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Title: The Antiquity of Man

Author: Charles Lyell

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THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN BY CHARLES LYELL.

EVERYMAN
I WILL GO WITH THEE
& BE THY GUIDE
IN THY MOST NEED
TO GO BY THY SIDE.


EVERYMAN'S LIBRARY

EDITED BY ERNEST RHYS.

SCIENCE.


LYELL'S ANTIQUITY OF MAN

WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES BY R.H. RASTALL, M.A., F.G.S.


HOC SOLUM SCIO QUOD NIHIL SCIO.


THE GEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE OF THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN

BY

SIR CHARLES LYELL, BT., F.R.S., ETC. ETC.

LONDON: PUBLISHED BY J.M. DENT & SONS LTD.
AND IN NEW YORK BY E.P. DUTTON & CO.


INTRODUCTION.

The "Antiquity of Man" was published in 1863, and ran into a third
edition in the course of that year. The cause of this is not far to
seek. Darwin's "Origin of Species" appeared in 1859, only four
years earlier, and rapidly had its effect in drawing attention to
the great problem of the origin of living beings. The theories of
Darwin and Wallace brought to a head and presented in a concrete
shape the somewhat vague speculations as to development and
evolution which had long been floating in the minds of naturalists.
In the actual working out of Darwin's great theory it is impossible
to overestimate the influence of Lyell. This is made abundantly
clear in Darwin's letters, and it must never be forgotten that
Darwin himself was a geologist. His training in this science
enabled him to grasp the import of the facts so ably marshalled by
Lyell in the "Principles of Geology," a work which, as Professor
Judd has clearly shown,* contributed greatly to the advancement of
evolutionary theory in general. (* Judd "The Coming of Evolution"
("Cambridge Manuals of Science and Literature") Cambridge 1910
chapters 6 and 7.)

From a study of the evolution of plants and of the lower animals it
was an easy and obvious transition to man, and this step was soon
taken. Since in his physical structure man shows so close a
resemblance to the higher animals it was a natural conclusion that
the laws governing the development of the one should apply also to
the other, in spite of preconceived opinions derived from
authority. Unfortunately the times were then hardly ripe for a calm
and logical treatment of this question: prejudice in many cases
took the place of argument, and the result was too often an
undignified squabble instead of a scientific discussion. However,
the dogmatism was not by any means all on one side. The disciples
as usual went farther than the master, and their teaching when
pushed to extremities resulted in a peculiarly dreary kind of
materialism, a mental attitude which still survives to a certain
extent among scientific and pseudo-scientific men of the old
school. In more Recent times this dogmatic agnosticism of the
middle Victorian period has been gradually replaced by speculations
of a more positive type, such as those of the Mendelian school in
biology and the doctrines of Bergson on the philosophical side.
With these later developments we are not here concerned.

In dealing with the evolution and history of man as with that of
any other animal, the first step is undoubtedly to collect the
facts, and this is precisely what Lyell set out to do in the
"Antiquity of Man." The first nineteen chapters of the book are
purely an empirical statement of the evidence then available as to
the existence of man in pre-historic times: the rest of the book is
devoted to a consideration of the connection between the facts
previously stated and Darwin's theory of the origin of species by
variation and natural selection. The keynote of Lyell's work,
throughout his life, was observation. Lyell was no cabinet
geologist; he went to nature and studied phenomena at first hand.
Possessed of abundant leisure and ample means he travelled far and
wide, patiently collecting material and building up the modern
science of physical geology, whose foundations had been laid by
Hutton and Playfair. From the facts thus collected he drew his
inferences, and if later researches showed these inferences to be
wrong, unlike some of his contemporaries, he never hesitated to say
so. Thus and thus only is true progress in science attained.

Lyell is universally recognised as the leader of the Uniformitarian
school of geologists, and it will be well to consider briefly what
is implied in this term. The principles of Uniformitarianism may be
summed up thus: THE PRESENT IS THE KEY TO THE PAST. That is to say,
the processes which have gone on in the past were the same in
general character as those now seen in operation, though probably
differing in degree. This theory is in direct opposition to the
ideas of the CATASTROPHIC school, which were dominant at the
beginning of the nineteenth century. The catastrophists attributed
all past changes to sudden and violent convulsions of nature, by
which all living beings were destroyed, to be replaced by a fresh
creation. At least such were the tenets of the extremists. In
opposition to these views the school of Hutton and Lyell introduced
the principle of continuity and development. There is no
discrepancy between Uniformitarianism and evolution. The idea of
Uniformitarianism does not imply that things have always been the
same; only that they were similar, and between these two terms
there is a wide distinction. Evolution of any kind whatever
naturally implies continuity, and this is the fundamental idea of
Lyellian geology.

In spite, however, of this clear and definite conception of natural
and organic evolution, in all those parts of his works dealing with
earth-history, with the stratified rocks and with the organisms
entombed in them, Lyell adopted a plan which has now been
universally abandoned. He began with the most Recent formations and
worked backwards from the known to the unknown. To modern readers
this is perhaps the greatest drawback to his work, since it renders
difficult the study of events in their actual sequence. However, it
must be admitted that, taking into account the state of geological
knowledge before his time, this course was almost inevitable. The
succession of the later rocks was fairly well known, thanks to the
labours of William Smith and others, but in the lower part of the
sequence of stratified rocks there were many gaps, and more
important still, there was no definite base. Although this want of
a starting point has been largely supplied by the labours of
Sedgwick, Murchison, De la Beche, Ramsay, and a host of followers,
still considerable doubt prevails as to which constitutes the
oldest truly stratified series, and the difficulty has only been
partially circumvented by the adoption of an arbitrary base-line,
from which the succession is worked out both upwards and downwards.
So the problem is only removed a stage further back. In the study
of human origins a similar difficulty is felt with special
acuteness; the beginnings must of necessity be vague and uncertain,
and the farther back we go the fainter will naturally be the traces
of human handiwork and the more primitive and doubtful those traces
when discovered.

The reprinting of the "Antiquity of Man" is particularly
appropriate at the present time, owing to the increased attention
drawn to the subject by recent discoveries. Ever since the
publication of the "Origin of Species" and the discussions that
resulted from that publication, the popular imagination has been
much exercised by the possible existence of forms intermediate
between the apes and man; the so-called "Missing Link." Much has
been written on this subject, some of it well-founded and some very
much the reverse. The discovery of the Neanderthal skull is fully
described in this volume, and this skull is certainly of a low
type, but it is more human than ape-like. The same remark applies
still more strongly to the Engis skull, the man of Spy, the
recently discovered Sussex skull, and other well-known examples of
early human remains. The Pithecanthropus of Java alone shows
perhaps more affinity to the apes. The whole subject has been most
ably discussed by Professor Sollas in his recent book entitled
"Ancient Hunters."

The study of Palaeolithic flint implements has been raised to a
fine art. Both in England and France a regular succession of
primitive types has been established and correlated with the gravel
terraces of existing rivers, and even with the deposits of rivers
no longer existing and with certain glacial deposits. But with all
of these the actual bodily remains of man are comparatively scanty.
From this it may be concluded that primitive methods of burial were
such as to be unfavourable to the actual preservation of human
remains. Attempts have also been made to prove the existence of man
in pre-glacial times, but hitherto none of these have met with
general acceptance, since in no case is the evidence beyond doubt.

One of the most important results of recent research in the subject
has been the establishment of the existence of man in interglacial
times. When Lyell wrote, it was not fully recognised that the
glaciation of Europe was not one continuous process, but that it
could be divided into several episodes, glaciations, or advances of
the ice, separated by a warm interglacial period. The monumental
researches of Penck and Bruckner in the Alps have there established
four glaciations with mild interglacial periods, but all of these
cannot be clearly traced in Britain. One very important point also
is the recognition of the affinities of certain types of
Palaeolithic man to the Eskimo, the Australians, and the Bushmen of
South Africa. However, it is impossible to give here a review of
the whole subject. Full details of recent researches will be found
in the works mentioned in the notes at the end of the book.

Another point of great interest and importance, arising directly
from the study of early man is the nature of the events
constituting the glacial period in Britain and elsewhere. This has
been for many years a fertile subject of controversy, and is likely
to continue such. Lyell, in common with most of the geologists of
his day, assumes that during the glacial period the British Isles
were submerged under the sea to a depth of many hundreds of feet,
at any rate as regards the region north of a line drawn from London
to Bristol. Later authors, however, explained the observed
phenomena on the hypothesis of a vast ice-sheet of the Greenland
type, descending from the mountains of Scotland and Scandinavia,
filling up the North Sea and spreading over eastern England. This
explanation is now accepted by the majority, but it must be
recognised that it involves enormous mechanical difficulties. It is
impossible to pursue the subject here; for a full discussion
reference may be made to Professor Bonney's presidential address to
the British Association at Sheffield in 1910.

It will be seen, therefore, that the "Antiquity of Man" opens up a
wide field of speculation into a variety of difficult and obscure
though interesting subjects. In the light of modern research it
would be an easy task to pile up a mountain of criticism on points
of detail. But, though easy, it would be a thankless task. It is
scarcely too much to say that the dominant impression of most
readers after perusing this book will be one of astonishment and
admiration at the insight and breadth of view displayed by the
author. When it was written the subject was a particularly thorny
one to handle, and it undoubtedly required much courage to tackle
the origin and development of the human race from a purely critical
and scientific standpoint. It must be admitted on all hands that
the result was eminently successful, taking into account the
paucity of the available material, and the "Antiquity of Man" must
ever remain one of the classics of prehistoric archaeology.

This edition of the "Antiquity of Man" has been undertaken in order
to place before the public in an easily accessible form one of the
best known works of the great geologist Sir Charles Lyell; the book
had an immense influence in its own day, and it still remains one
of the best general accounts of an increasingly important branch of
knowledge.

In order to avoid a multiplicity of notes and thus to save space,
the nomenclature has been to a certain extent modernised: a new
general table of strata has been inserted in the first chapter, in
place of the one originally there printed, which was cumbrous and
included many minor subdivisions of unnecessary minuteness.

The notes have been kept as short as possible, and they frequently
contain little more than references to recent literature
elucidating the points under discussion in the text.

R.H. RASTALL.
1914.


BIBLIOGRAPHY.

The passage of the Beresina (in verse), 1815.

Principles of Geology, being an attempt to explain the former
   changes of the earth's surface, by reference to causes now in
   operation, 1830-33
(third edition, 1834;
fourth, 1835;
fifth, 1837;
sixth, 1840;
seventh, 1847;
ninth, entirely revised edition, 1853;
tenth, entirely revised edition, 1867, 1868;
eleventh, entirely revised edition, 1872;
twelfth, edited by L. Lyell, 1875).

Elements of Geology, 1838
(second edition, 1841).

A Manual of Elementary Geology
(third and entirely revised edition of the former work, 1851;
fourth and entirely revised edition, 1852;
fifth, enlarged edition, 1855;
Supplement to the fifth edition, 1857;
second edition of the Supplement, revised, 1857).

Elements of Geology,
sixth edition, greatly enlarged, 1865.

Travels in North America, with geological observations
   on the United States, Canada, and Nova Scotia, 1845.

A Second Visit to the United States of North America, 1849.

The Students' Elements of Geology, 1871
(second edition, revised and corrected, 1874;
third, revised, with a table of British fossils
   [by R. Etheridge], 1878;
fourth, revised by P.M. Duncan, with a table of British fossils
   [by R. Etheridge], 1884).

The Geological Evidences of the Antiquity of Man,
   with remarks on theories of the origin of species
   by variation, 1863;
(second edition, revised, 1863;
third edition, revised, 1863;
fourth edition, revised, 1873).

There has also been published The Student's Lyell: a Manual of
Elementary Geology, edited by J.W. Judd, 1896 (second edition
revised and enlarged, 1911).

LECTURES, ADDRESSES, AND ARTICLES:

On a Recent Formation of Freshwater Limestone in Forfarshire
("Transactions of the Geological Society" 2nd series, volume 2,
1826, part 1).

On a Dike of Serpentine in the County of Forfar ("Edinburgh Journal
of Science" 1825).

English Scientific Societies ("Quarterly Review" volume 34; three
papers with Sir Roderick and Mrs. Murchison ("Edinburgh
Philosophical Journal," 1829; abstract in "Proceedings of the
Geological Society" 1; "Annales des Sciences Naturelles" 1829;
abstract in "Proceedings of the Geological Society" 1).

Address delivered at the Geological Society of London, 1836.

Lectures on Geology--Eight Lectures on Geology, delivered at the
Broadway Tabernacle, New York ("New York Tribune" 1842).

A Paper on Madeira ("Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society"
10, 1853).

On the Structure of Lavas which have Consolidated on Steep Slopes
("Philosophical Transactions" 1858).

Address (to the British Association) 1864.

TRANSLATIONS:

Antiquity of Man, translated into French by M. Chaper, 1864; and
into German by L. Buchner, 1874.

Elements of Geology (sixth edition), translated into French by M.
J. Gineston, 1867.

Report, extracted from the "Aberdeen Free Press" and translated
into French, of Sir C. Lyell's address before the British
Association, 1859, under the title of Antiquities antediluviennes:
   L'homme fossile.

LIFE:

Life, Letters and Journals of Sir Charles Lyell, edited by his
sister-in-law, Mrs. Lyell, 1881.

See also:

Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, 1887.

Life and Letters of Sedgwick, by Clark and Hughes, 1890.




CONTENTS.


CHAPTER 1.

INTRODUCTORY.

Preliminary Remarks on the Subjects treated of in this Work.
Definition of the terms Recent and Pleistocene.
Tabular View of the entire Series of Fossiliferous Strata.


CHAPTER 2.

RECENT PERIOD--DANISH PEAT AND SHELL MOUNDS--
   SWISS LAKE-DWELLINGS.

Works of Art in Danish Peat-Mosses.
Remains of three Periods of Vegetation in the Peat.
Ages of Stone, Bronze, and Iron.
Shell-Mounds or ancient Refuse-Heaps of the Danish Islands.
Change in geographical Distribution of Marine Mollusca
   since their Origin.
Embedded Remains of Mammalia of Recent Species.
Human Skulls of the same Period.
Swiss Lake-Dwellings built on Piles.
Stone and Bronze Implements found in them.
Fossil Cereals and other Plants.
Remains of Mammalia, wild and domesticated.
No extinct Species.
Chronological Computations of the Date of the Bronze and Stone
   Periods in Switzerland.
Lake-Dwellings, or artificial Islands called "Crannoges,"
   in Ireland.


CHAPTER 3.

FOSSIL HUMAN REMAINS AND WORKS OF ART OF
   THE RECENT PERIOD--continued.

Delta and Alluvial Plain of the Nile.
Burnt Bricks in Egypt before the Roman Era.
Borings in 1851-54.
Ancient Mounds of the Valley of the Ohio.
Their Antiquity.
Sepulchral Mound at Santos in Brazil.
Delta of the Mississippi.
Ancient Human Remains in Coral Reefs of Florida.
Changes in Physical Geography in the Human Period.
Buried Canoes in Marine Strata near Glasgow.
Upheaval since the Roman Occupation of the Shores of the
   Firth of Forth.
Fossil Whales near Stirling.
Upraised Marine Strata of Sweden on Shores of the Baltic
   and the Ocean.
Attempts to compute their Age.


CHAPTER 4.

PLEISTOCENE PERIOD--BONES OF MAN AND EXTINCT MAMMALIA
   IN BELGIAN CAVERNS.

Earliest Discoveries in Caves of Languedoc of Human Remains
   with Bones of extinct Mammalia.
Researches in 1833 of Dr. Schmerling in the Liege Caverns.
Scattered Portions of Human Skeletons associated with Bones
   of Elephant and Rhinoceros.
Distribution and probable Mode of Introduction of the Bones.
Implements of Flint and Bone.
Schmerling's Conclusions as to the Antiquity of Man ignored.
Present State of the Belgian Caves.
Human Bones recently found in Cave of Engihoul.
Engulfed Rivers.
Stalagmitic Crust.
Antiquity of the Human Remains in Belgium how proved.


CHAPTER 5.

PLEISTOCENE PERIOD--FOSSIL HUMAN SKULLS OF THE
   NEANDERTHAL AND ENGIS CAVES.

Human Skeleton found in Cave near Dusseldorf.
Its geological Position and probable Age.
Its abnormal and ape-like Characters.
Fossil Human Skull of the Engis Cave near Liege.
Professor Huxley's Description of these Skulls.
Comparison of each, with extreme Varieties of the native
   Australian Race.
Range of Capacity in the Human and Simian Brains.
Skull from Borreby in Denmark.
Conclusions of Professor Huxley.
Bearing of the peculiar Characters of the Neanderthal Skull
   on the Hypothesis of Transmutation.


CHAPTER 6.

PLEISTOCENE ALLUVIUM AND CAVE DEPOSITS WITH FLINT IMPLEMENTS.

General Position of Drift with extinct Mammalia in Valleys.
Discoveries of M. Boucher de Perthes at Abbeville.
Flint Implements found also at St. Acheul, near Amiens.
Curiosity awakened by the systematic Exploration of the
   Brixham Cave.
Flint Knives in same, with Bones of extinct Mammalia.
Superposition of Deposits in the Cave.
Visits of English and French Geologists to Abbeville and Amiens.


CHAPTER 7.

PEAT AND PLEISTOCENE ALLUVIUM OF THE VALLEY OF THE SOMME.

Geological Structure of the Valley of the Somme and of the
   surrounding Country.
Position of Alluvium of different Ages.
Peat near Abbeville.
Its animal and vegetable Contents.
Works of Art in Peat.
Probable Antiquity of the Peat, and Changes of Level
   since its Growth began.
Flint Implements of antique Type in older Alluvium.
Their various Forms and great Numbers.


CHAPTER 8.

PLEISTOCENE ALLUVIUM WITH FLINT IMPLEMENTS OF THE VALLEY
   OF THE SOMME--concluded.

Fluvio-marine Strata, with Flint Implements, near Abbeville.
Marine Shells in same.
Cyrena fluminalis.
Mammalia.
Entire Skeleton of Rhinoceros.
Flint Implements, why found low down in Fluviatile Deposits.
Rivers shifting their Channels.
Relative Ages of higher and lower-level Gravels.
Section of Alluvium of St. Acheul.
Two Species of Elephant and Hippopotamus coexisting with Man
   in France.
Volume of Drift, proving Antiquity of Flint Implements.
Absence of Human Bones in tool-bearing Alluvium, how explained.
Value of certain Kinds of negative Evidence tested thereby.
Human Bones not found in drained Lake of Haarlem.


CHAPTER 9.

WORKS OF ART IN PLEISTOCENE ALLUVIUM OF FRANCE AND ENGLAND.

Flint Implements in ancient Alluvium of the Basin of the Seine.
Bones of Man and of extinct Mammalia in the Cave of Arcy.
Extinct Mammalia in the Valley of the Oise.
Flint Implement in Gravel of same Valley.
Works of Art in Pleistocene Drift in Valley of the Thames.
Musk Ox.
Meeting of northern and southern Fauna.
Migrations of Quadrupeds.
Mammals of Mongolia.
Chronological Relation of the older Alluvium of the Thames
   to the Glacial Drift.
Flint Implements of Pleistocene Period in Surrey, Middlesex,
   Kent, Bedfordshire, and Suffolk.


CHAPTER 10.

CAVERN DEPOSITS, AND PLACES OF SEPULTURE OF THE PLEISTOCENE PERIOD.

Flint Implements in Cave containing Hyaena and other extinct
   Mammalia in Somersetshire.
Caves of the Gower Peninsula in South Wales.
Rhinoceros hemitoechus.
Ossiferous Caves near Palermo.
Sicily once part of Africa.
Rise of Bed of the Mediterranean to the Height of three hundred
   Feet in the Human Period in Sardinia.
Burial-place of Pleistocene Date of Aurignac in the South of France.
Rhinoceros tichorhinus eaten by Man.
M. Lartet on extinct Mammalia and Works of Art found in the
   Aurignac Cave.
Relative Antiquity of the same considered.


CHAPTER 11.

AGE OF HUMAN FOSSILS OF LE PUY IN CENTRAL FRANCE
   AND OF NATCHEZ ON THE MISSISSIPPI DISCUSSED.

Question as to the Authenticity of the Fossil Man of Denise,
   near Le Puy-en-Velay, considered.
Antiquity of the Human Race implied by that Fossil.
Successive Periods of Volcanic Action in Central France.
With what Changes in the Mammalian Fauna they correspond.
The Elephas meridionalis anterior in Time to the Implement-bearing
   Gravel of St. Acheul.
Authenticity of the Human Fossil of Natchez on the Mississippi
   discussed.
The Natchez Deposit, containing Bones of Mastodon and Megalonyx,
   probably not older than the Flint Implements of St. Acheul.


CHAPTER 12.

ANTIQUITY OF MAN RELATIVELY TO THE GLACIAL PERIOD
   AND TO THE EXISTING FAUNA AND FLORA.

Chronological Relation of the Glacial Period, and the earliest
   known Signs of Man's Appearance in Europe.
Series of Tertiary Deposits in Norfolk and Suffolk immediately
   antecedent to the Glacial Period.
Gradual Refrigeration of Climate proved by the Marine Shells
   of successive Groups.
Marine Newer Pliocene Shells of Northern Character near Woodbridge.
Section of the Norfolk Cliffs.
Norwich Crag.
Forest Bed and Fluvio-marine Strata.
Fossil Plants and Mammalia of the same.
Overlying Boulder Clay and Contorted Drift.
Newer freshwater Formation of Mundesley compared to that of Hoxne.
Great Oscillations of Level implied by the Series of Strata
   in the Norfolk Cliffs.
Earliest known Date of Man long subsequent to the existing
   Fauna and Flora.


CHAPTER 13.

CHRONOLOGICAL RELATIONS OF THE GLACIAL PERIOD
   AND THE EARLIEST SIGNS OF MAN'S APPEARANCE IN EUROPE.

Chronological Relations of the Close of the Glacial Period
   and the earliest geological Signs of the Appearance of Man.
Effects of Glaciers and Icebergs in polishing and scoring Rocks.
Scandinavia once encrusted with Ice like Greenland.
Outward Movement of Continental Ice in Greenland.
Mild Climate of Greenland in the Miocene Period.
Erratics of Recent Period in Sweden.
Glacial State of Sweden in the Pleistocene Period.
Scotland formerly encrusted with Ice.
Its subsequent Submergence and Re-elevation.
Latest Changes produced by Glaciers in Scotland.
Remains of the Mammoth and Reindeer in Scotch Boulder Clay.
Parallel Roads of Glen Roy formed in Glacier Lakes.
Comparatively modern Date of these Shelves.


CHAPTER 14.

CHRONOLOGICAL RELATIONS OF THE GLACIAL PERIOD
   AND THE EARLIEST SIGNS OF MAN'S APPEARANCE IN EUROPE--continued.

Signs of extinct Glaciers in Wales.
Great Submergence of Wales during the Glacial Period
    proved by Marine Shells.
Still greater Depression inferred from Stratified Drift.
Scarcity of Organic Remains in Glacial Formations.
Signs of extinct Glaciers in England.
Ice Action in Ireland.
Maps illustrating successive Revolutions in Physical Geography
   during the Pleistocene Period.
Southernmost Extent of Erratics in England.
Successive Periods of Junction and Separation of England, Ireland,
   and the Continent.
Time required for these Changes.
Probable Causes of the Upheaval and Subsidence of the Earth's Crust.
Antiquity of Man considered in relation to the Age of the existing
   Fauna and Flora.


CHAPTER 15.

EXTINCT GLACIERS OF THE ALPS AND THEIR CHRONOLOGICAL RELATION
   TO THE HUMAN PERIOD.

Extinct Glaciers of Switzerland.
Alpine Erratic Blocks on the Jura.
Not transported by floating Ice.
Extinct Glaciers of the Italian Side of the Alps.
Theory of the Origin of Lake-Basins by the erosive Action
   of Glaciers considered.
Successive phases in the Development of Glacial Action in the Alps.
Probable Relation of these to the earliest known Date of Man.
Correspondence of the same with successive Changes in the
   Glacial Condition of the Scandinavian and British Mountains.
Cold Period in Sicily and Syria.


CHAPTER 16.

HUMAN REMAINS IN THE LOESS, AND THEIR PROBABLE AGE.

Nature, Origin, and Age of the Loess of the Rhine and Danube.
Impalpable Mud produced by the Grinding Action of Glaciers.
Dispersion of this Mud at the Period of the Retreat of the
   great Alpine Glaciers.
Continuity of the Loess from Switzerland to the Low Countries.
Characteristic Organic Remains not Lacustrine.
Alpine Gravel in the Valley of the Rhine covered by Loess.
Geographical Distribution of the Loess and its Height above the Sea.
Fossil Mammalia.
Loess of the Danube.
Oscillations in the Level of the Alps and lower Country required
   to explain the Formation and Denudation of the Loess.
More rapid Movement of the Inland Country.
The same Depression and Upheaval might account for the
   Advance and Retreat of the Alpine Glaciers.
Himalayan Mud of the Plains of the Ganges compared to
   European Loess.
Human Remains in Loess near Maestricht, and their probable
   Antiquity.


CHAPTER 17.

POST-GLACIAL DISLOCATIONS AND FOLDINGS OF CRETACEOUS AND
   DRIFT STRATA IN THE ISLAND OF MOEN, IN DENMARK.

Geological Structure of the Island of Moen.
Great Disturbances of the Chalk posterior in Date to the
   Glacial Drift, with Recent Shells.
M. Puggaard's Sections of the Cliffs of Moen.
Flexures and Faults common to the Chalk and Glacial Drift.
Different Direction of the Lines of successive Movement,
   Fracture, and Flexure.
Undisturbed Condition of the Rocks in the adjoining Danish Islands.
Unequal Movements of Upheaval in Finmark.
Earthquake of New Zealand in 1855.
Predominance in all Ages of uniform Continental Movements
   over those by which the Rocks are locally convulsed.


CHAPTER 18.

THE GLACIAL PERIOD IN NORTH AMERICA.

Post-glacial Strata containing Remains of Mastodon giganteus
   in North America.
Scarcity of Marine Shells in Glacial Drift of Canada and the
   United States.
Greater southern Extension of Ice-action in North America than
   in Europe.
Trains of Erratic Blocks of vast Size in Berkshire, Massachusetts.
Description of their Linear Arrangement and Points of Departure.
Their Transportation referred to Floating and Coast Ice.
General Remarks on the Causes of former Changes of Climate
   at successive geological Epochs.
Supposed Effects of the Diversion of the Gulf Stream in a
   Northerly instead of North-Easterly Direction.
Development of extreme Cold on the opposite Sides of the Atlantic
   in the Glacial period not strictly simultaneous.
Effect of Marine Currents on Climate.
Pleistocene Submergence of the Sahara.


CHAPTER 19.

RECAPITULATION OF GEOLOGICAL PROOFS OF MAN'S ANTIQUITY.

Recapitulation of Results arrived at in the earlier Chapters.
Ages of Stone and Bronze.
Danish Peat and Kitchen-Middens.
Swiss Lake-Dwellings.
Local Changes in Vegetation and in the wild and domesticated
   Animals and in Physical Geography coeval with the Age of
   Bronze and the later Stone Period.
Estimates of the positive Date of some Deposits of the later
   Stone Period.
Ancient Division of the Age of Stone of St. Acheul and Aurignac.
Migrations of Man in that Period from the Continent to England
   in Post-Glacial Times.
Slow Rate of Progress in barbarous Ages.
Doctrine of the superior Intelligence and Endowments of the
   original Stock of Mankind considered.
Opinions of the Greeks and Romans, and their Coincidence with
   those of the Modern Progressionist.


CHAPTER 20.

THEORIES OF PROGRESSION AND TRANSMUTATION.

Antiquity and Persistence in Character of the existing Races
   of Mankind.
Theory of their Unity of Origin considered.
Bearing of the Diversity of Races on the Doctrine of Transmutation.
Difficulty of defining the Terms "Species" and "Race."
Lamarck's Introduction of the Element of Time into the Definition
   of a Species.
His Theory of Variation and Progression.
Objections to his Theory, how far answered.
Arguments of modern Writers in favour of Progression in the
   Animal and Vegetable World.
The old Landmarks supposed to indicate the first Appearance of Man,
   and of different Classes of Animals, found to be erroneous.
Yet the Theory of an advancing Series of Organic Beings not
   inconsistent with Facts.
Earliest known Fossil Mammalia of low Grade.
No Vertebrata as yet discovered in the oldest Fossiliferous Rocks.
Objections to the Theory of Progression considered.
Causes of the Popularity of the Doctrine of Progression as
   compared to that of Transmutation.


CHAPTER 21.

ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES BY VARIATION AND NATURAL SELECTION.

Mr. Darwin's Theory of the Origin of Species by Natural Selection.
Memoir by Mr. Wallace.
Manner in which favoured Races prevail in the Struggle for
   Existence.
Formation of new Races by breeding.
Hypotheses of definite and indefinite Modifiability equally
   arbitrary.
Competition and Extinction of Races.
Progression not a necessary Accompaniment of Variation.
Distinct Classes of Phenomena which Natural Selection explains.
Unity of Type, Rudimentary Organs, Geographical Distribution,
   Relation of the extinct to the living Fauna and Flora,
   and mutual Relations of successive Groups of Fossil Forms.
Light thrown on Embryological Development by Natural Selection.
Why large Genera have more variable Species than small ones.
Dr. Hooker on the Evidence afforded by the Vegetable Kingdom
   in favour of Creation by Variation.
Steenstrup on alternation of Generations.
How far the Doctrine of Independent Creation is opposed to the
   Laws now governing the Migration of Species.


CHAPTER 22.

OBJECTIONS TO THE HYPOTHESIS OF TRANSMUTATION CONSIDERED.

Statement of Objections to the Hypothesis of Transmutation
   founded on the Absence of Intermediate Forms.
Genera of which the Species are closely allied.
Occasional Discovery of the missing Links in a Fossil State.
Davidson's Monograph on the Brachiopoda.
Why the Gradational Forms, when found, are not accepted as
   Evidence of Transmutation.
Gaps caused by Extinction of Races and Species.
Vast Tertiary Periods during which this Extinction has been going
   on in the Fauna and Flora now existing.
Genealogical Bond between Miocene and Recent Plants and Insects.
Fossils of Oeningen.
Species of Insects in Britain and North America represented by
   distinct Varieties.
Falconer's Monograph on living and fossil Elephants.
Fossil Species and Genera of the Horse Tribe in North and
   South America.
Relation of the Pliocene Mammalia of North America, Asia,
   and Europe.
Species of Mammalia, though less persistent than the Mollusca,
   change slowly.
Arguments for and against Transmutation derived from the
   Absence of Mammalia in Islands.
Imperfection of the Geological Record.
Intercalation of newly discovered Formation of intermediate Age
   in the chronological Series.
Reference of the St. Cassian Beds to the Triassic Periods.
Discovery of new organic Types.
Feathered Archaeopteryx of the Oolite.


CHAPTER 23.

ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF LANGUAGES AND SPECIES COMPARED.

Aryan Hypothesis and Controversy.
The Races of Mankind change more slowly than their Languages.
Theory of the gradual Origin of Languages.
Difficulty of defining what is meant by a Language as distinct
   from a Dialect.
Great Number of extinct and living Tongues.
No European Language a Thousand Years old.
Gaps between Languages, how caused.
Imperfection of the Record.
Changes always in Progress.
Struggle for Existence between rival Terms and Dialects.
Causes of Selection.
Each Language formed slowly in a single Geographical Area.
May die out gradually or suddenly.
Once lost can never be revived.
Mode of Origin of Languages and Species a Mystery.
Speculations as to the Number of original Languages or
   Species unprofitable.


CHAPTER 24.

BEARING OF THE DOCTRINE OF TRANSMUTATION ON THE ORIGIN OF MAN,
   AND HIS PLACE IN THE CREATION.

Whether Man can be regarded as an Exception to the Rule if the
   Doctrine of Transmutation be embraced for the rest of the
   Animal Kingdom.
Zoological Relations of Man to other Mammalia.
Systems of Classification.
Term Quadrumanous, why deceptive.
Whether the Structure of the Human Brain entitles Man to form
   a distinct Sub-class of the Mammalia.
Intelligence of the lower Animals compared to the Intellect and
   Reason of Man.
Grounds on which Man has been referred to a distinct Kingdom
   of Nature.
Immaterial Principle common to Man and Animals.
Non-discovery of intermediate Links among Fossil Anthropomorphous
   Species.
Hallam on the compound Nature of Man, and his Place in the Creation.
Great Inequality of mental Endowment in different Human Races and
   Individuals developed by Variation and ordinary Generation.
How far a corresponding Divergence in physical Structure may
   result from the Working of the same Causes.
Concluding remarks.


NOTES.


(PLATES AND FIGURES.

PLATE 1. A VILLAGE BUILT ON PILES IN A SWISS LAKE.

FIGURE 1. SECTION OF THE NEANDERTHAL CAVE.

FIGURE 2. SIDE VIEW OF THE CAST OF PART OF A HUMAN SKULL
   FOUND BY DR. SCHMERLING EMBEDDED AMONGST THE REMAINS
   OF EXTINCT MAMMALIA IN THE CAVE OF ENGIS.

FIGURE 3. SIDE VIEW OF THE CAST OF A PART OF A HUMAN SKULL
   FROM A CAVE IN THE NEANDERTHAL.

FIGURE 4. OUTLINE OF THE SKULL OF AN ADULT CHIMPANZEE,
   OF THAT FROM THE NEANDERTHAL, AND OF THAT OF A EUROPEAN.

FIGURE 5. SKULL ASSOCIATED WITH GROUND FLINT IMPLEMENTS.

FIGURE 6. OUTLINES OF THE SKULL FROM THE NEANDERTHAL,
   OF AN AUSTRALIAN SKULL FROM PORT ADELAIDE,
   AND OF THE SKULL FROM THE CAVE OF ENGIS.

FIGURE 7. SECTION ACROSS THE VALLEY OF THE SOMME IN PICARDY.

FIGURE 8. FLINT IMPLEMENT FROM ST. ACHEUL, NEAR AMIENS,
   OF THE SPEAR-HEAD SHAPE.

FIGURE 9. OVAL-SHAPED FLINT HATCHET FROM MAUTORT.

FIGURE 10. FLINT TOOL FROM ST. ACHEUL.

FIGURES 11, 12 AND 13. DENDRITES ON SURFACES OF FLINT HATCHETS
   IN THE DRIFT OF ST. ACHEUL.

FIGURE 14. FLINT KNIFE OR FLAKE FROM BELOW THE SAND CONTAINING
   Cyrena fluminalis.

FIGURE 15. FOSSILS OF THE WHITE CHALK.

FIGURE 16. SECTION OF FLUVIO-MARINE STRATA, CONTAINING FLINT
   IMPLEMENTS AND BONES OF EXTINCT MAMMALIA.

FIGURE 17. Cyrena fluminalis, O.F. Muller, sp.

FIGURE 18. Elephas primigenius.

FIGURE 19. Elephas antiquus, Falconer.

FIGURE 20. Elephas meridionalis, Nesti.

FIGURE 21. SECTION OF GRAVEL PIT CONTAINING FLINT IMPLEMENTS
   AT ST. ACHEUL.

FIGURE 22. CONTORTED FLUVIATILE STRATA AT ST. ACHEUL.

FIGURE 23. SECTION ACROSS THE VALLEY OF THE OUSE.

FIGURE 24. SECTION SHOWING THE POSITION OF THE FLINT WEAPONS
   AT HOXNE.

FIGURE 25. SECTION OF PART OF THE HILL OF FAJOLES.

FIGURE 26. SECTION THROUGH THE ALLUVIAL PLAIN OF THE MISSISSIPPI.

FIGURE 27. DIAGRAM TO ILLUSTRATE THE GENERAL SUCCESSION
   OF THE STRATA IN THE NORFOLK CLIFFS.

FIGURE 28. Cyclas (Pisidium) amnica var.(?)

FIGURE 29. CLIFF 50 FEET HIGH BETWEEN BACTON GAP AND MUNDESLEY.

FIGURE 30. FOLDING OF THE STRATA BETWEEN EAST AND WEST RUNTON.

FIGURE 31. SECTION OF CONCENTRIC BEDS WEST OF CROMER.

FIGURE 32. INCLUDED PINNACLE OF CHALK AT OLD HYTHE POINT.

FIGURE 33. SECTION OF THE NEWER FRESH-WATER FORMATION
   IN THE CLIFFS AT MUNDESLEY.

FIGURE 34. Paludina marginata, Michaud (P. minuta, Strickland).
   Hydrobia marginata.

FIGURE 35. OVAL AND FLATTISH PEBBLES.

PLATE 2. VIEW OF THE MOUTHS OF GLEN ROY AND GLEN SPEAN.

FIGURE 36. MAP OF THE PARALLEL ROADS OF GLEN ROY.

FIGURE 37. SECTION THROUGH SIDE OF LOCH.

FIGURE 38. DOME-SHAPED ROCKS, OR "ROCHES MOUTONEES."

FIGURE 39. MAP OF THE BRITISH ISLES AND PART OF THE NORTH-WEST
   OF EUROPE, SHOWING THE GREAT AMOUNT OF SUPPOSED SUBMERGENCE
   OF LAND BENEATH THE SEA DURING PART OF THE GLACIAL PERIOD.

FIGURE 40. MAP SHOWING WHAT PARTS OF THE BRITISH ISLANDS WOULD
   REMAIN ABOVE WATER AFTER A SUBSIDENCE OF THE AREA TO THE EXTENT
   OF 600 FEET.

FIGURE 41. MAP OF PART OF THE NORTH-WEST OF EUROPE, INCLUDING
   THE BRITISH ISLES, SHOWING THE EXTENT OF SEA WHICH WOULD BECOME
   LAND IF THERE WERE A GENERAL RISE OF THE AREA TO THE EXTENT OF
   600 FEET.

FIGURE 42. MAP SHOWING THE SUPPOSED COURSE OF THE ANCIENT
   AND NOW EXTINCT GLACIER OF THE RHONE.

FIGURE 43. MAP OF THE MORAINES OF EXTINCT GLACIERS
   EXTENDING FROM THE ALPS INTO THE PLAINS OF THE PO NEAR TURIN.

FIGURE 44. Succinea oblonga.

FIGURE 45. Pupa muscorum.

FIGURE 46. Helix hispida, Lin.; H. plebeia, Drap.

FIGURE 47. SOUTHERN EXTREMITY OF MOENS KLINT.

FIGURE 48. SECTION OF MOENS KLINT.

FIGURE 49. POST-GLACIAL DISTURBANCES OF VERTICAL, FOLDED,
   AND SHIFTED STRATA OF CHALK AND DRIFT, IN THE DRONNINGESTOL.

FIGURE 50. MAP SHOWING THE RELATIVE POSITION AND DIRECTION
   OF SEVEN TRAINS OF ERRATIC BLOCKS IN BERKSHIRE, MASSACHUSETTS,
   AND IN PART OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.

FIGURE 51. ERRATIC DOME-SHAPED BLOCK OF COMPACT CHLORITIC ROCK.

FIGURE 52. SECTION SHOWING THE POSITION OF THE BLOCK IN FIGURE 51.

FIGURE 53. SECTION THROUGH CANAAN AND RICHMOND VALLEYS
   AT A TIME WHEN THEY WERE MARINE CHANNELS.

FIGURE 54. UPPER SURFACE OF BRAIN OF CHIMPANZEE, DISTORTED.

FIGURE 55. SIDE VIEW OF BRAIN OF CHIMPANZEE, DISTORTED.

FIGURE 56. CORRECT SIDE VIEW OF CHIMPANZEE'S BRAIN.

FIGURE 57. CORRECT VIEW OF UPPER SURFACE OF CHIMPANZEE'S BRAIN.

FIGURE 58. SIDE VIEW OF HUMAN BRAIN.)

***



GEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE OF THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN.


CHAPTER 1.

INTRODUCTORY.

Preliminary Remarks on the Subjects treated of in this Work.
Definition of the Terms Recent and Pleistocene.
Tabular View of the entire Series of Fossiliferous Strata.

No subject has lately excited more curiosity and general interest
among geologists and the public than the question of the Antiquity
of the Human Race--whether or no we have sufficient evidence in
caves, or in the superficial deposits commonly called drift or
"diluvium," to prove the former co-existence of man with certain
extinct mammalia. For the last half-century the occasional
occurrence in various parts of Europe of the bones of Man or the
works of his hands in cave-breccias and stalagmites, associated
with the remains of the extinct hyaena, bear, elephant, or
rhinoceros, has given rise to a suspicion that the date of Man must
be carried farther back than we had heretofore imagined. On the
other hand extreme reluctance was naturally felt on the part of
scientific reasoners to admit the validity of such evidence, seeing
that so many caves have been inhabited by a succession of tenants
and have been selected by Man as a place not only of domicile, but
of sepulture, while some caves have also served as the channels
through which the waters of occasional land-floods or engulfed
rivers have flowed, so that the remains of living beings which have
peopled the district at more than one era may have subsequently
been mingled in such caverns and confounded together in one and the
same deposit. But the facts brought to light in 1858, during the
systematic investigation of the Brixham cave, near Torquay in
Devonshire, which will be described in the sequel, excited anew the
curiosity of the British public and prepared the way for a general
admission that scepticism in regard to the bearing of cave evidence
in favour of the antiquity of Man had previously been pushed to an
extreme.

Since that period many of the facts formerly adduced in favour of
the co-existence in ancient times of Man with certain species of
mammalia long since extinct have been re-examined in England and on
the Continent, and new cases bearing on the same question, whether
relating to caves or to alluvial strata in valleys, have been
brought to light. To qualify myself for the appreciation and
discussion of these cases, I have visited in the course of the last
three years many parts of England, France, and Belgium, and have
communicated personally or by letter with not a few of the
geologists, English and foreign, who have taken part in these
researches. Besides explaining in the present volume the results of
this inquiry, I shall give a description of the glacial formations
of Europe and North America, that I may allude to the theories
entertained respecting their origin, and consider their probable
relations in a chronological point of view to the human epoch, and
why throughout a great part of the northern hemisphere they so
often interpose an abrupt barrier to all attempts to trace farther
back into the past the signs of the existence of Man upon the
earth.

In the concluding chapters I shall offer a few remarks on the
recent modifications of the Lamarckian theory of progressive
development and transmutation, which are suggested by Mr. Darwin's
work on the "Origin of Species by Variation and Natural Selection,"
and the bearing of this hypothesis on the different races of
mankind and their connection with other parts of the animal
kingdom.

NOMENCLATURE.

Some preliminary explanation of the nomenclature adopted in the
following pages will be indispensable, that the meaning attached to
the terms Recent, Pleistocene, and Post-Tertiary may be correctly
understood. [Note 1.]

Previously to the year 1833, when I published the third volume of
the "Principles of Geology," the strata called Tertiary had been
divided by geologists into Lower, Middle, and Upper; the Lower
comprising the oldest formations of the environs of Paris and
London, with others of like age; the Middle, those of Bordeaux and
Touraine; and the Upper, all that lay above or were newer than the
last-mentioned group.

When engaged in 1828 in preparing for the press the treatise on
geology above alluded to, I conceived the idea of classing the
whole of this series of strata according to the different degrees
of affinity which their fossil testacea bore to the living fauna.
Having obtained information on this subject during my travels on
the Continent, I learnt that M. Deshayes of Paris, already
celebrated as a conchologist, had been led independently by the
study of a large collection of Recent and fossil shells to very
similar views respecting the possibility of arranging the Tertiary
formations in chronological order, according to the proportional
number of species of shells identical with living ones, which
characterised each of the successive groups above mentioned. After
comparing 3000 fossil species with 5000 living ones, the result
arrived at was, that in the lower Tertiary strata there were about
3 1/2 per cent identical with Recent; in the middle Tertiary (the
faluns of the Loire and Gironde), about 17 per cent; and in the
upper tertiary, from 35 to 50, and sometimes in the most modern
beds as much as 90 to 95 per cent.

For the sake of clearness and brevity, I proposed to give short
technical names to these sets of strata, or the periods to which
they respectively belonged. I called the first or oldest of them
Eocene, the second Miocene, and the third Pliocene. The first of
the above terms, Eocene, is derived from Greek eos, dawn, and Greek
kainos, recent; because an extremely small proportion of the fossil
shells of this period could be referred to living species, so that
this era seemed to indicate the dawn of the present testaceous
fauna, no living species of shells having been detected in the
antecedent or Secondary rocks.

Some conchologists are now unwilling to allow that any Eocene
species of shell has really survived to our times so unaltered as
to allow of its specific identification with a living species. I
cannot enter in this place into this wide controversy. It is enough
at present to remark that the character of the Eocene fauna, as
contrasted with that of the antecedent Secondary formations, wears
a very modern aspect, and that some able living conchologists still
maintain that there are Eocene shells not specifically
distinguishable from those now extant; though they may be fewer in
number than was supposed in 1833.

The term Miocene (from Greek meion, less; and Greek kainos, recent)
is intended to express a minor proportion of Recent species (of
testacea); the term Pliocene (from Greek pleion, more; and Greek
kainos, recent), a comparative plurality of the same.

It has sometimes been objected to this nomenclature that certain
species of infusoria found in the chalk are still existing, and, on
the other hand, the Miocene and Older Pliocene deposits often
contain the remains of mammalia, reptiles, and fish, exclusively of
extinct species. But the reader must bear in mind that the terms
Eocene, Miocene, and Pliocene were originally invented with
reference purely to conchological data, and in that sense have
always been and are still used by me.

Since the first introduction of the terms above defined, the number
of new living species of shells obtained from different parts of
the globe has been exceedingly great, supplying fresh data for
comparison, and enabling the palaeontologist to correct many
erroneous identifications of fossil and Recent forms. New species
also have been collected in abundance from Tertiary formations of
every age, while newly discovered groups of strata have filled up
gaps in the previously known series. Hence modifications and
reforms have been called for in the classifications first proposed.
The Eocene, Miocene, and Pliocene periods have been made to
comprehend certain sets of strata of which the fossils do not
always conform strictly in the proportion of Recent to extinct
species with the definitions first given by me, or which are
implied in the etymology of those terms. These innovations have
been treated of in my "Elements or Manual of Elementary Geology,"
and in the Supplement to the fifth edition of the same, published
in 1859, where some modifications of my classification, as first
proposed, are introduced; but I need not dwell on these on the
present occasion, as the only formations with which we shall be
concerned in the present volume are those of the most modern date,
or the Post-Tertiary. It will be convenient to divide these into
two groups, the Recent and the Pleistocene. In the Recent we may
comprehend those deposits in which not only all the shells but all
the fossil mammalia are of living species; in the Pleistocene those
strata in which, the shells being Recent, a portion, and often a
considerable one, of the accompanying fossil quadrupeds belongs to
extinct species.

Cases will occur where it may be scarcely possible to draw the line
of demarcation between the Newer Pliocene and Pleistocene, or
between the latter and the recent deposits; and we must expect
these difficulties to increase rather than diminish with every
advance in our knowledge, and in proportion as gaps are filled up
in the series of geological records.

The annexed tabular view (Table 1/1) of the whole series of
fossiliferous strata will enable the reader to see at a glance the
chronological relation of the Recent and Pleistocene to the
antecedent periods. [Note 2.]


TABLE 1/1. STRATIFIED ROCKS.

KAINOZOIC OR TERTIARY:
  Pleistocene and Recent.
  Pliocene.
  Miocene.
  Oligocene.
  Eocene.

MESOZOIC OR SECONDARY:
  Cretaceous.
  Jurassic.
  Triassic.

PALAEOZOIC OR PRIMARY:
  Permian.
  Carboniferous.
  Devonian or old Red Sandstone.
  Silurian.
  Ordovician.
  Cambrian.

PRECAMBRIAN OR ARCHAEAN.


CHAPTER 2.

RECENT PERIOD--DANISH PEAT AND SHELL MOUNDS--SWISS LAKE-DWELLINGS.

(PLATE 1. A VILLAGE BUILT ON PILES IN A SWISS LAKE.
   Restored by Dr. F. Keller, partly from Dumont D'Urville's
   Sketch of similar habitations in New Guinea.)

Works of Art in Danish Peat-Mosses.
Remains of three Periods of Vegetation in the Peat.
Ages of Stone, Bronze, and Iron.
Shell-Mounds or ancient Refuse-Heaps of the Danish Islands.
Change in geographical Distribution of Marine Mollusca
   since their Origin.
Embedded Remains of Mammalia of Recent Species.
Human Skulls of the same Period.
Swiss Lake-Dwellings built on Piles.
Stone and Bronze Implements found in them.
Fossil Cereals and other Plants.
Remains of Mammalia, wild and domesticated.
No extinct Species.
Chronological Computations of the Date of the Bronze and
   Stone Periods in Switzerland.
Lake-Dwellings, or artificial Islands called "Crannoges,"
  in Ireland.

WORKS OF ART IN DANISH PEAT.

When treating in the "Principles of Geology" of the changes of the
earth which have taken place in comparatively modern times, I have
spoken of the embedding of organic bodies and human remains in
peat, and explained under what conditions the growth of that
vegetable substance is going on in northern and humid climates. Of
late years, since I first alluded to the subject, more extensive
investigations have been made into the history of the Danish
peat-mosses. Of the results of these inquiries I shall give a brief
abstract in the present chapter, that we may afterwards compare
them with deposits of older date, which throw light on the
antiquity of the human race.

The deposits of peat in Denmark,* varying in depth from 10 to 30
feet, have been formed in hollows or depressions in the northern
drift or boulder formation hereafter to be described. (* An
excellent account of these researches of Danish naturalists and
antiquaries has been drawn up by an able Swiss geologist, M.A.
Morlot, and will be found in the "Bulletin de la Societe Vaudoise
des Sci. Nat." tome 6 Lausanne 1860.) The lowest stratum, 2 to 3
feet thick, consists of swamp-peat composed chiefly of moss or
sphagnum, above which lies another growth of peat, not made up
exclusively of aquatic or swamp plants. Around the borders of the
bogs, and at various depths in them, lie trunks of trees,
especially of the Scotch fir (Pinus sylvestris), often 3 feet in
diameter, which must have grown on the margin of the peat-mosses,
and have frequently fallen into them. This tree is not now, nor has
ever been in historical times, a native of the Danish Islands, and
when introduced there has not thriven; yet it was evidently
indigenous in the human period, for Steenstrup has taken out with
his own hands a flint instrument from below a buried trunk of one
of these pines. It appears clear that the same Scotch fir was
afterwards supplanted by the sessile variety of the common oak, of
which many prostrate trunks occur in the peat at higher levels than
the pines; and still higher the pedunculated variety of the same
oak (Quercus robur, L.) occurs with the alder, birch (Betula
verrucosa, Ehrh.), and hazel. The oak has now in its turn been
almost superseded in Denmark by the common beech. Other trees, such
as the white birch (Betula alba), characterise the lower part of
the bogs, and disappear from the higher; while others again, like
the aspen (Populus tremula), occur at all levels, and still
flourish in Denmark. All the land and freshwater shells, and all
the mammalia as well as the plants, whose remains occur buried in
the Danish peat, are of Recent species. [Note 3.]

It has been stated, that a stone implement was found under a buried
Scotch fir at a great depth in the peat. By collecting and studying
a vast variety of such implements, and other articles of human
workmanship preserved in peat and in sand-dunes on the coast, as
also in certain shell-mounds of the aborigines presently to be
described, the Danish and Swedish antiquaries and naturalists, MM.
Nilsson, Steenstrup, Forchhammer, Thomsen, Worsaae, and others,
have succeeded in establishing a chronological succession of
periods, which they have called the ages of stone, of bronze, and
of iron, named from the materials which have each in their turn
served for the fabrication of implements.

The age of stone in Denmark coincided with the period of the first
vegetation, or that of the Scotch fir, and in part at least with
the second vegetation, or that of the oak. But a considerable
portion of the oak epoch coincided with "the age of bronze," for
swords and shields of that metal, now in the Museum of Copenhagen,
have been taken out of peat in which oaks abound. The age of iron
corresponded more nearly with that of the beech tree.* (* Morlot
"Bulletin de la Societe Vaudoise des Sci. Nat." tome 6 page 292.)
[Note 4.]

M. Morlot, to whom we are indebted for a masterly sketch of the
recent progress of this new line of research, followed up with so
much success in Scandinavia and Switzerland, observes that the
introduction of the first tools made of bronze among a people
previously ignorant of the use of metals, implies a great advance
in the arts, for bronze is an alloy of about nine parts of copper
and one of tin; and although the former metal, copper, is by no
means rare, and is occasionally found pure or in a native state,
tin is not only scarce but never occurs native. To detect the
existence of this metal in its ore, then to disengage it from the
matrix, and finally, after blending it in due proportion with
copper, to cast the fused mixture in a mould, allowing time for it
to acquire hardness by slow cooling, all this bespeaks no small
sagacity and skilful manipulation. Accordingly, the pottery found
associated with weapons of bronze is of a more ornamental and
tasteful style than any which belongs to the age of stone. Some of
the moulds in which the bronze instruments were cast, and "tags,"
as they are called, of bronze, which are formed in the hole through
which the fused metal was poured, have been found. The number and
variety of objects belonging to the age of bronze indicates its
long duration, as does the progress in the arts implied by the
rudeness of the earlier tools, often mere repetitions of those of
the stone age, as contrasted with the more skilfully worked weapons
of a later stage of the same period.

It has been suggested that an age of copper must always have
intervened between that of stone and bronze; but if so, the
interval seems to have been short in Europe, owing apparently to
the territory occupied by the aboriginal inhabitants having been
invaded and conquered by a people coming from the East, to whom the
use of swords, spears, and other weapons of bronze was familiar.
Hatchets, however, of copper have been found in the Danish peat.

The next stage of improvement, or that manifested by the
substitution of iron for bronze, indicates another stride in the
progress of the arts. Iron never presents itself, except in
meteorites, in a native state, so that to recognise its ores, and
then to separate the metal from its matrix, demands no
inconsiderable exercise of the powers of observation and invention.
To fuse the ore requires an intense heat, not to be obtained
without artificial appliances, such as pipes inflated by the human
breath, or bellows, or some other suitable machinery.

DANISH SHELL-MOUNDS, OR KJOKKENMODDING.*

(* Mr. John Lubbock published, after these sheets were written, an
able paper on the Danish "Shell-mounds" in the October number of
the "Natural History Review" 1861 page 489, in which he has
described the results of a recent visit to Denmark, made by him in
company with Mr. Busk.)

In addition to the peat-mosses, another class of memorials found in
Denmark has thrown light on the pre-historical age. At certain
points along the shores of nearly all the Danish islands, mounds
may be seen, consisting chiefly of thousands of cast-away shells of
the oyster, cockle, and other molluscs of the same species as those
which are now eaten by Man. These shells are plentifully mixed up
with the bones of various quadrupeds, birds, and fish, which served
as the food of the rude hunters and fishers by whom the mounds were
accumulated. I have seen similar large heaps of oysters, and other
marine shells with interspersed stone implements, near the
seashore, both in Massachusetts and in Georgia, U.S.A., left by the
native North American Indians at points near to which they were in
the habit of pitching their wigwams for centuries before the white
man arrived.

