Page:Excavations at the Kesslerloch.djvu/76

Rh different individual from the one who drew the reindeer and the horse, for the apparently defective amount of art in these two drawings evidently arises from the unfavourable nature of the material.'

So far Professor Rütimeyer: it will be seen that both he and also Dr. Keller accept these drawings as genuine. I am quite aware that it is a very serious matter even to doubt the verdict of such veterans of archæology; still it appears to me that, honestly, I ought here to give the singular history attached to them as it came to my knowledge when in Switzerland. During the progress of the excavation at the Kesslerloch the earth and stones were, as mentioned in the report, sifted in order to find the antiquities; the refuse was thrown aside, and in the process of the excavation became a considerable heap. After the excavation was finished, Mr. J. Messikomer, the well-known explorer of the lake-dwelling of Robenhausen, believed that a more careful sifting of the heap would bring to light many things which had escaped the earlier examination. He therefore obtained permission from the owner of the soil to sift the mass again; and the result was an abundant harvest of flint-flakes and bones of the reindeer, horse, Alpine hare, &c. Many of these are now in my possession. But unfortunately he employed for a stated period a labourer of the district, and when this period was expired, the man so employed says that he went to the heap on his own account, and discovered these two etchings of the bear and the fox! Those who are accustomed to the laws of evidence must decide, in the first place, whether the man committed any breach of honour or honesty, and in the next whether these etchings are genuine, or were made for the occasion. I do not venture to express a decided opinion, but I cannot help mentioning, on the one hand, that the style of the drawings is totally different from that of the other etchings; and on the other (and this appears rather a strong argument), the lines or furrows in the drawing of the bear have within them the ridge-like longitudinal projections, exactly like those on the plane surface, which have hitherto been attributed to weathering. It has been said that if a modern etching on bone is made when it is wet, this appearance would result; but having tried this plan on a piece of prehistoric bone from Bacon Hole, after it had been well soaked, and a copy of one of the doubtful specimens etched, with a Kesserloch flint, the lines engraved remained when dry perfectly sharp and clear, and there was no appearance within the furrows of the longitudinal fibrous appearance above referred to. The reader has now before him all the evidence which I can give on both sides, and he must judge for himself.