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Extinction of Species: Pleistocene

In the Pleistocene deposits at Würzburg, in Franconia, * Lyell, Antiquity of Man, p. 185, 2nd edit., 1863. a human finger-bone occurs with bones of this species, and also of other large mammalia, such as the mammoth, cavebear, and the like. And flint implements, and pointed javelin-heads made of reindeer horn, are found associated with it in the vicinity of the old hearths established by Palæolithic man in the cave called the Trou du Sureau, on the river Malignée in Belgium.

In the cavern of Goyet, also in Belgium, there are five bone layers, alternating with six beds of alluvial deposits, showing that the cave had been inhabited by different species at various periods. The lion was succeeded by the cavebear, and this by hyænas; then Palæolithic man became a tenant and has left his bones there, together with flint implements and remains of numerous species, including those already enumerated as his contemporaries. - THE SABRE-TOOTHED TIGER OR LION. - This species, Machairodus* latifrons of Owen, was remarkable for having long sabre-shaped canines. It belongs to an extinct genus, of which four other species are known, characterised by the possession of serrated teeth. The genus is known to be represented in the Auvergne beds between the Eocene and Miocene, in the Miocene of Greece and India, in the Pliocene of South America and Europe, and in the Pleistocene. Mr. Dawkins believes that this species survived to postglacial times. It is one of the numerous animals whose remains have been found with traces of man and flint implements in cave deposits at Kent's Hole, near Torquay, and elsewhere.