Page:Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, vol. 32.djvu/330

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The red sand and clay of the lower ossiferous stratum are the results of an occasional flooding; and the smoothed and rounded surfaces of many of the bones and teeth are due to the friction of the sand set in motion by the currents of water in the cave. It seems, therefore, tolerably clear that the occupation of the cave by the Hyæna, during the time of the deposition of the lower ossiferous stratum, was occasionally interrupted by floods.

The middle deposit of red loam, of the kind so abundant in caves in the south of England, has probably been introduced during heavy rains, and is to some extent the result of the decomposition of the limestone. During its accumulation Hyænas inhabited the cave; but their occupation was disturbed by the visits of Palæolithic hunters, who left behind them the implements to be presently described.

The remains from the breccia above the cave-earth seem to me to indicate that the cave at that time was inhabited by Man, and that it was not so frequently visited by the Hyænas as before. The pieces of breccia, which I have carefully broken up in search after bone needles, contain for the most part the split and broken bones and a few vertebræ of the Hare. Had the Hyænas then frequented the cave, the vertebræ would have been eaten, and some of the bones would have been gnawed.

The presence of the vertebræ also implies that the Dog was not used by the hunters who then lived in the cave. It will be remembered that a similar conclusion was drawn by MM. Lartet and Christy from the vertebræ of Reindeer in the caves of Perigord with regard to the Palæolithic hunters in the south of France. It seems, to me, indeed, after a careful examination of all the evidence, that the Dog was not the servant of Man in the Palæolithic age in Europe, and that the reputed occurrence of its remains in deposits of Pleistocene age is the result of mistaken identity, or of mistaken gisement.

The group of remains from the breccia differs, as may be seen from the following Table, considerably from those of the underlying strata. The carnivores of the latter, with the exception of the Hyænas and Wolf, are conspicuous by their absence; while all the herbivores are represented, with the exception of the Bison. The Hare, on the other hand, so rare in the latter, is abundant in the breccia, This difference in the mammal faunas is accompanied, as will be seen, by corresponding differences in the implements. The