Such accumulations are called by the Danes, Kjokkenmodding, or
"kitchen-middens." Scattered all through them are flint knives,
hatchets, and other instruments of stone, horn, wood, and bone,
with fragments of coarse pottery, mixed with charcoal and cinders,
but never any implements of bronze, still less of iron. The stone
hatchets and knives had been sharpened by rubbing, and in this
respect are one degree less rude than those of an older date,
associated in France with the bones of extinct mammalia, of which
more in the sequel. The mounds vary in height from 3 to 10 feet,
and in area are some of them 1000 feet long, and from 150 to 200
wide. They are rarely placed more than 10 feet above the level of
the sea, and are confined to its immediate neighbourhood, or if not
(and there are cases where they are several miles from the shore),
the distance is ascribable to the entrance of a small stream, which
has deposited sediment, or to the growth of a peaty swamp, by which
the land has been made to advance on the Baltic, as it is still
doing in many places, aided, according to Puggaard, by a very slow
upheaval of the whole country at the rate of 2 or 3 inches in a
century.

There is also another geographical fact equally in favour of the
antiquity of the mounds, namely, that they are wanting on those
parts of the coast which border the Western Ocean, or exactly where
the waves are now slowly eating away the land. There is every
reason to presume that originally there were stations along the
coast of the North Sea as well as that of the Baltic, but by the
gradual undermining of the cliffs they have all been swept away.

Another striking proof, perhaps the most conclusive of all, that
the "kitchen-middens" are very old, is derived from the character
of their embedded shells. These consist entirely of living species;
but, in the first place, the common eatable oyster is among them,
attaining its full size, whereas the same Ostrea edulis cannot live
at present in the brackish waters of the Baltic except near its
entrance, where, whenever a north-westerly gale prevails, a current
setting in from the ocean pours in a great body of salt water. Yet
it seems that during the whole time of the accumulation of the
"kitchen-middens" the oyster flourished in places from which it is
now excluded. In like manner the eatable cockle, mussel, and
periwinkle (Cardium edule, Mytilus edulis, and Littorina littorea),
which are met with in great numbers in the "middens," are of the
ordinary dimensions which they acquire in the ocean, whereas the
same species now living in the adjoining parts of the Baltic only
attain a third of their natural size, being stunted and dwarfed in
their growth by the quantity of fresh water poured by rivers into
that inland sea.* (* See "Principles of Geology" chapter 30.) Hence
we may confidently infer that in the days of the aboriginal hunters
and fishers, the ocean had freer access than now to the Baltic,
communicating probably through the peninsula of Jutland, Jutland
having been at no remote period an archipelago. Even in the course
of the nineteenth century, the salt waters have made one irruption
into the Baltic by the Lymfiord, although they have been now again
excluded. It is also affirmed that other channels were open in
historical times which are now silted up.* (* See Morlot "Bulletin
de la Societe Vaudoise des Sci. Nat." tome 6.)

If we next turn to the remains of vertebrata preserved in the
mounds, we find that here also, as in the Danish peat-mosses, all
the quadrupeds belong to species known to have inhabited Europe
within the memory of Man. No remains of the mammoth, or rhinoceros,
or of any extinct species appear, except those of the wild bull
(Bos urus, Linn., or Bos primigenius, Bojanus), which are in such
numbers as to prove that the species was a favourite food of the
ancient people. But as this animal was seen by Julius Caesar, and
survived long after his time, its presence alone would not go far
to prove the mounds to be of high antiquity. The Lithuanian aurochs
or bison (Bos bison, L., Bos priscus, Boj.), which has escaped
extirpation only because protected by the Russian Czars, surviving
in one forest in Lithuania) has not yet been met with, but will no
doubt be detected hereafter, as it has been already found in the
Danish peat. The beaver, long since destroyed in Denmark, occurs
frequently, as does the seal (Phoca Gryppus, Fab.), now very rare
on the Danish coast. With these are mingled bones of the red deer
and roe, but the reindeer has not yet been found. There are also
the bones of many carnivora, such as the lynx, fox, and wolf, but
no signs of any domesticated animals except the dog. The long bones
of the larger mammalia have been all broken as if by some
instrument, in such a manner as to allow of the extraction of the
marrow, and the gristly parts have been gnawed off, as if by dogs,
to whose agency is also attributed the almost entire absence of the
bones of young birds and of the smaller bones and softer parts of
the skeletons of birds in general, even of those of large size. In
reference to the latter, it has been proved experimentally by
Professor Steenstrup, that if the same species of birds are now
given to dogs, they will devour those parts of the skeleton which
are missing, and leave just those which are preserved in the old
"kitchen-middens."

The dogs of the mounds, the only domesticated animals, are of a
smaller race than those of the bronze period, as shown by the
peat-mosses, and the dogs of the bronze age are inferior in size
and strength to those of the iron age. The domestic ox, horse, and
sheep, which are wanting in the mounds, are confined to that part
of the Danish peat which was formed in the ages of bronze and iron.

Among the bones of birds, scarcely any are more frequent in the
mounds than those of the auk (Alca impennis), now extinct. The
Capercailzie (Tetrao urogallus) is also met with, and may, it is
suggested, have fed on the buds of the Scotch fir in times when
that tree flourished around the peat-bogs. The different stages of
growth of the roedeer's horns, and the presence of the wild swan,
now only a winter visitor, have been appealed to as proving that
the aborigines resided in the same settlements all the year round.
That they also ventured out to sea in canoes such as are now found
in the peat-mosses, hollowed out of the trunk of a single tree, to
catch fish far from land, is testified by the bony relics of
several deep-sea species, such as the herring, cod, and flounder.
The ancient people were not cannibals, for no human bones are
mingled with the spoils of the chase. Skulls, however, have been
obtained not only from peat, but from tumuli of the stone period
believed to be contemporaneous with the mounds. These skulls are
small and round, and have a prominent ridge over the orbits of the
eyes, showing that the ancient race was of small stature, with
round heads and overhanging eyebrows--in short, they bore a
considerable resemblance to the modern Laplanders. The human skulls
of the bronze age found in the Danish peat, and those of the iron
period, are of an elongated form and larger size. There appear to
be very few well-authenticated examples of crania referable to the
bronze period--a circumstance no doubt attributable to the custom
prevalent among the people of that era of burning their dead and
collecting their bones in funeral urns.

No traces of grain of any sort have hitherto been discovered, nor
any other indication that the ancient people had any knowledge of
agriculture. The only vegetable remains in the mounds are burnt
pieces of wood and some charred substance referred by Dr.
Forchhammer to the Zostera marina, a sea plant which was perhaps
used in the production of salt.

What may be the antiquity of the earliest human remains preserved
in the Danish peat cannot be estimated in centuries with any
approach to accuracy. In the first place, in going back to the
bronze age, we already find ourselves beyond the reach of history
or even of tradition. In the time of the Romans the Danish Isles
were covered, as now, with magnificent beech forests. Nowhere in
the world does this tree flourish more luxuriantly than in Denmark,
and eighteen centuries seem to have done little or nothing towards
modifying the character of the forest vegetation. Yet in the
antecedent bronze period there were no beech trees, or at most but
a few stragglers, the country being then covered with oak. In the
age of stone again, the Scotch fir prevailed, and already there
were human inhabitants in those old pine forests. How many
generations of each species of tree flourished in succession before
the pine was supplanted by the oak, and the oak by the beech, can
be but vaguely conjectured, but the minimum of time required for
the formation of so much peat must, according to the estimate of
Steenstrup and other good authorities, have amounted to at least
4000 years; and there is nothing in the observed rate of the growth
of peat opposed to the conclusion that the number of centuries may
not have been four times as great, even though the signs of Man's
existence have not yet been traced down to the lowest or amorphous
stratum. As to the "kitchen-middens," they correspond in date to
the older portion of the peaty record, or to the earliest part of
the age of stone as known in Denmark.

ANCIENT SWISS LAKE-DWELLINGS, BUILT ON PILES.

In the shallow parts of many Swiss lakes, where there is a depth of
no more than from 5 to 15 feet of water, ancient wooden piles are
observed at the bottom sometimes worn down to the surface of the
mud, sometimes projecting slightly above it. These have evidently
once supported villages, nearly all of them of unknown date, but
the most ancient of which certainly belonged to the age of stone,
for hundreds of implements resembling those of the Danish
shell-mounds and peat-mosses have been dredged up from the mud into
which the piles were driven.

The earliest historical account of such habitations is that given
by Herodotus of a Thracian tribe, who dwelt, in the year 520 B.C.,
in Prasias, a small mountain-lake of Paeonia, now part of modern
Roumelia.* (* Herodotus lib. 5 cap. 16. Rediscovered by M. de Ville
"Natural History Review" volume 2 1862 page 486.)

Their habitations were constructed on platforms raised above the
lake, and resting on piles. They were connected with the shore by a
narrow causeway of similar formation. Such platforms must have been
of considerable extent, for the Paeonians lived there with their
families and horses. Their food consisted largely of the fish which
the lake produced in abundance.

In rude and unsettled times, such insular sites afforded safe
retreats, all communication with the mainland being cut off, except
by boats, or by such wooden bridges as could be easily removed.

The Swiss lake-dwellings seem first to have attracted attention
during the dry winter of 1853-54, when the lakes and rivers sank
lower than had ever been previously known, and when the inhabitants
of Meilen, on the Lake of Zurich, resolved to raise the level of
some ground and turn it into land, by throwing mud upon it obtained
by dredging in the adjoining shallow water. During these dredging
operations they discovered a number of wooden piles deeply driven
into the bed of the lake, and among them a great many hammers,
axes, celts, and other instruments. All these belonged to the stone
period with two exceptions, namely, an armlet of thin brass wire,
and a small bronze hatchet.

Fragments of rude pottery fashioned by the hand were abundant, also
masses of charred wood, supposed to have formed parts of the
platform on which the wooden cabins were built. Of this burnt
timber, on this and other sites, subsequently explored, there was
such an abundance as to lead to the conclusion that many of the
settlements must have perished by fire. Herodotus has recorded that
the Paeonians, above alluded to, preserved their independence
during the Persian invasion, and defied the attacks of Darius by
aid of the peculiar position of their dwellings. "But their
safety," observes Mr. Wylie,* (* W.M. Wylie "Archaeologia" volume
38 1859, a valuable paper on the Swiss and Irish lake-habitations.)
"was probably owing to their living in the middle of the lake,
(Greek) en mese te limne, whereas the ancient Swiss settlers were
compelled by the rapidly increasing depth of the water near the
margins of their lakes to construct their habitations at a short
distance from the shore, within easy bowshot of the land, and
therefore not out of reach of fiery projectiles, against which
thatched roofs and wooden walls could present but a poor defence."
To these circumstances and to accidental fires we are probably
indebted for the frequent preservation, in the mud around the site
of the old settlements, of the most precious tools and works of
art, such as would never have been thrown into the Danish
"kitchen-middens," which have been aptly compared to a modern
dusthole.

Dr. Ferdinand Keller of Zurich has drawn up a series of most
instructive memoirs, illustrated with well-executed plates, of the
treasures in stone, bronze, and bone brought to light in these
subaqueous repositories, and has given an ideal restoration of part
of one of the old villages (see Plate 1 above),* such as he
conceives may have existed on the lakes of Zurich and Bienne. (*
Keller "Pfahlbauten, Antiquarische Gesellschaft in Zurich" Bd. 12
and 13 1858-1861. In the fifth number of the "Natural History
Review" January 9, 1862, Mr. Lubbock has published an excellent
account of the works of the Swiss writers on their
lake-habitations.) In this view, however, he has not simply trusted
to his imagination, but has availed himself of a sketch published
by M. Dumont d'Urville, of similar habitations of the Papuans in
New Guinea in the Bay of Dorei. It is also stated by Dr. Keller,
that on the River Limmat, near Zurich, so late as the last century,
there were several fishing-huts constructed on this same plan.* (*
Keller "Pfahlbauten, Antiquarische Gesellschaft in Zurich" Bd. 9
page 81 note.) It will be remarked that one of the cabins is
represented as circular. That such was the form of many in
Switzerland is inferred from the shape of pieces of clay which
lined the interior, and which owe their preservation apparently to
their having been hardened by fire when the village was burnt. In
the sketch (Plate 1), some fishing-nets are seen spread out to dry
on the wooden platform. The Swiss archaeologist has found abundant
evidence of fishing-gear, consisting of pieces of cord, hooks, and
stones used as weights. A canoe also is introduced, such as are
occasionally met with. One of these, made of the trunk of a single
tree, fifty feet long and three and a half feet wide, was found
capsized at the bottom of the Lake of Bienne. It appears to have
been laden with stones, such as were used to raise the foundation
of some of the artificial islands.

It is believed that as many as 300 wooden huts were sometimes
comprised in one settlement, and that they may have contained about
1000 inhabitants. At Wangen, M. Lohle has calculated that 40,000
piles were used, probably not all planted at one time nor by one
generation. Among the works of great merit devoted specially to a
description of the Swiss lake-habitations is that of M. Troyon,
published in 1860.* (* "Sur les Habitations lacustres.") The number
of sites which he and other authors have already enumerated in
Switzerland is truly wonderful. They occur on the large lakes of
Constance, Zurich, Geneva, and Neufchatel, and on most of the
smaller ones. Some are exclusively of the stone age, others of the
bronze period. Of these last more than twenty are spoken of on the
Lake of Geneva alone, more than forty on that of Neufchatel, and
twenty on the small Lake of Bienne.

One of the sites first studied by the Swiss antiquaries was the
small lake of Moosseedorf, near Berne, where implements of stone,
horn, and bone, but none of metal, were obtained. Although the
flint here employed must have come from a distance (probably from
the south of France), the chippings of the material are in such
profusion as to imply that there was a manufactory of implements on
the spot. Here also, as in several other settlements, hatchets and
wedges of jade have been observed of a kind said not to occur in
Switzerland or the adjoining parts of Europe, and which some
mineralogists would fain derive from the East; amber also, which,
it is supposed, was imported from the shores of the Baltic.

At Wangen near Stein, on the Lake of Constance, another of the most
ancient of the lake-dwellings, hatchets of serpentine and
greenstone, and arrow-heads of quartz have been met with. Here also
remains of a kind of cloth, supposed to be of flax, not woven but
plaited, have been detected. Professor Heer has recognised lumps of
carbonised wheat, Triticum vulgare, and grains of another kind, T.
dicoccum, and barley, Hordeum distichum, and flat round cakes of
bread; and at Robbenhausen and elsewhere Hordeum hexastichum in
fine ears, the same kind of barley which is found associated with
Egyptian mummies, showing clearly that in the stone period the
lake-dwellers cultivated all these cereals, besides having
domesticated the dog, the ox, the sheep, and the goat.

Carbonised apples and pears of small size, such as still grow in
the Swiss forests, stones of the wild plum, seeds of the raspberry
and blackberry, and beech-nuts, also occur in the mud, and
hazel-nuts in great plenty.

Near Morges, on the Lake of Geneva, a settlement of the bronze
period, no less than forty hatchets of that metal have been dredged
up, and in many other localities the number and variety of weapons
and utensils discovered, in a fine state of preservation, is truly
astonishing.

It is remarkable that as yet all the settlements of the bronze
period are confined to Western and Central Switzerland. In the more
eastern lakes those of the stone period alone have as yet been
discovered.

The tools, ornaments, and pottery of the bronze period in
Switzerland bear a close resemblance to those of corresponding age
in Denmark, attesting the wide spread of a uniform civilisation
over Central Europe at that era. In some few of the Swiss aquatic
stations a mixture of bronze and iron implements has been observed,
but no coins. At Tiefenau, near Berne, in ground supposed to have
been a battle-field, coins and medals of bronze and silver, struck
at Marseilles, and of Greek manufacture, and iron swords, have been
found, all belonging to the first and pre-Roman division of the age
of iron.

In the settlements of the bronze era the wooden piles are not so
much decayed as those of the stone period; the latter having wasted
down quite to the level of the mud, whereas the piles of the bronze
age (as in the Lake of Bienne, for example) still project above it.

Professor Rutimeyer of Basle, well-known to palaeontologists as the
author of several important memoirs on fossil vertebrata, has
recently published a scientific description of great interest of
the animal remains dredged up at various stations where they had
been embedded for ages in the mud into which the piles were driven.
* (* "Die Fauna der Pfahlbauten in der Schweiz" Basel 1861.)

These bones bear the same relation to the primitive inhabitants of
Switzerland and some of their immediate successors as do the
contents of the Danish "kitchen-middens" to the ancient fishing and
hunting tribes who lived on the shores of the Baltic.

The list of wild mammalia enumerated in this excellent treatise
contains no less than twenty-four species, exclusive of several
domesticated ones: besides which there are eighteen species of
birds, the wild swan, goose, and two species of ducks being among
them; also three reptiles, including the eatable frog and
freshwater tortoise; and lastly, nine species of freshwater fish.
All these (amounting to fifty-four species) are with one exception
still living in Europe. The exception is the wild bull (Bos
primigenius), which, as before stated, survived in historical
times. The following are the mammalia alluded to:--The bear (Ursus
arctos), the badger, the common marten, the polecat, the ermine,
the weasel, the otter, wolf, fox, wild cat, hedgehog, squirrel,
field-mouse (Mus sylvaticus), hare, beaver, hog (comprising two
races, namely, the wild boar and swamp-hog), the stag (Cervus
elaphus), the roe-deer, the fallow-deer, the elk, the steinbock
(Capra ibex), the chamois, the Lithuanian bison, and the wild bull.
The domesticated species comprise the dog, horse, ass, pig, goat,
sheep, and several bovine races.

The greater number, if not all, of these animals served for food,
and all the bones which contained marrow have been split open in
the same way as the corresponding ones found in the shell-mounds of
Denmark before mentioned. The bones both of the wild bull and the
bison are invariably split in this manner. As a rule, the lower
jaws with teeth occur in greater abundance than any other parts of
the skeleton--a circumstance which, geologists know, holds good in
regard to fossil mammalia of all periods. As yet the reindeer is
missing in the Swiss lake-settlements as in the Danish
"kitchen-middens," although this animal in more ancient times
ranged over France, together with the mammoth, as far south as the
Pyrenees.

A careful comparison of the bones from different sites has shown
that in settlements such as Wangen and Moosseedorf, belonging to
the earliest age of stone, when the habits of the hunter state
predominated over those of the pastoral, venison, or the flesh of
the stag and roe, was more eaten than the flesh of the domestic
cattle and sheep. This was afterwards reversed in the later stone
period and in the age of bronze. At that later period also the tame
pig, which is wanting in some of the oldest stations, had replaced
the wild boar as a common article of food. In the beginning of the
age of stone, in Switzerland, the goats outnumbered the sheep, but
towards the close of the same period the sheep were more abundant
than the goats.

The fox in the first era was very common, but it nearly disappears
in the bronze age, during which period a large hunting-dog,
supposed to have been imported into Switzerland from some foreign
country, becomes the chief representative of the canine genus.

A single fragment of the bone of a hare (Lepus timidus) has been
found at Moosseedorf. The almost universal absence of this
quadruped is supposed to imply that the Swiss lake-dwellers were
prevented from eating that animal by the same superstition which
now prevails among the Laplanders, and which Julius Caesar found in
full force amongst the ancient Britons.* (* "Commentaries" lib 5
chapter 12.)

That the lake-dwellers should have fed so largely on the fox, while
they abstained from touching the hare, establishes, says Rutimeyer,
a singular contrast between their tastes and ours.

Even in the earliest settlements, as already hinted, several
domesticated animals occur, namely, the ox, sheep, goat, and dog.
Of the three last, each was represented by one race only; but there
were two races of cattle, the most common being of small size, and
called by Rutimeyer Bos brachyceros (Bos longifrons, Owen), or the
marsh cow, the other derived from the wild bull; though, as no
skull has yet been discovered, this identification is not so
certain as could be wished. It is, however, beyond question that at
a later era, namely, towards the close of the stone and beginning
of the bronze period, the lake-dwellers had succeeded in taming
that formidable brute the Bos primigenius, the Urus of Caesar,
which he described as very fierce, swift, and strong, and scarcely
inferior to the elephant in size. In a tame state its bones were
somewhat less massive and heavy, and its horns were somewhat
smaller than in wild individuals. Still in its domesticated form,
it rivalled in dimensions the largest living cattle, those of
Friesland, in North Holland, for example. When most abundant, as at
Concise on the Lake of Neufchatel, it had nearly superseded the
smaller race, Bos brachyceros, and was accompanied there for a
short time by a third bovine variety, called Bos trochoceros, an
Italian race, supposed to have been imported from the southern side
of the Alps. (Caesar "Commentaries" lib 5 chapter 12.) This
last-mentioned race, however, seems only to have lasted for a short
time in Switzerland.

The wild bull (Bos primigenius) is supposed to have flourished for
a while in a wild and tame state, just as now in Europe the
domestic pig co-exists with the wild boar; and Rutimeyer agrees
with Cuvier and Bell,* (* "British Quadrupeds" page 415.) in
considering our larger domestic cattle of northern Europe as the
descendants of this wild bull, an opinion which Owen disputes.* (*
"British Fossil Mammal." page 500.)

In the later division of the stone period, there were two tame
races of the pig, according to Rutimeyer; one large, and derived
from the wild boar, the other smaller, called the "marsh-hog," or
Sus scrofa palustris. It may be asked how the osteologist can
distinguish the tame from the wild races of the same species by
their skeletons alone. Among other characters, the diminished
thickness of the bones and the comparative smallness of the ridges,
which afford attachment to the muscles, are relied on; also the
smaller dimensions of the tusks in the boar, and of the whole jaw
and skull; and, in like manner, the diminished size of the horns of
the bull and other modifications, which are the effects of a
regular supply of food, and the absence of all necessity of
exerting their activity and strength to obtain subsistence and
defend themselves against their enemies.

A middle-sized race of dogs continued unaltered throughout the
whole of the stone period; but the people of the bronze age
possessed a larger hunting-dog, and with it a small horse, of which
genus very few traces have been detected in the earlier
settlements--a single tooth, for example, at Wangen, and only one
or two bones at two or three other places.

In passing from the oldest to the most modern sites, the
extirpation of the elk and beaver, and the gradual reduction in
numbers of the bear, stag, roe, and freshwater tortoise are
distinctly perceptible. The aurochs, or Lithuanian bison, appears
to have died out in Switzerland about the time when weapons of
bronze came into use. It is only in a few of the most modern
lake-dwellings, such as Noville and Chavannes in the Canton de Vaud
(which the antiquaries refer to the sixth century), that some
traces are observable of the domestic cat, as well as of a sheep
with crooked horns and with them bones of the domestic fowl.

After the sixth century, no extinction of any wild quadruped nor
introduction of any tame one appears to have taken place, but the
fauna was still modified by the wild species continuing to diminish
in number and the tame ones to become more diversified by breeding
and crossing, especially in the case of the dog, horse, and sheep.
On the whole, however, the divergence of the domestic races from
their aboriginal wild types, as exemplified at Wangen and
Moosseedorf, is confined, according to Professor Rutimeyer, within
narrow limits. As to the goat, it has remained nearly constant and
true to its pristine form, and the small race of goat-horned sheep
still lingers in some alpine valleys in the Upper Rhine; and in the
same region a race of pigs, corresponding to the domesticated
variety of Sus scrofa palustris, may still be seen.

Amidst all this profusion of animal remains extremely few bones of
Man have been discovered; and only one skull, dredged up from
Meilen, on the Lake of Zurich, of the early stone period, seems as
yet to have been carefully examined. Respecting this specimen,
Professor His observes that it exhibits, instead of the small and
rounded form proper to the Danish peat-mosses, a type much more
like that now prevailing in Switzerland, which is intermediate
between the long-headed and short-headed form. (Rutimeyer "Die
Fauna der Pfahlbauten in der Schweiz" page 181.)

So far, therefore, as we can draw safe conclusions from a single
specimen, there has been no marked change of race in the human
population of Switzerland during the periods above considered.

It is still a question whether any of these subaqueous repositories
of ancient relics in Switzerland go back so far in time as the
kitchen-middens of Denmark, for in these last there are no
domesticated animals except the dog, and no signs of the
cultivation of wheat or barley; whereas we have seen that, in one
of the oldest of the Swiss settlements, at Wangen, no less than
three cereals make their appearance, with four kinds of domestic
animals. Yet there is no small risk of error in speculating on the
relative claims to antiquity of such ancient tribes, for some of
them may have remained isolated for ages and stationary in their
habits, while others advanced and improved.

We know that nations, both before and after the introduction of
metals, may continue in very different stages of civilisation, even
after commercial intercourse has been established between them, and
where they are separated by a less distance than that which divides
the Alps from the Baltic.

The attempts of the Swiss geologists and archaeologists to estimate
definitely in years the antiquity of the bronze and stone periods,
although as yet confessedly imperfect, deserve notice, and appear
to me to be full of promise. The most elaborate calculation is that
made by M. Morlot, respecting the delta of the Tiniere, a torrent
which flows into the Lake of Geneva near Villeneuve. This small
delta, to which the stream is annually making additions, is
composed of gravel and sand. Its shape is that of a flattened cone,
and its internal structure has of late been laid open to view in a
railway cutting 1000 feet long and 32 feet deep. The regularity of
its structure throughout implies that it has been formed very
gradually, and by the uniform action of the same causes. Three
layers of vegetable soil, each of which must at one time have
formed the surface of the cone, have been cut through at different
depths. The first of these was traced over a surface of 15,000
square feet, having an average thickness of 5 inches, and being
about 4 feet below the present surface of the cone. This upper
layer belonged to the Roman period, and contained Roman tiles and a
coin. The second layer, followed over a surface of 25,000 square
feet, was 6 inches thick, and lay at a depth of 10 feet. In it were
found fragments of unvarnished pottery and a pair of tweezers in
bronze, indicating the bronze epoch. The third layer, followed for
35,000 square feet, was 6 or 7 inches thick and 19 feet deep. In it
were fragments of rude pottery, pieces of charcoal, broken bones,
and a human skeleton having a small, round and very thick skull. M.
Morlot, assuming the Roman period to represent an antiquity of from
sixteen to eighteen centuries, assigns to the bronze age a date of
between 3000 and 4000 years, and to the oldest layer, that of the
stone period, an age of from 5000 to 7000 years.

Another calculation has been made by M. Troyon to obtain the
approximate date of the remains of an ancient settlement built on
piles and preserved in a peat-bog at Chamblon, near Yverdun, on the
Lake of Neufchatel. The site of the ancient Roman town of
Eburodunum (Yverdun), once on the borders of the lake, and between
which and the shore there now intervenes a zone of newly-gained dry
land, 2500 feet in breadth, shows the rate at which the bed of the
lake has been filled up with river sediment in fifteen centuries.
Assuming the lake to have retreated at the same rate before the
Roman period, the pile-works of Chamblon, which are of the bronze
period, must be at the least 3300 years old.

For the third calculation, communicated to me by M. Morlot, we are
indebted to M. Victor Gillieron, of Neuveville, on the Lake of
Bienne. It relates to the age of a pile-dwelling, the mammalian
bones of which are considered by M. Rutimeyer to indicate the
earliest portion of the stone period of Switzerland, and to
correspond in age with the settlement of Moosseedorf.

The piles in question occur at the Pont de Thiele, between the
lakes of Bienne and Neufchatel. The old convent of St. Jean,
founded 750 years ago, and built originally on the margin of the
Lake of Bienne, is now at a considerable distance from the shore,
and affords a measure of the rate of the gain of land in seven
centuries and a half. Assuming that a similar rate of the
conversion of water into marshy land prevailed antecedently, we
should require an addition of sixty centuries for the growth of the
morass intervening between the convent and the aquatic dwelling of
Pont de Thiele, in all 6750 years. M. Morlot, after examining the
ground, thinks it highly probable that the shape of the bottom on
which the morass rests is uniform; but this important point has not
yet been tested by boring. The result, if confirmed, would agree
exceedingly well with the chronological computation before
mentioned of the age of the stone period of Tiniere. As I have not
myself visited Switzerland since these chronological speculations
were first hazarded, I am unable to enter critically into a
discussion of the objections which have been raised to the two
first of them, or to decide on the merits of the explanations
offered in reply.

IRISH LAKE-DWELLINGS OR CRANNOGES.

The lake-dwellings of the British isles, although not explored as
yet with scientific zeal, as those of Switzerland have been in the
last ten years, are yet known to be very numerous, and when
carefully examined will not fail to throw great light on the
history of the bronze and stone periods.

In the lakes of Ireland alone, no less than forty-six examples of
artificial islands, called crannoges, have been discovered. They
occur in Leitrim, Roscommon, Cavan, Down, Monaghan, Limerick,
Meath, King's County, and Tyrone.* (* W.M. Wylie "Archaeologia"
volume 38 1859 page 8.) One class of these "stockaded islands," as
they have been sometimes called, was formed, according to Mr. Digby
Wyatt, by placing horizontal oak beams at the bottom of the lake,
into which oak posts, from 6 to 8 feet high, were mortised, and
held together by cross beams, till a circular enclosure was
obtained.

A space of 520 feet diameter, thus enclosed at Lagore, was divided
into sundry timbered compartments, which were found filled up with
mud or earth, from which were taken "vast quantities of the bones
of oxen, swine, deer, goats, sheep, dogs, foxes, horses, and
asses." All these were discovered beneath 16 feet of bog, and were
used for manure; but specimens of them are said to be preserved in
the museum of the Royal Irish Academy. From the same spot were
obtained a great collection of antiquities, which, according to
Lord Talbot de Malahide and Mr. Wylie, were referable to the ages
of stone, bronze, and iron.* (* W.M. Wylie "Archaeologia" volume 38
1859 page 8, who cites "Archaeological Journal" volume 6 page 101.)

In Ardekillin Lake, in Roscommon, an islet of an oval form was
observed, made of a layer of stones resting on logs of timber.
Round this artificial islet or crannoge thus formed was a stone
wall raised on oak piles. A careful description has been put on
record by Captain Mudge, R.N., of a curious log-cabin discovered by
him in 1833 in Drumkellin bog, in Donegal, at a depth of 14 feet
from the surface. It was 12 feet square and 9 feet high, being
divided into two stories each 4 feet high. The planking was of oak
split with wedges of stone, one of which was found in the building.
The roof was flat. A staked enclosure had been raised round the
cabin, and remains of other similar huts adjoining were seen but
not explored. A stone celt, found in the interior of the hut, and a
piece of leather sandal, also an arrow-head of flint, and in the
bog close at hand a wooden sword, give evidence of the remote
antiquity of this building, which may be taken as a type of the
early dwellings on the Crannoge islands.

"The whole structure," says Captain Mudge, "was wrought with the
rudest kind of implements, and the labour bestowed on it must have
been immense. The wood of the mortises was more bruised than cut,
as if by a blunt stone chisel."* (* Mudge "Archaeologia" volume 26.
) Such a chisel lay on the floor of the hut, and by comparing it
with the marks of the tool used in forming the mortises, they were
found "to correspond exactly, even to the slight curved exterior of
the chisel; but the logs had been hewn by a larger instrument, in
the shape of an axe. On the floor of the dwelling lay a slab of
freestone, 3 feet long and 14 inches thick, in the centre of which
was a small pit three quarters of an inch deep, which had been
chiselled out. This is presumed to have been used for holding nuts
to be cracked by means of one of the round shingle stones, also
found there, which had served as a hammer. Some entire hazel-nuts
and a great quantity of broken shells were strewed about the
floor."

The foundations of the house were made of fine sand, such as is
found with shingle on the seashore about 2 miles distant. Below the
layer of sand the bog or peat was ascertained, on probing it with
an instrument, to be at least 15 feet thick. Although the interior
of the building when discovered was full of "bog" or peaty matter,
it seems when inhabited to have been surrounded by growing trees,
some of the trunks and roots of which are still preserved in their
natural position. The depth of overlying peat affords no safe
criterion for calculating the age of the cabin or village, for I
have shown in the "Principles of Geology" that both in England and
Ireland, within historical times, bogs have burst and sent forth
great volumes of black mud, which has been known to creep over the
country at a slow pace, flowing somewhat at the rate of ordinary
lava-currents, and sometimes overwhelming woods and cottages, and
leaving a deposit upon them of bog-earth 15 feet thick.

None of these Irish lake-dwellings were built, like those of
Helvetia, on platforms supported by piles deeply driven into the
mud. "The Crannoge system of Ireland seems," says Mr. Wylie, "well
nigh without a parallel in Swiss waters."


CHAPTER 3.

FOSSIL HUMAN REMAINS AND WORKS OF ART OF THE RECENT PERIOD--CONTINUED.

Delta and Alluvial Plain of the Nile.
Burnt Bricks in Egypt before the Roman Era.
Borings in 1851-54.
Ancient Mounds of the Valley of the Ohio.
Their Antiquity.
Sepulchral Mound at Santos in Brazil.
Delta of the Mississippi.
Ancient Human Remains in Coral Reefs of Florida.
Changes in Physical Geography in the Human Period.
Buried Canoes in Marine Strata near Glasgow.
Upheaval since the Roman Occupation of the Shores of the Firth of Forth.
Fossil Whales near Stirling.
Upraised Marine Strata of Sweden on Shores of the Baltic and the Ocean.
Attempts to compute their Age.

DELTA AND ALLUVIAL PLAIN OF THE NILE.

Some new facts of high interest illustrating the geology of the
alluvial land of Egypt were brought to light between the years 1851
and 1854, in consequence of investigations suggested to the Royal
Society by Mr. Leonard Horner, and which were partly carried out at
the expense of the Society. The practical part of the undertaking
was entrusted by Mr. Horner to an Armenian officer of engineers,
Hekekyan Bey, who had for many years pursued his scientific studies
in England, and was in every way highly qualified for the task.

It was soon found that to obtain the required information
respecting the nature, depth, and contents of the Nile mud in
various parts of the valley, a larger outlay was called for than
had been originally contemplated. This expense the late viceroy,
Abbas Pasha, munificently undertook to defray out of his treasury,
and his successor, after his death, continued the operations with
the same princely liberality.

Several engineers and a body of sixty workmen were employed under
the superintendence of Hekekyan Bey, men inured to the climate and
able to carry on the sinking of shafts and borings during the hot
months, after the waters of the Nile had subsided, and in a season
which would have been fatal to Europeans.

The results of chief importance arising out of this inquiry were
obtained from two sets of shafts and borings sunk at intervals in
lines crossing the great valley from east to west. One of these
consisted of no fewer than fifty-one pits and artesian borings,
made where the valley is 16 miles wide from side to side between
the Arabian and Libyan deserts, in the latitude of Heliopolis,
about 8 miles above the apex of the delta. The other line of
borings and pits, twenty-seven in number, was in the parallel of
Memphis, where the valley is only five miles broad.

Everywhere in these sections the sediment passed through was
similar in composition to the ordinary Nile mud of the present day,
except near the margin of the valley, where thin layers of
quartzose sand, such as is sometimes blown from the adjacent desert
by violent winds, were observed to alternate with the loam.

A remarkable absence of lamination and stratification was observed
almost universally in the sediment brought up from all points
except where the sandy layers above alluded to occurred. Mr. Horner
attributes this want of all indication of successive deposition to
the extreme thinness of the film of matter which is thrown down
annually on the great alluvial plain during the season of
inundation. The tenuity of this layer must indeed be extreme, if
the French engineers are tolerably correct in their estimate of the
amount of sediment formed in a century, which they suppose not to
exceed on the average 5 inches. When the waters subside, this thin
layer of new soil, exposed to a hot sun, dries rapidly, and clouds
of dust are raised by the winds. The superficial deposit, moreover,
is disturbed almost everywhere by agricultural labours, and even
were this not the case, the action of worms, insects, and the roots
of plants would suffice to confound together the deposits of two
successive years.

All the remains of organic bodies, such as land-shells, and the
bones of quadrupeds, found during the excavations belonged to
living species. Bones of the ox, hog, dog, dromedary and ass were
not uncommon, but no vestiges of extinct mammalia. No marine shells
were anywhere detected; but this was to be expected, as the
borings, though they sometimes reached as low as the level of the
Mediterranean, were never carried down below it--a circumstance
much to be regretted, since where artesian borings have been made
in deltas, as in those of the Po and Ganges, to the depth of
several hundred feet below the sea level it has been found,
contrary to expectation, that the deposits passed through were
fluviatile throughout, implying, probably, that a general
subsidence of those deltas and alluvial formations has taken place.
Whether there has been in like manner a sinking of the land in
Egypt, we have as yet no means of proving; but Sir Gardner
Wilkinson infers it from the position in the delta on the shore
near Alexandria of the tombs commonly called Cleopatra's Baths,
which cannot, he says, have been originally built so as to be
exposed to the sea which now fills them, but must have stood on
land above the level of the Mediterranean. The same author adduces,
as additional signs of subsidence, some ruined towns, now half
under water, in the Lake Menzaleh, and channels of ancient arms of
the Nile submerged with their banks beneath the waters of that same
lagoon.

In some instances, the excavations made under the superintendence
of Hekekyan Bey were on a large scale for the first 16 or 24 feet,
in which cases jars, vases, pots and a small human figure in burnt
clay, a copper knife, and other entire articles were dug up; but
when water soaking through from the Nile was reached the boring
instrument used was too small to allow of more than fragments of
works of art being brought up. Pieces of burnt brick and pottery
were extracted almost everywhere, and from all depths, even where
they sank 60 feet below the surface towards the central parts of
the valley. In none of these cases did they get to the bottom of
the alluvial soil. It has been objected, among other criticisms,
that the Arabs can always find whatever their employers desire to
obtain. Even those who are too well acquainted with the sagacity
and energy of Hekekyan Bey to suspect him of having been deceived,
have suggested that the artificial objects might have fallen into
old wells which had been filled up. This notion is inadmissible for
many reasons. Of the ninety-five shafts and borings, seventy or
more were made far from the sites of towns or villages; and
allowing that every field may once have had its well, there would
be but small chance of the borings striking upon the site even of a
small number of them in seventy experiments.

Others have suggested that the Nile may have wandered over the
whole valley, undermining its banks on one side and filling up old
channels on the other. It has also been asked whether the delta
with the numerous shifting arms of the river may not once have been
at every point where the auger pierced.* (* For a detailed account
of these sections, see Mr. Horner's paper in the "Philosophical
Transactions" for 1855 to 1858.) To all these objections there are
two obvious answers:--First, in historical times the Nile has on
the whole been very stationary, and has not shifted its position in
the valley; secondly, if the mud pierced through had been thrown
down by the river in ancient channels, it would have been
stratified, and would not have corresponded so closely with
inundation mud, we learn from Captain Newbold that he observed in
some excavations in the great plain alternations of sand and clay,
such as are seen in the modern banks of the Nile; but in the
borings made by Hekekyan Bey, such stratification seems scarcely in
any case to have been detected.

The great aim of the criticisms above enumerated has been to get
rid of the supposed anomaly of finding burnt brick and pottery at
depths and places which would give them claim to an antiquity far
exceeding that of the Roman domination in Egypt. For until the time
of the Romans, it is said, no clay was burnt into bricks in the
valley of the Nile. But a distinguished antiquary, Mr. S. Birch,
assures me that this notion is altogether erroneous, and that he
has under his charge in the British Museum, first, a small
rectangular baked brick, which came from a Theban tomb which bears
the name of Thothmes, a superintendent of the granaries of the god
Amen Ra, the style of art, inscription, and name, showing that it
is as old as the 18th dynasty (about 1450 B.C.); secondly, a brick
bearing an inscription, partly obliterated, but ending with the
words "of the temple of Amen Ra." This brick, decidedly long
anterior to the Roman dominion, is referred conjecturally, by Mr.
Birch, to the 19th dynasty, or 1300 B.C. Sir Gardner Wilkinson has
also in his possession pieces of mortar, which he took from each of
the three great pyramids, in which bits of broken pottery and of
burnt clay or brick are embedded.

M. Girard, of the French expedition to Egypt, supposed the average
rate of the increase of Nile mud on the plain between Assouan and
Cairo to be five English inches in a century. This conclusion,
according to Mr. Horner, is very vague, and founded on insufficient
data; the amount of matter thrown down by the waters in different
parts of the plain varying so much that to strike an average with
any approach to accuracy must be most difficult. Were we to assume
six inches in a century, the burnt brick met with at a depth of 60
feet would be 12,000 years old.

Another fragment of red brick was found by Linant Bey, in a boring
72 feet deep, being 2 or 3 feet below the level of the
Mediterranean, in the parallel of the apex of the delta, 200 metres
distant from the river, on the Libyan side of the Rosetta branch.*
(* Horner "Philosophical Transactions" 1858.) M. Rosiere, in the
great French work on Egypt, has estimated the mean rate of deposit
of sediment in the delta at 2 1/4 inches in a century;* (*
Description de l'Egypte "Histoire Naturelle" tome 2 page 494.) were
we to take 2 1/2 inches, a work of art 72 feet deep must have been
buried more than 30,000 years ago. But if the boring of Linant Bey
was made where an arm of the river had been silted up at a time
when the apex of the delta was somewhat farther south, or more
distant from the sea than now, the brick in question might be
comparatively very modern.

The experiments instituted by Mr. Horner at the pedestal of the
fallen statue of King Rameses at Memphis, in the hope of obtaining
an accurate chronometric scale for testing the age of a given
thickness of Nile sediment, are held by some experienced
Egyptologists not to be satisfactory, on the ground of the
uncertainty of the rate of deposit accumulated at that locality.
The point sought to be determined was the exact amount of Nile mud
which had accumulated there since the time when that statue is
supposed by some antiquaries to have been erected. Could we have
obtained possession of such a measure, the rate of deposition might
be judged of, approximately at least, whenever similar mud was
observed in other places, or below the foundations of those same
monuments. But the ancient Egyptians are known to have been in the
habit of enclosing with embankments the areas on which they erected
temples, statues, and obelisks, so as to exclude the waters of the
Nile; and the point of time to be ascertained, in every case where
we find a monument buried to a certain depth in mud, as at Memphis
and Heliopolis, is the era when the city fell into such decay that
the ancient embankments were neglected, and the river allowed to
inundate the site of the temple, obelisk, or statue.

Even if we knew the date of the abandonment of such embankments,
the enclosed areas would not afford a favourable opportunity for
ascertaining the average rate of deposit in the alluvial plain; for
Herodotus tells us that in his time those spots from which the Nile
waters had been shut out for centuries appeared sunk, and could be
looked down into from the surrounding grounds, which had been
raised by the gradual accumulation over them of sediment annually
thrown down. If the waters at length should break into such
depressions, they must at first carry with them into the enclosure
much mud washed from the steep surrounding banks, so that a greater
quantity would be deposited in a few years than perhaps in as many
centuries on the great plain outside the depressed area, where no
such disturbing causes intervened.

ANCIENT MOUNDS OF THE VALLEY OF THE OHIO.

As I have already given several European examples of monuments of
prehistoric date belonging to the Recent period, I will now turn to
the American continent. Before the scientific investigation by
Messrs. Squier and Davis of the "Ancient Monuments of the
Mississippi Valley",* (* "Smithsonian Contributions" volume 1 1847.
) no one suspected that the plains of that river had been occupied,
for ages before the French and British colonists settled there, by
a nation of older date and more advanced in the arts than the Red
Indians whom the Europeans found there. There are hundreds of large
mounds in the basin of the Mississippi, and especially in the
valleys of the Ohio and its tributaries, which have served, some of
them for temples, others for outlook or defence, and others for
sepulture. The unknown people by whom they were constructed,
judging by the form of several skulls dug out of the burial-places,
were of the Mexican or Toltec race. Some of the earthworks are on
so grand a scale as to embrace areas of 50 or 100 acres within a
simple enclosure, and the solid contents of one mould are estimated
at 20 million of cubic feet, so that four of them would be more
than equal in bulk to the Great Pyramid of Egypt, which comprises
75 million. From several of these repositories pottery and
ornamental sculpture have been taken, and various articles in
silver and copper, also stone weapons, some composed of hornstone
unpolished, and much resembling in shape some ancient flint
implements found near Amiens and other places in Europe, to be
alluded to in the sequel.

It is clear that the Ohio mound-builders had commercial intercourse
with the natives of distant regions, for among the buried articles
some are made of native copper from Lake Superior, and there are
also found mica from the Alleghenies, sea-shells from the Gulf of
Mexico, and obsidian from the Mexican mountains.

The extraordinary number of the mounds implies a long period,
during which a settled agricultural population had made
considerable progress in civilisation, so as to require large
temples for their religious rites, and extensive fortifications to
protect them from their enemies. The mounds were almost all
confined to fertile valleys or alluvial plains, and some at least
are so ancient that rivers have had time since their construction
to encroach on the lower terraces which support them, and again to
recede for the distance of nearly a mile, after having undermined
and destroyed a part of the works. When the first European settlers
entered the valley of the Ohio, they found the whole region covered
with an uninterrupted forest, and tenanted by the Red Indian
hunter, who roamed over it without any fixed abode, or any
traditionary connection with his more civilised predecessors. The
only positive data as yet obtained for calculating the minimum of
time which must have elapsed since the mounds were abandoned, have
been derived from the age and nature of the trees found growing on
some of these earthworks. When I visited Marietta in 1842, Dr.
Hildreth took me to one of the mounds, and showed me where he had
seen a tree growing on it, the trunk of which when cut down
displayed eight hundred rings of annual growth.* (* Lyell's
"Travels in North America" volume 2 page 29.) But the late General
Harrison, President in 1841 of the United States, who was well
skilled in woodcraft, has remarked, in a memoir on this subject,
that several generations of trees must have lived and died before
the mounds could have been overspread with that variety of species
which they supported when the white man first beheld them, for the
number and kinds of trees were precisely the same as those which
distinguished the surrounding forest. "We may be sure," observed
Harrison, "that no trees were allowed to grow so long as the
earthworks were in use; and when they were forsaken, the ground,
like all newly cleared land in Ohio, would for a time be
monopolised by one or two species of tree, such as the yellow
locust and the black or white walnut. When the individuals which
were the first to get possession of the ground had died out one
after the other, they would in many cases, instead of being
replaced by the same species, be succeeded (by virtue of the law
which makes a rotation of crops profitable in agriculture) by other
kinds, till at last, after a great number of centuries (several
thousand years, perhaps), that remarkable diversity of species
characteristic of North America, and far exceeding what is seen in
European forests, would be established."

MOUNDS OF SANTOS IN BRAZIL.

I will next say a few words respecting certain human bones embedded
in a solid rock at Santos in Brazil, to which I called attention in
my "Travels in North America" in 1842.* (* Volume 1 page 200.) I
then imagined the deposit containing them to be of submarine
origin--an opinion which I have long ceased to entertain. We learn
from a memoir of Dr. Meigs that the River Santos has undermined a
large mound, 14 feet in height, and about 3 acres in area, covered
with trees, near the town of St. Paul, and has exposed to view many
skeletons, all inclined at angles between 20 and 25 degrees, and
all placed in a similar east and west position.* (* Meigs
"Transactions of the American Philosophical Society" 1828 page 285.
) Seeing, in the Museum of Philadelphia, fragments of the
calcareous stone or tufa from this spot, containing a human skull
with teeth, and in the same matrix, oysters with serpulae attached,
I at first concluded that the whole deposit had been formed beneath
the waters of the sea, or at least, that it had been submerged
after its origin, and again upheaved; also, that there had been
time since its emergence for the growth on it of a forest of large
trees. But after reading again, with more care, the original memoir
of Dr. Meigs, I cannot doubt that the shells, like those of eatable
kinds, so often accumulated in the mounds of the North American
Indians not far from the sea, may have been brought to the place
and heaped up with other materials at the time when the bodies were
buried. Subsequently, the whole artificial earthwork, with its
shells and skeletons, may have been bound together into a solid
stone by the infiltration of carbonate of lime, and the mound may
therefore be of no higher antiquity than some of those above
alluded to on the Ohio, which, as we have seen, have in like manner
been exposed in the course of ages to the encroachments and
undermining action of rivers.

DELTA OF THE MISSISSIPPI.

I have shown in my "Travels in North America" that the deposits
forming the delta and alluvial plain of the Mississippi consist of
sedimentary matter, extending over an area of 30,000 square miles,
and known in some parts to be several hundred feet deep. Although
we cannot estimate correctly how many years it may have required
for the river to bring down from the upper country so large a
quantity of earthy matter--the data for such a computation being as
yet incomplete--we may still approximate to a minimum of the time
which such an operation must have taken, by ascertaining
experimentally the annual discharge of water by the Mississippi,
and the mean annual amount of solid matter contained in its waters.
The lowest estimate of the time required would lead us to assign a
high antiquity, amounting to many tens of thousands of years
(probably more than 100,000) to the existing delta.

Whether all or how much of this formation may belong to the recent
period, as above defined, I cannot pretend to decide, but in one
part of the modern delta near New Orleans, a large excavation has
been made for gas-works, where a succession of beds, almost wholly
made up of vegetable matter, has been passed through, such as we
now see forming in the cypress swamps of the neighbourhood, where
the deciduous cypress (Taxodium distichum), with its strong and
spreading roots, plays a conspicuous part. In this excavation, at
the depth of sixteen feet from the surface, beneath four buried
forests superimposed one upon the other, the workmen are stated by
Dr. B. Dowler to have found some charcoal and a human skeleton, the
cranium of which is said to belong to the aboriginal type of the
Red Indian race. As the discovery in question had not been made
when I saw the excavation in progress at the gas-works in 1846, I
cannot form an opinion as to the value of the chronological
calculations which have led Dr. Dowler to ascribe to this skeleton
an antiquity of 50,000 years. In several sections, both natural in
the banks of the Mississippi and its numerous arms, and where
artificial canals had been cut, I observed erect stumps of trees,
with their roots attached, buried in strata at different heights,
one over the other. I also remarked, that many cypresses which had
been cut through, exhibited many hundreds of rings of annual
growth, and it then struck me that nowhere in the world could the
geologist enjoy a more favourable opportunity for estimating in
years the duration of certain portions of the Recent epoch.* (*
Dowler cited by Dr. W. Usher in Nott and Gliddon's "Types of
Mankind" page 352.)

CORAL REEFS OF FLORIDA.

Professor Agassiz has described a low portion of the peninsula of
Florida as consisting of numerous reefs of coral, which have grown
in succession so as to give rise to a continual annexation of land,
gained gradually from the sea in a southerly direction. This growth
is still in full activity, and assuming the rate of advance of the
land to be one foot in a century, the reefs being built up from a
depth of 75 feet, and that each reef has in its turn added ten
miles to the coast, Professor Agassiz calculates that it has taken
135,000 years to form the southern half of this peninsula. Yet the
whole is of Post-Tertiary origin, the fossil zoophytes and shells
being all of the same species as those now inhabiting the
neighbouring sea.* (* Agassiz in Nott and Gliddon ibid. page 352.)
In a calcareous conglomerate forming part of the above-mentioned
series of reefs, and supposed by Agassiz, in accordance with his
mode of estimating the rate of growth of those reefs, to be about
10,000 years old, some fossil human remains were found by Count
Pourtales. They consisted of jaws and teeth, with some bones of the
foot.

RECENT DEPOSITS OF SEAS AND LAKES.

I have shown, in the "Principles of Geology," where the recent
changes of the earth illustrative of geology are described at
length, that the deposits accumulated at the bottom of lakes and
seas within the last 4000 or 5000 years can neither be
insignificant in volume or extent. They lie hidden, for the most
part, from our sight; but we have opportunities of examining them
at certain points where newly-gained land in the deltas of rivers
has been cut through during floods, or where coral reefs are
growing rapidly, or where the bed of a sea or lake has been heaved
up by subterranean movements and laid dry.

As examples of such changes of level by which marine deposits of
the Recent period have become accessible to human observation, I
have adduced the strata near Naples in which the Temple of Serapis
at Pozzuoli was entombed.* (* "Principles of Geology" Index
"Serapis.") These upraised strata, the highest of which are about
25 feet above the level of the sea, form a terrace skirting the
eastern shore of the Bay of Baiae. They consist partly of clay,
partly of volcanic matter, and contain fragments of sculpture,
pottery, and the remains of buildings, together with great numbers
of shells, retaining in part their colour, and of the same species
as those now inhabiting the neighbouring sea. Their emergence can
be proved to have taken place since the beginning of the sixteenth
century. [Note 5.]

In the same work, as an example of a freshwater deposit of the
Recent period, I have described certain strata in Cashmere, a
country where violent earthquakes, attended by alterations in the
level of the ground, are frequent, in which freshwater shells of
species now inhabiting the lakes and rivers of that region are
embedded, together with the remains of pottery, often at the depth
of fifty feet, and in which a splendid Hindoo temple has lately
been discovered, and laid open to view by the removal of the
lacustrine silt which had enveloped it for four or five centuries.

In the same treatise it is stated that the west coast of South
America, between the Andes and the Pacific, is a great theatre of
earthquake movements, and that permanent upheavals of the land of
several feet at a time have been experienced since the discovery of
America. In various parts of the littoral region of Chile and Peru,
strata have been observed enclosing shells in abundance, all
agreeing specifically with those now swarming in the Pacific. In
one bed of this kind, in the island of San Lorenzo, near Lima, Mr.
Darwin found, at the altitude of 85 feet above the sea, pieces of
cotton-thread, plaited rush, and the head of a stalk of Indian
corn, the whole of which had evidently been embedded with the
shells. At the same height, on the neighbouring mainland, he found
other signs corroborating the opinion that the ancient bed of the
sea had there also been uplifted 85 feet since the region was first
peopled by the Peruvian race. But similar shelly masses are also
met with at much higher elevations, at innumerable points between
the Chilean and Peruvian Andes and the sea-coast, in which no human
remains have as yet been observed. The preservation for an
indefinite period of such perishable substances as thread is
explained by the entire absence of rain in Peru. The same articles,
had they been enclosed in the permeable sands of an European raised
beach, or in any country where rain falls even for a small part of
the year, would probably have disappeared entirely [Note 6.]

In the literature of the eighteenth century, we find frequent
allusion to the "era of existing continents," a period supposed to
have coincided in date with the first appearance of Man upon the
earth, since which event it was imagined that the relative level of
the sea and land had remained stationary, no important geographical
changes having occurred, except some slight additions to the deltas
of rivers, or the loss of narrow strips of land where the sea had
encroached upon its shores. But modern observations have tended
continually to dispel this delusion, and the geologist is now
convinced that at no given era of the past have the boundaries of
land and sea, or the height of the one and depth of the other, or
the geographical range of the species inhabiting them, whether of
animals or plants, become fixed and unchangeable. Of the extent to
which fluctuations have been going on since the globe had already
become the dwelling-place of Man, some idea may be formed from the
examples which I shall give in this and the next nine chapters.

UPHEAVAL SINCE THE HUMAN PERIOD OF THE CENTRAL DISTRICT OF
SCOTLAND. [NOTE 7.]

