. Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. Smithsonian Institution; Smithsonian Institution. Archives; Discoveries in science. ETHNOLOGY. o4ci dytes of the Ydzere. For want of time I have been obliged to omit and curtail much that wonlu have been interesting to have dwelt upon, but hope that you have been enabled to follow from Moustier to Cromagnon, from Cromagnon to Upper Laugerie and George d'Enfer, and then to the three localities of the Eyzies, Lower Laugerie, and the ^Madelaiue. the progressive evolution of an intelligent race who advanced graduall}' from the
. Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. Smithsonian Institution; Smithsonian Institution. Archives; Discoveries in science. ETHNOLOGY. o4ci dytes of the Ydzere. For want of time I have been obliged to omit and curtail much that wonlu have been interesting to have dwelt upon, but hope that you have been enabled to follow from Moustier to Cromagnon, from Cromagnon to Upper Laugerie and George d'Enfer, and then to the three localities of the Eyzies, Lower Laugerie, and the ^Madelaiue. the progressive evolution of an intelligent race who advanced graduall}' from the most savage state to the very threshold of civilization; for the troglodytes of the last period, with a regularly organized society, and possessing industry and the arts—the two great levers of progress— were, so to say, within one step of a truly civilized condition. Fig. Skull of the old man of Cromagnon ; vertical view. This interesting people suddenly disappeared, leaving no trace in the traditions of men, not gradually, after a period of decadence, but rapidly, without transition, perhaps suddenly, and with them the light of the arts is extinguished. Then follows a period of darkness, a sort of middle age, of unknown duration. The chain of time is broken, and. when we would resume it again, we find in the place of the hunters of the rein- deer a new society, a new industry, a new race, a people who are acquainted with agriculture, who domesticate animals, raise megalithic monuments, and have the ax of polished flint. It is the dawn of a new day, but the knowledge of the arts has been lost. Sculpture and design have entirely disappeared, and it is not until the latest days of polished stone that we discover, and then only here and there upon an occasional monuaient, some attempts at ornamentation, wbich have absolutely nothing in common with the remarkable artistic productions of the troglodytes. This sudden and complete extinction of the troglodytes suggests the
Size: 1385px × 1804px
Photo credit: © Library Book Collection / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookauthorsmithsonianinstitutio, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1840
