Pierre Paul Broca

“ On returning from the chase or from fishing, the Troglodytes got ready the feast in their cave. The carcasses of reindeer and the smaller game were brought in whole, but large-sized animals, the horse or the ox, being too heavy to carry away whole, were cut up on the spot, the head and legs being carried off, and the rest of the skeleton left behind. Hence, among the leavings found in the caves, we scarcely ever meet with any bones from the trunk of large mammals, while every part of the skeleton of reindeer and smaller animals is to be found. ”

“ Figures of fish are not rare, and they all, with one exception, represent the salmon. Élie Massénat found at Laugerie-Basse the shoulder-blade of an ox, bearing a rude sketch of a fishing-scene—a man casting a harpoon at some aquatic animal, a porpoise, apparently. This design has a special interest, as going to show that our Troglodytes fished with the harpoon.
In sketching the human figure (which they did but rarely) , these artists, who exhibited such skill in animal-sketching, do not show to much advantage. There is one study of a head, representing a grotesque profile. ”

“ All savages have a special liking for marrow, and have a peculiar way of cracking the bones containing it. The chief is always the first to suck the marrow-bone. Our Troglodytes had little wedge-shaped pieces of flint, which they used as hatchets to break these bones. We find also in their caves an implement of reindeer-horn which was probably used for getting out the marrow, though archæologists are divided as to its purpose. ”

“ Needle-work implies clothing, not simply that primitive garment which consists of an animal's skin thrown over the shoulders, but a more complete vesture, made up of sundry skins. The quantity of needles and awls, and of scrapers for preparing skins for use, which we meet with in the caves, shows that the use of clothing was general among our Troglodytes. ”

“ To their uncleanly habits we are indebted for what we know about their food. Their chief staple was reindeer meat; but they also eat the flesh of the horse, the aurochs, several species of the ox, the chamois, the wild-goat, and even some carnivora. They used also fish, and, by means of the bow and arrow, they could take winged game. The caves contain the remains of birds of many different species. But, among all these bones, we find no human remains; and, hence, we know that our good Troglodytes were not cannibals. ”

“ For a long time it was supposed that the mammoth became extinct about the middle of that period; and when it was announced that several teeth of that animal and sundry pieces of wrought ivory had been discovered in the most recent Troglodytic stations of the Vézère, many persons were of opinion that these remains must have come down from an earlier period, and been gathered by our Troglodytes, just as the inhabitants of Siberia do at present. ”

“ Such shells have been found in most of the caves, and they occur in great numbers in the ancient place of sepulture at Cromagnon. Pieces of ivory, nicely fashioned, and bored with two holes, would appear to have been used to fasten the collar; and no doubt this is not the only outcropping of petty vanity of attire among our Troglodytes. Most savages have the habit of painting and tattooing their bodies; nor is the latter practice yet quite extinct among civilized races. In the caves are found several pieces of the bloodstone, showing signs of having been scraped. ”

“ If the wolves' and other animals' teeth we find in the caves were talismans, our Troglodytes had at least a superstition, and, though I am no theologian, I will say that it is difficult to decide just where superstition ends and religion begins. In burying their dead, the contemporaries of our Troglodytes in other localities practiced certain funeral rites ”

“ Judging from the style of weapons these Troglodytes employed, we should say that they were quiet folk, not given to war.
It has been supposed that they wore no clothing, as all the human figures portrayed by their artists are nude (Fig. 5) . This, however, proves just nothing, because it proves too much. By parity of reasoning, the Greeks would have gone naked also. But we find in the caves all the necessary outfit of the (Troglodytic) tailor. There are needles of bone and of reindeer-horn, some of them being mere awls, but ”

“ Hence we see that they had plenty to eat: and, as thus the whole time of the tribe need not have been taken up with the business of making provision for the body's wants, they could enjoy repose now and then—could enjoy leisure—and leisure, when improved intelligently, gives rise to the arts. ”

“ They sketched the human figure badly, but they studied carefully the form and the gait of animals, which they sometimes reproduced with a degree of exactitude, elegance, and spirit, which evince the true artistic sentiment. ”

“ This mixture of bones and charcoal occurs so generally, so uniformly, that it is not easy to suppose that the Troglodytes lighted fires merely for the purpose of keeping themselves warm. They must have lighted fires daily at all seasons of the year, and hence it is likely that they cooked their food. ”