Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1914-01-09


between Poncin and Neuville-sur-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 Neolithc ge-comparatively recent,
in the eyes of geoogists and anthropologists-
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 Neol1thic and Magdaenian relics
But the richest find of all was 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 stratum of line
gravel, showing unmistakable signs of dating
from the still earlier Aurignacian age This
proved to be veritable treasure trove.
In 1t were uncovered the studio OF a preh1s
torc artist, containing number of different sorts
of er gravers TOOLS pieces of mammoth, rh1noc
eros and raindeer bones pieces of stone ready for
engraving, and stones and bones with engravings
already cut into them.
One of the latter represents a horse of a re-
markably finished type; another shows bison
still another a wild sheep. But the prize OF the
whole collection, the prize which, it is confidently
expected will make this an epochmaking find
in the annals of anthropoogy, is the piece OF
mammoth's bone on which is cut the figure OF
human being This in the words of those who
have unearthed it, lis the first document repre-
senting, in engraved form, the man of the Middle
Quaternary age, the minimum age of which is
$4,000 years.
AS those who delve into the remote history of
our race are aware, pcturings Of himself by pre-
historic man extremely rare He delighted
in drawing and carving the strange beasts which
he saw about hm-bisons, reindeer mammoth
horses and the like-but when it came to giving
idea of what he looked like hlmsel1 ne was
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 Vlllendorf, IN Aus
tria; at Brassempouy the Laussel cave, and the
grottces of Grimaldi in France and other places
Owing to this paucity of frst-hand information
recoRs tructons of prehistoric man from the var
Gus skulls and bones found at different times
have been largely matter of conjecture. 1t has
been case of every one guessing for himself,
legion One group of savants endeavoring to
build up our remote ancestor from the famous
relics found in the Neanderthal Dusseldorf
Gern1lny; at Spy, in Belgium, and at La Chapelle-
aux-S2ints, in France have shown us something
materially Strengthening the Darwln1an theory
that man is descended from the ape Another
grour, basing its deductions the man" recon
strucged from the Piitdown skull, has endeavor-
ed to prove that prehistoric man. from whom we
are descended, never became SO bestial as the
possassors of the NeanderthalSpy-La Chappelle-
aux aints skulls and that the latter belonged to
ed until it finally became extinct, while the other
and superior branch kept on improving until man
as we know him 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 or
women found at Azl and elsewhere in France,
as we'll as the sketches of the human face IN
earthed in the cave of Marsoulas-were produced
iE the Magdalenian age, according to the theory
generally accepted by Frenchmen, 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 NJ Douville shows
pretty conclusively that they do-and that those
similar to them discovered up to are of a
more recent date, the character of the work done
by the cave artist of La Coombiere is such as i'm
mediately to rivet the closest attention on it.
For the man" here shown, the man of the