they were tightened the
platform was raised above the water, when they were loosened it was
lowered, and thus the raft could be adjusted to the weight to be
carried, to the depth of the water, and the distance of the water-line
from the roof. A raft of this kind will bear three persons, and is
sufficiently light to be carried over the shallows. With it Mr. Parker
made his way for a considerable distance in the Wookey Hole cavern,
and subsequently I penetrated as far as the water-line would allow me
to get. A long pole is also necessary for punting. Mr. Parker found
by experience that a raft made of boards nailed on the top of two
beer-barrels was too unstable to be of any use. In making his way
across subterranean pools the cave-hunter ought to be prepared for
accidents, for the depth is very uncertain, and the water sufficiently
cold to cause cramp. For the exploration of ordinary water-caves a
raft is unnecessary, but no attempt should be made without a rope. In
Yorkshire and Derbyshire there is an unlimited field for adventure in
the subterranean water-courses.
10. The most convenient lights for use in caves are the common
composite candles. Paraffin candles are open to the objection that they
gutter, lanthorns do not give a sufficiently diffused light, and the
smoke of paraffin torches, or flambeaux dipped in turpentine or tar is
intolerable. Magnesium wire reveals the beauties of the higher roofs.
_The Search after Ossiferous Caves._
Many of the ossiferous caves, and especially those of the neolithic
and pleistocene ages, have their entrances masked by débris which has
been accumulated from the surface above during the long lapse of ages.
In their discovery I have found rabbits, foxes, and badgers of the
greatest service, since these animals generally make their burrows
in such places. And where their earths are met with at the base of a
vertical wall of rock, I have very generally found a cave. They were
my sole guides to the discovery of the five sepulchral caves at Perthi
Chwareu, described in the fifth chapter, in a district in which up to
that time caves were not known to exist.
The dwellers in caves very generally chose for their habitations the
sunny side of the ravines and valleys, and the spots which commanded a
wide view, and, therefore, their remains are to be looked for in those
places, rather than on the cold and sunless sides, or where an enemy
might approach without observation.
_The Scientific Methods of Cave-digging._
The exploration of an ossiferous cavern with sufficient accuracy to be
of scientific value, may be carried out in all tunnel caves, or those
extending horizontally into the rock, by one of the three following
methods which may be adapted to the local conditions:--
The first step to take in all cases is to make a plan of the entrance,
and to cut a passage down to the rock at the entrance, so as to
obtain a clear idea of the sequence of the strata. In the hyæna-den
at Wookey Hole, we first of all cut a passage through the cave-earth
which extended from the roof to the floor, and then removed the earth
on either side in blocks, until ultimately the chamber and passages
described in the eighth chapter were cleared of their contents. Our
work was measured every evening, and each bone and object found was
labelled with the date which was recorded on the ground plan. Vertical
sections were also taken from time to time. This mode, supplemented
by constant supervision of the workmen, was sufficiently accurate to
satisfy the demands of scientific research.
The Victoria Cave, where the demarcation between the strata was very
distinct, was explored, while the work was under my direction up
to September 1873, in a somewhat similar fashion. It was, however,
impossible on account of the great depth of the deposits to cut a
passage down to the rock at the entrance. We therefore examined the
superficial strata throughout the cave, merely gauging the thickness of
those below by sinking three shafts. Where a cave is sufficiently high
to allow of the work being carried on, it is better to clear out one
stratum before another is disturbed.
The most elaborate and perfect method of cave exploration is that
which has been used by the committee in Kent’s Hole, under the
superintendence of Mr. Pengelly, who writes as follows:[274]--
“The following is the method of exploration which has been observed
from the commencement, and which it is believed affords a simple and
correct method of determining the exact position of every object which
has been found.
“1. The black soil accessible between the masses of limestone on the
surface was carefully examined and removed.
“2. The limestone blocks occupying the surface of the deposits were
blasted and otherwise broken up, and taken out of the cavern.
“3. A line termed the ‘datum-line,’ is stretched horizontally from a
fixed point at the entrance to another at the back of the chamber.
“4. Lines, one foot apart, are drawn at right angles to the datum-line,
and therefore parallel to one another, across the chamber so as to
divide the surface of the deposit into belts termed ‘parallels.’
“5. In each parallel the black mould which the limestone masses had
covered is first examined and removed, and then the stalagmite breccia,
so as to lay bare the surface of the cave-earth.
“6. Horizontal lines, a foot apart, are then drawn from side to side
across the vertical face of the section so as to divide the parallel
into four layers or ‘levels,’ each a foot deep.
“Finally each level is divided into lengths called ‘yards,’ each three
feet long, and measured right and left from the datum-line as an axis
of abscissæ.
“In fine, the cave-earth is excavated in vertical slices or parallels
four feet high, one foot thick, and as long as the chamber is broad,
where this breadth does not exceed thirty feet. Each parallel is taken
out in levels one foot high, and in each level in horizontal prisms
three feet long and a foot square in the section, so that each contains
three cubic feet of material.
“This material, after being carefully examined _in situ_ by
candlelight, is taken to the door and re-examined by daylight, after
which it is at once removed without the cavern. A box is appropriated
to each yard exclusively, and in it are placed all the objects of
interest which the prism yields. The boxes, each having a label
containing the data necessary for defining the situation of its
contents, are daily sent to the honorary secretary of the committee,
by whom the specimens are at once cleaned and packed in fresh boxes.
The labels are numbered and packed with the specimens to which they
respectively belong, and a record of the day’s work is entered in a
diary.
“The same method is followed in the examination of the black mould,
and also of the stalagmitic breccia, with the single exception that in
these cases the parallels are not divided into levels and yards.”
A careful record of the work, and minute sections should be taken daily
on the spot.
_The Stalagmitic Floor to be broken up._
In all cases the crystalline flooring of stalagmite and stalagmitic
breccias which often occur, should be broken up, or, if necessary,
blasted with gunpowder. The former very frequently conceals the
pleistocene remains, and the latter, which is in Kent’s Hole many feet
thick, often contains the traces of man and wild animals. Sometimes it
is very difficult to distinguish the breccia from the rocky floor.
Where the ossiferous deposit fills a vertical fissure it must be worked
on the same plan as in ochre-mining, by sinking a shaft. To dig into it
from below (where this is possible) is very dangerous, because of the
large imbedded stones which fall sometimes without any warning.
_The Preservation of Fossil Remains._
The fossil bones and teeth, which have very generally lost their
gelatine and have a tendency to crumble and split to pieces in drying,
should be gradually dried, and from time to time saturated with a weak
hot solution of gelatine or glue. Silicate of soda, sometimes called
“liquid glass,” or melted paraffin (not the oil), may also be used for
the same purpose. If the bones are extremely soft, they may be rescued
from destruction by letting them dry in the matrix, saturating them
and the matrix with a solution of gelatine, and then clearing off the
latter. In this manner I preserved the skull of the musk sheep which is
now in the Museum of the Geological Survey in Jermyn Street, London.
APPENDIX II.--P. 40.
_Observations on the Rate at which Stalagmite is being accumulated in
the Ingleborough Cave._ Proceed. Lit. and Phil. Soc. Manch. April
1873.
The only attempt to measure with accuracy the rate of the accumulation
of stalagmite in caverns, in this country, is that made by Mr. James
Farrer in the Ingleborough Cave, in the years 1839 and 1845, and
published by Prof. Phillips in the “Rivers, Mountains, and Sea Coast of
Yorkshire” (second edition, 1855, pp. 34-35). The stalagmite of which
the measurements were taken is that termed, from its shape, the Jockey
Cap. It rises from a crystalline pavement to a height of about two
and a half feet, and is the result of a deposit of carbonate of lime,
brought down by a line of drops that fall into a basin at its top, and
flow over the general surface. On March 13th, 1873, in company with
Mr. John Birkbeck and Mr. Walker, I was enabled by the kindness of Mr.
Farrer to take a set of measurements, to be recorded for use in after
years.
For the sake of insuring accuracy in future observations, three holes
were bored at the base of the stalagmite, and three gauges of brass
wire, gilt, inserted; gauge No. 1 in the following table being that on
the S.S.E., No. 2 on N.N.E., No. 3 on the West side. The curvilinear
dimensions were taken with fine iron wire, or with a steel measure;
and the circumferential around the base along a line marked by the
three gauges. The measurements 2, 3, and 4 of the table were taken on
the 15th of March, by Mr. Walker, and their accuracy may be tested by
the fact that they coincide exactly with No. 1, which I took two days
before.
The lengths of wire, properly labelled, are deposited in the Manchester
Museum, the Owens College, for future observers.
In the following table I have given my own measurements and compared
them with those taken by Mr. Farrer.
TABLE OF MEASUREMENTS.
+--------------------------------+-------+-------+-------+-----------+--------+
| | 13th | | | |Rate of |
| | Mar. | |30 Oct.| Increase |Increase|
| | 1873. | 1839. | 1845. | since | per |
| |Inches.|Inches.|Inches.|1839.|1845.| annum. |
| | | | | | | Inches |
+--------------------------------+-------+-------+-------+-----+-----+--------+
| 1 Basal circumference at | | | | | |·2941- |
| Gauges |128 |118 |120 | 10 | 8 | ·2857 |
| 2 Gauge No. 1 to Gauge No. 2 | 52·625| | | | | |
| 3 ” 2 ” 3 | 35·0 | | | | | |
| 4 ” 3 ” 1 | 40·375| | | | | |
| 5 Gauge No. 1 to hole in centre| | | | | | |
| of basin at apex| 30 | | | | | |
| 6 ” 2 ” ” | 29·5 | | | | | |
| 7 ” 3 ” ” | 31·4 | | | | | |
| 8 Height from Gauge No. 1 | 20·9 | | | | | |
| 9 ” ” 2 min | 20·4 | | | | | |
|10 Maximum | 29·7 | | | | | |
|11 Tape measurement on slope | | | | | | |
| Gauge No. 1 to edge of apex| 26·7 | | | | | |
|12 ” No. 2 ” ” | 26·6 |21·0 | | 5·6 | | |
|13 ” ” maximum ” | 36·0 |32·0 | 35·0 | 4·0 | 1·0 | |
|14 Roof to apex of Jockey Cap | 87 | | 95·25 | | 8·25|·2946 |
|15 Roof to tip of stalactite | | | 10 | | | |
|16 Stalactite to apex of Jockey | | | | | | |
| Cap | | | 85·25 | | | |
+--------------------------------+-------+-------+-------+-----+-----+--------+
Unfortunately I have been unable to identify the exact spots where the
stalagmite was measured by Mr. Farrer, so that the only measurement
which affords any trustworthy data for estimating the rate of increase
is number 14. With regard to this, the only possible ground of error
is the erosion of the general surface of the solid limestone, of which
the roof is composed, by carbonic acid, since the year 1845, and this
is so small as to be practically inappreciable. We have, therefore,
evidence that the Jockey’s Cap is growing at the rate of ·2946 of an
inch per annum, and that if the present rate of growth be continued
it will finally arrive at the roof in about 295 years. But even this
comparatively short lapse of time will probably be diminished by the
growth of a pendent stalactite above, that is now being formed in
place of that which measured ten inches in 1845, and has since been
accidentally destroyed. It is very possible that the Jockey Cap may
be the result not of the continuous but of the intermittent drip of
water containing a variable quantity of carbonate of lime, and that,
therefore, the present rate of growth is not a measure of its past
or future condition. Its possible age in 1845 was estimated by Prof.
