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- Herausgeber: Booksell-Verlag
- Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
- Sprache: Englisch
In "Primitive Man," Louis Figuier embarks on an intellectually stimulating journey through the origins of humanity, examining the transition from primitive societies to more structured civilizations. Written in the mid-19th century, Figuier employs a blend of descriptive narrative and scientific observation, highlighting the interdisciplinary approach of the era as he integrates anthropology, archaeology, and history. The book is richly illustrated, featuring depictions of prehistoric life and artifacts that underscore his arguments about human evolution and social development, making it as much a visual feast as a scholarly treatise. Louis Figuier was a prominent French science writer and a proponent of popularizing scientific knowledge. His background in natural sciences and a keen fascination with human progress profoundly influenced his exploration of early human societies in "Primitive Man." Figuier's dedication to elucidating complex scientific ideas for the lay reader parallels the 19th-century intellectual climate that sought to reconcile science and culture, reflecting the fervent curiosity of the time regarding mankind's past. This book is highly recommended for readers interested in the intersection of science and humanities, specifically those keen on understanding the roots of human civilization. Figuier's engaging prose and meticulous research offer valuable insights, making "Primitive Man" a significant contribution to both historical literature and the discourse on human evolution. In this enriched edition, we have carefully created added value for your reading experience: - Hand‐picked Memorable Quotes shine a spotlight on moments of literary brilliance. - Interactive footnotes clarify unusual references, historical allusions, and archaic phrases for an effortless, more informed read.
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Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2019
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Primitive Man
Table of Contents
Primitive Man
LIST OF PLATES.
FIG.
PAGE
A Family of the Stone Age (Frontispiece).
1.
Human Jaw-bone found at Moulin-Quignon, near Abbeville, in 1863
.
18
2.
Skull of a Man belonging to the Stone Age (The
Borreby Skull
)
.
27
3.
Skull of the Gorilla
.
28
4.
Skull of the Orang-Outang
.
ib.
5.
Skull of the Cynocephalus Ape
.
29
6.
Skull of the
Macacus
Baboon
.
ib.
7.
The Production of Fire (whole page engraving)
.
8.
Dendrites
or Crystallisations found on the Surface of wrought Flints
.
46
9.
Section of a Gravel Quarry at Saint-Acheul, which contained the wrought Flints found by Boucher de Perthes
.
47
10.
Hatchet of the
Almond-shaped
type from the Valley of the Somme
.
48
11.
Flint Hatchet from Saint-Acheul of the so-called
Almond-shaped
type
.
49
12.
Wrought Flint (
Moustier
type)
.
ib.
13.
Flint Scraper
.
50
14.
Flint Knife, found at Menchecourt, near Abbeville
.
ib.
15.
Flint Core or Nucleus
.
51
16.
Man in the Great Bear and Mammoth Epoch (whole page engraving)
.
17.
The First Potter (whole page engraving)
.
18.
Fossil Shells used as Ornaments, and found in the Gravel at Amiens
.
54
19.
Theoretical Section of a Vein of Clay in the Carboniferous Limestone,
before
the hollowing out of Valleys by Diluvial Waters
.
56
20.
Theoretical Section of the same Vein of Clay converted into a Cavern,
after
the hollowing out of Valleys by Diluvial Waters
.
57
21.
The Cave of Galeinreuth, in Bavaria
.
59
22.
Section of the Sepulchral Cave at Aurignac
.
62
23.
Flint Knife, found in the Sepulchral Cave at Aurignac
.
63
24.
Implement made of Reindeer's or Stag's Horn, found in the Sepulchral Cave at Aurignac
.
ib.
25.
Series of Perforated Discs of the
Cardium
Shell, found in the Sepulchral Cave at Aurignac
.
64
26.
Fragment of the Lower Jaw of a Cave-Bear found in the Sepulchral Cave at Aurignac
.
ib.
27.
Upper Molar of a Bison found in the Ashes of the Fire-Hearth of the Sepulchral Cave at Aurignac
.
65
28.
Arrow-head made of Reindeer's Horn, found in the Sepulchral Cave of Aurignac
.
66
29.
Bodkin made of Roebuck's Horn, found in the Sepulchral Cave of Aurignac
.
ib.
30.
Truncated Blade in Reindeer's Horn bearing two Series of transversal Lines and Notches, probably used for numeration
.
67
31.
Funeral Feast during the Great Bear and Mammoth Epoch (whole page engraving)
.
32.
Carved and perforated Canine Tooth of a young Cave-Bear
.
69
33.
Head of a Cave-Bear found in the Cave of Aurignac
.
70
34.
Head of the
Rhinoceros tichorhinus
, found in the Cave of Aurignac
.
ib.
35.
Head of a great Stag (
Megaceros hibernicus
), found in the Cave of Aurignac
.
71
36.
Sketch of the Great Bear on a Stone, found in the Cave of Massat
.
75
37.
Portion of the Skull of an Individual belonging to the Epoch of the Great Bear and the Mammoth, found in the Cave of Engis
.
80
38.
Portion of the so-called Neanderthal Skull
.
ib.
39.
Man of the Reindeer Epoch (whole page engraving)
.
40.
Rock-Shelter at Bruniquel, a supposed Habitation of Man during the Reindeer Epoch (whole page engraving)
.
41.
A Feast during the Reindeer Epoch (whole page engraving)
.
42.
Flint Bodkin or Stiletto for sewing Reindeer Skins, found in the Cave of Les Eyzies (Périgord)
.
92
43.
Bone Needle for Sewing
.
ib.
44.
The Canine Tooth of a Wolf, bored so as to be used as an Ornament
.
93
45.
Ornament made of the bony part of a Horse's Ear
.
ib.
46.
Spear-head, found in the Cave of Laugerie-Basse (Périgord)
.
95
47.
Worked Flint from Périgord (Knife)
.
96
48.
Worked Flint from Périgord (Hatchet)
.
ib.
49.
Chipped Flint from Périgord (Knife)
.
97
50.
Chipped Flint from Périgord (Scraper)
.
ib.
51.
Small Flint Saw, found in the Rock-Shelter at Bruniquel
.
98
52.
The Chase during the Reindeer Epoch (whole page engraving)
.
53.
Barbed Arrow of Reindeer Horn
.
99
54.
Arrow of Reindeer Horn with Double Barbs
.
ib.
55.
Animal Bone, pierced by an Arrow of Reindeer Horn
.
100
56.
Tool made of Reindeer Horn, found in the Cave of Laugerie-Basse (Stiletto?)
.
ib.
57.
Tool made of Reindeer Horn, found in the Cave of Laugerie-Basse (Needle?)
.
ib.
58.
Spoon of Reindeer Horn
.
101
59.
Knuckle-bone of a Reindeer's Foot, bored with a hole and used as a Whistle
.
102
60.
Staff of authority, in Reindeer's Horn, found in the Cave of Périgord
.
ib.
