Page:Early Man in Britain and His Place in the Tertiary Period.djvu/251

] ancestors for countless generations have obtained by the use of clothes, would render a natural clothing of hair unnecessary, and produce the present comparatively hairless condition of our bodies. Nevertheless there are numerous cases of reversion to the original hairy condition, such as that of the Ainos, in northern Japan, and of the hairy Siamese family, described by Mr. Darwin.

87.—Handle of Dagger, Laugerie Basse,.

The Cave-men were also acquainted with the art of sculpture. In the cave of Laugerie Basse, the handle of a dagger (Fig. 87) of reindeer antler has been carved into the shape of that animal, with his head thrown back, so as to allow the antlers to rest on the shoulders, the forelegs being folded gracefully under the body, and the hind passing gradually into the blade. An examination of the figure shows with what grace the artist has treated the animal. The same composition is to be observed in the figure of a reindeer carved in ivory, from the rock-shelter of Montastruc, not far from the cave of Bruniquel, in which place the figure of an elephant