It has long been a fact familiar to geologists, that, both on the
east and west coasts of the central part of Scotland, there are
lines of raised beaches, containing marine shells of the same
species as those now inhabiting the neighbouring sea.* (* R.
Chambers "Sea Margins" 1848 and papers by Mr. Smith of Jordan Hill
"Memoirs of the Wernerian Society" volume 8 and by Mr. C. Maclaren.
) The two most marked of these littoral deposits occur at heights
of about 50 and 25 feet above high-water mark, that of 50 feet
being considered as the more ancient, and owing its superior
elevation to a continuance of the upheaving movement. They are seen
in some places to rest on the boulder clay of the glacial period,
which will be described in future chapters.

In those districts where large rivers, such as the Clyde, Forth,
and Tay, enter the sea, the lower of the two deposits, or that of
25 feet, expands into a terrace fringing the estuaries, and varying
in breadth from a few yards to several miles. Of this nature are
the flat lands which occur along the margin of the Clyde at
Glasgow, which consist of finely laminated sand, silt, and clay.
Mr. John Buchanan, a zealous antiquary, writing in 1855, informs us
that in the course of the eighty years preceding that date, no less
than seventeen canoes had been dug out of this estuarine silt, and
that he had personally inspected a large number of them before they
were exhumed. Five of them lay buried in silt under the streets of
Glasgow, one in a vertical position with the prow uppermost as if
it had sunk in a storm. In the inside of it were a number of marine
shells. Twelve other canoes were found about 100 yards back from
the river, at the average depth of about 19 feet from the surface
of the soil, or 7 feet above high-water mark; but a few of them
were only 4 or 5 feet deep, and consequently more than 20 feet
above the sea-level. One was sticking in the sand at an angle of 45
degrees, another had been capsized and lay bottom uppermost; all
the rest were in a horizontal position, as if they had sunk in
smooth water.* (* J. Buchanan "Report of the British Association"
1855 page 80; also "Glasgow, Past and Present" 1856.)

Almost every one of these ancient boats was formed out of a single
oak-stem, hollowed out by blunt tools, probably stone axes, aided
by the action of fire; a few were cut beautifully smooth, evidently
with metallic tools. Hence a gradation could be traced from a
pattern of extreme rudeness to one showing great mechanical
ingenuity. Two of them were built of planks, one of the two, dug up
on the property of Bankton in 1853, being 18 feet in length, and
very elaborately constructed. Its prow was not unlike the beak of
an antique galley; its stern, formed of a triangular-shaped piece
of oak, fitted in exactly like those of our day. The planks were
fastened to the ribs, partly by singularly shaped oaken pins, and
partly by what must have been square nails of some kind of metal;
these had entirely disappeared, but some of the oaken pins
remained. This boat had been upset, and was lying keel uppermost,
with the prow pointing straight up the river. In one of the canoes,
a beautifully polished celt or axe of greenstone was found, in the
bottom of another a plug of cork, which, as Mr. Geikie remarks,
"could only have come from the latitudes of Spain, Southern France,
or Italy."* (* Geikie, "Quarterly Journal of the Geological
Society" volume 18 1862 page 224.)

There can be no doubt that some of these buried vessels are of far
more ancient date than others. Those most roughly hewn, may be
relics of the stone period; those more smoothly cut, of the bronze
age; and the regularly built boat of Bankton may perhaps come
within the age of iron. The occurrence of all of them in one and
the same upraised marine formation by no means implies that they
belong to the same era, for in the beds of all great rivers and
estuaries, there are changes continually in progress brought about
by the deposition, removal, and redeposition of gravel, sand, and
fine sediment, and by the shifting of the channel of the main
currents from year to year, and from century to century. All these
it behoves the geologist and antiquary to bear in mind, so as to be
always on their guard, when they are endeavouring to settle the
relative date, whether of objects of art or of organic remains
embedded in any set of alluvial strata. Some judicious observations
on this head occur in Mr. Geikie's memoir above cited, which are so
much in point that I shall give them in full, and in his own words.

"The relative position in the silt, from which the canoes were
exhumed, could help us little in any attempt to ascertain their
relative ages, unless they had been found vertically above each
other. The varying depths of an estuary, its banks of silt and
sand, the set of its currents, and the influence of its tides in
scouring out alluvium from some parts of its bottom and
redepositing it in others, are circumstances which require to be
taken into account in all such calculations. Mere coincidence of
depth from the present surface of the ground, which is tolerably
uniform in level, by no means necessarily proves contemporaneous
deposition. Nor would such an inference follow even from the
occurrence of the remains in distant parts of the very same
stratum. A canoe might be capsized and sent to the bottom just
beneath low-water mark; another might experience a similar fate on
the following day, but in the middle of the channel. Both would
become silted up on the floor of the estuary; but as that floor
would be perhaps 20 feet deeper in the centre than towards the
margin of the river, the one canoe might actually be twenty feet
deeper in the alluvium than the other; and on the upheaval of the
alluvial deposits, if we were to argue merely from the depth at
which the remains were embedded, we should pronounce the canoe
found at the one locality to be immensely older than the other,
seeing that the fine mud of the estuary is deposited very slowly
and that it must therefore have taken a long period to form so
great a thickness as 20 feet. Again, the tides and currents of the
estuary, by changing their direction, might sweep away a
considerable mass of alluvium from the bottom, laying bare a canoe
that may have foundered many centuries before. After the lapse of
so long an interval, another vessel might go to the bottom in the
same locality and be there covered up with the older one on the
same general plane. These two vessels, found in such a position,
would naturally be classed together as of the same age, and yet it
is demonstrable that a very long period may have elapsed between
the date of the one and that of the other. Such an association of
these canoes, therefore, cannot be regarded as proving synchronous
deposition; nor, on the other hand, can we affirm any difference of
age from mere relative position, unless we see one canoe actually
buried beneath another."* (* Geikie, "Quarterly Journal of the
Geological Society" volume 18 1862, page 222.)

At the time when the ancient vessels, above described, were
navigating the waters where the city of Glasgow now stands, the
whole of the low lands which bordered the present estuary of the
Clyde formed the bed of a shallow sea. The emergence appears to
have taken place gradually and by intermittent movements, for Mr.
Buchanan describes several narrow terraces one above the other on
the site of the city itself, with steep intervening slopes composed
of the laminated estuary formation. Each terrace and steep slope
probably mark pauses in the process of upheaval, during which low
cliffs were formed, with beaches at their base. Five of the canoes
were found within the precincts of the city at different heights on
or near such terraces.

As to the date of the upheaval, the greater part of it cannot be
assigned to the stone period, but must have taken place after tools
of metal had come into use.

Until lately, when attempts were made to estimate the probable
antiquity of such changes of level, it was confidently assumed, as
a safe starting-point, that no alteration had occurred in the
relative level of land and sea, in the central district of
Scotland, since the construction of the Roman or Pictish wall (the
"Wall of Antonine"), which reached from the Firth of Forth to that
of the Clyde. The two extremities, it was said, of this ancient
structure, bear such a relation to the present level of the two
estuaries, that neither subsidence nor elevation of the land could
have occurred for seventeen centuries at least.

But Mr. Geikie has lately shown that a depression of 25 feet on the
Forth would not lay the eastern extremity of the Roman wall at
Carriden under water, and he was therefore desirous of knowing
whether the western end of the same would be submerged by a similar
amount of subsidence. It has always been acknowledged that the wall
terminated upon an eminence called the Chapel Hill, near the
village of West Kilpatrick, on the Clyde. The foot of this hill,
Mr. Geikie estimates to be about 25 or 27 feet above high-water
mark, so that a subsidence of 25 feet could not lay it under water.
Antiquaries have sometimes wondered that the Romans did not carry
the wall farther west than this Chapel Hill; but Mr. Geikie now
suggests, in explanation, that all the low land at present
intervening between that point and the mouth of the Clyde, was
sixteen or seventeen centuries ago, washed by the tides at high
water.

The wall of Antonine, therefore, yields no evidence in favour of
the land having remained stationary since the time of the Romans,
but on the contrary, appears to indicate that since its erection
the land has actually risen. Recent explorations by Mr. Geikie and
Dr. Young, of the sites of the old Roman harbours along the
southern margin of the Firth of Forth, lead to similar inferences.
In the first place, it has long been known that there is a raised
beach containing marine shells of living littoral species, at a
height of about 25 feet, at Leith, as well as at other places along
the coast above and below Edinburgh. Inveresk, a few miles below
that city, is the site of an ancient Roman port, and if we suppose
the sea at high water to have washed the foot of the heights on
which the town stood, the tide would have ascended far up the
valley of the Esk, and would have made the mouth of that river a
safe and commodious harbour; whereas, had it been a shoaling
estuary, as at present, it is difficult to see how the Romans
should have made choice of it as a port.

At Cramond, at the mouth of the river Almond, above Edinburgh, was
Alaterva, the chief Roman harbour on the southern coast of the
Forth, where numerous coins, urns, sculptured stones and the
remnant of a harbour have been detected. The old Roman quays built
along what must then have been the sea margin, have been found on
what is now dry land, and although some silt carried down in
suspension by the waters of the Forth may account for a part of the
gain of low land, we yet require an upward movement of about 20
feet to explain the growth of the dreary expanse of mud now
stretching along the shore and extending outwards, where it attains
its greatest breadth, well-nigh two miles, across which vessels,
even of light burden, can now only venture at full tide. Had these
shoals existed eighteen centuries ago, they would have prevented
the Romans from selecting this as their chief port; whereas, if the
land were now to sink 20 feet, Cramond would unquestionably be the
best natural harbour along the whole of the south side of the
Forth.* (* Geikie, "Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal" for July
1861.)

Corresponding in level with the raised beach at Leith, above
mentioned (or about 25 feet above high-water mark), is the Carse of
Stirling, a low tract of land consisting of loamy and peaty beds,
in which several skeletons of whales of large size have been found.
One of these was dug up at Airthrie,* (* Bald, "Edinburgh
Philosophical Journal" 1 page 393 and "Memoirs of the Wernerian
Society" 3 page 327.) near Stirling, about a mile from the river,
and 7 miles from the sea. Mr. Bald mentions that near it were found
two pieces of stag's horn, artificially cut, through one of which a
hole, about an inch in diameter, had been perforated. Another
whale, 85 feet long, was found at Dunmore, a few miles below
Stirling,* (* "Edinburgh Philosophical Journal" 11 pages 220, 415.)
which, like that of Airthrie, lay about 20 feet above high-water
mark. Three other skeletons of whales were found at Blair Drummond,
between the years 1819 and 1824, 7 miles up the estuary above
Stirling,* (* "Memoirs of the Wernerian Society" volume 5 page 440.
) also at an elevation of between 20 and 30 feet above the sea.
Near two of these whales, pointed instruments of deer's horn were
found, one of which retained part of a wooden handle, probably
preserved by having been enclosed in peat. This weapon is now in
the museum at Edinburgh.

The position of these fossil whales and bone implements, and still
more of an iron anchor found in the Carse of Falkirk, below
Stirling, shows that the upheaval by which the raised beach of
Leith was laid dry extended far westward probably as far as the
Clyde, where, as we have seen, marine strata containing buried
canoes rise to a similar height above the sea.

The same upward movement which reached simultaneously east and west
from sea to sea was also felt as far north as the estuary of the
Tay. This may be inferred from the Celtic name of Inch being
attached to many hillocks, which rise above the general level of
the alluvial plains, implying that these eminences were once
surrounded by water or marshy ground. At various localities also in
the silt of the Carse of Gowrie iron implements have been found.

The raised beach, also containing a great number of marine shells
of recent species, traced up to a height of 14 feet above the sea
by Mr. W.J. Hamilton at Elie, on the southern coast of Fife, is
doubtless another effect of the same extensive upheaval.* (*
"Proceedings of the Geological Society" volume 2 1833 page 280.) A
similar movement would also account for some changes which
antiquaries have recorded much farther south, on the borders of the
Solway Firth; though in this case, as in that of the estuary of the
Forth, the conversion of sea into land has always been referred to
the silting up of estuaries, and not to upheaval. Thus Horsley
insists on the difficulty of explaining the position of certain
Roman stations, on the Solway, the Forth, and the Clyde, without
assuming that the sea has been excluded from certain areas which it
formerly occupied.* (* "Britannia" page 157 1860.)

On a review of the whole evidence, geological and archaeological,
afforded by the Scottish coast-line, we may conclude that the last
upheaval of 25 feet took place not only since the first human
population settled in the island; but long after metallic
implements had come into use, and there seems even a strong
presumption in favour of the opinion that the date of the elevation
may have been subsequent to the Roman occupation.

But the 25 feet rise is only the last stage of a long antecedent
process of elevation, for examples of Recent marine shells have
been observed 40 feet and upwards above the sea in Ayrshire. At one
of these localities, Mr. Smith of Jordanhill informs me that a rude
ornament made of cannel coal has been found on the coast in the
parish of Dundonald, lying 50 feet above the sea-level, on the
surface of the boulder-clay or till, and covered with gravel
containing marine shells. If we suppose the upward movement to have
been uniform in central Scotland before and after the Roman era,
and assume that as 25 feet indicate seventeen centuries, so 50 feet
imply a lapse of twice that number, or 3400 years, we should then
carry back the date of the ornament in question to fifteen
centuries before our era, or to the days of Pharaoh, and the period
usually assigned to the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt. [Note
8.]

But all such estimates must be considered, in the present state of
science, as tentative and conjectural, since the rate of movement
of the land may not have been uniform, and its direction not always
upwards, and there may have been long stationary periods, one of
which of more than usual duration seems indicated by the 50-foot
raised beach, which has been traced for vast distances along the
western coast of Scotland.

COAST OF CORNWALL.

Sir H. De la Beche has adduced several proofs of changes of level,
in the course of the human period, in his "Report on the Geology of
Cornwall and Devon," 1839. He mentions (page 406) that several
human skulls and works of art, buried in an estuary deposit, were
found in mining gravel for tin at Pentuan, near St. Austell, the
skulls lying at the depth of 40 feet from the surface, and others
at Carnon at the depth of 53 feet. The overlying strata were
marine, containing sea-shells of living species, and bones of
whales, besides the remains of several living species of mammalia.

Other examples of works of art, such as stone hatchets, canoes, and
ships, buried in ancient river-beds in England, and in peat and
shell-marl, I have mentioned in my work before cited.

SWEDEN AND NORWAY.

In the same work I have shown that near Stockholm, in Sweden, there
occur, at slight elevations above the sea-level, horizontal beds of
sand, loam, and marl, containing the same peculiar assemblage of
testacea which now live in the brackish waters of the Baltic.
Mingled with these, at different depths, have been detected various
works of art implying a rude state of civilization, and some
vessels built before the introduction of iron, and even the remains
of an ancient hut, the marine strata containing it, which had been
formed during a previous depression, having been upraised, so that
the upper beds are now 60 feet higher than the surface of the
Baltic. In the neighbourhood of these recent strata, both to the
north-west and south of Stockholm, other deposits similar in
mineral composition occur, which ascend to greater heights, in
which precisely the same assemblage of fossil shells is met with,
but without any intermixture, so far as is yet known, of human
bones or fabricated articles.

On the opposite or western coast of Sweden, at Uddevalla,
Post-Tertiary strata, containing recent shells, not of that
brackish water character peculiar to the Baltic, but such as now
live in the Northern Ocean, ascend to the height of 200 feet; and
beds of clay and sand of the same age attain elevations of 300 and
even 600 feet in Norway, where they have been usually described as
"raised beaches." They are, however, thick deposits of submarine
origin, spreading far and wide, and filling valleys in the granite
and gneiss, just as the Tertiary formations, in different parts of
Europe, cover or fill depressions in the older rocks.

Although the fossil fauna characterising these upraised sands and
clays consists exclusively of existing northern species of
testacea, it is more than probable that they may not all belong to
that division of the Pleistocene strata which we are now
considering. If the contemporary mammalia were known, they would,
in all likelihood, be found to be referable, at least in part, to
extinct species; for, according to Loven (an able living naturalist
of Norway), the species do not constitute such an assemblage as now
inhabits corresponding latitudes in the North Sea. On the contrary,
they decidedly represent a more arctic fauna. In order to find the
same species flourishing in equal abundance, or in many cases to
find them at all, we must go northwards to higher latitudes than
Uddevalla in Sweden, or even nearer the pole than Central Norway.

Judging by the uniformity of climate now prevailing from century to
century, and the insensible rate of variation in the geographical
distribution of organic beings in our own times, we may presume
that an extremely lengthened period was required even for so slight
a modification in the range of the molluscous fauna, as that of
which the evidence is here brought to light. There are also other
independent reasons for suspecting that the antiquity of these
deposits may be indefinitely great as compared to the historical
period. I allude to their present elevation above the sea, some of
them rising, in Norway, to the height of 600 feet or more. The
upward movement now in progress in parts of Norway and Sweden
extends, as I have elsewhere shown,* (* "Principles" 9th edition
chapter 30.) throughout an area about 1000 miles north and south,
and for an unknown distance east and west, the amount of elevation
always increasing as we proceed towards the North Cape, where it is
said to equal 5 feet in a century. If we could assume that there
had been an average of 2 1/2 feet in each hundred years for the
last fifty centuries, this would give an elevation of 125 feet in
that period. In other words, it would follow that the shores, and a
considerable area of the former bed of the North Sea, had been
uplifted vertically to that amount, and converted into land in the
course of the last 5000 years. A mean rate of continuous vertical
elevation of 2 1/2 feet in a century would, I conceive, be a high
average; yet, even if this be assumed, it would require 24,000
years for parts of the sea-coast of Norway, where the Pleistocene
marine strata occur, to attain the height of 600 feet. [Note 9.]



CHAPTER 4.

PLEISTOCENE PERIOD--BONES OF MAN AND EXTINCT MAMMALIA
   IN BELGIAN CAVERNS.

Earliest Discoveries in Caves of Languedoc of Human Remains with
   Bones of extinct Mammalia.
Researches in 1833 of Dr. Schmerling in the Liege Caverns.
Scattered Portions of Human Skeletons associated with Bones
   of Elephant and Rhinoceros.
Distribution and probable Mode of Introduction of the Bones.
Implements of Flint and Bone.
Schmerling's Conclusions as to the Antiquity of Man ignored.
Present State of the Belgian Caves.
Human Bones recently found in Cave of Engihoul.
Engulfed Rivers.
Stalagmitic Crust.
Antiquity of the Human Remains in Belgium how proved.

Having hitherto considered those formations in which both the
fossil shells and the mammalia are of living species, we may now
turn our attention to those of older date, in which the shells
being all recent, some of the accompanying mammalia are extinct, or
belong to species not known to have lived within the times of
history or tradition.

DISCOVERIES OF MM. TOURNAL AND CHRISTOL IN 1828 IN THE SOUTH OF
FRANCE.

In the "Principles of Geology," when treating of the fossil remains
found in alluvium and the mud of caverns, I gave an account in 1832
of the investigations made by MM. Tournal and Christol in the South
of France.* (* 1st edition volume 2 chapter 14 1832, and 9th
edition page 738, 1853.)

M. Tournal stated in his memoir that in the cavern of Bize, in the
department of the Aude, he had found human bones and teeth,
together with fragments of rude pottery, in the same mud and
breccia cemented by stalagmite in which land-shells of living
species were embedded, and the bones of mammalia, some of extinct,
others of recent species. The human bones were declared by his
fellow-labourer, M. Marcel de Serres, to be in the same chemical
condition as those of the accompanying quadrupeds.* (* "Annales des
Sciences Naturelles" tome 15 1828 page 348.)

Speaking of these fossils of the Bize cavern five years later, M.
Tournal observed that they could not be referred, as some
suggested, to a "diluvial catastrophe," for they evidently had not
been washed in suddenly by a transient flood, but must have been
introduced gradually, together with the enveloping mud and pebbles,
at successive periods.* (* "Annales de Chimie et de Physique" 1833
page 161.)

M. Christol, who was engaged at the same time in similar researches
in another part of Languedoc, published an account of them a year
later, in which he described some human bones, as occurring in the
cavern of Pondres, near Nimes, in the same mud with the bones of an
extinct hyaena and rhinoceros.* (* Christol, "Notice sur les
Ossements humains des Cavernes du Gard" Montpellier 1829.) The
cavern was in this instance filled up to the roof with mud and
gravel, in which fragments of two kinds of pottery were detected,
the lowest and rudest near the bottom of the cave, below the level
of the extinct mammalia.

It has never been questioned that the hyaena and rhinoceros found
by M. Christol were of extinct species; but whether the animals
enumerated by M. Tournal might not all of them be referred to
quadrupeds which are known to have been living in Europe in the
historical period seems doubtful. They were said to consist of a
stag, an antelope, and a goat, all named by M. Marcel de Serres as
new; but the majority of palaeontologists do not agree with this
opinion. Still it is true, as M. Lartet remarks, that the fauna of
the cavern of Bize must be of very high antiquity, as shown by the
presence, not only of the Lithuanian aurochs (Bison europaeus), but
also of the reindeer, which has not been an inhabitant of the South
of France in historical times, and which, in that country, is
almost everywhere associated, whether in ancient alluvium or in the
mud of caverns, with the mammoth.

In my work before cited,* (* "Principles" 9th edition page 739.) I
stated that M. Desnoyers, an observer equally well versed in
geology and archaeology, had disputed the conclusion arrived at by
MM. Tournal and Christol, that the fossil rhinoceros, hyaena, bear,
and other lost species had once been inhabitants of France
contemporaneously with Man. "The flint hatchets and arrow-heads,"
he said, "and the pointed bones and coarse pottery of many French
and English caves, agree precisely in character with those found in
the tumuli, and under the dolmens (rude altars of unhewn stone) of
the primitive inhabitants of Gaul, Britain, and Germany. The human
bones, therefore, in the caves which are associated with such
fabricated objects, must belong not to antediluvian periods, but to
a people in the same stage of civilization as those who constructed
the tumuli and altars."

"In the Gaulish monuments," he added, "we find, together with the
objects of industry above mentioned, the bones of wild and domestic
animals of species now inhabiting Europe, particularly of deer,
sheep, wild boars, dogs, horses, and oxen. This fact has been
ascertained in Quercy and other provinces; and it is supposed by
antiquaries that the animals in question were placed beneath the
Celtic altars in memory of sacrifices offered to the Gaulish
divinity Hesus, and in the tombs to commemorate funeral repasts,
and also from a superstition prevalent among savage nations, which
induces them to lay up provisions for the manes of the dead in a
future life. But in none of these ancient monuments have any bones
been found of the elephant, rhinoceros, hyaena, tiger, and other
quadrupeds, such as are found in caves, which might certainly have
been expected had these species continued to flourish at the time
that this part of Gaul was inhabited by Man."* (* Desnoyers,
"Bulletin de la Societe Geologique de France" tome 2 page 252; and
article on Caverns, "Dictionnaire Universelle d'Histoire Naturelle"
Paris 1845.)

After giving no small weight to the arguments of M. Desnoyers, and
the writings of Dr. Buckland on the same subject, and myself
visiting several caves in Germany, I came to the opinion that the
human bones mixed with those of extinct animals, in osseous
breccias and cavern mud, in different parts of Europe, were
probably not coeval. The caverns having been at one period the dens
of wild beasts, and having served at other times as places of human
habitation, worship, sepulture, concealment, or defence, one might
easily conceive that the bones of Man and those of animals, which
were strewed over the floors of subterranean cavities, or which had
fallen into tortuous rents connecting them with the surface, might,
when swept away by floods, be mingled in one promiscuous heap in
the same ossiferous mud or breccia.* (* "Principles" 9th edition
page 740.)

That such intermixtures have really taken place in some caverns,
and that geologists have occasionally been deceived, and have
assigned to one and the same period fossils which had really been
introduced at successive times, will readily be conceded. But of
late years we have obtained convincing proofs, as we shall see in
the sequel, that the mammoth, and many other extinct mammalian
species very common in caves, occur also in undisturbed alluvium,
embedded in such a manner with works of art, as to leave no room
for doubt that Man and the mammoth coexisted; Such discoveries have
led me, and other geologists, to reconsider the evidence previously
derived from caves brought forward in proof of the high antiquity
of Man. With a view of re-examining this evidence, I have lately
explored several caverns in Belgium and other countries, and
re-read the principal memoirs and treatises treating of the fossil
remains preserved in them, the results of which inquiries I shall
now proceed to lay before the reader.

RESEARCHES, IN 1833-1834, OF DR. SCHMERLING IN THE CAVERNS NEAR
LIEGE.

The late Dr. Schmerling of Liege, a skilful anatomist and
palaeontologist, after devoting several years to the exploring of
the numerous ossiferous caverns which border the valleys of the
Meuse and its tributaries, published two volumes descriptive of the
contents of more than forty caverns. One of these volumes consisted
of an atlas of plates, illustrative of the fossil bones.* (*
"Recherches sur les Ossements fossiles decouverts dans les Cavernes
de la Province de Liege", Liege 1833-1834.)

Many of the caverns had never before been entered by scientific
observers, and their floors were encrusted with unbroken
stalagmite. At a very early stage of his investigations, Dr.
Schmerling found the bones of Man so rolled and scattered as to
preclude all idea of their having been intentionally buried on the
spot. He also remarked that they were of the same colour, and in
the same condition as to the amount of animal matter contained in
them, as those of the accompanying animals, some of which, like the
cave-bear, hyaena, elephant, and rhinoceros, were extinct; others,
like the wild cat, beaver, wild boar, roe-deer, wolf, and hedgehog,
still extant. The fossils were lighter than fresh bones, except
such as had their pores filled with carbonate of lime, in which
case they were often much heavier. The human remains of most
frequent occurrence were teeth detached from the jaw, and the
carpal, metacarpal, tarsal, metatarsal, and phalangeal bones
separated from the rest of the skeleton. The corresponding bones of
the cave-bear, the most abundant of the accompanying mammalia, were
also found in the Liege caverns more commonly than any others, and
in the same scattered condition. Occasionally, some of the long
bones of mammalia were observed to have been first broken across,
and then reunited or cemented again by stalagmite, as they lay on
the floor of the cave.

No gnawed bones nor any coprolites were found by Schmerling. He
therefore inferred that the caverns of the province of Liege had
not been the dens of wild beasts, but that their organic and
inorganic contents had been swept into them by streams
communicating with the surface of the country. The bones, he
suggested, may often have been rolled in the beds of such streams
before they reached their underground destination. To the same
agency the introduction of many land-shells dispersed through the
cave-mud was ascribed, such as Helix nemoralis, H. lapicida, H.
pomatia, and others of living species. Mingled with such shells, in
some rare instances, the bones of freshwater fish, and of a snake
(Coluber), as well as of several birds, were detected.

The occurrence here and there of bones in a very perfect state, or
of several bones belonging to the same skeleton in natural
juxtaposition, and having all their most delicate apophyses
uninjured, while many accompanying bones in the same breccia were
rolled, broken, or decayed, was accounted for by supposing that
portions of carcasses were sometimes floated in during floods while
still clothed with their flesh. No example was discovered of an
entire skeleton, not even of one of the smaller mammalia, the bones
of which are usually the least injured.

The incompleteness of each skeleton was especially ascertained in
regard to the human subjects, Dr. Schmerling being careful,
whenever a fragment of such presented itself, to explore the cavern
himself, and see whether any other bones of the same skeleton could
be found. In the Engis cavern, distant about eight miles to the
south-west of Liege, on the left bank of the Meuse, the remains of
at least three human individuals were disinterred. The skull of one
of these, that of a young person, was embedded by the side of a
mammoth's tooth. It was entire but so fragile, that nearly all of
it fell to pieces during its extraction. Another skull, that of an
adult individual, and the only one preserved by Dr. Schmerling in a
sufficient state of integrity to enable the anatomist to speculate
on the race to which it belonged, was buried 5 feet deep in a
breccia, in which the tooth of a rhinoceros, several bones of a
horse, and some of the reindeer, together with some ruminants,
occurred. This skull, now in the museum of the University of Liege,
is figured in Chapter 5 (Figure 2), where further observations will
be offered on its anatomical character, after a fuller account of
the contents of the Liege caverns has been laid before the reader.

On the right bank of the Meuse, on the opposite side of the river
to Engis, is the cavern of Engihoul. Bones of extinct animals
mingled with those of Man were observed to abound in both caverns;
but with this difference, that whereas in the Engis cave there were
several human crania and very few other bones, in Engihoul there
occurred numerous bones of the extremities belonging to at least
three human individuals, and only two small fragments of a cranium.
The like capricious distribution held good in other caverns,
especially with reference to the cave-bear, the most frequent of
the extinct mammalia. Thus, for example in the cave of Chokier,
skulls of the bear were few, and other parts of the skeleton
abundant, whereas in several other caverns these proportions were
exactly reversed, while at Goffontaine skulls of the bear and other
parts of the skeleton were found in their natural numerical
proportions. Speaking generally, it may be said that human bones,
where any were met with, occurred at all depths in the cave-mud and
gravel, sometimes above and sometimes below those of the bear,
elephant, rhinoceros, hyaena, etc.

Some rude flint implements of the kind commonly called flint knives
or flakes, of a triangular form in the cross section (as in Figure
14), were found by Schmerling dispersed generally through the
cave-mud, but he was too much engrossed with his osteological
inquiries to collect them diligently. He preserved some few of
them, however, which I have seen in the museum at Liege. He also
discovered in the cave of Chokier, 2 1/2 miles south-west from
Liege, a polished and jointed needle-shaped bone, with a hole
pierced obliquely through it at the base; such a cavity, he
observed, as had never given passage to an artery. This instrument
was embedded in the same matrix with the remains of a rhinoceros.*
(* Schmerling part 2 page 177.)

Another cut bone and several artificially-shaped flints were found
in the Engis cave, near the human skulls before alluded to.
Schmerling observed, and we shall have to refer to the fact in the
sequel (Chapter 8), that although in some forty fossiliferous caves
explored by him human bones were the exception, yet these flint
implements were universal, and he added that "none of them could
have been subsequently introduced, being precisely in the same
position as the remains of the accompanying animals." "I
therefore," he continues, "attach great importance to their
presence; for even if I had not found the human bones under
conditions entirely favourable to their being considered as
belonging to the antediluvian epoch, proofs of Man's existence
would still have been supplied by the cut bones and worked flints"*
(* Schmerling, part 2 page 179.)

Dr. Schmerling, therefore, had no hesitation in concluding from the
various facts ascertained by him, that Man once lived in the Liege
district contemporaneously with the cave-bear and several other
extinct species of quadrupeds. But he was much at a loss when he
attempted to invent a theory to explain the former state of the
fauna of the region now drained by the Meuse; for he shared the
notion, then very prevalent among naturalists, that the mammoth and
the hyaena* (* Ibid. part 2 pages 70 and 96.) were beasts of a
warmer climate than that now proper to Western Europe. In order to
account for the presence of such "tropical species," he was
half-inclined to imagine that they had been transported by a flood
from some distant region; then again he raised the question whether
they might not have been washed out of an older alluvium, which may
have pre-existed in the neighbourhood. This last hypothesis was
directly at variance with his own statements, that the remains of
the mammoth and hyaena were identical in appearance, colour, and
chemical condition with those of the bear and other associated
fossil animals, none of which exhibited signs of having been
previously enveloped in any dissimilar matrix. Another enigma which
led Schmerling astray in some of his geological speculations was
the supposed presence of the agouti, a South American rodent,
"proper to the torrid zone." My friend M. Lartet, guided by
Schmerling's figures of the teeth of this species, suggests, and I
have little doubt with good reason, that they appertain to the
porcupine, a genus found fossil in Pleistocene deposits of certain
caverns in the south of France.

In the year 1833, I passed through Liege, on my way to the Rhine,
and conversed with Dr. Schmerling, who showed me his splendid
collection, and when I expressed some incredulity respecting the
alleged antiquity of the fossil human bones, he pointedly remarked
that if I doubted their having been contemporaneous with the bear
or rhinoceros, on the ground of Man being a species of more modern
date, I ought equally to doubt the co-existence of all the other
living species, such as the red deer, roe, wild cat, wild boar,
wolf, fox, weasel, beaver, hare, rabbit, hedgehog, mole, dormouse,
field-mouse, water-rat, shrew, and others, the bones of which he
had found scattered everywhere indiscriminately through the same
mud with the extinct quadrupeds. The year after this conversation I
cited Schmerling's opinions, and the facts bearing on the antiquity
of Man, in the 3rd edition of my "Principles of Geology" (page 161,
1834), and in succeeding editions, without pretending to call in
question their trustworthiness, but at the same time without giving
them the weight which I now consider they were entitled to. He had
accumulated ample evidence to prove that Man had been introduced
into the earth at an earlier period than geologists were then
willing to believe.

One positive fact, it will be said, attested by so competent a
witness, ought to have outweighed any amount of negative testimony,
previously accumulated, respecting the non-occurrence elsewhere of
human remains in formations of the like antiquity. In reply, I can
only plead that a discovery which seems to contradict the general
tenor of previous investigations is naturally received with much
hesitation. To have undertaken in 1832, with a view of testing its
truth, to follow the Belgian philosopher through every stage of his
observations and proofs, would have been no easy task even for one
well-skilled in geology and osteology. To be let down, as
Schmerling was, day after day, by a rope tied to a tree, so as to
slide to the foot of the first opening of the Engis cave,* (*
Schmerling part 1 page 30.) where the best-preserved human skulls
were found; and, after thus gaining access to the first
subterranean gallery, to creep on all fours through a contracted
passage leading to larger chambers, there to superintend by
torchlight, week after week and year after year, the workmen who
were breaking through the stalagmitic crust as hard as marble, in
order to remove piece by piece the underlying bone-breccia nearly
as hard; to stand for hours with one's feet in the mud, and with
water dripping from the roof on one's head, in order to mark the
position and guard against the loss of each single bone of a
skeleton; and at length, after finding leisure, strength, and
courage for all these operations, to look forward, as the fruits of
one's labour, to the publication of unwelcome intelligence, opposed
to the prepossessions of the scientific as well as of the
unscientific public--when these circumstances are taken into
account, we need scarcely wonder, not only that a passing traveller
failed to stop and scrutinise the evidence, but that a quarter of a
century should have elapsed before even the neighbouring professors
of the University of Liege came forth to vindicate the truthfulness
of their indefatigable and clear-sighted countryman.

In 1860, when I revisited Liege, twenty-six years after my
interview with Schmerling, I found that several of the caverns
described by him had in the interval been annihilated. Not a
vestige, for example, of the caves of Engis, Chokier, and
Goffontaine remained. The calcareous stone, in the heart of which
the cavities once existed, had been quarried away, and removed
bodily for building and lime-making. Fortunately, a great part of
the Engihoul cavern, situated on the right bank of the Meuse, was
still in the same state as when Schmerling delved into it in 1831,
and drew from it the bones of three human skeletons. I determined,
therefore, to examine it, and was so fortunate as to obtain the
assistance of a zealous naturalist of Liege, Professor Malaise, who
accompanied me to the cavern, where we engaged some workmen to
break through the crust of stalagmite, so that we could search for
bones in the undisturbed earth beneath. Bones and teeth of the
cave-bear were soon found, and several other extinct quadrupeds
which Schmerling has enumerated. My companion, continuing the work
perseveringly for weeks after my departure, succeeded at length in
extracting from the same deposit, at the depth of 2 feet below the
crust of stalagmite, three fragments of a human skull, and two
perfect lower jaws with teeth, all associated in such a manner with
the bones of bears, large pachyderms, and ruminants, and so
precisely resembling these in colour and state of preservation, as
to leave no doubt in his mind that Man was contemporary with the
extinct animals. Professor Malaise has given figures of the human
remains in the "Bulletin" of the Royal Academy of Belgium for 1860.
* (* Volume 10 page 546.)

The rock in which the Liege caverns occur belongs generally to the
Carboniferous or Mountain Limestone, in some few cases only to the
older Devonian formation. Whenever the work of destruction has not
gone too far, magnificent sections, sometimes 200 and 300 feet in
height, are exposed to view. They confirm Schmerling's doctrine,
that most of the materials, organic and inorganic, now filling the
caverns, have been washed into them through narrow vertical or
oblique fissures, the upper extremities of which are choked up with
soil and gravel, and would scarcely ever be discoverable at the
surface, especially in so wooded a country. Among the sections
obtained by quarrying, one of the finest which I saw was in the
beautiful valley of Fond du Foret, above Chaudefontaine, not far
from the village of Magnee, where one of the rents communicating
with the surface has been filled up to the brim with rounded and
half-rounded stones, angular pieces of limestone and shale, besides
sand and mud, together with bones, chiefly of the cave-bear.
Connected with this main duct, which is from 1 to 2 feet in width,
are several minor ones, each from 1 to 3 inches wide, also
extending to the upper country or table-land, and choked up with
similar materials. They are inclined at angles of 30 and 40
degrees, their walls being generally coated with stalactite, pieces
of which have here and there been broken off and mingled with the
contents of the rents, thus helping to explain why we so often meet
with detached pieces of that substance in the mud and breccia of
the Belgian caves. It is not easy to conceive that a solid
horizontal floor of hard stalagmite should, after its formation, be
broken up by running water; but when the walls of steep and
tortuous rents, serving as feeders to the principal fissures and to
inferior vaults and galleries are encrusted with stalagmite, some
of the incrustation may readily be torn up when heavy fragments of
rock are hurried by a flood through passages inclined at angles of
30 or 40 degrees.

The decay and decomposition of the fossil bones seem to have been
arrested in most of the caves by a constant supply of water charged
with carbonate of lime, which dripped from the roofs while the
caves were becoming gradually filled up. By similar agency the mud,
sand, and pebbles were usually consolidated.

The following explanation of this phenomenon has been suggested by
the eminent chemist Liebig. On the surface of Franconia, where the
limestone abounds in caverns, is a fertile soil in which vegetable
matter is continually decaying. This mould or humus, being acted on
by moisture and air, evolves carbonic acid, which is dissolved by
rain. The rain water, thus impregnated, permeates the porous
limestone, dissolves a portion of it, and afterwards, when the
excess of carbonic acid evaporates in the caverns, parts with the
calcareous matter and forms stalactite. So long as water flows,
even occasionally, through a suite of caverns, no layer of pure
stalagmite can be produced; hence the formation of such a layer is
generally an event posterior in date to the cessation of the old
system of drainage, an event which might be brought about by an
earthquake causing new fissures, or by the river wearing its way
down to a lower level, and thenceforth running in a new channel.

In all the subterranean cavities, more than forty in number,
explored by Schmerling, he only observed one cave, namely that of
Chokier, where there were two regular layers of stalagmite, divided
by fossiliferous cave-mud. In this instance, we may suppose that
the stream, after flowing for a long period at one level, cut its
way down to an inferior suite of caverns, and, flowing through them
for centuries, choked them up with debris; after which it rose once
more to its original higher level: just as in the Mountain
Limestone district of Yorkshire some rivers, habitually absorbed by
a "swallow hole," are occasionally unable to discharge all their
water through it; in which case they rise and rush through a higher
subterranean passage, which was at some former period in the
regular line of drainage, as is often attested by the fluviatile
gravel still contained in it.

There are now in the basin of the Meuse, not far from Liege,
several examples of engulfed brooks and rivers: some of them, like
that of St. Hadelin, east of Chaudefontaine, which reappears after
an underground course of a mile or two; others, like the Vesdre,
which is lost near Goffontaine, and after a time re-emerges; some,
again, like the torrent near Magnee, which, after entering a cave,
never again comes to the day. In the season of floods such streams
are turbid at their entrance, but clear as a mountain-spring where
they issue again; so that they must be slowly filling up cavities
in the interior with mud, sand, pebbles, snail-shells, and the
bones of animals which may be carried away during floods.

The manner in which some of the large thigh and shank bones of the
rhinoceros and other pachyderms are rounded, while some of the
smaller bones of the same creatures, and of the hyaena, bear, and
horse, are reduced to pebbles, shows that they were often
transported for some distance in the channels of torrents, before
they found a resting-place.

When we desire to reason or speculate on the probable antiquity of
human bones found fossil in such situations as the caverns near
Liege, there are two classes of evidence to which we may appeal for
our guidance. First, considerations of the time required to allow
of many species of carnivorous and herbivorous animals, which
flourished in the cave period, becoming first scarce, and then so
entirely extinct as we have seen that they had become before the
era of the Danish peat and Swiss lake dwellings; secondly, the
great number of centuries necessary for the conversion of the
physical geography of the Liege district from its ancient to its
present configuration; so many old underground channels, through
which brooks and rivers flowed in the cave period, being now laid
dry and choked up.

The great alterations which have taken place in the shape of the
valley of the Meuse and some of its tributaries are often
demonstrated by the abrupt manner in which the mouths of
fossiliferous caverns open in the face of perpendicular precipices
200 feet or more in height above the present streams. There appears
also, in many cases, to be such a correspondence in the openings of
caverns on opposite sides of some of the valleys, both large and
small, as to incline one to suspect that they originally belonged
to a series of tunnels and galleries which were continuous before
the present system of drainage came into play, or before the
existing valleys were scooped out. Other signs of subsequent
fluctuations are afforded by gravel containing elephant's bones at
slight elevations above the Meuse and several of its tributaries.
It may be objected that, according to the present rate of change,
no lapse of ages would suffice to bring about such revolutions in
physical geography as we are here contemplating. This may be true.
It is more than probable that the rate of change was once far more
active than it is now in the basin of the Meuse. Some of the
nearest volcanoes, namely, those of the Lower Eifel about 60 miles
to the eastward, seem to have been in eruption in Pleistocene
times, and may perhaps have been connected and coeval with repeated
risings or sinkings of the land in the Liege district. It might be
said, with equal truth, that according to the present course of
events, no series of ages would suffice to reproduce such an
assemblage of cones and craters as those of the Eifel (near
Andernach, for example); and yet some of them may be of
sufficiently modern date to belong to the era when Man was
contemporary with the mammoth and rhinoceros in the basin of the
Meuse.

But, although we may be unable to estimate the minimum of time
required for the changes in physical geography above alluded to, we
cannot fail to perceive that the duration of the period must have
been very protracted, and that other ages of comparative inaction
may have followed, separating the Pleistocene from the historical
periods, and constituting an interval no less indefinite in its
duration.


CHAPTER 5.

PLEISTOCENE PERIOD--FOSSIL HUMAN SKULLS OF THE NEANDERTHAL
   AND ENGIS CAVES.

Human Skeleton found in Cave near Dusseldorf.
Its geological Position and probable Age.
Its abnormal and ape-like Characters.
Fossil Human Skull of the Engis Cave near Liege.
Professor Huxley's Description of these Skulls.
Comparison of each, with extreme Varieties of the native
   Australian Race.
Range of Capacity in the Human and Simian Brains.
Skull from Borreby in Denmark.
Conclusions of Professor Huxley.
Bearing of the peculiar Characters of the Neanderthal Skull
   on the Hypothesis of Transmutation.

FOSSIL HUMAN SKELETON OF THE NEANDERTHAL CAVE NEAR DUSSELDORF.

Before I speak more particularly of the opinions which anatomists
have expressed respecting the osteological characters of the human
skull from Engis, near Liege, mentioned in the last chapter and
described by Dr. Schmerling, it will be desirable to say something
of the geological position of another skull, or rather skeleton,
which, on account of its peculiar conformation, has excited no
small sensation in the last few years. I allude to the skull found
in 1857 in a cave situated in that part of the valley of the
Dussel, near Dusseldorf, which is called the Neanderthal. The spot
is a deep and narrow ravine about 70 English miles north-east of
the region of the Liege caverns treated of in the last chapter, and
close to the village and railway station of Hochdal between
Dusseldorf and Elberfeld. The cave occurs in the precipitous
southern or left side of the winding ravine, about sixty feet above
the stream, and a hundred feet below the top of the cliff. The
accompanying section (Figure 1.) will give the reader an idea of
its position.

When Dr. Fuhlrott of Elberfeld first examined the cave, he found it
to be high enough to allow a man to enter. The width was 7 or 8
feet, and the length or depth 15. I visited the spot in 1860, in
company with Dr. Fuhlrott, who had the kindness to come expressly
from Elberfeld to be my guide, and who brought with him the
original fossil skull, and a cast of the same, which he presented
to me. In the interval of three years, between 1857 and 1860, the
ledge of rock, f, on which the cave opened, and which was
originally 20 feet wide, had been almost entirely quarried away,
and, at the rate at which the work of dilapidation was proceeding,
its complete destruction seemed near at hand.

(FIGURE 1. SECTION OF THE NEANDERTHAL CAVE NEAR DUSSELDORF.

  a. Cavern 60 feet above the Dussel, and 100 feet below the
     surface of the country at c.
  b. Loam covering the floor of the cave near the bottom of which
     the human skeleton was found.
  b, c. Rent connecting the cave with the upper surface of the
     country.
  d. Superficial sandy loam.
  e. Devonian limestone.
  f. Terrace, or ledge of rock.)

In the limestone are many fissures, one of which, still partially
filled with mud and stones, is represented in the section at a c as
continuous from the cave to the upper surface of the country.
Through this passage the loam, and possibly the human body to which
the bones belonged, may have been washed into the cave below. The
loam, which covered the uneven bottom of the cave, was sparingly
mixed with rounded fragments of chert, and was very similar in
composition to that covering the general surface of that region.

There was no crust of stalagmite overlying the mud in which the
human skeleton was found, and no bones of other animals in the mud
with the skeleton; but just before our visit in 1860 the tusk of a
bear had been met with in some mud in a lateral embranchment of the
cave, in a situation precisely similar to b, Figure 1, and on a
level corresponding with that of the human skeleton. This tusk,
shown us by the proprietor of the cave, was 2 1/2 inches long and
quite perfect; but whether it was referable to a recent or extinct
species of bear, I could not determine.

From a printed letter of Dr. Fuhlrott we learn that on removing the
loam, which was five feet thick, from the cave, the human skull was
first noticed near the entrance, and, further in, the other bones
lying in the same horizontal plane. It is supposed that the
skeleton was complete, but the workmen, ignorant of its value,
scattered and lost most of the bones, preserving only the larger
ones.* (* Fuhlrott, Letter to Professor Schaaffhausen, cited
"Natural History Review" Number 2 page 156. See also
"Naturhistorischer Verein" Bonn 1859.)

The cranium, which Dr. Fuhlrott showed me, was covered both on its
outer and inner surface, and especially on the latter, with a
profusion of dendritical crystallisations, and some other bones of
the skeleton were ornamented in the same way. These markings, as
Dr. Hermann von Meyer observes, afford no sure criterion of
antiquity, for they have been observed on Roman bones.
Nevertheless, they are more common in bones that have been long
embedded in the earth. The skull and bones, moreover, of the
Neanderthal skeleton had lost so much of their animal matter as to
adhere strongly to the tongue, agreeing in this respect with the
ordinary condition of fossil remains of the Pleistocene period. On
the whole, I think it probable that this fossil may be of about the
same age as those found by Schmerling in the Liege caverns; but, as
no other animal remains were found with it, there is no proof that
it may not be newer. Its position lends no countenance whatever to
the supposition of its being more ancient.

When the skull and other parts of the skeleton were first exhibited
at a German scientific meeting at Bonn, in 1857, some doubts were
expressed by several naturalists, whether it was truly human.
Professor Schaaffhausen, who, with the other experienced
zoologists, did not share these doubts, observed that the cranium,
which included the frontal bone, both parietals, part of the
squamous, and the upper third of the occipital, was of unusual size
and thickness, the forehead narrow and very low, and the projection
of the supra-orbital ridges enormously great. He also stated that
the absolute and relative length of the thigh bone, humerus,
radius, and ulna, agreed well with the dimensions of a European
individual of like stature at the present day; but that the
thickness of the bones was very extraordinary, and the elevations
and depressions for the attachment of muscles were developed in an
unusual degree. Some of the ribs, also, were of a singularly
rounded shape and abrupt curvature, which was supposed to indicate
great power in the thoracic muscles.* (* Professor Schaaffhausen's
"Memoir" translated "Natural History Review" April 1861.)

In the same memoir, the Prussian anatomist remarks that the
depression of the forehead (See Figure 3.), is not due to any
artificial flattening, such as is practised in various modes by
barbarous nations in the Old and New World, the skull being quite
symmetrical, and showing no indication of counter-pressure at the
occiput; whereas, according to Morton, in the Flat-heads of the
Columbia, the frontal and parietal bones are always unsymmetrical.*
(* "Natural History Review" Number 2 page 160.) On the whole,
Professor Schaaffhausen concluded that the individual to whom the
Neanderthal skull belonged must have been distinguished by small
cerebral development, and uncommon strength of corporeal frame.

When on my return to England I showed the cast of the cranium to
Professor Huxley, he remarked at once that it was the most ape-like
skull he had ever beheld. Mr. Busk, after giving a translation of
Professor Schaaffhausen's memoir in the "Natural History Review,"
added some valuable comments of his own on the characters in which
this skull approached that of the gorilla and chimpanzee.

Professor Huxley afterwards studied the cast with the object of
assisting me to give illustrations of it in this work, and in doing
so discovered what had not previously been observed, that it was
quite as abnormal in the shape of its occipital as in that of its
frontal or superciliary region. Before citing his words on the
subject, I will offer a few remarks on the Engis skull which the
same anatomist has compared with that of the Neanderthal. [Note 10.
]

FOSSIL SKULL OF THE ENGIS CAVE NEAR LIEGE.

Among six or seven human skeletons, portions of which were
collected by Dr. Schmerling from three or four caverns near Liege,
embedded in the same matrix with the remains of the elephant,
rhinoceros, bear, hyaena, and other extinct quadrupeds, the most
perfect skull, as I have before stated, was that of an adult
individual found in the cavern of Engis. This skull, Dr. Schmerling
figured in his work, observing that it was too imperfect to enable
the anatomist to determine the facial angle, but that one might
infer, from the narrowness of the frontal portion, that it belonged
to an individual of small intellectual development. He speculated
on its Ethiopian affinities, but not confidently, observing truly
that it would require many more specimens to enable an anatomist to
arrive at sound conclusions on such a point. M. Geoffroy St.
Hilaire and other osteologists, who examined the specimen, denied
that it resembled a negro's skull. When I saw the original in the
museum at Liege, I invited Dr. Spring, one of the professors of the
university, to whom we are indebted for a valuable memoir on the
human bones found in the cavern of Chauvaux, near Namur, to have a
cast made of this Engis skull. He not only had the kindness to
comply with my request, but rendered a service to the scientific
world by adding to the original cranium several detached fragments
which Dr. Schmerling had obtained from Engis, and which were found
to fit in exactly, so that the cast represented at Figure 2 is more
complete than that given in the first plate of Schmerling's work.
It exhibits on the right side the position of the auditory foramen
(see Figure 6), which was not included in Schmerling's figure. Mr.
Busk, when he saw this cast, remarked to me that, although the
forehead was, as Schmerling had truly stated, somewhat narrow, it
might nevertheless be matched by the skulls of individuals of
European race, an observation since fully borne out by
measurements, as will be seen in the sequel.

OBSERVATIONS BY PROFESSOR HUXLEY ON THE HUMAN SKULLS OF ENGIS AND
THE NEANDERTHAL.

"The Engis skull, as originally figured by Professor Schmerling,
was in a very imperfect state; but other fragments have since been
added to it by the care of Dr. Spring, and the cast upon which my
observations are based (Figure 2) exhibits the frontal, parietal,
and occipital regions, as far as the middle of the occipital
foramen, with the squamous and mastoid portions of the right
temporal bone entire, or nearly so, while the left temporal bone is
wanting. From the middle of the occipital foramen to the middle of
the roof of each orbit, the base of the skull is destroyed, and the
facial bones are entirely absent.

"The extreme length of the skull is 7.7 inches, and as its extreme
breadth is not more than 5.25, its form is decidedly
dolichocephalic. At the same time its height (4 3/4 inches from the
plane of the glabello-occipital line (a d) to the vertex) is good,
and the forehead is well arched; so that while the horizontal
circumference of the skull is about 20 1/2 inches, the longitudinal
arc from the nasal spine of the frontal bone to the occipital
protuberance (d) measures about 13 3/4 inches. The transverse arc
from one auditory foramen to the other across the middle of the
sagittal suture measures about 13 inches. The sagittal suture (b c)
is 5 1/2 inches in length. The superciliary prominences are well,
but not excessively, developed, and are separated by a median
depression in the region of the glabella. They indicate large
frontal sinuses. If a line joining the glabella and the occipital
protuberance (a d) be made horizontal, no part of the occiput
projects more than 1/10th of an inch behind the posterior extremity
of that line; and the upper edge of the auditory foramen is almost
in contact with the same line, or rather with one drawn parallel to
it on the outer surface of the skull.

(FIGURE 2. SIDE VIEW OF THE CAST OF PART OF A HUMAN SKULL
   FOUND BY DR. SCHMERLING EMBEDDED AMONGST THE REMAINS OF
   EXTINCT MAMMALIA IN THE CAVE OF ENGIS, NEAR LIEGE.

  a. Superciliary ridge and glabella.
  b. Coronal suture.
  c. The apex of the lamboidal suture.
  d. The occipital protuberance.)

"The Neanderthal skull, with which also I am acquainted only by
means of Professor Schaaffhausen's drawings of an excellent cast
and of photographs, is so extremely different in appearance from
the Engis cranium, that it might well be supposed to belong to a
distinct race of mankind. It is 8 inches in extreme length and 5.75
inches in extreme breadth, but only measures 3.4 inches from the
glabello-occipital line to the vertex. The longitudinal arc,
measured as above, is 12 inches; the transverse arc cannot be
exactly ascertained, in consequence of the absence of the temporal
bones, but was probably about the same, and certainly exceeded 10
1/4 inches. The horizontal circumference is 23 inches. This great
circumference arises largely from the vast development of the
superciliary ridges, which are occupied by great frontal sinuses
whose inferior apertures are displayed exceedingly well in one of
Dr. Fuhlrott's photographs, and form a continuous transverse
prominence, somewhat excavated in the middle line, across the lower
part of the brows. In consequence of this structure, the forehead
appears still lower and more retreating than it really is. To an
anatomical eye the posterior part of the skull is even more
striking than the anterior. The occipital protuberance occupies the
extreme posterior end of the skull when the glabello-occipital line
is made horizontal, and so far from any part of the occipital
region extending beyond it, this region of the skull slopes
obliquely upward and forward, so that the lambdoidal suture is
situated well upon the upper surface of the cranium. At the same
time, notwithstanding the great length of the skull, the sagittal
suture is remarkably short (4 1/2 inches), and the squamosal suture
is very straight.

(FIGURE 3. SIDE VIEW OF THE CAST OF A PART OF A HUMAN SKULL
   FROM A CAVE IN THE NEANDERTHAL, NEAR DUSSELDORF.

  a. Superciliary ridge and glabella.
  b. The coronal suture.
  c. The apex of the lamboidal suture.
  d. The occipital protuberance.)

"In human skulls, the superior curved ridge of the occipital bone
and the occipital protuberance correspond, approximatively, with
the level of the tentorium and with the lateral sinuses, and
consequently with the inferior limit of the posterior lobes of the
brain. At first, I found some difficulty in believing that a human
brain could have its posterior lobes so flattened and diminished as
must have been the case in the Neanderthal man, supposing the
ordinary relation to obtain between the superior occipital ridges
and the tentorium; but on my application, through Sir Charles
Lyell, Dr. Fuhlrott, the possessor of the skull, was good enough
not only to ascertain the existence of the lateral sinuses in their
ordinary position, but to send convincing proofs of the fact, in
excellent photographic views of the interior of the skull,
exhibiting clear indications of these sinuses.

