Division 
 
 GN73 5 
 .U/67 
 
 Section 
 
( 
 
 Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2019 with funding from 
 Princeton Theological Seminary Library 
 
 https://archive.org/details/mansprehistoricpOOwild 
 
MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 
 
 NEW YORK • BOSTON • CHICAGO - DALLAS 
 ATLANTA • SAN FRANCISCO 
 
 MACMILLAN & CO., Limited 
 
 LONDON • BOMBAY • CALCUTTA 
 MELBOURNE 
 
 THE MACMILLAN CO. OP CANADA, Ltd. 
 
 TORONTO 
 
Veddah men in the primaeval forest, offering homage to their head man. A study in primitive 
 Society. Taken in the interior of Ceylon by Skeen, Photographer, of Columbo. Mr. Skeen has made 
 a series of photographic studies of the Veddah people, to accomplish which he found it necessary to 
 live in the Veddah country for months, and gain the personal friendship of a small band of this 
 extremely sensitive and suspicious people. This is one of this series, reproduced here by special per¬ 
 mission. 
 

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 &9'>ub<nq9i .aoi'ioa airfj 'lo 9no ai airtT . 9 lq«> 9 q awotoiqaua btiB sviliansa ylamaiix 
 
 .ooiaai: 
 
MAN’S PREHISTORIC 
 
 PAST 
 
 m 
 
 FEB 15 1924 
 ^folCAL 
 
 A 
 
 BY 
 
 HARRIS HAWTHORNE WILDER, Ph.D. 
 
 PROFESSOR OF ZOOLOGY, SMITH COLLEGE 
 NORTHAMPTON, MASS. 
 
 THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 
 
 1923 
 
 All rights reserved 
 
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 
 Copyright, 1923, 
 
 By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. 
 
 Set up and electrotyped. Published June, 1923. 
 
To My Friend and Teacher 
 John Mason Tyler 
 
 Under the Spell, of Whose Inspiration 
 I Have Passed Many an Hour 
 In the Old Days at Amherst 
 And Whose Instruction, thus Pleasantly Imparted, 
 Has Bountifully Enriched My Maturer Years. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 At the present time, when general interest is directed 
 to the events of the distant past, when the daily press 
 teems with accounts of excavations, and with specula¬ 
 tions concerning the relative age of the remains found, 
 when sketches of early life in caves is used on the film 
 for comparison with modern scenes, or to explain mod¬ 
 ern relationships, and when from the modern pulpit we 
 are instructed with regard to prehistoric man, there is 
 grave danger lest we get confused in our chronologies. 
 Moreover, since at the same time there is keen popular 
 interest in certain extinct animals vastly more ancient 
 than any type of Man, all of which latter at the earliest 
 lie within the events of the Ice Ages, the danger is im¬ 
 minent of confusing our time values and considering 
 our immediate ancestors as contemporaries of the 
 Dinosaurs. There is thus the greatest need of a chrono¬ 
 logical record of events, beginning with the time of 
 creatures that first show the slightest human attributes, 
 placed in orderly sequence and divided into successive 
 periods, up to the time at which Man began to record 
 his own history, an actual Outline of Prehistory. 
 
 After treating of the general subject of Prehistory, 
 and the methods of reading these unwritten annals, 
 obtained through excavation, the actual series of events 
 are considered, as they have occurred in the different 
 
 vii 
 
viii 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 continents, the aim being to consider the entire subject 
 as far as it is yet known, and thus to furnish a foun¬ 
 dation upon which to begin our recorded history. 
 
 It is my pleasant task in completing this Preface to 
 thank my many colleagues who by their advice and 
 encouragement have assisted me in my work, and in 
 this I wish especially to mention the Staff of the 
 American Museum of Natural History. In manuscript 
 form the present book was first sent to Dr. Henry 
 Fairfield Osborn, and after him in turn it passed 
 through the hands of others of the Staff, receiving 
 especial attention from Dr. Nils C. Nelson, who even¬ 
 tually sent me many pages of detailed criticism, which 
 was of the greatest assistance to me in my final re¬ 
 vision. His criticisms are referred to in several places 
 in the book, with his initials. I wish also to express 
 my especial thanks to Dr. Clark Wissler and Dr. Louis 
 Sullivan, who have also reviewed parts of my manuscript. 
 
 Harris Hawthorne Wilder. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 I. The Chronology of Prehistory . 
 
 II. Material and Methods. 
 
 III. European Prehistory. 
 
 IV. Prehistory of Africa, Asia and the Oceanic 
 
 Islands . 
 
 V. Prehistory of the Two Americas .... 
 
 VI. Known Types of Prehistoric Man . 
 
 PAGE 
 
 1 
 
 33 
 
 125 
 
 266 
 
 283 
 
 384 
 
 lx 
 
1 
 
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 22 ' 
 
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 28 
 
 LIST OP ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Subdivisions of late geological chronology 
 
 Glacial advances and retreats. 
 
 Section across the valley of the Somme .... 
 Detail of lower level terrace of the preceding . 
 Rock-shelter at Les Eyzies, Dordogne 
 
 The Kesslerlocli, near Scliaffhausen. 
 
 Layers of soil at Schweitzersbild, near Scliaffhausen 
 
 Plan of the cavern at Altamira. 
 
 Section of the Neandertal cave, near Dtisseldorf . 
 Section of the rabbit-burrow at Aurignac 
 Views of shell-mound in Casco Bay, Maine . 
 Reconstruction by sections of a Neolithic manor- 
 
 house . 
 
 A modern tree-house in New Guinea. 
 
 Reconstruction of a lake-village on Lake Zurich 
 Reconstruction of separate houses of the lake-dwell¬ 
 ers . 
 
 Sketch map of Lakes Biel and Neuchatel, showing 
 
 sites. 
 
 Scliarraeh, or wallburg, in Lower Austria 
 
 Sketch from an early painting of Marietta, Ohio, 
 
 showing earthworks. 
 
 Indian corn field at Northampton, Mass. 
 
 Entrance to the village of Menac, showing menhirs 
 Menhirs and dolmens at Carnac, Brittany 
 
 Indian interment in Massachusetts. 
 
 Indian interment in Massachusetts. 
 
 Gallery grave, and ground plan of the same 
 
 The acropolis at Tiryns, restored. 
 
 The pueblo of Taos, New Mexico. 
 
 The cliff palace, Mesa Verde, National Park, Colo¬ 
 rado . 
 
 Method of holding an eolith . . 
 
 Representative eoliths ......... 
 
 PAGE 
 
 6 
 
 17 
 
 26 
 
 27 
 
 38 
 
 39 
 41 
 46 
 50 
 52 
 
 59 
 
 63 
 
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 142 
 
 xi 
 
:ii 
 
 29 
 
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 49 
 
 50 
 
 51 
 
 52 
 
 53 
 
 54 
 
 55 
 
 56 
 
 57 
 
 58 
 
 59 
 
 60 
 
 61 
 
 62 
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 A typical Chellean axe; side and edge views . 
 
 Two methods of mounting an Acheulian axe 
 A typical Acheulian axe; side and edge views . 
 
 A typical Mousterian axe; side and edge views 
 
 Typical Mousterian points. 
 
 Skull of cave bear, with an imbedded Mousterian axe 
 
 Aurignacian implements. 
 
 Solutrean implements . 
 
 Magdalenian hints.. 
 
 Magdalenian implements of hone and horn 
 Incised sketch of a bison, upon a piece of limestone 
 
 Wall painting of a charging bison. 
 
 Incised drawing of a horse on a cavern wall 
 The painted pebbles of the cavern of Mas d’Azyl . 
 Painting on the wall of a cavern, near Cueva de la 
 
 Vieja. 
 
 Typical Neolithic axes from Longeville .... 
 Danish axes from the kitchen-middens .... 
 
 Neolithic shards from Rudigheim. 
 
 Neolithic implements connected with the textile 
 
 industry. 
 
 A stone necklace from a Neolithic necropolis 
 Decorated Neolithic pottery from the Laibach moor 
 Two methods of suspending a Neolithic pot . 
 Neolithic arrow heads, and other stone implements 
 
 Stonehenge; restored. 
 
 Copper implements of the Cyprolithic Age in Europe 
 Daggers and sword-hilts from the Earliest Bronze 
 
 Age . 
 
 Gold bracelets from the Bronze Age in Scandinavia 
 Bronze implements from the Middle Bronze Age 
 
 in Europe. 
 
 Hair-needles from the Late Bronze Age in Cen¬ 
 tral Europe . 
 
 Bronze implements from the Late Bronze Age in 
 
 Switzerland. 
 
 Women’s costume in Scandinavia during the Early 
 
 Bronze Age . 
 
 Pattern of woman's jacket during Early Bronze Age, 
 
 Denmark . 
 
 Bronze “lure” from the Late Bronze Age, Scandi¬ 
 navia . 
 
 Bronze situla of the Hallstatt Period . . . . 
 
 PAGE 
 
 155 
 
 157 
 
 159 
 
 162 
 
 164 
 
 166 
 
 170 
 
 175 
 
 177 
 
 179 
 
 182 
 
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 199 
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63 
 
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 89 
 
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 93 
 
 94; 
 
 94 
 
 95 
 
 96 
 
 97 
 
 98 
 
 99 
 
 99 
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 xiii 
 
 page 
 
 Design taken from a bronze sitnla.259 
 
 Site of La Tene; shallows of Lake Neucliatel . . 261 
 
 Iron lance-heads and other implements from La Tene 262 
 Horn implements of the Iron Age, Norway . . . 264 
 Stone arrows and lance-heads from the Sahara . 270 
 
 Neolithic axes from the Sahara.272 
 
 The “Webster ruin” in Southern Rhodesia . . . 274 
 Flint axes. Acheulian type; from Syria .... 278 
 
 Ameghino's Diprothomo platensis.292 
 
 Schwalbe’s reorientation of Diprothomo .... 292 
 
 American aborigines in a native quarry workshop . 297 
 
 Shell gorget from St. Mary’s, Missouri .... 303 
 
 Wampum belt of the Onondagas. 304 
 
 Plate showing Indians wearing copper ornaments . 307 
 
 Navajo blanket loom.314 
 
 Prehistoric shards, showing the prints of stitches . 318 
 
 Iroquoian pottery.320 
 
 Types of chipped stone implements.326 
 
 Types of pots.329 
 
 Iviva of the community of Tyuonyi, New Mexico 335 
 
 The pueblo of Tesuque, New Mexico.337 
 
 Ruins of one of the temples at Tikal, Guatemala . 343 
 
 Carved lintel from a tempel at Yaxchilan, Guatemala 347 
 
 Mound at Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin.356 
 
 The Gallway Mound, Tennessee.357 
 
 Mound in Allamakee Co., Iowa.358 
 
 Mound in Jo Daviess Co., Illinois (vertical section) 358 
 
 Mound in Jo Daviess Co., Illinois (ground plan) . 358 
 
 The Dighton Rock, in Taunton River, Massachusetts 362 
 Portion of the “winter count” of Lone-Dog, a Dakota 366 
 Portion of a mnemonic song, used by the O jib was . 369 
 
 Inscription on a small boulder in West Wrentham, 
 
 Mass.371 
 
 Inscription transcribed directly from the boulder 
 shown in Fig. 94a.372 
 
 Stele from Quirigua, covered with glyphs .... 374 
 
 Transcriptions of glyphs from Palenque, Yucatan . 376 
 
 The two crania from the grotto of Spy, Belgium . . 392 
 
 Site of the excavation at Krapina, Jugoslavia . . 397 
 
 Plans of the cave at La Chapelle-aux-Saints, Correze 402 
 Cross section of the cave at La Cliapelle-aux-Saints, 
 
 Correze.403 
 
 The skull of La Chapelle-aux-Saints, Correze . . 405 
 
xiv 
 
 101 
 
 102 
 
 103 
 
 104 
 
 105 
 
 106 
 
 107 
 
 108 
 
 109 
 
 110 
 
 111 
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Skeleton from Baousse-Rousse, near Monaco (Cro- 
 
 Magnon type) . 
 
