Chapter I: 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