"There can be no doubt that, as Professor Schaaffhausen and Mr.
Busk have stated, this skull is the most brutal of all known human
skulls, resembling those of the apes not only in the prodigious
development of the superciliary prominences and the forward
extension of the orbits, but still more in the depressed form of
the brain-case, in the straightness of the squamosal suture, and in
the complete retreat of the occiput forwards and upward, from the
superior occipital ridges.

(FIGURE 4. OUTLINE OF THE SKULL OF AN ADULT CHIMPANZEE, OF THAT
   FROM THE NEANDERTHAL, AND OF THAT OF A EUROPEAN, DRAWN TO THE SAME
   ABSOLUTE SIZE, IN ORDER BETTER TO EXHIBIT THEIR RELATIVE
   DIFFERENCES.

  The superciliary region of the Neanderthal skull
  appears less prominent than in Figure 3, as the contours are all
  taken along the middle line where the superciliary projection of
  the Neanderthal skull is least marked. a. The glabella. b. The
  occipital protuberance, or the point on the exterior of each skull
  which corresponds roughly with the attachment of the tentorium, or
  with the inferior boundary of the posterior cerebral lobes.)

"But the cranium, in its present condition, is stated by Professor
Schaaffhausen to contain 1033.24 cubic centimetres of water, or, in
other words, about 63 English cubic inches. As the entire skull
could hardly have held less than 12 cubic inches more, its minimum
capacity may be estimated at 75 cubic inches. The most capacious
healthy European skull yet measured had a capacity of 114 cubic
inches, the smallest (as estimated by weight of brain) about 55
cubic inches, while, according to Professor Schaaffhausen, some
Hindoo skulls have as small a capacity as about 46 cubic inches (27
ounces of water). The largest cranium of any Gorilla yet measured
contained 34.5 cubic inches. The Neanderthal cranium stands,
therefore, in capacity, very nearly on a level with the mean of the
two human extremes, and very far above the pithecoid maximum.

(FIGURE 5. SKULL ASSOCIATED WITH GROUND FLINT IMPLEMENTS,
   FROM A TUMULUS AT BORREBY IN DENMARK, AFTER A CAMERA LUCIDA
   DRAWING BY MR. G. BUSK, F.R.S.
      The thick dark line indicates so much of the skull as
         corresponds with the fragment from the Neanderthal.

  a. Superciliary ridge.
  b. Coronal suture.
  c. The apex of the lamboidal suture.
  d. The occipital protuberance.
  e. The auditory foramen.)

"Hence, even in the absence of the bones of the arm and thigh,
which, according to Professor Schaaffhausen, had the precise
proportions found in Man, although they were stouter than ordinary
human bones, there could be no reason for ascribing this cranium to
anything but a man; while the strength and development of the
muscular ridges of the limb-bones are characters in perfect
accordance with those exhibited, in a minor degree, by the bones of
such hardy savages, exposed to a rigorous climate, as the
Patagonians.

"The Neanderthal cranium has certainly not undergone compression,
and, in reply to the suggestion that the skull is that of an idiot,
it may be urged that the onus probandi lies with those who adopt
the hypothesis. Idiotcy is compatible with very various forms and
capacities of the cranium, but I know of none which present the
least resemblance to the Neanderthal skull; and, furthermore, I
shall proceed to show that the latter manifests but an extreme
degree of a stage of degradation exhibited, as a natural condition,
by the crania of certain races of mankind.

"Mr. Busk drew my attention, some time ago, to the resemblance
between some of the skulls taken from tumuli of the stone period at
Borreby in Denmark, of which Mr. Busk possesses numerous accurate
figures, and the Neanderthal cranium. One of the Borreby skulls in
particular (Figure 5) has remarkably projecting superciliary
ridges, a retreating forehead, a low flattened vertex, and an
occiput which shelves upward and forward. But the skull is
relatively higher and broader, or more brachycephalic, the sagittal
suture longer, and the superciliary ridges less projecting, than in
the Neanderthal skull. Nevertheless, there is, without doubt, much
resemblance in character between the two skulls--a circumstance
which is the more interesting, since the other Borreby skulls have
better foreheads and less prominent superciliary ridges, and
exhibit altogether a higher conformation.

"The Borreby skulls belong to the stone period of Denmark, and the
people to whom they appertained were probably either
contemporaneous with, or later than, the makers of the
'refuse-heaps' of that country. In other words, they were
subsequent to the last great physical changes of Europe, and were
contemporaries of the urus and bison, not of the Elephas
primigenius, Rhinoceros tichorhinus, and Hyaena spelaea.

"Supposing for a moment, what is not proven, that the Neanderthal
skull belonged to a race allied to the Borreby people and was as
modern as they, it would be separated by as great a distance of
time as of anatomical character from the Engis skull, and the
possibility of its belonging to a distinct race from the latter
might reasonably appear to be greatly heightened.

"To prevent the possibility of reasoning in a vicious circle,
however, I thought it would be well to endeavour to ascertain what
amount of cranial variation is to be found in a pure race at the
present day; and as the natives of Southern and Western Australia
are probably as pure and homogeneous in blood, customs, and
language, as any race of savages in existence, I turned to them,
the more readily as the Hunterian museum contains a very fine
collection of such skulls.

"I soon found it possible to select from among these crania two
(connected by all sorts of intermediate gradations), the one of
which should very nearly resemble the Engis skull, while the other
should somewhat less closely approximate the Neanderthal cranium in
form, size, and proportions. And at the same time others of these
skulls presented no less remarkable affinities with the low type of
Borreby skull.

"That the resemblances to which I allude are by no means of a
merely superficial character, is shown by the accompanying diagram
(Figure 6), which gives the contours of the two ancient and of one
of the Australian skulls, and by the following table of
measurements.

TABLE 5/1.

COLUMN 1: TYPE OF SKULL.

COLUMN 2 (A): The horizontal circumference in the plane of a line
joining the glabella with the occipital protuberance.

COLUMN 3 (B): The longitudinal arc from the nasal depression along
the middle line of the skull to the occipital tuberosity.

COLUMN 4 (C): From the level of the glabello-occipital line on each
side, across the middle of the sagittal suture to the same point on
the opposite side.

COLUMN 5 (D): The vertical height from the glabello-occipital line.

COLUMN 6 (E): The extreme longitudinal measurement.

COLUMN 7 (F): The extreme transverse measurement.* (* I have taken
the glabello-occipital line as a base in these measurements, simply
because it enables me to compare all the skulls, whether fragments
or entire, together. The greatest circumference of the English
skull lies in a plane considerably above that of the
glabello-occipital line, and amounts to 22 inches.)

Engis       : 20 1/2 : 13 3/4 : 12 1/2 : 4 3/4  : 7 3/4 : 5 1/4.
Australian,
   Number 1 : 20 1/2 : 13     : 12     : 4 3/4  : 7 1/2 : 5 4/10.
Australian,
   Number 2 : 22     : 12 1/2 : 10 3/4 : 3 8/10 : 7.9   : 5 3/4.
Neanderthal : 23     : 12     : 10     : 3 3/4  : 8     : 5 3/4.

"The question whether the Engis skull has rather the character of
one of the high races or of one of the lower has been much
disputed, but the following measurements of an English skull, noted
in the catalogue of the Hunterian museum as typically Caucasian
(see Figure 4) will serve to show that both sides may be right, and
that cranial measurements alone afford no safe indication of race.

English     : 21     : 13 3/4 : 12 1/2 : 4 4/10 : 7 7/8 : 5 1/3.

"In making the preceding statement, it must be clearly understood
that I neither desire to affirm that the Engis and Neanderthal
skulls belong to the Australian race, nor to assert even that the
ancient skulls belong to one and the same race, so far as race is
measured by language, colour of skin, or character of hair. Against
the conclusion that they are of the same race as the Australians
various minor anatomical differences of the ancient skulls, such as
the great development of the frontal sinuses, might be urged; while
against the supposition of either the identity, or the diversity,
of race of the two arises the known independence of the variation
of cranium on the one hand, and of hair, colour, and language on
the other.

"But the amount of variation of the Borreby skulls, and the fact
that the skulls of one of the purest and most homogeneous of
existing races of men can be proved to differ from one another in
the same characters, though perhaps not quite to the same extent,
as the Engis and Neanderthal skulls, seem to me to prohibit any
cautious reasoner from affirming the latter to have been
necessarily of distinct races.

(FIGURE 6. OUTLINES OF THE SKULL FROM THE NEANDERTHAL,
   OF AN AUSTRALIAN SKULL FROM PORT ADELAIDE, AND OF THE
   SKULL FROM THE CAVE OF ENGIS, DRAWN TO THE SAME ABSOLUTE
   LENGTH, IN ORDER THE BETTER TO CONTRAST THEIR PROPORTIONS.

  a. The glabella.
  b. The occipital protuberance, or the point on the exterior
     of each skull which corresponds roughly with the attachment
     of the tentorium, or with the inferior boundary of the
     posterior cerebral lobes.
   e. The position of the auditory foramen of the Engis skull.)

"The marked resemblances between the ancient skulls and their
modern Australian analogues, however, have a profound interest,
when it is recollected that the stone axe is as much the weapon and
the implement of the modern as of the ancient savage; that the
former turns the bones of the kangaroo and of the emu to the same
account as the latter did the bones of the deer and the urus; that
the Australian heaps up the shells of devoured shellfish in mounds
which represent the "refuse-heaps" or "Kjokkenmodding," of Denmark;
and, finally, that, on the other side of Torres Straits, a race
akin to the Australians are among the few people who now build
their houses on pile-works, like those of the ancient Swiss lakes.

"That this amount of resemblance in habit and in the conditions of
existence is accompanied by as close a resemblance in cranial
configuration, illustrates on a great scale that what Cuvier
demonstrated of the animals of the Nile valley is no less true of
men; circumstances remaining similar, the savage varies little
more, it would seem, than the ibis or the crocodile, especially if
we take into account the enormous extent of the time over which our
knowledge of man now extends, as compared with that measured by the
duration of the sepulchres of Egypt.

"Finally, the comparatively large cranial capacity of the
Neanderthal skull, overlaid though it may be by pithecoid bony
walls, and the completely human proportions of the accompanying
limb-bones, together with the very fair development of the Engis
skull, clearly indicate that the first traces of the primordial
stock whence Man has proceeded need no longer be sought, by those
who entertain any form of the doctrine of progressive development,
in the newest Tertiaries; but that they may be looked for in an
epoch more distant from the age of the Elephas primigenius than
that is from us."

The two skulls which form the subject of the preceding comments and
illustrations have given rise to nearly an equal amount of surprise
for opposite reasons; that of Engis because being so unequivocally
ancient, it approached so near to the highest or Caucasian type;
that of the Neanderthal, because, having no such decided claims to
antiquity, it departs so widely from the normal standard of
humanity. Professor Huxley's observation regarding the wide range
of variation, both as to shape and capacity, in the skulls of so
pure a race as the native Australian, removes to no small extent
this supposed anomaly, assuming what though not proved is very
probable, that both varieties co-existed in the Pleistocene period
in Western Europe.

As to the Engis skull, we must remember that although associated
with the elephant, rhinoceros, bear, tiger, and hyaena, all of
extinct species, it nevertheless is also accompanied by a bear,
stag, wolf, fox, beaver, and many other quadrupeds of species still
living. Indeed many eminent palaeontologists, and among them
Professor Pictet, think that, numerically considered, the larger
portion of the mammalian fauna agrees specifically with that of our
own period, so that we are scarcely entitled to feel surprised if
we find human races of the Pleistocene epoch undistinguishable from
some living ones. It would merely tend to show that Man has been as
constant in his osteological characters as many other mammalia now
his contemporaries. The expectation of always meeting with a lower
type of human skull, the older the formation in which it occurs, is
based on the theory of progressive development, and it may prove to
be sound; nevertheless we must remember that as yet we have no
distinct geological evidence that the appearance of what are called
the inferior races of mankind has always preceded in chronological
order that of the higher races.

It is now admitted that the differences between the brain of the
highest races of Man and that of the lowest,* (* "Natural History
Review" 1861 page 8.) though less in degree, are of the same order
as those which separate the human from the simian brain; and the
same rule holds good in regard to the shape of the skull. The
average Negro skull differs from that of the European in having a
more receding forehead, more prominent superciliary ridges, and
more largely developed prominences and furrows for the attachment
of muscles; the face also, and its lines, are larger
proportionally. The brain is somewhat less voluminous on the
average in the lower races of mankind, its convolutions rather less
complicated, and those of the two hemispheres more symmetrical, in
all which points an approach is made to the simian type. It will
also be seen, by reference to the late Dr. Morton's works, and by
the foregoing statements of Professor Huxley, that the range of
size or capacity between the highest and lowest human brain is
greater than that between the highest simian and lowest human
brain; but the Neanderthal skull, although in several respects it
is more ape-like than any human skull previously discovered, is, in
regard to volume, by no means contemptible.

Eminent anatomists have shown that in the average proportions of
some of the bones the Negro differs from the European, and that in
most of these characters, he makes a slightly nearer approach to
the anthropoid quadrumana;* but Professor Schaaffhausen has pointed
out that in these proportions the Neanderthal skeleton does not
differ from the ordinary standard, so that the skeleton by no means
indicates a transition between Homo and Pithecus. (* "The inferior
races of mankind exhibit proportions which are in many respects
intermediate between the higher, or European, orders, and the
monkeys. In the Negro, for instance, the stature is less than in
the European. The cranium, as is well known, bears a small
proportion to the face. Of the extremities the upper are
proportionately longer, and there is, in both upper and lower, a
less marked preponderance of the proximal over the distal segments.
For instance, in the Negro, the thigh and arm are rather shorter
than in the European; the leg is actually of equal length in both
races, and is therefore, relatively, a little longer in the Negro;
the fore-arm in the latter is actually, as well as relatively, a
little longer; the foot is an eighth, and the hand a twelfth longer
than in the European. It is well known that the foot is less well
formed in the Negro than in the European. The arch of the instep,
the perfect conformation of which is essential to steadiness and
ease of gait, is less elevated in the former than in the latter.
The foot is thereby rendered flatter as well as longer, more nearly
resembling the monkey's, between which and the European there is a
marked difference in this particular."--From "A Treatise on the
Human Skeleton" by Dr. Humphry, Lecturer on Surgery and Anatomy in
the Cambridge University Medical School, page 91.)

There is doubtless, as shown in the diagram Figure 4, a nearer
resemblance in the outline of the Neanderthal skull to that of a
chimpanzee than had ever been observed before in any human cranium;
and Professor Huxley's description of the occipital region shows
that the resemblance is not confined to the mere excessive
prominence of the superciliary ridges.

The direct bearing of the ape-like character of the Neanderthal
skull on Lamarck's doctrine of progressive development and
transmutation, or on that modification of it which has of late been
so ably advocated by Mr. Darwin, consists in this, that the newly
observed deviation from a normal standard of human structure is not
in a casual or random direction, but just what might have been
anticipated if the laws of variation were such as the
transmutationists require. For if we conceive the cranium to be
very ancient, it exemplifies a less advanced stage of progressive
development and improvement. If it be a comparatively modern race,
owing its peculiarities of conformation to degeneracy, it is an
illustration of what botanists call "atavism," or the tendency of
varieties to revert to an ancestral type, which type, in proportion
to its antiquity, would be of lower grade. To this hypothesis, of a
genealogical connection between Man and the lower animals, I shall
again allude in the concluding chapters. [Note 11.]


CHAPTER 6.

PLEISTOCENE ALLUVIUM AND CAVE DEPOSITS WITH FLINT IMPLEMENTS.

General Position of Drift with extinct Mammalia in Valleys.
Discoveries of M. Boucher de Perthes at Abbeville.
Flint Implements found also at St. Acheul, near Amiens.
Curiosity awakened by the systematic Exploration of the Brixham Cave.
Flint Knives in same, with Bones of extinct Mammalia.
Superposition of Deposits in the Cave.
Visits of English and French Geologists to Abbeville and Amiens.

PLEISTOCENE ALLUVIUM CONTAINING FLINT IMPLEMENTS IN THE VALLEY OF
THE SOMME.

Throughout a large part of Europe we find at moderate elevations
above the present river-channels, usually at a height of less than
40 feet, but sometimes much higher, beds of gravel, sand, and loam
containing bones of the elephant, rhinoceros, horse, ox, and other
quadrupeds, some of extinct, others of living, species, belonging
for the most part to the fauna already alluded to in the fourth
chapter as characteristic of the interior of caverns. The greater
part of these deposits contain fluviatile shells, and have
undoubtedly been accumulated in ancient river-beds. These old
channels have long since been dry, the streams which once flowed in
them having shifted their position, deepening the valleys, and
often widening them on one side.

It has naturally been asked, if Man co-existed with the extinct
species of the caves, why were his remains and the works of his
hands never embedded outside the caves in ancient river-gravel
containing the same fossil fauna? Why should it be necessary for
the geologist to resort for evidence of the antiquity of our race
to the dark recesses of underground vaults and tunnels which may
have served as places of refuge or sepulture to a succession of
human beings and wild animals, and where floods may have confounded
together in one breccia the memorials of the fauna of more than one
epoch? Why do we not meet with a similar assemblage of the relics
of Man, and of living and extinct quadrupeds, in places where the
strata can be thoroughly scrutinised in the light of day?

Recent researches have at length demonstrated that such memorials,
so long sought for in vain, do in fact exist, and their recognition
is the chief cause of the more favourable reception now given to
the conclusions which MM. Tournal, Christol, Schmerling, and
others, arrived at thirty years ago respecting the fossil contents
of caverns. [Note 12.]

A very important step in this new direction was made thirteen years
after the publication of Schmerling's researches, by M. Boucher de
Perthes, who found in ancient alluvium at Abbeville, in Picardy,
some flint implements, the relative antiquity of which was attested
by their geological position. The antiquarian knowledge of their
discoverer enabled him to recognise in their rude and peculiar type
a character distinct from that of the polished stone weapons of a
later period, usually called "celts." In the first volume of his
"Antiquites Celtiques," published in 1847, M. Boucher de Perthes
styled these older tools "antediluvian," because they came from the
lowest beds of a series of ancient alluvial strata bordering the
valley of the Somme, which geologists had termed "diluvium." He had
begun to collect these implements in 1841. From that time they had
been annually dug out of the drift or deposits of gravel and sand,
of which fine sections were laid open from 20 to 35 feet in depth,
whenever excavations were made in repairing the fortifications of
Abbeville; or as often as flints were wanted for the roads, or loam
for making bricks. For years previously bones of quadrupeds of the
genera elephant, rhinoceros, bear, hyaena, stag, ox, horse, and
others, had been collected there, and sent from time to time to
Paris to be examined and named by Cuvier, who had described them in
his Ossements Fossiles. A correct account of the associated flint
tools and of their position was given in 1847 by M. Boucher de
Perthes in his work above cited, and they were stated to occur at
various depths, often 20 or 30 feet from the surface, in sand and
gravel, especially in those strata which were nearly in contact
with the subjacent white Chalk. But the scientific world had no
faith in the statement that works of art, however rude, had been
met with in undisturbed beds of such antiquity. Few geologists
visited Abbeville in winter, when the sand-pits were open, and when
they might have opportunities of verifying the sections, and
judging whether the instruments had really been embedded by natural
causes in the same strata with the bones of the mammoth,
rhinoceros, and other extinct mammalia. Some of the tools figured
in the "Antiquites Celtiques" were so rudely shaped, that many
imagined them to have owed their peculiar forms to accidental
fracture in a river's bed; others suspected frauds on the part of
the workmen, who might have fabricated them for sale, or that the
gravel had been disturbed, and that the worked flints had got
mingled with the bones of the mammoth long after that animal and
its associates had disappeared from the earth.

No one was more sceptical than the late eminent physician of
Amiens, Dr. Rigollot, who had long before (in the year 1819)
written a memoir on the fossil mammalia of the valley of the Somme.
He was at length induced to visit Abbeville, and, having inspected
the collection of M. Boucher de Perthes, returned home resolved to
look for himself for flint tools in the gravel-pits near Amiens.
There, accordingly, at a distance of about 30 miles from Abbeville,
he immediately found abundance of similar flint implements,
precisely the same in the rudeness of their make, and the same in
their geological position; some of them in gravel nearly on a level
with the Somme, others in similar deposits resting on Chalk at a
height of about 90 feet above the river.

Dr. Rigollot having in the course of four years obtained several
hundred specimens of these tools, most of them from St. Acheul in
the south-east suburbs of Amiens, lost no time in communicating an
account of them to the scientific world, in a memoir illustrated by
good figures of the worked flints and careful sections of the beds.
These sections were executed by M. Buteux, an engineer well
qualified for the task, who had written a good description of the
geology of Picardy. Dr. Rigollot, in this memoir, pointed out most
clearly that it was not in the vegetable soil, nor in the
brick-earth with land and freshwater shells next below, but in the
lower beds of coarse flint-gravel, usually 12, 20, or 25 feet below
the surface, that the implements were met with, just as they had
been previously stated by M. Boucher de Perthes to occur at
Abbeville. The conclusion, therefore, which was legitimately
deduced from all the facts, was that the flint tools and their
fabricators were coeval with the extinct mammalia embedded in the
same strata.

BRIXHAM CAVE, NEAR TORQUAY, DEVONSHIRE.

Four years after the appearance of Dr. Rigollot's paper, a sudden
change of opinion was brought about in England respecting the
probable co-existence, at a former period, of Man and many extinct
mammalia, in consequence of the results obtained from a careful
exploration of a cave at Brixham, near Torquay, in Devonshire. As
the new views very generally adopted by English geologists had no
small influence on the subsequent progress of opinion in France, I
shall interrupt my account of the researches made in the valley of
the Somme, by a brief notice of those which were carried on in 1858
in Devonshire with more than usual care and scientific method. Dr.
Buckland, in his celebrated work, entitled "Reliquiae Diluvianae,"
published in 1823, in which he treated of the organic remains
contained in caves, fissures, and "diluvial gravel" in England, had
given a clear statement of the results of his own original
observations, and had declared that none of the human bones or
stone implements met with by him in any of the caverns could be
considered to be as old as the mammoth and other extinct
quadrupeds. Opinions in harmony with this conclusion continued
until very lately to be generally in vogue in England; although
about the time that Schmerling was exploring the Liege caves, the
Reverend Mr. McEnery, a Catholic priest, residing near Torquay, had
found in a cave one mile east of that town, called "Kent's Hole,"
in red loam covered with stalagmite, not only bones of the mammoth,
tichorhine rhinoceros, hippopotamus, cave-bear, and other mammalia,
but several remarkable flint tools, some of which he supposed to be
of great antiquity, while there were also remains of Man in the
same cave of a later date.* (* The manuscript and plates prepared
for a joint memoir on Kent's Hole, by Mr. McEnery and Dr. Buckland,
have recently been published by Mr. Vivian of Torquay, from which,
as well as from some of the unprinted manuscript, I infer that Mr.
McEnery only refrained out of deference to Dr. Buckland from
declaring his belief in the contemporaneousness of certain flint
implements of an antique type and the bones of extinct animals. Two
of these implements from Kent's Hole, figured in Plate 12 of the
posthumous work above alluded to, approach very closely in form and
size to the common Abbeville implements.)

About ten years afterwards, in a "Memoir on the Geology of South
Devon," published in 1842 by the Geological Society of London,* (*
"Transactions of the Geological Society" 2nd series volume 6 page
444.) an able geologist, Mr. Godwin-Austen, declared that he had
obtained in the same cave (Kent's Hole) works of Man from
undisturbed loam or clay, under stalagmite, mingled with the
remains of extinct animals, and that all these must have been
introduced "before the stalagmite flooring had been formed." He
maintained that such facts could not be explained away by the
hypothesis of sepulture, as in Dr. Buckland's well-known case of
the human skeleton of Paviland, because in the Devon cave the flint
implements were widely distributed through the loam, and lay
beneath the stalagmite.

As the osseous and other contents of Kent's Hole had, by repeated
diggings, been thrown into much confusion, it was thought desirable
in 1858, when a new and intact bone-cave was discovered at Brixham,
about four miles south of Torquay, to have a thorough and
systematic examination made of it. The Royal Society, chiefly at
the instance of Dr. Falconer, made two grants towards defraying the
expenses, and Miss Burdett-Coutts contributed liberally towards the
same object. A committee of geologists was charged with the
investigations, among whom Dr. Falconer and Mr. Prestwich took a
prominent part, visiting Torquay while the excavations were in
progress. Mr. Pengelly, another member of the committee, well
qualified for the task by nearly twenty years' previous experience
in cave explorations, zealously directed and superintended the
work. By him, in 1859, I was conducted through the subterranean
galleries after they had been cleared out; and Dr. Falconer, who
was also at Torquay, showed me the numerous fossils which had been
discovered, and which he was then studying, all numbered and
labelled, with reference to a journal in which the geological
position of each specimen was recorded with scrupulous care.

The discovery of the existence of this suite of caverns near the
sea at Brixham was made accidentally by the roof of one of them
being broken through in quarrying. None of the four external
openings now exposed to view in steep cliffs or in the sloping side
of a valley were visible before the breccia and earthy matter which
blocked them up were removed during the late exploration. According
to a ground-plan drawn up by Professor Ramsay, it appears that some
of the passages which run nearly north and south are fissures
connected with the vertical dislocation of the rocks, while another
set, running nearly east and west, are tunnels, which have the
appearance of having been to a great extent hollowed out by the
action of running water. The central or main entrance, leading to
what is called the "reindeer gallery," because a perfect antler of
that animal was found sticking in the stalagmitic floor, is 95 feet
above the level of the sea, being also 78 above the bottom of the
adjoining valley. The united length of the galleries which were
cleared out amounted to several hundred feet. Their width never
exceeded 8 feet. They were sometimes filled up to the roof with
mud, but occasionally there was a considerable space between the
roof and floor. The latter, in the case of the fissure-caves, was
covered with stalagmite, but in the tunnels it was usually free
from any such incrustation. The following was the general
succession of the deposits forming the contents of the underground
passages and channels:--

First. At the top, a layer of stalagmite varying in thickness from
1 to 15 inches, which sometimes contained bones, such as the
reindeer's horn, already mentioned, and an entire humerus of the
cave-bear.

Secondly. Next below, loam or bone-earth, of an ochreous red
colour, with angular stones and some pebbles, from 2 to 13 feet in
thickness.

Thirdly. At the bottom of all, gravel with many rounded pebbles in
it. This was everywhere removed so long as the tunnels which
narrowed downwards were wide enough to be worked. It proved to be
almost entirely barren of fossils.

The mammalia obtained from the bone-earth consisted of Elephas
primigenius, or mammoth; Rhinoceros tichorhinus; Ursus spelaeus;
Hyaena spelaea; Felis spelaea, or the cave-lion; Cervus tarandus, or
the reindeer; a species of horse, ox, and several rodents, and
others not yet determined.

No human bones were obtained anywhere during these excavations, but
many flint knives, chiefly from the lowest part of the bone-earth;
and one of the most perfect lay at the depth of 13 feet from the
surface, and was covered with bone-earth of that thickness.
Neglecting the less perfect specimens, some of which were met with
even in the lowest gravel, about fifteen knives, recognised as
artificially formed by the most experienced antiquaries, were taken
from the bone-earth, and usually from near the bottom. Such knives,
considered apart from the associated mammalia, afford in themselves
no safe criterion of antiquity, as they might belong to any part of
the age of stone, similar tools being sometimes met with in tumuli
posterior in date to the era of the introduction of bronze. But the
contemporaneity of those at Brixham with the extinct animals is
demonstrated not only by the occurrence at one point in overlying
stalagmite of the bone of a cave-bear, but also by the discovery at
the same level in the bone-earth, and in close proximity to a very
perfect flint tool, of the entire left hind-leg of a cave-bear.
This specimen, which was shown me by Dr. Falconer and Mr. Pengelly,
was exhumed from the earthy deposit in the reindeer gallery, near
its junction with the flint-knife gallery, at the distance of about
sixty-five feet from the main entrance. The mass of earth
containing it was removed entire, and the matrix cleared away
carefully by Dr. Falconer in the presence of Mr. Pengelly. Every
bone was in its natural place, the femur, tibia, fibula,
ankle-bone, or astragalus, all in juxtaposition. Even the patella
or detached bone of the knee-pan was searched for, and not in vain.
Here, therefore, we have evidence of an entire limb not having been
washed in a fossil state out of an older alluvium, and then swept
afterwards into a cave, so as to be mingled with flint implements,
but having been introduced when clothed with its flesh, or at least
when it had the separate bones bound together by their natural
ligaments, and in that state buried in mud.

If they were not all of contemporary date, it is clear from this
case, and from the humerus of the Ursus spelaeus, before cited, as
found in a floor of stalagmite, that the bear lived after the flint
tools were manufactured, or in other words, that Man in this
district preceded the cave-bear.

A glance at the position of Windmill Hill, in which the caverns are
situated, and a brief survey of the valleys which bound it on three
sides, are enough to satisfy a geologist that the drainage and
geographical features of this region have undergone great changes
since the gravel and bone-earth were carried by streams into the
subterranean cavities above described. Some worn pebbles of
haematite, in particular, can only have come from their nearest
parent rock, at a period when the valleys immediately adjoining the
caves were much shallower than they now are. The reddish loam in
which the bones are embedded is such as may be seen on the surface
of limestone in the neighbourhood, but the currents which were
formerly charged with such mud must have run at a level 78 feet
above that of the stream now flowing in the same valley. It was
remarked by Mr. Pengelly that the stones and bones in the loam had
their longest axes parallel to the direction of the tunnels and
fissures, showing that they were deposited by the action of a
stream.* (* Pengelly, "Geologist" volume 4 1861 page 153.)

It appears that so long as the flowing water had force enough to
propel stony fragments, no layer of fine mud could accumulate, and
so long as there was a regular current capable of carrying in fine
mud and bones, no superficial crust of stalagmite. In some
passages, as before stated, stalagmite was wanting, while in one
place seven or eight alternations of stalagmite and loam were
observed, seeming to indicate a prevalence of more rainy seasons,
succeeded by others, when the water was for a time too low to flood
the area where the calcareous incrustation accumulated.

If the regular sequence of the three deposits of pebbles, mud, and
stalagmite was the result of the causes above explained, the order
of superposition would be constant, yet we could not be sure that
the gravel in one passage might not sometimes be coeval with the
bone-earth or stalagmite in another.

If therefore the flint knives had not been very widely dispersed,
and if one of them had not been at the bottom of the bone-earth,
close to the leg of the bear above described, their antiquity
relatively to the extinct mammalia might have been questioned. No
coprolites were found in the Brixham excavations, and very few
gnawed bones. These few may have been brought from some distance
before they reached their place of rest. Upon the whole, the same
conclusion which Dr. Schmerling came to, respecting the filling up
of the caverns near Liege, seems applicable to the caves of
Brixham.

Dr. Falconer, after aiding in the investigations above alluded to
near Torquay, stopped at Abbeville on his way to Sicily, in the
autumn of 1858, and saw there the collection of M. Boucher de
Perthes. Being at once satisfied that the flints called hatchets
had really been fashioned by the hand of Man, he urged Mr.
Prestwich, by letter, thoroughly to explore the geology of the
valley of the Somme. This he accordingly accomplished, in company
with Mr. John Evans [Note 13], of the Society of Antiquaries, and,
before his return that same year, succeeded in dissipating all
doubts from the minds of his geological friends by extracting, with
his own hands, from a bed of undisturbed gravel, at St. Acheul, a
well-shaped flint hatchet. This implement was buried in the gravel
at a depth of 17 feet from the surface, and was lying on its flat
side. There were no signs of vertical rents in the enveloping
matrix, nor in the overlying beds of sand and loam, in which were
many land and freshwater shells; so that it was impossible to
imagine that the tool had gradually worked its way downwards, as
some had suggested, through the incumbent soil, into an older
formation.* (* Prestwich, "Proceedings of the Royal Society" 1859
and "Philosophical Transactions" 1860.)

There was no one in England whose authority deserved to have so
much weight in overcoming incredulity in regard to the antiquity of
the implements in question. For Mr. Prestwich, besides having
published a series of important memoirs on the Tertiary formations
of Europe, had devoted many years specially to the study of the
drift and its organic remains. His report, therefore, to the Royal
Society, accompanied by a photograph showing the position of the
flint tool in situ before it was removed from its matrix, not only
satisfied many inquirers, but induced others to visit Abbeville and
Amiens; and one of these, Mr. Flower, who accompanied Mr. Prestwich
on his second excursion to St. Acheul, in June 1859, succeeded, by
digging into the bank of gravel, in disinterring, at the depth of
22 feet from the surface, a fine, symmetrically-shaped weapon of an
oval form, lying in and beneath strata which were observed by many
witnesses to be perfectly undisturbed.* (* "Quarterly Journal of
the Geological Society" volume 16 1860 page 190.)

Shortly afterwards, in the year 1859, I visited the same pits, and
obtained seventy flint tools, one of which was taken out while I
was present, though I did not see it before it had fallen from the
matrix. I expressed my opinion in favour of the antiquity of the
flint tools to the meeting of the British Association at Aberdeen,
in the same year.* (* See "Report of British Association" for 1859.
) On my way through Rouen, I stated my convictions on this subject
to M. George Pouchet, who immediately betook himself to St. Acheul,
commissioned by the municipality of Rouen, and did not quit the
pits till he had seen one of the hatchets extracted from gravel in
its natural position.* (* "Actes du Musee d'Histoire Naturelle de
Rouen" 1860 page 33.)

M. Gaudry also gave the following account of his researches in the
same year to the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris. "The great
point was not to leave the workmen for a single instant, and to
satisfy oneself by actual inspection whether the hatchets were
found in situ. I caused a deep excavation to be made, and found
nine hatchets, most distinctly in situ in the diluvium, associated
with teeth of Equus fossilis and a species of Bos, different from
any now living, and similar to that of the diluvium and of
caverns."* (* "Comptes rendus" September 26 and October 3, 1859.)
In 1859, M. Hebert, an original observer of the highest authority,
declared to the Geological Society of France that he had, in 1854,
or four years before Mr. Prestwich's visit to St. Acheul, seen the
sections at Abbeville and Amiens, and had come to the opinion that
the hatchets were imbedded in the "lower diluvium," and that their
origin was as ancient as that of the mammoth and the rhinoceros. M.
Desnoyers also made excavations after M. Gaudry, at St. Acheul, in
1859, with the same results.* (* "Bulletin" volume 17 page 18.)

After a lively discussion on the subject in England and France, it
was remembered, not only that there were numerous recorded cases
leading to similar conclusions in regard to cavern deposits, but,
also, that Mr. Frere had, so long ago as 1797, found flint weapons,
of the same type as those of Amiens, in a freshwater formation in
Suffolk, in conjunction with elephant remains; and nearly a hundred
years earlier (1715), another tool of the same kind had been
exhumed from the gravel of London, together with bones of an
elephant; to all which examples I shall allude more fully in the
sequel.

I may conclude this chapter by quoting a saying of Professor
Agassiz, "that whenever a new and startling fact is brought to
light in science, people first say, 'it is not true,' then that 'it
is contrary to religion,' and lastly, 'that everybody knew it
before.'"

If I were considering merely the cultivators of geology, I should
say that the doctrine of the former co-existence of Man with many
extinct mammalia had already gone through these three phases in the
progress of every scientific truth towards acceptance. But the
grounds of this belief have not yet been fully laid before the
general public, so as to enable them fairly to weigh and appreciate
the evidence. I shall therefore do my best in the next three
chapters to accomplish this task.


CHAPTER 7.

PEAT AND PLEISTOCENE ALLUVIUM OF THE VALLEY OF THE SOMME.

Geological Structure of the Valley of the Somme and of the
   surrounding Country.
Position of Alluvium of different Ages.
Peat near Abbeville.
Its animal and vegetable Contents.
Works of Art in Peat.
Probable Antiquity of the Peat, and Changes of Level
   since its Growth began.
Flint Implements of antique Type in older Alluvium.
Their various Forms and great Numbers.

GEOLOGICAL STRUCTURE OF THE SOMME VALLEY.

The valley of the Somme in Picardy, alluded to in the last chapter,
is situated geologically in a region of white Chalk with flints,
the strata of which are nearly horizontal. The Chalk hills which
bound the valley are almost everywhere between 200 and 300 feet in
height. On ascending to that elevation, we find ourselves on an
extensive table-land, in which there are slight elevations and
depressions. The white Chalk itself is scarcely ever exposed at the
surface on this plateau, although seen on the slopes of the hills,
as at b and c (Figure 7). The general surface of the upland region
is covered continuously for miles in every direction by loam or
brick-earth (Number 4), about 5 feet thick, devoid of fossils. To
the wide extent of this loam the soil of Picardy chiefly owes its
great fertility. Here and there we also observe, on the Chalk,
outlying patches of Tertiary sand and clay (Number 5, Figure 7),
with Eocene fossils, the remnants of a formation once more
extensive, and which probably once spread in one continuous mass
over the Chalk, before the present system of valleys had begun to
be shaped out. It is necessary to allude to these relics of
Tertiary strata, of which the larger part is missing, because their
denudation has contributed largely to furnish the materials of
gravels in which the flint implements and bones of extinct mammalia
are entombed. From this source have been derived not only the
regular-formed egg-shaped pebbles, so common in the old fluviatile
alluvium at all levels, but those huge masses of hard sandstone,
several feet in diameter, to which I shall allude in the sequel.
The upland loam also (Number 4) has often, in no slight degree,
been formed at the expense of the same Tertiary sands and clays, as
is attested by its becoming more or less sandy or argillaceous,
according to the nature of the nearest Eocene outlier in the
neighbourhood.

The average width of the valley of the Somme between Amiens and
Abbeville is one mile. The height, therefore, of the hills, in
relation to the river-plain, could not be correctly represented in
the annexed diagram (Figure 7), as they would have to be reduced in
altitude; or if not, it would be necessary to make the space
between c and b four times as great. The dimensions also of the
masses, of drift or alluvium, 2 and 3, have been exaggerated, in
order to render them sufficiently conspicuous; for, all important
as we shall find them to be as geological monuments of the
Pleistocene period, they form a truly insignificant feature in the
general structure of the country, so much so, that they might
easily be overlooked in a cursory survey of the district, and are
usually unnoticed in geological maps not specially devoted to the
superficial formations.

(FIGURE 7. SECTION ACROSS THE VALLEY OF THE SOMME IN PICARDY.

  1. Peat, 20 to 30 feet thick, resting on gravel, a.
  2. Lower level gravel with elephants' bones and flint tools,
     covered with fluviatile loam, 20 to 40 feet thick.
  3. Higher level gravel with similar fossils, and with overlying
     loam, in all 30 feet thick.
  4. Upland loam without shells (Limon des plateaux), 5 or 6
     feet thick.
  5. Eocene strata, resting on the Chalk in patches.)

It will be seen by the description given of the section (Figure 7)
that Number 2 indicates the lower level gravels, and Number 3 the
higher ones, or those rising to elevations of 80 or 100 feet above
the river. Newer than these is the peat Number 1, which is from 10
to 30 feet in thickness, and which is not only of later date than
the alluvium, 2 and 3, but is also posterior to the denudation of
those gravels, or to the time when the valley was excavated through
them. Underneath the peat is a bed of gravel, a, from 3 to 14 feet
thick, which rests on undisturbed Chalk. This gravel was probably
formed, in part at least, when the valley was scooped out to its
present depth, since which time no geological change has taken
place, except the growth of the peat, and certain oscillations in
the general level of the country, to which we shall allude by and
by. A thin layer of impervious clay separates the gravel a from the
peat Number 1, and seems to have been a necessary preliminary to
the growth of the peat.

PEAT OF THE VALLEY OF THE SOMME.

As hitherto, in our retrospective survey, we have been obliged, for
the sake of proceeding from the known to the less known, to reverse
the natural order of history, and to treat of the newer before the
older formations, I shall begin my account of the geological
monuments of the valley of the Somme by saying something of the
most modern of all of them, the peat. This substance occupies the
lower parts of the valley far above Amiens, and below Abbeville as
far as the sea. It has already been stated to be in some places 30
feet thick, and is even occasionally more than 30 feet,
corresponding in that respect to the Danish mosses before described
(Chapter 2). Like them, it belongs to the Recent period; all the
embedded mammalia, as well as the shells, being of the same species
as those now inhabiting Europe. The bones of quadrupeds are very
numerous, as I can bear witness, having seen them brought up from a
considerable depth near Abbeville, almost as often as the dredging
instrument was used. Besides remains of the beaver, I was shown, in
the collection of M. Boucher de Perthes, two perfect lower jaws
with teeth of the bear, Ursus arctos; and in the Paris Museum there
is another specimen, also from the Abbeville peat.

The list of mammalia already comprises a large proportion of those
proper to the Swiss lake-dwellings, and to the shell-mounds and
peat of Denmark; but unfortunately as yet no special study has been
made of the French fauna, like that by which the Danish and Swiss
zoologists and botanists have enabled us to compare the wild and
tame animals and the vegetation of the age of stone with that of
the age of iron.

Notwithstanding the abundance of mammalian bones in the peat, and
the frequency of stone implements of the Celtic and Gallo-Roman
periods, M. Boucher de Perthes has only met with three or four
fragments of human skeletons.

At some depth in certain places in the valley near Abbeville, the
trunks of alders have been found standing erect as they grew, with
their roots fixed in an ancient soil, afterwards covered with peat.
Stems of the hazel, and nuts of the same, abound; trunks, also, of
the oak and walnut. The peat extends to the coast, and is there
seen passing under the sand-dunes and below the sea-level. At the
mouth of the river Canche, which joins the sea near the embouchure
of the Somme, yew trees, firs, oaks, and hazels have been dug out
of peat, which is there worked for fuel, and is about three feet
thick.* (* D'Archiac, "Histoire des Progres" volume 2 page 154.)
During great storms, large masses of compact peat, enclosing trunks
of flattened trees, have been thrown up on the coast at the mouth
of the Somme; seeming to indicate that there has been a subsidence
of the land and a consequent submergence of what was once a
westward continuation of the valley of the Somme into what is now a
part of the English Channel.

Whether the vegetation of the lowest layers of peat differed as to
the geographical distribution of some of the trees from the middle,
and this from the uppermost peat, as in Denmark, has not yet been
ascertained; nor have careful observations been made with a view of
calculating the minimum of time which the accumulation of so dense
a mass of vegetable matter must have taken. A foot in thickness of
highly compressed peat, such as is sometimes reached in the bottom
of the bogs, is obviously the equivalent in time of a much greater
thickness of peat of spongy and loose texture, found near the
surface. The workmen who cut peat, or dredge it up from the bottom
of swamps and ponds, declare that in the course of their lives none
of the hollows which they have found, or caused by extracting peat,
have ever been refilled, even to a small extent. They deny,
therefore, that the peat grows. This, as M. Boucher de Perthes
observes, is a mistake; but it implies that the increase in one
generation is not very appreciable by the unscientific.

The antiquary finds near the surface Gallo-Roman remains, and still
deeper Celtic weapons of the stone period. [Note 14.] But the depth
at which Roman works of art occur varies in different places, and
is no sure test of age; because in some parts of the swamps,
especially near the river, the peat is often so fluid that heavy
substances may sink through it, carried down by their own gravity.
In one case, however, M. Boucher de Perthes observed several large
flat dishes of Roman pottery, lying in a horizontal position in the
peat, the shape of which must have prevented them from sinking or
penetrating through the underlying peat. Allowing about fourteen
centuries for the growth of the superincumbent vegetable matter, he
calculated that the thickness gained in a hundred years would be no
more than three centimetres.* (* "Antiquites Celtiques" volume 2
page 134.) This rate of increase would demand so many thousands of
years for the formation of the entire thickness of 30 feet that we
must hesitate before adopting it as a chronometric scale. Yet, by
multiplying observations of this kind, and bringing one to bear
upon and check another, we may eventually succeed in obtaining data
for estimating the age of the peaty deposit. [Note 15.]

The rate of increase in Denmark may not be applicable to France;
because differences in the humidity of the climate, or in the
intensity and duration of summer's heat and winter's cold, as well
as diversity in the species of plants which most abound, would
cause the peat to grow more or less rapidly, not only when we
compare two distinct countries in Europe, but the same country at
two successive periods.

I have already alluded to some facts which favour the idea that
there has been a change of level on the coast since the peat began
to grow. This conclusion seems confirmed by the mere thickness of
peat at Abbeville, and the occurrence of alder and hazel-wood near
the bottom of it. If 30 feet of peat were now removed, the sea
would flow up and fill the valley for miles above Abbeville. Yet
this vegetable matter is all of supra-marine origin, for where
shells occur in it they are all of terrestrial or fluviatile kinds,
so that it must have grown above the sea-level when the land was
more elevated than now. We have already seen what changes in the
relative level of sea and land have occurred in Scotland
subsequently to the time of the Romans, and are therefore prepared
to meet with proofs of similar movements in Picardy. In that
country they have probably not been confined simply to subsidence,
but have comprised oscillations in the level of the land, by which
marine shells of the Pleistocene period have been raised some 10
feet or more above the level of the sea.

Small as is the progress hitherto made in interpreting the pages of
the peaty record, their importance in the valley of the Somme is
enhanced by the reflection that, whatever be the number of
centuries to which they relate, they belong to times posterior to
the ancient implement-bearing beds, which we are next to consider,
and are even separated from them, as we shall see, by an interval
far greater than that which divides the earliest strata of the peat
from the latest.

FLINT IMPLEMENTS OF THE PLEISTOCENE PERIOD IN THE VALLEY OF THE
SOMME.

The alluvium of the valley of the Somme exhibits nothing
extraordinary or exceptional in its position or external
appearance, nor in the arrangement or composition of its materials,
nor in its organic remains; in all these characters it might be
matched by the drift of a hundred other valleys in France or
England. Its claim to our peculiar attention is derived from the
wonderful number of flint tools, of a very antique type, which, as
stated in the last chapter, occur in undisturbed strata, associated
with the bones of extinct quadrupeds.

As much doubt has been cast on the question, whether the so-called
flint hatchets have really been shaped by the hands of Man, it will
be desirable to begin by satisfying the reader's mind on that
point, before inviting him to study the details of sections of
successive beds of mud, sand, and gravel, which vary considerably
even in contiguous localities.

Since the spring of 1859, I have paid three visits to the Valley of
the Somme, and examined all the principal localities of these flint
tools. In my excursions around Abbeville, I was accompanied by M.
Boucher de Perthes, and during one of my explorations in the Amiens
district, by Mr. Prestwitch. The first time I entered the pits at
St. Acheul, I obtained seventy flint instruments, all of them
collected from the drift in the course of the preceding five or six
weeks. The two prevailing forms of these tools are represented in
the annexed Figures 8 and 9, each of which are half the size of the
originals; the first being the spear-headed form, varying in length
from six to eight inches; the second, the oval form, which is not
unlike some stone implements, used to this day as hatchets and
tomahawks by natives of Australia, but with this difference, that
the edge in the Australian weapons (as in the case of those called
celts in Europe) has been produced by friction, whereas the cutting
edge in the old tools of the valley of the Somme was always gained
by the simple fracture of the flint, and by the repetition of many
dexterous blows.

The oval-shaped Australian weapons, however, differ in being
sharpened at one end only. The other, though reduced by fracture to
the same general form, is left rough, in which state it is fixed
into a cleft stick, which serves as a handle. To this it is firmly
bound by thin straps of opossum's hide. One of these tools, now in
my possession, was given me by Mr. Farquharson of Haughton, who saw
a native using it in 1854 on the Auburn river, in Burnet district,
North Australia.

Out of more than a hundred flint implements which I obtained at St.
Acheul, not a few had their edges more or less fractured or worn,
either by use as instruments before they were buried in gravel, or
by being rolled in the river's bed.

Some of these tools were probably used as weapons, both of war and
of the chase, others to grub up roots, cut down trees, and scoop
out canoes. Some of them may have served, as Mr. Prestwich has
suggested, for cutting holes in the ice both for fishing and for
obtaining water, as will be explained in the eighth chapter when we
consider the arguments in favour of the higher level drift having
belonged to a period when the rivers were frozen over for several
months every winter.

(FIGURE 8. FLINT IMPLEMENT FROM ST. ACHEUL, NEAR AMIENS,
   OF THE SPEAR-HEAD SHAPE
     (half the size of the original, which is 7 1/2 inches long).

  a. Side view.
  b. Same seen edgewise.

These spear-headed implements have been found in greater number,
proportionally to the oval ones, in the upper level gravel at St.
Acheul, than in any of the lower gravels in the valley of the
Somme. In these last the oval form predominates, especially at
Abbeville.)

When the natural form of a Chalk-flint presented a suitable handle
at one end, as in the specimen, Figure 10, that part was left as
found. The portion, for example, between b and c has probably not
been altered; the protuberances which are fractured having been
broken off by river action before the flint was chipped
artificially. The other extremity, a, has been worked till it
acquired a proper shape and cutting edge.

(FIGURES 9 AND 10. FLINT IMPLEMENTS FROM THE PLEISTOCENE DRIFT OF
ABBEVILLE AND AMIENS.

FIGURE 9. a. OVAL-SHAPED FLINT HATCHET FROM MAUTORT,
   NEAR ABBEVILLE,

  half size of original, which is 5 1/2 inches long, from
  a bed of gravel underlying the fluvio-marine stratum. b. Same seen
  edgewise. c. Shows a recent fracture of the edge of the same at the
  point a, or near the top. This portion of the tool, c, is drawn of
  the natural size, the black central part being the unaltered flint,
  the white outer coating, the layer which has been formed by
  discoloration or bleaching since the tool was first made. The
  entire surface of Number 9 must have been black when first shaped,
  and the bleaching to such a depth must have been the work of time,
  whether produced by exposure to the sun and air before it was
  embedded, or afterwards when it lay deep in the soil.

FIGURE 10. FLINT TOOL FROM ST. ACHEUL, seen edgewise;
    original 6 1/2 inches long, and 3 inches wide.

  b, c. Portion not artificially shaped.
  a, b. Part chipped into shape, and having a cutting edge at a.)

Many of the hatchets are stained of an ochreous-yellow colour, when
they have been buried in yellow gravel, others have acquired white
or brown tints, according to the matrix in which they have been
enclosed.

This accordance in the colouring of the flint tools with the
character of the bed from which they have come, indicates, says Mr.
Prestwich, not only a real derivation from such strata, but also a
sojourn therein of equal duration to that of the naturally broken
flints forming part of the same beds.* (* "Philosophical
Transactions" 1861 page 297.)

(FIGURES 11, 12 AND 13. DENDRITES ON SURFACES OF FLINT HATCHETS IN
THE DRIFT OF ST. ACHEUL, NEAR AMIENS.

FIGURE 11. a. Natural size.

FIGURE 12. b. Natural size. c. Magnified.

FIGURE 13. d. Natural size.
   e. Magnified.)

The surface of many of the tools is encrusted with a film of
carbonate of lime, while others are adorned by those ramifying
crystallisations called dendrites (see Figures 11, 12 and 13),
usually consisting of the mixed oxides of iron and manganese,
forming extremely delicate blackish brown sprigs, resembling the
smaller kinds of sea weed. They are a useful test of antiquity when
suspicions are entertained of the workmen having forged the
hatchets which they offer for sale. The most general test, however,
of the genuineness of the implements obtained by purchase is their
superficial varnish-like or vitreous gloss, as contrasted with the
dull aspect of freshly fractured flints. I also remarked, during
each of my three visits to Amiens, that there were some extensive
gravel-pits, such as those of Montiers and St. Roch, agreeing in
their geological character with those of St. Acheul, and only a
mile or two distant, where the workmen, although familiar with the
forms, and knowing the marketable value of the articles above
described, assured me that they had never been able to find a
single implement.

Respecting the authenticity of the tools as works of art, Professor
Ramsay, than whom no one could be a more competent judge, observes:
"For more than twenty years, like others of my craft, I have daily
handled stones, whether fashioned by nature or art; and the flint
hatchets of Amiens and Abbeville seem to me as clearly works of art
as any Sheffield whittle."* (* "Athenaeum" July 16, 1859.)

Mr. Evans classifies the implements under three heads, two of
which, the spear heads and the oval or almond-shaped kinds, have
already been described. The third form (Figure 14) consists of
flakes, apparently intended for knives or some of the smaller ones
for arrow heads.

(FIGURE 14. FLINT KNIFE OR FLAKE FROM BELOW THE SAND CONTAINING
CYRENA FLUMINALIS. MENCHECOURT, ABBEVILLE.
   d. Transverse section along the line of fracture, b, c.
   Size, two-thirds of the original.
)

In regard to their origin, Mr. Evans observes that there is a
uniformity of shape, a correctness of outline, and a sharpness
about the cutting edges and points, which cannot be due to anything
but design.* (* "Archaeologia" volume 38.)

Of these knives and flakes, I obtained several specimens from a pit
which I caused to be dug at Abbeville, in sand in contact with the
Chalk, and below certain fluvio-marine beds, which will be alluded
to in the next chapter.

Between the spear-head and oval shapes, there are various
intermediate gradations, and there are also a vast variety of very
rude implements, many of which may have been rejected as failures,
and others struck off as chips in the course of manufacturing the
more perfect ones. Some of these chips can only be recognised by an
experienced eye as bearing marks of human workmanship.

It has often been asked, how, without the use of metallic hammers,
so many of these oval and spear-headed tools could have been
wrought into so uniform a shape. Mr. Evans, in order experimentally
to illustrate the process, constructed a stone hammer, by mounting
a pebble in a wooden handle, and with this tool struck off flakes
from the edge on both sides of a Chalk flint, till it acquired
precisely the same shape as the oval tool, Figure 9.

If I were invited to estimate the probable number of the more
perfect tools found in the valley of the Somme since 1842,
rejecting all the knives, and all that might be suspected of being
spurious or forged, I should conjecture that they far exceeded a
thousand. Yet it would be a great mistake to imagine that an
antiquary or geologist, who should devote a few weeks to the
exploration of such a valley as that of the Somme, would himself be
able to detect a single specimen. But few tools were lying on the
surface. The rest have been exposed to view by the removal of such
a volume of sand, clay, and gravel, that the price of the discovery
of one of them could only be estimated by knowing how many hundred
labourers have toiled at the fortifications of Abbeville, or in the
sand and gravel pits near that city, and around Amiens, for road
materials and other economic purposes, during the last twenty
years.

(FIGURE 15. FOSSILS OF THE WHITE CHALK.

a, b. Coscinopora globularis, D'Orbigny. Orbitolina concava,
Parker and Jones. c. Part of same magnified.)