 The double grave from Baousse-Rousse (Grimaldi 
 
 type) . 
 
 The skull fragment from Briix, Czechoslovakia 
 The skull fragment from Brno (Briinn) Czechoslo¬ 
 vakia . 
 
 The skull fragment from Egisheim, near Colmar, 
 
 Alsace. 
 
 The nests of skulls found at Ofnet, near Munich . 
 The mandible from Mauer, near Heidelberg . 
 
 The skull fragments from Piltdown, Surrey . 
 Restoration of the skull of Pithecanthropus . 
 Superposed crania of Pithecanthropus, Neandertal 
 
 and Hylobates, viewed from above. 
 
 Hypothetical form, showing an early ancestor of Man 
 
 page 
 
 420 
 
 422 
 
 428 
 
 430 
 
 432 
 
 434 
 
 437 
 
 444 
 
 446 
 
 447 
 453 
 
MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
Man s Prehistoric Past 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 THE CHRONOLOGY OF PREHISTORY 
 
 Prehistory vs. History—The Relation of Geology to Prehistory 
 —Sketch of Tertiary Times—The Great Ice Age—Glacial 
 Action, and Its Results—Chronology of the Ice Age—Post¬ 
 glacial Times—The Work of the Post-glacial Rivers and 
 Lakes—River Terraces—Eolian Deposits ; Loess. 
 
 1. Prehistory vs. History .—The philosopher, to what¬ 
 ever race or nation of men he may belong, cannot pro¬ 
 gress very far into the past without finding the tradi¬ 
 tions concerning the origin of his people unsatisfying. 
 Differing among themselves as these traditions may, they 
 all show the well-known characteristics of folklore; they 
 make preposterous claims of divine progenitors; they 
 violate the most elementary natural laws in the events 
 they describe. In one group of these stories the first men 
 dwelt beneath the ground in a subterranean cave-world, 
 and reached the surface by climbing up the roots of a 
 great tree; in another, men are moulded out of dirt 
 or clay by the fingers of a superhuman artificer, or are 
 transformed from animals by an impossible sort of meta¬ 
 morphosis. There is always an extraordinary lack of 
 time prospective, and all the events from the creation to 
 the beginning of history are crowded into a few hundred 
 years at the most. This time is filled up with fabulous 
 
 1 
 
MAjVS PREHISTORIC past 
 
 ‘) 
 
 events, among which appear, drawn to an heroic size, 
 certain characters whose existence as actual men is al¬ 
 most entirely submerged in a sea of legend. 
 
 A history like this fills in, for most peoples, the entire 
 period of human existence from the beginning, and it 
 was thus in a moment of insight far beyond even the 
 academic position of his day that Horace exclaimed: 
 
 “Vixere fortes ante Agamemnona 
 Multi; sed omnes illacrimabiles 
 Urgentur ignotique tonga 
 Node, carent quia vate sacro.” 1 
 
 The vatis sacer of the Roman poet, a compound of 
 priest, minstrel and improvisator, was of course t*he his¬ 
 torian, and the thought was that the oblivion of the long 
 past was due, not to any lack of noteworthy and valorous 
 deeds, but solely because the means had been wanting for 
 permanently recording these events. 
 
 It is thus the art of writing, with its power of accu¬ 
 rately and permanently recording the details of evenis, 
 that separates History from Prehistory, and sets the 
 boundary between the two at neither a definite date, nor 1 
 at a definite stage of material culture. Primitive peoples 
 like the Polynesians, or the North American Indians, can 
 readily learn to read and write, and an entire tribe may 
 become literate in a single generation ; while, on the other 
 hand, the excavations of recent years have revealed many 
 extensive civilizations, which have attained culture in 
 their art and architecture, and refinement in their mode 
 of living, and have yet never developed anything but the 
 
 1 Many brave men have lived before Agamemnon but. all un¬ 
 wept for and unknown, are overwhelmed in the long night (of 
 oblivion) because they lack the sacred bard. 
 
THE CHRONOLOGY OF FAST HISTORY 
 
 crudest means of recording thought by written inscrip¬ 
 tions. They have thus remained “ignoti el illacrima - 
 biles” until the buried vestiges of their civilization have 
 been uncovered by the spade of the archeologist. 
 
 One of the first uses to which writing has been put, 
 when introduced into a tribe, is to record its body of 
 tradition, long transmitted orally, and held in the mem¬ 
 ory of the learned men, and these, by the addition of 
 the more recent records, form a document which passes 
 gradually from an impossible and marvelous past into 
 contemporaneous and matter-of-fact history. 
 
 In a history constructed in this way it is inevitable* 
 that the traditional part should be full of marvels, while, 
 aside from an occasional exaggeration favorable to the 
 nation of the narrator, the contemporary part should be 
 quite possible. The Song of Pentaur, inscribed on the 
 walls of the Ramesseum at Thebes, is a document con¬ 
 temporary with the events it chronicles, and, except for 
 certain diplomatic exaggerations may be taken as literal 
 history; the Iliad and Odyssey, on the other hand, had 
 been passed from mouth to mouth for many generations 
 before the introduction of writing into Greece, and, what 
 with the imperfections of memory, and the temptations 
 to glorify the past, had become so incrusted with legend 
 that, although they preserve for us invaluable pictures 
 of an early civilization, these poems cannot be regarded 
 as historical documents. 
 
 Thus the date that most surely sets the bounds between 
 the history and the prehistory of a given people is that 
 at which the art of writing was introduced. History 
 depends upon written records, or at least upon inscrip¬ 
 tions; prehistory reads past events from ruined struc- 
 
4 
 
 MAN'S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 tures, from flints and shards, from bones and teeth. If 
 a prehistoric people were far advanced in culture, the 
 archeologist finds the remains of a beautiful architec¬ 
 ture, like the lion gate at Mycenae or the temples of 
 Yucatan and Guatemala; if less advanced, they would 
 be represented by tools and weapons of bronze, orna¬ 
 ments of gold and silver, and fragments of pottery. 
 Cruder people still would leave behind flint implements 
 showing various degrees of skill in their manufacture, 
 while beings not yet capable of making or handling even 
 these pitiable works of art would leave the records of 
 their lives and activities in their own bones which, occa¬ 
 sionally preserved, form records pregnant with mean¬ 
 ing to those who learn to decipher them. 
 
 Since, now, the bounds between history and prehis¬ 
 tory are set by so arbitrary an event as the introduc¬ 
 tion of a certain definite art, an art easily acquired 
 from others, and requiring only some slight degree of 
 culture to use effectively, and since even a high degree 
 of culture may develop and continue without any de- 5 
 velopment in the direction of this particular art, it fol¬ 
 lows that the date of transition from the one to the 
 other, the date of the introduction of the art of writing, 
 is wholly a relative one. Probably the first men in the 
 world to develop the ability to record thought were the 
 early Egyptians, who are thought by Breasted to have 
 actually been able to write during the last centuries of 
 the fifth millenium before Christ, or seven thousand 
 years ago. In comparison with this distant date, the 
 earliest writing of the only possible rivals, the Mesopo¬ 
 tamians, are more recent, and thus while the inhabitants 
 of the Nile valley had already passed into the definite 
 
THE CHRONOLOGY OF PAST HISTORY 5 
 
 historic stage, those between the Tigris and Euphrates 
 were still ‘ 1 oppressed by the long night, ’ ’ and unable to 
 make permanent records of their “heroes before Aga¬ 
 memnon. ’ ’ 
 
 The ancient Britons were a prehistoric people when 
 first met by Julius Caesar upon the sea beach at Dover; 
 and so was the entire population of the New World at 
 the time of Columbus. Thus here in America “pre¬ 
 columbian” and “ pre-historic ” are synonyms, while 
 the men of northern Europe first came into history at 
 the hands of the Romans. 
 
 2. The Relation of Geology to Prehistory .—The most 
 fundamenal need in the study of prehistory is a means 
 by which some form of chronology may be established, 
 so that the events ascertained from the excavation and 
 examination of the records may be arranged in their 
 sequence relative to one another. A natural background, 
 upon which these events may be thrown, is furnished 
 by the science of geology, which has established with 
 some exactness the chronological sequence of the changes 
 of the earth’s surface, and, in Europe and North Amer¬ 
 ica especially, has divided, quite in detail, the period of 
 time contemporaneous with the first appearance and 
 early development of man. This science thus supplies 
 us at the outset with a mass of data of the greatest im¬ 
 portance to the prehistorian, which will serve as a basis 
 upon which the more special chronology of human pre¬ 
 history may be established, especially since it furnishes 
 the details of the climate, the characteristic animals and 
 plants, and the topographical configuration of the land, 
 at each stage. It will thus be well to review here the 
 events of the more recent geological history, considering 
 
6 
 
 MAN'S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 especially those facts which may prove of importance in 
 the present inquiry. 
 
 G 4 <aC<Cfc£,-> pQtioit,Tnodirr)) 
 
 pL€lSTQCm(G-LoLCiaLj''lcii <XpJ 
 
 VLioceve 
 
 tn 10 c e ne 
 
 0 Ll cene 
 
 E.o cevt 
 
 C retcLceou-s 
 
 Fig. 1. Diagram of late geological chronology, showing the subdivisions of the 
 
 Tertiary and Quaternary Periods. 
 
 3. Sketch of Tertiary Times .—During the Cretaceous 
 Period, a long subdivision of time immediately pre- 
 
THE CHRONOLOGY OF PAST HISTORY 
 
 n 
 
 i 
 
 ceding the Tertiary, the climate of the entire Northern 
 Hemisphere was tropical, nearly or quite to the Pole. 
 The earth was clothed with a luxurious vegetation, in 
 which palms and cycads prevailed, covered with trail¬ 
 ing vines, and interspersed with enormous ferns. 
 
 This climate continued well into the Tertiary, but there 
 eventually came the unmistakable signs of a gradual 
 cooling. Among the palms and cycads there appeared 
 such plants as the myrtle, the laurel, and the fig, plants 
 that require a warm climate but cannot survive a con¬ 
 tinuous high temperature. Soon, also, came hardwood 
 trees of quite modern types: the oak, beech, chestnut, 
 willow and various species of sassafras, a tree now con¬ 
 fined wholly to America, but then abundant everywhere. 
 In the Miocene a few conifers appeared, interspersed 
 among the palms, while the cycads disappeared, the cli¬ 
 mate being now too cool for these extremely tropical 
 plants; and still later the palms were lost, and the entire 
 flora became that of a cool temperate region. 
 
 This movement, however, did not stop with the tem¬ 
 perate climate of the present day, but became decidedly 
 cold, and in succession the vegetation became sub-arctic, 
 and arctic, and then absolutely disappeared, when, 
 finally, the country became sealed up in a covering of 
 ice, well-nigh continental in extent, quite as is the 
 case with Greenland at the present time. Thus, the 
 Tertiary Age passed into the Quaternary. 
 
