The Project Gutenberg eBook of Primitive Man
Title: Primitive Man
Author: Louis Figuier
Release date: March 20, 2013 [eBook #42380]
Most recently updated: October 23, 2024
Language: English
Credits: Produced by Chris Curnow, Christian Boissonnas and the
Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
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PRIMITIVE MAN.
PRIMITIVE MAN.
By LOUIS FIGUIER.
ILLUSTRATED WITH THIRTY SCENES OF PRIMITIVE LIFE, AND
TWO HUNDRED AND THIRTY-THREE FIGURES OF OBJECTS
BELONGING TO PRE-HISTORIC AGES.
LONDON:
CHAPMAN AND HALL, 193, PICCADILLY.
1870.
PREFACE TO THE ENGLISH EDITION.
The Editor of the English translation of 'L'Homme Primitif,' has not deemed it necessary to reproduce the original Preface, in which M. Figuier states his purpose in offering a new work on pre-historic archæology to the French public, already acquainted in translation with the works on the subject by Sir Charles Lyell and Sir John Lubbock. Now that the book has taken its position in France, it is only needful to point out its claims to the attention of English readers.
The important art of placing scientific knowledge, and especially new discoveries and topics of present controversy, within easy reach of educated readers not versed in their strictly technical details, is one which has for years been carried to remarkable perfection in France, in no small measure through the labours and example of M. Figuier himself. The present volume, one of his series, takes up the subject of Pre-historic Man, beginning with the remotely ancient stages of human life belonging to the Drift-Beds, Bone-Caves, and Shell-Heaps, passing on through the higher levels of the Stone Age, through the succeeding Bronze Age, and into those lower ranges of the Iron Age in which civilisation, raised to a comparatively high development, passes from the hands of the antiquary into those of the historian. The Author's object has been to give within the limits of a volume, and dispensing with the fatiguing enumeration of details required in special memoirs, an outline sufficient to afford a reasonable working acquaintance with the facts and arguments of the science to such as cannot pursue it further, and to serve as a starting-ground for those who will follow it up in the more minute researches of Nilsson, Keller, Lartet, Christy, Lubbock, Mortillet, Desor, Troyon, Gastaldi, and others.
The value of the work to English archæologists, however, is not merely that of a clear popular manual; pre-historic archæology, worked as it has been in several countries, takes in each its proper local colour, and brings forward its proper local evidence. It is true that much of its material is used as common property by scientific men at large. But, for instance, where an English writer in describing the ancient cave-men would dwell especially on the relics from the caves of Devon and Somerset as worked by Falconer and Pengelly, a French writer would take his data more amply from the explorations of caves of the south of France by De Vibraye, Garrigou, and Filhol—where the English teacher would select his specimens from the Christy or the Blackmore Museum, the French teacher would have recourse to the Musée de Saint-Germain. Thus far, the English student has in Figuier's 'Primitive Man' not a work simply incorporated from familiar materials, but to a great extent bringing forward evidence not readily accessible, or quite new to him.
Some corrections and alterations have been made in the English edition. The illustrations are those of the original work; the facsimiles of pre-historic objects have been in great part drawn expressly for it, and contribute to its strictly scientific value; the page illustrations representing scenes of primitive life, which are by another hand, may seem somewhat fanciful, yet, setting aside the Raffaelesque idealism of their style, it will be found on examination that they are in the main justified by that soundest evidence, the actual discovery of the objects of which they represent the use.
The solid distinctness of this evidence from actual relics of pre-historic life is one of the reasons which have contributed to the extraordinary interest which pre-historic archæology has excited in an age averse to vague speculation, but singularly appreciative of arguments conducted by strict reasoning on facts. The study of this modern science has supplied a fundamental element to the general theory of civilisation, while, as has been the case with geology, its bearing on various points of theological criticism has at once conduced to its active investigation, and drawn to it the most eager popular attention. Thus, in bringing forward a new work on 'Primitive Man,' there is happily no need of insisting on the importance of its subject-matter, or of attempting to force unappreciated knowledge on an unwilling public. It is only necessary to attest its filling an open place in the literature of pre-historic archæology.
E. B. T.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
| INTRODUCTION. | 1 |
THE STONE AGE.
I.