Phillips at 259 years, on the supposition that the grain of carbonate
of lime in each pint was deposited. If, however, it grew at its present
rate it may be not more than 100 years old. All the stalagmites and
stalactites in the Ingleborough Cave may not date further back than the
time of Edward III. if the Jockey Cap be taken as a measure of the rate
of deposition.
INDEX.
A.
Abbeville, flint implements of, 16.
Aborigines (palæolithic) of India, 428, 429.
Acid-worn joint, Doveholes, Derbyshire, 52.
Adams, Dr. Leith, explores bone-caves of Malta, 377;
finds tooth of pigmy hippopotamus in Candia, 378.
Adriatic Sea, the, 388.
Africa, mainland of, 379;
moraines in, 387;
physical geography of, in pleistocene age, 370;
species of European mammalia found in, 380.
African animals in the Iberian peninsula, 372;
elephant, the, 372, 376.
Age of cavern deposits, test of, 410.
Albert Cave, the, Settle, 101.
Alessi, Canon, cited, 376.
Algeria, fossil mammalia in, 379.
Alps, the, animals living to the North of, 359, 360;
glaciers of, 403.
Altai mountains, the, Irish elk in, 401;
panther in, 403.
America, animals in, 396-399.
Amiens, flint implements in the gravels of, 16.
Anatolia, the glaciers of, 383-385.
Anca, Baron, on caves of northern Sicily, 376.
Andalusia, prehistoric antiquities in, 209.
Animals in Brit-Welsh caves, 130, 131;
classificatory value of, 78;
domestic, derived from Asia, 137;
evidence of, as to climate, 392;
extinct species of, 400;
historic, 75, 76;
living under the care of man, 77;
migration of, 366;
northern group of, 395;
pleistocene, living to the north of the Alps, 359-361;
unknown in Britain in the prehistoric age, 266;
prehistoric, 265;
probable cause of association of species, 397;
southern group of, 393;
temperate group of, 399.
_Antelope saiga_, the, 336, 348, 399.
Antelopes, spread of, into Europe, 370.
Antiquity of Man in Europe, 424.
Aquitaine, implements in the caves of, 354, 355;
palæolithic hunters in, 347;
the people of, 356, 357.
Ardennes, rock denuded from the, 61.
Arenaceous rocks, caves in, 24.
Arnould, M., on the cave of Sclaigneaux, 218.
Arrows used by palæolithic hunters, 342.
Art of the Eskimos, 356.
Arthur’s cave, King, 290.
Ashmolean Museum, harpoons in the, 354, 356.
Asia, domestic animals of Europe derived from, 137;
the lion in, 393.
Ass, the, 77.
Atlantic Ocean, the, 380;
shore, the, at one hundred fathom line, 365.
Atlas mountains, glaciers of the, 386.
Aurignac, the cave of, 19;
bones found in, 246;
discovery of, 243;
interment in, 242;
skeletons of man above palæolithic stratum of, 245.
Austen, Mr. Godwin- (_see_ Godwin-Austen).
Auvergne, palæolithic men in, 21.
Avison, cave of, 18.
Axe, the river, 29.
Aymard, M., cited, 330.
B.
Badger, the (_see_ _Meles taxus_).
Banwell, cave at, 293.
Basques, the, eastern derivation of, 227, 228;
elements of, in British and French populations, 225;
in Britain and Ireland in the neolithic age, 215;
the Dolicho-cephali cognate with, 213;
the oldest neolithic population, 223.
Baumann’s Hole, 12.
Baume, the cave of, animals found in, 337.
Bayle, M., on animals from Mansourah, 379.
Bear, the, 75, 79, 131, 146;
in Germany, 278;
in the care of Kühloch, 27;
the cave, 138, 278, 401;
the grizzly, 278, 348, 376, 399.
Beard, Mr., of Banwell, cited, 15, 33;
explorations of, 292.
Beaumont, Mr. John, describes Wookey Hole, 29;
on fungoid structures, 69.
Beaver, the, 76, 79, 132.
Behrens, Dr., cited, 12.
Belgium, brachy-cephalic skulls found in, 228;
caves in, 20, 347;
dolicho-cephalic skulls in, 215.
Bell, Professor, on the ass, 77.
Bertrand, M. Eugène, cited, 175.
Billaudel, M., cited, 18.
Birkbeck, Mr., cited, 35;
descends into Helln Pot, 43.
Bishofferode, cave at, 4.
Bison, the, 80, 266, 359.
Blackmore, Dr., cited, 268, 269.
Black-Rock Cave, the, near Tenby, 68.
Blake, Mr. Carter, cited, 144.
Blyth, Mr., cited, 393.
Boar, the wild, 76, 79.
Bone-beds, the, in Wookey Hole Hyæna-den, 305-307.
Bone-caves, before and after the ice-period, 408;
exploration of, in Great Britain, 13;
in Southern Europe, 21, 370, 373, 375, 377;
the three classes of, 10.
Bone harpoon, found in Victoria Cave, 111.
Bones gnawed by hyænas, 282.
Bonney, Rev. T. G., cited, 28.
_Bos longifrons_, 78, 88, 125, 131, 133, 136, 144, 150, 166, 194,
256, 262, 269.
_Bos namadicus_, 428.
Bosco’s Den, 288.
Boulder clays, 403.
Brachy-cephali, the Belgian, 199, 219;
British, 193, 199;
French, 199, 202, 203;
represented by Celts, 229.
Bradley, Mr., cited, 190.
Brandt, Professor, cited, 399;
on the Irish Elk, 401.
Brenan, Mr., discoveries of, in Ireland, 335.
Bristol Channel, the, 290.
Britain, cave exploration in, 13;
during the second ice age, 406;
historic caves in, 81;
historic period in, 75;
inhabitants of, in the neolithic age, 191;
in the pleistocene age, 366;
mammalia in, during the second ice age, 406;
population of in time of Cæsar, 224;
raids of Picts and Scots in, 105;
range of dolicho-cephali in, and Ireland, 194;
Roman dominion in, 103;
two periods of glaciation in, 401;
wild animals in, 75.
British brachy-cephali, 198, 199.
Brit-Welsh caves, 129, 130.
Brixham, caves at, 16, 319;
implements and animals in, 320;
history of deposits in, 321.
Broca, M., cited, 156;
on Basque crania, 213;
on the Caverne de l’Homme Mort, 198, 200, 201;
derivation of the Basques from Africa, 227, 228;
on platycnemic _tibiæ_, 175;
sepulchral cave of Orrouy, 202.
Brome, Captain, researches of, 21, 204.
Bronze age in Britain, caves of the, 141;
armlet from Thor’s cave, 128;
articles from Heathery Burn, 142.
Brooches found in the Victoria cave, 98.
Brown, Mr. Edwin, on Thor’s cave, 128.
Browne, the Rev. G. F., explorations of, 26;
on the temperature of caves, 72.
Bruniquel, cave of, 40;
description of, 247;
interments of doubtful age in, 248.
Bryce, Dr., cited, 405.
Brysgill, cave of, 160.
_Bubalus namadicus_, 428.
Buckland, Dr., cited, 13, 18, 30, 120, 240, 293, 295, 300;
on Gailenreuth cave, 273, 274;
Kirkdale, 14, 280, 281, 283;
Kühloch, 276;
Paviland, 234.
Buffalo in Italy, 81.
Busk, Professor, cited, 13, 120, 155, 162, 189, 259;
on fossil bones in the Iberian peninsula, 372;
human bones from Perthi-Chwareu caves, 166-179;
human remains from Cefn tumulus, 180-186;
human skull from caves of Césaroda, 146, 147;
skulls found in Spain, 208, 209;
the Berbers, 212;
the fauna of Mentone, 373;
researches of, in caves of Gibraltar, 204-208, 371.
C.
Calcareous rocks, caves in, 25.
Caldy, cave of, 62, 63;
cave-pearls in, 66;
fungoid stalagmites in, 67;
island of, 289.
Campbell, Dr., cited, 196.
_Canis familiaris_, 131, 144, 150, 157, 166, 256;
_lupus_, 166;
_vulpes_, 131, 150, 166.
Capellini, Professor, cited, 258;
on the Grotta dei Colombi, 259.
_Capra hircus_, 131, 150, 166.
Carbonate of lime, circulation of, 71;
in Thames water, 70;
removed by streams, 69.
Cartaillac, M., cited, 247.
Carte, Dr., cited, 335.
Cat, Caffir, 394; domestic, 77, 81.
Cat-Hole cave, in Gower, 145.
Cave-pearls, 66.
Caves, biological division of, 6-9;
classification of palæolithic, 351;
conclusions as to prehistoric, 261;
containing remains of doubtful age, 232;
contents of historic, 131;
deposits in valleys and in, 272, 273;
exploration of European, 11;
filling up of, 61;
formation of, 50;
historic, in Britain, 81;
in the region of Craven, 106;
legends and superstitions of, 2;
not generally found in line of faults, 57;
of bronze age in Britain, 141;
of neolithic age, 149;
physical division of, 5;
physical history of, 23, 65;
relation of, to Pot-holes, “Cirques,” and Ravines, 27, 54;
results of the exploration of European, 430;
temperature of, 71;
test of age of deposits in, 410;
used as places of refuge, 102;
various ages of, 58;
Albert, 101;
of Andalusia, 208, 209;
Aquitaine, 347, 354;
Aurignac, 243;
Avison, 18;
Banwell, 293;
Baumann’s Hole, 12;
Baume, 337;
Belgium, 347;
Bishofferode, 4;
Black Rock, 68;
Bosco’s Den, 288;
Britain, 278;
Brit-Welsh, 130;
Brixham, 319;
Bruniquel, 247;
Brysgill, 160;
Caldy, 62;
Canary Isles, 211;
Cat-Hole, 145;
Cavillon, 257;
Cefn, 164, 166, 286;
Césareda, 145;
Chauvaux, 215;
Colombi, 258;
Crawley Rocks, 288;
Cro-Magnon, 249;
Denbighshire, 18;
Derbyshire, 284;
Devonshire, 317;
Dowkerbottom, 101;
Dream, the, 284;
Engis, 234;
Fingal, 24;
France, 336;
Franconia, 12;
Gailenreuth, 273;
Gatekirk, 50;
Gendron, 239;
Genista, 205, 371;
Gibraltar, 204, 371;
Goatchurch, 31-34;
Gower, 288;
Heathery Burn, 141;
Hutton, 292;
Ingleborough, 36;
Ireland, 365;
Kelko, 101;
Kent’s-Hole, 324;
King Arthur, 290;
King’s Scar, 112;
Kirkdale, 280;
Kirkhead, 125;
Kühloch, 276;
Laugerie Basse, 339;
L’Homme Mort, 198, 200;
Llandebie, 194;
Llanamynech, 34;
Lombrive, 256;
Longberry Bank, 133;
Long Churn, 41;
Lunel-viel, 336, 375;
Maccagnone, 376;
Maghlak, 377;
Malta, 377;
Moustier, 341;
Naulette, 349;
Neanderthal, 240;
North Wales, 286;
Oban, 195;
Orrouy, 202;
Paviland, 232;
Peak, 34;
Pembrokeshire, 289;
Périgord, 337;
Perthi-Chwareu, 152, 157, 167;
Plas Heaton, 160, 287;
Poole, 34, 126;
Provence and Mentone, 373;
Reggio, 148;
Rians, 373;
Rhosdigre, 156, 166, 188;
San Ciro, 376;
Sclaigneaux, 218;
Sicily, 375;
South Wales, 288;
Thor’s, 127;
Uphill, 294;
Victoria, 81, 110, 118, 121, 284, 411;
Weathercote, 47;
Whitcombe, 140;
Woman’s, 210;
Wookey, 17, 29;
Yorkshire, 101, 278.