 In this gradual cooling of the Northern Hemisphere, 
 which involved the entire Tertiary, a period of more than 
 three million years, the extreme north was always a little 
 in advance. Successively, the changes from tropical to 
 sub-tropical, warm temperate, temperate, cool-temper- 
 
8 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 ate, sub-arctie, and arctic, began at the north and spread 
 southward, until, at the maximum cold of the Glacial 
 Epoch, the coating of ice extended from the Pole half¬ 
 way to the Equator. 1 
 
 While, corresponding to the gradual change of cli¬ 
 mate which, in the Northern Hemisphere, ran the whole 
 gamut from tropical to arctic, the vegetation succes¬ 
 sively assumed the phases just described, the changes 
 in the fauna were no less marked, and are of the great¬ 
 est importance in the present inquiry. That most of the 
 early phases in the development of mammals, the class 
 of vertebrates to which man belongs, took place in re¬ 
 gions still unknown geologically, is a conviction that 
 unwillingly forces itself upon us, since, at the beginning 
 of the Eocene, the first phase of the Tertiary Epoch, 
 numerous well-differentiated members of this class sud¬ 
 denly appear. All through the enormously long preced¬ 
 ing epoch, the Cretaceous, the deposits yet known, cov¬ 
 ering a part of the north temperate zone, yield very little 
 evidence of mammalian history; while previous to the 
 Cretaceous there are known only a few tiny jaws of 
 creatures of the size of mice or rats, which show definite 
 mammalian characters mingled with those of reptiles, 
 as though these were the forms still in transition from 
 the one to the other. But between this beginning in the 
 Jura-Trias, and the Eocene, with its sudden appear¬ 
 ance of typical placental mammals, well differentiated 
 into most of the modern Orders, are interposed the mil¬ 
 lions of years of the long Cretaceous and the strata of 
 
 1 To about 50° north latitude in the Eastern Hemisphere, and 
 to about 40° in the Western, but with a very irregular southern 
 boundary. 
 
THE CHRONOLOGY OF PAST HISTORY 
 
 9 
 
 this epoch thus far known give us no hint of the inter¬ 
 vening history. Where the events took place which grad¬ 
 ually developed small reptilian forms with mammalian 
 tendencies into the large and important class as it mani¬ 
 fested itself in the Eocene, can only be surmised, but as 
 this appearance took place simultaneously both in Eu¬ 
 rope and America, in fact over the entire north tem¬ 
 perate zone, it is extremely likely, first, that the phe¬ 
 nomenon was due to a migration from elsewhere, and 
 secondly, that this unknown center of dispersion must 
 have been about equally distant from both northern 
 continents. Naturally but one region of the globe ful¬ 
 fils this condition, namely, the Polar region, which we 
 are accustomed to associate, not with life, but with death 
 and absolute sterility; yet during the Cretaceous the 
 extreme North, even the Pole itself, possessed a warm, 
 and even tropical climate, and was thus very fit to be 
 the cradle of the placental mammals. 
 
 Be this as it may, points impossible either to verify 
 or refute until the strata of the extreme North become 
 better known, mammals of many sorts, although still 
 primitive and generalized, appeared in numbers at the 
 beginning of the Eocene, the ancestors of our present- 
 day groups. Aside from primitive rodents, carnivores, 
 and insectivores, there were numerous types of hoofed 
 mammals, in which could readily be seen the early forms 
 later to be differentiated in the rhinoceroses, the camels, 
 and the horses of modern times. Of more special interest 
 to us there were numerous early Primates, small arbo¬ 
 real forms with the general appearance of lemurs, such 
 as the more generalized lemuroid, Notharctus, and the 
 more specialized Anaptomor pints, a half-human kobold 
 
10 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 of squirrel-size and ridiculous appearance, yet one in 
 which, together with his living relative, Tarsius, some 
 have seen the stem leading up to man at its inception. 
 
 Through the later subdivisions of the Tertiary may 
 be followed the history of the development of modern 
 types; so that the fauna of each period became grad¬ 
 ually more and more like that of the present time. In 
 the Miocene true anthropoid apes, allied to the gibbons 
 and chimpanzees, appeared in Europe, and the famous 
 transition form, ape-man or man-ape, Pithecanthropus, 
 of which certain important fragments were found in 
 Java in 1891, was probably of Pliocene date. 
 
 Toward the end of the Tertiary, too, come other in¬ 
 dications of the presence of activities of at least some 
 extremely intelligent ape, if not something more human. 
 Numerous flint fragments occur, bearing curious chip- 
 pings difficult to explain as the result of any of the 
 inorganic forces, yet easy to understand if they had 
 been grasped by hands like ours, and used for the cruder 
 motions of striking, prying, or cutting, the so-called 
 Eoliths. There have been found also bones with curious 
 scratches upon them, not the marks of the teeth or claws 
 of the Carnivora, and pointing to the same conclusion. 
 In short, although it would be too much to assert that 
 man, as we know him, existed during the Tertiary, there 
 is yet the feeling of man’s near advent, and more and 
 more the visible impressions of a new and active force, 
 beginning to record his autobiography. 
 
 4. The Great Ice Age. —When, after the long cooling 
 of the Tertiary, the northern portion of the world finally 
 succumbed to the cold, and lay under the pall of the 
 glacial ice, it was by no means a period of stagnation, 
 
THE CHRONOLOGY OF PAST HISTORY 
 
 11 
 
 devoid of results. Wherever the land sloped, especially 
 along the great mountain ranges, the ice, like a layer of 
 some viscid substance, was slowly slipping and flowing, 
 grinding off the rocks, transporting soil and small pieces 
 of stone to the valleys and disposing of these materials 
 in the form of nicely rounded hillocks, to form, later on, 
 vast areas of rolling country, covered with gravel. More 
 than once, perhaps even five times, as some say, during 
 the four hundred thousand to five hundred thousand 
 years of this Glacial Period, the ice retreated to the far 
 north, leaving bare great stretches of country which were 
 soon populated from the south by those plants and ani¬ 
 mals that were adapted to a cool climate; and here, 
 during the later retreats of the ice, man himself, or a 
 creature not unlike the man of the present day, came 
 also, to hunt over the plains or to shelter himself in the 
 caves. These retreats were very slow, too slow for man 
 or animal to notice it in a single generation, and these 
 interglacial periods , as they are called, were of suffi¬ 
 cient duration to allow man to live upon the reclaimed 
 
 territory for an epoch at least as long as that of the 
 
 » 
 
 entire known human history before a renewed approach 
 of the cold gradually compelled him to migrate again 
 beyond its reach. 
 
 Certain large territories, too, extending for quite a 
 distance north, seem for some reasons never to have been 
 covered with the ice; and thus the ice limit was not a 
 straight line, but a very irregular one, with large free 
 areas running north, and long capes of ice dipping south. 
 These free areas included, for example, the west coast of 
 France, nearly all of Alsace, and large parts of Ger¬ 
 many and Austria, and all such were never ice-covered, 
 
12 
 
 MAN'S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 and thus were continually habitable by early man. In 
 these ice-free areas there was found an abundance of 
 the larger mammals. One species of European elephant, 
 indeed, the- Elephas antiquus, adapted only to a warm 
 country, was not able to endure the first approach of the 
 cold, and died out at the beginning of the period; but its 
 place was taken by the allied Eleplias primigenius , the 
 hairy mammoth, whose long coat of hair fitted it for the 
 change of climate. The wild horse ( Equus antiquus) 
 and the reindeer ( Tarandus rangifer) wandered over 
 the plains in vast herds; and there were also two large 
 species of ruminants, the one ( Bison europceus ) a near 
 relative of the American bison, the other the “ur,” or 
 “auerochs” (Bos primigenius) , whose blood still flows 
 in certain breeds of our domestic cattle, notably the Hol¬ 
 stein. In the caverns on the mountain sides lurked the 
 cave bear and cave hyena ( Ursus spelceus and Hycena 
 spelcea) formidable foes of early man; the first was per¬ 
 haps identical with the “grizzly bear” of the Rocky 
 Mountains, and the second was much like the African 
 hyena, long exterminated in Europe. 
 
 In the caverns also, disputing the right of domicile with 
 the bear and hyena, there were found during the later 
 portion of the Ice Age several different man-like forms. 
 Some were veritable ape-men, with overhanging brows, 
 projecting jaws, and with the chin sloping back from the 
 base of the lip. They crouched as they walked, with 
 head thrust forward and back bowed ; their legs, of almost 
 human proportions, were curved. Others shared a close 
 approximation to the modern type, and it is evident that 
 the latter part of the Ice Age witnessed the appearance 
 in Europe of men having the bodily characteristics of 
 
THE CHRONOLOGY OF PAST HISTORY 
 
 13 
 
 the present species. The ape-men, distinctly lower and 
 less able to cope with their superior ally in the struggle 
 for existence, died out during this Age, and their dis¬ 
 appearance, together with that of the transition forms 
 of the late Tertiary, gave man the complete isolation 
 from other animals so long emphasized by earlier nat¬ 
 uralists and philosophers as proof of his separate origin. 
 
 What relation was sustained in these early times be¬ 
 tween these various types of intelligent primates we do 
 not know; but they all seem to have used, and probably 
 fabricated, the various stone implements characteristic 
 of the period, which were designedly shaped and repre¬ 
 sented a great improvement over the eoliths of the Ter¬ 
 tiary. Perhaps the highest type only gained the knowl¬ 
 edge of the use and control of fire; perhaps the lower 
 types were looked upon by the others as unlike them¬ 
 selves, and even hunted as food; of these dim times we 
 have at present but a comparatively small number of 
 remains; but information is increasing almost daily, and 
 we may ultimately find an answer to these and many 
 such questions which suggest themselves. 
 
 5. Glacial Action and Its Results .—A great ice-sheet, 
 lying along a step slope between mountains, constantly 
 flows downward, although at a very slow rate. Con¬ 
 tinually reinforced by the precipitation of moisture over 
 the mountain tops above it, it acts like a slow-flowing 
 viscous mass, of great weight and power, moving under 
 the impulse of gravity. Where there is a change in the 
 angle of descent, so that the mass has to bend, as where 
 flowing over a crag, it develops numerous tranverse As¬ 
 sures or cracks, familiar to students of glaciers under the 
 name of crevasses. As such a mass drags itself between 
 
14 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 the rocky sides of mountains, pieces of all sizes be¬ 
 come detached from the sides of the ravines and drop on 
 the surface of the ice, through which they gradually settle 
 until they reach the bottom. Here they come in contact 
 with the glacial bed, and, held firmly in the ice, as by 
 a hand, they rub against the underlying rock, one or 
 both of the contact surfaces being ground in accordance 
 with the relative hardness of the two. An ice sheet is, 
 then, sometimes more than a viscous, flowing mass: it is 
 like a gigantic piece of sandpaper, its under surface 
 studded with rocks of all sizes, which are held in the 
 ice with considerable firmness, and it is largely through 
 their agency that the surface over which the ice flows 
 becomes cut down and denuded of all its softer mate¬ 
 rials. In many places during the Glacial Period the 
 surface has been cut down for a depth of five to ten 
 thousand feet, and all of the debris coming from this 
 erosion has been deposited lower down, at points where, 
 through the meeting of counter currents, or from some 
 other cause, the motion becomes reduced. Such glacial 
 deposits consist of material known as glacial gravel, 
 which may easily be recognized by certain definite char¬ 
 acteristics, and may thus be always sharply distinguished 
 from deposits formed by the action of water or other 
 natural forces. 
 