In the gravel pits of St. Acheul, and in some others near Amiens,
small round bodies, having a tubular cavity in the centre, occur.
They are well known as fossils of the White Chalk. Dr. Rigollot
suggested that they might have been strung together as beads, and
he supposed the hole in the middle to have been artificial. Some of
these round bodies are found entire in the Chalk and in the gravel,
others have naturally a hole passing through them, and sometimes
one or two holes penetrating some way in from the surface, but not
extending to the other side. Others, like b, Figure 15, have a
large cavity, which has a very artificial aspect. It is impossible
to decide whether they have or have not served as personal
ornaments, recommended by their globular form, lightness, and by
being less destructible than ordinary Chalk. Granting that there
were natural cavities in the axis of some of them, it does not
follow that these may not have been taken advantage of for
stringing them as beads, while others may have been artificially
bored through. Dr. Rigollot's argument in favour of their having
been used as necklaces or bracelets, appears to me a sound one. He
says he often found small heaps or groups of them in one place, all
perforated, just as if, when swept into the river's bed by a flood,
the bond which had united them together remained unbroken.* (*
Rigollot, "Memoire sur des Instruments en Silex" etc., Amiens 1854
page 16.)


CHAPTER 8.

PLEISTOCENE ALLUVIUM WITH FLINT IMPLEMENTS OF THE VALLEY
   OF THE SOMME--CONCLUDED.

Fluvio-marine Strata, with Flint Implements, near Abbeville.
Marine Shells in same.
Cyrena fluminalis.
Mammalia.
Entire Skeleton of Rhinoceros.
Flint Implements, why found low down in Fluviatile Deposits.
Rivers shifting their Channels.
Relative Ages of higher and lower-level Gravels.
Section of Alluvium of St. Acheul.
Two Species of Elephant and Hippopotamus coexisting with Man
   in France.
Volume of Drift, proving Antiquity of Flint Implements.
Absence of Human Bones in tool-bearing Alluvium, how explained.
Value of certain Kinds of negative Evidence tested thereby.
Human Bones not found in drained Lake of Haarlem.

In the section of the valley of the Somme given in Figure 7, the
successive formations newer than the Chalk are numbered in
chronological order, beginning with the most modern, or the peat,
which is marked Number 1, and which has been treated of in the last
chapter. Next in the order of antiquity are the lower-level
gravels, Number 2, which we have now to describe; after which the
alluvium, Number 3, found at higher levels, or about 80 and 100
feet above the river-plain, will remain to be considered.

I have selected, as illustrating the old alluvium of the Somme
occurring at levels slightly elevated above the present river, the
sand and gravel-pits of Menchecourt, in the northwest suburbs of
Abbeville, to which, as before stated, attention was first drawn by
M. Boucher de Perthes, in his work on Celtic antiquities. Here,
although in every adjoining pit some minor variations in the nature
and thickness of the superimposed deposits may be seen, there is
yet a general approach to uniformity in the series. The only
stratum of which the relative age is somewhat doubtful, is the
gravel marked a, underlying the peat, and resting on the Chalk. It
is only known by borings, and some of it may be of the same age as
Number 3; but I believe it to be for the most part of more modern
origin, consisting of the wreck of all the older gravel, including
Number 3, and formed during the last hollowing out and deepening of
the valley immediately before the commencement of the growth of
peat.

The greater number of flint implements have been dug out of Number
3, often near the bottom, and twenty-five, thirty, or even more
than thirty feet below the surface of Number 1.

A geologist will perceive by a glance at the section that the
valley of the Somme must have been excavated nearly to its present
depth and width when the strata of Number 3 were thrown down, and
that after the deposits Numbers 3, 2, and 1 had been formed in
succession, the present valley was scooped out, patches only of
Numbers 3 and 2 being left. For these deposits cannot originally
have ended abruptly as they now do, but must have once been
continuous farther towards the centre of the valley.

(FIGURE 16. SECTION OF FLUVIO-MARINE STRATA, CONTAINING FLINT
   IMPLEMENTS AND BONES OF EXTINCT MAMMALIA, AT MENCHECOURT,
   ABBEVILLE.*
      (* For detailed sections and maps of this district, see
        Prestwich, "Philosophical Transactions" 1860 page 277.)

  1. Brown clay with angular flints, and occasionally Chalk rubble,
     unstratified, following the slope of the hill, probably of
     subaerial origin, of very varying thickness, from 2 to 5 feet
     and upwards.
  2. Calcareous loam, buff-coloured, resembling loess, for the most
     part unstratified, in some places with slight traces of
     stratification, containing freshwater and land shells, with
     bones of elephants, etc.; thickness about 15 feet.
  3. Alternations of beds of gravel, marl, and sand, with
     freshwater and land shells, and, in some of the lower sands,
     a mixture of marine shells; also bones of elephant, rhinoceros,
     etc., and flint implements; thickness about 12 feet.
  a. Gravel underlying peat, age undetermined.
  b. Layer of impervious clay, separating the gravel from the peat.)

To begin with the oldest, Number 3, it is made up of a succession
of beds, chiefly of freshwater origin, but occasionally a mixture
of marine and fluviatile shells is observed in it, proving that the
sea sometimes gained upon the river, whether at high tides or when
the fresh water was less in quantity during the dry season, and
sometimes perhaps when the land was slightly depressed in level.
All these accidents might occur again and again at the mouth of any
river, and give rise to alternations of fluviatile and marine
strata, such as are seen at Menchecourt.

In the lowest beds of gravel and sand in contact with the Chalk,
flint hatchets, some perfect, others much rolled, have been found;
and in a sandy bed in this position some workmen, whom I employed
to sink a pit, found four flint knives. Above this sand and gravel
occur beds of white and siliceous sand, containing shells of the
genera Planorbis, Limnea, Paludina, Valvata, Cyclas, Cyrena, Helix,
and others, all now natives of the same part of France, except
Cyrena fluminalis (Figure 17), which no longer lives in Europe, but
inhabits the Nile, and many parts of Asia, including Cashmere,
where it abounds. No species of Cyrena is now met with in a living
state in Europe. Mr. Prestwich first observed it fossil at
Menchecourt, and it has since been found in two or three contiguous
sand-pits, always in the fluvio-marine bed. [Note 16.]

(FIGURE 17. Cyrena fluminalis, O.F. Muller, sp.*
    (* For synonyms, see S. Woodward "Tibet Shells" "Proceedings
    of the Zoological Society" July 8, 1856.)

  a. Interior of left valve, from Gray's Thurrock, Essex.
  b. Hinge of the same magnified.
  c. Interior of right valve of a small specimen, from Shacklewell,
     London.
  d. Outer surface of right valve, from Erith, Kent.)

TABLE 8/1. DATES OF SPECIFIC NAMES.

COLUMN 1 : SPECIES.

COLUMN 2 : DATE.

LIVING:

Tellina fluminalis, O.F. Muller : 1774.
Venus fluminalis Euphratis, Chemnitz : 1782.
Cyclas Euphratica, Lam. : 1806.
Cyrena cor, Lam. (Nile): 1818.
Cyrena consobrina, Caillaud (Nile) : 1823.
Cyrena Cashmiriensis, Desh. :
Corbicuia fluminalis, Muhlfeldt. : 1811.

FOSSIL:

Cyrena trigonula, S. Woodward : 1834.
Cyrena Gemmellarii, Philippi : 1836.
Cyrena Duchastelii, Nyst : 1838.

The following marine shells occur mixed with the freshwater species
above enumerated:--Buccinum undatum, Littorina littorea, Nassa
reticulata, Purpura lapillus, Tellina solidula, Cardium edule, and
fragments of some others. Several of these I have myself collected
entire, though in a state of great decomposition, lying in the
white sand called "sable aigre" by the workmen. They are all
littoral species now proper to the contiguous coast of France.
Their occurrence in a fossil state associated with freshwater
shells at Menchecourt had been noticed as long ago as 1836 by MM.
Ravin and Baillon, before M. Boucher de Perthes commenced the
researches which have since made the locality so celebrated.* (*
D'Archiac, "Histoire des Progres" etc. volume 2 page 154.) The
numbers since collected preclude all idea of their having been
brought inland as eatable shells by the fabricators of the flint
hatchets found at the bottom of the fluvio-marine sands. From the
same beds, and in marls alternating with the sands, remains of the
elephant, rhinoceros, and other mammalia have been exhumed.

Above the fluvio-marine strata are those designated Number 2 in the
section (Figure 16), which are almost devoid of stratification, and
probably formed of mud or sediment thrown down by the waters of the
river when they overflowed the ancient alluvial plain of that day.
Some land shells, a few river shells, and bones of mammalia, some
of them extinct, occur in Number 2. Its upper surface has been
deeply furrowed and cut into by the action of water, at the time
when the earthy matter of Number 1 was superimposed. The materials
of this uppermost deposit are arranged as if they had been the
result of land floods, taking place after the formations 2 and 3
had been raised, or had become exposed to denudation.

The fluvio-marine strata and overlying loam of Menchecourt recur on
the opposite or left bank of the alluvial plain of the Somme, at a
distance of 2 or 3 miles. They are found at Mautort, among other
places, and I obtained there the flint hatchet shown in Figure 9,
of an oval form. It was extracted from gravel, above which were
strata containing a mixture of marine and freshwater shells,
precisely like those of Menchecourt. In the alluvium of all parts
of the valley, both at high and low levels, rolled bones are
sometimes met with in the gravel. Some of the flint tools in the
gravel of Abbeville have their angles very perfect, others have
been much triturated, as if in the bed of the main river or some of
its tributaries.

The mammalia most frequently cited as having been found in the
deposits Numbers 2 and 3 at Menchecourt, are the following:--

Elephas primigenius.
Rhinoceros tichorhinus.
Equus fossilis, Owen.
Bos primigenius.
Cervus somonensis, Cuvier.
C. tarandus priscus, Cuvier.
Felis spelaea.
Hyaena spelaea.

The Ursus spelaeus has also been mentioned by some writers; but M.
Lartet says he has sought in vain for it among the osteological
treasures sent from Abbeville to Cuvier at Paris, and in other
collections. The same palaeontologist, after a close scrutiny of
the bones sent formerly to the Paris Museum from the valley of the
Somme, observed that some of them bore the evident marks of an
instrument, agreeing well with incisions such as a rude flint-saw
would produce. Among other bones mentioned as having been thus
artificially cut, are those of a Rhinoceros tichorhinus, and the
antlers of Cervus somonensis.* (* "Quarterly Journal of the
Geological Society" volume 16 1860 page 471.)

The evidence obtained by naturalists that some of the extinct
mammalia of Menchecourt really lived and died in this part of
France, at the time of the embedding of the flint tools in
fluviatile strata, is most satisfactory; and not the less so for
having been put on record long before any suspicion was entertained
that works of art would ever be detected in the same beds. Thus M.
Baillon, writing in 1834 to M. Ravin, says: "They begin to meet
with fossil bones at the depth of 10 or 12 feet in the Menchecourt
sand-pits, but they find a much greater quantity at the depth of 18
and 20 feet. Some of them were evidently broken before they were
embedded, others are rounded, having, without doubt, been rolled by
running water. It is at the bottom of the sand-pits that the most
entire bones occur. Here they lie without having undergone fracture
or friction, and seem to have been articulated together at the time
when they were covered up. I found in one place a whole hind limb
of a rhinoceros, the bones of which were still in their true
relative position. They must have been joined together by
ligaments, and even surrounded by muscles at the time of their
interment. The entire skeleton of the same species was lying at a
short distance from the spot."* (* "Societe Roy. d'Emulation
d'Abbeville" 1834 page 197.)

If we suppose that the greater number of the flint implements
occurring in the neighbourhood of Abbeville and Amiens were brought
by river action into their present position, we can at once explain
why so large a proportion of them are found at considerable depths
from the surface, for they would naturally be buried in gravel and
not in fine sediment, or what may be termed "inundation mud," such
as Number 2 (Figure 16), a deposit from tranquil water, or where
the stream had not sufficient force or velocity to sweep along
Chalk flints, whether wrought or unwrought. Hence we have almost
always to pass down through a mass of incumbent loam with land
shells, or through fine sand with freshwater molluscs, before we
get into the beds of gravel containing hatchets. Occasionally a
weapon used as a projectile may have fallen into quiet water, or
may have dropped from a canoe to the bottom of the river, or may
have been floated by ice, as are some stones occasionally by the
Thames in severe winters, and carried over the meadows bordering
its banks; but such cases are exceptional, though helping to
explain how isolated flint tools or pebbles and angular stones are
now and then to be seen in the midst of the finest loams.

The endless variety in the sections of the alluvium of the valley
of the Somme, may be ascribed to the frequent silting up of the
main stream and its tributaries during different stages of the
excavation of the valley, probably also during changes in the level
of the land. As a rule, when a river attacks and undermines one
bank, it throws down gravel and sand on the opposite side of its
channel, which is growing somewhere shallower, and is soon destined
to be raised so high as to form an addition to the alluvial plain,
and to be only occasionally inundated. In this way, after much
encroachment on cliff or meadow at certain points, we find at the
end of centuries that the width of the channel has not been
enlarged, for the new made ground is raised after a time to the
average height of the older alluvial tract. Sometimes an island is
formed in midstream, the current flowing for a while on both sides
of it, and at length scooping out a deeper channel on one side so
as to leave the other to be gradually filled up during freshets and
afterwards elevated by inundation mud, or "brick-earth." During the
levelling up of these old channels, a flood sometimes cuts into and
partially removes portions of the previously stratified matter,
causing those repeated signs of furrowing and filling up of
cavities, those memorials of doing and undoing, of which the
tool-bearing sands and gravels of Abbeville and Amiens afford such
reiterated illustrations, and of which a parallel is furnished by
the ancient alluvium of the Thames valley, where similar bones of
extinct mammalia and shells, including Cyrena fluminalis, are
found.

Professor Noeggerath, of Bonn, informs me that, about the year
1845, when the bed of the Rhine was deepened artificially by the
blasting and removal of rock in the narrows at Bingerloch, not far
from Bingen, several flint hatchets and an extraordinary number of
iron weapons of the Roman period were brought up by the dredge from
the bed of the great river. The decomposition of the iron had
caused much of the gravel to be cemented together into a
conglomerate. In such a case we have only to suppose the Rhine to
deviate slightly from its course, changing its position, as it has
often done in various parts of its plain in historical times, and
then tools of the stone and iron periods would be found in gravel
at the bottom with a great thickness of sand and overlying loam
deposited above them.

Changes in a river plain, such as those above alluded to, give rise
frequently to ponds, swamps, and marshes, marking the course of old
beds or branches of the river not yet filled up, and in these
depressions shells proper both to running and stagnant water may be
preserved, and quadrupeds may be mired. The latest and uppermost
deposit of the series will be loam or brick-earth, with land and
amphibious shells (Helix and Succinea), while below will follow
strata containing freshwater shells, implying continuous
submergence; and lowest of all in most sections will be the coarse
gravel accumulated by a current of considerable strength and
velocity.

When the St. Katharine docks were excavated at London, and similar
works executed on the banks of the Mersey, old ships were dug out,
as I have elsewhere noticed,* (* "Principles of Geology" 10th
edition volume 2 page 547.) showing how the Thames and Mersey have
in modern times been shifting their channels. Recently, an old
silted-up bed of the Thames has been discovered by boring at
Shoeburyness at the mouth of the river opposite Sheerness, as I
learn from Mr. Mylne. The old deserted branch is separated from the
new or present channel of the Thames, by a mass of London Clay
which has escaped denudation. The depth of the old branch, or the
thickness of fluviatile strata with which it has been filled up, is
75 feet. The actual channel in the neighbourhood is now 60 feet
deep, but there is probably 10 or 15 feet of stratified sand and
gravel at the bottom; so that, should the river deviate again from
its course, its present bed might be the receptacle of a
fluvio-marine formation 75 feet thick, equal to the former one of
Shoeburyness, and more considerable than that of Abbeville. It
would consist both of freshwater and marine strata, as the salt
water is carried by the tide far up above Sheerness; but in order
that such deposits should resemble, in geological position, the
Menchecourt beds, they must be raised 10 or 15 feet above their
present level, and be partially eroded. Such erosion they would not
fail to suffer during the process of upheaval, because the Thames
would scour out its bed, and not alter its position relatively to
the sea, while the land was gradually rising.

Before the canal was made at Abbeville, the tide was perceptible in
the Somme for some distance above that city. It would only require,
therefore, a slight subsidence to allow the salt water to reach
Menchecourt, as it did in the Pleistocene period. As a stratum
containing exclusively land and freshwater shells usually underlies
the fluvio-marine sands at Menchecourt, it seems that the river
first prevailed there, after which the land subsided; and then
there was an upheaval which raised the country to a greater height
than that at which it now stands, after which there was a second
sinking, indicated by the position of the peat, as already
explained. All these changes happened since Man first inhabited
this region.

At several places in the environs of Abbeville there are fluviatile
deposits at a higher level by 50 feet than the uppermost beds at
Menchecourt, resting in like manner on the Chalk. One of these
occurs in the suburbs of the city at Moulin Quignon, 100 feet above
the Somme and on the same side of the valley as Menchecourt, and
containing flint implements of the same antique type and the bones
of elephants; but no marine shells have been found there, nor in
any gravel or sand at higher elevations than the Menchecourt marine
shells.

It has been a matter of discussion among geologists whether the
higher or the lower sands and gravels of the Somme valley are the
more ancient. As a general rule, when there are alluvial formations
of different ages in the same valley, those which occupy a more
elevated position above the river plain are the oldest. In Auvergne
and Velay, in Central France, where the bones of fossil quadrupeds
occur at all heights above the present rivers from 10 to 1000 feet,
we observe the terrestrial fauna to depart in character from that
now living in proportion as we ascend to higher terraces and
platforms. We pass from the lower alluvium, containing the mammoth,
tichorhine rhinoceros, and reindeer, to various older groups of
fossils, till, on a tableland 1000 feet high (near Le Puy, for
example), the abrupt termination of which overlooks the present
valley, we discover an old extinct river-bed covered by a current
of ancient lava, showing where the lowest level was once situated.
In that elevated alluvium the remains of a Tertiary mastodon and
other quadrupeds of like antiquity are embedded.

If the Menchecourt beds had been first formed, and the valley,
after being nearly as deep and wide as it is now, had subsided, the
sea must have advanced inland, causing small delta-like
accumulations at successive heights, wherever the main river and
its tributaries met the sea. Such a movement, especially if it were
intermittent, and interrupted occasionally by long pauses, would
very well account for the accumulation of stratified debris which
we encounter at certain points in the valley, especially around
Abbeville and Amiens. But we are precluded from adopting this
theory by the entire absence of marine shells, and the presence of
freshwater and land species, and mammalian bones, in considerable
abundance, in the drift both of higher and lower levels above
Abbeville. Had there been a total absence of all organic remains,
we might have imagined the former presence of the sea, and the
destruction of such remains might have been ascribed to carbonic
acid or other decomposing causes; but the Pleistocene and
implement-bearing strata can be shown by their fossils to be of
fluviatile origin.

FLINT IMPLEMENTS IN GRAVEL NEAR AMIENS. GRAVEL OF ST. ACHEUL.

When we ascend the valley of the Somme, from Abbeville to Amiens, a
distance of about 25 miles, we observe a repetition of all the same
alluvial phenomena which we have seen exhibited at Menchecourt and
its neighbourhood, with the single exception of the absence of
marine shells and of Cyrena fluminalis. We find lower-level gravel,
such as Number 2, Figure 7, and higher-level alluvium, such as
Number 3, the latter rising to 100 feet above the plain, which at
Amiens is about 50 feet above the level of the river at Abbeville.
In both the upper and lower gravels, as Dr. Rigollot stated in
1854, flint tools and the bones of extinct animals, together with
river shells and land shells of living species, abound.

(FIGURE 18.* Elephas primigenius.
   Penultimate molar, lower jaw, right side, one-third of
   natural size, Pleistocene. Co-existed with Man.)

(FIGURE 19.* Elephas antiquus, Falconer.
   Penultimate molar, lower jaw, right side, one-third of natural
   size, Pleistocene and Newer Pliocene. Co-existed with Man.)

(FIGURE 20.* Elephas meridionalis, Nesti.
   Penultimate molar, lower jaw, right side, one-third of natural
   size, Newer Pliocene, Saint Prest, near Chartres, and
   Norwich Crag. Not yet proved to have coexisted with Man.)

(* For Figure 20 I am indebted to M. Lartet, and Figure 18 will be
found in his paper in "Bulletin de la Societe Geologique de France"
March 1859. Figure 19 is from Falconer and Cautley "Fauna
Sivalensis.")

Immediately below Amiens, a great mass of stratified gravel,
slightly elevated above the alluvial plain of the Somme, is seen at
St. Roch, and half a mile farther down the valley at Montiers.
Between these two places a small tributary stream, called the
Celle, joins the Somme. In the gravel at Montiers, Mr. Prestwich
and I found some flint knives, one of them flat on one side, but
the other carefully worked, and exhibiting many fractures, clearly
produced by blows skilfully applied. Some of these knives were
taken from so low a level as to satisfy us that this great bed of
gravel at Montiers, as well as that of the contiguous quarries of
St. Roch, which seems to be a continuation of the same deposit, may
be referred to the human period. Dr. Rigollot had already mentioned
flint hatchets as obtained by him from St. Roch, but as none have
been found there of late years, his statement was thought to
require confirmation. The discovery, therefore, of these flint
knives in gravel of the same age was interesting, especially as
many tusks of a hippopotamus have been obtained from the gravel of
St. Roch--some of these recently by Mr. Prestwich; while M. Garnier
of Amiens has procured a fine elephant's molar from the same pits,
which Dr. Falconer refers to Elephas antiquus, see Figure 19. Hence
I infer that both these animals co-existed with Man.

The alluvial formations of Montiers are very instructive in another
point of view. If, leaving the lower gravel of that place, which is
topped with loam or brick-earth (of which the upper portion is
about 30 feet above the level of the Somme), we ascend the Chalk
slope to the height of about 80 feet, another deposit of gravel and
sand, with fluviatile shells in a perfect condition, occurs,
indicating most clearly an ancient river-bed, the waters of which
ran habitually at that higher level before the valley had been
scooped out to its present depth. This superior deposit is on the
same side of the Somme, and about as high, as the lowest part of
the celebrated formation of St. Acheul, 2 or 3 miles distant, to
which I shall now allude.

The terrace of St. Acheul may be described as a gently sloping
ledge of Chalk, covered with gravel, topped as usual with loam or
fine sediment, the surface of the loam being 100 feet above the
Somme, and about 150 above the sea.

Many stone coffins of the Gallo-Roman period have been dug out of
the upper portion of this alluvial mass. The trenches made for
burying them sometimes penetrate to the depth of 8 or 9 feet from
the surface, entering the upper part of Number 3 of the sections
Figures 21 and 22. They prove that when the Romans were in Gaul
they found this terrace in the same condition as it is now, or
rather as it was before the removal of so much gravel, sand, clay,
and loam, for repairing roads, and for making bricks and pottery.

(FIGURE 21. SECTION OF GRAVEL PIT CONTAINING FLINT IMPLEMENTS
   AT ST. ACHEUL, NEAR AMIENS, OBSERVED IN JULY 1860.

  1. Vegetable soil and made ground, 2 to 3 feet thick.
  2. Brown loam with some angular flints, in parts passing into
     ochreous gravel, filling up indentations on the surface
     of Number 3, 3 feet thick.
  3. White siliceous sand with layers of chalky marl, and included
     fragments of Chalk, for the most part unstratified, 9 feet.
  4. Flint-gravel, and whitish chalky sand, flints subangular,
     average size of fragments, 3 inches diameter, but with some
     large unbroken Chalk flints intermixed, cross stratification
     in parts. Bones of mammalia, grinder of elephant at b, and
     flint implement at c, 10 to 14 feet.
  5. Chalk with flints.
  a. Part of elephant's molar, 11 feet from the surface.
  b. Entire molar of Elephas primigenius, 17 feet from the surface.
  c. Position of flint hatchet, 18 feet from the surface.)

In the annexed section (Figure 21), which I observed during my last
visit in 1860, it will be seen that a fragment of an elephant's
tooth is noticed as having been dug out of unstratified sandy loam
at the point a, 11 feet from the surface. This was found at the
time of my visit; and at a lower point, at b, 18 feet from the
surface, a large nearly entire and unrolled molar of the same
species was obtained, which is now in my possession. It has been
pronounced by Dr. Falconer to belong to Elephas primigenius.

A stone hatchet of an oval form, like that represented at Figure 9,
was discovered at the same time, about one foot lower down, at c,
in densely compressed gravel. The surface of the fundamental Chalk
is uneven in this pit, and slopes towards the valley-plain of the
Somme. In a horizontal distance of 20 feet, I found a difference in
vertical height of 7 feet. In the chalky sand, sometimes occurring
in interstices between the separate fragments of flint,
constituting the coarse gravel Number 4, entire as well as broken
freshwater shells are often met with. To some it may appear
enigmatical how such fragile objects could have escaped
annihilation in a river-bed, when flint tools and much gravel were
shoved along the bottom; but I have seen the dredging instrument
employed in the Thames, above and below London Bridge, to deepen
the river, and worked by steam power, scoop up gravel and sand from
the bottom, and then pour the contents pell-mell into the boat, and
still many specimens of Limnaea, Planorbis, Paludina, Cyclas, and
other shells might be taken out uninjured from the gravel.

It will be observed that the gravel Number 4 is obliquely
stratified, and that its surface had undergone denudation before
the white sandy loam Number 3 was superimposed. The materials of
the gravel at d must have been cemented or frozen together into a
somewhat coherent mass to allow the projecting ridge, d, to stand
up 5 feet above the general surface, the sides being in some places
perpendicular. In Number 3 we probably behold an example of a
passage from river-silt to inundation mud. In some parts of it,
land shells occur.

It has been ascertained by MM. Buteux, Ravin, and other observers
conversant with the geology of this part of France, that in none of
the alluvial deposits, ancient or modern, are there any fragments
of rocks foreign to the basin of the Somme--no erratics which could
only be explained by supposing them to have been brought by ice,
during a general submergence of the country, from some other
hydrographical basin.

But in some of the pits at St. Acheul there are seen in the beds
Number 4, Figure 21, not only well-rounded Tertiary pebbles, but
great blocks of hard sandstone, of the kind called in the south of
England "greywethers," some of which are 3 or 4 feet and upwards in
diameter. They are usually angular, and when spherical owe their
shape generally to an original concretionary structure, and not to
trituration in a river's bed. These large fragments of stone abound
both in the higher and lower level gravels round Amiens and at the
higher level at Abbeville. They have also been traced far up the
valley above Amiens, wherever patches of the old alluvium occur.
They have all been derived from the Tertiary strata which once
covered the Chalk. Their dimensions are such that it is impossible
to imagine a river like the present Somme, flowing through a flat
country, with a gentle fall towards the sea, to have carried them
for miles down its channel unless ice co-operated as a transporting
power. Their angularity also favours the supposition of their
having been floated by ice, or rendered so buoyant by it as to have
escaped much of the wear and tear which blocks propelled along the
bottom of a river channel would otherwise suffer. We must remember
that the present mildness of the winters in Picardy and the
northwest of Europe generally is exceptional in the northern
hemisphere, and that large fragments of granite, sandstone, and
limestone are now carried annually by ice down the Canadian rivers
in latitudes farther south than Paris.* (* "Principles of Geology"
9th edition page 220.)

(FIGURE 22. CONTORTED FLUVIATILE STRATA AT ST. ACHEUL
   (Prestwich, "Philosophical Transactions" 1861, page 299).

  1. Surface soil.
  2. Brown loam as in Figure 21, thickness, 6 feet.
  3. White sand with bent and folded layers of marl, thickness,
     6 feet.
  4. Gravel, as in Figure 21, with bones of mammalia and flint
      implements.
  A. Graves filled with made ground and human bones.
  b and c. Seams of laminated marl often bent round upon themselves.
  d. Beds of gravel with sharp curves.)

Another sign of ice agency, of which Mr. Prestwich has given a good
illustration in one of his published sections, and which I myself
observed in several pits at St. Acheul, deserves notice. It
consists in flexures and contortions of the strata of sand, marl,
and gravel (as seen at b, c, and d, Figure 22), which they have
evidently undergone since their original deposition, and from which
both the underlying Chalk and part of the overlying beds of sand
Number 3 are usually exempt.

In my former writings I have attributed this kind of derangement to
two causes; first, the pressure of ice running aground on yielding
banks of mud and sand; and, secondly, the melting of masses of ice
and snow of unequal thickness, on which horizontal layers of mud,
sand, and other fine and coarse materials had accumulated. The late
Mr. Trimmer first pointed out in what manner the unequal failure of
support caused by the liquefaction of underlying or intercalated
snow and ice might give rise to such complicated foldings.* (* See
chapter 12.)

When "ice-jams" occur on the St. Lawrence and other Canadian rivers
(latitude 46 degrees north), the sheets of ice, which become packed
or forced under or over one another, assume in most cases a highly
inclined and sometimes even a vertical position. They are often
observed to be coated on one side with mud, sand, or gravel frozen
on to them, derived from shallows in the river on which they rested
when congelation first reached the bottom.

As often as portions of these packs melt near the margin of the
river, the layers of mud, sand, and gravel, which result from their
liquefaction, cannot fail to assume a very abnormal
arrangement--very perplexing to a geologist who should undertake to
interpret them without having the ice-clue in his mind.

Mr. Prestwich has suggested that ground-ice may have had its
influence in modifying the ancient alluvium of the Somme.* (*
Prestwich, Memoir read to Royal Society, April 1862.) It is certain
that ice in this form plays an active part every winter in giving
motion to stones and gravel in the beds of rivers in European
Russia and Siberia. It appears that when in those countries the
streams are reduced nearly to the freezing point, congelation
begins frequently at the bottom; the reason being, according to
Arago, that the current is slowest there, and the gravel and large
stones, having parted with much of their heat by radiation, acquire
a temperature below the average of the main body of the river. It
is, therefore, when the water is clear, and the sky free from
clouds, that ground ice forms most readily, and oftener on pebbly
than on muddy bottoms. Fragments of such ice, rising occasionally
to the surface, bring up with them gravel, and even large stones.

Without dwelling longer on the various ways in which ice may affect
the forms of stratification in drift, so as to cause bendings and
foldings in which the underlying or over-lying strata do not
participate, a subject to which I shall have occasion again to
allude in the sequel, I will state in this place that such
contortions, whether explicable or not, are very characteristic of
glacial formations. They have also no necessary connection with the
transportation of large blocks of stone, and they therefore afford,
as Mr. Prestwich remarks, independent proof of ice-action in the
Pleistocene gravel of the Somme.

Let us, then, suppose that, at the time when flint hatchets were
embedded in great numbers in the ancient gravel which now forms the
terrace of St. Acheul, the main river and its tributaries were
annually frozen over for several months in winter. In that case,
the primitive people may, as Mr. Prestwich hints, have resembled in
their mode of life those American Indians who now inhabit the
country between Hudson's Bay and the Polar Sea. The habits of those
Indians have been well described by Hearne, who spent some years
among them. As often as deer and other game become scarce on the
land, they betake themselves to fishing in the rivers; and for this
purpose, and also to obtain water for drinking, they are in the
constant practice of cutting round holes in the ice, a foot or more
in diameter, through which they throw baited hooks or nets. Often
they pitch their tent on the ice, and then cut such holes through
it, using ice-chisels of metal when they can get copper or iron,
but when not, employing tools of flint or hornstone.

The great accumulation of gravel at St. Acheul has taken place in
part of the valley where the tributary streams, the Noye and the
Arve, now join the Somme. These tributaries, as well as the main
river, must have been running at the height first of 100 feet, and
afterwards at various lower levels above the present valley-plain,
in those earlier times when the flint tools of the antique type
were buried in successive river beds. I have said at various
levels, because there are, here and there, patches of drift at
heights intermediate between the higher and lower gravel, and also
some deposits, showing that the river once flowed at elevations
above as well as below the level of the platform of St. Acheul. As
yet, however, no patch of gravel skirting the valley at heights
exceeding 100 feet above the Somme has yielded flint tools or other
signs of the former sojourn of Man in this region.

Possibly, in the earlier geographical condition of this country,
the confluence of tributaries with the Somme afforded inducements
to a hunting and fishing tribe to settle there, and some of the
same natural advantages may have caused the first inhabitants of
Amiens and Abbeville to fix on the same sites for their dwellings.
If the early hunting and fishing tribes frequented the same spots
for hundreds or thousands of years in succession, the number of the
stone implements lost in the bed of the river need not surprise us.
Ice-chisels, flint hatchets, and spear-heads may have slipped
accidentally through holes kept constantly open, and the recovery
of a lost treasure once sunk in the bed of the ice-bound stream,
inevitably swept away with gravel on the breaking up of the ice in
the spring, would be hopeless. During a long winter, in a country
affording abundance of flint, the manufacture of tools would be
continually in progress; and, if so, thousands of chips and flakes
would be purposely thrown into the ice-hole, besides a great number
of implements having flaws, or rejected as too unskilfully made to
be worth preserving.

As to the fossil fauna of the drift, considered in relation to the
climate, when, in 1859, I took a collection which I had made of all
the more common species of land and freshwater shells from the
Amiens and Abbeville drift, to my friend M. Deshayes at Paris, he
declared them to be, without exception, the same as those now
living in the basin of the Seine. This fact may seem at first sight
to imply that the climate had not altered since the flint tools
were fabricated; but it appears that all these species of molluscs
now range as far north as Norway and Finland, and may therefore
have flourished in the valley of the Somme when the river was
frozen over annually in winter.* (* See Prestwich, Paper read to
the Royal Society in 1862.)

In regard to the accompanying mammalia, some of them, like the
mammoth and tichorhine rhinoceros, may have been able to endure the
rigours of a northern winter as well as the reindeer, which we find
fossil in the same gravel. It is a more difficult point to
determine whether the climate of the lower gravels (those of
Menchecourt, for example) was more genial than that of the higher
ones. Mr. Prestwich inclines to this opinion. None of those
contortions of the strata above described have as yet been observed
in the lower drift. It contains large blocks of Tertiary sandstone
and grit, which may have required the aid of ice to convey them to
their present sites; but as such blocks already abounded in the
older and higher alluvium, they may simply be monuments of its
destruction, having been let down successively to lower and lower
levels without making much seaward progress.

The Cyrena fluminalis of Menchecourt and the hippopotamus of St.
Roch seem to be in favour of a less severe temperature in winter;
but so many of the species of mammalia, as well as of the land and
freshwater shells, are common to both formations, and our
information respecting the entire fauna is still so imperfect, that
it would be premature to pretend to settle this question in the
present state of our knowledge. We must be content with the
conclusion (and it is one of no small interest), that when Man
first inhabited this part of Europe, at the time that the St.
Acheul drift was formed, the climate as well as the physical
geography of the country differed considerably from the state of
things now established there.

Among the elephant remains from St. Acheul, in M. Garnier's
collection, Dr. Falconer recognised a molar of the Elephas
antiquus, Figure 19, the same species which has been already
mentioned as having been found in the lower-level gravels of St.
Roch. This species, therefore, endured while important changes took
place in the geographical condition of the valley of the Somme.
Assuming the lower-level gravel to be the newer, it follows that
the Elephas antiquus and the hippopotamus of St. Roch continued to
flourish long after the introduction of the mammoth, a well
characterised tooth of which, as I before stated, was found at St.
Acheul at the time of my visit in 1860.

As flint hatchets and knives have been discovered in the alluvial
deposits both at high and low levels, we may safely affirm that Man
was as old an inhabitant of this region as were any of the fossil
quadrupeds above enumerated, a conclusion which is independent of
any difference of opinion as to the relative age of the higher and
lower gravels.

The disappearance of many large pachyderms and beasts of prey from
Europe has often been attributed to the intervention of Man, and no
doubt he played his part in hastening the era of their extinction;
but there is good reason for suspecting that other causes
co-operated to the same end. No naturalist would for a moment
suppose that the extermination of the Cyrena fluminalis throughout
the whole of Europe--a species which co-existed with our race in
the valley of the Somme, and which was very abundant in the waters
of the Thames at the time when the elephant, rhinoceros, and
hippopotamus flourished on its banks--was accelerated by human
agency. The great modification in climate and in other conditions
of existence which affected this aquatic mollusc, may have mainly
contributed to the gradual dying out of many of the large mammalia.

We have already seen that the peat of the valley of the Somme is a
formation which, in all likelihood, took thousands of years for its
growth. But no change of a marked character has occurred in the
mammalian fauna since it began to accumulate. The contrast of the
fauna of the ancient alluvium, whether at high or low levels, with
the fauna of the oldest peat is almost as great as its contrast
with the existing fauna, the memorials of Man being common to the
whole series; hence we may infer that the interval of time which
separated the era of the large extinct mammalia from that of the
earliest peat, was of far longer duration than that of the entire
growth of the peat. Yet we by no means need the evidence of the
ancient fossil fauna to establish the antiquity of Man in this part
of France. The mere volume of the drift at various heights would
alone suffice to demonstrate a vast lapse of time during which such
heaps of shingle, derived both from the Eocene and the Cretaceous
rocks, were thrown down in a succession of river-channels. We
observe thousands of rounded and half-rounded flints, and a vast
number of angular ones, with rounded pieces of white Chalk of
various sizes, testifying to a prodigious amount of mechanical
action, accompanying the repeated widening and deepening of the
valley, before it became the receptacle of peat; and the position
of many of the flint tools leaves no doubt in the mind of the
geologist that their fabrication preceded all this reiterated
denudation.

ON THE ABSENCE OF HUMAN BONES IN THE ALLUVIUM OF THE SOMME.

It is naturally a matter of no small surprise that, after we have
collected many hundred flint implements (including knives, many
thousands), not a single human bone has yet been met with in the
old alluvial sand and gravel of the Somme. This dearth of the
mortal remains of our species holds true equally, as yet, in all
other parts of Europe where the tool-bearing drift of the
Pleistocene period has been investigated in valley deposits. Yet in
these same formations there is no want of bones of mammalia
belonging to extinct and living species. In the course of the last
quarter of a century, thousands of them have been submitted to the
examination of skilful osteologists, and they have been unable to
detect among them one fragment of a human skeleton, not even a
tooth. Yet Cuvier pointed out long ago, that the bones of Man found
buried in ancient battle-fields were not more decayed than those of
horses interred in the same graves. We have seen that in the Liege
caverns, the skulls, jaws, and teeth, with other bones of the human
race, were preserved in the same condition as those of the
cave-bear, tiger, and mammoth.

That ere long, now that curiosity has been so much excited on this
subject, some human remains will be detected in the older alluvium
of European valleys, I confidently expect. In the meantime, the
absence of all vestige of the bones which belonged to that
population by which so many weapons were designed and executed,
affords a most striking and instructive lesson in regard to the
value of negative evidence, when adduced in proof of the
non-existence of certain classes of terrestrial animals at given
periods of the past. It is a new and emphatic illustration of the
extreme imperfection of the geological record, of which even they
who are constantly working in the field cannot easily form a just
conception.

We must not forget that Dr. Schmerling, after finding extinct
mammalia and FLINT TOOLS in forty-two Belgian caverns, was only
rewarded by the discovery of human bones in three or four of those
rich repositories of osseous remains. In like manner, it was not
till the year 1855 that the first skull of the musk ox (Bubalus
moschatus) was detected in the fossiliferous gravel of the Thames,
and not till 1860, as will be seen in the next chapter, that the
same quadruped was proved to have co-existed in France with the
mammoth. The same theory which will explain the comparative rarity
of such species would no doubt account for the still greater
scarcity of human bones, as well as for our general ignorance of
the Pleistocene terrestrial fauna, with the exception of that part
of it which is revealed to us by cavern researches.

In valley drift we meet commonly with the bones of quadrupeds which
graze on plains bordering rivers. Carnivorous beasts, attracted to
the same ground in search of their prey, sometimes leave their
remains in the same deposits, but more rarely. The whole assemblage
of fossil quadrupeds at present obtained from the alluvium of
Picardy is obviously a mere fraction of the entire fauna which
flourished contemporaneously with the primitive people by whom the
flint hatchets were made.

Instead of its being part of the plan of nature to store up
enduring records of a large number of the individual plants and
animals which have lived on the surface, it seems to be her chief
care to provide the means of disencumbering the habitable areas
lying above and below the waters of those myriads of solid
skeletons of animals, and those massive trunks of trees, which
would otherwise soon choke up every river, and fill every valley.
To prevent this inconvenience she employs the heat and moisture of
the sun and atmosphere, the dissolving power of carbonic and other
acids, the grinding teeth and gastric juices of quadrupeds, birds,
reptiles, and fish, and the agency of many of the invertebrata. We
are all familiar with the efficacy of these and other causes on the
land; and as to the bottoms of seas, we have only to read the
published reports of Mr. MacAndrew, the late Edward Forbes, and
other experienced dredgers, who, while they failed utterly in
drawing up from the deep a single human bone, declared that they
scarcely ever met with a work of art even after counting tens of
thousands of shells and zoophytes, collected on a coast line of
several hundred miles in extent, where they often approached within
less than half a mile of a land peopled by millions of human
beings.

LAKE OF HAARLEM.

It is not many years since the Government of Holland resolved to
lay dry that great sheet of water formerly called the Lake of
Haarlem, extending over 45,000 acres. They succeeded, in 1853, in
turning it into dry land, by means of powerful pumps constantly
worked by steam, which raised the water and discharged it into a
canal running for 20 or 30 miles round the newly-gained land. This
land was depressed 13 feet beneath the mean level of the ocean. I
travelled, in 1859, over part of the bed of this old lake, and
found it already converted into arable land, and peopled by an
agricultural population of 5000 souls. Mr. Staring, who had been
for some years employed by the Dutch Government in constructing a
geological map of Holland, was my companion and guide. He informed
me that he and his associates had searched in vain for human bones
in the deposits which had constituted for three centuries the bed
of the great lake.

There had been many a shipwreck, and many a naval fight in those
waters, and hundreds of Dutch and Spanish soldiers and sailors had
met there with a watery grave. The population which lived on the
borders of this ancient sheet of water numbered between thirty and
forty thousand souls. In digging the great canal, a fine section
had been laid open, about 30 miles long, of the deposits which
formed the ancient bottom of the lake. Trenches, also, innumerable,
several feet deep, had been freshly dug on all the farms, and their
united length must have amounted to thousands of miles. In some of
the sandy soil recently thrown out of the trenches, I observed
specimens of freshwater and brackish-water shells, such as Unio and
Dreissena, of living species; and in clay brought up from below the
sand, shells of Tellina, Lutraria, and Cardium, all of species now
inhabiting the adjoining sea.

As the Dreissena is believed by conchologists to have been
introduced into Western Europe in very modern times, brought with
foreign timber in the holds of vessels from the rivers flowing into
the Black Sea, the layer of sand containing it in the Haarlem lake
is probably not more than a hundred years old.

One or two wrecked Spanish vessels, and arms of the same period,
have rewarded the antiquaries who had been watching the draining
operations in the hope of a richer harvest, and who were not a
little disappointed at the result. In a peaty tract on the margin
of one part of the lake a few coins were dug up; but if history had
been silent, and if there had been a controversy whether Man was
already a denizen of this planet at the time when the area of the
Haarlem lake was under water, the archaeologist, in order to answer
this question, must have appealed, as in the case of the valley of
the Somme, not to fossil bones, but to works of art embedded in the
superficial strata.

Mr. Staring, in his valuable memoir on the "Geological Map of
Holland," has attributed the general scarcity of human bones in
Dutch peat, notwithstanding the many works of art preserved in it,
to the power of the humic and sulphuric acids to dissolve bones,
the peat in question being plentifully impregnated with such acids.
His theory may be correct, but it is not applicable to the gravel
of the valley of the Somme, in which the bones of fossil mammalia
are frequent, nor to the uppermost freshwater strata forming the
bottom of a large part of the Haarlem Lake, in which it is not
pretended that such acids occur.

The primitive inhabitants of the valley of the Somme may have been
too wary and sagacious to be often surprised and drowned by floods,
which swept away many an incautious elephant or rhinoceros, horse
and ox. But even if those rude hunters had cherished a
superstitious veneration for the Somme, and had regarded it as a
sacred river (as the modern Hindoos revere the Ganges), and had
been in the habit of committing the bodies of their dead or dying
to its waters--even had such funeral rites prevailed, it by no
means follows that the bones of many individuals would have been
preserved to our time.

A corpse cast into the stream first sinks, and must then be almost
immediately overspread with sediment of a certain weight, or it
will rise again when distended with gases, and float perhaps to the
sea before it sinks again. It may then be attacked by fish of
marine species, some of which are capable of digesting bones. If,
before being carried into the sea and devoured, it is enveloped
with fluviatile mud and sand, the next flood, if it lie in
mid-channel, may tear it out again, scatter all the bones, roll
some of them into pebbles, and leave others exposed to destroying
agencies; and this may be repeated annually, till all vestiges of
the skeleton may disappear. On the other hand, a bone washed
through a rent into a subterranean cavity, even though a rarer
contingency, may have a greater chance of escaping destruction,
especially if there be stalactite dropping from the roof of the
cave or walls of a rent, and if the cave be not constantly
traversed by too strong a current of engulfed water.


CHAPTER 9.

WORKS OF ART IN PLEISTOCENE ALLUVIUM OF FRANCE AND ENGLAND.

Flint Implements in ancient Alluvium of the Basin of the Seine.
Bones of Man and of extinct Mammalia in the Cave of Arcy.
Extinct Mammalia in the Valley of the Oise.
Flint Implement in Gravel of same Valley.
Works of Art in Pleistocene Drift in Valley of the Thames.
Musk Ox.
Meeting of northern and southern Fauna.
Migrations of Quadrupeds.
Mammals of Mongolia.
Chronological Relation of the older Alluvium of the Thames to the
   Glacial Drift.
Flint Implements of Pleistocene Period in Surrey, Middlesex, Kent,
   Bedfordshire, and Suffolk.

FLINT IMPLEMENTS IN PLEISTOCENE ALLUVIUM IN THE BASIN OF THE SEINE.

In the ancient alluvium of the valleys of the Seine and its
principal tributaries, the same assemblage of fossil animals, which
has been alluded to in the last chapter as characterising the
gravel of Picardy, has long been known; but it was not till the
year 1860, and when diligent search had been expressly made for
them, that flint implements of the Amiens type were discovered in
this part of France.

In the neighbourhood of Paris deposits of drift occur answering
both to those of the higher and lower levels of the basin of the
Somme before described.* (* Prestwich, "Proceedings of the Royal
Society" 1862.) In both are found, mingled with the wreck of the
Tertiary and Cretaceous rocks of the vicinity, a large quantity of
granitic sand and pebbles, and occasionally large blocks of
granite, from a few inches to a foot or more in diameter. These
blocks are peculiarly abundant in the lower drift commonly called
the "diluvium gris." The granitic materials are traceable to a
chain of hills called the Morvan, where the head waters of the
Yonne take their rise, 150 miles to the south-south-east of Paris.

It was in this lowest gravel that M. H.T. Gosse, of Geneva, found,
in April 1860, in the suburbs of Paris, at La Motte Piquet, on the
left bank of the Seine, one or two well-formed flint implements of
the Amiens type, accompanied by a great number of ruder tools or
attempts at tools. I visited the spot in 1861 with M. Hebert, and
saw the stratum from which the worked flints had been extracted, 20
feet below the surface, and near the bottom of the "grey diluvium,"
a bed of gravel from which I have myself, in and near Paris,
frequently collected the bones of the elephant, horse, and other
mammalia.

More recently, M. Lartet has discovered at Clichy, in the environs
of Paris, in the same lower gravel, a well-shaped flint implement
of the Amiens type, together with remains both of Elephas
primigenius and E. antiquus. No tools have yet been met with in any
of the gravels occurring at the higher levels of the valley of the
Seine; but no importance can be attached to this negative fact, as
so little search has yet been made for them.

Mr. Prestwich has observed contortions indicative of ice-action, of
the same kind as those near Amiens, in the higher-level drift of
Charonne, near Paris; but as yet no similar derangement has been
seen in the lower gravels--a fact, so far as it goes, in unison
with the phenomena observed in Picardy.

In the cavern of Arcy-sur-Yonne a series of deposits have lately
been investigated by the Marquis de Vibraye, who discovered human
bones in the lowest of them, mixed with remains of quadrupeds of
extinct and recent species. This cavern occurs in Jurassic
limestone, at a slight elevation above the Cure, a small tributary
of the Yonne, which last joins the Seine near Fontainebleau about
40 miles south of Paris. The lowest formation in the cavern
resembles the "diluvium gris" of Paris, being composed of granitic
materials, and like it derived chiefly from the waste of the
crystalline rocks of the Morvan. In it have been found the two
branches of a human lower jaw with teeth well-preserved, and the
bones of the Elephas primigenius, Rhinoceros tichorhinus, Ursus
spelaeus, Hyaena spelaea, and Cervus tarandus, all specifically
determined by M. Lartet. I have been shown this collection of
fossils by M. de Vibraye, and remarked that the human and other
remains were in the same condition and of the same colour.

Above the grey gravel is a bed of red alluvium, made up of
fragments of Jurassic limestone, in a red argillaceous matrix, in
which were embedded several flint knives, with bones of the
reindeer and horse, but no extinct mammalia. Over this, in a higher
bed of alluvium, were several polished hatchets of the more modern
type called "celts," and above all loam or cave-mud, in which were
Gallo-Roman antiquities.* (* "Bulletin de la Societe Geologique de
France" 1860.)

The French geologists have made as yet too little progress in
identifying the age of the successive deposits of ancient alluvium
of various parts of the basin of the Seine, to enable us to
speculate with confidence as to the coincidence in date of the
granitic gravel with human bones of the Grotte d'Arcy and the
stone-hatchets buried in "grey diluvium" of La Motte Piquet, before
mentioned; but as the associated extinct mammalia are of the same
species in both localities, I feel strongly inclined to believe
that the stone hatchets found by M. Gosse at Paris, and the human
bones discovered by M. de Vibraye, may be referable to the same
period.

VALLEY OF THE OISE.

A flint hatchet, of the old Abbeville and Amiens type, was found
lately by M. Peigne Delacourt at Precy, near Creil, on the Oise, in
gravel, resembling, in its geological position, the lower-level
gravels of Montiers, near Amiens, already described. I visited
these extensive gravel-pits in 1861, in company with Mr. Prestwich;
but we remained there too short a time to entitle us to expect to
find a flint implement, even if they had been as abundant as at St.
Acheul.

In 1859, I examined, in a higher part of the same valley of the
Oise, near Chauny and Noyon, some fine railway cuttings, which
passed continuously through alluvium of the Pleistocene period for
half a mile. All this alluvium was evidently of fluviatile origin,
for, in the interstices between the pebbles, the Ancylus
fluviatilis and other freshwater shells were abundant. My
companion, the Abbe E. Lambert, had collected from the gravel a
great many fossil bones, among which M. Lartet has recognised both
Elephas primigenius and E. antiquus, besides a species of
hippopotamus (H. major ?), also the reindeer, horse, and the musk
ox (Bubalus moschatus). The latter seems never to have been seen
before in the old alluvium of France.* (* Lartet, "Annales des
Sciences Naturelles Zoologiques" tome 15 page 224.) Over the gravel
above mentioned, near Chauny, are seen dense masses of loam like
the loess of the Rhine, containing shells of the genera Helix and
Succinea. We may suppose that the gravel containing the flint
hatchet at Precy is of the same age as that of Chauny, with which
it is continuous, and that both of them are coeval with the
tool-bearing beds of Amiens, for the basins of the Oise and the
Somme are only separated by a narrow water-shed, and the same
fossil quadrupeds occur in both.

The alluvium of the Seine and its tributaries, like that of the
Somme, contains no fragments of rocks brought from any other
hydrographical basin; yet the shape of the land, or fall of the
river, or the climate, or all these conditions, must have been very
different when the grey alluvium in which the flint tools occur at
Paris was formed. The great size of some of the blocks of granite,
and the distance which they have travelled, imply a power in the
river which it no longer possesses. We can hardly doubt that
river-ice once played a much more active part than now in the
transportation of such blocks, one of which may be seen in the
Museum of the Ecole des Mines at Paris, 3 or 4 feet in diameter.

PLEISTOCENE ALLUVIUM OF ENGLAND, CONTAINING WORKS OF ART.

In the ancient alluvium of the basin of the Thames, at moderate
heights above the main river and its tributaries, we find fossil
bones of the same species of extinct and living mammalia,
accompanied by recent species of land and freshwater shells, as we
have shown to be characteristic of the basins of the Somme and the
Seine. We can scarcely therefore doubt that these quadrupeds,
during some part of the Pleistocene period, ranged freely from the
continent of Europe to England, at a time when there was an
uninterrupted communication by land between the two countries. The
reader will not therefore be surprised to learn that flint
implements of the same antique type as those of the valley of the
Somme have been detected in British alluvium.

The most marked feature of this alluvium in the Thames valley is
that great bed of ochreous gravel, composed chiefly of broken and
slightly worn Chalk flints, on which a great part of London is
built. It extends from above Maidenhead through the metropolis to
the sea, a distance from west to east of 50 miles, having a width
varying from 2 to 9 miles. Its thickness ranges commonly from 5 to
15 feet.* (* Prestwich, "Quarterly Journal of the Geological
Society" volume 12 1856 page 131.) Interstratified with this
gravel, in many places, are beds of sand, loam, and clay, the whole
containing occasionally remains of the mammoth and other extinct
quadrupeds. Fine sections have been exposed to view, at different
periods, at Brentford and Kew Bridge, others in London itself, and
below it at Erith in Kent, on the right bank of the Thames, and at
Ilford and Gray's Thurrock in Essex, on the left bank. The united
thickness of the beds of sand, gravel, and loam amounts sometimes
to 40 or even 60 feet. They are for the most part elevated above,
but in some cases they descend below, the present level of the
overflowed plain of the Thames.

If the reader will refer to the section of the Pleistocene sands
and gravels of Menchecourt, near Abbeville, given at page 96, he
will perfectly understand the relations of the ancient Thames
alluvium to the modern channel and plain of the river, and their
relation, on the other hand, to the boundary formations of older
date, whether Tertiary or Cretaceous.

So far as they are known, the fossil mollusca and mammalia of the
two districts also agree very closely, the Cyrena fluminalis being
common to both, and being the only extra-European shell, this and
all the species of testacea being Recent. Of this agreement with
the living fauna there is a fine illustration in Essex; for the
determination of which we are indebted to the late Mr. John Brown,
F.G.S., who collected at Copford, in Essex, from a deposit
containing bones of the mammoth, a large bear (probably Ursus
spelaeus), a beaver, stag, and aurochs, no less than sixty-nine
species of land and freshwater shells. Forty-eight of these were
terrestrial, and two of them, Helix incarnata and H. ruderata, no
longer inhabit the British Isles, but are still living on the
continent, ruderata in high northern latitudes.* (* "Quarterly
Journal of the Geological Society" volume 8 1852 page 190. Mr.
Brown calls them extinct species, which may mislead some readers,
but he merely meant extinct in England. See also Jeffreys, "Brit.
Conch." page 174.) The Cyrena fluminalis and the Unio littoralis,
to which last I shall presently allude, were not among the number.

