A Manual of the Antiquity of Man Part 5

In the pliocene beds in the neighborhood of the town of Savonia in Liguria, M. A. Issel found several bones which presented all the physical signs of very high antiquity. Dr. Buchner is of the opinion that before these bones can be employed as satisfactory evidence they must have a more accurate test by scientific authorities.[53]

In the upper pliocene beds at St. Prest (France), M. Desnoyers found traces of human action on the bones of animals belonging to the tertiary. These fractures are a.n.a.logous to those of human action observed on bones from the glacial period, and identical with those made by northern tribes of the present day, on the skulls of ruminants. The marked bones found were those of the Southern elephant (_E.

meridionalis_), rhinoceros (_R. leptorinus_), hippopotamus major, several species of deer, and two of the ox. Carl Vogt states that this discovery is not only genuine, but also, the formation in which the bones were found is decidedly tertiary. It is further characterized by the presence of the southern elephant (_E. meridionalis_). As this elephant became extinct before the glacial age, the bones consequently precede the glacial, and the age of the cave-bear, the mammoth, and tichorrhine rhinoceros. The eminent French naturalist, Quatref.a.ges, confirms the testimony of Desnoyers.[54]

The conclusions of Desnoyers are confirmed beyond a doubt by the more recent discoveries of Abbe Bourgeois. In the same tertiary strata of St.

Prest, in which were found the marked or fractured bones, Bourgeois discovered worked flints, including flakes, awls, and sc.r.a.pers.[55]

A human skull, belonging to the pliocene, was found by James Matson, at Altaville, in Calaveras county, California, at a depth of one hundred and thirty feet, under five beds of gravel separated by five layers of lava, a.s.sociated with the bones of an extinct rhinoceros, camel, and horse. The base of the skull is imbedded in a ma.s.s of bone-breccia and small pebbles of volcanic rock. The shape of the skull resembles that of the Digger Indians, and is of remarkable thickness.[56]

_Man in the Miocene._[57]--M. Bourgeois has found, in a stratum of miocene near Pontlevoy, numerous worked flints, and other flints which have been subjected to the action of heat. These works of man were a.s.sociated with the remains of the acerotherium (an extinct species allied to the rhinoceros), and beneath five distinct beds, one of which contained the rolled bones of rhinoceros, mastodon, and dinotherium.[58]

M. Tardy found a flint-flake of undoubted workmans.h.i.+p in the miocene beds of Aurillac (Auvergne), together with the remains of _dinotherium giganteum_, and _machaerodus latidens_.[59]

M. Bourgeois reports that Abbe Delaunay had found near Pouance (Maine-et-Loire), fossil bones of a _halitherium_ (an herbivorous cetacean of the miocene), with evident signs of having been operated upon by cutting instruments.[60]

In the miocene gravel beds of Colorado and Wyoming territories, chert-flakes, hammers, chisels, knives, and wrought sh.e.l.ls have been found.[61]

_Eocene._--As yet geologists have failed to discover any traces of man in the Eocene epoch.

CHAPTER V.

CONDITION OF MAN IN THE EARLIEST TIMES.

Of the first appearance of man on the globe there is no precise knowledge. His origin is a mystery. The place of his birth is generally supposed to be in Central Asia. There the geologist looks with a longing eye, and hopes ultimately to unravel, not only the hidden mystery of the birth-place of his race, but also, how or through what natural process he sprang into existence.

If the miocene be the earliest point in his history, and Central Asia the place of his nativity, then he was ushered upon the scene of life during the period of, and surrounded by, the numerous fauna of India, At this time her mammalia included, besides the quadrumana, elephant (seven species), mastodon (three species), rhinoceros (five species), horse (three species), hippopotamus (four to seven species), hog (three species), camel, giraffe, sivatherium (an elephantine stag, having four horns and supposed to have had the bulk of an elephant and greater height), antelope, musk-deer, sheep, ox (several species), dinotherium, porcupine, species of hyena, lion, and many others.

It cannot be presumed that man's intellectual faculties were ordinarily developed, as it would not be natural to suppose he was superior to that of later times. Judging from the remains of later times, man could have been but very little removed from the brute. It is natural to suppose that at first he had no fire, no weapons of offence or defence. His food must have been the herbs, roots, and the fruits of the tree, possibly with an occasional morsel of raw meat. His pillow was a stone, his retreat a cave or the boughs of a wide-spreading tree, and his clothing a natural coat of hair.