Caverne de l’Homme Mort, 198, 200.
Cavillon, cave of, 257;
palæolithic skeletons in, 257;
strata in, 374.
Cedars of Lebanon, the, Dr. Hooker on, 382.
Cefn, caves at, 286;
chambered tomb near, 161;
discovery of bones at, 15, 159;
Professor Busk on human remains from tumulus at, 180-184;
on skull from, 184-167.
Celts, brachy-cephali represented by, 229.
_Cervus alcis_, 137;
_capreolus_, 131, 150, 166;
_carnutorum_, 419, 424;
_elaphus_, 131, 150, 166;
_Polignacus_, 418, 419, 424;
_Sedgwickii_, 419, 424;
_verticornis_, 419, 424.
Césareda, caves of, 145;
evidence of cannibalism in, 147.
Chautre, M., cited, 403.
Chapel-en-le-Dale, valley of, 49, 56.
Chauvaux, cave of, 20, 215.
Chester, sack of, 110.
Chierici, l’Abbé, on remains from the cave of Reggio, 148.
Chillingham ox, the, 77, 90.
Christol, M. de, cited, 376.
Christy, Mr., cited, 19;
on the caves of Périgord, 337.
“Cirques” in calcareous rocks, 56.
Classification of pleistocene strata, 412-414.
Classificatory value of historic animals, 78.
Close, Rev. H. M., cited, 402.
Climate, evidence of animals as to, 392, 401;
pleistocene, 398.
Coast line of North-Western Europe in pleistocene age, 362.
Cochrane, Sir James, cited, 208.
Coins in the Victoria cave, Settle, 93.
Corsica, absence of cliffs in, 390.
Crania from Genista cave, 207.
Cranial terms, definition of, 190.
Craven, caves near, 106.
Crawley Rocks, the cavern of, 288.
Crayford, discovery of a flint-flake at, 416.
Cro-Magnon, cave of, 249;
ornaments found in, 254;
position of human skeletons in, 253;
section of deposits in, 250;
the human _tibiæ_ of, 176;
traces of occupation in, 251.
Cuvier, Baron, cited, 12, 13, 18.
D.
Dalebeck, the, course of, 49.
Dana, Professor, on caverns, 58.
Darbishire, Mr. R. D., reference to, 93.
Dauphiny, the hills of, 404.
Delgado, Senhor J. L., on researches in the caves of Césareda, 145,
146.
De Luc, M., cited, 12.
Denbighshire, sepulchral caves in, 18.
Denny, Mr., cited, 120.
Derbyshire, caves of, 284.
Desnoyers, M., cited, 25, 26, 28;
on the analogy between caverns and mineral veins, 57;
relation of caves to ravines, 55.
Devonshire, caves of, 317.
Dio Chrysostom Rhetor on the lion, 80.
Dog, the (_see_ _Canis familiaris_).
Dolicho-cephali, British, 191, 192;
their range in Britain and Ireland, 194-197;
cognate with the Basque, 218;
of Gibraltar, 204-207.
Dormouse of Malta, the, 267.
Dowkerbottom cave, 101, 102.
Dream-cave, near Wirksworth, 284.
Dubrueil, M., cited, 18.
Dupont, M., cited, 216, 237, 239;
discoveries of, 21, 235;
investigations of, in Dinant-sur-Meuse, 348;
on the Trou de Naulette, 349.
Durdham Down, fissures of, 291.
Dürnten, the lignite bed of, 404.
E.
Eagle, the, 150.
“Ebur fossile,” 11.
Egerton, Sir Philip, cited, 273.
Elephant, the African, 21;
found near Madrid, 372;
in Sicily, 376, 394.
_Elephas antiquus_, 266, 281, 373, 376, 400, 404, 417;
_melitensis_, 378, 400;
_meridionalis_, 266, 379, 419, 422, 424;
_namadicus_, 427;
_primigenius_ (_see_ _Mammoth_);
(_stegodon_) _insignis_, 427.
Elk, the, 79, 137.
Elmet, conquest of, 109.
Enamels in the north of England, 100;
mentioned by Philostratus, 101.
Engis, cave of, 234.
English invasion, the, 107.
Enniskillen, Lord, cited, 273.
_Equus fossilis_ of pleiocene age, 421.
Eskimos, art of the, 356;
implements of the, 354;
in Europe, 425;
probably the representatives of cave-dwellers, 358;
relation of cave-dwellers to, 353.
Esper, cited, 273.
Europe, Antiquity of man in, 424;
climatal changes on the continent of, 403;
pleistocene mammalia pre-glacial in, 404;
species of mammalia in Africa, and, 380;
Southern, bone-caves of, 370;
fauna in caves of, 368.
Evans, Mr. John, cited, 17, 147, 158, 243, 248, 267;
on coins, 94;
on the iron, bronze, and stone ages, 139;
on the palæolithic cave-dwellers, 351.
Evidence of soundings in Southern Europe, 380.
F.
Fairy Chamber, the, Caldy, 63, 64.
Falconer, Dr., cited, 17, 21, 156, 175, 281, 288, 316, 362, 404,
416, 418, 421, 425, 427;
on bones from San Ciro, 376;
on mammals in the Iberian peninsula, 372;
on the fauna of the forest bed, 420;
on the hippopotamus, 377;
on the _Hippopotamus namadicus_, 428, 429;
researches of, in caves of Gibraltar, 204-207.
Fallow deer, the, 77;
in Britain, 131;
in France, 80;
in Spain and Africa, 380.
Falsan, M., cited, 403.
Farrer, Mr., explorations of, 36;
on coins, 102;
on remains from Dowkerbottom cave, 113;
stalagmite, 39.
Fauna, cave, identical with river-bed, 362;
changes in the, of Great Britain, 78;
of Montpellier, 421;
of Southern Europe, 368, 373;
the pleiocene, 420;
the pleistocene, 393, 417;
the prehistoric, 136, 137.
_Felis caffer_, the, 138, 266, 388;
in Iberian peninsula, 372;
in Somerset, 394.
Fellowes, Sir Charles, cited, 164.
Fibulæ, enamelled, 99.
Fingal’s cave, 24.
Fischer, Dr. Gothelf, on the panther, 400.
Fisher, Rev. O., discovers a flint-flake at Crayford, 416.
Fisherton, valley-gravels at, 268.
Fissures, 37, 58;
of Durdham Down, 291;
of Mentone, 373;
of Windmill Hill, 371.
Flint flakes and scrapers in caves of Périgord, 339;
in caves of Mentone, 373;
in Perthi-Chwareu, 166;
Wookey Hole, 298.
Florus on the Aquitani, 7.
Foote, Mr. Bruce, cited, 156;
on flint implements from Madras, 426.
Fossil mammalia from the German Ocean, 364, 365.
Foville, M., cited, 170.
Fowl, the domestic, 77, 80.
Fox, the Arctic, 348, 396, 400.
Fraas, Professor, cited, 350, 409.
France, Basque peoples in, 226;
caves in, 18, 242, 336;
skulls from tumuli in, 203;
the dolicho-cephali and brachy-cephali in, 198.
Franconia, caves of, 12.
Franks, Mr., cited, 206;
on drawings of palæolithic hunters, 345;
on enamelling, 100;
on “late Celtic” art, 96, 99.
Freeman, Mr. E. A., on the dominion of West Wales in the days of
Ecgberht, 130;
on the Norman Conquest, 108.
Freshford, pleistocene deposits at, 269.
Fuhlrott, Dr., skull found by, 240.
G.
Gailenreuth, cave of, 12, 240, 273;
filled by a stream, 275.
Garonne, valley of the, 366.
Garrigou, M., cited, 316.
Gatekirk cavern, 50.
Gaudin, M. Charles, cited, 376.
Gaudry, Professor, cited, 421;
on fossil remains at Pickermi, 369.
Gaul and Spain, the peoples of, 220.
Gautier, M., cited, 247.
Geikie, Mr. James, cited, 263.
Geikie, Professor A., cited, 405.
Gendron, cave of, 239.
Genista, caves, the, 205;
articles in, 206;
human remains in, 207, 371.
Geography, pleistocene, 398.
German Ocean, fossil mammalia in, 364.
German race, the ancient, 230.
Germany, bears in, 278;
cave-exploration in, 11, 12.
Gervais, M., cited, 19;
list of pleiocene mammalia by, 420;
on _Equus robustus_, 421;
on mammalia from Algeria, 379.
Gesner, Dr., cited, 11.
Gibraltar, the neolithic caves of, 204, 371;
the Straits of, 389.
Gildas on the character of the English conquest, 104, 108.
Glacial period, the, 407;
the relation of palæolithic man to, 409.
Glaciation in Britain, two periods of, 401.
Glaciers of Alps, 403;
of Anatolia, 383;
of Lebanon, 382;
in Mediterranean area caused partly by elevation, 387;
of Pyrenees, 404.
Glutton, the, 206, 275, 396;
jaw of, from Plas Heaton cave, 287.
Goat, the (_see_ _Capra hircus_).
Goatchurch cave, 31, 32;
legend of the dog at, 34.
Goldfuss cited, 18, 273.
Godwin-Austen, Mr., cited, 263, 388, 405;
on the fresh-water mussel, 364;
researches of, 15.
Gosse, M., cited, 170, 193, 350.
Gower, caves of, 288.
Great Britain, cave-exploration in, 13;
historic period in, 75.
Green, Rev. J. R., on the conquest of Britain, 96.
Greenwell, Rev. Canon, discoveries of, in tumuli, 195.
Grey clays in Victoria cave, 116.
Grotto di Maccagnone, 376;
dei Colombi inhabited by cannibals, 258;
thigh-bone of child from, 260.
Guanches of the Canary Isles, the, 211.
Gunn, Rev. John, cited, 418.
H.
Harkness, Professor, cited, 402.
Hamy, Dr., cited, 349, 352;
on the cave-bear, 352.
Hare, the, at Perthi-Chwareu, 150, 166;
in Suabia, 395;
mentioned, 266, 348;
used for food in neolithic times, 165, 217, 373.
Harpoons used by palæolithic hunters, 342.
Heathery Burn, cave of, 141;
bronze articles in, 144.
Heaton, Mr., cited, 287.
Heer, Professor, on vegetables used in Swiss lake dwellings, 137.
Helln Pot, descent into, 41;
description of, 45;
exploration of, 43.
Hipparion found in Suffolk, 422;
_gracile_, 424.
Hippopotamus, 266;
_amphibius_, 138, 370, 394, 395, 417;
_liberiensis_, 377;
_major_, 377, 418;
_namadicus_, 428;
_palæindicus_, 427;
_Pentlandi_ (pigmy), 267, 377, 378, 400.
Historic animals, 75, 78;
period, definition of, 75;
period, difference between, and prehistoric, 134.
History, the evidence of, as to the peoples of Gaul and Spain, 220.
Hooker, Dr., cited, 386;
on the cedars of Lebanon, 382, 383.
Horse, the, 136, 150, 166, 399, 418.
Horseflesh, the use of, 132.
Howel Dha, the laws of, 77.
Hughes, Professor, cited, 287.
Hull, Professor, cited, 402.
Hunting grounds of palæolithic tribes, 367.
Hutton, cave of, 292.