I long ago suggested the hypothesis, that in the basin of the
Thames there are indications of a meeting in the Pleistocene period
of a northern and southern fauna. To the northern group may have
belonged the mammoth (Elephas primigenius) and the Rhinoceros
tichorhinus, both of which Pallas found in Siberia, preserved with
their flesh in the ice. With these are occasionally associated the
reindeer. In 1855 the skull of the musk ox (Bubalus moschatus) was
also found in the ochreous gravel of Maidenhead, by the Reverend C.
Kingsley and Mr. Lubbock; the identification of this fossil with
the living species being made by Professor Owen. A second fossil
skull of the same arctic animal was afterwards found by Mr. Lubbock
near Bromley, in the valley of a small tributary of the Thames; and
two other skulls, those of a bull and a cow were dug up near Bath
Easton from the gravel of the valley of the Avon by Mr. Charles
Moore. Professor Owen has truly said, that "as this quadruped has a
constitution fitting it at present to inhabit the high northern
regions of America, we can hardly doubt that its former companions,
the warmly-clad mammoth and the two-horned woolly rhinoceros (R.
tichorhinus), were in like manner capable of supporting life in a
cold climate."* (* "Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society"
volume 12 1856 page 124.)

I have already alluded to the recent discovery of this same ox near
Chauny, in the valley of the Oise, in France; and in 1856 I found a
skull of it preserved in the museum at Berlin, which Professor
Quenstedt, the curator, had correctly named so long ago as 1836,
when the fossil was dug out of drift, in the hill called the
Kreuzberg, in the southern suburbs of that city. By an account
published at the time, we find that the mammalia which accompanied
the musk ox were the mammoth and tichorhine rhinoceros, with the
horse and ox;* (* "Leonhard and Bronn's Jahrbuch" 1836 page 215.)
but I can find no record of the occurrence of a hippopotamus, nor
of Elephas antiquus or Rhinoceros leptorhinus, in the drift of the
north of Germany, bordering the Baltic.

On the other hand, in another locality in the same drift of North
Germany, Dr. Hensel, of Berlin, detected, near Quedlinburg, the
Norwegian Lemming (Myodes lemmus), and another species of the same
family called by Pallas Myodes torquatus (by Hensel, Misothermus
torquatus)--a still more arctic quadruped, found by Parry in
latitude 82 degrees, and which never strays farther south than the
northern borders of the woody region. Professor Beyrich also
informs me that the remains of the Rhinoceros tichorhinus were
obtained at the same place.* (* "Zeitschrift der Deutschen
Geologischen Gesellschaft" volume 7 1855 page 497 etc.)

As an example of what may possibly have constituted a more southern
fauna in the valley of the Thames, I may allude to the fossil
remains found in the fluviatile alluvium of Gray's Thurrock, in
Essex, situated on the left bank of the river, 21 miles below
London. The strata of brick-earth, loam, and gravel exposed to view
in artificial excavations in that spot, are precisely such as would
be formed by the silting up of an old river channel. Among the
mammalia are Elephas antiquus, Rhinoceros leptorhinus (R.
megarhinus, Christol), Hippopotamus major, species of horse, bear,
ox, stag, etc., and, among the accompanying shells, Cyrena
fluminalis, which is extremely abundant, instead of being scarce,
as at Abbeville. It is associated with Unio littoralis also in
great numbers and with both valves united. This conspicuous
freshwater mussel is no longer an inhabitant of the British Isles,
but still lives in the Seine, and is still more abundant in the
Loire. Another freshwater univalve (Paludina marginata, Michaud),
not British, but common in the south of France, likewise occurs,
and a peculiar variety of Cyclas amnica, which by some naturalists
has been regarded as a distinct species. With these, moreover, is
found a peculiar variety of Valvata piscinalis.

If we consult Dr. Von Schrenck's account of the living mammalia of
Mongolia, lying between latitude 45 and 55 degrees north, we learn
that, in that part of North-Eastern Asia recently annexed to the
Russian empire, no less than thirty-four out of fifty-eight living
quadrupeds are identical with European species, while some of those
which do not extend their range to Europe are arctic, others
tropical forms. The Bengal tiger ranges northwards occasionally to
latitude 52 degrees north, where he chiefly subsists on the flesh
of the reindeer, and the same tiger abounds in latitude 48 degrees,
to which the small tailless hare or pika, a polar resident,
sometimes wanders southwards.* (* Mammalia of Amoorland, "Natural
History Review" volume 1 1861 page 12.) We may readily conceive
that the countries now drained by the Thames, the Somme, and the
Seine, were, in the Pleistocene period, on the borders of two
distinct zoological provinces, one lying to the north, the other to
the south, in which case many species belonging to each fauna
endowed with migratory habits, like the living musk-ox or the
Bengal tiger, may have been ready to take advantage of any, even
the slightest, change in their favour to invade the neighbouring
province, whether in the summer or winter months, or permanently
for a series of years, or centuries. The Elephas antiquus and its
associated Rhinoceros leptorhinus may have preceded the mammoth and
tichorhine rhinoceros in the valley of the Thames, or both may have
alternately prevailed in the same area in the Pleistocene period.

In attempting to settle the chronology of fluviatile deposits, it
is almost equally difficult to avail ourselves of the evidence of
organic remains and of the superposition of the strata, for we may
find two old river-beds on the same level in juxtaposition, one of
them perhaps many thousands of years posterior in date to the
other. I have seen an example of this at Ilford, where the Thames,
or a tributary stream, has at some former period cut through sands
containing Cyrena fluminalis, and again filled up the channel with
argillaceous matter, evidently derived from the waste of the
Tertiary London Clay. Such shiftings of the site of the main
channel of the river, the frequent removal of gravel and sand
previously deposited, and the throwing down of new alluvium, the
flooding of tributaries, the rising and sinking of the land,
fluctuations in the cold and heat of the climate--all these changes
seem to have given rise to that complexity in the fluviatile
deposits of the Thames, which accounts for the small progress we
have hitherto made in determining their order of succession, and
that of the imbedded groups of quadrupeds. It may happen, as at
Brentford and Ilford, that sand-pits in two adjoining fields may
each contain distinct species of elephant and rhinoceros; and the
fossil remains in both cases may occur at the same depth from the
surface, yet may be severally referable to different parts of the
Pleistocene epoch, separated by thousands of years.

The relation of the glacial period to alluvial deposits, such as
that of Gray's Thurrock, where the Cyrena fluminalis, Unio
littoralis, and the hippopotamus seem rather to imply a warmer
climate, has been a matter of long and animated discussion. Patches
of the northern drift, at elevations of about 200 feet above the
Thames, occur in the neighbourhood of London, as at Muswell Hill,
near Highgate. In this drift, blocks of granite, syenite,
greenstone, Coal-measure sandstone with its fossils, and other
Palaeozoic rocks, and the wreck of Chalk and Oolite, occur
confusedly mixed together. The same glacial formation is also found
capping some of the Essex hills farther to the east, and extending
some way down their southern slopes towards the valley of the
Thames. Although no fragments washed out of these older and upland
drifts have been found in the gravel of the Thames containing
elephants' bones, it is fair to presume, as Mr. Prestwich has
contended,* that the glacial formation is the older of the two. (*
Prestwich, "Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society" volume 11
1855 page 110; ibid. volume 12 1856 page 133; ibid. volume 17 1861
page 446.) In short, we must suppose that the basin of the Thames
and all its fluviatile deposits are post-glacial, in the modified
sense of that term; i.e. that they were subsequent to the drift of
the central and northern counties.

Having offered these general remarks on the alluvium of the Thames,
I may now say something of the implements hitherto discovered in
it. In the British Museum there is a flint weapon of the
spear-headed form, such as is represented in Figure 8, which we are
told was found with an elephant's tooth at Black Mary's, near
Gray's Inn Lane, London. In a letter dated 1715, printed in Herne's
edition of "Leland's Collectanea," volume 1 page 73, it is stated
to have been found in the presence of Mr. Conyers, with the
skeleton of an elephant.* (* Evans, "Archaeologia" 1860.) So many
bones of the elephant, rhinoceros, and hippopotamus have been found
in the gravel on which London stands, that there is no reason to
doubt the statement as handed down to us. Fossil remains of all
these three genera have been dug up on the site of Waterloo Place,
St. James's Square, Charing Cross, the London Docks, Limehouse,
Bethnal Green, and other places within the memory of persons now
living. In the gravel and sand of Shacklewell, in the north-east
district of London, I have myself collected specimens of the Cyrena
fluminalis in great numbers (see Figure 17 c), with the bones of
deer and other mammalia.

In the alluvium also of the Wey, near Guildford, in a place called
Pease Marsh, a wedge-shaped flint implement, resembling one brought
from St. Acheul by Mr. Prestwich, and compared by some antiquaries
to a sling-stone, was obtained in 1836 by Mr. Whitburn, 4 feet deep
in sand and gravel, in which the teeth and tusks of elephants had
been found. The Wey flows through the gorge of the North Downs at
Guildford to join the Thames. Mr. Austen has shown that this drift
is so ancient that one part of it had been disturbed and tilted
before another part was thrown down.* (* "Quarterly Journal of the
Geological Society" volume 7 1851 page 278.)

Among other places where flint tools of the antique type have been
met with in the course of the last three years, I may mention one
of an oval form found by Mr. Whitaker in the valley of the Darent,
in Kent, and another which Mr. Evans found lying on the shore at
Swalecliff, near Whitstable, in the same county, where Mr.
Prestwich had previously described a freshwater deposit, resting on
the London Clay, and consisting chiefly of gravel, in which an
elephant's tooth and the bones of a bear were embedded. The flint
implement was deeply discoloured and of a peculiar bright
light-brown colour, similar to that of the old fluviatile gravel in
the cliff.

Another flint implement was found in 1860 by Mr. T. Leech, at the
foot of the cliff between Herne Bay and the Reculvers, and on
further search five other specimens of the spear-head pattern so
common at Amiens. Messrs. Prestwich and Evans have since found
three other similar tools on the beach, at the base of the same
wasting cliff, which consists of sandy Eocene strata, covered by a
gravelly deposit of freshwater origin, about 50 feet above the
sea-level, from which the flint weapons must have been derived.
Such old alluvial deposits now capping the cliffs of Kent seem to
have been the river-beds of tributaries of the Thames before the
sea encroached to its present position and widened its estuary. On
following up one of these freshwater deposits westward of the
Reculvers, Mr. Prestwich found in it, at Chislet, near Grove Ferry,
the Cyrena fluminalis among other shells.

The changes which have taken place in the physical geography of
this part of England during, or since, the Pleistocene period, have
consisted partly of such encroachments of the sea on the coast as
are now going on, and partly of a general subsidence of the land.
Among the signs of the latter movement may be mentioned a
freshwater formation at Faversham, below the level of the sea. The
gravel there contains exclusively land and fluviatile shells of the
same species as those of other localities of the Pleistocene
alluvium before mentioned, and must have been formed when the river
was at a higher level and when it extended farther east. At that
era it was probably a tributary of the Rhine, as represented by Mr.
Trimmer in his ideal restoration of the geography of the olden
time.* (* "Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society" volume 9
1853 Plate 8 Number 4.) For England was then united to the
continent, and what is now the North Sea was land. It is well known
that in many places, especially near the coast of Holland,
elephants' tusks and other bones are often dredged up from the bed
of that shallow sea, and the reader will see in the map given in
Chapter 13 how vast would be the conversion of sea into land by an
upheaval of 600 feet. Vertical movements of much less than half
that amount would account for the annexation of England to the
continent, and the extension of the Thames and its valley far to
the north-east, and the flowing of rivers from the easternmost
parts of Kent and Essex into the Thames, instead of emptying
themselves into its estuary.

More than a dozen flint weapons of the Amiens type have already
been found in the basin of the Thames; but the geological position
of no one of them has as yet been ascertained with the same
accuracy as that of many of the tools dug up in the valley of the
Somme.

FLINT IMPLEMENTS OF THE VALLEY OF THE OUSE, NEAR BEDFORD.

The ancient fluviatile gravel of the valley of the Ouse, around
Bedford, has been noted for the last thirty years for yielding to
collectors a rich harvest of the bones of extinct mammalia. By
observations made in 1854 and 1858, Mr. Prestwich had ascertained
that the valley was bounded on both sides by Oolitic strata, capped
by boulder clay, and that the gravel Number 3, Figure 23, contained
bones of the elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, ox, horse, and
deer, which animals he therefore inferred must have been posterior
in date to the boulder clay, through which, as well as the
subjacent Oolite, the valley had been excavated. Mr. Evans had
found in the same gravel many land and freshwater shells, and these
discoveries induced Mr. James Wyatt, of Bedford, to pay two visits
to St. Acheul in order to compare the implement-bearing gravels of
the Somme with the drift of the valley of the Ouse. After his
return he resolved to watch carefully the excavation of the
gravel-pits at Biddenham, 2 miles west-north-west of Bedford, in
the hope of finding there similar works of art. With this view he
paid almost daily visits for months in succession to those pits,
and was at last rewarded by the discovery of two well-formed
implements, one of the spear-head and the other of the oval shape,
perfect counterparts of the two prevailing French types. Both
specimens were thrown out by the workmen on the same day from the
lowest bed of stratified gravel and sand, 13 feet thick, containing
bones of the elephant, deer, and ox, and many freshwater shells.
The two implements occurred at the depth of 13 feet from the
surface of the soil, and rested immediately on solid beds of
Oolitic limestone, as represented in the accompanying section
(Figure 23).

Having been invited by Mr. Wyatt to verify these facts, I went to
Biddenham within a fortnight of the date of his discovery (April
1861), and, for the first time, saw evidence which satisfied me of
the chronological relations of those three phenomena, the antique
tools, the extinct mammalia, and the glacial formation. On that
occasion I examined the pits in company with Messrs. Prestwich,
Evans, and Wyatt, and we collected ten species of shells from the
stratified drift Number 3, or the beds overlying the lowest gravel
from which the flint implements had been exhumed. They were all of
common fluviatile and land species now living in the same part of
England. Since our visit, Mr. Wyatt has added to them Paludina
marginata, Michaud (Hydrobia of some authors), a species of the
South of France no longer inhabiting the British Isles. The same
geologist has also found, since we were at Biddenham, several other
flint tools of corresponding type, both there and at other
localities in the valley of the Ouse, near Bedford.

(FIGURE 23. SECTION ACROSS THE VALLEY OF THE OUSE, TWO MILES
  WEST-NORTH-WEST OF BEDFORD.*
    (* Prestwich, "Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society"
    volume 17 1861 page 364; and Wyatt, "Geologist" 1861 page 242.)

  1. Oolitic strata.
  2. Boulder clay, or marine northern drift, rising to about
     ninety feet above the Ouse.
  3. Ancient gravel, with elephant bones, freshwater shells,
     and flint implements.
  4. Modern alluvium of the Ouse.
  a. Biddenham gravel pits, at the bottom of which flint tools
     were found.)

The boulder clay Number 2 extends for miles in all directions, and
was evidently once continuous from b to c before the valley was
scooped out. It is a portion of the great marine glacial drift of
the midland counties of England, and contains blocks, some of large
size, not only of the Oolite of the neighbourhood, but of Chalk and
other rocks transported from still greater distances, such as
syenite, basalt, quartz, and New Red Sandstone. These erratic
blocks of foreign origin are often polished and striated, having
undergone what is called glaciation, of which more will be said by
and by. Blocks of the same mineral character, embedded at Biddenham
in the gravel Number 3, have lost all signs of this striation by
the friction to which they were subjected in the old river bed.

The great width of the valley of the Ouse, which is sometimes 2
miles, has not been expressed in the diagram. It may have been
shaped out by the joint action of the river and the tides when this
part of England was emerging from the waters of the glacial sea,
the boulder clay being first cut through, and then an equal
thickness of underlying Oolite. After this denudation, which may
have accompanied the emergence of the land, the country was
inhabited by the primitive people who fashioned the flint tools.
The old river, aided perhaps by the continued upheaval of the whole
country, or by oscillations in its level, went on widening and
deepening the valley, often shifting its channel, until at length a
broad area was covered by a succession of the earliest and latest
deposits, which may have corresponded in age to the higher and
lower gravels of the valley of the Somme, already described.

At Biddenham, and elsewhere in the same gravel, remains of Elephas
antiquus have been discovered, and Mr. Wyatt obtained, January
1863, a flint implement associated with bones and teeth of
hippopotamus from gravel at Summerhouse hill, which lies east of
Bedford, lower down the valley of the Ouse, and 4 miles from
Biddenham.

One step at least we gain by the Bedford sections, which those of
Amiens and Abbeville had not enabled us to make. They teach us that
the fabricators of the antique tools, and the extinct mammalia
coeval with them, were all post-glacial.

FLINT IMPLEMENTS IN A FRESHWATER DEPOSIT AT HOXNE IN SUFFOLK [NOTE
17].

So early as the first year of the nineteenth century, a remarkable
paper was communicated to the Society of Antiquaries by Mr. John
Frere, in which he gave a clear description of the discovery at
Hoxne, near Diss, in Suffolk, of flint tools of the type since
found at Amiens, adding at the same time good geological reasons
for presuming that their antiquity was very great, or, as he
expressed it, beyond that of the present world, meaning the actual
state of the physical geography of that region. "The flints," he
said, "were evidently weapons of war, fabricated and used by a
people who had not the use of metals. They lay in great numbers at
the depth of about 12 feet in a stratified soil which was dug into
for the purpose of raising clay for bricks. Under a foot and a half
of vegetable earth was clay 7 1/2 feet thick, and beneath this one
foot of sand with shells, and under this 2 feet of gravel, in which
the shaped flints were found generally at the rate of 5 or 6 in a
square yard. In the sandy beds with shells were found the jawbone
and teeth of an enormous unknown animal. The manner in which the
flint weapons lay would lead to the persuasion that it was a place
of their manufacture, and not of their accidental deposit. Their
numbers were so great that the man who carried on the brick-work
told me that before he was aware of their being objects of
curiosity, he had emptied baskets full of them into the ruts of the
adjoining road."

Mr. Frere then goes on to explain that the strata in which the
flints occur are disposed horizontally, and do not lie at the foot
of any higher ground, so that portions of them must have been
removed when the adjoining valley was hollowed out. If the author
had not mistaken the freshwater shells associated with the tools
for marine species, there would have been nothing to correct in his
account of the geology of the district, for he distinctly perceived
that the strata in which the implements were embedded had, since
that time, undergone very extensive denudation.* (* Frere,
"Archaeologia" volume 13 1800 page 206.) Specimens of the flint
spear-heads, sent to London by Mr. Frere, are still preserved in
the British Museum, and others are in the collection of the Society
of Antiquaries.

(FIGURE 24. SECTION SHOWING THE POSITION OF THE FLINT WEAPONS
   AT HOXNE, NEAR DISS, SUFFOLK.
     See Prestwich "Philosophical Transactions" Plate 11 1860.)

  1. Gravel of Gold Brook, a tributary of the Waveney.
  2. Higher-level gravel overlying the freshwater deposit.
  3 and 4. Sand and gravel, with freshwater shells, and
     flint implements, and bones of mammalia.
  5. Peaty and clayey beds, with same fossils.
  6. Boulder clay or glacial drift.
  7. Sand and gravel below boulder clay.
  8. Chalk with flints.)

Mr. Prestwich's attention was called by Mr. Evans to these weapons,
as well as to Mr. Frere's memoir after his return from Amiens in
1859, and he lost no time in visiting Hoxne, a village five miles
eastward of Diss. It is not a little remarkable that he should have
found, after a lapse of sixty years, that the extraction of clay
was still going on in the same brick-pit. Only a few months before
his arrival, two flint instruments had been dug out of the clay,
one from a depth of 7 and the other of 10 feet from the surface.
Others have since been disinterred from undisturbed beds of gravel
in the same pit. Mr. Amyot of Diss has also obtained from the
underlying freshwater strata the astragalus of an elephant, and
bones of the deer and horse; but although many of the old
implements have recently been discovered in situ in regular strata
and preserved by Sir Edward Kerrison, no bones of extinct mammalia
seem as yet to have been actually seen in the same stratum with one
of the tools.

By reference to the annexed section, the geologist will see that
the basin-shaped hollow a, b, c has been filled up gradually with
the freshwater strata 3, 4, 5, after the same cavity a, b, c had
been previously excavated out of the more ancient boulder clay
Number 6. The relative position of these formations will be better
understood when I have described in the twelfth chapter the
structure of Norfolk and Suffolk as laid open in the sea-cliffs at
Mundesley, about 30 miles distant from Hoxne, in a north-north-east
direction.

I examined the deposits at Hoxne in 1860, when I had the advantage
of being accompanied by the Reverend J. Gunn and the Reverend S.W.
King. In the loamy beds 3 and 4, Figure 24, we observed the common
river shell Valvata piscinalis in great numbers. With it, but much
more rare, were Limnaea palustris, Planorbis albus, P. Spirorbis,
Succinea putris, Bithynia tentaculata, Cyclas cornea; and Mr.
Prestwich mentions Cyclas amnica and fragments of a Unio, besides
several land shells. In the black peaty mass Number 5, fragments of
wood of the oak, yew, and fir have been recognised. The flint
weapons which I have seen from Hoxne are so much more perfect, and
have their cutting edge so much sharper than those from the valley
of the Somme, that they seem neither to have been used by Man, nor
to have been rolled in the bed of a river. The opinion of Mr.
Frere, therefore, that there may have been a manufactory of weapons
on the spot, appears probable.

FLINT IMPLEMENTS AT ICKLINGHAM IN SUFFOLK.

In another part of Suffolk, at Icklingham, in the valley of the
Lark, below Bury St. Edmund's, there is a bed of gravel, in which
teeth of Elephas primigenius and several flint tools, chiefly of a
lance-head form, have been found. I have twice visited the spot,
which has been correctly described by Mr. Prestwich.* (* "Quarterly
Journal of the Geological Society" volume 17 1861, page 364.)

The section of the Bedford tool-bearing alluvium, given in Figure
23, may serve to illustrate that of Icklingham, if we substitute
Chalk for Oolite, and the river Lark for the Ouse. In both cases,
the present bed of the river is about 30 feet below the level of
the old gravel, and the Chalk hill, which bounds the valley of the
Lark on the right side, is capped like the Oolite of Biddenham by
boulder clay, which rises to the height of 100 feet above the Lark.
About twelve years ago, a large erratic block, above 4 feet in
diameter, was dug out of the boulder clay at Icklingham, which I
found to consist of a hard siliceous schist, which must have come
from a remote region. The tool-bearing gravel here, as in the case
to which it has been compared near Bedford, is proved to be newer
than the glacial drift, by containing pebbles of basalt and other
rocks derived from that formation.


CHAPTER 10.

CAVERN DEPOSITS, AND PLACES OF SEPULTURE OF THE
   PLEISTOCENE PERIOD.

Flint Implements in Cave containing Hyaena and other extinct
   Mammalia in Somersetshire.
Caves of the Gower Peninsula in South Wales.
Rhinoceros hemitoechus.
Ossiferous Caves near Palermo.
Sicily once part of Africa.
Rise of Bed of the Mediterranean to the Height of three hundred
   Feet in the Human Period in Sardinia.
Burial-place of Pleistocene Date of Aurignac in the South of France.
Rhinoceros tichorhinus eaten by Man.
M. Lartet on extinct Mammalia and Works of Art found in the
   Aurignac Cave.
Relative Antiquity of the same considered.

WORKS OF ART ASSOCIATED WITH EXTINCT MAMMALIA IN A CAVERN IN
SOMERSETSHIRE.

The only British cave from which implements resembling those of
Amiens have been obtained, since the attention of geologists has
been awakened to the importance of minutely observing the position
of such relics relatively to the associated fossil mammalia, is
that recently opened near Wells in Somersetshire. It occurs near
the cave of Wookey Hole, from the mouth of which the river Axe
issues on the southern flanks of the Mendips. No one had suspected
that on the left side of the ravine, through which the river flows
after escaping from its subterranean channel, there were other
caves and fissures concealed beneath the green sward of the steep
sloping bank. About ten years ago, a canal was made, several
hundred yards in length, for the purpose of leading the waters of
the Axe to a paper-mill, now occupying the middle of the ravine. In
carrying out this work, about 12 feet of the left bank was cut
away, and a cavernous fissure, choked up to the roof with
ossiferous loam, was then, for the first time, exposed to view.
This great cavity, originally 9 feet high and 36 wide, traversed
the Dolomitic Conglomerate; and fragments of that rock, some
angular and others water-worn, were scattered through the red mud
of the cave, in which fossil remains were abundant. For an account
of them and the position they occupied we are indebted to Mr.
Dawkins, F.G.S., who, in company with Mr. Williamson, explored the
cavern in 1859, and obtained from it the bones of the Hyaena
spelaea in such numbers as to lead him to conclude that the cavern
had for a long time been a hyaena's den. Among the accompanying
animals found fossil in the same bone-earth, were observed Elephas
primigenius, Rhinoceros tichorhinus, Ursus spelaeus, Bos
primigenius, Megaceros hibernicus, Cervus tarandus (and other
species of Cervus), Felis spelaea, Canis lupus, Canis vulpes, and
teeth and bones of the genus Equus in great numbers.

Intermixed with the above fossil bones were some arrowheads, made
of bone, and many chipped flints, and chipped pieces of chert, a
white or bleached flint weapon of the spearhead Amiens type, which
was taken out of the undisturbed matrix by Mr. Williamson himself,
together with a hyaena's tooth, showing that Man had either been
contemporaneous with or had preceded the extinct fauna. After
penetrating 34 feet from the entrance, Mr. Dawkins found the cave
bifurcating into two branches, one of which was vertical. By this
rent, perhaps, some part of the contents of the cave may have been
introduced.* (* Boyd Dawkins, "Proceedings of the Geological
Society" January 1862.)

When I examined the spot in 1860, after I had been shown some
remains of the hyaena collected there, I felt convinced that a
complete revolution must have taken place in the topography of the
district since the time of the extinct quadrupeds. I was not aware
at the time that flint tools had been met with in the same
bone-deposit.

CAVES OF GOWER IN GLAMORGANSHIRE, SOUTH WALES.

The ossiferous caves of the peninsula of Gower in Glamorganshire
have been diligently explored of late years by Dr. Falconer and
Lieutenant-Colonel E.R. Wood, who have thoroughly investigated the
contents of many which were previously unknown. Among these Dr.
Falconer's skilled eye has recognised the remains of almost every
quadruped which he had elsewhere found fossil in British caves: in
some places the Elephas primigenius, accompanied by its usual
companion, the Rhinoceros tichorhinus, in others Elephas antiquus,
associated with Rhinoceros hemitoechus, Falconer; the extinct
animals being often embedded, as in the Belgian caves, in the same
matrix with species now living in Europe, such as the common badger
(Meles taxus), the common wolf, and the fox.

In a cavernous fissure called the Raven's Cliff, teeth of several
individuals of Hippopotamus major, both young and old, were found;
and this in a district where there is now scarce a rill of running
water, much less a river in which such quadrupeds could swim. In
one of the caves, called Spritsail Tor, bones of the elephants
above named were observed, with a great many other quadrupeds of
Recent and extinct species.

From one fissure, called Bosco's Den, no less than one thousand
antlers of the reindeer, chiefly of the variety called Cervus
Guettardi, were extracted by the persevering exertions of Colonel
Wood, who estimated that several hundred more still remained in the
bone-earth of the same rent.

They were mostly shed horns, and of young animals; and had been
washed into the rent with other bones, and with angular fragments
of limestone, and all enveloped in the same ochreous mud. Among the
other bones, which were not numerous, were those of the cave-bear,
wolf, fox, ox, stag, and field-mouse.

But the discovery of most importance, as bearing on the subject of
the present work, is the occurrence in a newly-discovered cave,
called Long Hole, by Colonel Wood, in 1861, of the remains of two
species of rhinoceros, R. tichorhinus and R. hemitoechus, Falconer,
in an undisturbed deposit, in the lower part of which were some
well-shaped flint knives, evidently of human workmanship. It is
clear from their position that Man was coeval with these two
species. We have elsewhere independent proofs of his co-existence
with every other species of the cave-fauna of Glamorganshire; but
this is the first well-authenticated example of the occurrence of
R. hemitoechus in connection with human implements.

In the fossil fauna of the valley of the Thames, Rhinoceros
leptorhinus was mentioned as occurring at Gray's Thurrock with
Elephas antiquus. Dr. Falconer, in a memoir which he is now
preparing for the press on the European Pliocene and Pleistocene
species of the genus Rhinoceros, has shown that, under the above
name of R. leptorhinus, three distinct species have been confounded
by Cuvier, Owen, and other palaeontologists:--

1. R. megarhinus, Christol, being the original and typical R.
leptorhinus of Cuvier, founded on Cortesi's Monte Zago cranium, and
the ONLY Pliocene, or Pleistocene European species, that had not a
nasal septum.--Gray's Thurrock, etc.

2. R. hemitoechus, Falconer, in which the ossification of the
septum dividing the nostrils is incomplete in the middle, besides
other cranial and dental characters distinguishing it from R.
tichorhinus, accompanies Elephas antiquus in most of the oldest
British bone-caves, such as Kirkdale, Cefn, Durdham Down, Minchin
Hole, and other Gower caverns--also found at Clacton, in Essex, and
in Northamptonshire.

3. R. etruscus, Falconer, a comparatively slight and slender form,
also with an incomplete bony septum,* (* Falconer, "Quarterly
Journal of the Geological Society" volume 15 1859 page 602.) occurs
deep in the Val d'Arno deposits, and in the "Forest bed," and
superimposed blue clays, with lignite, of the Norfolk coast, but
nowhere as yet found in the ossiferous caves in Britain.

Dr. Falconer announced in 1860 his opinion that the filling up of
the Gower caves in South Wales took place after the deposition of
the marine boulder clay,* (* Ibid. volume 16 1860 page 491.) an
opinion in harmony with what we have since learnt from the section
of the gravels near Bedford, given above (Figure 23), where a fauna
corresponding to that of the Welsh caves characterises the ancient
alluvium, and is shown to be clearly post-glacial, in the sense of
being posterior in date to the boulder-clay of the midland
counties. In the same sense the late Edward Forbes declared, in
1846, his conviction that not only the Cervus megaceros, but also
the mammoth and other extinct pachyderms and carnivora, had lived
in Britain in post-glacial times.* (* "Memoir of the Geological
Survey" pages 394 to 397.) The Gower caves in general have their
floors strewed over with sand, containing marine shells, all of
living species; and there are raised beaches on the adjoining
coast, and other geological signs of great alteration in the
relative level of land and sea, since that country was inhabited by
the extinct mammalia, some of which, as we have seen, were
certainly coeval with Man.

OSSIFEROUS CAVES IN THE NORTH OF SICILY.

Geologists have long been familiar with the fact that on the
northern coast of Sicily, between Termini on the east, and Trapani
on the west, there are several caves containing the bones of
extinct animals. These caves are situated in rocks of Hippurite
limestone, a member of the Cretaceous series, and some of them may
be seen on both sides of the Bay of Palermo. If in the
neighbourhood of that city we proceed from the sea inland,
ascending a sloping terrace, composed of the marine Newer Pliocene
strata, we reach about a mile from the shore, and at the height of
about 180 feet above it a precipice of limestone, at the base of
which appear the entrances of several caves. In that of San Ciro,
on the east side of the bay, we find at the bottom sand with marine
shells, forty species of which have been examined, and found almost
all to agree specifically with mollusca now inhabiting the
Mediterranean. Higher in position, and resting on the sand, is a
breccia, composed of pieces of limestone, quartz, and schist in a
matrix of brown marl, through which land shells are dispersed,
together with bones of two species of hippopotamus, as determined
by Dr. Falconer. Certain bones of the skeleton were counted in such
numbers as to prove that they must have belonged to several hundred
individuals. With these were associated the remains of Elephas
antiquus, and bones of the genera Bos, Cervus, Sus, Ursus, Canis,
and a large Felis. Some of these bones have been rolled as if
partially subjected to the action of water, and may have been
introduced by streams through rents in the Hippurite limestone; but
there is now no running water in the neighbourhood, no river such
as the hippopotamus might frequent, not even a small brook, so that
the physical geography of the district must have been altogether
changed since the time when such remains were swept into fissures,
or into the channels of engulfed rivers.

No proofs seem yet to have been found of the existence of Man at
the period when the hippopotamus and Elephas antiquus flourished at
San Ciro. But there is another cave called the Grotto di
Maccagnone, which much resembles it in geological position, on the
opposite or west side of the Bay of Palermo, near Carini. In the
bottom of this cave a bone deposit like that of San Ciro occurs,
and above it other materials reaching to the roof, and evidently
washed in from above, through crevices in the limestone. In this
upper and newer breccia Dr. Falconer discovered flint knives, bone
splinters, bits of charcoal, burnt clay, and other objects
indicating human intervention, mingled with entire land shells,
teeth of horses, coprolites of hyaenas, and other bones, the whole
agglutinated to one another and to the roof by the infiltration of
water holding lime in solution. The perfect condition of the large
fragile helices (Helix vermiculata) afforded satisfactory evidence,
says Dr. Falconer, that the various articles were carried into the
cave by the tranquil agency of water, and not by any tumultuous
action. At a subsequent period other geographical changes took
place, so that the cave, after it had been filled, was washed out
again, or emptied of its contents with the exception of those
patches of breccia which, being cemented together by stalactite,
still adhere to the roof.* (* "Quarterly Journal of the Geological
Society" volume 16 1860 page 105.)

Baron Anca, following up these investigations, explored, in 1859,
another cave at Mondello, west of Palermo, and north of Mount
Gallo, where he discovered molars of the living African elephant,
and afterwards additional specimens of the same species in the
neighbouring grotto of Olivella. In reference to this elephant, Dr.
Falconer has reminded us that the distance between the nearest part
of Sicily and the coast of Africa, between Marsala and Cape Bon, is
not more than 80 miles, and Admiral Smyth, in his Memoir on the
Mediterranean, states (page 499) that there is a subaqueous
plateau, named by him Adventure Bank, uniting Sicily to Africa by a
succession of ridges which are not more than from 40 to 50 fathoms
under water.* (* Cited by Horner, "Presidential Address to the
Geological Society" 1861 page 42.) Sicily therefore might be
re-united to Africa by movements of upheaval not greater than those
which are already known to have taken place within the human period
on the borders of the Mediterranean, of which I shall now proceed
to cite a well-authenticated example, observed in Sardinia.

RISE OF THE BED OF THE SEA TO THE HEIGHT OF 300 FEET, IN THE HUMAN
PERIOD, IN SARDINIA.

Count Albert de la Marmora, in his description of the geology of
Sardinia,* (* "Partie Geologique" volume 1 pages 382 and 387.) has
shown that on the southern coast of that island, at Cagliari and in
the neighbourhood, an ancient bed of the sea, containing marine
shells of living species, and numerous fragments of antique
pottery, has been elevated to the height of from 230 to 324 feet
above the present level of the Mediterranean. Oysters and other
shells, of which a careful list has been published, including the
common mussel (Mytilus edulis), many of them having both valves
united, occur, embedded in a breccia in which fragments of
limestone abound. The mussels are often in such numbers as to
impart, when they have decomposed, a violet colour to the marine
stratum. Besides pieces of coarse pottery, a flattened ball of
baked earthenware, with a hole through its axis, was found in the
midst of the marine shells. It is supposed to have been used for
weighting a fishing net. Of this and of one of the fragments of
ancient pottery Count de la Marmora has given figures.

The upraised bed of the sea probably belongs in this instance to
the Pleistocene period, for in a bone breccia, filling fissures in
the rocks around Cagliari, the remains of extinct mammalia have
been detected; among which is a new genus of carnivorous quadruped,
named Cynotherium by M. Studiati, and figured by Count de la
Marmora in his Atlas (Plate 7), also an extinct species of Lagomys,
determined by Cuvier in 1825. Embedded in the same bone-breccia,
and enveloped with red earth like the mammalian remains, were
detected shells of the Mytilus edulis before mentioned, implying
that the marine formation containing shells and pottery had been
already upheaved and exposed to denudation before the remains of
quadrupeds were washed into these rents and included in the red
earth. In the vegetable soil covering the upraised marine stratum,
fragments of Roman pottery occur.

If we assume the average rate of upheaval to have been, as before
hinted, 2 1/2 feet in a century, 300 feet would give an antiquity
of 12,000 years to the Cagliari pottery, even if we simply confine
our estimate to the upheaval above the sea-level, without allowing
for the original depth of water in which the mollusca lived. Even
then our calculation would merely embrace the period during which
the upward movement was going on; and we can form at present no
conjecture as to the probable era of its commencement or
termination.

I learn from Captain Spratt, R.N., that the island of Crete or
Candia, about 135 miles in length, has been raised at its western
extremity about 25 feet; so that ancient ports are now high and dry
above the sea, while at its eastern end it has sunk so much that
the ruins of old towns are seen under water. Revolutions like these
in the physical geography of the countries bordering the
Mediterranean, may well help us to understand the phenomena of the
Palermo caves, and the presence in Sicily of African species of
mammalia.

CLIMATE AND HABITS OF THE HIPPOPOTAMUS.

As I have alluded more than once in this chapter to the occurrence
of the remains of the hippopotamus in places where there are now no
rivers, not even a rill of water, and as other bones of the same
genus have been met with in the lower-level gravels of the Somme
where large blocks of sandstone seem to imply that ice once played
a part in their transportation, it may be well to consider, before
proceeding farther, what geographical and climatal conditions are
indicated by the presence of these fossil pachyderms.

It is now very generally conceded that the mammoth and tichorhine
rhinoceros were fitted to inhabit northern regions, and it is
therefore natural to begin by asking whether the extinct
hippopotamus may not in like manner have flourished in a cold
climate. In answer to this inquiry, it has been remarked that the
living hippopotami, anatomically speaking so closely allied to the
extinct species, are so aquatic and fluviatile in their habits as
to make it difficult to conceive that their congeners could have
thriven all the year round in regions where, during winter, the
rivers were frozen over for months. Moreover, I have been unable to
learn that, in any instance, bones of the hippopotamus have been
found in the drift of northern Germany associated with the remains
of the mammoth, tichorhine rhinoceros, musk-ox, reindeer, lemming,
and other arctic quadrupeds before alluded to; yet, though not
proved to have ever made a part of such a fauna, the presence of
the fossil hippopotamus north of the fiftieth parallel of latitude
naturally tempts us to speculate on the migratory powers and
instincts of some of the extinct species of the genus. They may
have resembled, in this respect, the living musk-ox, herds of which
pass for hundreds of miles over the ice to the rich pastures of
Melville Island, and then return again to southern latitudes before
the ice breaks up.

We are indebted to Sir Andrew Smith,* (* "Illustrations of the
Zoology of South Africa": article "Hippopotamus.") an experienced
zoologist, for having given us an account of the migratory habits
of the living hippopotamus of Southern Africa (H. amphibius, Linn.
).

He states that, when the Dutch first colonised the Cape of Good
Hope, this animal abounded in all the great rivers, as far south as
the land extends; whereas, in 1849, they had all disappeared,
scarcely one remaining even within a moderate distance of the
colony. He also tells us that this species evinces great sagacity
in changing its quarters whenever danger threatens, quitting every
district invaded by settlers bearing fire-arms. Bulky as they are,
they can travel speedily for miles over land from one pool of a
dried-up river to another; but it is by water that their powers of
locomotion are surpassingly great, not only in rivers, but in the
sea, for they are far from confining themselves to fresh water.
Indeed, Sir A. Smith finds it "difficult to decide whether, during
the daytime and when not feeding, they prefer the pools of rivers
or the waters of the ocean for their abode." In districts where
they have been disturbed by Man, they feed almost entirely in the
night, chiefly on certain kinds of grass, but also on brushwood.
Sir A. Smith relates that, in an expedition which he made north of
Port Natal, he found them swarming in all the rivers about the
tropic of Capricorn. Here they were often seen to have left their
footprints on the sands, entering or coming out of the salt water;
and on one occasion Smith's party tried in vain to intercept a
female with her young as she was making her way to the sea. Another
female, which they had wounded on her precipitate retreat to the
sea, was afterwards shot in that element.

The geologist, therefore, may freely speculate on the time when
herds of hippopotami issued from North African rivers, such as the
Nile, and swam northwards in summer along the coasts of the
Mediterranean, or even occasionally visited islands near the shore.
Here and there they may have landed to graze or browse, tarrying
awhile and afterwards continuing their course northwards. Others
may have swum in a few summer days from rivers in the south of
Spain or France to the Somme, Thames, or Severn, making timely
retreat to the south before the snow and ice set in.

BURIAL-PLACE AT AURIGNAC, IN THE SOUTH OF FRANCE, OF PLEISTOCENE
DATE.

I have alluded in the beginning of the fourth chapter to a custom
prevalent among rude nations of consigning to the tomb works of
art, once the property of the dead, or objects of their affection,
and even of storing up, in many cases, animal food destined for the
manes of the defunct in a future life. I also cited M. Desnoyers'
comments on the absence among the bones of wild and domestic
animals found in old Gaulish tombs of all intermixture of extinct
species of quadrupeds, as proving that the oldest sepulchral
monuments then known in France (1845) had no claims to high
antiquity founded on palaeontological data.

M. Lartet, however, has recently published a circumstantial account
of what seems clearly to have been a sepulchral vault of the
Pleistocene period, near Aurignac, not far from the foot of the
Pyrenees. I have had the advantage of inspecting the fossil bones
and works of art obtained by him from that grotto, and of
conversing and corresponding with him on the subject, and can see
no grounds for doubting the soundness of his conclusions.* (* See
Lartet, "Annales des Sci. Nat." 4mo. Ser. Zoologie volume 15 page
177 translated in "Natural History Review" London January 1862.)

(FIGURE 25. SECTION OF PART OF THE HILL OF FAJOLES PASSING THROUGH
   THE SEPULCHRAL GROTTO OF AURIGNAC (E. Lartet).

  a. Part of the vault in which the remains of seventeen human
    skeletons were found.
  b. Layer of made ground, two feet thick, inside the grotto in
    which a few human bones, with entire bones of extinct and
    living species of animals, and many works of art were embedded.
  c. Layers of ashes and charcoal, six inches thick, with broken,
    burnt, and gnawed bones of extinct and Recent mammalia; also
    hearth-stones and works of art; no human bones.
  d. Deposit with similar contents and a few scattered cinders.
  e. Talus of rubbish washed down from the hill above.
  f, g. Slab of rock which closed the vault, not ascertained
    whether it extended to h.
  f i. Rabbit burrow which led to the discovery of the grotto.
  h, k. Original terrace on which the grotto opened.
  N. Nummulitic limestone of hill of Fajoles.)

The town of Aurignac is situated in the department of the
Haute-Garonne, near a spur of the Pyrenees; adjoining it is the
small flat-topped hill of Fajoles, about 60 feet above the brook
called Rodes, which flows at its foot on one side. It consists of
Nummulitic limestone, presenting a steep escarpment towards the
north-west, on which side in the face of the rock, about 45 feet
above the brook, is now visible the entrance of a grotto a, Figure
25, which opened originally on the terrace h, c, k, which slopes
gently towards the valley.

Until the year 1852, the opening into this grotto was masked by a
talus of small fragments of limestone and earthy matter e, such as
the rain may have washed down the slope of the hill. In that year a
labourer named Bonnemaison, employed in repairing the roads,
observed that rabbits, when hotly pursued by the sportsman, ran
into a hole which they had burrowed in the talus, at i f, Figure
25. On reaching as far into the opening as the length of his arm,
he drew out, to his surprise, one of the long bones of the human
skeleton; and his curiosity being excited, and having a suspicion
that the hole communicated with a subterranean cavity, he commenced
digging a trench through the middle of the talus, and in a few
hours found himself opposite a large heavy slab of rock f h, placed
vertically against the entrance. Having removed this, he discovered
on the other side of it an arched cavity a, 7 or 8 feet in its
greatest height, 10 in width, and 7 in horizontal depth. It was
almost filled with bones, among which were two entire skulls, which
he recognised at once as human. The people of Aurignac, astonished
to hear of the occurrence of so many human relics in so lonely a
spot, flocked to the cave, and Dr. Amiel, the Mayor, ordered all
the bones to be taken out and reinterred in the parish cemetery.
But before this was done, having as a medical man a knowledge of
anatomy, he ascertained by counting the homologous bones that they
must have formed parts of no less than seventeen skeletons of both
sexes, and all ages; some so young that the ossification of some of
the bones was incomplete. Unfortunately the skulls were injured in
the transfer; and what is worse, after the lapse of eight years,
when M. Lartet visited Aurignac, the village sexton was unable to
tell him in what exact place the trench was dug, into which the
skeletons had been thrown, so that this rich harvest of
ethnological knowledge seems for ever lost to the antiquary and
geologist.

M. Lartet having been shown, in 1860, the remains of some extinct
animals and works of art, found in digging the original trench made
by Bonnemaison through the bed d under the talus, and some others
brought out from the interior of the grotto, determined to
investigate systematically what remained intact of the deposits
outside and inside the vault, those inside, underlying the human
skeletons, being supposed to consist entirely of made ground.
Having obtained the assistance of some intelligent workmen, he
personally superintended their labours, and found outside the
grotto, resting on the sloping terrace h k, the layer of ashes and
charcoal c, about 6 inches thick, extending over an area of 6 or 7
square yards, and going as far as the entrance of the grotto and no
farther, there being no cinders or charcoal in the interior. Among
the cinders outside the vault were fragments of fissile sandstone,
reddened by heat, which were observed to rest on a levelled surface
of Nummulitic limestone and to have formed a hearth. The nearest
place from whence such slabs of sandstone could have been brought
was the opposite side of the valley.

Among the ashes, and in some overlying earthy layers, d, separating
the ashes from the talus e, were a great variety of bones and
implements; amongst the latter not fewer than a hundred flint
articles--knives, projectiles, sling stones, and chips, and among
them one of those siliceous cores or nuclei with numerous facets,
from which flint flakes or knives had been struck off, seeming to
prove that some instruments were occasionally manufactured on the
very spot.

Among other articles outside the entrance was found a stone of a
circular form, and flattened on two sides, with a central
depression, composed of a tough rock which does not belong to that
region of the Pyrenees. This instrument is supposed by the Danish
antiquaries to have been used for removing by skilful blows the
edges of flint knives, the fingers and thumb being placed in the
two opposite depressions during the operation. Among the bone
instruments were arrows without barbs, and other tools made of
reindeer horn, and a bodkin formed out of the more compact horn of
the roedeer. This instrument was well shaped, and sharply pointed,
and in so good a state of preservation that it might still be used
for piercing the tough skins of animals.

Scattered through the same ashes and earth were the bones of the
various species of animals enumerated in the subjoined lists, with
the exception of two, marked with an asterisk, which only occurred
in the interior of the grotto:--

TABLE 10/1. NUMBERS OF INDIVIDUALS, BONES OF WHICH WERE FOUND IN
THE AURIGNAC CAVE.

COLUMN 1 : NAME OF SPECIES.

COLUMN 2 : NUMBER OF INDIVIDUALS.

1. CARNIVORA

1. Ursus spelaeus (cave-bear) : 5 to 6.
2. Ursus arctos ? (brown bear) : 1.
3. Meles taxus (badger) : 1 to 2.
4. Putorius vulgaris (polecat) : 1.
5. *Felis spelaea (cave-lion) : 1.
6. Felis catus ferus (wild cat) : 1.
7. Hyaena spelaea (cave-hyaena) : 5 to 6.
8. Canis lupus (wolf) : 3.
9. Canis vulpes (fox) : 18 to 20.

2. HERBIVORA.

1. Elephas primigenius (mammoth, two molars).
2. Rhinoceros tichorhinus (Siberian rhinoceros) : 1.
3. Equus caballus (horse) : 12 to 15.
4. Equus asinus (?) (ass) : 1.
5. *Sus scrofa (pig, two incisors).
6. Cervus elaphus (stag) : 1.
7. Megaceros hibernicus (gigantic Irish deer) : 1.
8. C. capreolus (roebuck) : 3 to 4.
9. C. tarandus (reindeer) : 10 to 12.
10. Bison europaeus (aurochs) : 12 to 15.

The bones of the herbivora were the most numerous, and all those on
the outside of the grotto which had contained marrow were
invariably split open, as if for its extraction, many of them being
also burnt. The spongy parts, moreover, were wanting, having been
eaten off and gnawed after they were broken, the work, according to
M. Lartet, of hyaenas, the bones and coprolites of which were mixed
with the cinders, and dispersed through the overlying soil d. These
beasts of prey are supposed to have prowled about the spot and fed
on such relics of the funeral feasts as remained after the retreat
of the human visitors, or during the intervals between successive
funeral ceremonies which accompanied the interment of the corpses
within the sepulchre. Many of the bones were also streaked, as if
the flesh had been scraped off by a flint instrument.

Among the various proofs that the bones were fresh when brought to
the spot, it is remarked that those of the herbivora not only bore
the marks of having had the marrow extracted and having afterwards
been gnawed and in part devoured as if by carnivorous beasts, but
that they had also been acted upon by fire (and this was especially
noticed in one case of a cave-bear's bone), in such a manner as to
show that they retained in them at the time all their animal
matter.

Among other quadrupeds which appear to have been eaten at the
funeral feasts, and of which the bones occurred among the ashes,
were those of a young Rhinoceros tichorhinus, the bones of which
had been, like those of the accompanying herbivora, broken and
gnawed by a beast of prey at both extremities.

Outside of the great slab of stone forming the door, not one human
bone occurred; inside of it there were found, mixed with loose
soil, the remains of as many as seventeen human individuals, besides
some works of art and bones of animals. We know nothing of the
arrangement of these bones when they were first broken into. M.
Lartet inferred at first that the bodies were bent down upon
themselves in a squatting attitude, a posture known to have been
adopted in most of the sepulchres of primitive times; and he has so
represented them in his restoration of the cave: but this opinion
he has since retracted. His artist also has inadvertently, in the
same drawing, delineated the arched grotto as if it were shaped
very regularly and smoothly, like a finished piece of masonry,
whereas the surface was in truth as uneven and irregular as are the
roofs of all natural grottos.

There was no stalagmite in the grotto, and M. Lartet, an
experienced investigator of ossiferous caverns in the south of
France, came to the conclusion that all the bones and soil found in
the inside were artificially introduced. The substratum b, Figure
25, which remained after the skeletons had been removed, was about
2 feet thick. In it were found about ten detached human bones,
including a molar tooth; and M. Delesse ascertained by careful
analysis of one of these, as well as of the bones of a rhinoceros,
bear, and some other extinct animals, that they all contained
precisely the same proportion of nitrogen, or had lost an equal
amount of their animal matter. My friend Mr. Evans, before cited,
has suggested to me that such a fact, taken alone, may not be
conclusive in favour of the equal antiquity of the human and other
remains. No doubt, had the human skeletons been found to contain
more gelatine than those of the extinct mammalia, it would have
shown that they were the more modern of the two; but it is possible
that after a bone has gone on losing its animal matter up to a
certain point, it may then part with no more so long as it
continues enveloped in the same matrix. If this be so, it follows
that bones of very different degrees of antiquity, after they have
lain for many thousands of years in a particular soil, may all have
reached long ago the maximum of decomposition attainable in such a
matrix. In the present case, however, the proof of the
contemporaneousness of Man and the extinct animals does not depend
simply on the identity of their mineral condition. The chemical
analysis of M. Delesse is only a fact in corroboration of a great
mass of other evidence.

Mixed with the human bones inside the grotto first removed by
Bonnemaison, were eighteen small, round, and flat plates of a white
shelly substance, made of some species of cockle (Cardium), pierced
through the middle as if for being strung into a bracelet. In the
substratum also in the interior examined by M. Lartet was found the
tusk of a young Ursus spelaeus, the crown of which had been
stripped of its enamel, and which had been carved perhaps in
imitation of the head of a bird. It was perforated lengthwise as if
for suspension as an ornament or amulet. A flint knife also was
found in the interior which had evidently never been used; in this
respect, unlike the numerous worn specimens found outside, so that
it is conjectured that it may, like other associated works of art,
have been placed there as part of the funeral ceremonies.

A few teeth of the cave-lion, Felis spelaea, and two tusks of the
wild boar, also found in the interior, were memorials perhaps of
the chase. No remains of the same animals were met with among the
external relics.

On the whole, the bones of animals inside the vault offer a
remarkable contrast to those of the exterior, being all entire and
uninjured, none of them broken, gnawed, half-eaten, scraped, or
burnt like those lying among the ashes on the other side of the
great slab which formed the portal. The bones of the interior seem
to have been clothed with their flesh when buried in the layer of
loose soil strewed over the floor. In confirmation of this idea,
many bones of the skeleton were often observed to be in
juxtaposition, and in one spot all the bones of the leg of an Ursus
spelaeus were lying together uninjured. Add to this, the entire
absence in the interior of cinders and charcoal, and we can
scarcely doubt that we have here an example of an ancient place of
sepulture, closed at the opening so effectually against the hyaenas
or other carnivora that no marks of their teeth appear on any of
the bones, whether human or brute.

John Carver, in his travels in the interior of North America in a
1766-68 (chapter 15.), gave a minute account of the funeral rites
of an Indian tribe which inhabited the country now called Iowa, at
the junction of the St. Peter's River with the Mississippi; and
Schiller, in his famous "Nadowessische Todtenklage," has faithfully
embodied in a poetic dirge all the characteristic features of the
ceremonies so graphically described by the English traveller, not
omitting the many funeral gifts which, we are told, were placed "in
a cave" with the bodies of the dead. The lines beginning, "Bringet
her die letzten Gaben," have been thus translated, truthfully, and
with all the spirit of the original, by Sir E. L. Bulwer*:--

"Here bring the last gifts!--and with these
The last lament be said;
Let all that pleased, and yet may please,
Be buried with the dead.

"Beneath his head the hatchet hide,
That he so stoutly swung;
And place the bear's fat haunch beside--
The journey hence is long!

"And let the knife new sharpened be
That on the battle-day
Shore with quick strokes--he took but three--
The foeman's scalp away!

"The paints that warriors love to use,
Place here within his hand,
That he may shine with ruddy hues
Amidst the spirit-land."

(* "Poems and Ballads of Schiller.")

If we accept M. Lartet's interpretation of the ossiferous deposits
of Aurignac, both inside and outside the grotto, they add nothing
to the palaeontological evidence in favour of Man's antiquity, for
we have seen all the same mammalia associated elsewhere with flint
implements, and some species, such as the Elephas antiquus,
Rhinoceros hemitoechus, and Hippopotamus major, missing here, have
been met with in other places. An argument, however, having an
opposite leaning may perhaps be founded on the phenomena of
Aurignac. It may--indeed it has been said, that they imply that
some of the extinct mammalia survived nearly to our times:

First--Because of the modern style of the works of art at Aurignac.

Secondly--Because of the absence of any signs of change in the
physical geography of the country since the cave was used for a
place of sepulture.

