< Page:Palæolithic Man and Terramara Settlements in Europe.djvu
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PALÆOLITHIC AND NEOLITHIC CIVILISATIONS

up to Neolithic times. Hearths at various depths, the industrial remains of man and the bones of both ancient and present-day animals, have been abundantly met with in all the caves. Some human bones, including skulls, were also found and submitted to the late Professor Virchow, who pronounced them to have no peculiar interest, as he could not distinguish them from those of the present inhabitants of the district. Dr Romer (The Bone Caves of Ojcow in Poland, translated by J. Ed. Lee, 1884) thus writes about the contents of the mammoth cave :—

Mammoth Cave. "The human implements found in this cavern are of great variety and of more especial interest than those found in the other caves of the district. The most numerous are the cutting flint implements, made solely by hammering ; after these in number come the implements which after having been struck off by a blow have had more work bestowed upon them. Some of these may be specially mentioned as having on the sharp edge teeth like a saw. In all Count Zawisza found in this single cavern about two thousand flint implements… . The implements and ornaments made of bone, horn, and ivory were also plentiful, amongst which may be mentioned more especially borers and smoothing implements ; there were also teeth of the cave-bear, wolf, fox, and elk, perforated at the root end so as to be worn apparently on a string. The bones of different animals, more particularly of the mammoth, the rhinoceros (tichorhinus), the horse and the ox, were used for making sharp chisel-shaped tools. But the most remarkable specimens were those made of ivory; they were of different kinds, and seem to have been rather ornaments than tools. The most curious were some narrow staves or poles, compressed at the sides and sharpened at the end, so that the shape was that of a lancet or a fish (PI. XXIX., No. 2). Six or seven of these staves were found. The largest is 1 foot long and inches wide in the middle. Some of these staves were dug up in my presence by Count Zawisza, in a bed with charcoal cinders, several feet deep, below the surface of the deposits forming the floor of the cave. Rough flint implements, and bones of the reindeer, the wolf, and the polar fox were also found in the same bed."

Among the ivory ornaments were small pieces of an oval form perforated with a round hole at the small end (No. 9) ; a flat-shaped piece 1½ inches long, perforated with two circular holes, and ornamented with eight rows of circular hollows (No. 10) ; a piece about the length of the finger, perfectly round and pointed at both ends (No. 11) ; also a large rib of the mammoth, 46 centimetres long, and carved at one end so as to form a handle. Dr Romer goes on to write :—

"Lastly, amongst the indications of human habitation in this cave there were several fireplaces or hearths. They were especially characterised by char-
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