In the presence of the fierce beasts, man's domain might seem to be of short duration. Providence has ordered all things wisely. Placed low in the scale of life--brutal, selfish, prowling, yet cautious--man, by the very force of circ.u.mstances, was to develop gradually the powers of his mind. With the elephant and the mastodon he could not cope nor would they molest him. To the fierce carnivora he might fall a prey. From these he could flee, and find a shelter in the tops of the trees or some secure fastness of the earth. Learning his own strength by experience, he would venture forth on excursions, and meet face to face his deadly foe. For self-defence he discovered, probably by accident, that a club was a powerful weapon with which to beat back his fierce opponent.

Gradually he came to learn that a sharp flint driven into the end of a club was a safer and more deadly weapon. With this he could withstand an unequal contest.

The mode of life, together with the trials of his strength, developed his muscular system. His muscles became large and tough, and his bones thick and heavy. The earliest type of man is generally supposed to be _dolichocephalic_, or long-headed. The walls of the skull were thick, and the crown low. He was of ordinary stature, but built for action, and of great power. His make-up was the result of his surroundings.

His advancement was very slow. Throughout the entire length of the miocene and pliocene epochs it is not traceable. There was no revolution in his mind; one step in advance would have been a mighty leap. Nor could it be expected that there should be rapid progress. The mind was brutal; and all the instincts sensual. But there was pending a mighty change. The tropical climate should change into a winter of snow and ice. Man should feel it, and be benefited by the new danger. His sluggish mind should be quickened, and the inventive genius should be called into action. The sun no longer could give its heat. The forests grew cold, the chilling winds swept over the plains, and the retreat in the cave was damp and forbidding. The wild beasts were either dying of cold, or else becoming clothed with thick, long hair, and retreating before the acc.u.mulating snow. Man earnestly looked about him. He suffered greatly, and his numbers grew less. Fire had been produced.

How, no one can tell; possibly by accident. He now became more careful of the fire, and with brand in hand he went from place to place kindling the fires at the various resting-places. Nor was this sufficient. His ingenuity was taxed to its greatest extent. Colder and colder grew the winds. The snow, coming in great flakes, was soon consolidated, and became as ice. The body could not be kept warm. Clothing must be had, and this must be furnished by the wild beasts. Their hides must a.s.sist in protecting the life of man. The stiffened, frozen animals would not alone furnish sufficient covering. Knives must be invented. From the flint rude knives were fas.h.i.+oned, by means of which the skins were removed and transferred to the bodies of men. But the long winter continuing, the lives of the living animals must be forfeited, both for the flesh and and the skins. Rude, almost shapeless arrow-heads were produced. Wood must be had with which to warm and cook, and rude rafts formed, by means of which the swelling rivers might be crossed. Then those stone hatchets of the Somme were shaped, and answered the purpose.

Man was at last prepared to face the rigors of winter, the perils of ice, and secure himself against starvation. Not content with his conflicts with nature, his brutal pa.s.sion is aroused against his fellows. Death-dealing blows fall rapidly upon each other, the blood flows freely, the bones give way, and the weaker one has succ.u.mbed.

There are fierce contentions over the common prey, and the strong impose upon the weak. True to his instinct, he is gregarious. He lives in communities; and the more daring--the hunters--having their common places of meeting, fas.h.i.+on their weapons, and vie with each other in feats of prowess.

During the glacial epoch the condition of man must have remained unchanged, after he had supplied himself with rude stone weapons. His time was spent, for the most part, in self-preservation. He was retreating before, yet bounding over, the frozen flood in pursuit of game. This experience must ultimately tell for good. When the glaciers began to recede, man followed closely, and forgot not the value of those stone weapons which had secured food for himself. They served against the cave-bear, cave-hyena, cave-lion, and would be of great service in the ages yet to come. By a little remodelling they could be used to greater advantage; and this change of shape was accomplished, and other uses of flint were made known.

Man's form, aspect, and true position are comprehended by the relics of the glacial age. The human bones tell a tale which any anatomist may read, and even one not well skilled in the art. The primitive type is no mystery, and those fossil bones tell of the terrific strifes of by-gone times.

The Neanderthal man has already been described. Its structure is animal.