In reference to the first of these propositions, the utensils, it
is said, of bone and stone indicate a more advanced state of the
arts than the flint implements of Abbeville and Amiens. M. Lartet,
however, is of opinion that they do not, and thinks that we have no
right to assume that the fabricators of the various spear-headed
and other tools of the Valley of the Somme possessed no bone
instruments or ornaments resembling those discovered at Aurignac.
These last, moreover, he regards as extremely rude in comparison
with others of the stone period in France, which can be proved
palaeontologically, at least by strong negative evidence, to be of
subsequent date. Thus, for example, at Savigne, near Civray, in the
department of Vienne, there is a cave in which there are no extinct
mammalia, but where remains of the reindeer abound. The works of
art of the stone period found there indicate considerable progress
in skill beyond that attested by the objects found in the Aurignac
grotto. Among the Savigne articles, there is the bone of a stag, on
which figures of two animals, apparently meant for deer, are
engraved in outline, as if by a sharp-pointed flint. In another
cave, that of Massat, in the department of Ariege, which M. Lartet
ascribes to the period of the aurochs, a quadruped which survived
the reindeer in the south of France, there are bone instruments of
a still more advanced state of the arts, as, for example, barbed
arrows with a small canal in each, believed to have served for the
insertion of poison; also a needle of bird's bone, finely shaped,
with an eye or perforation at one end, and a stag's horn, on which
is carved a representation of a bear's head, and a hole at one end
as if for suspending it. In this figure we see, says M. Lartet,
what may perhaps be the earliest known example of lines used to
express shading.

The fauna of the aurochs (Bison europaeus) agrees with that of the
earlier lake dwellings in Switzerland, in which hitherto the
reindeer is wanting; whereas the reindeer has been found in a Swiss
cave, in Mont Saleve, supposed by Lartet to be more ancient than
the lake dwellings.

According to this view, the mammalian fauna has undergone at least
two fluctuations since the remains of some extinct quadrupeds were
eaten, and others buried as funeral gifts in the sepulchral vault
of Aurignac.

As to the absence of any marked changes in the physical
configuration of the district since the same grotto was a place of
sepulture, we must remember that it is the normal state of the
earth's surface to be undergoing great alterations in one place,
while other areas, often in close proximity, remain for ages
without any modification. In one region, rivers are deepening and
widening their channels, or the waves of the sea are undermining
cliffs, or the land is sinking beneath or rising above the waters,
century after century, or the volcano is pouring forth torrents of
lava or showers of ashes; while, in tracts hard by, the ancient
forest, or extensive heath, or the splendid city continue
scatheless and motionless. Had the talus which concealed from view
the ancient hearth with its cinders and the massive stone portal of
the Aurignac grotto escaped all human interference for thousands of
years to come, there is no reason to suppose that the small stream
at the foot of the hill of Fajoles would have undermined it. At the
end of a long period the only alteration might have been the
thickening of the talus which protected the loose cinders and bones
from waste. We behold in many a valley of Auvergne, within 50 feet
of the present river channel, a volcanic cone of loose ashes, with
a crater at its summit, from which powerful currents of basaltic
lava have poured, usurping the ancient bed of the torrent. By the
action of the stream, in the course of ages, vast masses of the
hard columnar basalt have been removed, pillar after pillar, and
much vesicular lava, as in the case, for example, of the Puy Rouge,
near Chalucet, and of the Puy de Tartaret, near Nechers.* (*
Scrope's "Volcanoes of Central France" 1858 page 97.) The rivers
have even in some cases, as the Sioule, near Chalucet, cut through
not only the basalt which dispossessed them of their ancient
channels, but have actually eaten 50 feet into the subjacent
gneiss; yet the cone, an incoherent heap of scoriae and spongy
ejectamenta, stands unmolested. Had the waters once risen, even for
a day, so high as to reach the level of the base of one of these
cones--had there been a single flood 50 or 60 feet in height since
the last eruption occurred, a great part of these volcanoes must
inevitably have been swept away as readily as all traces of the
layer of cinders; and the accompanying bones would have been
obliterated by the Rodes near Aurignac, had it risen, since the
days of the mammoth, rhinoceros, and cave-bear, 50 feet above its
present level.

The Aurignac cave adds no new species to the list of extinct
quadrupeds, which we have elsewhere, and by independent evidence,
ascertained to have once flourished contemporaneously with Man. But
if the fossil memorials have been correctly interpreted--if we have
here before us at the northern base of the Pyrenees a sepulchral
vault with skeletons of human beings, consigned by friends and
relatives to their last resting-place--if we have also at the
portal of the tomb the relics of funeral feasts, and within it
indications of viands destined for the use of the departed on their
way to a land of spirits; while among the funeral gifts are weapons
wherewith in other fields to chase the gigantic deer, the
cave-lion, the cave-bear, and woolly rhinoceros--we have at last
succeeded in tracing back the sacred rites of burial, and, more
interesting still, a belief in a future state, to times long
anterior to those of history and tradition. Rude and superstitious
as may have been the savage of that remote era, he still deserved,
by cherishing hopes of a hereafter, the epithet of "noble," which
Dryden gave to what he seems to have pictured to himself as the
primitive condition of our race,

"as Nature first made Man
When wild in woods the noble savage ran."*
(* "Siege of Granada" Part 1 Act 1 Scene 1.)


CHAPTER 11.

AGE OF HUMAN FOSSILS OF LE PUY IN CENTRAL FRANCE AND
   OF NATCHEZ ON THE MISSISSIPPI DISCUSSED.

Question as to the Authenticity of the Fossil Man of Denise,
   near Le Puy-en-Velay, considered.
Antiquity of the Human Race implied by that Fossil.
Successive Periods of Volcanic Action in Central France.
With what Changes in the Mammalian Fauna they correspond.
The Elephas meridionalis anterior in Time to the Implement-bearing
   Gravel of St. Acheul.
Authenticity of the Human Fossil of Natchez on the Mississippi
   discussed.
The Natchez Deposit, containing Bones of Mastodon and Megalonyx,
   probably not older than the Flint Implements of St. Acheul.

Among the fossil remains of the human species supposed to have
claims to high antiquity, and which have for many years attracted
attention, two of the most prominent examples are:--

First--"The fossil man of Denise," comprising the remains of more
than one skeleton, found in a volcanic breccia near the town of Le
Puy-en-Velay, in Central France.

Secondly--The fossil human bone of Natchez, on the Mississippi,
supposed to have been derived from a deposit containing remains of
Mastodon and Megalonyx. Having carefully examined the sites of both
of these celebrated fossils, I shall consider in this chapter the
nature of the evidence on which the remote date of their entombment
is inferred.

FOSSIL MAN OF DENISE.

An account of the fossil remains, so called, was first published in
1844 by M. Aymard of Le Puy, a writer of deservedly high authority
both as a palaeontologist and archaeologist.* (* "Bulletin de la
Societe Geologique de France" 1844, 1845, 1847.) M. Pictet, after
visiting Le Puy and investigating the site of the alleged
discovery, was satisfied that the fossil bones belonged to the
period of the last volcanic eruptions of Velay; but expressly
stated in his important treatise on palaeontology that this
conclusion, though it might imply that Man had co-existed with the
extinct elephant, did not draw with it the admission that the human
race was anterior in date to the filling of the caverns of France
and Belgium with the bones of extinct mammalia.* (* "Traite de
Paleontologie" volume 1 1853 page 152.)

At a meeting of the "Scientific Congress" of France, held at Le Puy
in 1856, the question of the age of the Denise fossil bones was
fully gone into, and in the report of their proceedings published
in that year, the opinions of some of the most skilful osteologists
respecting the point in controversy are recorded. The late Abbe
Croizet, a most experienced collector of fossil bones in the
volcanic regions of Central France, and an able naturalist, and the
late M. Laurillard, of Paris, who assisted Cuvier in modelling many
fossil bones, and in the arrangement of the museum of the Jardin,
declared their opinion that the specimen preserved in the museum of
Le Puy is no counterfeit. They believed the human bones to have
been enveloped by natural causes in the tufaceous matrix in which
we now see them.

In the year 1859, Professor Hebert and M. Lartet visited Le Puy,
expressly to investigate the same specimen, and to inquire into the
authenticity of the bones and their geological age. Later in the
same year, I went myself to Le Puy, having the same object in view,
and had the good fortune to meet there my friend Mr. Poulett
Scrope, with whom I examined the Montagne de Denise, where a
peasant related to us how he had dug out the specimen with his own
hands and in his own vineyard, not far from the summit of the
volcano. I employed a labourer to make under his directions some
fresh excavations, following up those which had been made a month
earlier by MM. Hebert and Lartet, in the hope of verifying the true
position of the fossils, but all of us without success. We failed
even to find in situ any exact counterpart of the stone of the Le
Puy Museum.

The osseous remains of that specimen consist of a frontal and some
other parts of the skull, including the upper jaw with teeth, both
of an adult and young individual; also a radius, some lumbar
vertebrae, and some metatarsal bones. They are all embedded in a
light porous tuff, resembling in colour and mineral composition the
ejectamenta of several of the latest eruptions of Denise. But none
of the bones penetrate into another part of the same specimen,
which consists of a more compact rock thickly laminated.
Nevertheless, I agree with the Abbe Croizet and M. Aymard, that it
is not conceivable even that the less coherent part of the museum
Specimen which envelopes the human bones should have been
artificially put together, whatever may have been the origin of
certain other slabs of tuff which were afterwards sold as coming
from the same place, and which also contained human remains.
Whether some of these were spurious or not is a question more
difficult to decide. One of them, now in the possession of M.
Pichot-Dumazel, an advocate of Le Puy, is suspected of having had
some plaster of Paris introduced into it to bind the bones more
firmly together in the loose volcanic tuff. I was assured that a
dealer in objects of natural history at Le Puy had been in the
habit of occasionally securing the cohesion in that manner of
fragments of broken bones, and the juxtaposition of uninjured ones
found free and detachable in loose volcanic tuffs. From this to the
fabrication of a factitious human fossil was, it is suggested, but
a short step. But in reference to M. Pichot's specimen, an expert
anatomist remarked to me that it would far exceed the skill,
whether of the peasant who owned the vineyard or of the dealer
above mentioned, to put together in their true position all the
thirty-eight bones of the hand and fingers, or the sixteen of the
wrist, without making any mistake, and especially without mixing
those of the right with the homologous bones of the left hand,
assuming that they had brought bones, from some other spot, and
then artificially introduced them into a mixture of volcanic tuff
and plaster of Paris.

Granting, however, that the high prices given for "human fossils"
at Le Puy may have led to the perpetration of some frauds, it is
still an interesting question to consider whether the admission of
the genuineness of a single fossil, such as that now in the museum
at Le Puy, would lead us to assign a higher antiquity to the
existence of Man in France than is deducible from many other facts
explained in the last seven chapters. In reference to this point, I
may observe that although I was not able to fix with precision the
exact bed in the volcanic mountain from which the rock containing
the human bones was taken, M. Felix Robert has, nevertheless, after
studying "the volcanic alluviums" of Denise, ascertained that, on
the side of Cheyrac and the village of Malouteyre, blocks of tuff
frequently occur exactly like the one in the museum. That tuff he
considers a product of the latest eruption of the volcano. In it
have been found the remains of Hyaena spelaea and Hippopotamus
major. The eruptions of steam and gaseous matter which burst forth
from the crater of Denise broke through laminated Tertiary clays,
small pieces of which, some of them scarcely altered, others half
converted into scoriae, were cast out in abundance, while other
portions must have been in a state of argillaceous mud. Showers of
such materials would be styled by the Neapolitans "aqueous lava" or
"lava d'aqua," and we may well suppose that some human individuals,
if any existed, would, together with wild animals, be occasionally
overwhelmed in these tuffs. From near the place on the mountain
whence the block with human bones now in the museum is said to have
come, a stream of lava, well marked by its tabular structure,
flowed down the flanks of the hill, within a few feet of the
alluvial plain of the Borne, a small tributary of the Loire, on the
opposite bank of which stands the town of Le Puy. Its continuous
extension to so low a level clearly shows that the valley had
already been deepened to within a few feet of its present depth at
the time of the flowing of the lava.

We know that the alluvium of the same district, having a similar
relation to the present geographical outline of the valleys, is of
Pleistocene date, for it contains around Le Puy the bones of
Elephas primigenius and Rhinoceros tichorhinus; and this affords us
a palaeontological test of the age of the human skeleton of Denise,
if the latter be assumed to be coeval with the lava stream above
referred to.

It is important to dwell on this point, because some geologists
have felt disinclined to believe in the genuineness of the "fossil
man of Denise," on the ground that, if conceded, it would imply
that the human race was contemporary with an older fauna, or that
of the Elephas meridionalis. Such a fauna is found fossil in
another layer of tuff covering the slope of Denise, opposite to
that where the museum specimen was exhumed. The quadrupeds obtained
from that more ancient tuff comprise Elephas meridionalis,
Hippopotamus major, Rhinoceros megarhinus, Antilope torticornis,
Hyaena brevirostris, and twelve others of the genera horse, ox,
stag, goat, tiger, etc., all supposed to be of extinct species.
This tuff, found between Malouteyre and Polignac, M. Robert regards
as the product of a much older eruption, and referable to the
neighbouring Montagne de St. Anne, a volcano in a much more wasted
and denuded state than Denise, and classed by M. Bertrand de Doue
as of intermediate age between the ancient and modern cones of
Velay.

The fauna to which Elephas meridionalis and its associates belong,
can be shown to be of anterior date, in the north of France, to the
flint implements of St. Acheul, by the following train of
reasoning. The valley of the Seine is not only geographically
contiguous to the valley of the Somme, but its ancient alluvium
contains the same mammoth and other fossil species. The Eure, one
of the tributaries of the Seine, in its way to join that river,
flows in a valley which follows a line of fault in the Chalk; and
this valley is seen to be comparatively modern, because it
intersects at St. Prest, 4 miles below Chartres, an older valley
belonging to an anterior system of drainage, which has been filled
by a more ancient fluviatile alluvium, consisting of sand and
gravel, 90 feet thick. I have examined the site of this older
drift, and the fossils have been determined by Dr. Falconer. They
comprise Elephas meridionalis, a species of rhinoceros (not R.
tichorhinus), and other mammalia differing from those of the
implement-bearing gravels of the Seine and Somme. The latter,
belonging to the period of the mammoth, might very well have been
contemporary with the modern volcanic eruptions of Central France;
and we may presume, even without the aid of the Denise fossil, that
Man may have witnessed these. But the tuffs and gravels in which
the Elephas meridionalis are embedded were synchronous with an
older epoch of volcanic action, to which the cone of St. Anne, near
Le Puy, and many other mountains of M. Bertrand de Doue's middle
period belong, having cones and craters, which have undergone much
waste by aqueous erosion. We have as yet no proof that Man
witnessed the origin of these hills of lava and scoriae of the
middle phase of volcanic action.

Some surprise was expressed in 1856, by several of the assembled
naturalists at Le Puy, that the skull of the "fossil man of
Denise," although contemporary with the mammoth, and coeval with
the last eruptions of the Le Puy volcanoes [Note 18], should be of
the ordinary Caucasian or European type; but the observations of
Professor Huxley on the Engis skull, cited in the fifth chapter,
showing the near approach of that ancient cranium to the European
standard, will help to remove this source of perplexity.

HUMAN FOSSIL OF NATCHEZ ON THE MISSISSIPPI.

I have already alluded to Dr. Dowler's attempt to calculate, in
years, the antiquity of the human skeleton said to have been buried
under four cypress forests in the delta of the Mississippi, near
New Orleans (see above, Chapter 3). In that case no remains of
extinct animals were found associated with those of Man: but in
another part of the basin of the Mississippi, a human bone,
accompanied by bones of Mastodon and Megalonyx, is supposed to have
been washed out of a more ancient alluvial deposit.

After visiting the spot in 1846, I described the geological
position of the bones, and discussed their probable age, with a
stronger bias, I must confess, as to the antecedent improbability
of the contemporaneous entombment of Man and the mastodon than any
geologist would now be justified in entertaining.

(FIGURE 26. SECTION THROUGH THE ALLUVIAL PLAIN OF THE MISSISSIPPI.

1. Modern alluvium of the Mississippi.
2. Loam or loess.
3, f. Eocene.
4. Cretaceous.)

In the latitude of Vicksburg, 32 degrees 50 minutes north, the
broad, flat, alluvial plain of the Mississippi, a b, Figure 26, is
bounded on its eastern side by a table-land d e, about 200 feet
higher than the river, and extending 12 miles eastward with a
gentle upward slope. This elevated platform ends abruptly at d, in
a line of perpendicular cliffs or bluffs, the base of which is
continually undermined by the great river.

The table-land d-e consists at Vicksburg, through which the annexed
section, Figure 26, passes, of loam, overlying the Tertiary strata
f-f. Between the loam and the Tertiary formation there is usually a
deposit of stratified sand and gravel, containing large fragments
of silicified corals and the wreck of older Palaeozoic rocks. The
age of this underlying drift, which is 140 feet thick at Natchez,
has not yet been determined; but it may possibly belong to the
glacial period. Natchez is about 80 miles in a straight line south
of Vicksburg, on the same left bank of the Mississippi. Here there
is a bluff, the upper 60 feet of which consists of a continuous
portion of the same calcareous loam as at Vicksburg, equally
resembling the Rhenish loess in mineral character and in being
sometimes barren of fossils, sometimes so full of them that
bleached land-shells stand out conspicuously in relief in the
vertical and weathered face of cliffs which form the banks of
streams, everywhere intersecting the loam.

So numerous are the shells that I was able to collect at Natchez,
in a few hours, in 1846, no less than twenty species of the genera
Helix, Helicina, Pupa, Cyclostoma, Achatina, and Succinea, all
identical with shells now living in the same country; and in one
place I observed (as happens also occasionally in the valley of the
Rhine) a passage of the loam with land-shells into an underlying
marly deposit of subaqueous origin, in which shells of the genera
Limnaea, Planorbis, Paludina, Physa, and Cyclas were embedded, also
consisting of recent American species. Such deposits, more
distinctly stratified than the loam containing land-shells, are
produced, as before stated, in all great alluvial plains, where the
river shifts its position, and where marshes, ponds, and lakes are
formed in its old deserted channels. In this part of America,
however, it may have happened that some of these lakes were caused
by partial subsidences, such as were witnessed, during the
earthquakes of 1811-12, around New Madrid, in the valley of the
Mississippi.

Owing to the destructible nature of the yellow loam, d e, Figure
26, every streamlet flowing over the platform has cut for itself,
in its way to the Mississippi, a deep gully or ravine; and this
erosion has of late years, especially since 1812, proceeded with
accelerated speed, ascribable in some degree to the partial
clearing of the native forest, but partly also to the effects of
the earthquake of 1811-12. By that convulsion the region around
Natchez was rudely shaken and much fissured. One of the narrow
valleys near Natchez, due to this fissuring, is now called the
Mammoth Ravine. Though no less than 7 miles long, and in some parts
60 feet deep, I was assured by a resident proprietor, Colonel
Wiley, that it had no existence before 1812. With its numerous
ramifications, it is said to have been entirely formed since the
earthquake at New Madrid. Before that event, Colonel Wiley had
ploughed some of the land exactly over a spot now traversed by part
of this water-course.

I satisfied myself that the ravine had been considerably enlarged
and lengthened a short time before my visit, and it was then
freshly undermined and undergoing constant waste. From a clayey
deposit immediately below the yellow loam, bones of the Mastodon
ohioticus, a species of Megalonyx, bones of the genera Equus, Bos,
and others, some of extinct and others presumed to be of living
species, had been detached, and had fallen to the base of the
cliffs. Mingled with the rest, the pelvic bone of a man, os
innominatum, was obtained by Dr. Dickeson of Natchez, in whose
collection I saw it. It appeared to be quite in the same state of
preservation, and was of the same black colour as the other
fossils, and was believed to have come like them from a depth of
about 30 feet from the surface. In my "Second Visit to America," in
1846, I suggested, as a possible explanation of this association of
a human bone with remains of Mastodon and Megalonyx, that the
former may possibly have been derived from the vegetable soil at
the top of the cliff, whereas the remains of extinct mammalia were
dislodged from a lower position, and both may have fallen into the
same heap or talus at the bottom of the ravine. The pelvic bone
might, I conceived, have acquired its black colour by having lain
for years or centuries in a dark superficial peaty soil, common in
that region. I was informed that there were many human bones, in
old Indian graves in the same district, stained of as black a dye.
On suggesting this hypothesis to Colonel Wiley of Natchez, I found
that the same idea had already occurred to his mind. No doubt, had
the pelvic bone belonged to any recent mammifer other than Man,
such a theory would never have been resorted to; but so long as we
have only one isolated case, and are without the testimony of a
geologist who was present to behold the bone when still engaged in
the matrix, and to extract it with his own hands, it is allowable
to suspend our judgment as to the high antiquity of the fossil.

If, however, I am asked whether I consider the Natchez loam, with
land-shells and the bones of Mastodon and Megalonyx, to be more
ancient than the alluvium of the Somme containing flint implements
and the remains of the mammoth and hyaena, I must declare that I do
not. Both in Europe and America the land and freshwater shells
accompanying the extinct pachyderms are of living species, and I
could detect no shell in the Natchez loam so foreign to the basin
of the Mississippi as is the Cyrena fluminalis to the rivers of
modern Europe. If, therefore, the relative ages of the Picardy and
Natchez alluvium were to be decided on conchological data alone,
the fluvio-marine beds of Abbeville might rank as a shade older
than the loess of Natchez. My reluctance in 1846 to regard the
fossil human bone as of Pleistocene date arose in part from the
reflection that the ancient loess of Natchez is anterior in time to
the whole modern delta of the Mississippi. The table-land, d e,
Figure 26, was, I believe, once a part of the original alluvial
plain or delta of the great river before it was upraised. It has
now risen more than 200 feet above its pristine level. After the
upheaval, or during it, the Mississippi cut through the old
fluviatile formation of which its bluffs are now formed, just as
the Rhine has in many parts of its valley excavated a passage
through the ancient loess. If I was right in calculating that the
present delta of the Mississippi must have required many tens of
thousands of years for its growth, and if the claims of the Natchez
man to have co-existed with the mastodon are admitted, it would
follow that North America was peopled by the human race many tens
of thousands of years before our time. But even were that true, we
could not presume, reasoning from ascertained geological data, that
the Natchez bone was anterior in date to the antique flint hatchets
of St. Acheul. When we ascend the Mississippi from Natchez to
Vicksburg, and then enter the Ohio, we are accompanied everywhere
by a continuous fringe of terraces of sand and gravel at a certain
height above the alluvial plain, first of the great river, and then
of its tributary. We also find that the older alluvium contains the
remains of Mastodon everywhere, and in some places, as at
Evansville, those of the Megalonyx. As in the valley of the Somme
in Europe, those old Pleistocene gravels often occur at more than
one level, and the ancient mounds of the Ohio, with their works of
art, are newer than the old terraces of the mastodon period, just
as the Gallo-Roman tombs of St. Acheul or the Celtic weapons of the
Abbeville peat are more modern than the tools of the
mammoth-bearing alluvium.

In the first place, I may remind the reader that the vertical
movement of 250 feet, required to elevate the loess of Natchez to
its present height, is exceeded by the upheaval which the marine
stratum of Cagliari, containing pottery, has been ascertained by
Count de la Marmora to have experienced. Such changes of level,
therefore, have actually occurred in Europe in the human epoch, and
may therefore have happened in America. In the second place, I may
observe that if, since the Natchez mastodon was embedded in clay,
the delta of the Mississippi has been formed, so, since the mammoth
and rhinoceros of Abbeville and Amiens were enveloped in fluviatile
mud and gravel, together with flint tools, a great thickness of
peat has accumulated in the valley of the Somme; and antecedently
to the first growth of peat, there had been time for the extinction
of a great many mammalia, requiring, perhaps, a lapse of ages many
times greater than that demanded for the formation of 30 feet of
peat, for since the earliest growth of the latter there has been no
change in the species of mammalia in Europe.

Should future researches, therefore, confirm the opinion that the
Natchez man co-existed with the mastodon, it would not enhance the
value of the geological evidence in favour of Man's antiquity, but
merely render the delta of the Mississippi available as a
chronometer, by which the lapse of Pleistocene time could be
measured somewhat less vaguely than by any means of measuring which
have as yet been discovered or rendered available in Europe.


CHAPTER 12.

ANTIQUITY OF MAN RELATIVELY TO THE GLACIAL PERIOD
   AND TO THE EXISTING FAUNA AND FLORA.

Chronological Relation of the Glacial Period, and the earliest
   known Signs of Man's Appearance in Europe.
Series of Tertiary Deposits in Norfolk and Suffolk immediately
   antecedent to the Glacial Period.
Gradual Refrigeration of Climate proved by the Marine Shells
   of successive Groups.
Marine Newer Pliocene Shells of Northern Character near Woodbridge.
Section of the Norfolk Cliffs.
Norwich Crag.
Forest Bed and Fluvio-marine Strata.
Fossil Plants and Mammalia of the same.
Overlying Boulder Clay and Contorted Drift.
Newer freshwater Formation of Mundesley compared to that of Hoxne.
Great Oscillations of Level implied by the Series of Strata in the
   Norfolk Cliffs.
Earliest known Date of Man long subsequent to the existing Fauna
   and Flora.

Frequent allusions have been made in the preceding pages to a
period called the glacial, to which no reference is made in the
Chronological Table of Formations given above (Chapter 1). It
comprises a long series of ages, during which the power of cold,
whether exerted by glaciers on the land, or by floating ice on the
sea, was greater in the northern hemisphere, and extended to more
southern latitudes than now. [Note 19.]

It often happens that when in any given region we have pushed back
our geological investigations as far as we can in search of
evidence of the first appearance of Man in Europe, we are stopped
by arriving at what is called the "boulder clay" or "northern
drift." This formation is usually quite destitute of organic
remains, so that the thread of our inquiry into the history of the
animate creation, as well as of man, is abruptly cut short. The
interruption, however, is by no means encountered at the same point
of time in every district. In the case of the Danish peat, for
example, we get no farther back than the Recent period of our
Chronologic Table, and then meet with the boulder clay; and it is
the same in the valley of the Clyde, where the marine strata
contain the ancient canoes before described (Chapter 3), and where
nothing intervenes between that Recent formation and the glacial
drift. But we have seen that, in the neighbourhood of Bedford the
memorials of Man can be traced much farther back into the past,
namely, into the Pleistocene epoch, when the human race was
contemporary with the mammoth and many other species of mammalia
now extinct. Nevertheless, in Bedfordshire as in Denmark, the
formation next antecedent in date to that containing the human
implements is still a member of the glacial drift, with its erratic
blocks.

If the reader remembers what was stated in the eighth chapter as to
the absence or extreme scarcity of human bones and works of art in
all strata, whether marine or freshwater, even in those formed in
the immediate proximity of land inhabited by millions of human
beings, he will be prepared for the general dearth of human
memorials in glacial formations, whether Recent, Pleistocene, or of
more ancient date. If there were a few wanderers over lands covered
with glaciers, or over seas infested with ice-bergs, and if a few
of them left their bones or weapons in moraines or in marine drift,
the chances, after the lapse of thousands of years, of a geologist
meeting with one of them must be infinitesimally small.

It is natural, therefore, to encounter a gap in the regular
sequence of geological monuments bearing on the past history of
Man, wherever we have proofs of glacial action having prevailed
with intensity, as it has done over large parts of Europe and North
America, in the Pleistocene period. As we advance into more
southern latitudes approaching the 50th parallel of latitude in
Europe, and the 40th in North America, this disturbing cause ceases
to oppose a bar to our inquiries; but even then, in consequence of
the fragmentary nature of all geological annals, our progress is
inevitably slow in constructing anything like a connected chain of
history, which can only be effected by bringing the links of the
chain found in one area to supply the information which is wanting
in another.

The least interrupted series of consecutive documents to which we
can refer in the British Islands, when we desire to connect the
Pliocene with the Pleistocene periods, are found in the counties of
Norfolk, Suffolk, and Essex; and I shall speak of them in this
chapter, as they have a direct bearing on the relations of the
human and glacial periods, which will be the subject of several of
the following chapters. The fossil shells of the deposits in
question clearly point to a gradual refrigeration of climate, from
a temperature somewhat warmer than that now prevailing in our
latitudes to one of intense cold; and the successive steps which
have marked the coming on of the increasing cold are matters of no
small geological interest. [Note 20.]

It will be seen in the Chronological Table, that next before the
Pleistocene period stands the Pliocene. The shelly and sandy beds
representing these periods in Norfolk and Suffolk are termed
provincially Crag, having under the name been long used in
agriculture to fertilise soils deficient in calcareous matter, or
to render them less stiff and impervious. In Suffolk, the older
Pliocene strata called Crag are divisible into the Coralline and
the Red Crags, the former being the older of the two. In Norfolk, a
more modern formation, commonly termed the "Norwich," or sometimes
the "mammaliferous" Crag, which is referable to the newer Pliocene
period, occupies large areas.

We are indebted to Mr. Searles Wood, F.G.S., for an admirable
monograph on the fossil shells of these British Pliocene
formations. He has not himself given us an analysis of the results
of his treatise, but the following tables have been drawn up for me
by Mr. S.P. Woodward, the well-known author of the "Manual of
Mollusca, Recent and Fossil" (London 1851-56), in order to
illustrate some of the general conclusions to which Mr. Wood's
careful examination of 442 species of mollusca has led.

TABLE 12/1. NUMBER OF KNOWN SPECIES OF MARINE TESTACEA IN THE THREE
ENGLISH PLIOCENE DEPOSITS, CALLED THE NORWICH, THE RED, AND THE
CORALLINE CRAGS.

COLUMN 1 : NAME.

COLUMN 2 : NUMBER.

Brachiopoda : 6.
Lamellibranchia : 206.
Gasteropoda : 230.

TOTAL : 442.

TABLE 12/2. DISTRIBUTION OF THE ABOVE MARINE TESTACEA.

COLUMN 1 : NAME.

COLUMN 2 : NUMBER.

Norwich Crag : 81.
Red Crag : 225.
Coralline Crag : 327.

Species common to the Norwich and Red Crag (not in Coralline) : 33.
Species common to the Norwich and Coralline (not in Red) : 4.
Species common to the Red and Coralline (not in Norwich) : 116.
Species common to the Norwich, Red, and Coralline : 19.*
   (* These 19 species must be added to the numbers 33, 4, and
   116 respectively, in order to obtain the full amount of common
   species in each of those cases.)

TABLE 12/3. PROPORTION OF RECENT TO EXTINCT SPECIES.

COLUMN 1 : NAME.

COLUMN 2 : NUMBER OF RECENT.

COLUMN 3 : NUMBER OF EXTINCT.

COLUMN 4 : PERCENTAGE OF RECENT.

Norwich Crag : 69 : 12 : 85%.
Red Crag : 130 : 95 : 57%.
Coralline Crag : 168 : 159 : 51%.

TABLE 12/4. RECENT SPECIES NOT LIVING NOW IN BRITISH SEAS.

COLUMN 1 : NAME.

COLUMN 2 : NUMBER OF NORTHERN.

COLUMN 3 : NUMBER OF SOUTHERN.

Norwich Crag : 12 : 0.

Red Crag : 8 : 16.

Coralline Crag : 2 : 27.

In the above list I have not included the shells of the glacial
beds of the Clyde and of several other British deposits of newer
origin than the Norwich Crag, in which nearly all--perhaps all--the
species are Recent. The land and freshwater shells, thirty-two in
number, have also been purposely omitted, as well as three species
of London Clay shells, suspected by Mr. Wood himself to be
spurious.

By far the greater number of the living marine species included in
these tables are still inhabitants of the British seas; but even
these differ considerably in their relative abundance, some of the
commonest of the Crag shells being now extremely scarce; as, for
example, Buccinopsis Dalei; and others, rarely met with in a fossil
state, being now very common, as Murex erinaceus and Cardium
echinatum.

The last table throws light on a marked alteration in the climate
of the three successive periods. It will be seen that in the
Coralline Crag there are twenty-seven southern shells, including
twenty-six Mediterranean, and one West Indian species (Erato
Maugeriae). Of these only thirteen occur in the Red Crag,
associated with three new southern species, while the whole of them
disappear from the Norwich beds. On the other hand, the Coralline
Crag contains only two shells closely related to arctic forms of
the genera Admete and Limopsis. The Red Crag contains, as stated in
the table, eight northern species, all of which recur in the
Norwich Crag, with the addition of four others, also inhabitants of
the arctic regions; so that there is good evidence of a continual
refrigeration of climate during the Pliocene period in Britain. The
presence of these northern shells cannot be explained away by
supposing that they were inhabitants of the deep parts of the sea;
for some of them, such as Tellina calcarea and Astarte borealis,
occur plentifully, and sometimes, with the valves united by their
ligament, in company with other littoral shells, such as Mya
arenaria and Littorina rudis, and evidently not thrown up from deep
water. Yet the northern character of the Norwich Crag is not fully
shown by simply saying that it contains twelve northern species. It
is the predominance of certain genera and species, such as Tellina
calcarea, Astarte borealis, Scalaria groenlandica, and Fusus
carinatus, which satisfies the mind of a conchologist as to the
arctic character of the Norwich Crag. In like manner, it is the
presence of such genera as Pyrula, Columbella, Terebra, Cassidaria,
Pholadomya, Lingula, Discina, and others which give a southern
aspect to the Coralline Crag shells.

The cold, which had gone on increasing from the time of the
Coralline to that of the Norwich Crag, continued, though not
perhaps without some oscillations of temperature, to become more
and more severe after the accumulation of the Norwich Crag, until
it reached its maximum in what has been called the glacial epoch.
The marine fauna of this last period contains, both in Ireland and
Scotland, Recent species of mollusca now living in Greenland and
other seas far north of the areas where we find their remains in a
fossil state.

The refrigeration of climate from the time of the older to that of
the newer Pliocene strata is not now announced for the first time,
as it was inferred from a study of the Crag shells in 1846 by the
late Edward Forbes.* (* "Memoirs of the Geological Survey" London
1846 page 391.)

The most southern point to which the marine beds of the Norwich
Crag have yet been traced is at Chillesford, near Woodbridge, in
Suffolk, about 80 miles north-east of London, where, as Messrs.
Prestwich and Searles Wood have pointed out,* they exhibit decided
marks of having been deposited in a sea of a much lower temperature
than that now prevailing in the same latitude. (* "Quarterly
Journal of the Geological Society" volume 5 1849 page 345.) Out of
twenty-three shells obtained in that locality from argillaceous
strata 20 feet thick, two only, namely, Nucula Cobboldiae and
Tellina obliqua, are extinct, and not a few of the other species,
such as Leda lanceolata, Cardium groenlandicum, Lucina borealis,
Cyprina islandica, Panopaea norvegica, and Mya truncata, betray a
northern, and some of them an arctic character.

These Chillesford beds are supposed to be somewhat more modern than
any of the purely marine strata of the Norwich Crag exhibited by
the sections of the Norfolk cliffs north-west of Cromer, which I am
about to describe. Yet they probably preceded in date the "Forest
Bed" and fluvio-marine deposits of those same cliffs. They are,
therefore, of no small importance in reference to the chronology of
the glacial period, since they afford evidence of an assemblage of
fossil shells with a proportion of between eight and nine in a
hundred of extinct species occurring so far south as latitude 53
degrees north, and indicating so cold a climate as to imply that
the glacial period commenced before the close of the Pliocene era.

(FIGURE 27. DIAGRAM TO ILLUSTRATE THE GENERAL SUCCESSION
   OF THE STRATA IN THE NORFOLK CLIFFS, EXTENDING SEVERAL MILES
   NORTH-WEST AND SOUTH-EAST OF CROMER.

  A. Site of Cromer Jetty.
  1. Upper Chalk with flints in regular stratification.
  2. Norwich Crag, rising from low water at Cromer to the top
     of the cliffs at Weybourn, seven miles distant.
  3. "Forest Bed," with stumps of trees in situ and remains of
     Elephas meridionalis, E. primigenius, E. antiquus, Rhinoceros
     etruscus, etc. This bed increases in depth and thickness
     eastward. No Crag (Number 2) known east of Cromer Jetty.
  3 prime. Fluvio-marine series. At Cromer and eastward, with
     abundant lignite beds and mammalian remains, and with cones
     of the Scotch and spruce firs and wood. At Runton, north-west
     of Cromer, expanding into a thick freshwater deposit, with
     overlying marine strata, elsewhere consisting of alternating
     sands and clays, tranquilly deposited, some with marine,
     others with freshwater shells.
  4. Boulder clay of glacial period, with far transported erratics,
     some of them polished and scratched, 20 to 80 feet in thickness.
  5. Contorted drift.
  6. Superficial gravel and sand with covering of vegetable soil.)

The annexed section (Figure 27) will give a general idea of the
ordinary succession of the Pliocene and Pleistocene strata which
rest upon the Chalk in the Norfolk and Suffolk cliffs. These cliffs
vary in height from fifty to above three hundred feet. At the
north-western extremity of the section at Weybourn (beyond the
limits of the annexed diagram), and from thence to Cromer, a
distance of 7 miles, the Norwich Crag, a marine deposit, reposes
immediately upon the Chalk. A vast majority of its shells are of
living species such as Cardium edule, Cyprina islandica, Scalaria
groenlandica, and Fusus antiquus, and some few extinct, as Tellina
obliqua, and Nucula Cobboldiae. At Cromer jetty this formation
thins out, as expressed in the diagram at A; and to the south we
find Number 3, or what is commonly called the "Forest Bed,"
reposing immediately upon the Chalk, and occupying, as it were, the
place previously held by the marine Crag Number 2. This buried
forest has been traced for more than 40 miles, being exposed at
certain seasons and states of the beach between high and low water
mark. It extends from Cromer to near Kessingland, and consists of
the stumps of numerous trees standing erect, with their roots
attached to them, and penetrating in all directions into the loam
or ancient vegetable soil on which they grew. They mark the site of
a forest which existed there for a long time, since, besides the
erect trunks of trees, some of them 2 and 3 feet in diameter, there
is a vast accumulation of vegetable matter in the immediately
overlying clays. Thirty years ago, when I first examined this bed,
I saw many trees, with their roots in the old soil, laid open at
the base of the cliff near Happisburgh; and long before my visit,
other observers, and among them the late Mr. J.C. Taylor, had
noticed the buried forest. Of late years it has been repeatedly
seen at many points by Mr. Gunn, and, after the great storms of the
autumn of 1861, by Mr. King. In order to expose the stumps to view,
a vast body of sand and shingle must be cleared away by the force
of the waves. [Note 21.]

As the sea is always gaining on the land, new sets of trees are
brought to light from time to time, so that the breadth as well as
length of the area of ancient forest land seems to have been
considerable. Next above Number 3, we find a series of sands and
clays with lignite (Number 3 prime), sometimes 10 feet thick, and
containing alternations of fluviatile and marine strata, implying
that the old forest land, which may at first have been considerably
elevated above the level of the sea, had sunk down so as to be
occasionally overflowed by a river, and at other times by the salt
waters of an estuary. There were probably several oscillations of
level which assisted in bringing about these changes, during which
trees were often uprooted and laid prostrate, giving rise to layers
of lignite. Occasionally marshes were formed and peaty matter
accumulated, after which salt water again predominated, so that
species of Mytilus, Mya, Leda, and other marine genera, lived in
the same area where the Unio, Cyclas, and Paludina had flourished
for a time. That the marine shells lived and died on the spot, and
were not thrown up by the waves during a storm, is proved, as Mr.
King has remarked, by the fact that at West Runton, north-west of
Cromer, the Mya truncata and Leda myalis are found with both valves
united and erect in the loam, all with their posterior or
siphuncular extremities uppermost. This attitude affords as good
evidence to the conchologist that those mollusca lived and died on
the spot as the upright position of the trees proves to the
botanist that there was a forest over the Chalk east of Cromer.

Between the stumps of the buried forest, and in the lignite above
them, are many well-preserved cones of the Scotch and spruce firs,
Pinus sylvestris, and Pinus abies. The specific names of these
fossils were determined for me in 1840, by a botanist of no less
authority than the late Robert Brown; and Professor Heer has lately
examined a large collection from the same stratum, and recognised
among the cones of the spruce some which had only the central part
or axis remaining, the rest having been bitten off, precisely in
the same manner as when in our woods the squirrel has been feeding
on the seeds. There is also in the forest-bed a great quantity of
resin in lumps, resembling that gathered for use, according to
Professor Heer, in Switzerland, from beneath spruce firs.

The following is a list of some of the plants and seeds which were
collected by the Reverend S.W. King, in 1861, from the forest bed
at Happisburgh, and named by Professor Heer:--

PLANTS AND SEEDS OF THE FOREST AND LIGNITE BEDS BELOW THE GLACIAL
DRIFT OF THE NORFOLK CLIFFS.

Pinus sylvestris, Scotch fir.
Pinus abies, spruce fir.
Taxus baccata, yew.
Nuphar luteum, yellow water-lily.
Ceratophyllum demersum, hornwort.
Potamogeton, pondweed.
Prunus spinosus, common sloe.
Menyanthes trifoliata, buckbean.
Nymphaea alba, white water-lily.
Alnus, alder.
Quercus, oak.
Betula, birch.

The insects, so far as they are known, including several species of
Donacia, are, like the plants and freshwater shells, of living
species. It may be remarked, however, that the Scotch fir has been
confined in historical times to the northern parts of the British
Isles, and the spruce fir is nowhere indigenous in Great Britain.
The other plants are such as might now be found in Norfolk, and
many of them indicate fenny or marshy ground.* (* Mr. King
discovered in 1863, in the forest bed, several rhizomes of the
large British fern Osmunda regalis, of such dimensions as they are
known to attain in marshy places. They are distinguishable from
those of other British ferns by the peculiar arrangement of the
vessels, as seen under the microscope in a cross section.)

When we consider the familiar aspect of the flora, the accompanying
mammalia are certainly most extraordinary. There are no less than
three elephants, a rhinoceros and hippopotamus, a large extinct
beaver, and several large estuarine and marine mammalia, such as
the walrus, the narwhal, and the whale.

The following is a list of some of the species of which the bones
have been collected by Messrs. Gunn and King.

Those marked (asterisk) have been recorded by Professor Owen in his
British Fossil Mammalia. Those marked (dagger) have been recognised
by the same authority in the cabinets of Messrs. Gunn and King, or
in the Norwich Museum; the other three are given on the authority
of Dr. Falconer.

MAMMALIA OF THE FOREST AND LIGNITE BEDS BELOW THE GLACIAL DRIFT OF
THE NORFOLK CLIFFS.

Elephas meridionalis.
(asterisk) Elephas primigenius.
Elephas antiquus.
Rhinoceros etruscus.
(asterisk) Hippopotamus (major ?).
(asterisk) Sus scrofa.
(asterisk) Equus (fossilis ?).
(asterisk) Ursus (sp.?).
(dagger) Canis lupus.
(dagger) Bison priscus.
(dagger) Megaceros hibernicus.
(asterisk) Cervus capreolus.
(dagger) Cervus tarandus.
(dagger) Cervus Sedgwickii.
(asterisk) Arvicola amphibia.
(asterisk) Castor (Trogontherium) Cuvieri.
(asterisk) Castor europaeus.
(asterisk) Palaeospalax magnus.
(dagger) Trichecus rosmarus, Walrus.
(dagger) Monodon monoceros, Narwhal.
(dagger) Balaenoptera.

Mr. Gunn informs me that the vertebrae of two distinct whales were
found in the fluvio-marine beds at Bacton, and that one of them,
shown to Professor Owen, is said by him to imply that the animal
was 60 feet long. A narwhal's tusk was discovered by Mr. King near
Cromer, and the remains of a walrus. No less than three species of
elephant, as determined by Dr. Falconer, have been obtained from
the strata 3 and 3 prime, of which, according to Mr. King, E.
meridionalis is the most common, the mammoth next in abundance, and
the third, E. antiquus, comparatively rare.

The freshwater shells accompanying the fossil quadrupeds, above
enumerated, are such as now inhabit rivers and ponds in England;
but among them, as at Runton, between the "forest bed" and the
glacial deposits, a remarkable variety of the Cyclas amnica occurs
(Figure 28), identical with that which accompanies the Elephas
antiquus at Ilford and Grays in the valley of the Thames.

All the freshwater shells of the beds intervening between the
Forest-bed Number 3, and the glacial formation 4, Figure 27, are of
Recent species. As to the small number of marine shells occurring
in the same fluvio-marine series, I have seen none which belonged
to extinct species, although one or two have been cited by authors.
I am in doubt, therefore, whether to class the forest bed and
overlying strata as Pleistocene, or to consider them as beds of
passage between the Pliocene and Pleistocene periods. The
fluvio-marine series usually terminates upwards in finely laminated
sands and clays without fossils, on which reposes the boulder clay.

(FIGURE 28. Cyclas (Pisidium) amnica var.?
   The two middle figures are of the natural size.)

This formation, Number 4, is of very varying thickness. Its glacial
character is shown, not only by the absence of stratification, and
the great size and angularity of some of the included blocks of
distant origin, but also by the polished and scratched surfaces of
such of them as are hard enough to retain any markings.

Near Cromer, blocks of granite from 6 to 8 feet in diameter have
been met with, and smaller ones of syenite, porphyry, and trap,
besides the wreck of the London Clay, Chalk, Oolite, and Lias,
mixed with more ancient fossiliferous rocks. Erratics of
Scandinavian origin occur chiefly in the lower portions of the
till. I came to the conclusion in 1834, that they had really come
from Norway and Sweden, after having in that year traced the course
of a continuous stream of such blocks from those countries to
Denmark, and across the Elbe, through Westphalia, to the borders of
Holland. It is not surprising that they should then reappear on our
eastern coast between the Tweed and the Thames, regions not half so
remote from parts of Norway as are many Russian erratics from the
sources whence they came. [Note 22.]

(FIGURE 29. CLIFF 50 FEET HIGH BETWEEN BACTON GAP AND MUNDESLEY.
   Section through Gravel (top), Sand, Loam and Till (bottom).)

According to the observations of the Reverend J. Gunn and the late
Mr. Trimmer, the glacial drift in the cliffs at Lowestoft consists
of two divisions, the lower of which abounds in the Scandinavian
blocks, supposed to have come from the north-east; while the upper,
probably brought by a current from the north-west, contains chiefly
fragments of Oolitic rocks, more rolled than those of the lower
deposit. The united thickness of the two divisions, without
reckoning some interposed laminated beds, is 80 feet, but it
probably exceeds 100 feet near Happisburgh.* (* "Quarterly Journal
of the Geological Society" volume 7 1851 page 21.) Although these
subdivisions of the drift may be only of local importance, they
help to show the changes of currents and other conditions, and the
great lapse of time which the accumulation of so varied a series of
deposits must have required.

The lowest part of the glacial till, resting on the laminated clays
before mentioned, is very even and regular, while its upper surface
is remarkable for the unevenness of its outline, owing partly, in
all likelihood, to denudation, but still more to other causes
presently to be discussed.

The overlying strata of sand and gravel, Number 5, Figure 27, often
display a most singular derangement in their stratification, which
in many places seems to have a very intimate relation to the
irregularities of outline in the subjacent till. There are some
cases, however, where the upper strata are much bent, while the
lower beds of the same series have continued horizontal. Thus the
annexed section (Figure 29) represents a cliff about 50 feet high,
at the bottom of which is till, or unstratified clay, containing
boulders, having an even horizontal surface, on which repose
conformably beds of laminated clay and sand about 5 feet thick,
which, in their turn, are succeeded by vertical, bent, and
contorted layers of sand and loam 20 feet thick, the whole being
covered by flint gravel. The curves of the variously coloured beds
of loose sand, loam, and pebbles, are so complicated that not only
may we sometimes find portions of them which maintain their
verticality to a height of 10 or 15 feet, but they have also been
folded upon themselves in such a manner that continuous layers
might be thrice pierced in one perpendicular boring.

(FIGURE 30. FOLDING OF THE STRATA BETWEEN EAST AND WEST RUNTON.)

(FIGURE 31. SECTION OF CONCENTRIC BEDS WEST OF CROMER.

  1. Blue clay.
  2. White sand.
  3. Yellow Sand.
  4. Striped loam and clay.
  5. Laminated blue clay.)

At some points there is an apparent folding of the beds round a
central nucleus, as at a, Figure 30, where the strata seem bent
round a small mass of Chalk, or, as in Figure 31, where the blue
clay Number 1 is in the centre; and where the other strata 2, 3, 4,
5 are coiled round it; the entire mass being 20 feet in
perpendicular height. This appearance of concentric arrangement
around a nucleus is, nevertheless, delusive, being produced by the
intersection of beds bent into a convex shape; and that which seems
the nucleus being, in fact, the innermost bed of the series, which
has become partially visible by the removal of the protuberant
portions of the outer layers.

To the north of Cromer are other fine illustrations of contorted
drift reposing on a floor of Chalk horizontally stratified and
having a level surface. These phenomena, in themselves sufficiently
difficult of explanation, are rendered still more anomalous by the
occasional enclosure in the drift of huge fragments of Chalk many
yards in diameter. One striking instance occurs west of Sheringham,
where an enormous pinnacle of Chalk, between 70 and 80 feet in
height, is flanked on both sides by vertical layers of loam, clay,
and gravel (Figure 32).

(FIGURE 32. INCLUDED PINNACLE OF CHALK AT OLD HYTHE POINT,
   WEST OF SHERINGHAM.

  d. Chalk with regular layers of flints.
  c. Layer called "the pan," of Chalk, flints, and marine shells
     of Recent species, cemented by oxide of iron.)

This chalky fragment is only one of many detached masses which have
been included in the drift, and forced along with it into their
present position. The level surface of the Chalk in situ (d) may be
traced for miles along the coast, where it has escaped the violent
movements to which the incumbent drift has been exposed.* (* For a
full account of the drift of East Norfolk, see a paper by the
author, "Philosophical Magazine" Number 104 May 1840.)

We are called upon, then, to explain how any force can have been
exerted against the upper masses, so as to produce movements in
which the subjacent strata have not participated. It may be
answered that, if we conceive the till and its boulders to have
been drifted to their present place by ice, the lateral pressure
may have been supplied by the stranding of ice-islands. We learn,
from the observations of Messrs. Dease and Simpson in the polar
regions, that such islands, when they run aground, push before them
large mounds of shingle and sand. It is therefore probable that
they often cause great alterations in the arrangement of pliant and
incoherent strata forming the upper part of shoals or submerged
banks, the inferior portions of the same remaining unmoved. Or many
of the complicated curvatures of these layers of loose sand and
gravel may have been due to another cause, the melting on the spot
of ice-bergs and coast ice in which successive deposits of pebbles,
sand, ice, snow, and mud, together with huge masses of rock fallen
from cliffs, may have become interstratified. Ice-islands so
constituted often capsize when afloat, and gravel once horizontal
may have assumed, before the associated ice was melted, an inclined
or vertical position. The packing of ice forced up on a coast may
lead to a similar derangement in a frozen conglomerate of sand or
shingle, and, as Mr. Trimmer has suggested,* (* "Quarterly Journal
of the Geological Society" volume 7 1851 pages 22, 30.) alternate
layers of earthy matter may have sunk down slowly during the
liquefaction of the intercalated ice so as to assume the most
fantastic and anomalous positions, while the strata below, and
those afterwards thrown down above, may be perfectly horizontal
(see above).

In most cases where the principal contortions of the layers of
gravel and sand have a decided correspondence with deep
indentations in the underlying till, the hypothesis of the melting
of large lumps and masses of ice once mixed up with the till
affords the most natural explanation of the phenomena. The quantity
of ice now seen in the cliffs near Behring's Straits, in which the
remains of fossil elephants are common, and the huge fragments of
solid ice which Meyendorf discovered in Siberia, after piercing
through a considerable thickness of incumbent soil, free from ice,
is in favour of such an hypothesis, the partial failure of support
necessarily giving rise to foldings in the overlying and previously
horizontal layers, as in the case of creeps in coal mines.* (* See
"Manual of Geology" by the author, page 51.)

In the diagram of the cliffs at page 167, the bent and contorted
beds Number 5, last alluded to, are represented as covered by
undisturbed beds of gravel and sand Number 6. These are usually
destitute of organic remains; but at some points marine shells of
Recent species are said to have been found in them. They afford
evidence at many points of repeated denudation and redeposition,
and may be the monuments of a long series of ages.

MUNDESLEY POST-GLACIAL FRESHWATER FORMATION.

In the range of cliffs above described at Mundesley, about 8 miles
south-east of Cromer, a fine example is seen of a freshwater
formation, newer than all those already mentioned, a deposit which
has filled up a depression hollowed out of all the older beds 3, 4,
and 5 of the section Figure 27.

(FIGURE 33. SECTION OF THE NEWER FRESHWATER FORMATION I
   N THE CLIFFS AT MUNDESLEY, EIGHT MILES SOUTH-EAST OF CROMER,
   DRAWN UP BY THE REVEREND S.W. KING.
      Height of cliff where lowest, 35 feet above high water.

  OLDER SERIES.
   1. Fundamental Chalk, below the beach line.
   3. Forest bed, with elephant, rhinoceros, stag, etc., and with
      tree roots and stumps, also below the beach line.
   3 prime. Finely laminated sands and clays, with thin layer of
      lignite, and shells of Cyclas and Valvata, and with Mytilus
      in some beds.
   4. Glacial boulder till.
   5. Contorted drift.
   6. Gravel overlying contorted drift.
     N.B.--Number 2 of the section, Figure 27, is wanting here.

  NEWER FRESHWATER BEDS.
   A. Coarse river gravel, with shells of Anodon, Valvata, Cyclas,
      Succinea, Limnaea, Paludina, etc., seeds of Ceratophyllum
      demersum, Nuphar lutea, scales and bones of pike, perch,
      salmon, etc., elytra of Donacia, Copris, Harpalus,
      and other beetles.
   C. Yellow sands.
   D. Drift gravel.)

When I examined this line of coast in 1839, the section alluded to
was not so clearly laid open to view as it has been of late years,
and finding at that period not a few of the fossils in the lignite
beds Number 3 prime above the forest bed, identical in species with
those from the post-glacial deposits B C, I supposed the whole to
have been of contemporaneous origin, and so described them in my
paper on the Norfolk cliffs.* (* "Philosophical Magazine" volume 16
1840 page 345.)

Mr. Gunn was the first to perceive this mistake, which he explained
to me on the spot when I revisited Mundesley in the autumn of 1859
in company with Dr. Hooker and Mr. King. The last-named geologist
has had the kindness to draw up for me the annexed diagram (Figure
33) of the various beds which he has recently studied in detail.*
(* Mr. Prestwich has given a correct account of this section in a
paper read to the British Association, Oxford, 1860. See "The
Geologist" volume 4 1861.)

The formations 3, 4, and 5 already described, Figure 27, were
evidently once continuous, for they may be followed for miles
north-west and south-east without a break, and always in the same
order. A valley or river channel was cut through them, probably
during the gradual upheaval of the country, and the hollow became
afterwards the receptacle of the comparatively modern freshwater
beds A, B, C, and D. They may well represent a silted up
river-channel, which remained for a time in the state of a lake or
mere, and in which the black peaty mass B accumulated by a very
slow growth over the gravel of the river-bed A. In B we find
remains of some of the same plants which were enumerated as common
in the ancient lignite in 3 prime, such as the yellow water-lily
and hornwort, together with some freshwater shells which occur in
the same fluvio-marine series 3 prime.

