Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1893-06-22
ANCIENT CANNIBALS.

The scientists holding the belief that
man is a very ancient animal on earth
have referred for evidence 10 numerous
caves III Soutneln Europe Ild else
where, which We're doubtless inuab ited
by many generations OF human beings
fOr the sake OF shelter and security
These caves contain great numbers Of
human bones and primitive tools, which,
it is alleged, have been found in nuner-
GUS Instances mixed with fra gnents OF
skeletons of the huge cave bear, the
saber-toothed tiger, the woolly rhi-
noceroS, the giant beaver and even the
! elephas antiquus, which was the an
cestor Of the mammoth and the ele-
plants of to-day. The flooring of
ashes from ancient household fires i'll
these cayernS is sometimes as much as
twenty feet thick, representing the ac-
cumulati0ns of hundreds if not thous-
andS Of years. Scattered about the
ancient hearthS are ever SO many bones
of men, women and children, which
bear not only traces of fire, but marks
Of implements employed to split them
lengthwise for the purpose of getting
at the narrow. Thus it would seem
that these savages Of antiquity were
cannibals.
In these caves testimony is found Of
many murders committed thousands OF
years ago, says the Boston Transcript
Skulls Of women cleft by sharp weap-
OnS prove that they often We're victims
Of savage violence. One such Uranium
Of a female bears the marks of three
penetrating wounds. The fact that
two of them exhibit signs of having
healed shows that she recovered, only
to succumb to a third assault. The
ancient occupants Of the caravans ap-
pear to have depended for food chiefly
on the meat of the reindeer, which in
their time were as plentiful in the
south of Europe as sheep are now.
Reindeer horn was their earliest raw
material employed for maufa ACQUIRING
purposes. They fished with hooks
made of splinters of bone pointed at
both ends. Twenty pounds of the
bones of water-rats, half roasted, were
dug up in a single cave at ChaleuX,
from which it is inferred that these
animals contributed to the food supply
in times of scarcity. 1t has been al
legged that the dwellers in the caverns
used the lower jawbone of the cave
bear as a weapon, the great canine
teeth serving as q point with which
deadly blows could be dealt.
Some Of the caves We're regular fac
tories for making tools and weapons.
From the one at Chaleux 10000 flint
hatchets, daggerS and knives have been
while their mothers We're off at work
obtained by digging. A workshop of
this kind in PerigOrd was devoted to
the making of spearheads, while an
other confined itself to fabricating
tools of reindeer horn. Curious whistles
were turned out from the first joint
Of the reindeer's foot. Many of the
implements and weapons discovered
We're rrdely decorated with representa-
tons of fishes, of reindeer, and even
mammoths. There We're hunting scenes
carved in bone and horn, in which
men We're shown in pursuit of game Or
in conflict with wild beasts. One cary
ing is a landscape, with reindeer brows-
ing. in admirable perspective. The
British Museum owns supposed paleo-
tithic poniard of reindeer horn, with a
handle carved in the form Of rein
deer. which would not be worthy of
modern art.