The Epoch of Extinct Species of Animals; or, of the Great Bear and Mammoth.
| CHAPTER I. | |
| The earliest Men—The Type of Man in the Epoch of Animals of extinct Species—Origin of Man—Refutation of the Theory which derives the Human Species from the Ape | 25 |
| CHAPTER II. | |
| Man in the Condition of Savage Life during the Quaternary Epoch—The Glacial Period, and its Ravages on the Primitive Inhabitants of the Globe—Man in Conflict with the Animals of the Quaternary Epoch—The Discovery of Fire—The Weapons of Primitive Man—Varieties of Flint Hatchets—Manufacture of the earliest Pottery—Ornamental objects at the Epoch of the Great Bear and the Mammoth | 39 |
| CHAPTER III. | |
| The Man of the Great Bear and Mammoth Epoch lived in Caverns—Bone Caverns in the Quaternary Rock during the Great Bear and Mammoth Epoch—Mode of Formation of these Caverns—Their Division into several Classes—Implements of Flint, Bone, and Reindeer-horn, found in these Caverns—The Burial Place at Aurignac—Its probable Age—Customs which it reveals—Funeral Banquets during the Great Bear and Mammoth Epoch | 56 |
| CHAPTER IV. | |
| Other Caves of the Epoch of the Great Bear and Mammoth—Type of the Human Race during the Epochs of the Great Bear and the Reindeer—The Skulls from the Caves of Engis and Neanderthal | 72 |
II.
Epoch of the Reindeer; or, of Migrated Animals.
| CHAPTER I. | |
| Mankind during the Epoch of the Reindeer—Their Manners and Customs—Food—Garments—Weapons, Utensils, and Implements—Pottery—Ornaments—Primitive Arts—The principal Caverns—Type of the Human Race during the Epoch of the Reindeer | 85 |
III.
The Polished-stone Epoch; or, the Epoch of Tamed Animals.
| CHAPTER I. | |
| The European Deluge—The Dwelling-Place of Man during the Polished-stone Epoch—The Caves and Rock-Shelters still used as Dwelling-Places—Principal Caves belonging to the Polished-stone Epoch which have been explored up to the present time—The Food of Man during this Period | 125 |
| CHAPTER II. | |
| The Kjoekken-Moeddings or "Kitchen-middens" of Denmark—Mode of Life of the Men living in Denmark during the Polished-stone Epoch—The Domestication of the Dog—The Art of Fishing during the Polished-stone Epoch—Fishing Nets—Weapons and Instruments of War—Type of the Human Race; the Borreby Skull | 129 |
| CHAPTER III. | |
| Tombs and Mode of Interment during the Polished-stone Epoch—Tumuli and other Sepulchral Monuments formerly called Celtic—Labours of MM. Alexander Bertrand and Bonstetten—Funeral Customs | 184 |
THE AGE OF METALS.
I.
The Bronze Epoch.
| CHAPTER I. | |
| The Discovery of Metals—Various Reasons suggested for explaining the origin of Bronze in the West—The Invention of Bronze—A Foundry during the Bronze Epoch—Permanent and Itinerant Foundries existing during the Bronze Epoch—Did the Knowledge of Metals take its Rise in Europe owing to the Progress of Civilisation, or was it a Foreign Importation? | 205 |
| CHAPTER II. | |
| The Sources of Information at our Disposal for reconstructing the History of the Bronze Epoch—The Lacustrine Settlements of Switzerland—Enumeration and Classification of them—Their Mode of Construction—Workmanship and Position of the Piles—Shape and Size of the Huts—Population—Instruments of Stone, Bone, and Stag's Horn—Pottery—Clothing—Food—Fauna—Domestic Animals | 215 |
| CHAPTER III. | |
| Lacustrine Habitations of Upper Italy, Bavaria, Carinthia and Carniola, Pomerania, France, and England—The Crannoges of Ireland | 227 |
| CHAPTER IV. | |
| Palustrine Habitations or Marsh-Villages—Surveys made by MM. Strobel and Pigorini of the Terramares of Tuscany—The Terramares of Brazil | 232 |
| CHAPTER V. | |
| Weapons, Instruments, and Utensils contained in the various Lacustrine Settlements in Europe, enabling us to become acquainted with the Manners and Customs of Man during the Bronze Epoch | 240 |
| CHAPTER VI. | |
| Industrial Skill and Agriculture during the Bronze Epoch—The Invention of Glass—Invention of Weaving | 258 |
| CHAPTER VII. | |
| The Art of War during the Bronze Epoch—Swords, Spears and Daggers—The Bronze Epoch in Scandinavia, in the British Isles, France, Switzerland and Italy—Did the Man of the Bronze Epoch entertain any religious or superstitious Belief? | 271 |
| CHAPTER VIII. | |
| Mode of Interment and Burial-places of the Bronze Epoch—Characteristics of the Human Race during the same Period | 284 |
II.
The Iron Epoch.
| CHAPTER I. | |
| Essential Characteristics of the Iron Epoch—Preparation of Iron in Pre-historic Times—Discovery of Silver and Lead—Earthenware made on the Potter's Wheel—Invention of Coined Money | 297 |
| CHAPTER II. | |
| Weapons—Tools, Instruments, Utensils, and Pottery—The Tombs of Hallstadt and the Plateau of La Somma—The Lake-Settlements of Switzerland—Human Sacrifices—Type of Man during the Iron Epoch—Commencement of the Historic Era | 312 |
| PRIMITIVE MAN IN AMERICA | 333 |
| CONCLUSION | 343 |