Page:Palæolithic Man and Terramara Settlements in Europe.djvu/134

80 This layer was composed of yellowish earth, mixed with fragments of limestone from the overhanging rocks. Throughout its whole depth, but sparsely scattered, were found various implements of flint and worked objects of bone and horn, such as needles, harpoons, awls, chisels, etc., all of which were recognised as characteristic relics of the "reindeer period." It may also be noted that all the mammalian bones were broken for their marrow. Burnt bones were rare, and only one fireplace with ashes was encountered; so that, upon the whole, it appeared to have been only occasionally visited by man.

The chief interest of the layer, however, centred on its organic contents. The characteristic fauna of the Tundra, according to Professor Nehring, are the following:—Banded lemming, Obi lemming, Arctic fox, mountain hare, reindeer, and musk-ox. With these are frequently associated a number of animals of more or less migratory habits, such as northern vole, water-rat, glutton, ermine, little weasel, wolf, fox, and bear. Now the extraordinary fact is brought out, that of these fourteen species only the Obi lemming and the musk-ox are unrepresented in the lower Rodent bed of the Schweizersbild.

The latter was, however, found in Kesslerloch Cave, in the vicinity. It appears that the banded lemming (Myodes torquatus) and the Arctic fox are the two most persistent animals of the Tundra fauna, and their presence in the rock-shelter is alone sufficient proof that the climate of the period was of an Arctic character. In the upper portion of this deposit relics of new animals began to appear, indicating a change to a sub-Arctic climate. But these found their highest development in the next succeeding layer, viz., the Yellow relic bed, No. 4.

The colour of this deposit was due to a mixture of yellow loam, a large number of yellow-stained bones, and some stones reddened with the action of fire. It lay immediately over the rodent bed, but in some places, where the latter was absent, it rested on the glacial gravel bed. Evidence of man's presence was now greatly multiplied. Anvils, half-buried in flint chips, wasted flint implements, hearths and stones cracked and reddened by the action of fire, layers of ashes, broken bones, bits of charred wood, pieces of worked and unworked lignite, a large number of implements made of bone, horn, and flint,