NEWS AND VIEWS

Waihi Daily Telegraph, Volume XIX, Issue 6361, 1 November 1921, Page 2

NEWS AND VIEWS

RELICS Or THE STONE AGE DISCOVERED IN FRANCE. PREHISTORIC .MAN. Some rcuiiu'knbio relies Vf the Stono Ago havo- boon discovered in the caverns of Uksa.i—a valley Iwliieh is situated in tile extreme south of France on the Spanish border (says ibe Paris eoi respondent oi the London Observer).

leer nearly hal, a century these re.searches Lor trains* ol prehistoric tjnicß have been pur.sm'A more or less spasmodically. without mel-bod. Il was in I STD that the first "folios containing tombs of men who lived i.n a period of which no written ivAirds remain wens discovered. TbTly-live grotto, have been found in the Ala.-sif Central and tile Pyrenees during; the last forty years—grotto* ornamented by rm'w designs craven on the rock. Two siiviinis, M. Cugudliere and M. Raequie. have just added to these discovery's ihe eaves of ihe Valley of I ssat. in the Department of Ariege. Alter long and palie.nl toil they have unearthed bones and specimen-, of very rough pottery and drawings which undoubtedly belong to i ho Stone Age. According to Have investigations tin's valley at the foot of the Massif de Lou-' hives, the country of the ‘ Roches de Feu.’' appears to contain a greater munbor of tombs with funeral urns and designs eut upon the reek than any place hitherto known. In a cavern half-way up the steep sfbpes which fiu-e the heights of Ixnihive.L and at the end o; a narrow corridor, s giK which are known under the name mI suutborme.s, pectiformes, and hastilWims. are found, leiut upon the white ami orelie wails. SLalagmilie eon'-retions rover some ol tluvu, and (lies,, coiicre.l ions are held to prove their antiquity. There are primitive sketches of animals, Some of the horses and mountain goats are described us having boon drawn with skill. In another gallery the pick has brought to light hones and other debris of earthenware vessels.

Thu researches ;U'o being continued in flic sum,' massil. where it is believed) there exist other caverns containing vestiges in' prehistoric iniin.