(FIGURE 34. Paludina marginata, Michaud (P. minuta, Strickland).
   Hydrobia marginata.*

    (* This shell is said to have a sub-spiral operculum (not a
      concentric one, as in Paludina), and therefore to be
      referable to the Hydrobia, a sub-genus of Rissoa. But
      this species is always associated with freshwater shells,
      while the Rissoae frequent marine and brackish waters.)
   The middle figure is of the natural size.)

The only shell which I found not referable to a British species is
the minute Paludina, Figure 34, already alluded to.

When I showed the scales and teeth of the pike, perch, roach, and
salmon, which I obtained from this formation, to M. Agassiz, he
thought they varied so much from their nearest living
representatives that they might rank as distinct species; but Mr.
Yarrell doubted the propriety of so distinguishing them. The
insects, like the shells and plants, are identical, so far as they
are known, with living British species. No progress has yet been
made at Mundesley in discovering the contemporary mammalia.

By referring to the description and section before given of the
freshwater deposit at Hoxne, the reader will at once perceive the
striking analogy of the Mundesley and Hoxne deposits, the latter so
productive of flint implements of the Amiens type. Both of them,
like the Bedford gravel with flint tools and the bones of extinct
mammalia, are post-glacial. It will also be seen that a long series
of events, accompanied by changes in physical geography, intervened
between the "forest bed," Number 3, Figure 27, when the Elephas
meridionalis flourished, and the period of the Mundesley fluviatile
beds A, B, C; just as in France I have shown that the same E.
meridionalis belonged to a system of drainage different from and
anterior to that with which the flint implements of the old
alluvium of the Somme and the Seine were connected.

Before the growth of the ancient forest, Number 3, Figure 33, the
Mastodon arvernensis, a large proboscidian, characteristic of the
Norwich Crag, appears to have died out, or to have become scarce,
as no remains of it have yet been found in the Norfolk cliffs.
There was, no doubt, time for other modifications in the mammalian
fauna between the era of the marine beds, Number 2, Figure 27 (the
shells of which imply permanent submergence beneath the sea), and
the accumulation of the uppermost of the fluvio-marine, and lignite
beds, Number 3 prime, which overlie both Numbers 3 and 2, or the
buried forest and the Crag. In the interval we must suppose
repeated oscillations of level, during which land covered with
trees, an estuary with its freshwater shells, and the sea with its
Mya truncata and other mollusca still retaining their erect
position, gained by turns the ascendency. These changes were
accompanied by some denudation followed by a grand submergence of
several hundred feet, probably brought about slowly, and when
floating ice aided in transporting erratic blocks from great
distances. The glacial till Number 4 then originated, and the
gravel and sands Number 5 were afterwards superimposed on the
boulder clay, first in horizontal beds, which became subsequently
contorted. These were covered in their turn by other layers of
gravel and sand, Number 6, Figures 27 and 33, the downward movement
still continuing.

The entire thickness of the beds above the Chalk at some points
near the coast, and the height at which they now are raised, are
such as to show that the subsidence of the country after the growth
of the forest bed exceeded 400 feet. The re-elevation must have
amounted to nearly as many feet, as the site of the ancient forest,
originally sub-aerial, has been brought up again to within a few
feet of high-water mark. Lastly, after all these events, and
probably during the final process of emergence, the valley was
scooped out in which the newer freshwater strata of Mundesley,
Figure 33, were gradually deposited.

Throughout the whole of this succession of geographical changes,
the flora and invertebrate fauna of Europe appear to have undergone
no important revolution in their specific characters. The plants of
the forest bed belonged already to what has been called the
Germanic flora. The mollusca, the insects, and even some of the
mammalia, such as the European beaver and roebuck, were the same as
those now co-existing with Man. Yet the oldest memorials of our
species at present discovered in Great Britain are post-glacial, or
posterior in date to the boulder clay, Number 4, Figures 27 and 33.
The position of the Hoxne flint implements corresponds with that of
the Mundesley beds, from A to D, Figure 33, and the most likely
stratum in which to find hereafter flint tools is no doubt the
gravel A of that section, which has all the appearance of an old
river-bed. No flint tools have yet been observed there, but had the
old alluvium of Amiens or Abbeville occurred in the Norfolk cliffs
instead of the valley of the Somme, and had we depended on the
waves of the sea instead of the labour of many hundred workmen
continued for twenty years, for exposing the flint implements to
view, we might have remained ignorant to this day of the fossil
relics brought to light by M. Boucher de Perthes and those who have
followed up his researches.

Neither need we despair of one day meeting with the signs of Man's
existence in the forest bed Number 3, or in the overlying strata 3
prime, on the ground of any uncongeniality in the climate or
incongruity in the state of the animate creation with the
well-being of our species. For the present we must be content to
wait and consider that we have made no investigations which entitle
us to wonder that the bones or stone weapons of the era of the
Elephas meridionalis have failed to come to light. If any such lie
hid in those strata, and should hereafter be revealed to us, they
would carry back the antiquity of Man to a distance of time
probably more than twice as great as that which separates our era
from that of the most ancient of the tool-bearing gravels yet
discovered in Picardy, or elsewhere. But even then the reader will
perceive that the age of Man, though pre-glacial, would be so
modern in the great geological calendar, as given in Chapter 1,
that he would scarcely date so far back as the commencement of the
Pleistocene period.

CHAPTER 13.

CHRONOLOGICAL RELATIONS OF THE GLACIAL PERIOD AND THE EARLIEST
   SIGNS OF MAN'S APPEARANCE IN EUROPE.

Chronological Relations of the Close of the Glacial Period and
   the earliest geological Signs of the Appearance of Man.
Effects of Glaciers and Icebergs in polishing and scoring Rocks.
Scandinavia once encrusted with Ice like Greenland.
Outward Movement of Continental Ice in Greenland.
Mild Climate of Greenland in the Miocene Period.
Erratics of Recent Period in Sweden.
Glacial State of Sweden in the Pleistocene Period.
Scotland formerly encrusted with Ice.
Its subsequent Submergence and Re-elevation.
Latest Changes produced by Glaciers in Scotland.
Remains of the Mammoth and Reindeer in Scotch Boulder Clay.
Parallel Roads of Glen Roy formed in Glacier Lakes.
Comparatively modern Date of these Shelves.

The chronological relations of the human and glacial periods were
frequently alluded to in the last chapter, and the sections
obtained near Bedford, and at Hoxne, in Suffolk, and a general view
of the Norfolk cliffs, have taught us that the earliest signs of
Man's appearance in the British isles, hitherto detected, are of
post-glacial date. We may now therefore inquire whether the
peopling of Europe by the human race and by the mammoth and other
mammalia now extinct, was brought about during the concluding
phases of the glacial epoch.

Although it may be impossible in the present state of our knowledge
to come to a positive conclusion on this head, I know of no inquiry
better fitted to clear up our views respecting the geological state
of the northern hemisphere at the time when the fabricators of the
flint implements of the Amiens type flourished. I shall therefore
now proceed to consider the chronological relations of that ancient
people with the final retreat of the glaciers from the mountains of
Scandinavia, Scotland, Wales, and Switzerland.

SUPERFICIAL MARKINGS AND DEPOSITS LEFT BY GLACIERS AND ICEBERGS.

In order fully to discuss this question, I must begin by referring
to some of the newest theoretical opinions entertained on the
glacial question. When treating of this subject in the "Principles
of Geology," chapter 15, and in the "Manual (or Elements) of
Geology," chapter 11, I have stated that the whole mass of the ice
in a glacier is in constant motion, and that the blocks of stone
detached from boundary precipices, and the mud and sand swept down
by avalanches of snow, or by rain from the surrounding heights, are
lodged upon the surface and slowly borne along in lengthened
mounds, called in Switzerland moraines. These accumulations of
rocky fragments and detrital matter are left at the termination of
the glacier, where it melts in a confused heap called the "terminal
moraine," which is unstratified, because all the blocks, large and
small, as well as the sand and the finest mud, are carried to equal
distances and quietly deposited in a confused mass without being
subjected to the sorting power of running water, which would convey
the finer materials farther than the coarser ones, and would
produce, as the strength of the current varied from time to time in
the same place, a stratified arrangement.

In those regions where glaciers reach the sea, and where large
masses of ice break off and float away, moraines, such as I have
just alluded to, may be transported to indefinite distances, and
may be deposited on the bottom of the sea wherever the ice happens
to melt. If the liquefaction take place when the berg has run
aground and is stationary, and if there be no current, the heap of
angular and rounded stones, mixed with sand and mud, may fall to
the bottom in an unstratified form called "till" in Scotland, and
which has been shown in the last chapter to abound in the Norfolk
cliffs; but should the action of a current intervene at certain
points or at certain seasons, then the materials will be sorted as
they fall, and arranged in layers according to their relative
weight and size. Hence there will be passages from till to
stratified clay, gravel, and sand.

Some of the blocks of stone with which the surfaces of glaciers are
loaded, falling occasionally through fissures in the ice, get fixed
and frozen into the bottom of the moving mass, and are pushed along
under it. In this position, being subjected to great pressure, they
scoop out long rectilinear furrows or grooves parallel to each
other on the subjacent solid rock. Smaller scratches and striae are
made on the polished surface by crystals or projecting edges of the
hardest minerals, just as a diamond cuts glass.

In all countries the fundamental rock on which the boulder
formation reposes, if it consists of granite, gneiss, marble, or
other hard stone capable of permanently retaining any superficial
markings which may have been imprinted upon it, is smoothed or
polished, and exhibits parallel striae and furrows having a
determinate direction. This prevailing direction, both in Europe
and North America, is evidently connected with the course taken by
the erratic blocks in the same district, and is very commonly from
north to south, or if it be twenty or thirty or more degrees to the
east or west of north, still always corresponds to the direction in
which the large angular and rounded stones have travelled. These
stones themselves also are often furrowed and scratched on more
than one side, like those already spoken of as occurring in the
glacial drift of Bedford, and in that of Norfolk.

When we contemplate the area which is now exposed to the abrading
action of ice, or which is the receptacle of moraine matter thrown
down from melting glaciers or bergs, we at once perceive that the
submarine area is the most extensive of the two. The number of
large icebergs which float annually to great distances in the
northern and southern hemispheres is extremely great, and the
quantity of stone and mud which they carry about with them
enormous. Some floating islands of ice have been met with from 2 to
5 miles in length, and from 100 to 225 feet in height above water,
the submerged portion, according to the weight of ice relatively to
sea water, being from six to eight times more considerable than the
part which is visible. Such masses, when they run aground on the
bottom of the sea, must exert a prodigious mechanical power, and
may polish and groove the subjacent rocks after the manner of
glaciers on the land. Hence there will often be no small difficulty
in distinguishing between the effects of the submarine and
supramarine agency of ice.

SCANDINAVIA ONCE COVERED WITH ICE, AND A CENTRE OF DISPERSION OF
ERRATICS.

In the north of Europe, along the borders of the Baltic, where the
boulder formation is continuous for hundreds of miles east and
west, it has been long known that the erratic blocks, often of very
large size, are of northern origin. Some of them have come from
Norway and Sweden, others from Finland, and their present
distribution implies that they were carried southwards, for a part
at least of their way, by floating ice, at a time when much of the
area over which they are scattered was under water. But it appears
from the observations of Boetlingk, in 1840, and those of more
recent inquirers, that while many blocks have travelled to the
south, others have been carried northwards, or to the shores of the
Polar Sea, and others north-eastward, or to those of the White Sea.
In fact, they have wandered towards all points of the compass, from
the mountains of Scandinavia as a centre, and the rectilinear
furrows imprinted by them on the polished surfaces of the mountains
where the rocks are hard enough to retain such markings, radiate in
all directions, or point outwards from the highest land, in a
manner corresponding to the course of the erratics above mentioned.
* (* Sir R.I. Murchison, in his "Russia and the Ural Mountains"
(1845) has indicated on a map not only the southern limits of the
Scandinavian drift, but by arrows the direction in which "it
proceeded eccentrically from a common central region.")

Before the glacial theory was adopted, the Swedish and Norwegian
geologists speculated on a great flood, or the sudden rush of an
enormous body of water charged with mud and stones, descending from
the central heights or watershed into the adjoining lower lands.
The erratic blocks were supposed in their downward passage to have
smoothed and striated the rock surfaces over which they were forced
along.

It would be a waste of time, in the present state of science, to
controvert this hypothesis, as it is now admitted that even if the
rush of a diluvial current, invented for the occasion and wholly
without analogy in the known course of nature, be granted, it would
be inadequate to explain the uniformity, parallelism, persistency,
and rectilinearity of the so-called glacial furrows. It is moreover
ascertained that heavy masses of rock, not fixed in ice, and moving
as freely as they do when simply swept along by a muddy current, do
not give rise to such scratches and furrows.

M. Kjerulf of Christiania, in a paper lately communicated to the
Geological Society of Berlin,* (* "Zeitschrift der Deutschen
Geologischen Gesellschaft" Berlin 1860.) has objected, and perhaps
with reason, to what he considers the undue extent to which I have,
in some of my writings, supposed the mountains of northern Europe,
to have been submerged during the glacial period. He remarks that
the signs of glacial action on the Scandinavian mountains ascend as
high as 6000 feet, whereas fossil marine shells of the same period
never reach elevations exceeding 600 feet. The land, he says, may
have been much higher than it now is, but it has evidently not been
much lower since the commencement of the glacial period, or marine
shells would be traceable to more elevated points. In regard to the
absence of marine shells, I shall point out in the sequel how small
is the dependence we can place on this kind of negative evidence,
if we desire to test by it the extent to which the land has been
submerged. I cannot therefore consent to limit the probable
depression and re-elevation of Scandinavia to 600 feet. But that
the larger part of the glaciation of that country has been
supramarine, I am willing to concede. In support of this view M.
Kjerulf observes that the direction of the furrows and striae,
produced by glacial abrasion, neither conforms to a general
movement of floating ice from the Polar regions, nor to the shape
of the existing valleys, as it would do if it had been caused by
independent glaciers generated in the higher valleys after the land
had acquired its actual shape. Their general arrangement and
apparent irregularities are, he contends, much more in accordance
with the hypothesis of there having been at one time a universal
covering of ice over the whole of Norway and Sweden, like that now
existing in Greenland, which, being annually recruited by fresh
falls of snow, was continually pressing outwards and downwards to
the coast and lower regions, after crossing many of the lower
ridges, and having no relation to the minor depressions, which were
all choked up with ice and reduced to one uniform level.

CONTINENTAL ICE OF GREENLAND.

In support of this view, he appeals to the admirable description of
the continental ice of Greenland, lately published by Dr. H. Rink
of Copenhagen,* (* "Journal of Royal Geographical Society" volume
23 1853 page 145.) who resided three or four years in the Danish
settlements in Baffin's Bay, on the west coast of Greenland,
between latitudes 69 and 73 degrees north. "In that country, the
land," says Dr. Rink, "may be divided into two regions, the
'inland' and the 'outskirts.' The 'inland,' which is 800 miles from
west to east, and of much greater length from north to south, is a
vast unknown continent, buried under one continuous and colossal
mass of permanent ice, which is always moving seaward, but a small
proportion only of it in an easterly direction, since nearly the
whole descends towards Baffin's Bay." At the heads of the fjords
which intersect the coast, the ice is seen to rise somewhat
abruptly from the level of the sea to the height of 2000 feet,
beyond which the ice of the interior rises continuously as far as
the eye can reach, and to an unknown altitude. All minor ridges and
valleys are levelled and concealed, but here and there steep
mountains protrude abruptly from the icy slope, and a few
superficial lines of stones or moraines are visible at seasons when
no recent snow has fallen. [Note 23.]

Although all the ice is moving seaward, the greatest quantity is
discharged at the heads of certain large fjords, usually about 4
miles wide, which, if the climate were milder, would be the outlet
of as many great rivers. Through these the ice is now protruded in
huge blocks, several miles wide, and from 1000 to 1500 feet in
height or thickness. When these masses reach the fjords, they do
not melt or break up into fragments, but continue their course in a
solid form in the salt water, grating along the rocky bottom, which
they must polish and score at depths of hundreds and even of more
than 1000 feet. At length, when there is water enough to float
them, huge portions, having broken off, fill Baffin's Bay with
icebergs of a size exceeding any which could be produced by
ordinary valley glaciers. Stones, sand, and mud are sometimes
included in these bergs which float down Baffin's Bay. At some
points, where the ice of the interior of Greenland reaches the
coast, Dr. Rink saw mighty springs of clayey water issuing from
under the edge of the ice even in winter, showing the grinding
action of the glacial mass mixed with sand on the subjacent surface
of the rocks.

The "outskirts," where the Danish colonies are stationed, consist
of numerous islands, of which Disco island is the largest in
latitude 70 degrees north, and of many peninsulas, with fjords from
50 to 100 miles long, running into the land, and through which the
ice above alluded to passes on its way to the bay. This area is 30,
000 square miles in extent, and contains in it some mountains 4000
feet to 5000 feet high. The perpetual snow usually begins at the
height of 2000 feet, below which level the land is for the most
part free from snow between June and August, and supports a
vegetation of several hundred species of flowering plants, which
ripen their seeds before the winter. There are even some places
where phanerogamous plants have been found at an elevation of 4500
feet; a fact which, when we reflect on the immediate vicinity of so
large and lofty a region of continental ice in the same latitude,
well deserves the attention of the geologist, who should also bear
in mind, that while the Danes are settled to the west in the
"outskirts," there exists, due east of the most southern portion of
this ice-covered continent, at the distance of about 1200 miles,
the home of the Laplanders with their reindeer, bears, wolves,
seals, walruses, and whales. If, therefore, there are geological
grounds for suspecting that Scandinavia or Scotland or Wales was
ever in the same glacial condition as Greenland now is, we must not
imagine that the contemporaneous fauna and flora were everywhere
poor and stunted, or that they may not, especially at the distance
of a few hundred miles in a SOUTHWARD direction, have been very
luxuriant. [Note 24.]

Another series of observations made by Captain Graah, during a
survey of Greenland between 1823 and 1829, and by Dr. Pingel in
1830-32, adds not a little to the geological interest of the
"outskirts," in their bearing on glacial phenomena of ancient date.
Those Danish investigators, with one of whom, Dr. Pingel, I
conversed at Copenhagen in 1834, ascertained that the whole coast
from latitude 60 to about 70 degrees north has been subsiding for
the last four centuries, so that some ancient piles driven into the
beach to support the boats of the settlers have been gradually
submerged, and wooden buildings have had to be repeatedly shifted
farther inland.* (* "Principles of Geology" chapter 30.)

In Norway and Sweden, instead of such a subsiding movement, the
land is slowly rising; but we have only to suppose that formerly,
when it was covered like Greenland with continental ice, it sank at
the rate of several feet in a century, and we shall be able to
explain why marine deposits are found above the level of the sea,
and why these generally overlie polished and striated surfaces of
rock.

We know that Greenland was not always covered with snow and ice,
for when we examine the Tertiary strata of Disco Island (of the
Upper Miocene period) we discover there a multitude of fossil
plants, which demonstrate that, like many other parts of the arctic
regions, it formerly enjoyed a mild and genial climate. Among the
fossils brought from that island, latitude 70 degrees north,
Professor Heer has recognised Sequoia Langsdorfii, a coniferous
species which flourished throughout a great part of Europe in the
Miocene period, and is very closely allied to the living Sequoia
sempervirens of California. The same plant has been found fossil by
Sir John Richardson within the arctic circle, far to the west on
the Mackenzie River, near the entrance of Bear River, also by some
Danish naturalists in Iceland to the east. The Icelandic
surturbrand, or lignite, of this age has also yielded a rich
harvest of plants, more than thirty-one of them, according to
Steenstrup and Heer, in a good state of preservation, and no less
than fifteen specifically identical with Miocene plants of Europe.
Thirteen of the number are arborescent; and amongst others is a
tulip-tree (Liriodendron), with its fruit and characteristic
leaves, a plane (Platanus), a walnut, and a vine, affording
unmistakable evidence of a climate in the parallel of the arctic
circle which precludes the supposition of glaciers then existing in
the neighbourhood, still less any general crust of continental ice,
like that of Greenland.* (* Heer, "Recherches sur la Vegetation du
Pays tertiaire" etc. 1861 page 178.)

As the older Pliocene flora of the Tertiary strata of Italy, like
the shells of the Coralline Crag, before adverted to, Chapter 12,
indicate a temperature milder than that now prevailing in Europe,
though not so warm as that of the Upper Miocene period, it is
probable that the accumulation of snow and glaciers on the
mountains and valleys of Greenland did not begin till after the
commencement of the Pliocene period, and may not have reached its
maximum until the close of that period.

Norway and Sweden appear to have passed through all the successive
phases of glaciation which Greenland has experienced, and others
which that country will one day undergo, if the climate which it
formerly enjoyed should ever be restored to it. There must have
been first a period of separate glaciers in Scandinavia, then a
Greenlandic state of continental ice, and thirdly, when that
diminished, a second period of enormous separate glaciers filling
many a valley now wooded with fir and birch. Lastly, under the
influence of the Gulf Stream, and various changes in the height and
extent of land in the arctic circle, a melting of nearly all the
permanent ice between latitudes 60 and 70 north, corresponding to
the parallels of the continental ice of Greenland, has occurred, so
that we have now to go farther north than latitude 70 degrees
before we encounter any glacier coming down to the sea coast. Among
other signs of the last retreat of the extinct glaciers, Kjerulf
and other authors describe large transverse moraines left in many
of the Norwegian and Swedish glens.

CHRONOLOGICAL RELATIONS OF THE HUMAN AND GLACIAL PERIODS IN SWEDEN.

We may now consider whether any, and what part, of these changes in
Scandinavia may have been witnessed by Man. In Sweden, in the
immediate neighbourhood of Upsala, I observed, in 1834, a ridge of
stratified sand and gravel, in the midst of which occurs a layer of
marl, evidently formed originally at the bottom of the Baltic, by
the slow growth of the mussel, cockle, and other marine shells of
living species intermixed with some proper to fresh water. The
marine shells are all of dwarfish size, like those now inhabiting
the brackish waters of the Baltic; and the marl, in which myriads
of them are embedded, is now raised more than 100 feet above the
level of the Gulf of Bothnia. Upon the top of this ridge (one of
those called osars in Sweden) repose several huge erratics
consisting of gneiss, for the most part unrounded, from 9 to 16
feet in diameter, and which must have been brought into their
present position since the time when the neighbouring gulf was
already characterised by its peculiar fauna. Here, therefore, we
have proof that the transport of erratics continued to take place,
not merely when the sea was inhabited by the existing Testacea, but
when the north of Europe had already assumed that remarkable
feature of its physical geography, which separates the Baltic from
the North Sea, and causes the Gulf of Bothnia to have only
one-fourth of the saltness belonging to the ocean.

I cannot doubt that these large erratics of Upsala were brought
into their present position during the Recent period, not only
because of their moderate elevation above the sea-level in a
country where the land is now rising every century, but because I
observed signs of a great oscillation of level which had taken
place at Sodertelje, south of Stockholm (about 45 miles distant
from Upsala), after the country had been inhabited by Man. I
described, in the "Philosophical Transactions" for 1835, the
section there laid open in digging a level in 1819, which showed
that a subsidence followed by a re-elevation of land, each movement
amounting to more than 60 feet, had occurred since the time when a
rude hut had been built on the ancient shore. The wooden frame of
the hut, with a ring of hearthstones on the floor, and much
charcoal, were found, and over them marine strata, more than 60
feet thick, containing the dwarf variety of Mytilus edulis, and
other brackish-water shells of the Bothnian Gulf. Some vessels put
together with wooden pegs, of anterior date to the use of metals,
were also embedded in parts of the same marine formation, which has
since been raised, so that the upper beds are more than 60 feet
above the sea-level, the hut being thus restored to about its
original position relatively to the sea.

We have seen in the account of the Danish kitchen-middens of the
Recent period that even at the comparatively late period of their
origin the waters of the Baltic had been rendered more salt than
they are now. The Upsala erratics may belong to nearly the same era
as these. But were we to go back to a long antecedent epoch, or to
that of the Belgian and British caves with their extinct animals,
and the signs they afford of a state of physical geography
departing widely from the present, or to the era of the
implement-bearing alluvium of St. Acheul, we might expect to find
Scandinavia overwhelmed with glaciers, and the country
uninhabitable by Man. At a much remoter period the same country was
in the state in which Greenland now is, overspread with one
uninterrupted coating of continental ice, which has left its
peculiar markings on the highest mountains. This period, probably
anterior to the earliest traces yet brought to light of the human
race, may have coincided with the submergence of England, and the
accumulation of the boulder-clay of Norfolk, Suffolk, and
Bedfordshire, before mentioned. It has already been stated that the
syenite and some other rocks of the Norfolk till seem to have come
from Scandinavia, and there is no era when icebergs are so likely
to have floated them so far south as when the whole of Sweden and
Norway were enveloped in a massive crust of ice; a state of things
the existence of which is deduced from the direction of the glacial
furrows, and their frequent unconformity to the shape of the minor
valleys.

GLACIAL PERIOD IN SCOTLAND [NOTE 25].

Professor Agassiz, after his tour in Scotland in 1840, announced
the opinion that erratic blocks had been dispersed from the
Scottish mountains as from an independent centre, and that the
capping of ice had been of extraordinary thickness.* (* Agassiz,
"Proceedings of the Geological Society" 1840 and "Edinburgh
Philosophical Journal" 49 page 79.)

Mr. Robert Chambers, after visiting Norway and Sweden, and
comparing the signs of glacial action observed there with similar
appearances in the Grampians, came to the conclusion that the
Highlands both of Scandinavia and Scotland had once been "moulded
in ice," and that the outward and downward movement and pressure of
the frozen mass had not only smoothed, polished, and scratched the
rocks, but had, in the course of ages, deepened and widened the
valleys, and produced much of that denudation which has commonly
been ascribed exclusively to aqueous action. The glaciation of the
Scotch mountains was traced by him to the height of at least 3000
feet.* (* "Ancient Sea Margins" Edinburgh 1848. Glacial Phenomena
"Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal" April 1853 and January 1855.)

Mr. T.F. Jamieson, of Ellon, in Aberdeenshire, has recently brought
forward an additional body of facts in support of this theory.
According to him the Grampians were at the period of extreme cold
enveloped "in one great winding sheet of snow and ice," which
reached everywhere to the coast-line, the land being then more
elevated than it is now. He describes the glacial furrows
sculptured on the solid rocks as pointing in Aberdeenshire to the
south-east, those of the valley of the Forth at Edinburgh, from
west to east, and higher up the same valley at Stirling, from
north-west to south-east, as they should do if the ice had followed
the lines of what is now the principal drainage. The observations
of Sir James Hall, Mr. Maclaren, Mr. Chambers, and Dr. Fleming, are
cited by him in confirmation of this arrangement of the glacial
markings, while in Sutherland and Ross-shire he shows that the
glacial furrows along the north coast point northwards, and in
Argyleshire westwards, always in accordance with the direction of
the principal glens and fjords.

Another argument is also adduced by him in proof of the ice having
exerted its mechanical force in a direction from the higher and
more inland country to the lower region and sea-coast. Isolated
hills and minor prominences of rock are often polished and striated
on the land side, while they remain rough and jagged on the side
fronting the sea. This may be seen both on the east and west coast.
Mention is also made of blocks of granite which have travelled from
south to north in Aberdeenshire, of which there would have been no
examples had the erratics been all brought by floating ice from the
arctic regions when Scotland was submerged. It is also urged
against the doctrine of attributing the general glaciation to
submergence, that the glacial grooves, instead of radiating as they
do from a centre, would, if they had been due to ice coming from
the north, have been parallel to the coast-line, to which they are
now often almost at right angles. The argument, moreover, which
formerly had most weight in favour of floating ice, namely, that it
explained why so many of the stones did not conform to the contour
and direction of the minor hills and valleys, is now brought
forward, and with no small effect, in favour of the doctrine of
continental ice on the Greenlandic scale, which, after levelling up
the lesser inequalities, would occasionally flow in mighty
ice-currents, in directions often at a high angle to the smaller
ridges and glens.

The application to Scandinavia and Scotland of this theory makes it
necessary to reconsider the validity of the proofs formerly relied
on as establishing the submergence of a great part of Scotland
beneath the sea, at some period subsequent to the commencement of
the glacial period. In all cases where marine shells overlie till,
or rest on polished and striated surfaces of rock, the evidence of
the land having been under water, and having been since upheaved,
remains unshaken; but this special proof rarely extends to heights
exceeding 500 feet. In the basin of the Clyde we have already seen
that Recent strata occur 25 feet above the sea-level, with existing
species of marine testacea, and with buried canoes, and other works
of art. At the higher level of 50 feet occurs the well-known raised
beach of the western coast, which, according to Mr. Jamieson,
contains, near Fort William and on Loch Fyne and elsewhere, an
assemblage of shells implying a colder climate than that of the
25-foot terrace, or that of the present sea; just as, in the valley
of the Somme, the higher-level gravels are supposed to belong to a
colder period than the lower ones, and still more decidedly than
that of the present era. At still greater elevations, older beds
containing a still more arctic group of shells have been observed
at Airdrie, 14 miles south-east of Glasgow, 524 feet above the
level of the sea. They were embedded in stratified clays, with the
unstratified boulder till both above and below them, and in the
overlying unstratified drift were some boulders of granite which
must have come from distances of 60 miles at the least.* (* Smith
of Jordanhill, "Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society" volume
6 1850 page 387.) The presence of Tellina calcarea, and several
other northern shells, implies a climate colder than that of the
present Scottish seas. In the north of Scotland, marine shells have
been found in deposits of the same age in Caithness and in
Aberdeenshire at heights of 250 feet, and on the shores of the
Moray Firth, as at Gamrie in Banff, at an elevation of 350 feet;
and the stratified sands and beds of pebbles which belong to the
same formation ascend still higher--to heights of 500 feet at
least.* (* Prestwich, "Proceedings of the Geological Society"
volume 2 page 545; Jamieson, "Quarterly Journal of the Geological
Society" volume 16 1860.)

At much greater heights, stratified masses of drift occur in which
hitherto no organic remains, whether of marine or freshwater
animals, have ever been found. It is still an undecided question
whether the origin of all such deposits in the Grampians can be
explained without the intervention of the sea. One of the most
conspicuous examples has been described by Mr. Jamieson as resting
on the flank of a hill called Meal Uaine, in Perthshire, on the
east side of the valley of the Tummel, just below Killiecrankie. It
consists of perfectly horizontal strata, the lowest portion of them
300 feet above the river and 600 feet above the sea. From this
elevation to an altitude of nearly 1200 feet the same series of
strata is traceable, continuously, up the slope of the mountain,
and some patches are seen here and there even as high as 1550 feet
above the sea. They are made up in great part of finely laminated
silt, alternating with coarser materials, through which stones from
4 to 5 feet in length are scattered. These large boulders, and some
smaller ones, are polished on one or more sides, and marked with
glacial striae. The subjacent rocks, also, of gneiss, mica slate,
and quartz, are everywhere grooved and polished as if by the
passage of a glacier.* (* Jamieson, "Quarterly Journal of the
Geological Society" volume 16 1860 page 360.)

At one spot a vertical thickness of 130 feet of this series of
strata is exposed to view by a mountain torrent, and in all more
than 2000 layers of clay, sand, and gravel were counted, the whole
evidently accumulated under water. Some beds consist of an
impalpable mud, like putty, apparently derived from the grinding
down of felspar, and resembling the mud produced by the grinding
action of modern glaciers.

Mr. Jamieson, when he first gave an account of this drift,
inferred, in spite of the absence of marine shells, that it implied
the submergence of Scotland beneath the ocean after the
commencement of the glacial period, or after the era of continental
ice indicated by the subjacent floor of polished and grooved rock.
This conclusion would require a submergence of the land as far up
as 1550 feet above the present sea-level, after which a great
re-upheaval must have occurred. But the same author, having lately
revisited the valley of the Tummel, suggests another possible, and
I think probable, explanation of the same phenomena. The stratified
drift in question is situated in a deep depression between two
buttresses of rock, and if an enormous glacier be supposed to have
once filled the valley of the Tummel to the height of the
stratified drift, it may have dammed up the mouth of a mountain
torrent by a transverse barrier, giving rise to a deep pond, in
which beds of clay and sand brought down by the waters of the
torrent were deposited. Charpentier in his work on the Swiss
glaciers has described many such receptacles of stratified matter
now in progress, and due to such blockages, and he has pointed out
the remnants of ancient and similar formations left by extinct
glaciers of an earlier epoch. He specially notices that angular
stones of various dimensions, often polished and striated, which
rest on the glacier and are let fall when the torrent undermines
the side of the moving ice, descend into the small lake and become
interstratified with the gravel and fine sediment brought down by
the torrent into the same.* (* Charpentier, "Essai sur les
Glaciers" page 63 1841.)

The evidence of the former sojourn of the sea upon the land after
the commencement of the glacial period was formerly inferred from
the height to which erratic blocks derived from distant regions
could be traced, besides the want of conformity in the glacial
furrows to the present contours of many of the valleys. Some of
these phenomena may now, as we have seen, be accounted for by
assuming that there was once a crust of ice resembling that now
covering Greenland.

The Grampians in Forfarshire and in Perthshire are from 3000 to
4000 feet high. To the southward lies the broad and deep valley of
Strathmore, and to the south of this again rise the Sidlaw Hills to
the height of 1500 feet and upwards. On the highest summits of this
chain, formed of sandstone and shale, and at various elevations, I
have observed huge angular fragments of mica-schist, some 3 and
others 15 feet in diameter, which have been conveyed for a distance
of at least 15 miles from the nearest Grampian rocks from which
they could have been detached. Others have been left strewed over
the bottom of the large intervening vale of Strathmore.* (*
"Proceedings of the Geological Society" volume 3 page 344.)

It may be argued that the transportation of such blocks may have
been due not to floating ice, but to a period when Strathmore was
filled up with land ice, a current of which extended from the
Perthshire Highlands to the summit of the Sidlaw Hills, and the
total absence of marine or freshwater shells from all deposits,
stratified or unstratified, which have any connection with these
erratics in Forfarshire and Perthshire may be thought to favour
such a theory.

But the same mode of transport can scarcely be imagined for those
fragments of mica-schist, one of them weighing from 8 to 10 tons,
which were observed much farther south by Mr. Maclaren on the
Pentland Hills, near Edinburgh, at the height of 1100 feet above
the sea, the nearest mountain composed of this formation being 50
miles distant.* (* Maclaren, "Geology of Fife" etc. page 220.) On
the same hills, also, at all elevations, stratified gravels occur
which, although devoid of shells, it seems hardly possible to refer
to any but a marine origin.

Although I am willing, therefore, to concede that the glaciation of
the Scotch mountains, at elevations exceeding 2000 feet, may be
explained by land ice, it seems difficult not to embrace the
conclusion that a subsidence took place not merely of 500 or 600
feet, as demonstrated by the marine shells, but to a much greater
amount, as shown by the present position of erratics and some
patches of stratified drift. The absence of marine shells at
greater heights than 525 feet above the sea, will be treated of in
a future chapter. It may in part, perhaps, be ascribed to the
action of glaciers, which swept out marine strata from all the
higher valleys, after the re-emergence of the land.

LATEST CHANGES PRODUCED BY GLACIERS IN SCOTLAND.

We may next consider the state of Scotland after its emergence from
the glacial sea, when we cannot fail to be approaching the time
when Man co-existed with the mammoth and other mammalia now
extinct. In a paper which I published in 1840, on the ancient
glaciers of Forfarshire, I endeavoured to show that some of these
existed after the mountains and glens had acquired precisely their
present shape,* (* "Proceedings of the Geological Society" volume 3
page 337.) and had left moraines even in the minor valleys, just
where they would now leave them were the snow and ice again to gain
ground. I described also one remarkable transverse mound, evidently
the terminal moraine of a retreating glacier, which crosses the
valley of the South Esk, a few miles above the point where it
issues from the Grampians, and about 6 miles below the Kirktown of
Clova. Its central part, at a place called Glenarm, is 800 feet
above the level of the sea. The valley is about half a mile broad,
and is bounded by steep and lofty mountains, but immediately above
the transverse barrier it expands into a wide alluvial plain,
several miles broad, which has evidently once been a lake. The
barrier itself, about 150 feet high, consists in its lower part of
till with boulders, 50 feet thick, precisely resembling the moraine
of a Swiss glacier, above which there is a mass of stratified sand,
varying in thickness from 50 to 100 feet, which has the appearance
of consisting of the materials of the moraine rearranged in a
stratified form, possibly by the waters of a glacier lake. The
structure of the barrier has been laid open by the Esk, which has
cut through it a deep passage about 400 yards wide.

I have also given an account of another striking feature in the
physical geography of Perthshire and Forfarshire, which I consider
to belong to the same period; namely, a continuous zone of boulder
clay, forming ridges and mounds from 50 to 70 feet high (the upper
part of the mounds usually stratified), enclosing numerous lakes,
some of them several miles long, and many ponds and swamps filled
with shell-marl and peat. This band of till, with Grampian boulders
and associated river-gravel, may be traced continuously for a
distance of 34 miles, with a width of 3 1/2 miles, from near
Dunkeld, by Coupar, to the south of Blairgowrie, then through the
lowest part of Strathmore, and afterwards in a straight line
through the greatest depression in the Sidlaw Hills, from Forfar to
Lunan Bay.

Although no great river now takes its course through this line of
ancient lakes, moraines, and river gravel, yet it evidently marks
an ancient line by which, first, a great glacier descended from the
mountains to the sea, and by which, secondly, at a later period,
the principal water drainage of this country was effected. The
subsequent modification in geography is comparable in amount to
that which has taken place since the higher level gravels of the
valley of the Somme were formed, or since the Belgian caves were
filled with mud and bone-breccia.

(FIGURE 35. OVAL AND FLATTISH PEBBLES IN DESERTED CHANNELS.)

Mr. Jamieson has remarked, in reference to this and some other
extinct river-channels of corresponding date, that we have the
means of ascertaining the direction in which the waters flowed by
observing the arrangement of the oval and flattish pebbles in their
deserted channels; for in the bed of a fast-flowing river such
pebbles are seen to dip towards the current, as represented in
Figure 35, such being the position of greatest resistance to the
stream.* (* Jamieson, "Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society"
volume 16 1860 page 349.) If this be admitted, it follows that the
higher or mountainous country bore the same relation to the lower
lands, at the time when a great river passed through this chain of
lakes, as it does at present.

We also seem to have a test of the comparatively modern origin of
the mounds of till which surround the above-mentioned chain of
lakes (of which that of Forfar is one), in the species of organic
remains contained in the shell-marl deposited at their bottom. All
the mammalia as well as shells are of recent species.
Unfortunately, we have no information as to the fauna which
inhabited the country at the time when the till itself was formed.
There seem to be only three or four instances as yet known in all
Scotland of mammalia having been discovered in boulder clay.

Mr. R. Bald has recorded the circumstances under which a single
elephant's tusk was found in the unstratified drift of the valley
of the Forth, with the minuteness which such a discovery from its
rarity well deserved. He distinguishes the boulder clay, under the
name of "the old alluvial cover," from that more modern alluvium,
in which the whales of Airthrie, described in Chapter 3, were
found. This cover he says is sometimes 160 feet thick. Having never
observed any organic remains in it, he watched with curiosity and
care the digging of the Union Canal between Edinburgh and Falkirk,
which passed for no less than 28 miles almost continuously through
it. Mr. Baird, the engineer who superintended the works, assisted
in the inquiry, and at one place only in this long section did they
meet with a fossil, namely, at Cliftonhall, in the valley of the
Almond. It lay at a depth of between 15 and 20 feet from the
surface, in very stiff clay, and consisted of an elephant's tusk,
39 inches long and 13 in circumference, in so fresh a state that an
ivory turner purchased it and turned part of it into chessmen
before it was rescued from destruction. The remainder is still
preserved in the museum at Edinburgh, but by exposure to the air it
has shrunk considerably.* (* "Memoirs of the Wernerian Society"
Edinburgh volume 4 page 58.) In 1817, two other tusks and some
bones of the elephant, as we learn from the same authority (Mr.
Bald), were met with, 3 1/2 feet long and 13 inches in
circumference, lying in an horizontal position, 17 feet deep in
clay, with marine shells, at Kilmaurs, in Ayrshire. The species of
shells are not given.* (* Ibid. volume 4 page 63.)

In another excavation through the Scotch boulder clay, made in
digging the Clyde and Forth Junction Railway, the antlers of a
reindeer were found at Croftamie, in Dumbartonshire, in the basin
of the river Endrick, which flows into Loch Lomond. They had cut
through 12 feet of till with angular and rounded stones, some of
large size, and then through 6 feet of underlying clay, when they
came upon the deer's horns, 18 feet from the surface, and within a
foot of the sandstone on which the till rested. At the distance of
a few yards, and in the same position, but a foot or two deeper,
were observed marine shells, Cyprina islandica, Astarte elliptica,
A. compressa, Fusus antiquus, Littorina littorea, and a Balanus.
The height above the level of the sea was between 100 and 103 feet.
The reindeer's horn was seen by Professor Owen, who considered it
to be that of a young female of the large variety, called by the
Hudson's Bay trappers the caribou.

The remains of elephants, now in the museums of Glasgow and
Edinburgh, purporting to come from the superficial deposits of
Scotland have been referred to Elephas primigenius. In cases where
tusks alone have been found unaccompanied by molar teeth, such
specific determinations may be uncertain; but if any one specimen
be correctly named, the occurrence of the mammoth and reindeer in
the Scotch boulder-clay, as both these quadrupeds are known to have
been contemporary with Man, favours the idea which I have already
expressed, that the close of the glacial period in the Grampians
may have coincided in time with the existence of Man in those parts
of Europe where the climate was less severe, as, for example, in
the basins of the Thames, Somme, and Seine, in which the bones of
many extinct mammalia are associated with flint implements of the
antique type.

PARALLEL ROADS OF GLEN ROY IN SCOTLAND.

(PLATE 2. VIEW OF THE MOUTHS OF GLEN ROY AND GLEN SPEAN,
    BY SIR T. DICK LAUDER.
   VV. Hill of Bohuntine.
   VVV. Glen Roy.
   V(inverted)V. Mealderry.
   V. Entrance of Glen Spean
   VV(superscript)V. Point of division between Glens Roy
     and Spean.)

Perhaps no portion of the superficial drift of Scotland can lay
claim to so modern an origin on the score of the freshness of its
aspect, as that which forms what are called the Parallel Roads of
Glen Roy. If they do not belong to the Recent epoch, they are at
least posterior in date to the present outline of mountain and
glen, and to the time when every one of the smaller burns ran in
their present channels, though some of them have since been
slightly deepened. The almost perfect horizontality, moreover, of
the roads, one of which is continuous for about 20 miles from east
to west, and 12 miles from north to south, shows that since the era
of their formation no change has taken place in the relative levels
of different parts of the district.

(FIGURE 36. MAP OF THE PARALLEL ROADS OF GLEN ROY OR LOCHABER.

   A. five miles distant south-west from this point is
     Fort William, where the Lochy joins an arm of the sea,
     called Loch Eil.
   Vertical lines. Cols or watersheds at the heads of the
     glens--once the westward outlet of the lakes.
   Dots. Conspicuous delta deposits as laid down by
     Mr. T.F. Jamieson.)

Glen Roy is situated in the Western Highlands, about 10 miles
east-north-east of Fort William, near the western end of the great
glen of Scotland, or Caledonian Canal, and near the foot of the
highest of the Grampians, Ben Nevis. (See map, Figure 36.)
Throughout nearly its whole length, a distance of more than 10
miles, three parallel roads or shelves are traced along the steep
sides of the mountains, as represented in the annexed view, Plate
2, by the late Sir T. Dick Lauder, each maintaining a perfect
horizontality, and continuing at exactly the same level on the
opposite sides of the glen. Seen at a distance, they appear like
ledges, or roads, cut artificially out of the sides of the hills;
but when we are upon them, we can scarcely recognise their
existence, so uneven is their surface, and so covered with
boulders. They are from 10 to 60 feet broad, and merely differ from
the side of the mountain by being somewhat less steep.

On closer inspection, we find that these terraces are stratified in
the ordinary manner of alluvial or littoral deposits, as may be
seen at those points where ravines have been excavated by torrents.
The parallel shelves, therefore, have not been caused by
denudation, but by the deposition of detritus, precisely similar to
that which is dispersed in smaller quantities over the declivities
of the hills above. These hills consist of clay-slate, mica schist,
and granite, which rocks have been worn away and laid bare at a few
points immediately above the parallel roads. The lowest of these
roads is about 850 feet above the level of the sea, the next about
212 feet higher, and the third 82 feet above the second. There is a
fourth shelf, which occurs only in a contiguous valley called Glen
Gluoy, which is 12 feet above the highest of all the Glen Roy
roads, and consequently about 1156 feet above the level of the sea.
* (* Another detached shelf also occurs at Kilfinnan. (See Map,
Figure 36.)) One only, the lowest of the three roads of Glen Roy,
is continued throughout Glen Spean, a large valley with which Glen
Roy unites. (See Plate 2 and map, Figure 36.) As the shelves,
having no slope towards the sea like ordinary river terraces, are
always at the same absolute height, they become continually more
elevated above the river in proportion as we descend each valley;
and they at length terminate very abruptly, without any obvious
cause, or any change either in the shape of the ground or in the
composition or hardness of the rocks.

I should exceed the limits of this work, were I to attempt to give
a full description of all the geographical circumstances attending
these singular terraces, or to discuss the ingenious theories which
have been severally proposed to account for them by Dr. Macculloch,
Sir T. Lauder, and Messrs. Darwin, Agassiz, Milne, and Chambers.
There is one point, however, on which all are agreed, namely, that
these shelves are ancient beaches, or littoral formations,
accumulated round the edges of one or more sheets of water which
once stood for a long time successively at the level of the several
shelves.

(FIGURE 37. SECTION THROUGH SIDE OF LOCH.

   AB. Supposed original surface of rock.
   CD. Roads or shelves in the outer alluvial covering of the hill.)

It is well known, that wherever a lake or marine fjord exists
surrounded by steep mountains subject to disintegration by frost or
the action of torrents, some loose matter is washed down annually,
especially during the melting of snow, and a check is given to the
descent of this detritus at the point where it reaches the waters
of the lake. The waves then spread out the materials along the
shore, and throw some of them upon the beach; their dispersing
power being aided by the ice, which often adheres to pebbles during
the winter months, and gives buoyancy to them. The annexed diagram
(Figure 37) illustrates the manner in which Dr. MacCulloch and Mr.
Darwin suppose "the roads" to constitute mere excrescences of the
superficial alluvial coating which rests upon the hillside, and
consists chiefly of clay and sharp unrounded stones.

Among other proofs that the parallel roads have really been formed
along the margin of a sheet of water, it may be mentioned, that
wherever an isolated hill rises in the middle of the glen above the
level of any particular shelf, as in Mealderry, Plate 2, a
corresponding shelf is seen at the same level passing round the
hill, as would have happened if it had once formed an island in a
lake or fjord. Another very remarkable peculiarity in these
terraces is this; each of them comes in some portion of its course
to a col, or parting ridge, between the heads of glens, the
explanation of which will be considered in the sequel.

Those writers who first advocated the doctrine that the roads were
the ancient beaches of freshwater lakes, were unable to offer any
probable hypothesis respecting the formation and subsequent removal
of barriers of sufficient height and solidity to dam up the water.
To introduce any violent convulsion for their removal was
inconsistent with the uninterrupted horizontality of the roads, and
with the undisturbed aspect of those parts of the glens where the
shelves come suddenly to an end.

Mr. Agassiz and Dr. Buckland, desirous, like the defenders of the
lake theory, to account for the limitation of the shelves to
certain glens, and their absence in contiguous glens, where the
rocks are of the same composition, and the slope and inclination of
the ground very similar, first started the theory that these
valleys were once blocked up by enormous glaciers descending from
Ben Nevis, giving rise to what are called, in Switzerland and in
the Tyrol, glacier-lakes. In corroboration of this view, they
contended that the alluvium of Glen Roy, as well as of other parts
of Scotland, agrees in character with the moraines of glaciers seen
in the Alpine valleys of Switzerland. It will readily be conceded
that this hypothesis was preferable to any previous lacustrine
theory, by accounting more easily for the temporary existence and
entire disappearance of lofty transverse barriers, although the
height required for the supposed dams of ice appeared very
enormous.

Before the idea of glacier-lakes had been suggested by Agassiz, Mr.
Darwin examined Glen Roy, and came to the opinion that the shelves
were formed when the glens were still arms of the sea, and,
consequently, that there never were any seaward barriers. According
to him, the land emerged during a slow and uniform upward movement,
like that now experienced throughout a large part of Sweden and
Finland; but there were certain pauses in the upheaving process, at
which times the waters of the sea remained stationary for so many
centuries as to allow of the accumulation of an extraordinary
quantity of detrital matter, and the excavation, at many points
immediately above the sea-level, of deep notches and bare cliffs in
the hard and solid rock.

This theory I adopted in 1841 ("Elements," 2nd edition), as
appearing to me less objectionable than any other then proposed.
The phenomena most difficult to reconcile with it are, first, the
abrupt cessation of the roads at certain points in the different
glens; secondly, their unequal number in different valleys
connecting with each other, there being three, for example, in Glen
Roy, and only one in Glen Spean; thirdly, the precise horizontality
of level maintained by the same shelf over a space many leagues in
length, requiring us to assume, that during a rise of 1156 feet no
one portion of the land was raised even a few yards above another;
fourthly, the coincidence of level already alluded to of each shelf
with a col, or the point forming the head of two glens, from which
the rain-waters flow in opposite directions. This last-mentioned
feature in the physical geography of Lochaber Mr. Darwin
endeavoured to explain in the following manner. He called these
cols "land-straits," and regarding them as having been anciently
sounds or channels between islands, he pointed out that there is a
tendency in such sounds to be silted up, and always the more so in
proportion to their narrowness. In a chart of the Falkland Islands,
by Captain Sulivan, R.N., it appears that there are several
examples there of straits where the soundings diminish regularly
towards the narrowest part. One is so nearly dry that it can be
walked over at low water, and another, no longer covered by the
sea, is supposed to have recently dried up in consequence of a
small alteration in the relative level of sea and land. "Similar
straits," observes Mr. Chambers, "hovering, in character, between
sea and land, and which may be called fords, are met with in the
Hebrides. Such, for example, is the passage dividing the islands of
Lewis and Harris, and that between North Uist and Benbecula, both
of which would undoubtedly appear as cols, coinciding with a
terrace or raised beach, all round the islands if the sea were to
subside."* (* R. Chambers, "Ancient Sea Margins" page 114.)

The first of the difficulties above alluded to, namely, the
non-extension of the shelves over certain parts of the glens, might
be explained, said Mr. Darwin, by supposing in certain places a
quick growth of green turf on a good soil, which prevented the rain
from washing away any loose materials lying on the surface. But
wherever the soil was barren, and where green sward took long to
form, there may have been time for the removal of the gravel. In
one case an intermediate shelf appears for a short distance (three
quarters of a mile) on the face of the mountain called Tombhran,
between the two upper shelves, and is seen nowhere else. It occurs
where there was the longest space of open water, and where the
waves may have acquired a more than ordinary power to heap up
detritus.

The unequal number of the shelves in valleys communicating with
each other, and in which the boundary rocks are similar in
composition, and the general absence of any shelves at
corresponding altitudes in glens on the opposite watershed, like
that of the Spey, and in valleys where the waters flow eastward,
are difficulties attending the marine theory which have never yet
been got over. Mr. T.F. Jamieson, before cited, has, during a late
visit to Lochaber, in 1861, observed many facts highly confirmatory
of the hypothesis of glacier-lakes which, as I have already stated,
was originally advanced by Mr. Agassiz. In the first place, he
found much superficial scoring and polishing of rocks, and
accumulation of boulders at those points where signs of glacial
action ought to appear, if ice had once dammed up the waters of the
glens in which the "roads" occur. Ben Nevis may have sent down its
glaciers from the south, and Glen Arkaig from the north, for the
mountains at the head of the last-mentioned glen are 3000 feet
high, and may, together with other tributary glens, have helped to
choke up the great Caledonian valley with ice, so as to block up
for a time the mouths of the Spean, Roy, and Gluoy. The temporary
conversion of these glens into glacier-lakes is the more
conceivable, because the hills at their upper ends not being lofty
nor of great extent, they may not have been filled with ice at a
time when great glaciers were generated in other adjoining and much
higher regions.

Secondly. The shelves, says Mr. Jamieson, are more precisely
defined and unbroken than any of the raised beaches or acknowledged
ancient coast-lines visible on the west of Scotland, as in
Argyllshire, for example.

Thirdly. At the level of the lower shelf in Glen Roy, at points
where torrents now cut channels through the shelf as they descend
the hill-side, there are small delta-like extensions of the shelf,
perfectly preserved, as if the materials, whether fine or coarse,
had originally settled there in a placid lake, and had not been
acted upon by tidal currents, mingling them with the sediment of
other streams. These deltas are too entire to allow us to suppose
that they have at any time since their origin been exposed to the
waves of the sea.

Fourthly. The alluvium on the cols or watersheds, before alluded
to, is such as would have been formed if the waters of the rivers
had been made to flow east, or out of the upper ends of the
supposed glacier-lakes, instead of escaping at the lower ends, in a
westerly direction, where the great blockages of ice are assumed to
have occurred.

In addition to these arguments of Mr. Jamieson, I may mention that
in Switzerland, at present, no testacea live in the cold waters of
glacier-lakes; so that the entire absence of fossil shells, whether
marine or freshwater, in the stratified materials of each shelf,
would be accounted for if the theory above mentioned be embraced.

When I examined "the parallel roads" in 1825, in company with Dr.
Buckland, neither this glacier theory nor Mr. Darwin's suggestion
of ancient sea-margins had been proposed, and I have never since
revisited Lochaber. But I retain in my memory a vivid recollection
of the scenery and physical features of the district, and I now
consider the glacier-lake theory as affording by far the most
satisfactory solution of this difficult problem. The objection to
it, which until lately appeared to be the most formidable, and
which led Mr. Robert Chambers in his "Sea Margins," to reject it
entirely, was the difficulty of conceiving how the waters could be
made to stand so high in Glen Roy as to allow the uppermost shelf
to be formed. Grant a barrier of ice in the lower part of the glen
of sufficient altitude to stop the waters from flowing westward,
still, what prevented them from escaping over the col at the head
of Glen Glaster? This col coincides exactly in level, as Mr. Milne
Home first ascertained, with the second or middle shelf of Glen
Roy. The difficulty here stated appears now to be removed by
supposing that the higher lines or roads were formed before the
lower ones, and when the quantity of ice was most in excess. We
must imagine that at the time when the uppermost shelf of Glen Roy
was forming in a shallow lake, the lower part of that glen was
filled up with ice, and, according to Mr. Jamieson, a glacier from
Loch Treig then protruded itself across Glen Spean and rested on
the flank of the hill on the opposite side in such a manner as
effectually to prevent any water from escaping over the Glen
Glaster col. The proofs of such a glacier having actually existed
at the point in question consist, he says, in numerous cross striae
observable in