 In the first place, a glacial deposit contains stones of 
 many different sizes in contact with one another, that is, 
 the material is unassorted, while in a deposit formed by 
 water, the ingredients are arranged in accordance with 
 size; in the second place, the shape of the separate stones 
 differs in the two cases. Pebbles hurled together by the 
 agency of a strong current of water, either waves or cas- 
 
THE CHRONOLOGY OF PAST HISTORY 
 
 15 
 
 cades, will on the average be struck equally on all sides. 
 They will consequently wear smooth, and assume a 
 rounded, oblong, or oval form, without corners or sharp 
 angles. A glacial pebble, on the other hand, seized and 
 held fast in the grip of the ice, will have at least one 
 side planed down and often polished, while the rest re¬ 
 mains crude and rough. It will, however, be occasionally 
 turned over, through striking against some unusual ob¬ 
 stacle, and then another side will become planed. Owing 
 to the friction at the lower surface of a glacier a frag¬ 
 ment of rock, newly torn from its original quarry, will 
 tend to place itself so that its largest axis lies directly 
 across the stream, at right angles with the direction of 
 motion, and it thus happens that, while retaining this 
 position, its motion will consist of an irregular rotation 
 along this axis, which will cause it to assume the form 
 of a prism, usually with three easily recognized sides. 
 The ends, which in all this rolling remain imbedded in 
 the ice, will receive only a chance impact, and thus glacial 
 pebbles are frequently met with, irregularly prismatic 
 in shape and well smoothed, but with one or both ends 
 still showing the roughness of the original fracture. Such 
 a fragment of rock, worked down by glacial action, 
 whether small or large, is termed a glacial boulder , and 
 in all glacial deposits they are constantly met with, and 
 form the main characteristic of the deposit. 
 
 Glacial gravels may in places be spread quite evenly 
 over the country, but are more apt to be piled up, either 
 in long rows which resemble dikes or ramparts, or in the 
 form of oval hills, called “hog-backs,” especially char¬ 
 acteristic glacial features. In these latter the form is 
 quite geometrically oval, the longer axis at right angles 
 
16 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 with the direction of the ice current that deposited it. 
 Glacial gravels may also be deposited in definite layers, 
 the layers being often characterized by a difference in 
 the average sizes of the constituents and representing 
 some change in the depth, force, or direction of the ice 
 currents. As such a change can be occasioned only by a 
 considerable difference of level and slope in the sur¬ 
 rounding land surface, the time period between two suc¬ 
 cessive layers now in contact may be often very great, 
 and the lower and upper layers of such a deposit may 
 thus be separated in time by many thousands of years. 
 
 6. Chronology of the Ice Age .—As would naturally 
 be expected, these glacial gravels, the direct result of 
 the grinding of the ice masses, do not usually contain 
 organic remains, but they are still of much value to the 
 prehistorian, since upon them is based the entire chro¬ 
 nology of the Ice Period, and the position of remains 
 relative to these deposits is often the vital point in the 
 dating of prehistoric events. Thus, from the deposits as 
 studied in and about the Tyrol, taking into account also 
 the extent of the erosion, in fact, all the results of glacial 
 action, the physical geographer Penck has established for 
 the region studied, and presumably for all Europe, four 
 successive advances, with three intermediate retreats, of 
 the great ice sheet. 1 These, named from local rivers in 
 whose valleys the characteristic deposits occur, are the 
 following: 
 
 1 Penck, “Die Alpinen Eiszeitbildungen und der prahisto- 
 rischer Mensch.” Archiv fur Anthropol, 1904, pp. 78-90, cf. 
 also, Penck and Briickner, “Die Alpen im Eiszeitalter,” Leipzig, 
 1901. Obermeier lias also compared glacial chronology, for 
 which cf. “Les formations glaciares des Alpes et l'homme 
 paleolithique.” L'Antliropologie. T. XX, 1909, pp. 497-522. 
 
Daun 
 
 Gschnitz 
 
 U. Buhl 
 
 Third Interglacial 
 Riss-Wurm 
 
 First Interglacial 
 Gunz-Mindel 
 
 Fig. 2.—Diagram of the glacial advances and 
 retreats, with the minor glaciations of early 
 post-glacial times. 
 
IS 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC TAST 
 
 Giinz Ice (1st Glacial Period) 
 
 Giinz-Mindel Interglacial Period 
 Mindel Ice (2nd Glacial Period) 
 
 Mindel-Riss Interglacial Period 
 Riss Ice (3rd Glacial Period) 
 
 Riss-Wurm Interglacial Period 
 Wurm Ice (4th Glacial Period) 
 
 As is usual in the case of geological subdivisions, the 
 earlier periods were the longest in duration, the length 
 of time for each period growing gradually shorter. The 
 entire interval from the retreat of the Wurm Ice to the 
 present has been less than that of the Riss-Wurm Inter¬ 
 glacial Period alone, and thus, although it is assumed, 
 from the more complete retreat of the ice, that the pe¬ 
 riods of glaciation are over, the present may be, after all, 
 only a fourth interglacial period, eventually to be fol¬ 
 lowed, as has repeatedly happened in the past, by an¬ 
 other advance of the cold. 
 
 This chronology of Penck, although worked out pri¬ 
 marily from the geological standpoint, and without 
 special reference to man, was harmonized by this author 
 with the early human chronology, as established by de 
 Mortillet upon the remains of glacial man and his handi¬ 
 work. It may thus be conveniently taken as a background 
 for the study of early man, as the series of events upon 
 which to base early human prehistory. 
 
 Were all the deposits of the Glacial Period those 
 formed by the ice, the direct result of the grinding of 
 the glaciers, few if any actual remains of either man or 
 
THE CHRONOLOGY OF PAST HISTORY 
 
 19 
 
 his contemporary animals would have come down to us; 
 but, fortunately for the prehistorian, the period was not 
 entirely one of glaciation, and both in the ice-free re¬ 
 gions, and everywhere during the long interglacial pe¬ 
 riods, there were laid down many deposits that have 
 yielded much. Such are the river terraces , and the gla¬ 
 cial sand dunes, and other eolian (or wind) deposits, 
 known in general as loess. 
 
 7. Post-Glacial Times .—There came a time, after the 
 last main advance of the ice, when the retreat continued 
 far beyond the bounds of any previous interglacial pe¬ 
 riod, and the present day still shows a continuation of 
 this movement. The ice has now long left the entire con¬ 
 tinent of Europe, save where its last traces still remain 
 on the higher elevations of the Alps and in a few other 
 places, but Greenland and all the circumpolar countries 
 remain covered by it. The date of this last retreat is 
 variously estimated; some say that the greater part of 
 Europe was ice free as far back as from twenty-five to 
 thirty thousand years ago; while others make a longer 
 estimate. At all events, it was very recent, geologically 
 speaking, and it is quite possible to begin a chronology 
 in years, using round numbers, and giving considerable 
 latitude in limits. 
 
 Although, after the final retreat of the Wurm Ice, 
 there was no further advance of the cold of nearly as 
 great severity or duration as in the case of the previous 
 ones, there were yet several lesser local glaciations af¬ 
 fecting the entire Alpine system of central Europe, and 
 including the Alps proper, the Pyrenees, and the Appe- 
 nines. As with the four great Ice Periods of the Qua¬ 
 ternary, these were successively milder and milder; the 
 
20 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 ice line stopped at a higher level, and the period was 
 successive shorter. These lesser ice intervals, occurring 
 during the early part of the Post-Glacial Period, were 
 named from rivers in the Tyrol, as in the case of the 
 greater glaciation, and were likewise included in the 
 fundamental researches of Penck. The Buhl ice ap¬ 
 peared after an ice-free interval that ushered in the 
 Post-Glacial Period and extended over a period of time 
 from about 24,000 to 16,000 B.C. This was followed, 
 after a warmer interval, by the second post-glacial gla¬ 
 ciation, that of the Gschnitz, between perhaps B.C. 13,000 
 and 9,000. The final glaciation, that of the Daun ice, 
 was confined to the higher lands of the Alps them¬ 
 selves, and made its appearance about seven thousand 
 years before the Christian era. The present-day Alpine 
 glaciers, although greatly reduced, may be considered 
 the final remnants of this last glaciation. 
 
 While these later returns of the ice ages affected the 
 development and environment of man locally, the coun¬ 
 try outside of the Alpine areas, and during the inter¬ 
 glacial intervals even there, showed the general charac¬ 
 teristics of the post-glacial times. The most striking 
 physical characteristics of the country left free by the 
 retreating ice sheet was the abundance of water courses, 
 which frequently expanded into chains of sizable lakes, 
 much as in the case of Finland now. The land near the 
 edge of the ice became clothed by a flora such as is now 
 characteristic of subarctic regions, like Labrador, or 
 like that of high mountain regions, but at a lower zone, 
 creeping northward as the glacier retreated, appeared 
 a more temperate flora. These plants were mostly or 
 wholly modern species, still characteristic of regions with 
 
THE CHRONOLOGY OF PAST HISTORY 
 
 21 
 
 similar climate, and the leaves and branches enclosed in 
 the mud at the bottom of those early lakes, in what is 
 now the temperate part of Europe and America, belong 
 to species occurring at the present day in Alaska and 
 Labrador, or upon the high Alps. These chains of lakes, 
 or locally expanded rivers, as they may be considered, 
 were practically in the same locations as the rivers of 
 the present time, for the glacial epoch, with its grinding 
 down and its depositions, had sculptured the surface of 
 the land into approximately its present shape, and the 
 rivers which ran from the melting ice chose the lowest 
 levels for their courses, and in so doing defined the 
 present river valleys. During the post-glacial time, 
 however, this extensive water system has exerted its cus¬ 
 tomary force in eroding and cutting down in one place 
 and depositing in another, and has thus put the finishing 
 touches on the modern landscape of the area involved in 
 the form of lake and river terraces, deep ravines and 
 canons, and those broad alluvial plains which play so 
 large a part in the agricultural interests of the present- 
 day world. 
 
 While now the post-glacial waters were at work pre¬ 
 paring the surface for later man, laying out wide areas 
 of arable ground, and cutting down the ravines for the 
 future reception of railroads and telegraph lines, man 
 himself was developing in such a way as to be ready to 
 use these advantages. The ape-men had gone, and with 
 them the mammoth, the cave bear and the cave hyena; 
 the dog, the sheep and goat, and perhaps some other ani¬ 
 mals, had been domesticated; and the man of the present 
 type, forsaking the crude rock shelters, had learned to 
 construct various kinds of houses in the open. Taking 
 
oo 
 
 MAX'S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 advantage of the lakes, he became in many places a lake 
 dweller, building extensive villages on piles driven into 
 the mud and communicating with the shore by draw¬ 
 bridges, which could be drawn up at night or in time of 
 danger. His weapons were now made with much care 
 and artistic in finish; he had learned to weave, first bas¬ 
 kets, and then cloth, and to construct pottery. From 
 now on his development is a study of human culture, and 
 approaches the border of history, for while the central 
 European was still at about this stage of his develop¬ 
 ment, the Egyptians were building walled cities, and 
 recording the great deeds of their rulers by means of 
 symbols carved upon stone surfaces, the beginnings of 
 written history. 
 
 But neither here, nor in Mesopotamia, nor in any other 
 land which possesses traces of early writing, do we know 
 what preceded this stage. We find in certain places sym¬ 
 bols that stand for vocal syllables, fossil human speech, 
 and when we listen to these ancient accents, heard but 
 dimly through the ages, they speak, not of primitive 
 peoples, but of dwellers in cities, with organized armies, 
 and with a high degree of culture; yet in the soil, at times 
 literally beneath the ruins of these civilizations, occur the 
 cruder flints of Stone Age people, suggesting an earlier 
 history, similar to crude beginnings elsewhere. There is 
 the greatest need of exploration in all parts of the world, 
 so that human prehistory may become more than a frag¬ 
 mentary one, and the fact that so much has been done 
 within comparatively a few years gives us the greatest 
 enthusiasm for the results of the future. 
 
 8. The Work of the Post-Glacial Rivers and Lakes .— 
 Rivers and lakes, viewed as geological forces, are largely 
 
THE CHRONOLOGY OF PAST HISTORY 
 
 23 
 
 responsible for whatever shaping of the surface of the 
 earth has taken place since the Glacial Period, and thus 
 a knowledge of them as dynamic powers, together with 
 the kind of work they perform, is one of the first essen¬ 
 tials for the prehistorian. For the study of this branch 
 of knowledge the reader is referred to a good textbook 
 of geology, while for the sake of unity an outline of the 
 essential principles, in their relation to practical arch¬ 
 eology, is here presented. 
 
