American Geographical Society

Subterranean Shelters in FranceLes souterrains-refuges de la France: Contribution à l'histoire de l'habitation humaine byAdrien BlanchetReview by: H. J. FleureGeographical Review, Vol. 15, No. 1 (Jan., 1925), p. 159Published by: American Geographical SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/207930 .

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GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEWS 159

and Ephesus. The harbors of the later period were characterized more by their usefulness than by their architectural splendor.

The concluding chapter is an interesting account of monumental representations of harbor works on paintings and reliefs from the close of the Hellenistic period down into Imperial times. WALTER WOODBURN HYDE

SUBTERRANEAN SHELTERS IN FRANCE

ADRIEN BLANCHET. Les souteffains-refuges de la France: Contribution A I'his- toire de l'habitation hunaine. iv and 341 pp.; diagrs., index. Auguste Picard, Pad's, 1923. 9 x 6 inches.

Blanchet has studied subterranean passages and believes they belong to many periods from the Neolithic to modern times, that they were made often for habita- tion as well as for refuge and storage, and that no one hypothesis will by any means explain them all. A comparison of Blanchet's list with that issued by Adrien de Mortillet in i9o8 shows that this study is far from finality. Blanchet claims in effect that these subterranean refuges are very unequally distributed and are most characteristic of Picardy and of some parts of the edge of the Plateau Central, as well as of the Vendean coast area.

Finds have not as yet greatly helped to analyze out types or to fix dates. Polished stone axes abound in these refuges, and some have been cleared out by these im- plements; metal is very rare; there is pottery of Neolithic and of most later varie- ties, coins of many periods occur but are rare. The Neolithic age of some of these refuges seems clear; but references in Caesar, in early Christian and medieval chronicles, and in the eighteenth century writings show that they remained in use though probably not continuously.

The author notes the frequent association of these passages with churches and evidently sees in this a proof of their importance in the Middle Ages. They exist under many French towns, according to the author, who thinks that cellars of private houses are often walled-off portions of old passages; among the towns he mentions are Arras, B6thune, Beauvais, Laon, Provins, Senlis, Paris (south), Chartres, Orleans, Bourges, Clermont-Ferrand, Limoges, Poitiers.

Numerous plates give examples of plans, and the author spends some pages on features he has found in various subterranean refuges. Special mention is made of roof forms, and the author evidently wonders whether the dome roof found in the center and south of France (Creuse, Haute Vienne, Dordogne, Tarn et Garonne, Charente-Inf6rieure) in some refuges is not the origin of the cupolas which are so characteristic of churches in this region (e. g. at Angouleme, P&igueux, and Cahors). He takes from Brutails (i9oo) the view that these cupolas are an autoch- thonous feature rather than the view that for some reason the Byzantine cupola took root here. H. J. FLEURE

THE CANARY ISLANDS

D. A. BANNERMAN. The Canary Islands, Their History, Natural History and Scenery: An Account of an Ornithologist's Camping Trips in the Archipelago. xv and 365 pp.;, maps, ills., index. Gurney & Jackson, London and Edinburgh. I922. 9 x 6 Y2 inches.

HERMAN KNOCHE. Vagandi Mos: Reiseskizzen eines Botanikers. I. Die Kan- arischen Inseln 1923. 304 PP.; maps, ills., index. Librairie Istra, Strasbourg and Paris, n. d. IO x 6 M inches.

David Bannerman, in his recountal of a series of visits made between I908 and I920, brings our information concerning the Canary Islands thoroughly up to date.

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