Aided by records drawn from the bowels of the earth, we have now traversed the series of antediluvian ages since the era when man first made his appearance on the earth, and have been enabled, though but very imperfectly, to reconstruct the history of our primitive forefathers. We will now leave this epoch, through the dark night of which science seeks almost in vain to penetrate, and turn our attention to a period the traces of which are more numerous and more easily grasped by our intelligence—a period, therefore, which we are able to characterise with a much greater degree of precision.

A great catastrophe, the tradition of which is preserved in the memory of all nations, marked in Europe the end of the quaternary epoch. It is not easy to assign the exact causes for this great event in the earth's history; but whatever may be the explanation given, it is certain that a cataclysm, caused by the violent flowing of rushing water, took place during the quaternary geological epoch; for the traces of it are everywhere visible. These traces consist of a reddish clayey deposit, mixed with sand and pebbles. This deposit is called in some countries red diluvium, and in others grey diluvium. In the valley of the Rhone and the Rhine it is covered with a layer of loamy deposit, which is known to geologists by the name of loess or lehm, and as to the origin of which they are not all agreed. Sir Charles Lyell is of opinion that this mud was produced by the crushing of the rocks by early Alpine glaciers, and that it was afterwards carried down by the streams of water which descended from these mountains. This mud covers a great portion of Belgium, where it is from 10 to 30 feet in thickness, and supplies with material a large number of brickfields.

This deposit, that is the diluvial beds, constitutes nearly the most recent of all those which form the earth's crust; in many European countries, it is, in fact the ground trodden under the feet of the present population.

The inundation to which the diluvium is referred closes the series of the quaternary ages. After this era, the present geological period commences, which is characterised by the almost entire permanency of the vertical outline of the earth, and by the formation of peat-bogs.

The earliest documents afforded us by history are very far from going back to the starting-point of this period. The history of the ages which we call historical is very far from having attained to the beginning of the present geological epoch.

In order to continue our account of the progressive development of primitive man, we must now turn our attention to the Polished-stone Epoch, or the Epoch of Tamed Animals, which precedes the Metal Age.

As the facts which we shall have to review are very numerous, we will, in the first place, consider this epoch as it affects those parts of our continent which form the present France and Belgium; next, with reference to Denmark and Switzerland, in which countries we shall have to point out certain manners and customs of man of an altogether special character.

We shall consider in turn:—

1st. The habitation of man during the polished-stone epoch.

2nd. His system of food.

3rd. His arts and manufactures.

4th. The weapons manufactured by him, and their use in war.

5th. His attainments in agriculture, fishing, and navigation.

6th. His funeral ceremonies.

7th. Lastly, the characteristics of mankind during this epoch.

Habitation.—In that part of the European continent which now forms the country called France, man, during that period we designate under the name of the polished-stone epoch, continued for a considerable time to inhabit rock-shelters and caves which afforded him the best retreat from the attacks of wild beasts.

This fact has been specially proved to have been the case in the extreme south of the above-mentioned country. Among the investigations which have contributed towards its verification, we must give particular notice to those made by MM. Garrigou and Filhol in the caves of the Pyrenees (AriÉge). These two savants have also explored the caves of PradiÈres, Bedeilhac, Labart, Niaux, Ussat, and Fontanel.[13]]

In one of these caves, which we have already mentioned in the preceding chapter, but to which we must again call attention—for they belong both to the polished stone, and also to the reindeer epoch—MM. Garrigou and Filhol found the bones of a huge ox, the urus or Bos primigenius, a smaller kind of ox, the stag, the sheep, the goat, the antelope, the chamois, the wild boar, the wolf, the dog, the fox, the badger, the hare, and possibly those of the horse. Neither the bones of the reindeer nor the bison are included in this list of names; on account of the mildness of the climate, these two species had already migrated towards the north and east in search of a colder atmosphere.

The remains of hearths, bones split lengthwise, and broken skulls, indicate that the inhabitants of these caves lived on much the same food as their ancestors. It is probable that they also ate raw snails, for a large quantity of their shells were found in this cave, and also in the cavern of Massat,[14] the presence of which can only be accounted for in this way.

These remains were found intermingled with piercers, spear-heads, and arrow-heads, all made of bone; also hatchets, knives, and scratchers, made of flint, and also of various other substances, which were more plentiful than flint in that country, such as siliceous schist, quartzite, leptinite and serpentine stones. These instruments were carefully wrought, and a few had been polished at one end on a slab of flag-stone.

In the cave of Lourdes (Hautes-PyrÉnÉes), which has been explored by M. Alphonse Milne-Edwards, two layers were observed; one belonging to the reindeer epoch, and the other to the polished-stone epoch.[15] The cave of Pontil (HÉrault), which has been carefully examined by Professor Gervais,[16] has furnished remains of every epoch including the bronze age; we must, however, except the reindeer epoch, which is not represented in this cave.

Lastly, we will mention the cave of Saint-Jean-d'Alcas (Aveyron), which has been explored, at different times, by M. Cazalis de Fondouce. This is a sepulchral cave, like that of Aurignac. When it was first explored, about twenty years ago, five human skulls, in good preservation, were found in it—a discovery, the importance of which was then unheeded, and the skulls were, in consequence, totally lost to science. Flint, jade, and serpentine instruments, carved bones, remains of rough pottery, stone amulets, and the shells of shell-fish, which had formed necklaces and bracelets, were intermingled with human bones.

At Saint-Jean-d'Alcas, M. Cazalis de Fondouce did not meet with any remains of funeral banquets such as were found at Aurignac and Furfooz; he only noticed two large flag-stones lying across one another at the mouth of the cave, so as to make the inlet considerably narrower.

This cave, according to a recent publication of M. Cazalis, must be referred to a more recent epoch than was at first supposed, for some fragments of metallic substances were found in it. It must, therefore, have belonged to a late period of the polished-stone epoch. [17]

Man's System of Feeding during the Polished-stone Epoch.—In order to obtain full information on the subject of man's food in the north and centre of Europe during the polished-stone epoch, we must appeal to the interesting researches of which Denmark has been the scene during the last few years; but these researches, on account of their importance, require a detailed account.

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