Page:Smithsonian Report (1909).djvu/673

Rh as the rock-shelters and open shallow caves, formed through atmospheric agencies, were inhabited by early man. Some were enlarged or modified and occupied during the middle ages. At a safe height in the roc de Tayac, one such that withstood successive sieges in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries is at present used as a restaurant and appropriately named "au Paradis."

The earlier explorations at Les Eyzies, Cro-Magnon, Gorge-d'Enfer, Laugerie-Basse, Laugerie-Haute, La Madeleine, and Le Moustier are so well known that they are mentioned only in passing. After so long a series of important discoveries, it might well be supposed that the archeological possibilities of the region had been exhausted, yet some of the most important treasures still remained locked in the recesses of the less easily accessible and little known subterranean caverns which penetrate the hills to great depths. The entrances to these caverns are small and invisible from the valley below. Some indeed were completely stopped by hillside debris, leaving no outer trace of their existence. It is not strange that they escaped immediate notice. They were neglected until the early nineties, when Rivière removed some of the floor deposits in the cavern of Les Combarelles that yielded many flint implements, and especially fine bone needles. In 1895, he began work in similar deposits in the cavern of La Mouthe. One day, after penetrating to a considerable depth, he and his companion, the son of Berthoumeyrou, the innkeeper, sat down to rest. In lighting a cigar, the extra light of the match added to the feeble candle light and placed at the proper angle revealed to one of them what had not been observed before—an engraving on the wall. The discovery was duly announced and marked the beginning of a new epoch in cavern explorations.

The mural decorations at La Mouthe occur in four groups or panels. The first panel is about 93 meters from the entrance. The second, 4 meters farther on, is called the "Hall of the Bison." Seven animals are represented on an area 5.02 meters by 2.6 meters. The third and fourth panels are 113 and 130 meters, respectively, from the entrance.

In 1899, Rivière was so fortunate as to find a stone lamp in the floor deposits of this cavern at a point about 17 meters from the entrance. The pick of the workman broke the lamp into four pieces, of which three were immediately recovered. Rivière and two of his men searched for the missing fragment an entire day, but without success. The shallow bowl contained some carbonized matter, an analysis of which led M. Berthelot, the chemist, to conclude that lard was used for lighting purposes. On the base there is an engraving of a wild goat's head and horns. A figure exactly like this was found on the third mural panel already mentioned. This was the fourth lamp to be found in French caverns. The first and second were from the cavern of Monthier (Charente), and the third from the cavern of