Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VII.djvu/207

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
FINDS
FINGAL'S CAVE
199

whom they appertained were probably either contemporaneous with or later than the makers of the kitchen middens. The Engis skull was found in one of the numerous bone caves which border the valley of the Meuse, where the remains of a number of human individuals were discovered, mingled with the bones and teeth of extinct quadrupeds, and with rude stone implements. Dupont in 1864 excavated 43 other caves in the valleys of the Lesse and the Meuse, and discovered in 25 of them numerous human remains, which he has divided into the mammoth, the reindeer, and the neolithic or polished stone period. Schaaffhausen, in his exhaustive treatise Ueber die Urform des menschlichen Schädels (Bonn, 1868), argues that the individual to whom the Neanderthal skull belonged must have had a small cerebral development, and uncommon strength of corporeal frame. One of the chief objects of the investigations as to the age of these remains is to determine whether man is pre-glacial or post-glacial. There is some reason for believing him to be pre-glacial, but not older than the later half of the pliocene period. In 1863 Desnoyers found near St. Prest fossil bones which some consider as coexistent with the elephas meridionalis, while others regard them as comparatively modern. The genuineness of the fossil man of Denise, found in central France, and alleged to have been contemporary with the same extinct animal, is questioned. The human bone of Natchez, Mississippi, which was accompanied by bones of the mastodon and megalonyx, is supported by insufficient scientific testimony; and the human remains in the loess near Maestricht, and near Strasburg, are assigned but hesitatingly to any very remote period of antiquity. The hu- man remains found in the caves of Languedoc associated with bones of extinct mammalia, and those discovered in March, 1872, by Dr. Rivière in a cave at Mentone, near Nice, may be safely considered as belonging to the post-pliocene period. The antiquity of the human bones in Belgium, as Dupont has shown in his work Les temps antéhistoriques en Belgique (Brussels, 1871), can also be accepted as dating from times anterior to the neolithic age. Count Pourtalès found human remains on the shores of Lake Monroe, in Florida, but as yet no date can be positively assigned to them. Many hypotheses have been put forward on the presumptive migrations of the prehistoric races; but in the present state of our knowledge no satisfactory conclusion can be reached. Quatrefages considers the pre-Aryan races which are typified by the human remains in the caverns of France as belonging to the Finnish family; Schaaffhausen is very decided in classifying them with the Celts; Schmerling speculates on Ethiopian affinities; and Huxley sees many analogies between these ancient inhabitants of Europe and the form, condition, and habits of the Australian races.—Besides the works referred to above and in the articles on American Antiquities, Archæology, Bone Caves, and Lake Dwellings, see Olfers, Lydische Königsgräber (Berlin, 1859); Lindenschmitt, Die Alterthümer unserer heidnischen Vorzeit (1863 et seq.); Lartet, Cavernes du Périgord, objets gravés et sculptés des temps préhistoriques dans l'Europe occidentale (Paris, 1864); Don Gongora y Martinez, Antegüedades prehistoricas (Madrid, 1868); Figuier, "Primitive Man" (1870); Virchow, Die altnordischen Schädel in Kopenhagen (Berlin, 1871); Fergusson, "Rude Stone Monuments of all Ages" (London, 1872); Evans, "Ancient Stone Implements" (London, 1872); Foster, "Prehistoric Races of the United States" (Chicago, 1873); and Rivière, Découverte d'un squelette humain de l'époque paléolithique (Paris, 1873).

AmCyc Fingal's Cave.jpg

Fingal's Cave.

FINGAL'S CAVE, a grotto on the S. W. coast of the islet of Staffa, Argyleshire, Scotland, 7 m. off the W. coast of Mull, probably called after Fingal, the legendary hero of Gaelic poetry. It is formed by lofty basaltic pillars, and extends back from its mouth 227 ft; its breadth at the entrance is 42 ft.; at the inner end, 22 ft. The sea is the floor of the cavern, and is about 20 ft. deep at low water. The main arch has been compared to the aisle of a great Gothic church; the columnar side walls are of stupendous size, and there are stalactites of a great variety of tints between the pillars. It is easily accessible, except at extreme high tide, by small boats. The height