Huxley, Professor, cited, 144, 155, 179;
on brachy-cephalic skulls, 193;
on dolicho-cephalic skulls, 195;
on the classification of crania, 190;
on the skull from Engis cave, 235;
on the skull from Neanderthal cave, 241.
Hyæna, the, animals at Wookey Hole introduced by, 310;
bones gnawed by, 282, 316;
gnawed jaw of, from Wookey, 313;
man coeval with, in Somerset, 300;
_Perrieri_, 421;
the, pleistocene occupation of, in Victoria cave, 118;
_spelæa_ (spotted), 138, 266, 372, 375, 394;
striped, 266, 336, 394.
Hyæna-den, characters of a, 314;
Kirkdale, 279.
I.
Iberian peoples, 225;
peninsula, the mammals in, 372.
Iberic dolicho-cephali, the, 212.
Ice period in Britain, 402, 406, 408.
Implements used by palæolithic hunters, 340, 366.
India, man in, in pleistocene age, 426.
Ingleborough cave, 36, 37.
Ireland, caves in, 335;
dolicho-cephalic skulls in, 194-197.
Irish-Celtic art, 97.
Irish Elk, the, 79, 137, 278, 401.
Iron age, the, cave of, 140, 141.
Issoire, pseudo-pleiocene mammalia of, 420.
Italy, animals in the museums of, 422.
J.
Jackson, Mr. Joseph, discovers the Victoria cave, 81, 84.
Jamieson, Mr., cited, 405.
Jeanjean, M., cited, 18.
Jewellery in Victoria cave, 95.
Jones, Professor Rupert, cited, 350.
K.
Kelko cave, 101.
Kent’s Hole cavern, 14, 17, 324, 325;
age of _machairodus_ of, 330;
deposits in, 326, 327;
the breccia in, 328, 329.
King, Rev. S. W., researches of, 246.
King’s Scar, cave in, carinate human femur in, 112, 195.
Kirkdale cave, 14, 279.
Kirkhead cave, 125.
Kühloch cave, 276, 277.
L.
Laing, Mr., cited, 178;
skulls obtained by, 195, 196.
Lagneaux, M., cited, 238, 239.
Lances used by palæolithic hunters, 342.
Laugerie Basse, cave at, 339.
Lartet, Professor E., cited, 19, 340, 414;
explorations of, 244;
on fossil remains found near Madrid, 372;
on the cave of Aurignac, 243;
on the cave of Périgord, 337;
on palæolithic caves, 351.
Lartet, Professor Louis, on the cave of Cro-Magnon, 250-252.
Lastic, Vicomte de, cited, 247.
Lebanon, the glaciers of, 382, 383.
Ledbury Hill, skull found near, 242.
Leibnitz, cited, 12.
Lemming, the, 138, 237, 266, 348.
_Lepus cuniculus_, 146, 150, 166, 373;
_timidus_ (_see_ Hare).
Ligurian tribes, the, 220, 222.
Limestone, caverns in, 26;
composition of, 51;
erosion of, 52.
Lion, the, 266, 348, 373;
extinct in Europe, 80;
range of, 393.
_Littorina littorea_ found in Cro-Magnon cave, 254.
Llanamynech, caves at, 34.
Llandebie, cave of, 194.
Lloyd, Mr., cited, 15, 286.
Lombrive, cave of, 256.
Longberry Bank, cave of, 133.
Long Churn cavern, the, 41.
Lortet, M., cited, 344.
Luard, Captain, discovers fossil mammals at Windsor, 365.
Lubbock, Sir John, cited, 243, 359;
on the stone age, 139.
Lunel-viel, cave of, 336, 375.
Lunier, Dr., cited, 170.
Lyell, Sir Charles, cited, 19, 235, 257, 267, 333, 402;
on the cave of Aurignac, 243, 245;
on the glacial period, 408.
Lynx, the, 146, 266.
M.
Maccagnone, Grotto di, 376.
_Machairodus cultridens_, 266;
_latidens_, 400, 417;
a pleiocene species, 332;
at Kent’s Hole, 324, 334;
in the cave at Baume, 337;
probable age of, 330.
Mackay, Mr., cited, 195.
Madras, flint implements found near, 426.
Madrid, fossil animals near, 372.
Maghlak cave, 377.
Malham Cove, 55.
Malta, bone-caves of, 377.
Mammalia, classification of pleistocene strata by means of, 412-415;
early pleistocene, 417;
evidence of, as to climate, 392;
in Algeria, 379;
in Britain during the second ice-age, 406;
in the Iberian peninsula, 372;
the pleiocene, 420.
Mammoth, the, 266, 278, 359, 401;
figure of, 346.
Man, antiquity of, in Europe, 424;
coeval with hyænas in Somerset, 300;
in India in pleistocene age, 426;
in Palestine, 429.
Manchester Museum, mammoth from Bacton in the, 420.
_Mangousta Widdringtoni_, the, in Spain and Africa, 380.
Marcel de Serres, cited, 18, 336, 375.
Marmot, the, 337, 395;
the pouched, 395.
Marion, M., cited, 373.
Martinez, Don Manuel Gongaray, on the prehistoric antiquities of
Andalusia, 209.
_Mastodon arvernensis_, 331, 332, 422-424;
_Borsoni_, 423, 424;
_brevirostris_, 422.
Maw, Mr. George, on coast of Mediterranean, 389;
on glaciers of the Atlas, 386;
on level in the Sahara, 390.
McEnery, Rev. J., discovers the _Machairodus latidens_ in Kent’s
Hole cavern, 330;
manuscripts of, 15.
McPherson, Mr., cited, 210.
Mediterranean area in meiocene age, changes of level in, 369, 390.
Mediterranean, the, physical condition of, in pleistocene age, 381,
388;
the shores of, 382.
Medlicott, Mr., cited, 427.
_Meles taxus_, 131, 144, 150, 166.
Mendip Hills, the, 59;
the caves of, 292;
the district of, 314.
Mentone, bone-caves of, 373.
Metcalfe, Mr., cited, 35;
descends into Helln Pot, 43.
Mineral condition of deposits in caves, 273.
Moggridge, Mr., cited, 373;
on the exploration of Mentone, 374.
Montpellier, the fauna of, 421.
Moraines in Anatolia, 384.
Morris, Mr. J. P., explores Kirkhead cave, 125.
Mortillet, M. de, on palæolithic caves, 353;
on pottery in the palæolithic age, 347.
Moustier, cave of, 341.
Murcièlagos, Cueva de los, description of, 209.
Musk sheep, the, 138, 266;
at Crayford, 416;
range of, 396.
_Myoxus Melitensis_, 377.
N.
Naulette, Trou de, remains found in the, 349.
Neanderthal cave, the, 21;
human skull found in, 240.
Neolithic age, interments of, 158.
Neolithic caves of France, 198;
of Gibraltar, 204;
of Spain, 208;
of Wales, 159, 166.
Neolithic races, range of, 189.
Nilsson, Professor, cited, 163;
on dwarfs, 2;
on origin of chambered tombs, 164, 165.
North Wales, the caves of, 286.
O.
Oban, remains in a cave at, 195.
Oreston cave, 13, 317;
_Rhinoceros megarhinus_ of, 415.
Orrouy, the sepulchral cave of, 202.
Owen, Professor, cited, 196, 324;
on the cave of Bruniquel, 247, 248.
Oxford Museum, the, human skull from cave of Llandebie in, 194;
molar of pigmy hippopotamus in, 378.
P.
Palæolithic art, 257;
caves, classification of, 351, 352;
hunters, instruments used by, 340;
hunters, not cannibals, 347;
implements, 354, 366;
man in Europe, 395, 429;
man, relation of, to glacial period, 409;
man in India, 426;
man in Palestine, 429;
man of the river-gravels, 351;
tribes, hunting grounds of, 367.
Palestine, palæolithic man in, 429.
Palgrave, Mr. Gifford, on glaciers of Anatolia, 383-385.
Panther, the, 266, 400.
Parker, Mr. James, cited, 30, 141, 194.
Paviland cave, 232.
Peak, cavern of the, 34.
Pembrokeshire, caves in, 289.
Pengelly, Mr., cited, 333;
on Brixham cave, 16, 323;
on Cavillon cave, 258;
on Devonshire caves, 317.
Pennington, Mr., cited, 126, 285.
Périgord, caves of, 19;
articles found in the, 337-339.
Perthes, M. Boucher de, on flint implements, 16, 17.
Perthi-Chwareu, pottery and implements from, 157;
Professor Busk on human bones from, 167-179;
refuse heap at, 149;
remains of animals at, 151, 153-155, 187;
remains of man at, 153-155;
sepulchral caves at, 152.
Phahlbauten, the Swiss, 165.
Phillips, Professor, cited, 284, 405, 411;
on formation of caves, 53;
on stalagmite, 39, 40;
on the Ingleborough cave, 36;
on the origin of caves, 26.
Physiography of Great Britain in late pleistocene age, 363;
of Mediterranean in pleistocene age, 381.
Picts and Scots, raids of, in Britain, 105.
Pickermi, fossil remains at, 369.
Plas Heaton, the tunnel-cave of, 160, 287.
Platycnemic leg-bones, 173-176.
Platycnemism, Professor Busk on, 177-179.
Pleiocene and pleistocene characteristic animals, 423;
species in Europe, mixture of, 418.
Pleiocene mammalia, the, 420;
period, the, 424;
species, _machairodus_ a, 332, 333.
Pleistocene age, the, 10;
animals living in, 359-361;
physiography of Mediterranean in, 381, 388;
remains of animals before the, 60;
climate and geography, 395;
coast-line of North-Western Europe, 362;
divisions, early, 417;
divisions, late, 414;
divisions, middle, 415;
relation of, to prehistoric period, 264, 265;
strata, classification of, 412.
Po, the river, 389.
Poole’s cavern, 34, 126.
Pot-holes and “cirques” in calcareous rocks, 56.
Porcupine, in Spain and Africa, 380;
found in Belgium, 395.
Prehistoric period, the, archæological classification of, 138;
conditions of life in, 262;
difference between the historic and, 134;
relation of pleistocene to, 264.
Prestwich, Mr., cited, 267, 271, 416;
on Brixham cave, 321, 322;
on carbonate of lime in Thames water, 69;
on the discoveries in the valley of the Somme, 17;
on the denudation of the Mendips and Ardennes, 61;
on palæolithic man, 410.
Provence, bone-caves of, 373.
Pruner-Bey, Dr., cited, 193.
Prunières, Dr., cited, 200.
_Purpura lapillus_ in cave of Cro-Magnon, 254.
Pyrenees, the, animals living to the North of the Alps and, 359-361;
glaciers of, 403.
Q.
Quatrefages, M. de, cited, 238.
R.
Rabbit, the (_see_ _lepus cuniculus_).
Ramsay, Professor, cited, 402.
Rat, the common, migrations of, 76.
Rattonneau, island of, 373.
Ravines, 54.
Reggio, cave of, in Modena, 148.
Reindeer, the, 76, 79, 278;
absence of, in middle pleistocene division, 416;
engraving of, 345, 356;
in the cave of Lombrive, 256;
in the caves of Périgord, 338;
in the Trou du Frontal, 237;
--period of M. Lartet, 414;
range of, 396.
Rhætic age, fossils of, 59.
_Rhinoceros etruscus_, 418, 419, 424;
_hemitœchus_, 281, 288, 372, 400, 417;
_megarhinus_, 266, 334, 400, 404, 415, 416-418;
_tichorhinus_ (woolly), 119, 138, 278, 400.
Rhosdigre cave, 188;
contents of, 166;
greenstone celt from, 156.