61.
Another Staff of authority in Reindeer's Horn
.
ib.
62.
A Geode, used as a Cooking Vessel(?), found in the Cave of La Madelaine (Périgord)
.
103
63.
Earthen Vase, found in the Cave of Furfooz (Belgium)
.
104
64.
Sketch of a Mammoth graven on a Slab of Ivory
.
106
65.
Hilt of a Dagger carved in the Shape of a Reindeer
.
107
66.
Representation of a Stag drawn on a Stag's Horn
.
108
67.
Representation of some large Herbivorous Animal on a Fragment of Reindeer's Horn
.
ib.
68.
Arts of Drawing and Sculpture during the Reindeer Epoch (whole page engraving)
.
69.
Representation of an Animal sketched on a Fragment of Reindeer's Horn
.
109
70.
Fragment of a Slab of Schist bearing the representation of some Animal, and found in the Cave of Les Eyzies
.
ib.
71.
A kind of Harpoon of Reindeer's Horn carved in the Shape of an Animal's Head
.
110
72.
Staff of Authority, on which are graven Representations of a Man, two Horses, and a Fish
.
111
73.
Skull, found at Furfooz by M. Édouard Dupont
.
114
74.
Skull of an Old Man, found in a
Rock-shelter
at Bruniquel
.
115
75.
A Funeral Ceremony during the Reindeer Epoch (whole page engraving)
.
76.
Man of the Polished-stone Epoch (whole page engraving)
.
77.
Bone Skewers used as Fish-hooks
.
134
78.
Fishing-net with wide Meshes
.
136
79.
Stone Weight used for sinking the Fishing-nets
.
ib.
80.
Fishing during the Polished-stone Epoch (whole page engraving)
.
81.
Flint Knife from one of the Danish Beds
.
138
82.
Nucleus off which Knives are flaked
.
ib.
83.
Flint Hatchet from one of the Danish Beds
.
ib.
84.
Flint Scraper from one of the Danish Beds
.
ib.
85.
Refuse from the Manufacture of wrought Flints
.
139
86.
Weight to sink Fishing-nets
.
ib.
87.
Danish Axe of the Polished-stone Epoch
.
140
88.
Double-edged Axe
.
ib.
89.
Danish Axe-hammer drilled for handle
.
141
90.
Ditto
.
ib.
91.
Spear-head from Denmark
.
142
92.
Ditto
.
ib.
93.
Toothed Spear-head of Flint
.
143
94.
Flint Poniard from Denmark
.
ib.
95.
Type of the Danish Arrow-head
.
ib.
96.
Another Type of Arrow-head
.
ib.
97.
Arrow-head
.
144
98.
Arrow-head from Denmark
.
ib.
99.
Flint Chisel from Denmark
.
ib.
100.
Small Stone Saw from the Danish Deposits
.
145
101.
Another Stone Saw from Denmark
.
ib.
102.
Bone Harpoon of the Stone Age, from Denmark
.
ib.
103.
Bone Comb from Denmark
.
146
104.
Necklace and various Ornaments of Amber
.
ib.
105.
Nucleus in the Museum of Saint-Germain, from the Workshop of Grand-Pressigny
.
148
106.
Polisher from Grand-Pressigny, both faces being shown
.
150
107.
The earliest Manufacture and Polishing of Flints (whole page engraving)
.
108.
Polisher found by M. Leguay
.
154
109.
Spear-head from Spiennes
.
158
110.
Polished Jade Hatchet in the Museum of Saint-Germain
.
159
111.
Polished Flint Hatchet with a Sheath of Stag's Horn fitted for a Handle
.
161
112.
Flint Hatchet fitted into a Stag's-horn Sheath having an Oak Handle, from Boucher de Perthes' Illustration
.
162
113.
Hatchet Handle made of Oak
.
163
114.
Stag's-horn Sheath open at each end, so as to receive two Hatchets
.
ib.
115.
Polished Flint Hatchet, from Belgium, fitted into a Stag's-horn Sheath
.
ib.
116.
Gardening Tool made of Stag's Horn (after Boucher de Perthes)
.
164
117.
Ditto
.
ib.
118.
Ditto
.
165
119.
Flint Tool in a Bone Handle
.
166
120.
Flint Tool with Bone Handle
.
ib.
121.
Ornamented Bone Handle
.
ib.
122.
Necklace made of Boars' Tusks longitudinally divided
.
167
123.
Flint Knife from the Peat Bogs near Antwerp
.
168
124.
Primitive Corn-mill
.
170
125.
The Art of Bread Making in the Stone Age (whole page engraving)
.
126.
The Earliest Navigators (whole page engraving)
.
127.
The Earliest regular Conflicts between Men of the Stone Age; or, The Entrenched Camp of Furfooz (whole page engraving)
.
128.
Flint Arrow-head from Civita-Nova (Italy)
.
180
129.
The Borreby Skull
.
182
130.
Danish
Dolmen
.
185
131.
Dolmen
at Assies (department of Lot)
.
ib.
132.
Dolmen
at Connéré (Marne)
.
186
133.
Vertical Section of the
Dolmen
of Lockmariaker, in Brittany. In the Museum of Saint-Germain
.
ib.
134.
Tumulus-Dolmen
at Gavr'inis (Morbihan)
.
187
135.
A Portion of the
Dolmen
of Gavr'inis
.
ib.
136.
General Form of a covered Passage-Tomb
.
188
137.
Passage-Tomb at Bagneux, near Saumur
.
ib.
138.
Passage-Tomb at Plauharmel (Morbihan)
.
189
139.
Passage-Tomb, the so-called
Table de César
, at Lockmariaker (Morbihan)
.
ib.
140.
A Danish
Tumulus
or chambered Sepulchre
.
190
141.
Usual Shape of a
Menhir
.
191
142.
The Rows of
Menhirs
at Carnac
.
ib.
143.
Dolmen
with a Circuit of Stones (
Cromlech
), in the Province of Constantine
.
192
144.
Group of Danish
Cromlechs
.
ib.
145.
Position of Skeletons in a Swedish Tomb of the Stone Age
.
194
146.
A
Tumulus
of the Polished Stone Epoch (whole page engraving)
.
147.
A Founder's Workshop during the Bronze Epoch (whole page engraving)
.
148.
Section of the
Ténevière
of Hauterive
.
220
149.
A Swiss Lake Village of the Bronze Epoch (whole page engraving)
.
150.
Vertical Section of a
Crannoge
in the Ardakillin Lake
.
230
151.
Vertical Section of the
Marniera
of Castione
.
233
152.
Floor of the
Marniera
of Castione
.
234
153.
Plan of the Piles and Cross-beams in the
Marniera
of Castione
.
ib.
154.
The Chase during the Bronze Epoch (whole page engraving)
.
155.
