El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-04-19

or by other ingenious traps, the cave
lion. the great bear, and the mighty
aurochs "a species Of bisonl were
Also Were Fishermen.
The cave dwellers were fishermen as
well as hunters. They used harpoOns
of reindeer horn for spearing pike and
salmon. while for the capture OF small
er fishes they had little. sphnters OF
bone, one or two inches long, pointed
at both ends. This primitive kind OF
fiShhOOk was fastened by the middle 10
a line of reindeer sinew and covered
with the bait, so that when swallowed
it became fixed inside the body OF the
finny victim
The kind Of cave deemed most de
sirable for residential purposes IN
those days was a hole in the rock with
very narrow opening when n, couIu
only be entered by climbing Thus It
! afforded not only shelter, but also
safety against intrusion by wild beasts
or attack BY an enemy. When no cav
ern was available, an Overhang1ng clliI
was made to serve, helped out by ping
was the first beginning of architeC-
ture. For one should realize that a
modern house is, after all, nothing but
an artificial cave arranged in several
space
They Planted No seed.
These people had no notion whatever
{ OF agriculture. They planted no seed
pottery was unknown to them-a fact
1 sufficiently proved by the absence OF
! any pots or fragments of pots in the
[ caVerus they occupied 1t is possible
l that they used vessels Of leather or
wood for boiling water, into which
[ they put stones for the purpose pre-
/ vlouSly heated by fire That they re-
! sorted to some such eXpedtent IS suS-
/ Eested by the finding Of many round
! stones, not otherwise easily to be &C
! counted for.
/ on the walls Of the caves occupied
/ by these ancient people are found many
/ paintings IN cOlOrS which even at the
/ present day are by no means enJlrely
/ obllteratec-the pigments they uSeu
! being mineral "earths'' and oxides,
I which. doubtless. they regarded as ex-
] tremely precious. Numerous animals
! are represented by the primitive art
J lists, including the mammoth, the cave
J bear, and particularly the reindeer
AS human beings, however, there are
/ very few pOrtraits-very likely De
] cause, like modern savages, the folk OF
/ the caverns thought it bad luck &c
J draw a picture Of man. study OF
! would seem to indicate that the
! hunters of southern Europe IN thai
! early epoch followed the chase naked
| their hair raised in a tuft on the tor
! of the head.
One OF the weapons.
One of the most formidable weapons
for war was the lower jawbone Of the
cave bear-the long, solid bone 1ur-
| nishing a handle, and the great canine
tooth a point with which deadly blows
Z could be struck. They had whistles
made from the first joint of the rein
! deer's foot. but what they used them
I for is not known. Apparently they had
not dOmesticated the dog, else some OF
I the bones in the caves would show
/ signs Of gnawing-which is not the
case.
One perceives that, with the help OF
| considerable quantities Of relics such
| as here described, it has been possible
for the prehistoric archaelOgist to re
| construct with a good deal of definite
ness the conditions under which these
people of remote antiquity lived. In
! asmuch as they were undoubtedly OuI
own ancestors. we have every reason
! to look upon them and their affairs
with a high degree Of interest TakeI
4 as a whole, the picture of the race IN
| this early stage, as science now pre-
! sents il to view, is wonderfully vivid
| and striking, and the knowledge it con-
/ veys Of the beginnings of the history
of our own species may be regarded as
| most important contribution to the
modern education Of mankind