Rians, cave of, 373.
Richard, the Abbé, cited, 429.
Rivière, M., explorations of, 257, 373, 375.
Roedeer, the, 76.
Rolleston, Dr., cited, 195;
discovery of pigmy hippopotamus by, 378.
Roman dominion in Britain, 103, 104.
Rosenmüller, cited, 12, 13, 273.
Rütimeyer, Professor, cited, 136, 404.
S.
Sahara, the, changes of level in, 309.
Samian ware in the Victoria cave, 92;
in the Dowkerbottom cave, 102.
San Ciro, cave of, 376.
Schaaffhausen, M., cited, 147;
on the skull from Neanderthal, 241.
Schmerling, Dr., cited, 395;
researches of, 20, 234, 347.
Sclaigneaux, cave of, 218;
platycnemic tibia from, 219.
Sanford, Mr., Ayshford, cited, 31, 63, 140, 293, 307, 394.
Second ice or glacial period, 406.
Selsea, remains found at, 405.
Serres, M. de, cited, 19.
Serval, the, 21, 372, 394.
Sicily, bone-caves of, 21;
the Iberians in, 222;
species from, 376.
Skulls, measurements of brachy-cephalic and dolicho-cephalic, 199;
from Perthi-Chwareu, 171;
of doubtful antiquity, 236;
table of dolicho-cephalic, found in Britain and Ireland, 197.
Smith, Mr. Roach, on Roman coins, 83.
Smith, Rev. G. N., on Tenby bone-caves, 289.
Solutré, horse’s skeleton from, 344.
Somerset, hyænas in, 301;
mammalia in the caves of, 366.
Soreil, M., on the cave of Chauvaux, 216.
Soundings, evidence of, in Southern Europe, 380.
South Wales, caves of, 288;
mammalia in, 366.
Southern Europe, bone-caves of, 21.
Spain, articles found in a copper-mine in, 208;
historical evidence as to the peoples of Gaul and, 220-222.
Spratt, Admiral, explorations of, 21, 377.
Spring, Dr., discoveries of, 20;
on the cave of Chauvaux, 215, 216.
Stag, the, 76, 138.
Stalagmite, rate of the accumulation of, 39.
Stanley, Rev. E., cited, 286.
_Sus Indica_, the, 137.
_Sus palustris_, 262.
_Sus scrofa_, 131, 150, 166.
Switzerland, caves of, 350.
Symonds, Rev. W. S., explores King Arthur’s cave, 290, 291.
T.
Tapir, the 423.
Temperature of caves, 71.
Tenby, cave of Caldy near, 62;
the Black Rock near, 68.
Thames water, carbonate of lime in, 69, 70.
Thomas, Rev. D. R., on chambered tomb at Cefn, 163.
Thor’s cave, near Ashbourne, 127;
occupied by Brit-Welsh, 129.
Thurnam, Dr., cited, 144;
on classification of crania, 190;
on craniology of Britain in neolithic age, 191;
on dolicho-cephalic skulls, 192;
on skulls from cave of Orrouy, 202.
Tiddeman, Mr., on the Victoria cave, 85, 122.
Troglodytes, name of, 6.
_Trogontherium cuvieri_, 419, 424.
Tropical and cold climates, animals common to, 400.
Trou du Frontal, 236;
crania in, 238.
Tunbridge Wells, rocks at, 25.
Turner, Professor, on remains in a cave at Oban, 195.
_Turritella communis_ in cave of Cro-Magnon, 254.
Tuto, islands of, caves in, 59.
Tyddyn Bleiddyn, cairn of, 188.
U.
Ultz, burial-places of, in Westphalia, 147.
_Unio pictorum_ dredged from bottom of English Channel, 364.
Uphill, cave of, 294; skull from, 194.
Urus, the, 77, 80, 136, 373, 399.
_Ursus arctos_, 166, 335.
_Ursus arvernensis_, 418, 419, 422, 424.
_Ursus spelæus_, 375.
V.
Val d’Arno, fauna of the, 422.
Valleys, change in physical conditions of, 271;
deposits in caves and, 272;
in limestone districts, 54;
strata of sand and gravel in, 267, 268.
Victoria cave, the, bones of animals in, 88;
Brit-Welsh stratum in, 87;
bronze articles in, 90;
coins in, 93;
date of neolithic occupation in, 115;
discovery of, 81;
exploration of, 85;
grey clays in, 116;
human bone from oldest ossiferous stratum in, 411;
implements and ornaments in, 83, 95;
miscellaneous articles in, 90;
period of Brit-Welsh occupation in, 110;
pleistocene occupation by hyænas in, 118, 284;
pre-glacial age of pleistocene stratum in, 121-123, 411.
Vivian, Mr., cited, 15.
Virchow, Professor, cited, 238;
on dolicho-cephalic skulls, 217.
Vogt, Professor, cited, 257.
W.
Water, action of, in caves, 62.
Water caves of Derbyshire, 34;
of Somersetshire, 29;
of Yorkshire, 35, 50.
Weathercote, caves at, 47.
Whidbey, Mr., cited, 13.
Whitcombe’s Hole, a cave of the Iron Age, 140, 141.
Willett, Mr., cited, 295, 303.
Williams, Rev. D., explorations of, 292.
Williams, Rev John, on caverns in island of Tuto, 59.
Williamson, Rev. J., cited, 295, 296.
Wilson, Professor, cited, 196.
Winterbourne Stoke, the barrow of, 192.
Winwood, Rev. H. H., cited, 163;
discovers remains of animals at Freshford, 269;
explores the cave at Longberry Bank, 133.
Wolf, the, 400;
in Britain, 131;
in Spain, 146;
last, in Scotland, 76.
Woman’s cave, the, near Alhama, 210.
Wood, Colonel, cited, 17.
Wookey Hole, hyæna den of, 17, 295, 301, 302;
ashes and implements found at, 308;
bone-beds at, 305;
flint implements found at, 298;
hyæna den of, inhabited by man, 313;
legend of the dog at, 34;
the water cave of, 29.
X.
Xenophon on the panther, 80.
Y.
Yorkshire, caves in, 101, 278.
THE END.
LONDON: R. CLAY, SONS, AND TAYLOR, PRINTERS.
FOOTNOTES
[1] The Natural History of the Hartz Forest (Hercynia Curiosa),
translated from the German of H. Behrens, M.D., by John Andree, 1670,
p. 41.
[2] Florus, lib. iii. c. x. Delphin. 4to. 1714, p. 112.
[3] Since this was written, Sir C. Lyell has withdrawn his term
“Post-pleiocene” in favour of Pleistocene. (“Antiquity of Man,” 4th
edition, 1873.)
[4] Hist. Anim. vol. i. Folio, 1603. Article “Monoceras.”
[5] Described by Professor Owen, Quart. Geol. Journ. p. 417. See
Hanbury on “Chinese Materia Medica,” 1862, 8vo. p. 40. Some of the
dragons’ teeth were found in caves by Mr. Swinhoe.
[6] Hercynia Curiosa.
[7] See Cuvier, Oss. Foss. vol. iv. pp. 290 et seq.
[8] The references are to be found in Cuvier, top. cit. and in
Buckland, “Reliquiæ Diluvianæ,” 4to. 1822. Most of them I have verified.
[9] Phil. Trans. 1817, p. 176.
[10] Pengelly, “Literature of Kent’s Cavern,” Devonshire Association.
1868-9. “Kent’s Hole,” Lecture, delivered in Hulme Town Hall, 1872.
[11] Comptes Rendus, 1847, pp. 649-50, et 1864, p. 230.
[12] Prestwich, Phil. Trans. 1860. Proceed. Royal Soc. 1859.
[13] Quart. Geol. Journ. Jan. 1861.
[14] Falconer, Palæont. Mem. vol. ii. p. 498.
[15] Rep. Brit. Assoc. 1865-72.
[16] The authorities for this paragraph are Cuvier (Oss. Foss.),
Desnoyers (Article “Grottes,” Dictionnaire Univ. d’Histoire Naturelle),
Marcel de Serres (Cavernes à Oss. Foss. du Département de l’Aude,
1839), Gervais (Paléontologie Française, 1859, and Nouvelles Recherches
sur les Animaux Vertébrés, Vivants et Fossiles, 1868-9-70).
[17] An. des Sc.: Nat. Zool. iv. sér. t. xv.
[18] Reliquiæ Aquitanicæ.
[19] Recherches sur les Oss. Foss. découverts dans les Cavernes de la
Province de Liège, 4to. atlas folio.
[20] Bull. de l’Académie Royale de Belgique, 1 sér. t. xx. p. 427,
1853; 2 sér. t. xviii. p. 479, 1864; xxii. p. 187, 1866.
[21] L’Homme pendant les Ages de la Pierre dans les Environs de Dinant
sur Meuse. Bruxelles, 1871. 2nd edit., 1872.
[22] Ice-caves, 8vo. 1865, Longmans.
[23] D’Orbigny, Dictionnaire Universel d’Histoire Naturelle, Article
“Grottes.”
[24] Quart. Geol. Journ. xxvii. 312.
[25] When the English conquered Somerset from the Brit-Welsh, they
translated the Celtic Ogo into Hole, whence the cave and village of
Wookey Hole were named, just as they translated a neighbouring hill,
called Pen, into Knowle, the generic Celtic term in each case being
used to specify a particular object. There are many other instances of
the like use of a Celtic name by the English conquerors of the Celts.
In the Limestone plateau of Llanamynech, near Oswestry, there is a cave
called “The Ogo.”
[26] Phil. Trans. 1680, p. 1.
[27] The cave is accessible, and can be examined without any climbing.
[28] Both of these caves are kept in excellent order, and the latter is
lighted with gas.
[29] The cave is admirably preserved by the care of the owner, J.
Farrer, Esq., and may be visited without any difficulty.
[30] Rivers, Mountains, and Sea-coast of Yorkshire, 8vo. 1854, p. 34.
[31] On the Ordnance Maps it is wrongly printed Alum Pot.
[32] Op. cit. Article Grottes.
[33] L’Homme pendant les Ages de la Pierre dans les Environs de Dinant
sur Meuse, Bruxelles, 1871.
[34] The bare pavements above Malham Cove are worthy of a careful
examination.
[35] I have used the term incretionary as implying an accumulation of
mineral matter from the circumference of a cavity towards its centre,
as in the case of an agate. Concretionary action, with which it is
generally confused, ought to be defined as the deposition of successive
layers of matter round a nucleus or centre. The one action operates
from the circumference to the centre, the other from the centre to the
circumference.
[36] Corals and Coral Islands, 1872, p. 361.
[37] Prestwich, Ann. Address Geol. Soc. 1872, p. 84.
[38] Phil. Trans. April 7th, 1680, p. 731.
[39] “Ice-Caves in France and Switzerland.” Longmans, 1865, p. 296.
[40] Leges Walliæ.
[41] Bell, “British Quadrupeds,” 8vo. p. 386.
[42] The authorities for the preceding paragraphs will be found
in Chapter II. of my Preliminary Treatise on the “Relation of the
Pleistocene Mammalia to those now living in Europe” (Palæont. Soc.
1874).
[43] Benedict. ad Mensas Ekkehardi Monachi Sangallensis, l. 129.
[44] Buffon, Quadrupeds, l. v. p. 52; l. x. p. 67. Sir G. C. Lewis,
“Notes and Queries,” 2nd series, l. ix. pp. 4, 5.
[45] See Rolleston, Journ. Anat. and Phys., 1868, pp. 51-2. Lenz,
“Zoologie der Alten.”
