Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1914-01-09


between Poncin and Melville ur-Ain AS long
ago as 1875 scientist Mr. Moyret called atten-
ton to it as having been inhabited in prehistoric
times. Ever since numerous Investigators have
visited it. They conducted their Investigations
so assiduously that the level of the cave formed
during the Neollthic age-comparatively recent,
in the eyes of biologists and anthropologsts-
was dug away. also the contiguous level of the
earlier Magdalenian age This lowered the level
of the by rs centimeters and brought to light
rich fields of Neolthic and Magdalenian relics.
But the richest find of all yet to come Be-
ginning last May the latest investigators began to
dig deeper into the soil forming the floor of the
cave, and after they had penetrated about one
meter further down they found a stratum Of fine
gravel showing uumistakable signs of dating
from the still earlier Aurignacian age. This
proved to be veritaHe treasure trove
In it were uncovered the Studio" of prehs-
toric artist containing number of different sorts
of engraver's TOOLS pieces of mammoth rhinoc-
and raindeer bones pieces of stone ready for
engraving and stones and bones with engravings
already cut into them.
One OF the latter represents horse of re-
markedly finished type; another shows a bison,
still another wild sheep But the prize of the
whole collection the prize which, it is confidently
expected, will make this epoch-making find
in the annals of anthropology, is the piece OF
mammoth's bone which is cut the figure of
human being. This in the words of those who
senting in engraved form. the man of the Middle
Quaternary age. the minimum age of which is
$1,000 years.
AS those who delve into the remote history Of
our race are aware picturings of himself by pre-
historic man are extremely rare. He delighted
in drawing and carving the strange beasts which
he saw about him-bisons, reindeer. mammoth,
horses and the like-but when it came to giving
us an idea of what he looked like himself he vas
strangely coy.
Especially rare are depictions of man In the
form of drawings or engravings. Rude carvings
of human beings. dating far beyond the dawn of
history, have been dug up--at Villendorf, in Aus
tria; at Brassempouy the Laussel cave, and the
grottoes of Grimadi in France and other places.
Owing to this paucity of f1rst-hand information,
reconstructions Of prehistoric from the yaTi
Gus skulls and bones found at different times
have been largely matter of conjecture. 1t has
been a of every guessing for himself,
legion. One group of savants, endeavoring to
build up our remote ancestor from the famous
relics found in the Neanderthal, Dusseldorf,
Germany; at Spy, in Belgium, and at La Chapelle-
aux-Saints, in France, have shown something
materially strengthening the Darwinan theory
that man is descended from the ape. Another
group, basing its deductions the man" recon
structed from the Piltdown skull. has endeavor-
ed to prove that prehistoric man from whom we
are descended, never became so bestal as the
possessors OF the NeanderthalSpy-La Chappelle-
aux Saints skulls and that the latter belonged to
q branch of the which gradually degenerat-
ed until it finally became extinct while the other
and superior branch kept on improving until man
as we know him was gradually evolved.
This latter theory, it IS expected by the dis
coverers of the prehistoric studio" in the cave
of La Colombiere, will be greatly bolstered up
by what they have brought to light. To begin
with, the best known depictions of human beings
of similar sort-nOtably the sculptured forms Of
women found at Azil and elsewhere in France,
as well as the sketches of the human face
earthed in the cave OF Marsoulas-were produced
In the Magdalenian age, according to the theory
generally accepted by FrenchmeE. and. therefore
are supposed to be much more recent than any
thing dating from the Aurignacian age.
Granting then. that the pictures in the cave of
La Colombiere really date from the Aurignacian
age-and the report read By M, Douyille shows
pretty conclusively that they do-and that those
similar to Their discovered up to now are of a
more recent date. tia character Of the work done
by the cave artist oi la coloHbere is such as ina
mediately q rivck Fhc closest attention on It.
For the man here shown. the man Of the