Stone Hatchet from the Lacustrine Habitations of Switzerland
.
241
156.
Stone Chisel with Stag's-horn Handle, from the Lacustrine Habitations of Switzerland
.
241
157.
Flint Hammer fitted with a Stag's-horn Handle
.
242
158.
Stone Hatchet with Double Handle of Wood and Stag's Horn
.
ib.
159, 160.
Serpentine Hatchet-Hammers from the Lacustrine Habitations of Switzerland
.
243
161.
Another Hatchet-hammer from the Lacustrine Habitations of Switzerland
.
ib.
162.
Flint Saw fitted into a Piece of Stag's Horn
.
244
163.
Flint Spear-head from the Lacustrine Settlements of Switzerland
.
ib.
164.
Various Shapes of Flint Arrow-heads from the Lacustrine Settlements of Switzerland
.
ib.
165.
Arrow-head of Bone fixed on the Shaft by means of Bitumen
.
245
166.
Stone Arrow-head fixed on the Shaft by means of Bitumen
.
ib.
167.
Arrow-head fixed on the Shaft by a Ligature of String
.
ib.
168.
Bone Bodkin, from the Lacustrine Habitations of Switzerland
.
246
169.
Ditto
.
ib.
170.
Carpenter's Chisel, from the Lacustrine Habitations of Switzerland
.
ib.
171.
Bone Needle
.
ib.
172.
Pick-axe of Stag's Horn
.
247
173.
Harpoon made of Stag's Horn, from the Lacustrine Habitations of Switzerland
.
ib.
174.
Ditto
.
ib.
175.
Vessel made of Stag's Horn
.
ib.
176.
Bronze Winged Hatchet, from the Lacustrine Habitations of Switzerland
.
249
177.
Winged Hatchet (front and side view), from the Lacustrine Habitations of Switzerland
.
ib.
178.
Socketed Hatchet, from the Lacustrine Habitations
.
ib.
179.
Knife Hatchet (front and side view) from the Lacustrine Habitations
.
ib.
180.
Carpenter's Chisel, in Bronze
.
250
181.
Hexagonal Hammer
.
ib.
182.
Knife with a Tang to fit into a Handle, from the Lacustrine Settlements of Switzerland
.
ib.
183.
Socketed Knife, from the Lacustrine Settlements of Switzerland
.
251
184.
Bronze Sickle, found by M. Desor at Chevroux
.
ib.
185.
Bronze Fish-hook, from the Lacustrine Settlements of Switzerland
.
252
186.
Double Fish-hook, from the Lacustrine Settlements of Switzerland
.
ib.
187.
Hair-pin, found by M. Desor in one of the Swiss Lakes
.
253
188.
Ditto
.
ib.
189.
Hair-pin with Cylindrical Head
.
ib.
190.
Hair-pin with Curled Head
.
ib.
191.
Bronze Bracelet, found in one of the Swiss Lakes
.
254
192.
Another Bronze Bracelet
.
255
193.
Bronze Ring
.
ib.
194.
Bronze Pendant, from the Lacustrine Habitations of Switzerland
.
256
195.
Another Bronze Pendant, from the Lacustrine Habitations of Switzerland
.
ib.
196.
Bronze Ring, from the Lacustrine Habitations of Switzerland
.
ib.
197.
Another Ornamental Ring
.
ib.
198.
Earthenware Vessel with Conical Bottom, from the Lacustrine Habitations of Switzerland
.
259
199.
Earthen Vessel placed on its Support
.
ib.
200.
Fragment of an Earthen Vessel with a Handle
.
259
201.
Vessel of Baked Clay, from the Lacustrine Settlements of Switzerland
.
260
202.
Ditto
.
ib.
203.
Cloth of the Bronze Age, found in the Lacustrine Settlements of Switzerland
.
262
204.
The First Weaver (whole page engraving)
.
205.
Spindle-whorls, made of Baked Clay, found in the Lacustrine Settlements of Switzerland
.
263
206.
Principal Designs for the Ornamentation of Pottery during the Bronze Epoch
.
264
207.
The Cultivation of Gardens during the Bronze Epoch (whole page engraving)
.
208.
A Feast during the Bronze Epoch (whole page engraving)
.
209.
Bronze Sword in the Museum of Neuchâtel
.
272
210.
Bronze Dagger, found in one of the Swiss Lakes
.
ib.
211.
Bronze Spear-head, found in one of the Swiss Lakes
.
273
212.
Bronze Arrow-head, found in a Lacustrine Settlement of Switzerland
.
ib.
213.
Scandinavian Sword
.
274
214.
Hilt of a Scandinavian Sword
.
ib.
215.
Mode of fixing the Handle to a Scandinavian Hatchet
.
ib.
216.
Another Mode of fixing the Handle to a Scandinavian Hatchet
.
ib.
217.
Danish Bronze Knife of the Bronze Epoch
.
275
218.
Ditto
.
ib.
219.
Blade of a Danish Razor of the Bronze Epoch
.
276
220.
Woollen Cloak of the Bronze Epoch, found in 1861, in a Tomb in Denmark
.
277
221.
Woollen Shawl, found in the same Tomb
.
ib.
222.
Woollen Shirt, taken from the same Tomb
.
278
223.
First Woollen Cap, found in the same Tomb
.
ib.
224.
Second Woollen Cap, found in the same Tomb
.
ib.
225.
Bronze Comb, found in the same Tomb
.
ib.
226.
Warriors during the Bronze Epoch (whole page engraving)
.
227.
Bronze Hatchet Mould, found in Ireland
.
279
228.
Stone Crescent, found in one of the Swiss Lakes
.
280
229.
Skull found at Meilen, Front View
.
289
230.
Skull found at Meilen, Profile View
.
ib.
231.
Primitive Furnace for Smelting Iron (whole page engraving)
.
232.
Bronze Coin, from the Lake of Neuchâtel
.
310
233.
Sword, from the Tombs of Hallstadt (with a Bronze Hilt and Iron Blade)
.
313
234.
Ditto
.
ib.
235.
Dagger, from the Tombs of Hallstadt (Bronze Handle and Iron Blade)
.
314
236.
Ditto
.
ib.
237.
Funeral Ceremonies during the Iron Epoch (whole page engraving)
.
238.
A Skeleton, portions of which have been burnt, from the Tombs of Hallstadt
.
315
239.
A Necklace with Pendants, from the Tombs of Hallstadt
.
316
240.
Bracelet, from the Tombs of Hallstadt
.
317
241.
Ditto
.
ib.
242.
Bronze Vase, from the Tombs of Hallstadt
.
ib.
243.
Bronze Vase, from the Tombs of Hallstadt
.
317
244.
Warriors of the Iron Epoch (whole page engraving)
.
245, 246.
Fore-arm encircled with Bracelets, found in the Tombs of Belleville (Savoy)
.
319
247.
Iron Sword, found in one of the Swiss Lakes
.
