The Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic of the Neolithic Troglodytes

Abstract

A DISCOVERY of great interest has recently been made by M. Ed. Piette, and published by him in l'Anthropologie (Tome vii., 1896, p. 385). In a cave at Mas-d'Azil,¹ on the left bank of the Arise, in the Department of Ariège, he excavated a layer of pebbles that had been painted with peroxide of iron in various devices. These occurred above a deposit containing bones of the reindeer, red deer, aurochs, horse, &c., and below a cinder layer, in which were great quantities of a land-snail, Helix memoralis, which indicates a somewhat humid climate; above this were deposits, in which polished stone axes occurred, and also Helix hortensis, which suggests drier conditions.