Its history agrees with the generally received idea of primitive man as conceived by the geologist. The ill.u.s.tration (frontispiece) presents him b.e.s.t.i.a.l and ape-like. A powerful organization, and well adapted to those times. His bones tell of fearful conflicts. He lived to an old age, as the traces of every suture are effaced. His skull was very thick. The strong, prominent superciliary arches denote large perceptives, making him watchful and always on the alert. Those bones tell of a terrible conflict. The left arm was broken; who knows but in a contest with the great cave-bear. He survived the contest and lived to see that arm dwindle and become almost useless. Over the right eye he received a blow, from some source, so great as to carry away a portion of the bone.

The claw of a cave-bear, or a flint weapon in the hand of one of his race, may have produced that fracture. Still he lived, and the wound healed. All this tells of his strength and hardihood. It gives an inside view of the wonderful hards.h.i.+ps and vicissitudes of primeval man.

The Engis skull belongs to the same type, though less b.e.s.t.i.a.l. Possibly this individual did not enter upon the chase, and engage in the manly pursuits of those times. He may have been an adviser or a dandy; or, his ingenuity may have led him to the vocation of fas.h.i.+oning weapons and implements from the flint.

In the time of the Engis man there were large as well as short, heavy-set men. In the same cavern there was found a clavicle belonging to a young person who must have been of great stature.

The jaws of La Naulette and Moulin-Quignon display a great tendency to animal structure, and confirm the impressions as given of the primitive condition of man during the glacial and pre-glacial ages.

CHAPTER VI.

INTER-GLACIAL EPOCH.

The glaciers have departed. Summer comes again. The forests bloom and the wild beast roams about. Many species withstood the long siege of cold; others perished; still others followed the ice as it retreated, preferring the cold to the coming heat. The floods had abated and man spread himself over the different tracts blooming with flowers and radiant with earthly splendors.

The evidences of man's existence during this period are numerous, consisting in works of art and fossil remains. Only a few examples are given, as not many will be required to present the evidence and show man's condition.

The hyena-den at Wokey Hole, explored by Mr. Dawkins, affords specimens of the works of man. When discovered this den was filled to the roof with _debris_. Under this rubbish was found several layers of the excrement of the cave-hyena (_H. spelaea_), each of which indicates an old floor and a separate period of occupation.

The implements were under these layers of excrement, showing that the cave had been occupied by the hyenas after the time of the savages.

These implements had not been disturbed by the action of water. In the bone earth along with the remains of the cave-hyena were found those of the mammoth, Siberian rhinoceros, (_R. tichorrhinus_), gigantic ox (_Bos primigenius_), gigantic Irish deer (_Megaceros Hibernicus_), reindeer, cave-bear, cave-lion (_Felis spelaea_), wolf (_Canis lupus_), fox (_Canis vulpes_), and the teeth and bones of the horse in great numbers.

Intermixed with these bones were chipped flints, a bleached flint weapon of the spear-head Amiens type, and arrow-heads made of bone.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 11. IDEAL SCENE IN THE POST-TERTIARY.

On the right is shown the megatherium. This animal belonged to the sloth tribe, and was a native of South America. It exceeded in size the largest rhinocerous, and the length of its skeleton sometimes attained eighteen feet. In front, near the centre, is the glyptodon another South American animal of the armadillo tribe. The length of its sh.e.l.l, along the curve, was five feet, and the total length of the animal, nine feet. Just back of the glypodon, and holding on to a tree, is the mylodon, belonging to both North and South America, one species of which was much larger than the western buffalo. On the left, and in the rear, is the mastodon, the remains of which are found in both North and South America, though of different species. While this scene does not represent the animals with which we are dealing, yet the general features give an idea of those with which we are interested.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 12. SECTION OF THE SEPULCHRAL GROTTO, IN THE HILL OF FAJOLES, AURIGNAC.

_a._ Vault in which the seventeen human skeletons were found.

_b._ Layer of made ground, two feet thick, inside the grotto in which a few human bones, with entire bones of extinct and living species of animals, and many works of art, were imbedded.

_c._ Layers of ashes and charcoal eight inches thick, containing broken, burned, and gnawed bones of extinct and living mammalia, also hearth-stones and works of art; no human bones.

_d._ Deposit with similar contents; also a few scattered cinders.

_e._ Talus of rubbish washed down from the hill above.

_f_, _g._ Slab of rock which closed the vault.

_i_, _f._ Rabbit-burrow.

_h_, _k._ Original terrace.

_N._ Nummulitic limestone.]