321
248.
Sword with Damascened Blade, found in one of the Swiss Lakes
.
ib.
249.
Sheath of a Sword, found in one of the Swiss Lakes
.
322
250.
Lance-head, found in one of the Swiss Lakes
.
323
251.
Head of a Javelin, found in the Lacustrine Settlement of La Tène (Neuchâtel)
.
324
252.
The Chase during the Iron Epoch (whole page engraving)
.
253.
Square-socketed Iron Hatchet, found in one of the Lakes of Switzerland
.
325
254.
Sickle
.
ib.
255.
Scythe, from the Lacustrine Settlements of Switzerland
.
326
256.
Iron Point of Boat-hook, used by the Swiss Boatmen during the Iron Epoch
.
ib.
257.
Horse's Bit, found in the Lake of Neuchâtel
.
ib.
258.
Fibula
, or Iron Brooch, found in the Lake of Neuchâtel
.
327
259.
Iron Buckle for a Sword-belt, found in the Lake of Neuchâtel
.
328
260.
Iron Pincers, found in the Lake of Neuchâtel
.
ib.
261.
Iron Spring-scissors, found in the Lake of Neuchâtel
.
ib.
262.
Razor
.
329
263.
Agriculture during the Iron Epoch (whole page engraving)
.
[Pg 1]
PRIMITIVE MAN.
INTRODUCTION.
Forty years have scarcely elapsed since scientific men first began to attribute to the human race an antiquity more remote than that which is assigned to them by history and tradition. Down to a comparatively recent time, the appearance of primitive man was not dated back beyond a period of 6000 to 7000 years. This historical chronology was a little unsettled by the researches made among various eastern nations—the Chinese, the Egyptians, and the Indians. The savants who studied these ancient systems of civilisation found themselves unable to limit them to the 6000 years of the standard chronology, and extended back for some thousands of years the antiquity of the eastern races.
This idea, however, never made its way beyond the narrow circle of oriental scholars, and did nothing towards any alteration in the general opinion, which allowed only 6000 years since the creation of the human species.
This opinion was confirmed, and, to some extent, rendered sacred by an erroneous interpretation of Holy Writ. It was thought that the Old Testament stated that man was created 6000 years ago. Now, the fact is, nothing of the kind can be found in the Book of Genesis. It is only the commentators and the compilers of chronological systems who have put forward this date as that of the first appearance of the human race. M. Édouard Lartet[1], who was called, in 1869, to the chair of palæontology[3] in the Museum of Natural History of Paris, reminds us, in the following passage taken from one of his elegant dissertations, that it is the chronologists alone who have propounded this idea, and that they have, in this respect, very wrongly interpreted the statements of the Bible:
"In Genesis," says M. Lartet, "no date can be found which sets a limit to the time at which primitive mankind may have made its first appearance. Chronologists, however, for fifteen centuries have been endeavouring to make Biblical facts fall in with the preconcerted arrangements of their systems. Thus, we find that more than 140 opinions have been brought forward as to the date of the creation alone, and that, between the varying extremes, there is a difference of 3194 years—a difference which only applies to the period between the commencement of the world and the birth of Jesus Christ. This disagreement turns chiefly on those portions of the interval which are in closest proximity to the creation.
"From the moment when it becomes a recognised fact that the origin of mankind is a question independent of all subordination to dogma,[1q] this question will assume its proper position as a scientific thesis, and will be accessible to any kind of discussion, and capable, in every point of view, of receiving the solution which best harmonises with the known facts and experimental demonstrations." [1]
Thus, we must not assume that the authority of Holy Writ is in any way questioned by those labours which aim at seeking the real epoch of man's first appearance on the earth.
In corroboration of M. Lartet's statement, we must call to mind that the Catholic church[2], which has raised to the rank of dogma so many unimportant facts, has never desired to treat in this way the idea that man was created only 6000 years ago.
There is, therefore, no need for surprise when we learn that certain members of the Catholic clergy have devoted themselves with energy to the study of pre-historic man. Mgr. Meignan, Bishop of Châlons-sur-Marne, is one of the best-informed men in France as respects this new science; he cultivates it with the utmost zeal, and his personal researches have added much to the sum of our knowledge of this question. Under the title of 'Le Monde et l'Homme Primitif selon la Bible,'[2] the learned Bishop of Châlons-sur-Marne published, in 1869, a voluminous work, in which, taking up the subjects discussed by Marcel de Serres in his "Cosmogonie de Moïse, comparée aux Faits Géologiques,"[3] and enlarging upon the facts which science has recently acquired as to the subject of primitive man, he seeks to establish the coincidence of all these data with the records of Revelation.
M. l'Abbé Lambert has recently published a work on 'L'Homme Primitif et la Bible,'[4] in which he proves that the discoveries of modern science concerning the antiquity of man are in no way opposed to the records of Revelation in the Book of Moses.
Lastly, it is a member of the clerical body, M. l'Abbé Bourgeois, who, more a royalist than the king—that is, more advanced in his views than most contemporary geologists—is in favour of tracing back to the tertiary epoch the earliest date of the existence of man. We shall have to impugn this somewhat exaggerated opinion, which, indeed, we only quote here for the sake of proving that the theological scruples which so long arrested the progress of inquiry with regard to primitive man, have now disappeared, in consequence of the perfect independence of this question in relation to catholic dogma being evidently shown.
Thanks to the mutual support which has been afforded by the three sister-sciences—geology, palæontology, and archæology,—thanks to the happy combinations which these sciences have presented to the efforts of men animated with an ardent zeal for the investigation of the truth;—and thanks, lastly, to the unbounded interest which attaches to this subject, the result has been that the limits which had been so long attributed to the existence of the human species have been extraordinarily extended, and the date of the first appearance of man has been carried back to the night of the darkest ages. The mind, it may well be said, recoils dismayed when it undertakes the computation of the thousands of years which have elapsed since the creation of man.
But, it will naturally be asked, on what grounds do you base this assertion? What evidence do you bring forward, and what are the elements of your proof?
In the following paragraphs we give some of the principal means of examination and study which have directed the efforts of savants in this class of investigation, and have enabled them to create a science of the antiquity of the human species.
If man existed at any very remote epoch, he must have left traces of his presence in the spots which he inhabited and on the soil which he trod under his feet. However savage his state may be assumed to have been, primitive man must have possessed some implements of fishing and hunting—[2q]some weapons wherewith to strike down any prey which was stronger or more agile than himself. All human beings have been in possession of some scrap of clothing; and they have had at their command certain implements more or less rough in their character, be they only a shell in which to draw water or a tool for cleaving wood and constructing some place of shelter, a knife to cut their food, and a lump of stone to break the bones of the animals which served for their nutriment. Never has man existed who was not in possession of some kind of defensive weapon. These implements and these weapons have been patiently sought for, and they have also been found. They have been found in certain strata of the earth, the age of which is known by geologists; some of these strata precede and others are subsequent to the cataclysm of the European deluge of the quaternary epoch.