[46] Fig. 19, A.
[47] Roach Smith, “Collectanea Antiqua,” vol. i. No. 5, p. 72, 1844. It
is noticed by Eckroyd Smith, Trans. Historic Society of Lancashire and
Cheshire, May 11, 1865; and by Mr. Denny, Trans. Geol. and Polytechnic
Soc. of West Riding, 1859.
[48] “Collectanea Antiqua,” vol. i. No. 5, pp. 69, 70.
[49] The Victoria Cave has engaged the attention of the following
writers:--Farrer, Proceed. Soc. Antiquaries, vol. iv.;--Roach Smith
and Jackson, “Collectanea Antiqua,” vol. i. No. 5, 1844;--Denny,
Proceed. Geol. and Polytechnic Society of the West Riding of Yorkshire,
1859;--Eckroyd Smith, Trans. Historic Society of Cheshire, May 11,
1865;--Boyd Dawkins, “Nature,” April 21, 1870; British Assoc. Reports,
1870; Macmillan’s Magazine, Sept. 1871; Journ. Anthrop. Institute,
1871;--Tiddeman, “Nature,” 1872;--Boyd Dawkins and Tiddeman, British
Assoc. Reports, 1872;--Tiddeman, Geol. Mag., Jan. 1873;--Boyd Dawkins,
Proceed. Manch. Philosophical Soc., Feb. 1873;--Brockbank, Proceed.
Manch. Philosophical Soc., March 1873.
[50] See Palæont. Society, 1874--Boyd Dawkins’ Preliminary Treatise,
Chapter II.
[51] R. D. Darbishire, Proceed. Manchester Numismatic Society, Part II.
1865: “On some Autonomous Coins of Ancient Spain.”
[52] Vetusta Monumenta, vol. vi.
[53] I have to thank the Rev. J. R. Green for allowing me to quote this
passage from his work, which is now in the press.
[54] Antiquités Suisses, Second Supplement; Lausanne, 1867, p. 15, Pl.
xii. figs. 3, 4.
[55] La Seine Inférieure, 4to., 1867, p. 203.
[56] See Kemble, “Horæ Ferales,” 4to.; Description of Plates by A. W.
Franks, p. 64.
[57] ταῦτα φασι τὰ χρώματα τοὺς ἐν Ὠκεανῷ βαρβάρους ἐγχεῖν τῷ χάλκῳ
διαπύρῳ, τὰ δὲ συνίστασθαι καὶ λιθοῦσθαι, καὶ σώζειν ἃ ἐγράφη (Icon.
lib. i. c. 28). The art was evidently unknown in Rome at this time.
[58] Notice des Émaux du Musée du Louvre, 1857, pp. 25, 26.
[59] Eckroyd Smith, Trans. Hist. Soc. Lancashire and Cheshire, 1866.
Limestone Caves of Craven.
[60] Proc. Geol. and Polytechnic Soc. of West Riding of Yorkshire,
1859, p. 45 _et seq._
[61] Denny and Farrer, op. cit. 1864-5, 414 _et seq._; Farrer, Proc.
Soc. Antiq. vol. iv.
[62] The authorities for this paragraph are Gildas, Nennius, and
others, printed in “Monumenta Historica Britannica,” folio, Rolls
Publication.
[63] “Repellunt nos Barbari ad mare, repellit nos mare ad Barbaros;
inter hæc oriuntur duo genera funerum; aut jugulamur aut mergimur.”
GILDAS, xvii.
[64] “Britones de ipsis montibus, speluncis ac saltibus dumis consertis
continue rebellabant.” GILDAS, xvii. Bæda, _Hist. Eccles._ lib. i. cxiv.
[65] Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, _passim_.
[66] Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, A.D. 449. “From Anglia, which has ever
since remained waste between the Jutes and Saxons, came the men of East
Anglia, Middle Anglia, Mercia, and all North-humbria.” The MS. A, from
which this was taken, ends in A.D. 975. The passage was taken from Bæda
who lived in the 8th century.
[67] See E. A. Freeman, “Norman Conquest,” vol. i.
[68] “Confovebatur ... de mari usque ad mare ignis orientalis
sacrilegorum manu exaggeratus, et finitimas quasque civitates populans,
qui non quievit accensus donec cunctam pene exurens insulæ superficiem,
rubra occidentalem trucique oceanum linguâ delamberet.”--xxiv.
[69] Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.
[70] On the date of the conquest of Lancashire see “Manchester Phil.
and Lit. Soc. Proc.” 1873, p. 25. In working out this somewhat
difficult question, I am indebted to the Rev. J. R. Green for most
valuable aid.
[71] Gildas, Nennius, the Annales Cambriæ, Bæda, and the Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle are the authorities for these statements.
[72] The section of the Victoria Cave published by Mr. Tiddeman in the
Geological Magazine expresses the relation of the clay with boulders
to the cave-earth with greater clearness than I could observe on the
ground. The laminated clay is not yet proved to occupy such a large
area in the cave, or to be so regularly deposited, or so clearly
defined. It occurs at _various_ levels in the mass of the grey clay
in the section (to be seen on May 21, 1873), above and below the
cave-earth.--“The Older Deposits in the Victoria Cave,” Geol. Mag. x.
p. 11.
[73] See Essays by the writer in “Pop. Sci. Rev.” Oct. 1871: “On the
relation of the Pleistocene Mammalia to the Glacial period.” “On the
Classification of the Pleistocene Strata of Europe by means of the
Mammalia;” Quart. Geol. Journ. June 1872.
[74] Mém. de l’Acad. Imp. des Sciences de St. Pétersbourg, 6^e Sér.
tome v. 1849, Pl. xiii. Fig. 1.
[75] See my “Pleistocene Mammals of Yorkshire,” Geol. and Polytechnic
Soc. of West Riding of Yorks. Leeds, Aug. 6th, 1866.
[76] See Brit. Ass. Reports, Bradford, 1873.
[77] Mem. Anthrop. Soc. vol. ii. p. 358.
[78] Sussex Archæol. Coll., 1863.
[79] Trans. Midland Sci. Ass., Sess. 1864-5, pp. 1-6, 19, 29, Plates
1-15, “Report on the Exploration of Thor’s Cave,” by E. Brown, Esq.
[80] See E. A. Freeman, “Norman Conquest,” vol. i. p. 43.
[81] Preliminary Treatise on the Relation of the Pleistocene Mammalia
to those now living in Europe. Palæont. Soc. 1874, chap. ii.
[82] “Equos etiam plerique in vobis comedunt, quod nullus Christianorum
in orientalibus facit.” Haddan and Stubbs, “Councils and Ecclesiastical
Documents relating to Great Britain and Ireland,” vol. ii. p. 459.
[83] Laing, “Norway,” p. 316. Mr. Laing justly argues that the habit
of eating horseflesh in Norway, where pasturage is scant, must have
been acquired in the luxuriant grassy steppes of Central Asia by the
ancestors of the Scandinavians.
[84] Benedict. ad Mensas Ekkehardi Monachi Sangallensis, Pertz. Mon.
Germ., vol. vi. p. 117.
[85] “Pleistocene Mammalia.” Palæont. Soc. 1866. Introd. Internat.
Congress of Prehistoric Archæology, Paris, and Norwich volumes.
[86] These questions are treated in detail in my Preliminary Treatise,
“Brit. Pleist. Mammalia.” Palæont. Soc. 1874.
[87] “Ancient Stone Implements of Great Britain,” p. 2.
[88] Somerset Archæol. and Nat. Hist. Soc. 1864. “On the Caverns of
Burrington Combe.”
[89] Elliott, “Geologist,” 1862, p. 34, ditto p. 167. Huxley, ditto, p.
205. Carter Blake, ditto, p. 312. Mackie, “Proceed. Soc. Antiq.” 2nd
Series, vol. ii. p. 177.
[90] This woodcut, as well as Figs. 33 and 35, have been kindly lent by
the Council of the Society of Antiquaries.
[91] Commissao Geologica de Portugal. Estudos Geoligicos. Da Existencia
do homen no nosso solo em Tempos mui remotos provada pelo estudos des
cavernas. Primeiro opusculo. Noticea ácerca das Grutas da Césareda. Por
J. F. N. Delgado com a versao em Francez por M. Dalhunty.
[92] Ethnol. Journ. N.S. 7, p. 43.
[93] For definition of these terms, see p. 190.
[94] International Congress of Prehistoric Archæology, Norwich Volume,
p. 84.
[95] International Congress, Paris Volume, p. 159.
[96] Prehistoric Congress, Brussels Volume, 1872, p. 363.
[97] Burial in the contracted posture, which is so characteristic of
the neolithic age, was probably due, as is suggested by my friend Mr.
John Evans, F.R.S., to the habit of sleeping in that posture and not
at full length on a bed. The body was not laid out after death, but
may have been folded together, as in the case of the ancient Peruvian
mummies. No regularity, however, in the contracted posture could be
observed in the many tumuli and caves which I have explored, although
very generally the corpse had been interred on its side.
[98] Edinburgh New Phil. Soc. (1833), No. 27, p. 40.
[99] For the definition of the term, see p. 190.
[100] Journal of the Ethnological Society of London, vol. ii. New
Series, No. 1, April 1870, p. 45, pl. vii. fig. 3.
[101] Nilsson’s “Stone Age,” translated by Sir J. Lubbock.
[102] These are merely samples of the large number of human skulls and
bones which were discovered.
[103] Amongst the Keiss crania described by Prof. Huxley, this most
closely resembles his No. 5; but it is of the same type as No. 3 and
No. 7, and not very far from that of the Towyn-y-capel cranium, through
which the transition to the Mewslade form (“Nat. Hist. Rev.” vol. i. p.
174, pl. v.) is very easy.
[104] The forms most closely resembling this skull amongst those from
Keiss are Nos. 3 and 7.
[105] Déformation du crâne resultant de la méthode la plus générale de
couvrir la tête des enfans. Paris, 1834.
[106] Essai sur les déformations artificielles du crâne, par L. A.
Gosse, de Genève. Paris, 1855.
[107] Recherches sur quelques déformations du crâne observées dans le
Département des Deux-Sêvres (“Ann. Médico-psychologique”). Paris, 1852.
[108] This index is obtained by dividing the least circumference by the
length of the bone.
[109] “Mémoires sur les ossemens des Eyzies.” Paris, 1868. “On the
Human Skulls and Bones found in the Cave of Cro-magnon,” Reliquiæ
Aquitanicæ, p. 97.
[110] But these are by no means extreme instances of the Gibraltar
_tibiæ_.
[111] As regards the absolute dimensions of the skulls, it would seem
that the Welsh crania stand high in the scale--quite as high as any of
the existing races of mankind. I have made the comparison in a rough
way in the following manner:--
If the numbers representing the _length_, _breadth_, and _height_
of the skull are added together, a number is obtained which will,
of course, in some measure, indicate the gross dimensions of the
skull. From the rather numerous data furnished by my own Tables of
Measurements I obtained the results stated in the subjoined list,
in which the gross mean dimensions of various sets of crania are
contrasted.
1. Scandinavian priscan skulls of the neolithic epoch 18·88
2. Esquimaux and Greenlanders 18·81
3. Perthi-Chwareu skulls 18·65
4. Modern European 18·58
5. Various ancient and priscan skulls 18·55
6. Burmese 18·55
7. Caffres and Zooloos (extratropical negroes) 18·45
8. Derbyshire tumuli 18·42
9. Tasmanian 17·95
10. Hottentot 17·80
11. Negroes (intertropical) 17·67
12. Australian 17·58
13. Bushmen 17·48
14. Veddahs 17·09
15. Andamanese 17·00
[112] “Notes on the Human Remains from Keiss,” p. 85.