 The work of rivers consists in part of tearing down, 
 and in part of building up—that is, of erosion and de¬ 
 position. Furthermore, a river is uneven in its activi¬ 
 ties, which are subject to a definite seasonal rhythm. 
 After the melting of the snows, and the consequent swell¬ 
 ing of the volume of water, a river may temporarily be¬ 
 come a torrent, doing work within a few days or hours 
 which it is powerless to accomplish again until the next 
 year; again, a river is a temporary structure, usually 
 largest and most powerful at its beginning, shrinking to 
 the size of a mere brook toward its close, and finally 
 drying up altogether. 
 
 Rivers are naturally found coursing through the bot¬ 
 tom of ravines, but it is also true that the ravines them¬ 
 selves are mainly the result of the erosion of the rivers 
 that lie within them. When the ravine is very deep 
 and the stream is very small, it is necessary to postulate 
 a considerable extent of time in order to account for the 
 large amount of excavation in proportion to the size of 
 the agent, but it is also probable that when the ravine 
 was commenced the stream was much more voluminous 
 and the work was being more rapidly accomplished. The 
 periodic change of power of such agencies must also be 
 
24 
 
 MAN'S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 taken into consideration, and it must constantly be re¬ 
 membered that even a small brook, when viewed in the 
 summer, may still possess a considerable erosive power 
 at the time of the spring freshets. Again, the tendency 
 to cut a river bed deeper, well seen in the case of a 
 ravine or gorge, is often counterbalanced under different 
 conditions, by a lateral erosion of the banks. Thus, in 
 the case of a river traversing a nearly level plain, or 
 extensive meadow, the lateral erosion is far greater than 
 that at the bottom, so that often the annual encroachment 
 of the river, now upon one bank, now upon the other, 
 becomes a serious matter to the inhabitants, while there 
 may be no perceptible increase in the depth of the bed. 
 When, however, a river, in traversing a level meadow, 
 finally develops sufficient depth of bed to form a ravine, 
 the former meadow may have become almost entirely 
 eroded and carried off down stream while a narrow 
 fringe, at the original level, and bordering the ravine 
 upon one or both sides, is left as a rive?' terrace. Such 
 terraces, always, of course, far older than the river, are 
 old in proportion to their height above the present river, 
 and in cases in which there are two or more successive 
 terraces, as may happen through the interposition of a 
 second period of meadow-building with a subsequent 
 erosion after the formation of a high terrace, the ter¬ 
 races are chronologically successive, that of the greater 
 altitude being not only the older, but separated in date 
 from the other by a very long interval. Thus a terrace, 
 although a formation always associated with river action, 
 is not a deposit of the present river, but the remains of an 
 ancient meadow or plain, left through the erosion of the 
 rest by river action, and itself the result of deposition, 
 
THE CHRONOLOGY OF PAST HISTORY 
 
 25 
 
 probably by a previously existing lake, or the expanded 
 portion of a previous river, which amounts to the same 
 thing. 
 
 As for the second action of a river, deposition, it is, 
 like all aqueous deposits, at each point dependent upon 
 so many factors, the strength of the current, the velocity, 
 the depth, the character of the material, and so on, that 
 each small area may present a problem in itself. Natu¬ 
 rally the most extensive deposition occurs over the bot¬ 
 tom of still, expanded portions, which are practically 
 themselves ponds or lakes. In other places a pebbly or a 
 sandy beach may result from local currents, or other 
 conditions, more or less limited in extent, or perhaps a 
 delta of fine mud may be built out under water opposite 
 the mouth of a turbulent tributary. All such deposits 
 accurately picture the conditions that produced them, 
 and when studied in the undisturbed soil, yield numer¬ 
 ous details of the local environment at the time of depo¬ 
 sition, and may be dated relatively to associated 
 deposits. 
 
 All lakes and ponds, however large, are like rivers, 
 strictly temporary structures, being gradually filled up 
 by the accumulation of the particles of earth brought 
 down in the waters of their tributaries and diminishing 
 directly through the gradual shrinking of the tributaries 
 themselves. Along the shallower borders also, a rim of 
 vegetation is always ready to encroach upon the water, 
 and by adding its substance to the rest assists locally to 
 a not inconsiderable degree in the conquest of land over 
 water. 
 
 The sediment brought down by the tributary streams 
 becomes distributed, often quite evenly, over an ex- 
 
2S 
 
 MAN'S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 tensive area of water, and eventually becomes deposited 
 on the bottom. In the case of fairly quiet water, as is 
 general during the summer months, this sediment is 
 of the finest possible grade, but in the time of the spring 
 freshets, larger particles are borne down in the turbu¬ 
 lent waters, and thus in places annual layers are formed 
 of coarse spring materials alternating with the finer par¬ 
 ticles characteristic of the rest of the year. Many river 
 and lake deposits thus consist of definite annual layers, 
 which in some places are so distinct as to be easily 
 counted, and furnish an absolute means of determining 
 the length of time consumed in laying down the entire 
 deposit. Thus a river terrace, formed by a river which 
 has eroded and carried off the remainder of a former 
 lake bottom, may indicate exactly the length of time con¬ 
 sumed in its formation, although the other features of 
 the problem, such as the subsequent erosion itself, and 
 the formation of the river valley at a lower level, are 
 independent problems, with no possibility of such 
 definite solutions. 
 
 9. River Terraces .—The river terraces with which the 
 prehistorian is especially concerned are those of the Qua¬ 
 ternary Period, formed, for the most part, by the inter¬ 
 glacial lakes and rivers, and subsequently left as the 
 result of erosion by later ice or by water torrents. Such 
 deposits are shown in the accompanying diagrams, Figs. 
 3 and 4, which are based upon the conditions found in 
 the valley of the river Somme, near Abbeville, Picardy, 
 in France, a classical locality for the study of the glacial 
 man. The original valley, the boundaries of which upon 
 either side just come within the limits of Fig. 3, was 
 excavated, by ice or water, or both, in the bed rock of 
 
THE CHRONOLOGY OF PAST HISTORY 
 
 29 
 
 the region, a calcareous deposit of the late Mesozoic. Dur¬ 
 ing the period at which this.basin was occupied by a lake, 
 or a broad, sluggish estuary, it became filled up by gravel 
 to the top level of the upper terrace, e, which then ex¬ 
 tended across the entire valley, from side to side. Later 
 on, when, perhaps, the lake was replaced by a glacier, 
 this deposit was cut out, with the exception of the pres¬ 
 ent terrace e, a little remnant which, for some reason, 
 was not torn out with the rest. Changing, now, this 
 glacier for a second lake, a second period of deposition 
 followed, this time filling the valley to the top level of 
 the terrace d d. Again came a period during which the 
 valley was cut out again, leaving at this time terraces 
 along both sides of the confining walls, those at d d in 
 the diagram. The lake that followed this second denuda¬ 
 tion laid down the deposit c, and upon this a thin layer 
 of fine clay (7i in Fig 4) and then flowed away, leaving a 
 marshy bottom, upon which, through the long continued 
 growth- of sphagnum moss, a thick layer of peat, h, grad¬ 
 ually accumulated. Finally, the drainage of the valley 
 became concentrated into the present river Somme, 
 which now drains the peat, and has already deposited 
 along its bottom a thin layer washed from the bed of its 
 tributary streams higher up. If, now, we read these 
 changes backward, the relative ages of the peat, the de¬ 
 posit c, the lower, and the higher terraces, may be com¬ 
 puted. The peat, practically the latest deposit, is here 
 twenty to thirty feet in thickness, and, as the accumula¬ 
 tion is very slow, depending mainly upon the slight 
 annual growth of the moss, which has been calculated to 
 be a little more than one inch in a century, represents 
 many thousands of years. Before this came, successively, 
 
30 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 going continually backward, the gravel deposit c, the 
 cutting out of the earlier deposit now represented by the 
 higher-level terraces e, and, earliest of all, the slow 
 formation of the vast deposit of which the terrace e is 
 the remnant. It is thus plain that a very long period 
 has elapsed since the formation of the terraces d d, and 
 that the terrace e is much older still, and yet both levels 
 d and e yield not only the bones and teeth of elephants, 
 rhinoceroses, and other animals of the glacial period, 
 but also numerous elaborated flints, implements of the 
 crudest description, though unquestionably shaped by 
 man. These are, moreover, always found in the un¬ 
 disturbed strata, and placed in such relation to the 
 animal remains spoken of so as to leave no doubt of 
 their contemporaneity. Everything in these deposits, 
 including both elephant bones and worked flints, must 
 have been brought there by the force of the same water 
 currents that laid down the deposits, after the soil form¬ 
 ing the terraces was originally made, and the possibility 
 of a subsequent intrusion of those objects is absolutely 
 excluded. 
 
 In Pig. 4 is given a detail of one of the lower-level ter¬ 
 races of Fig. 3, in which its composition is seen. This 
 consists in this especial case of three distinct layers, of 
 which the two lower ones were part of the original de¬ 
 posit, while the most superficial one is much later. The 
 lowest one of all, and the one that contains the remains, 
 is itself stratified, and must have been formed under 
 water; the second may have been in part a sand dune, 
 deposited by the high winds of the ice*age after the lake 
 imd been transformed into a glacier. 
 
 10. Eolian Deposits; Loess .—While the glacial gravels, 
 
THE CHRONOLOGY OF PAST HI STORY 
 
 31 
 
 mostly distributed irregularly in the form of moraines, 
 drumlins, and other characteristic formations, are due 
 to the direct action of the glacial ice, the violent wind 
 storms of the glacial times have occasioned much modifi¬ 
 cation of glacial deposits in places, and covered the sur¬ 
 face with local deposits of drifting sands. These eolian , 
 or wind-produced deposits bear the general name of loess, 
 and are occasionally rich in objects, of date contempo¬ 
 rary with the formation itself, and buried beneath the 
 drifting sands. 
 
 Loess is never definitely stratified in regular layers, as 
 is the case with the clays that accumulate at the bottom 
 of ponds and other quiet water; neither is it without 
 system, like glacial moraines, but it has a definite and 
 characteristic structure, which is best seen in sections 
 through a sand drift or sand dune, originally a hill of 
 wind-blown sand, heaped up as the result of successive 
 storms. Such a drift, like a snow-drift, will be first 
 brought together as the result of a definite wind-storm, 
 where the configuration of surrounding objects causes a 
 drift to form in a certain spot. The action of subsequent 
 winds, changeable in violence and direction, will reform 
 and sculpture the surface, removing material here and 
 adding it there, the new material attempting ever to 
 conform to the shape of the surface it finds. Each de¬ 
 position tends to be stratified, its line parallel to the 
 underlying surface, the whole presenting in section the 
 successive results of such treatment: areas of semi- 
 stratified sands resting unconformably upon those be¬ 
 neath them. 
 
