the Russian
"steppes," cold and dry--there were men inhabiting the caverns on both
sides of the Pyrenees. The tract of land which we call "Great Britain"
was a part of the Continent of Europe. There was no "English Channel."
The Thames and the Rhine opened by a common mouth into the North Sea.
The mammoth and the hairy rhinoceros still lingered on in France and
the more central regions of Europe. Wild horses, the great ox
(Aurochs), the bison, ibex, chamois, were abundant, and the
thick-nosed Saiga antelope, now confined to the Russian and Asiatic
steppes, was present. The most abundant and important animal
immediately north of the Pyrenees was the reindeer. The cave-men of
France and Central Europe were a fine race--living by the chase, and
fabricating flint knives and scrapers, fine bone spearheads and
harpoons, as well as occupying themselves in carving ivory and
reindeer antlers, so as to produce highly artistic representations of
the animals around them.

They rarely attempted the human face or figure, and when they did were
not so successful as in their animal work. They also painted on the
walls of some of their caverns, with red and yellow ochre, carbon, and
white chalk representations--usually about one-third the size of
nature--of some of the most important animals of the chase. They must
have used lamps, fed with animal fat, to illuminate the walls, both
when they were at work on the pictures and also afterwards, when they
exhibited the finished pictures to the less gifted members of the
tribe, as wonderful, even magical appearances. It is uncertain to what
extent races of men succeeded one another or were cotemporaries in
this period in Europe, but there is good reason for attributing the
cave pictures to an early occupation of the caves by men who also
carved, in ivory and stone, small figures of women resembling the
Hottentot Venus--whilst the later occupants made no such statuettes,
but carved in relief on bone or engraved it.

This was probably not less than 50,000 years ago, and may well have
been much more. Earlier than the date of these Reindeer men (the
Magdalenians, Solutrians and the Aurignacians[9]), in the preceding
cold, humid period of the glacial extension (probably from 80,000 to
150,000 years ago) these and other caves were occupied by an inferior
race--the Neandermen. They could not carve beasts on ivory nor paint,
but could make very good and well "dressed" flint weapons, and could
mak