[113] _Loc. cit._ p. 114.
[114] Vol. i. p. 174, pl. v.
[115] The stature is obtained, according to Prof. Humphry’s method,
from the length of the femur, which is 27·5 of stature taken as 100.
[116] Ορθος straight, γναθος jaw, with profile vertical, as opposed to
προγναθος, with projecting jaws, or “snouty.”
[117] “Anthropological Memoirs,” vols. i. and iii.; Huxley and Laing,
“Prehistoric Remains in Caithness.”
[118] “Mem. Lit. and Phil. Soc. Manchester,” vol. v. p. 213.
[119] “Anthrop. Mem.” vol. i. p. 144.
[120] Brit. Assoc. Report, 1871, p. 160, “On Human and Animal Bones and
Flints, from a Cave at Oban, Argyleshire,” by Prof. Turner.
[121] Huxley and Laing, “Prehistoric Remains of Caithness,” p. 119 _et
seq._
[122] “Prehistoric Annals of Scotland.”
[123] The evidence of cannibalism in the contents of the tumuli seems
to me to be doubtful.
[124] Prehistoric Congress, Brussels Volume, 1872, p. 182.
[125] Bull. Soc. Anthrop. iv.
[126] Anthrop. Mem. i. 490.
[127] Prehistoric Congress, Norwich Volume, 1869.
[128] Prehistoric Congress, Norwich Volume, 1869.
[129] Don Manuel Gongora y Martinez, “Antiguedades Prehistoricas de
Andalucia.” Madrid, 1868. 8vo.
[130] “The Woman’s Cave,” 4to. Parts I. and II. 1870-1. Cadiz, Federico
Joly y Velasco.
[131] Don Manuel Gongora y Martinez, _op. cit._
[132] Ethnological Journ. N.S. vii. p. 107.
[133] Broca, “Bull. Soc. Anthrop.” s.s. t. i. p. 470; t. ii. p. 10-30;
s.s. t. iii. p. 43-101. The cephalic index in the preceding Table
differs slightly from that given by M. Broca. Thurnam, “Anthrop. Mem.”
iii. p. 64 _et seq._
[134] These skulls are preserved in the Museum of the Anthropological
Society at Paris, where by the kindness of Dr. Broca I was allowed
to study them in the autumn of 1873. Some were marked with the “tête
annulaire.”
[135] Laing and Huxley, “Prehistoric Remains of Caithness.”
[136] Spring, “Bull. Acad. Roy. de Belgique,” 1 sér. l. xx. p. 427; 2
sér. l. xviii. p. 479; l. xxii. p. 187.
[137] Dupont, “L’Homme pendant les Âges de la Pierre dans les environs
de Dinant sur Meuse,” 2d edit. p. 222.
[138] Soreil, “Sur Nouvelle Exploration de la Caverne de Chauvau,”
Congrès Intern. Anthropologie et d’Archéologie Prehistoriques, p. 381
_et seq._ Bruxelles, 1872.
[139] International Congress, Bruxelles, 1872, p. 370.
[140] Cæsar, i. 50.
[141] “Bull. Soc. Anthrop de Paris,” 2 sér. t. 111., p. 118.
[142] “Diodorus Siculus,” iv. 6; v. 39. Steur, “Ethnographie des
Peuples de l’Europe,” p. 31 _et seq._; Donaldson, “Varronianw.” p.
70 _et seq._ Dion. Hal. i 22. See also Niebuhr and Mommsen. The
documentary evidence is so uncertain as to the affinities of the
Ligurians that scarcely any two writers agree. “Quot homines tot
sententiæ.”
[143] Thucydides, vi. 2.
[144] Tacitus, “Agricola,” xi.
[145] Cæsar, i. 12.
[146] Prof. Huxley brings them into relation with the ancient
Egyptians, the “Melanochroi” of India, and the Australians, “Critiques
and Addresses,” p. 134; Prehistoric Congress, Norwich Volume, p. 92 _et
seq._
[147] See Prof. Huxley’s “Critiques and Addresses,” p. 167.
[148] For a masterly account of the varying stature in Britain and
Ireland, see Dr. Beddoe’s Essay, “Anthrop. Soc. Mem.” iii. p. 384-573.
[149] “τοὺς μὲν Ἀκυϊτανοὺς τελέως ἐξηλλαγμένους οὐ τῇ γλώττῃ μόνον ἀλλὰ
καὶ τοῖς σώμασιν, ἐμφερεῖς Ἰβήρεσι μᾶλλον ἢ Γαλάταις· τοὺς δὲ λοιποὺς
Γαλατικοὺς μὲν τὴν ὄψιν, ὁμογλώττους δ’ οὐ πάντας, ἀλλ’ ἐνίους μικρὸν
παραλλαττόντας ταῖς γλώτταις.”--Lib. iv. c. 1, §1.
[150] The correspondence of my map, Fig. 68, with that of M. Broca, is
one of those undesigned coincidences which are so valuable in arriving
at truth, for his most admirable essay on the Ethnology of France did
not come into my hands until my own map was engraved. M. Broca takes a
different point of view to that advanced in these pages, holding that
the Celts were dark and the Belgic were blue-eyed tall Kymri or Cimbri.
The Celts known to history were undoubtedly a tall fair race.
[151] In treating this difficult subject, I have purposely omitted to
use the uncertain light of philology. We may expect to derive as much
knowledge as to the relations between Tyrrhenian, Ligurian, Basque, and
other obscure non-Aryan peoples from the study of languages, as we have
already obtained of the Aryans by the same means. It is very probable
that, like the Sanscrit, the Basque roots will be found widely spread
both in Asia, Asia Minor, Europe, and N. Africa.
[152] “Anthrop. Mem.” Vols. i. and iii. (Crania Britannica.)
[153] See Huxley’s “Critiques and Addresses,” p. 167 _et seq._
[154] “Rutilæ Caledoniam habitantium comæ, magni artus Germanicam
originem asseverant.” Agricola, c. xi.
[155] “Reliquiæ Diluvianæ,” p. 82 _et seq._
[156] Schmerling, “Recherches sur les Ossements Fossiles découverts
dans les Cavernes de la province de Liége.” 4to. 1833-4, p. 29 _et seq._
[157] Dupont, “L’Homme pendant les âges de la Pierre, dans les environs
de Dinant-sur-Meuse,” p. ix. The implements are palæolithic (see p.
22), but there is no evidence that they are of the same antiquity as
the human remains. They may be, and probably are, much older.
[158] “Man’s Place in Nature,” chap. iii. Lyell’s “Antiquity of Man,”
1st edition, p. 63.
[159] Dupont, _op. cit._ p. 56.
[160] Prehistoric Congress, Brussels, 1872, p. 549 _et seq._
[161] Huxley and Laing, “Prehistoric Remains of Caithness.”
[162] Intern. Congress, Brussels Volume, p. 549.
[163] Dupont, _op. cit._ p. 140.
[164] Buckland, “Reliquiæ Diluvianæ,” p. 135. These specimens are in
the Oxford Museum, and are identified by Lord Enniskillen as having
been derived from Gailenreuth.
[165] Schaaffhausen, translated by Busk, “Nat. Hist. Review,” April
1861. Huxley, “Man’s Place in Nature,” iii. p. 156-171. Lyell’s
“Antiquity of Man,” 1st edition, p. 75.
[166] Huxley and Laing, “Prehistoric Remains of Caithness,” p. 115.
[167] Compare Lyell, 1st edition, p. 182 _et seq._, with 4th edition,
p. 122 _et seq._
[168] Phil. Trans. 159, p. 517.
[169] Vogt, “Lectures on Man,” pp. 329-380. Thurnam, “Anthrop. Mem.” i.
501.
[170] It has been dug out in its natural position, and is now to be
seen in the Jardin des Plantes, in Paris, where I studied it in the
summer of 1873.
[171] Pengelly, “The Cave Man of Mentone,” Trans. Devon Ass. 1873.
Moggridge, Brit. Ass. Edinburgh, 1873.
[172] Prehistoric Congress, Bologna Volume, p. 391, 1873.
[173] See on this point a valuable essay by Mr. Hyde Clark, “Palestine
Exploration Fund Quarterly Statement,” N.S. April 1871, p. 97 _et seq._
[174] The authorities for these facts will be found in my “Preliminary
Treatise,” Palæont. Soc. 1874. The prehistoric age of the forest is
to be fixed by the presence of the goat and _Bos longifrons_, both of
which were unknown in Europe in the pleistocene age.
[175] “Quart. Geol. Journ.” xx. p. 188 _et seq._
[176] See Prestwich, “Phil. Trans.” 1860, p. 277, and 1864, p. 247, and
“Quart. Geol. Journ.” _passim_ 1859-70.
[177] “Reliquiæ Diluvianæ.” 4to. 1824, p. 133.
[178] I am indebted to Lord Enniskillen, who explored Gailenreuth along
with Sir Philip Egerton, for several corrections in Buckland’s section.
[179] Op. cit. p. 137.
[180] Op. cit. p. 1. _et seq._
[181] Op. cit. p. 38.
[182] Buckland, op. cit. p. 61.
[183] “Edinburgh New Phil. Soc.” No. 27, p. 40. Falconer, “Palæont.
Mem.” ii. p. 541. I have examined nearly all the contents of these
caves.
[184] Anthrop. Institute Meeting, 9 Dec. 1873.
[185] Buckland, op. cit. 80.
[186] Op. cit. p. 80.
[187] Falconer “Palæont. Mem.” ii. 498.
[188] “On the Tenby Bone Caves,” by a Pembrokeshire Rector. London:
Kent and Co.
[189] See “Brit. Assoc. Rep.” 1871. “Geol. Mag.” viii. 433.
[190] Buckland, _op. cit._ p. 60.
[191] Buckland, _op. cit._ Rutter, “Delineations of Somerset,” p. 100.
[192] See Buckland, _op. cit._ Rutter, _op. cit._
[193] See “Catalogue of Mammalia, in Taunton Museum,” by W. A. Sanford,
Esq. Som. Archæol. Soc.
[194] Rutter gives a very good section of this cave (_op. cit._ p. 78).
[195] “Quart. Geol. Journ.” 1862: On a Hyæna-den at Wookey Hole. Also
“Quart. Geol. Journ.” 1863.
[196] An incident connected with our work illustrates remarkably the
attachment which a dog will suddenly show towards a stranger. In our
lodging at Wells there was a beautiful Scotch deerhound, named “Luna,”
whose master was away at the time. Luna persisted in being with us
day and night. In the morning she walked with us to the cave, and
lay watching at the entrance till we came out, for she was afraid to
venture into the darkness. In the evening she returned home with us.
She continued to do this the whole time of that year’s excavations. It
was only natural to suppose that when we left she would, like other
dogs, pick up new friends. But she did nothing of the kind. When we
inquired the next year upon our return, we were told that poor Luna
refused food the day we left, and gradually pined away and died.
[197] Possibly it may have belonged to _Elephas_, but its more compact
texture seems to me to indicate rhinoceros.
[198] Bone needles were found in Kent’s Hole and in many foreign caves
of this age.
[199] These woodblocks were used in my essay on Hyænas in the “Natural
History Review,” and have been lent by the kindness of Messrs. Williams
and Norgate.
[200] Pengelly, “Literature of the Oreston Caverns,” Trans. Dev. Ass.
