. Discovery. Science. DISCOVERY 143 Some New Discoveries in Prehistoric Art By George Frederic Lees It was recenth- announced in the daily press that two French savants. Dr. Cuguilliere and M. Bacquie, had made some striking discoveries bearing on prehistoric art in the caves of the Valley of Ussat, in Southern France. Specimens of rough pottery and drawings, tombs with funeral urns and designs cut in the rock. and certain curious red signs engraved upon the white and ochre walls were reported to have been brought to light. " Remarkable relics of the Stone Age, including primitive sketche
. Discovery. Science. DISCOVERY 143 Some New Discoveries in Prehistoric Art By George Frederic Lees It was recenth- announced in the daily press that two French savants. Dr. Cuguilliere and M. Bacquie, had made some striking discoveries bearing on prehistoric art in the caves of the Valley of Ussat, in Southern France. Specimens of rough pottery and drawings, tombs with funeral urns and designs cut in the rock. and certain curious red signs engraved upon the white and ochre walls were reported to have been brought to light. " Remarkable relics of the Stone Age, including primitive sketches of animals—horses and mountain goats drawn with skill," the newspaper account pro- ceeded to announce in a manner apt to mislead those who take a serious interest in palaeontological research. The above announcement, which was necessarily unaccompanied by documentary evidence in the form of photographs or sketches, is a case in point. Quite unintentionally, the importance of the new discovery in the country of the " Roches de Feu " has been exaggerated. The Abbe H. Breuil, of the Institut de Paleontologie Humaine, Paris, the leading French authority on Prehistoric art, and one of the contributors to that fine series of illustrated volumes published under the general title of Peintures et gravurcs murale : des Cavernes paleohthiques, visited Ussat in September of last year ; but in his opinion the discoveries, though certainly interesting, are very modest ones. His re- port—" un petit travail "—will not be ready until next summer, he writes to me, and he very much doubts whether the contents merit being brought to the knowledge of the general public. There are, however, recent discoveries in the realm of prehistoric art which are well worth bringing to the notice of English paleontologists. I refer to those made by Dr. Lucien Mayet, of the anthropological section of the University of Lyons, and M. Jean Pissot in the Colombiere caves near Poncin,
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