 Areas of drifting sands, whether piled up into definite 
 dunes or not, often yield objects of great value, since the 
 
32 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 winds occasionally uncover and lay bare objects that 
 have been confided to their keeping, they also, and more 
 frequently, serve to bury objects dropped upon their 
 surface. One disadvantage, however, comes from the 
 scattered nature of these objects, both in distance apart, 
 and in level, and another results from the lack of neces¬ 
 sary contemporaneity of objects found closely associated. 
 All we can definitely know concerning the dates of 
 the objects collected in the loess, is that they were 
 either contemporary with the storm that buried them, 
 or that they were older, but were gathered together 
 by a single storm, perhaps, even, by a single gust 
 of wind. At the same time, with all its disadvantages 
 and uncertainties, loess is a valuble storehouse of pre¬ 
 historic materials of approximately glacial age, and many 
 important objects have been rescued from it. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 MATERIAL AND METHODS 
 
 Methods of Ascertaining the Age of Remains—Rock Shelters 
 (abris sous roches )—Caverns, and the Remains Found in 
 Them; Cave Paintings — Kitchen-Middens — Remains of 
 Houses and Hearths—Tree Houses and Lake Dwellings— 
 Crannogs—Forts and Scharrachs—Cornfields, Dew Ponds, 
 and Cattle-ways — Megalithic Monuments — Graves and 
 Burial Places—Mounds and Tumuli—Cists. Tombs, and 
 Sepulchral Chambers—Special and Peculiar Methods of the 
 Disposal of the Dead—Town and City Sites—Culture Sites 
 Buried beneath Volcanic Deposits—Search for Objects 
 Lying under Water—Chance Findings. 
 
 11. Methods of Ascertaining the Age of Remains .— 
 From the brief sketch of recent geological formations 
 outlined in the previous chapter it becomes plain (1) 
 that different portions of the soil have been deposited by 
 different agencies and at very different times, (2) that 
 the age of these deposits relative to one another can be 
 estimated, and (3) that in many cases the approximate 
 age of a deposit or of a given layer in a deposit may be 
 calculated by ascertaining the amount of work done (ero¬ 
 sion, deposition, etc.) taking into account the probable 
 strength of the agencies that accomplish it. Further¬ 
 more, it follows that in an undisturbed deposit or layer, 
 with other deposits lying equally undisturbed above it, 
 as may be seen in a vertical section through the entire 
 structure, all the objects included must have been put 
 there at the time of the deposit, whether they be merely 
 
 33 
 
MAN'S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 34 
 
 sand and stones, or bones and teeth. It is, however, 
 not always easy to prove that a given object was an 
 original part of an undisturbed deposit, and certain fre¬ 
 quent causes for error must be guarded against. An ob¬ 
 ject, originally foreign to the formation in which it is 
 found, is called intrusive, and its presence may be due 
 to one of several agencies, the most usual of which are the 
 following: 
 
 (1) Designedly buried by man. An illustration of 
 this is the case of a burial where the grave is dug within 
 or through another deposit, naturally without reference 
 to the structure of the latter. The soil usually selected 
 for interment is that of some geologically recent de¬ 
 posit, either glacial, lacustrine, or fluviatile, and is very 
 often arranged in layers. Here the intrusion is readily 
 detected, since, in digging the grave the layers are dis¬ 
 turbed, and in sections are evidently disarranged, and 
 quite unlike the soil beyond the excavation. A more dif¬ 
 ficult case of intrusive burial is one where an artificial 
 formation, made by man in the first place, is used by a 
 later culture as a burial site. This is frequently met 
 with in the Indian mounds of the United States, which 
 offer places of great convenience for burial because of 
 the softness of the earth, the freedom from stones, and 
 so on. Such places are constantly selected for interment 
 by peoples that have no traditions concerning the spots 
 thus used, and are probably not related to the original 
 builders. 
 
 (2) Worked into the soil from above through the ac¬ 
 tion of moles , earthworms , or other animal agents. As an 
 illustration of a displacement due to this cause may be 
 cited the case of the skeleton of a Massachusetts Indian, 
 
MATERIAL AND METHODS 
 
 35 
 
 in which the bones of the right middle finger were found 
 within the cranial cavity. As is usual in the locality 
 from which this skeleton was taken, the body had been 
 buried doubled up, with the hands applied to each other 
 and placed beside the head. Through the action of some 
 creatures, presumably earthworms, many of the smaller 
 bones, especially those of the fingers and toes, usually be¬ 
 come displaced or lost, and the instance cited was merely 
 a rather extreme case of such a displacement. Modern 
 iron nails are frequently found at a few inches of depth 
 where excavation is carried on at a modern culture site. 
 These are usually at such slight depth that their pres¬ 
 ence may be satisfactorily accounted for by the action 
 of rains, frosts, or simply the tread of human feet; in 
 other cases they may have been carried in with a fence 
 post or other piece of timber in which they were im¬ 
 bedded. The complete decay of the post would leave 
 the nails free in the soil, which, in ordinary digging, 
 would seem to have been undisturbed. 
 
 (3) Inadvertently loosened from a higher level dur¬ 
 ing excavation, and found later at or near the bottom of 
 the trench in close association with material belonging 
 lower down. Such a displacement is extremely liable to 
 happen when excavating a deposit that lies in definite 
 horizontal layers by the usual methods of making a ver¬ 
 tical cutting through them. It is, in fact, so easy to 
 occur and so difficult to rectify that an archeologist in 
 critical cases trusts only in those objects which he finds 
 in place, lying in the mould or matrix formed about it 
 by the deposit. This matrix is necessarily in the exact 
 form of the imbedded object, and in the case of a damp 
 or clayey soil may preserve the form for some time; 
 
36 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 besides this, moreover, the contact surfaces of matrix 
 and included object are often colored by some chemical, 
 and thus match each other in color with absolute pre¬ 
 cision. So close is the relationship of matrix to object 
 that, even in the case of an object that has become free 
 and is picked up in the bottom of the trench, the matrix 
 from which it has fallen may frequently be identified 
 and the proof of original position be given by fitting 
 the one into the other. In the case of a complete match 
 of matrix and object, both in shape and color, all chance 
 of error is as completely excluded as in the case of the 
 two parts of an irregularly torn document, such as were 
 used in certain legal procedures in the Middle Ages. 
 
 Wholly aside from the dating of remains from the 
 deposit in which they occur, there are several other 
 methods often conveniently applied. Thus an impor¬ 
 tant set of data may be derived from associated remains, 
 especially those of animals. As instances of this may be 
 cited the finding of a flint implement in an undisturbed 
 deposit of gravel in close association with, or a little 
 below, the tooth of a mammoth. A very simple instance 
 of this principle, although of a much later time, is the 
 discovery, among Mycenean remains, of an Egyptian 
 coin, bearing the cartouche of a king, the date of whose 
 reign is definitely known. This would fix the oldest 
 possible date, though of course not necessarily the most 
 recent, of the associated objects. 
 
 In cases where the objects of which the age is to be 
 estimated consist of articles of human manufacture, 
 technically called artifacts , extremely valuable data lie 
 in the study of the objects themselves, including their 
 size, shape, degree of art used in their construction, 
 
MATERIAL AND METHODS 
 
 37 
 
 ornamentation, and so on. It is commonly known that 
 an expert can give almost an exact date to a mediaeval 
 painting or piece of furniture, but to one who has 
 studied the matter a stone implement or bit of pre¬ 
 historic pottery is equally suggestive, although here, as 
 one is dealing with much greater periods of time, the 
 date naturally cannot be given in as exact figures. In 
 such an estimation it is also necessary to know the local¬ 
 ity, or at least the country, in which a given object was 
 found, for primitive peoples everywhere pass through 
 almost the same stages in their manufacture of artifacts, 
 and thus an absolutely prehistoric implement from 
 Europe might closely resemble one made by some primi¬ 
 tive people now living in a land remote from civilization. 
 Still, even in such an extreme case, where, for example, 
 the crude stone implements of a modern Hudson Bay 
 Eskimo and of an ancient Briton might become con¬ 
 fused in some museum, with the data of locality wholly 
 lost, there are often sufficient slight differences in form, 
 material and methods of manufacture, to enable an 
 expert to give them an approximate position, both as 
 to locality and date. Such knowledge has to be derived 
 in the first place, from the study of specimens of which 
 the locality and position in the soil have been definitely 
 noted, and these latter data are, and always will be, the 
 final court of appeal, and the accurate knowledge of these 
 greatly increases the value of a given specimen. 
 
 12. Bock Shelters .—In various parts of Europe, not¬ 
 ably in southern France and in Switzerland, where some 
 overhanging rock, or a chance hollow placed at the base 
 of a cliff, offers a slight protection from unfavorable 
 weather, are often found the remains of long-continued 
 
38 
 
 MAN'S PREHISTORIC TAST 
 
 human occupancy. Where the men have lived they have 
 gradually built up deposits consisting of the bones and 
 teeth of the animals used for food, mixed with ashes and 
 charcoal, and an occasional stone or bone tool. Indeed, 
 in these rock shelters, as they are technically called (the 
 abris sous roches of the French archeologists), there may 
 be found, within a small area, thousands of objects of 
 
 Pig. 5.—Rock shelter (rocher en surplomb), situated above the village of Les 
 E'yzies, Department of Dordogne, southern France. Structures like this, and 
 also actual caverns, occurring in quantity hereabouts, were once plentifully 
 used by paleolithic man, and the region is an especially notable one for the 
 study of early human prehistory. The stations of La Madelaine, le Moustier, 
 Laugerie basse, Laugerie haute, Cro Magnon, and others occur in the imme¬ 
 diate vicinity. (After Dechelette.) 
 
 great value for the study of early man, and as these 
 men were possessed of only a low degree of culture, and 
 superposed their deposits directly upon those of a pre¬ 
 vious occupancy, such sites may present several different 
 layers, distinct from one another, and representing as 
 many different cultures, thousands of years apart. 
 
MATERIAL AND METHODS 
 
 39 
 
 As a good typical illustration of this sort of site the 
 prehistoric station of Schweizersbild may be taken, a 
 Swiss station some four kilometers north of Schaff- 
 hausen, and thus near the Rhine, where it is yet a small 
 stream. The spot has long been popularly believed to 
 
 Fig. 6.—The northeast, or principal, entrance, into the Kesslerloch, near Schaff- 
 hausen, Switzerland, a typical rock-shelter. (After Heierli.) 
 
 be the abode of evil spirits, and when the first scientific 
 excavations were attempted, in 1892, there was much 
 local distrust lest the excavators might find the great 
 war chest of the French, supposed to have been buried 
 there in 1799, and guarded since then by specters. 
 
 The first exploration ditch, run perpendicularly to 
 
40 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 the face of the cliff, outward to a distance of 13.5 
 meters, cut down through five layers into the glacial 
 gravel. These were designated as follows, from the sur¬ 
 face downward: (1) Humus, 40 cm.; (2) Gray culture 
 layer, 45 cm.; (3) Breccia, with the “upper rodent 
 layer,” 80 cm.; (4) Yellow culture layer, 30 cm.; (5) 
 Lower rodent layer, 40 cm. Below this lay the glacial 
 gravel, with very occasional animal remains, but with 
 no signs of human activity. 
 
 As the spot was long used, during the Middle Ages, as 
 a place for pilgrimage and later as an encampment for 
 gypsies, and as a popular resort for fishermen and picnic 
 parties, the humus, or top soil, was filled with objects 
 suggestive of modern culture, such as pieces of glass, 
 nails and screws of iron, horn and bone buttons, beads, 
 and even rings. A little clay image of the Virgin was 
 strongly suggestive of some mediaeval pilgrim, while 
 there were found a few objects of bronze, dating back 
 to a pre-Roman culture. 
 
 The gray culture layer, beneath this, was Neolithic, as 
 shown by numerous fragments of crude pottery, both 
 glazed and unglazed, and by stone tools with a smooth 
 surface. The gray appearance of the entire layer, from 
 which it received its name, was due to the infiltration 
 everywhere of ashes and charcoal, and the whole was 
 plentifully mixed with the bones and bone fragments 
 of the various animals used for food. These displayed 
 the typical fauna of the European forest, with a pre¬ 
 ponderance of deer, the whole corresponding closely to 
 remains occurring in the Swiss Lakes, and also deposited 
 as refuse from the kitchen. 
 