1872. Buckland, _op. cit._
[201] “Quart. Geol. Journ.” xxvi. 457, _et seq._
[202] “The Literature of the Caverns near Yealmpton, South Devon,” by
W. Pengelly, F.R.S., F.S.A. Trans. Devon Ass., 1870.
[203] Falconer, “Palæont. Mem.” ii. 486, 591.
[204] Proceed. Royal Soc. xx. p. 514. “Report on the Exploration of
Brixham Cave,” by W. Pengelly, F.R.S., G. Bush, F.R.S., John Evans,
F.R.S., and Joseph Prestwich, F.R.S. This report was delayed by the
death of Dr. Falconer.
[205] “Ancient Stone Implements,” p. 46-8.
[206] “Proceed. Royal Soc.” 1872, vol. xxii. p. 523-4.
[207] “Trans. Devon Ass.” On the Introduction of Cavern Accumulations.
[208] “Trans. Devon Ass.” 1870.
[209] Pengelly, “Literature of Kent’s Hole:” Trans. Ass. Devon. 1868
9-70. Godwin Austen, “Proceed. Geol. Soc.” iii. 286-7. “Trans. Geol.
Soc.” vi. p. 433, _et seq._ Vivian, “Brit. Ass. Rep.” 1847, p. 73.
[210] The committee consisted of Sir C. Lyell, Prof. Phillips, Sir John
Lubbock, Mr. John Evans, Mr. Edward Vivian, Mr. William Pengelly, to
which subsequently Mr. George Busk, Mr. Boyd Dawkins, and Mr. Ayshford
Sanford were added.
[211] For Figs. 96 to 100 I am indebted to the kindness of Mr. Evans.
[212] See Evans’ “Ancient Stone Implements,” Fig. 388. It is
unnecessary to describe the implements.
[213] For an account of Machairodus, see “Brit. Pleistocene Mammalia,”
Palæont. Soc., _Felidæ_, cxxii. p. 184.
[214] Gervais, “Zool. et Paléont. Françaises,” 1859, p. 251. “Animaux
Vertébrés, Vivants et Fossiles,” 1867-9, p. 78, pl. xviii. Lartet,
Prehistoric Congress, Paris Volume, 1868, p. 269.
[215] These figures have been kindly lent by the Palæontographical
Society.
[216] “Journ. Royal Dublin Soc.” ii. p. 344.
[217] “Journ. Geol. Soc. Dublin,” x. p. 147. “Journ. Royal Dublin Soc.”
ii. p. 352.
[218] Scott, “Geol. Soc. Dublin,” Feb. 10, 1864.
[219] An account of the numerous caves of France will be found in the
works of M. de Serres, “Revue Archéologique” and in the “Matériaux pour
l’Histoire de l’Homme.”
[220] Boyd Dawkins, “Brit. Pleist. Mam. Palæont. Soc.” 1872, p. 189.
[221] Gervais, “Animaux Vertébrés,” p. 78, pl. xviii.
[222] Lartet, International Congress, Paris Volume, p. 269.
[223] “Cavernes du Périgord,” “Revue Archéologique,” 8vo. 1864.
“Reliquiæ Aquitanicæ,” 4to. 1865-74. This magnificent history of the
researches, in the prosecution of which Mr. Christy lost his life, was
published at his expense under the editorship of Prof. Rupert Jones,
F.R.S., to whom I am indebted for the liberty to use the letterpress
and engravings quoted in this book.
[224] The same bones of the ox and horse are now imported into Britain
from South America for the manufacture of buttons.
[225] Boyd Dawkins, “Range of the Mammoth,” Pop. Sc. Rev. July, 1868.
[226] “Recherches sur les oss. foss. découverts dans les Cavernes de
Liége.” 4to.
[227] Dupont, “L’Homme pendant les Ages de la Pierre dans les Environs
de Dinant-sur-Meuse.” 2nd edit. p. 187.
[228] Dupont, _op. cit._ “Bull. Acad. Roy. de Belgique,” xxii. p. 20.
Hamy, “Paléontologie Humaine,” p. 231.
[229] The discovery will shortly be published by Prof. Heine, of Zurich.
[230] “Matériaux pour l’Histoire de l’Homme,” May 1869, p. 272.
[231] “Ancient Stone Implements.”
[232] “Ann. des Sc. Nat.” 4th sér. t. 15, p. 231.
[233] Hamy, _op. cit._ Lubbock, “Prehistoric Man.”
[234] “Quart. Geol. Journ.” June 5, 1872.
[235] Prehistoric Congress, Brussels Volume, 1872, p. 432. “Mém.
Anthrop. Soc. de Paris,” 2nd sér. t. 6, p. 170.
[236] “Eskimos in the South of Gaul.” Saturday Review, December 8th,
1866. Edinburgh Review, “Prehistoric Times.” October 1870.
[237] The authorities for the foreign lists of animals will be found in
the “Quart. Geol. Journ.” 1872, p. 424. The British animals have been
determined principally by myself and Dr. Falconer.
[238] “Classification of the Pleistocene Strata,” Quart. Geol. Journ.
Nov. 1872, p. 410.
[239] Godwin Austen, “Quart. Geol. Journ.” vol. i. p. 69. De la Bêche,
“Theoretical Researches,” p. 190. Lyell, “Antiquity of Man,” 4th edit.
p. 328.
[240] The accumulation of the remains of reindeer in the limited area
of the excavation was enormous.
[241] “Les Oss. Foss. de Pikermi,” 4to.
[242] Some parts of the rest of this chapter have been published in the
“Popular Science Review,” March 1873.
[243] “Palæontographical Memoirs,” vol. ii. p. 554. Busk, Prehistoric
Congress, Norwich volume, 1869.
[244] “Comptes Rendus,” xlvi. 1858.
[245] Prehistoric Congress, Paris volume, p. 96.
[246] “Brit. Ass. Reports,” Edinburgh, 1871.
[247] “Brit. Assoc. Rep.” 1871.
[248] _Découverte d’une Squelette Humaine de l’époque Paléolithique
dans les Cavernes de Baoussé-Roussé, dites Grottes de Menton_, 1873;
also Prehistoric Congress, Brussels volume. M. Rivière adds the Wapiti,
or large variety, and the _Cervus Corsicanus_, or small variety of the
stag, the chamois, and the woolly rhinoceros (the two last of which
may be perhaps identical with the ibex and _R. hemitœchus_, determined
by Prof. Busk, as neither is mentioned by M. Rivière), and the _Capra
primigenia_ of Gervais, a large goat commonly found in neolithic caves.
[249] The depth at which the skeleton was found is a matter of dispute,
the estimates varying from seven feet (Pengelly) to (6·55 m.) 21·49
feet (Rivière). Pengelly, _Cave man of Mentone_, “Trans. Devon Ass.”
1873, pp. 10 and 13.
[250] “Palæont. Mem.” ii. p. 543.
[251] It is of the same species as the bear from Grays Thurrock.
[252] Falconer, “Palæont. Mem.” vol. ii. p. 552. Spratt, “Quart. Geol.
Journ.” xxiii. p. 293.
[253] “Bull. Soc. Géol. Fr.” 2^e sér. t. xi. p. 340.
[254] Gervais, “Animaux Vertébrés Vivants et Fossiles,” 4to. p. 88.
[255] Hooker, “Nat. Hist. Review,” II. p. 12, 1861.
[256] _Nature_, vol. v. p. 444; vol. vi. 536.
[257] “A Journey to Morocco, and the Ascent of the Great Atlas,” 8vo.
Slater, Troubridge, Salop.
[258] “Geological Notes on a Journey from Algiers to Morocco.” Geol.
Soc. Feb. 25, 1874.
[259] See “British Pleistocene Mammalia,” Palæont. Soc. _Felis spelæa_,
c. xviii.
[260] “_Ovibos moschatus_,” Palæont. Soc. 1872, p. 27, _et seq._
[261] This is treated at greater length in my “Essay on
Classification,” Quart. Geol. Journ. Nov. 1872, and in the
“Introduction to British Pleistocene Mammalia,” Palæont. Soc.
[262] Mr. James Geikie’s view (“The Great Ice-Age,” 8vo. 1874) that the
mixture of the northern and southern forms is due to the destruction of
ossiferous strata by streams, which subsequently deposited remains of
widely different ages together, is rendered untenable by the fact that
they are generally preserved in the same mineral state. It would have
been impossible for this to have taken place without leaving decided
traces behind in the rolled and water-worn condition of the older
series, such as may be seen in the case of the eocene and meiocene
fossils in the Red Crag of Suffolk.
[263] “Quart. Geol. Journ.” xxii. 391.
[264] See Falconer, “Palæont. Mem.”
[265] I have to acknowledge the kind assistance of Professors Hull
and Harkness, Mr. Kinahan, and the Rev. H. M. Close, in correlating
the Irish with the English glacial deposits. The reader will find the
glacial period most ably treated in Lyell’s “Antiquity of Man.”
[266] “Quart. Geol. Journ.” xxi. 161.
[267] “Quart. Geol. Journ.” 1872, p. 410.
[268] “Quart. Geol. Journ.” xx. p. 457.
[269] “Palæont. Mem.” vol. ii. p. 49.
[270] “Palæont. Mem.” vol. ii. pp. 189, 190.
[271] “Quart. Geol. Journ.” xxiv. p. 484. “International Congress,”
Norwich volume. See also “Evans’ Ancient Stone Implements,” p. 570.
[272] “Palæont. Mem.” ii. 642, _et passim_.
[273] This implement was exhibited before the Meeting of the British
Association at Edinburgh, in 1871.
[274] Brit. Ass. Reports, 1865, p. 18.
Transcriber’s Notes
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Unlike the printed book, all illustrations in this eBook appear between
paragraphs, so the page references in the List of Illustrations do not
necessarily match their actual positions. However, links, in versions
of this eBook that support them, do lead directly to the corresponding
illustrations.
The Index was not checked for proper alphabetization or correct page
references.
Text has many references to “Lartet” and just a few to “Lortet”. They
seem to refer to the same person, but both are listed in the Index, so
both spellings have been retained.
Text refers to “Rev. J. MacEnery”, “Rev. J. McEnery” and “McEnery”.
These all refer to the same person, but the correct spelling is
uncertain, so both variations have been retained.
Some of the fractional numbers (e.g., 1/1, 1/2) in illustration
captions were unclear and may have been incorrectly transcribed.
Most tables wider than 75 characters have been made narrower, either
by using Keys to their column headings or, in the table on page 172,
by segmenting it and repeating the first column in each segment. A
few tables remain wider than 75 characters as they otherwise became
unreadable.
Page 2: “dwellings of evil spirits” was misprinted as “swellings”.
Page 147: Footnote 95 (originally 2) was not referenced in the text.
Transcriber has arbitrarily placed a reference to it.
Page 199: “Valcleuse” currently is spelled “Valcluse”.
Page 310: The reference to “Figs. 92, 93” was misprinted as
“Figs. 92, 33” and has been corrected here.
Page 339: Identifications of the three illustrations were added by
Transcriber.
Page 381: The top of the map was close to the physical book’s binding
and was distorted during scanning. The Transcriber attempted to remedy
this distortion.
Page 436: The letters in the diagram were printed in italics. For
readability, the Plain Text version of this eBook omits the underscores
that indicate italics. The HTML and mobile versions use an image of the
diagram.
Page 449 (Index): “Caves, used as places of refuge” gave no page
reference. The Table of Contents refers to page 102, and the Transcriber
added that to the index entry.
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