Hutchinson gazette., 1902-01-23
CAVES OF mOvTnis.
dTotto hundre ol YF,S Lang Covered
VI h Ape NJ fiaturs ..rH


Tho Oldest art works In the world!
Not the frescoes on the walls OI
Pompell, nor the pottery designs oI
ruined Babylon; nor even the ain
hieroglyphIcs of old Egypt None oI
these, ancient though they are, car
compare for real antiquity with the
pictuIts In the caves OF La MouthC
which French scientists have uneartll'
cd
Pictures yarlously estimated at from
C,OVV,O ,OUO to 2bO0O,0 0OO years old,
The climate was cold, bitterly cold
and snow was the rule and not the ex'
tept,on, Lie was not then a turmoil
OF gaiety nor yet an easy existence
Hand to mouth II certainly was, end
perhaps often the use of hand waa
unnecessary, II was the period Of the
hairy mammoth and rude cave man,
With tho mammoth, the caye'beal
and hyena that had their beginnings In
tertiary times, man, too, made his en-
trance and started a new epoch-tht
Quaternary.
In the first stages OF this new epoch
man dwet In close association with
these great creatures, as the bottom
layers of the debris of La Mouthe at
test, aud thus the flint % ips worked
by human hands and huge mammal
tonos from q Line or two In the etorv
Of the cavern,
- When scientists began their inyostl'
cation they found at first layer OF
etalagmite and then more markell
stones, but the better shape-shownR
that practice makes perfect" "hC
bones OF the cave-bear, cHye-tlger and
woolly-rhlnoGerous no longer appear Cd
but in their stead the remains OF rem.
deer and elk as well as the horsa
Homo paleolIthicus-Caye man-stIll
using only Clipped GInts, not yet had
learned to polish his handiwork. He
likewise worked much In bone and
horn. The old men sat at their cavern
homes by the Pickering fire, whilst
their children and pupils hunted the
wild deer and horses. And with tho
use OF hands in fashlonlng tools, man
also commenced to use another power
which separates him from his fellow
creatures This powerful instrument
was mind, and so as the old man sat BY
the fire fashioning tool from reindeer
untlers, the mind and hand worked In
unison; calling up the vague but real
specter-memory
Thus the days when he was younS
rnd chased the deer returned AM the
hard hands unconscously moved Tie
sharp flint until the handle Of rein
doers horn assumed an effigy of thai
creature
Thus out of the mysterious lnnerness
Of thought art was born and a ncT
chapter was begun.
Had It not been for these artist-nat'
uralsts Of paleoithc times, their fel
low-naturallsts of the present day
would have little to guide them in un-
raveling the scheme Of creation, save
O few fragmental bits Of bone. Thus
even in the chilly days of the reindeer
period France was the home Of artl
After its inception, veritable art gal
leries of homo paleolithcus seem to
have hourished, not only at La Mouthe,
hut at Combareles and Font"Ge-
Gaume.
In his recent communication to the
Academic, M. Riviere describes minute
ly the drawings made by the rude cave
men on the walls Of the grotto of la
Mouthe. This appears to have been a
yerltable art gallery for generations.
AT about 100 yards from the entrance
the works Of art commence and con-
tinue to a point 140 yards further on
All but one Of the drawings arc OF
animals, and are remarkably well ex-
ecuted.
Rlviere divides the mode Of execu'
ton into three kinds, one Of simple line
engravings, others filled with a brown
lsh-red ochre, and a sort OF strlatlcn
OF the rock.
The drawings are so far underground
that no light penetrates to them, ami
the spelaeologlst has even found a pre-
historic lamp with which the primitive
artist was wont to exhibit the products
Of his genius.
Here is the picture Of the holry
mammoth with the ponderous limbs
and sloping back. To be sure, time
and dampness have somewhat obilter-
ated the tusks and other character
istics, just as it has some of the work
of the masters Of the middle ages. But
the long reddish brown hair, you can
recognize that just as well as you
would that of the body of a mammoth
found frozen in an ice mountain CT