The fact has thus been proved that a race of men lived upon the earth at the epoch settled by the geological age of these strata—that is, during the quaternary epoch.
When this class of evidence of man's presence—that is, the vestiges of his primitive industry—fails us, a state of things, however, which comparatively seldom occurs, his existence is sometimes revealed by the presence of human bones buried in the earth and preserved through long ages by means of the deposits of calcareous salts which have petrified or rather fossilised[4] them. Sometimes, in fact, the remains of human bones have been found in quaternary rocks, which are, consequently, considerably anterior to those of the present geological epoch.
This means of proof is, however, more difficult to bring forward than the preceding class of evidence; because human bones are very liable to decay when they are buried at shallow depths, and require for any length of preservation a concurrence of circumstances which is but rarely met with; because also the tribes of primitive man often burnt their dead bodies; and, lastly, because the human race then formed but a very scanty population.
Another excellent proof, which demonstrates the existence of man at a geological epoch anterior to the present era, is to be deduced from the intermixture of human bones with those of antediluvian animals. It is evident that if we meet with the bones of the mammoth, the cave-bear, the cave-tiger, &c.,—animals which lived only in the quaternary epoch and are now extinct—in conjunction with the bones of man or the relics of his industry, such as weapons, implements, utensils, &c., we can assert with some degree of certainty that our species was contemporaneous with the above-named animals. Now this intermixture has often been met with under the ground in caves, or deeply buried in the earth.
These form the various kinds of proof which have been made use of to establish the fact of man's presence upon the earth during the quaternary epoch. We will now give a brief recital of the principal investigations which have contributed to the knowledge on which is based the newly-formed science which treats of the practical starting-point of mankind.
Palæontology, as a science, does not count more than half a century of existence. We scarcely seem, indeed, to have raised more than one corner of the veil which covers the relics of an extinct world; as yet, for instance, we know absolutely nothing of all that sleeps buried in the depths of the earth lying under the basin of the sea. It need not, therefore, afford any great ground for surprise that so long a time elapsed before human bones or the vestiges of the primitive industry of man were discovered in the quaternary rocks. This negative result, however, always constituted the chief objection against the very early origin of our species.
The errors and deceptions which were at first encountered tended perhaps to cool down the zeal of the earlier naturalists, and thus retarded the solution of the problem. It is a well-known story about the fossil salamander of the Œningen quarries, which, on the testimony of Scheuchzer, was styled in 1726, the "human witness of the deluge" (homo diluvii testis). In 1787, Peter Camper recognised the fact that this pretended pre-Adamite was nothing but a reptile; this discomfiture, which was a source of amusement to the whole of scientific Europe, was a real injury to the cause of antediluvian man. By the sovereign ascendancy of ridicule, his existence was henceforth relegated to the domain of fable.
The first step in advance was, however, taken in 1774. Some human bones, mingled with remains of the great bear and other species then unknown, were discovered by J. F. Esper, in the celebrated cavern of Gailenreuth, in Bavaria.
Even before this date, in the early part of the eighteenth century, Kemp, an Englishman, had found in London, by the side of elephants' teeth, a stone hatchet, similar to those which have been subsequently found in great numbers in various parts of the world. This hatchet was roughly sketched, and the design published in 1715. The original still exists in the collection at the British Museum.
In 1797, John Frere, an English archæologist, discovered at Hoxne, in Suffolk, under strata of quaternary rocks, some flint weapons, intermingled with bones of animals belonging to extinct species. Esper concluded that these weapons and the men who made them were anterior to the formation of the beds in which they were found.
According to M. Lartet, the honour of having been the first to proclaim the high antiquity of the human species must be attributed to Aimé Boué, a French geologist residing in Germany. In 1823, he found in the quaternary loam (loess) of the Valley of the Rhine some human bones which he presented to Cuvier and Brongniart as those of men who lived in the quaternary epoch.
In 1823, Dr. Buckland, the English geologist, published his 'Reliquiæ Diluvianæ,' a work which was principally devoted to a description of the Kirkdale Cave, in which the author combined all the facts then known which tended in favour of the co-existence of man and the antediluvian animals.
Cuvier, too, was not so indisposed as he is generally said to have been, to admit the existence of man in the quaternary epoch. In his work on 'Ossements Fossiles,' and his 'Discours sur les Révolutions du Globe,' the immortal naturalist discusses the pros and cons with regard to this question, and, notwithstanding the insufficiency of the data which were then forthcoming, he felt warranted in saying:—
"I am not inclined to conclude that man had no existence at all before the epoch of the great revolutions of the earth.... He might have inhabited certain districts of no great extent, whence, after these terrible events, he repeopled the world; perhaps, also, the spots where he abode were swallowed up, and his bones lie buried under the beds of the present seas."
The confident appeals which have been made to Cuvier's authority against the high antiquity of man are, therefore, not justified by the facts.
A second and more decisive step in advance was taken by the discovery of shaped flints and other implements belonging to primitive man, existing in diluvial beds.
In 1826, M. Tournal, of Narbonne, a French archæologist and geologist, published an account of the discoveries which he had made in a cave in the department of Aude, in which he found bones of the bison and reindeer fashioned by the hand of man, accompanied by the remains of edible shell-fish, which must have been brought there by men who had made their residence in this cave.
Three years afterwards, M. de Christol, of Montpellier, subsequently Professor in the University of Science of Grenoble, found human bones intimately mixed up with remains of the great bear, hyæna, rhinoceros, &c., in the caverns of Pondres and Souvignargues (Hérault). In the last of these caverns fragments of pottery formed a part of the relics.
All these striking facts were put together and discussed by Marcel de Serres, Professor in the University of Science at Montpellier, in his 'Essai sur les Cavernes.'
The two bone-caverns of Engis and Enghihoul (Belgium) have furnished proofs of the same kind. In 1833, Schmerling, a learned Belgian geologist, discovered in these caverns two human skulls, mixed with the teeth of the rhinoceros, elephant, bear, hyæna, &c. The human bones were rubbed and worn away like those of the animals. The bones of the latter presented, besides, traces of human workmanship. Lastly, as if no evidence should be wanting, flints chipped to form knives and arrow-heads were found in the same spot.
In connection with his laborious investigations, Schmerling published a work which is now much esteemed, and proves that the Belgian geologist well merited the title of being the founder of the science of the antiquity of man. In this work Schmerling describes and represents a vast quantity of objects which had been discovered in the caverns of Belgium, and introduced to notice the human skull which has since become so famous under the name of the Engis skull. But at that time scientific men of all countries were opposed to this class of ideas, and thus the discoveries of the Belgian geologist attracted no more attention than those of his French brethren who had brought forward facts of a similar nature.