 The Breccia layer, named from the limestone frag- 
 
MATERIAL AND METHODS 
 
 41 
 
 ments, cracked off from the neighboring cliff, formed a 
 relatively sterile layer, where the signs of human activ¬ 
 ity were limited to a few spots. It indicates a long 
 transition period between the Neolithic culture of the 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 6 
 
 Fig. 7.—Section through the superposed layers in front of the rock shelter of 
 Schweizersbild, near Schaffhausen, Switzerland. Obtained by first photograph¬ 
 ing the east wall of the excavation, and then drawing the boundaries of the 
 different layers directly upon the photograph. The left side of the figure is 
 close up to the foot of the cliff. 
 
 1. Humus layer; culture of bronze and iron ages, modern times. 
 
 2. Grey culture layer (neolithic) remains of forest fauna. 
 
 3. Breccia layer and upper rodent layer, without human culture; transition 
 fauna between steppe and forest. 
 
 4. Yellow culture layer (paleolithic); steppe fauna, sub-arctic. 
 
 5. Lower rodent layer, paleolithic culture; fauna of the arctic tundra. 
 
 6. Glacial gravels, no animal remains. (Redrawn from photograph by Nuesch.) 
 
 superposed gray layer, and the yellow Paleolithic cul¬ 
 ture beneath them. The animals represented were 
 mainly rodents, like rabbits, squirrels, dormice, and 
 various sorts of mice and rats, their bones, in places, 
 forming an ‘‘upper rodent layer,” semi-distinct from 
 the Breccia layer, in which it is included. The only 
 large mammal that occurs with any frequency is the 
 
42 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 reindeer, which, with many of the rodents, shows a 
 landscape in transition from the steppes to the forest, 
 with a colder climate than at present. 
 
 The yellow culture layer, the color of which is due to 
 the presence of innumerable bones of animals, shows by 
 the absence of pottery as well as by the crude type of 
 the stone implements included, to be a deposit of typical 
 Paleolithic culture. The fauna indicated by these bones, 
 which are the refuse of human feasts, is that of the sub¬ 
 arctic steppe, the reindeer predominating, while the 
 arctic fox occurs in association with his more southern 
 companion, the common fox of the temperate zone, as 
 well as the wolf and the bison. 
 
 The remains found in the lower rodent layer, still 
 lower, give us the picture of the genuine arctic tundra, 
 with its frozen bogs, a condition which immediately fol¬ 
 lowed the final retreat of the ice. Here man, already 
 in possession of this poor shelter, pursued the reindeer, 
 and other large mammals, skinned them, and made 
 himself clothing from their skins. This layer rested 
 immediately upon the gravel of the terminal moraine, 
 deposited probably by the Wurm Ice. 
 
 At the bottom of the yellow culture layer, and resting 
 directly upon the lower rodent layer, there was found a 
 well-built hearth, made of three flagstones, fitted to¬ 
 gether. They formed a circular platform of some forty 
 to forty-five cm. diameter, and covered with ashes, and 
 in these latter were imbedded several rounded cooking 
 stones, the whole forming the oldest hearth site in that 
 part of the country, and one of the oldest known. Not 
 far from this, but above this level, in the gray culture 
 layer, a second hearth was found, about which were 
 
MATERIAL AND METHODS 
 
 43 
 
 placed, in a rough circle, a series of stone blocks which 
 evidently served as seats. 
 
 While among the Paleolithic deposits no trace of 
 human bones or teeth was found, so that we may con¬ 
 clude that the bodies of the dead were taken beyond 
 the immediate settlement for disposal, the Neolithic 
 people of the gray culture layer made many interments 
 upon the spot. Here, naturally, the graves were dug 
 down through the earlier layers, and thus, over each 
 body found, there was a complete mix-up of the objects 
 that belonged originally to different layers. These dis¬ 
 turbances were impossible to overlook, and the objects 
 found in all such places were kept by themselves, as 
 being impossible to- classify with exactness. 
 
 The total number of objects obtained in the investi¬ 
 gation of this site, which lasted three summers, is almost 
 incredible. The soil was excavated entirely by hand, it 
 was subjected to several siftings in sieves of successively 
 finer and finer mesh, and each separate piece was care¬ 
 fully marked. For the better examination of the objects 
 found a series of tables were built on the spot, and at 
 one time at least during the progress of the work, no 
 fewer than twenty-seven tables were entirely covered 
 with the materials. The richness of the deposits may 
 be easily made out by looking through Dr. Niiesch’s 
 official report, which speaks, for instance of the 60,000 
 and more bones and bone fragments found. Of the 
 reindeer fragments found in the two lower layers he 
 enumerates 12,500 molar teeth, 420 jaws and pieces of 
 jaws, 3,990 phalanges, 910 epiphyses of the humerus, 
 and so on. Of Paleolithic stone artifacts more than 
 140,000 were found in the yellow culture layer alone, 
 
44 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 and to these may be added many hundreds of imple¬ 
 ments made of bone or horn. These last included awls, 
 needles, both with and without eyes, chisels, arrow and 
 lance heads, staffs of officials, and a few etchings. 
 
 At the conclusion of the entire work the thousands 
 of objects, each piece carefully labeled with all the data, 
 were apportioned out among specialists, and reported 
 upon. The animal remains, the Neolithic human skele¬ 
 tons, the geological conditions, even the various sorts of 
 coal, and an analysis of the soil of the country, were 
 made subjects of professional study by specialists, after 
 which the total material was deposited in various mu¬ 
 seums in the neighborhood, for further inspection. 
 
 13. Caverns, and the Remains Found in Them; Cave 
 Paintings .—While it is apparent that glacial man, dur¬ 
 ing the long intervals between successive ice ages, and 
 in the extensive ice-free areas of the ice ages themselves, 
 lived largely in the open, and made himself master of 
 field and forest, it is also true that he was wont to 
 employ the natural shelter afforded by caverns, wherever 
 such were available, as a protection from wild beasts, 
 and from the rigors of winter weather. In regions 
 where caverns are abundant, and where a choice between 
 several is possible, the general preferences of early man— 
 judging from the location of the signs of habitation— 
 were much like our own, and thus the dwelling caves 
 possess as a rule a fairly level floor, they are easy of 
 access and well lighted, and usually open toward the 
 south. 
 
 In judging of the former accessibility of a given cave 
 one must not conclude too much from present condi¬ 
 tions, for the time of the cave-men, at least in Europe, 
 
MATERIAL AND METHODS 
 
 45 
 
 was very long ago, and among other surface changes 
 the river valleys have deepened considerably, so that 
 many a cave, once situated almost on a level with a river 
 bank, and easily accessible from along the beach, is now 
 high and dry on the mountain side, far above the stream 
 that runs along the bottom of a deep ravine. The early 
 cave dweller thus walked easily enough in and out of an 
 opening, to reach which the modern archeologist has 
 need of ropes and scaling ladders. 
 
 Again, while in general easy accessibility is an advan¬ 
 tage to a cave-dweller, there are occasionally conditions 
 under which this very quality is a positive disadvan¬ 
 tage, since it invites hostile attack, and renders the right¬ 
 ful inhabitant insecure. Such was the case, for example, 
 among the American cliff-dwellers, who made their 
 homes as inaccessible as possible, and rendered them 
 available to their friends by a system of ladders, which 
 could be pulled up at night, or in case of an attack. 
 
 In Europe the most celebrated caverns are found in 
 southern France and northern Spain, and in the region 
 about the head of the Adriatic, and extending down the 
 eastern shore of that sea, the region known as the Carso 
 or Karst. In the former localities are found plentiful 
 remains of glacial man, as well as of those who lived 
 soon after the last retreat of the ice; in the latter 
 regions, the remains in general are those of men of the 
 Neolithic times, and of the later Bronze and Iron Ages. 
 Still, the Carso has as yet received much less attention 
 than have the regions further west, and much may be 
 learned from the limestone shores of the Adriatic. 
 
 The caves of Prance and Spain have long yielded 
 plentiful artifacts from the deposits scattered over the 
 
4 6 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 floor, and within the past few years their wails and 
 ceilings have attracted even more attention from the 
 vast numbers of paintings, executed in a bold and accu- 
 
 Fig. 8.—Plan of the cavern at Altamira, traced by M. Har'.ein, 1S03. 
 A, entrance; B, vestibule, filled with a mass of kitchen refuse 
 and many pieces of rock fallen from the ceiling; C, hall on the 
 left, with large frescoes; D, fallen rocks forming a wall; E, gal¬ 
 lery on,the right, leading to the hall; F, where one descends a 
 cascade of stalagmites; G, and in to which there opens a recess; 
 H, ornamented with red figures; I, gallery covered with great 
 blocks fallen from the ceiling; J, vaulted hall, with an alcove; 
 J, K, cascades of stalagamites leading to a large hall; L, in 
 the form of a nave, and with a shallow well or pit; M, near the 
 end; N, a terminal passage. The main frescoes appear on the 
 walls and ceilings throughout the cavern, but occur especially 
 in halls C and E, near the entrance. At places, as at K, the 
 floor descends rapidly. The entire length of the cavern is 280 
 meters. (After Cartailhac, from L’Anthropologie.) 
 
 rate style, and portraying the animals of the latter part 
 of the great Ice Age, the actual contemporaries of the 
 artists. Many of the caves are literally lined with hun¬ 
 dreds of bisons, bears, horses, and oxen, while the rhi- 
 
MATERIAL AND METHODS 
 
 47 
 
 noeeros and mammoth served also as models. The paint¬ 
 ings were executed, generally at about half life-size, 
 in incised lines on the flatter rock surfaces, and usually 
 colors were rubbed in over the areas thus defined. The 
 black used was mainly charcoal, the reds and yellows 
 were furnished by various ochres, and the white by 
 chalk, and in the stillness of the caves these mineral 
 colors have remained as new. Sculpture has long been 
 known in the form of little statuettes of ivory or bone, 
 found among the deposits at the bottom, but within a 
 few years a room, deep in the cavern of Tuc d ’Audou- 
 bert, on the French side of the Pyrenees, was opened 
 up to the explorers, and there were found two clay 
 bisons of about half size, a male following a female, and 
 in the clay of the floor were the footprints of the Paleo¬ 
 lithic sculptors, made as they left the sacred chamber 
 for the last time. Recently, also, in the same general 
 region life-size horses in high relief, were found quite in 
 the open, upon the face of the cliff. 
 
 But while these mural paintings and sculptures, in 
 part from their recency of discovery and in part because 
 of their really great artistic merit, are holding much 
 of the world \s attention—that of others besides archeolo¬ 
 gists—the accumulated kitchen refuse deposited on the 
 cave floors, and marking the actual site of the dwellings 
 and hearths of early man, yields an inexhaustible sup¬ 
 ply of priceless documents, describing, in plain and 
 unmistakable language, the actions of the daily life. 
 Often, too, the same cave that furnishes these deposits 
 has also, perhaps in the darker recesses, a gallery of 
 paintings, evidently intended for display by lamplight, 
 and in several cases the actual lamps have been found, 
 
48 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC TAST 
 
 sitting upon the floor at the base of some special paint¬ 
 ing, hollow, disc-shaped stones, with indications of the 
 oils or fats that once fed them. 
 
