Page:Palæolithic Man and Terramara Settlements in Europe.djvu/316

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234
ANTHROPOLOGY

the same animal, so as to bring out the details more clearly. Surely these are the most marvellous prints on the "sands of time" ever known.

No archæological débris has been observed in the inner recesses of the cavern. If such deposits do exist they will be found nearer the entrance, like most other inhabited sites ; but unfortunately the first hundred metres or so of the old floor are covered with tons of fallen rocks, which make investigation almost impossible. In one spot tentative digging was made, and among the stuff turned up were a few fragments of Bronze Age pottery, showing that the collapse of the roof had not taken place before that date.

Rock shelter of Cap-Blanc (Lausset).

We now return to the classic district of the Dordogne in order to discuss the remarkable rock-sculptures of Cap-Blanc recently brought to light. The white ridge of rock which forms the shelter extends for about 1 5 metres at a height of 3 to 5 metres above the terrace in front of it, as shown to the right of PI. XXVI. Since 1894, when M. E. Rivière made some tentative excavations which yielded him a rich assortment of upper Solutréen objects, desultory diggings had now and again been made in this shelter by parties from the village of Les Eyzies, but they sold the objects disinterred to collectors. It was not till 1908, when Dr Lalanne undertook its systematic exploration, that the remarkable rock-sculptures now to be described were discovered. Dr Lalanne commenced operations, with the assistance of M. Raymond Peyrille, by digging a series of deep trenches in front of the rock-shelter one of which extended for 25 metres down the slope towards the Beune. Seven archæological strata were thus recognised, separated from each other by sterile deposits, as shown by a sketch drawn by the Abbé Breuil on the occasion of a visit to the locality on the I5th April 1908 (Rev. Préhistorique, 1909). Dr Lalanne informs us in his article, "Un Atelier de Sculpture de 1'Age du Renne" (ibid., 1910), that in cutting the trenches they first passed through soil similar to that on the surrounding plateaux. Then came yellowish clay mixed with decomposed calcareous débris extremely friable, and containing flint imple-