In 1835, M. Joly, at that time Professor at the Lyceum of Montpellier—where I (the author) attended on his course of Natural History—now Professor in the Faculty of Sciences at Toulouse, found in the cave of Nabrigas (Lozère) the skull of a cave-bear, on which an arrow had left its evident traces. Close by was a fragment of pottery bearing the imprints of the fingers of the man who moulded it.
We may well be surprised that, in the face of all these previous discoveries, Boucher de Perthes, the ardent apostle in proclaiming the high antiquity of our species, should have met with so much opposition and incredulity; or that he should have had to strive against so much indifference, when, beginning with the year 1836, he began to maintain this idea in a series of communications addressed to the Société d'Emulation of Abbeville.
The horizontal strata of the quarternary beds, known under the name of diluvial, form banks of different shades and material, which place before our eyes in indelible characters the ancient history of our globe. The organic remains which are found in them are those of beings who were witnesses to the diluvial cataclysm, and perhaps preceded it by many ages.
"Therefore," says the prophet of Abbeville, "it is in these ruins of the old world, and in the deposits which have become his sole archives, that we must seek out the traditions of primitive man; and in default of coins and inscriptions we must rely on the rough stones which, in all their imperfection, prove the existence of man no less surely than all the glory of a Louvre."
Strong in this conviction, M. Boucher de Perthes devoted himself ardently to the search in the diluvial beds, either for the bony relics of man, or, at all events, for the material indications of his primitive industry. In the year 1838 he had the honour of submitting to the Société d'Emulation, at Abbeville, his first specimens of the antediluvian hatchet.
In the course of the year 1839, Boucher de Perthes took these hatchets to Paris and showed them to several members of the Institute. MM. Alexandre Brongniart, Flourens, Elie de Beaumont, Cordier, and Jomard, gave at first some encouragement to researches which promised to be so fruitful in results; but this favourable feeling was not destined to last long.
These rough specimens of wrought flint, in which Boucher de Perthes already recognised a kind of hatchet, presented very indistinct traces of chipping, and the angles were blunted; their flattened shape, too, differed from that of the polished hatchets, the only kind that were then known. It was certainly necessary to see with the eyes of faith in order to discern the traces of man's work. "I," says the Abbeville archæologist, "had these 'eyes of faith,' but no one shared them with me." He then made up his mind to seek for help in his labour, and trained workmen to dig in the diluvial beds. Before long he was able to collect, in the quarternary beds at Abbeville, twenty specimens of flint evidently wrought by the hand of man.
In 1842, the Geological Society of London received a communication from Mr. Godwin Austen, who had found in Kent's Hole various wrought objects, accompanied by animal remains, which must have remained there since the deluge.
In 1844, appeared Lund's observations on the caverns of Brazil.
Lund explored as many as 800 caves. In one of them, situated not far from the lake of Semidouro, he found the bones of no less than thirty individuals of the human species, showing a similar state of decomposition to that of the bones of animals which were along with them. Among these animals were an ape, various carnivora, rodents, pachyderms, sloths, &c. From these facts, Lund inferred that man must have been contemporaneous with the megatherium, the mylodon, &c., animals which characterised the quarternary epoch.
Nevertheless, M. Desnoyers, librarian of the Museum of Natural History at Paris, in a very learned article on 'Grottos and Caverns,' published in 1845 in the 'Dictionnaire Universel d'Histoire Naturelle,' still energetically expressed himself in opposition to the hypothesis of the high antiquity of man. But the discoveries continued to go on; and, at the present time, M. Desnoyers himself figures among the partisans of the antediluvian man. He has even gone beyond their opinions, as he forms one among those who would carry back to the tertiary epoch the earliest date of the appearance of our species.
In 1847, M'Enery found in Kent's Hole, a cavern in England, under a layer of stalagmite, the remains of men and antediluvian animals mingled together.
The year 1847 was also marked by the appearance of the first volume of the 'Antiquités Celtiques et Antédiluviennes,' by Boucher de Perthes; this contained about 1600 plates of the objects which had been discovered in the excavations which the author had caused to be made since the year 1836.
The strata at Abbeville, where Boucher de Perthes carried out his researches, belong to the quaternary epoch.
Dr. Rigollot, who had been for ten years one of the most decided opponents of the opinions of Boucher de Perthes, actually himself discovered in 1854 some wrought flints in the quaternary deposits at Saint Acheul, near Amiens, and it was not long before he took his stand under the banner of the Abbeville archæologist.
The fauna of the Amiens deposits is similar to that of the Abbeville beds. The lower deposits of gravel, in which the wrought flints are met with, have been formed by fresh water, and have not undergone either alteration or disturbance. The flints wrought by the hand of man which have been found in them, have in all probability lain there since the epoch of the formation of these deposits—an epoch a little later than the diluvial period. The number of wrought flints which have been taken out of the Abbeville beds is really immense. At Menchecourt, in twenty years, about 100 well-characterised hatchets have been collected; at Saint Gilles twenty very rough, and as many well-made ones; at Moulin-Quignon 150 to 200 well-formed hatchets.
Similar relics of primitive industry have been found also in other localities. In 1853, M. Noulet discovered some in the Infernat Valley (Haute-Garonne); in 1858, the English geologists, Messrs. Prestwich, Falconer, Pengelly, &c., also found some in the lower strata of the Baumann cavern in the Hartz.
To the English geologists whose names we have just mentioned must be attributed the merit of having been the first to bring before the scientific world the due value of the labours of Boucher de Perthes, who had as yet been unsuccessful in obtaining any acceptation of his ideas in France. Dr. Falconer, Vice-president of the Geological Society in London, visited the department of the Somme, in order to study the beds and the objects found in them. After him, Messrs. Prestwich and Evans came three times to Abbeville in the year 1859. They all brought back to England a full conviction of the antiquity and intact state of the beds explored, and also of the existence of man before the deluge of the quaternary epoch.
In another journey, made in company with Messrs. Flower, Mylne, and Godwin Austen, Messrs. Prestwich, Falconer, and Evans were present at the digging out of human bones and flint hatchets from the quarries of St. Acheul. Lastly, Sir C. Lyell visited the spot, and the English geologist, who, up to that time, had opposed the idea of the existence of antediluvian man, was able to say, Veni, vidi, victus fui! At the meeting of the British Association, at Aberdeen, September the 15th, 1855, Sir C. Lyell declared himself to be in favour of the existence of quaternary man; and this declaration, made by the President of the Geological Society of London, added considerable weight to the new ideas.
M. Hébert, Professor of Geology at the Sorbonne, next took his stand under the same banner.
M. Albert Gaudry, another French geologist, made a statement to the Academy of Sciences, that he, too, had found flint hatchets, together with the teeth of horses and fossil oxen, in the beds of the Parisian diluvium.
During the same year, M. Gosse, the younger, explored the sand-pits of Grenelle and the avenue of La Mothe-Piquet in Paris, and obtained from them various flint implements, mingled with the bones of the mammoth, fossil ox, &c.
Facts of a similar character were established at Précy-sur-Oise, and in the diluvial deposits at Givry.
The Marquis de Vibraye, also, found in the cave of Arcy, various human bones, especially a piece of a jaw-bone, mixed with the bones of animals of extinct species.
In 1859, M. A. Fontan found in the cave of Massat (department of Ariége), not only utensils testifying to the former presence of man, but also human teeth mixed up with the remains of the great bear (Ursus spelæus), the fossil hyæna (Hyæna spelæa), and the cave-lion (Felis spelæa).
In 1861, M. A. Milne Edwards found in the cave of Lourdes (Tarn), certain relics of human industry by the side of the bones of fossil animals.
The valleys of the Oise and the Seine have also added their contingent to the supply of antediluvian remains. In the sand-pits in the environs of Paris, at Grenelle, Levallois-Perret, and Neuilly, several naturalists, including MM. Gosse, Martin, and Reboux, found numerous flint implements, associated, in certain cases, with the bones of the elephant and hippopotamus. In the valley of the Oise, at Précy, near Creil, MM. Peigné Delacour and Robert likewise collected a few hatchets.
Lastly, a considerable number of French departments, especially those of the north and centre, have been successfully explored. We may mention the departments of Pas-de-Calais, Aisne, Loire-et-Cher, Indre-et-Loire, Vienne, Allier, Yonne, Saône-et-Loire, Hérault, Tarn-et-Garonne, &c.
In England, too, discoveries were made of an equally valuable character. The movement which was commenced in France by Boucher de Perthes, spread in England with remarkable rapidity. In many directions excavations were made which produced excellent results.
In the gravel beds which lie near Bedford, Mr. Wyatt met with flints resembling the principal types of those of Amiens and Abbeville; they were found in company with the remains of the mammoth, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, ox, horse, and deer. Similar discoveries were made in Suffolk, Kent, Hertfordshire, Hampshire, Wiltshire, &c.
Some time after his return from Abbeville, Mr. Evans, going round the museum of the Society of Antiquaries in London, found in their rooms some specimens exactly similar to those in the collection of Boucher de Perthes. On making inquiries as to their origin, he found that they had been obtained from the gravel at Hoxne by Mr. Frere, who had collected them there, together with the bones of extinct animals, all of which he had presented to the museum, after having given a description of them in the 'Archæologia' of 1800, with this remark: ... "Fabricated and used by a people who had not the use of metals.... The situation in which these weapons were found may tempt us to refer them to a very remote period indeed, even beyond that of the present world."
Thus, even at the commencement of the present century, they were in possession, in England, of proofs of the co-existence of man with the great extinct pachyderms; but, owing to neglect of the subject, scarcely any attention had been paid to them.
We now come to the most remarkable and most characteristic discoveries of this class which have ever been made. We allude to the explorations made by M. Édouard Lartet, during the year 1860, in the curious pre-historic human burial-place at Aurignac (Haute-Garonne).
Going down the hill on the road leading from Aurignac, after proceeding about a mile, we come to the point where, on the other side of the dale, the ridge of the hill called Fajoles rises, not more than 65 feet above a rivulet. We then may notice, on the northern slope of this eminence, an escarpment of the rock, by the side of which there is a kind of niche about six feet deep, the arched opening of it facing towards the north-west. This little cave is situated forty-two feet above the rivulet. Below, the calcareous soil slopes down towards the stream.
The discovery of this hollow, which is now cleared out, was made entirely by chance. It was hidden by a mass of débris of rock and vegetable-earth which had crumbled down; it had, in fact, only been known as a rabbits' hole. In 1842, an excavating labourer, named Bonnemaison, took it into his head one day to thrust his arm into this hole, and out of it he drew forth a large bone. Being rather curious to search into the mystery, he made an excavation in the slope below the hole, and, after some hours' labour, came upon a slab of sandstone which closed up an arched opening. Behind the slab of stone, he discovered a hollow in which a quantity of human bones were stored up.
It was not long before the news of this discovery was spread far and wide. Crowds of curious visitors flocked to the spot, and many endeavoured to explain the origin of these human remains, the immense antiquity of which was attested by their excessive fragility. The old inhabitants of the locality took it into their heads to recall to recollection a band of coiners and robbers who, half a century before, had infested the country. This decidedly popular inquest and decision was judged perfectly satisfactory, and everyone agreed in declaring that the cavern which had just been brought to light was nothing but the retreat of these malefactors, who concealed all the traces of their crimes by hiding the bodies of their victims in this cave, which was known to these criminals only.
Doctor Amiel, Mayor of Aurignac, caused all these bones to be collected together, and they were buried in the parish cemetery. Nevertheless, before the re-inhumation was proceeded with, he recorded the fact that the skeletons were those of seventeen individuals of both sexes. In addition to these skeletons, there were also found in the cave a number of little discs, or flat rings, formed of the shell of a species of cockle (cardium). Flat rings altogether similar to these are not at all unfrequent in the necklaces and other ornanments of Assyrian antiquity found in Nineveh.
Eighteen years after this event, that is in 1860, M. Édouard Lartet paid a visit to Aurignac. All the details of the above-named discovery were related to him. After the long interval which had elapsed, no one, not even the grave-digger himself, could recollect the precise spot where these human remains had been buried in the village cemetery. These precious relics were therefore lost to science.
M. Lartet resolved, however, to set on foot some excavations in the cave from which they had been taken, and he soon found himself in possession of unhoped-for treasures. The floor of the cavern itself had remained intact, and was covered with a layer of "made ground" mixed with fragments of stone. Outside this same cave M. Lartet discovered a bed of ashes and charcoal, which, however, did not extend to the interior. This bed was covered with "made ground" of an ossiferous and vegetable character. Inside the cave, the ground contained bones of the bear, the fox, the reindeer, the bison, the horse, &c., all intermingled with numerous relics of human industry, such as implements made of stag or reindeer's-horn, carefully pointed at one end and bevelled off at the other—a pierced handle of reindeer's-horn—flint knives and weapons of different kinds; lastly, a canine-tooth of a bear, roughly carved in the shape of a bird's head and pierced with a hole, &c.
The excavations, having been carried to a lower level, brought to light the remains of the bear, the wild-cat, the cave-hyæna, the wolf, the mammoth, the horse, the stag, the reindeer, the ox, the rhinoceros, &c., &c. It was, in fact, a complete Noah's ark. These bones were all broken lengthwise, and some of them were carbonised. Striæ and notches were found on them, which could only have been made by cutting instruments.
M. Lartet, after long and patient investigations, came to the conclusion that the cave of Aurignac was a human burial-place, contemporary with the mammoth, the Rhinocerus tichorhinus, and other great mammals of the quarternary epoch.
The mode in which the long bones were broken shows that they had been cracked with a view of extracting the marrow; and the notches on them prove that the flesh had been cut off them with sharp instruments. The ashes point to the existence of a fire, in which some of these bones had been burnt. Men must have resorted to this cavern in order to fulfil certain funereal rites. The weapons and animals' bones must have been deposited there in virtue of some funereal dedication, of which numerous instances are found in Druidical or Celtic monuments and in Gallic tombs.
Such are the valuable discoveries, and such the new facts which were the result of the investigations made by M. Édouard Lartet in the cave of Aurignac. In point of fact, they left no doubt whatever as to the co-existence of man with the great antediluvian animals.
In 1862, Doctor Felix Garrigou, of Tarrascon, a distinguished geologist, published the results of the researches which he, in conjunction with MM. Rames and Filhol, had made in the caverns of Ariége. These explorers found the lower jaw-bones of the great bear, which, with their sharp and projecting canine-tooth, had been employed by man as an offensive weapon, almost in the same way as Samson used the jaw-bone of an ass in fighting with the Philistines.
"It was principally," says M. Garrigou, "in the caves of Lombrives, Lherm, Bouicheta, and Maz-d'Azil that we found the jaw-bones of the great bear and the cave-lion, which were acknowledged to have been wrought by the hand of man, not only by us, but also by the numerous French and English savants who examined them and asked for some of them to place in their collections. The number of these jaw-bones now reaches to more than a hundred. Furnished, as they are, with an immense canine-tooth, and carved so as to give greater facility for grasping them, they must have formed, when in a fresh state, formidable weapons in the hands of primitive man....
"These animals belong to species which are now extinct, and if their bones while still in a fresh state (since they were gnawed by hyænas) were used as weapons, man must have been contemporary with them."
In the cave of Bruniquel (Tarn-et-Garonne), which was visited in 1862 by MM. Garrigou and Filhol, and other savants, there were found, under a very hard osseous breccia, an ancient fire-hearth with ashes and charcoal, the broken and calcined bones of ruminants of various extinct species, flint flakes used as knives, facetted nuclei, and both triangular and quadrangular arrow-heads of great distinctness, utensils in stags' horn and bone—in short, everything which could prove the former presence of primitive man.
About three-quarters of a mile below the cave there was subsequently found, at a depth of about twenty feet, an osseous breccia similar to the first, and likewise containing broken bones and a series of ancient fire-hearths filled with ashes and objects of antediluvian industry. Bones, teeth, and flints were to be collected in bushels.
At the commencement of 1863, M. Garrigou presented to the Geological Society of France the objects which had been found in the caves of Lherm and Bouicheta, and the Abbé Bourgeois published some remarks on the wrought flints from the diluvium of Pont-levoy.
This, therefore, was the position of the question in respect to fossil man, when in 1863, the scientific world were made acquainted with the fact of the discovery of a human jaw-bone in the diluvial beds of Moulin-Quignon, near Abbeville. We will relate the circumstances attending this memorable discovery.
On the 23rd of March, 1863, an excavator who was working in the sand-quarries at Moulin-Quignon brought to Boucher de Perthes at Abbeville, a flint hatchet and a small fragment of bone which he had just picked up. Having cleaned off the earthy coat which covered it, Boucher de Perthes recognised this bone to be a human molar. He immediately visited the spot, and assured himself that the locality where these objects had been found was an argilo-ferruginous vein, impregnated with some colouring matter which appeared to contain organic remains. This layer formed a portion of a virgin bed, as it is called by geologists, that is, without any infiltration or secondary introduction.
On the 28th of March another excavator brought to Boucher de Perthes a second human tooth, remarking at the same time, "that something resembling a bone was just then to be seen in the sand." Boucher de Perthes immediately repaired to the spot, and in the presence of MM. Dimpré the elder and younger, and several members of the Abbeville Société d'Emulation, he personally extracted from the soil the half of a human lower jaw-bone, covered with an earthy crust. A few inches from this, a flint hatchet was discovered, covered with the same black patina as the jaw-bone. The level where it was found was about fifteen feet below the surface of the ground.
After this event was duly announced, a considerable number of geologists flocked to Abbeville, about the middle of the month of April. The Abbé Bourgeois, MM. Brady-Buteux, Carpenter, Falconer, &c., came one after the other, to verify the locality from which the human jaw-bone had been extracted. All were fully convinced of the intact state of the bed and the high antiquity of the bone which had been found.
Boucher de Perthes also discovered in the same bed of gravel two mammoth's teeth, and a certain number of wrought hatchets. Finally, he found among the bones which had been taken from the Menchecourt quarries in the early part of April, a fragment of another jaw-bone and six separate teeth, which were recognised by Dr. Falconer to be also human.
The jaw-bone found at Moulin-Quignon is very well preserved. It is rather small in size, and appears to have belonged to an aged individual of small stature. It does not possess that ferocious aspect which is noticed in the jaw-bones of certain of the existing human races. The obliquity of the molar-tooth may be explained by supposing some accident, for the molar which stood next had fallen out during the lifetime of the individual, leaving a gap which favoured the obliquity of the tooth which remained in the jaw. This peculiarity is found also in several of the human heads in the collection of the Museum of Natural History in Paris.
The jaw-bone of the man of Moulin-Quignon, which is represented here (fig. 1) in its natural size, and drawn from the object itself, which is preserved in the Anthropological Gallery of the Museum of Natural History of Paris, does not show any decided points of difference when compared with those of individuals of existing races.
The same conclusion was arrived at as the result of the comparative examination which was made of the jaw-bones found by MM. Lartet and De Vibraye in the caves of Aurignac and Arcy; the latter remains were studied by M. Quatrefages in conjunction with Pruner-Bey, formerly physician to the Viceroy of Egypt, and one of the most distinguished French anthropologists.
On the 20th of April, 1863, M. de Quatrefages announced to the institute the discovery which had been made by Boucher de Perthes, and he presented to the above-named learned body the interesting object itself, which had been sent from Abbeville.
When the news of this discovery arrived in England it produced no slight sensation.
Some of the English savants who had more specially devoted their attention to the study of this question, such as Messrs. Christy, Falconer, Carpenter, and Busk, went over to France, and in conjunction with Boucher de Perthes and several members of the Académie des Sciences of Paris, examined the exact locality in which the hatchets and the human jaw-bone had been found; they unanimously agreed in recognising the correctness of the conclusions arrived at by the indefatigable geologist of Abbeville.[5]
This discovery of the hatchets and the human jaw-bone in the quaternary beds of Moulin-Quignon completed the demonstration of an idea already supported by an important mass of evidence. Setting aside its own special value, this discovery, added to so many others, could not fail to carry conviction into most minds. From this time forth the doctrine of the high antiquity of the human race became an acknowledged idea in the scientific world.