 As these caverns are roughly contemporary with the 
 Ice Age, the bottom layer of the deposits was for the 
 most part laid down at that time, and here are found the 
 remains, not only of the cave bear and hyena, but occa¬ 
 sionally those of glacial man. Further up toward the 
 surface occur the remains of later periods in chrono¬ 
 logical succession, and upon the surface may be picked 
 up broken pieces of Roman and medieval pottery. The 
 artifacts found in these deposits may be simply im¬ 
 bedded in the clay of the cavern floor, or may be still 
 more permanently encased in a deposit of lime, fur¬ 
 nished by the drip of water from the ceiling and form¬ 
 ing in places the well-known stalactites and stalagmites. 
 Such limestone masses, the breccia, with their imbedded 
 artifacts, such as flints, the broken and split bones of 
 food animals, charcoal, broken pottery, and so on, fur¬ 
 nish most important documents of the activities of the 
 successive periods. 
 
 The limestone region of the Carso has been a scene 
 of excessive activity in cave formation, and as such is 
 of the greatest interest to the geologist. In places the 
 earth is absolutely honeycombed with the tortuous gal¬ 
 leries and passages characteristic of this type of erosion, 
 and at frequent intervals the surface has dropped 
 through, over an area varying from a few square feet 
 to a number of acres, breaking into a cavern or a series 
 of them, and thus giving easy access to spaces that 
 otherwise would remain unknown. These sink-holes, as 
 they are technically called in America, are known in 
 
MATERIAL AND METHODS 
 
 40 
 
 the Carso by the Slavic word dolina, literally, a valley, 
 and are so numerous in certain localities that they im¬ 
 part an undulating appearance to the whole country. 
 Sometimes a cavern mouth is simply an opening revealed 
 by the dropping of the sink-hole; sometimes it is the 
 natural outlet for the stream of water that was respon¬ 
 sible for the formation of the cave. In some cases there 
 is no sink-hole, and a cavern is revealed by one or two 
 small openings in the ceiling, where the roof has become 
 very thin, and is so near the surface that it has broken 
 through from above. 
 
 While in the caves of western Europe there are found 
 plentiful remains of the men of the late Ice Age, those 
 showing the typical Paleolithic culture, the region of 
 the Carso is singularly barren in artifacts of these early 
 times. Neolithic remains are everywhere abundant, 
 and in certain places the history of the entire Bronze 
 culture, from the earliest essays at shaping copper to 
 the time of the introduction of iron and later, may be 
 read as a continuous history; but there fails thus far 
 all definite proof that Paleolithic man ever actually lived 
 in this part of Europe. There is in the museum at 
 Trieste, it is true, a cave-bear skull, found in a cave in 
 Nabresina, and bearing over the right temple a broken 
 bone, but the healing of the bone over this spot shows 
 definitely that the accident had occurred long before 
 the death of the animal, and we have no idea of the 
 land where this blow, directed by human intelligence, 
 struck home. The bear was a large one, and it is quite 
 possible that he had become acquainted with the strength 
 and cunning of men in Prance or Spain years before 
 his peaceful ending near Trieste. 
 
50 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC TAST 
 
 Thus far, in the study of both caves and rock shelters, 
 we have considered only those spots where the ceilings 
 are high enough to allow men to live and engage in the 
 various activities of life. There are also to be consid¬ 
 ered the numerous low passages that serve as catch-basins 
 for surface water, or as sewers through which water may 
 flow, bringing with it whatever objects may be brought, 
 mainly bones, and sealing them up in clay in the deeper 
 hollows. The spot near Diisseldorf, in Germany, from 
 which the famous Neanderthal skeleton was taken, was of 
 
 flooding from the river at a time when this latter stood at about the level 
 of the mouth, although surface leaves and other debris have undoubtedly 
 been introduced also through the Assure (b). The river is aow at (c). The 
 proportions of this grotto, and of the fissure leading to it are much exag¬ 
 gerated; otherwise, if drawn in the true proportions, the fissure would look 
 like a mere line. (After Lyell.) 
 
MATERIAL AND METHODS 
 
 51 
 
 this latter type, and consisted of a narrow fissure, com¬ 
 municating both with the surface of an upper level, 
 and with the side of a ravine near by, some hundred 
 feet or so above the little stream of the Diissel, run¬ 
 ning along the bottom. At the time when this river, 
 which has undoubtedly been responsible for the excava¬ 
 tion of the entire ravine, was at the level of the opening 
 now found high up on its side, several bones of bear and 
 rhinoceros were washed in, either from above, or more 
 likely by being washed in at the lower opening at the 
 time of some high water. Ultimately these bones became 
 securely buried, either by the washing in of sand from 
 the river, or of dust and dead leaves down through the 
 upper opening, and as the river deepened continuously, 
 there eventually must have come a time after which the 
 river could never again, even with the highest water, in¬ 
 vade the little fissure, and the bones were left in peace. 
 This cavern, from its size and position, could never have 
 been used as the home of early man, and must be re¬ 
 garded rather as a crypt, in which the bones, by the 
 merest chance, found a burial at the hands of natural 
 forces. So small that it evaded, not only exploration, 
 but even discovery, the fissure with its precious contents 
 was brought to light by workmen in 1857, who were dig¬ 
 ging out material for constructing a road, and as this 
 practical work was continued then and later, there is 
 now left no trace of the site. 
 
 Somewhat akin to a natural crypt, where human bones 
 and other remains may be unintentionally buried, is the 
 intentional use of a small cave, or a small recess in a 
 cave, as a place for interment. Cave burials among primi¬ 
 tive peoples are by no means uncommon, and thus it was 
 
52 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 no unusual thing 1 for a sheik like Abraham to purchase 
 a cave to serve as a burial place for his wife Sarah and 
 himself. A typical Paleolithic cave burial was unearthed 
 in southern France in 1852, but as the time of discovery 
 was before the true significance of the facts had been 
 learned, little benefit came from the excavation. A work- 
 
 V '■ - ^ 
 
 Fig. 10.—Diagram of the famous rabbit burrow at Aurignac. (a), the opening of 
 the rabbit burrow that led to the discovery; (b), the culture layer, 2 feet 
 thick. This is a bone breccia, filled with the bones of animals used for 
 food, and containing worked flints; (c) layers of ashes and charcoal at the 
 mouth of the cave, and wholly outside of the slab. This contains also _ni- 
 mal bones, cooking-stones, and other artifacts. (d), slab placed to cover 
 the mouth of the cave, and set through the culture-layer (b); (e), heap of 
 seventeen human skeletons, interred in the grotto; (f), talus, washed down 
 from the top soil above the grotto, and entirely filling in the angle between 
 the slab and the shelf; (g), the bed rock of the region, a nummelitic limestone. 
 (After Lyell.) 
 
 man, pursuing a rabbit, followed it to the mouth of its 
 burrow, where the animal disappeared. The man, reach¬ 
 ing in his hand, drew forth, not the rabbit, but a human 
 bone. This led to an excavation, which revealed the 
 conditions shown in the diagram. The limits of the orig¬ 
 inal cavern are shown by the irregular line bounding 
 
MATERIAL AND METHODS 
 
 the bed rock, a nummelitic limestone (gg). There was 
 formed a covered grotto, outside of which was an open 
 shelf, without roof, overlooking the ravine. That this 
 site, so suitable as a home for early man, must have long 
 been used as such, is shown by the two culture deposits, 
 b and c, which rest upon the original floor. Layer c, six 
 inches in thickness, consists largely of ashes and char¬ 
 coal, interspersed with the gnawed and split bones of 
 both extinct and recent mammals, as well as many hearth¬ 
 stones, and other artifacts; the whole showing definitely 
 that the fire was always kindled in the open part, before 
 the mouth of the cave. Above this, and spread quite 
 evenly over both open and covered portions, is a second 
 culture layer, two feet in thickness, made up of what 
 is usually found in such deposits, the bones of animals, 
 many artifacts, and a few human bone fragments, 
 strongly suggestive of cannibalism. 
 
 After a long period of such occupancy the grotto was 
 finally used as a place of interment. The mouth was 
 sealed up by the slab d, evidently a precaution against 
 the depredation of hyenas, the marks of whose teeth 
 were found on the bones outside the slab. Within, 
 forming the mass e, entirely distinct from the layer 
 beneath it, were found seventeen human skeletons, of 
 both sexes and all ages. Unfortunately the time of dis¬ 
 covery was too early for profitable study, and after a 
 brief inspection, the bones, at the mandate of the 
 mayor of the town, were all reinterred in the parish 
 cemetery! 
 
 14. Kitchen-Middens .—These are the refuse heaps 
 accumulated by primitive people through the ordinary 
 activities of life. They naturally consist mainly of the 
 
54 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 refuse from food, but in part also of broken pottery, 
 rejected implements, and occasionally some more valu¬ 
 able object, accidentally lost. Ordinarily the accumu¬ 
 lated garbage is mainly of a perishable nature; such 
 heaps simply add a little to the soil, and through re¬ 
 peated rains and snows, may become entirely leveled and 
 inconspicuous. When, however, such heaps occur along 
 the seashore, where the diet consists largely of oysters, 
 clams, or other mollusks, the vast accumulations of shells 
 form bulky deposits of a permanent nature, the so-called 
 “shell-mounds.” The classical territory where these 
 were first carefully studied is along the shores of the 
 Danish peninsula with its accompanying islands, but 
 shell-mounds are very widely distributed—for example, 
 along the entire coast-line of both Americas, from 
 Canada to Tierra del Fuego. The Danish shell-mounds, 
 to which the term “Kjokken-moddinger” (kitchen-mid¬ 
 dens) was first applied, consist largely of oyster shells, 
 and form deposits of many feet in thickness, the oldest 
 deposit being naturally at the bottom. These shells are 
 interspersed with the bones and teeth of the animals 
 that served as food, pieces of primitive pottery, and 
 many stone implements, mainly of types intermediate 
 between the cruder sort with rough surface, and the 
 smooth types of later times, paleoliths and neolitlis re¬ 
 spectively. 1 
 
 The American shell-mounds show every indication of 
 having been the work of the present race of Indians, al¬ 
 though the absence of all possible objects of European 
 
 1 Tlie best collection of objects from the Danish kjoTcken- 
 moddinger is that in the Danish National Museum at Copen¬ 
 hagen, and represents that successive labors of several noted 
 curators, Thomsen, Worsaae, and Soplius Muller. 
 
MATERIAL AND METHODS 
 
 55 
 
 origin or influence, such as iron or glass, as well as the 
 presence of the remains of animals now extinct or ban¬ 
 ished to other regions, e. g., the great auk and the polar 
 bear, show them to be for the most part ancient, or at 
 least precolumbian. As everywhere in such deposits, 
 
 A 
 
 Fig. 11.—Illustrations from Jeffries Wyman’s classical article, “An Account of 
 Some Kjoekkenmoedings, or Shell-heaps, in Maine and Massachusetts.’’ 
 
 (a) View of Crouch’s Cove on Lower Goose Island, Casco Bay, 'Maine, where 
 important early work on American shell heaps was done. 
 
 (b) Wyman’s party excavating at the spot shown in (a) during the summer 
 of 1867. (After Wyman, in American Naturalist, Vol. I, 1868.1 
 
56 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 the contents of these shell-mounds are highly instructive, 
 and a large collection contains practically all the more 
 durable objects connected with the daily life of the 
 people that accumulated them. The first scientific study 
 of American shell-mounds, aside from some desultory 
 examinations, was done by Professor Jeffries Wyman, of 
 Harvard University, during the summer of 1867. Wyman 
 excavated mounds on Mt. Desert Island, Maine, and on 
 Lower Goose Island in Casco Bay, in the same 
 state, also made further study at Eagle Hill, Ipswich, 
 Mass. 
 
 In Casco Bay sites there have been found great quan¬ 
 tities of the bones of moose, deer, bear, seal, raccoon, 
 skunk and dog, many species of birds, one of which, 
 commonly found, is the great auk, fragments of land 
 turtles, and the remains of all the local fishes, including 
 the sturgeon and halibut, as well as others not usually 
 used as food. The pottery found, although frequent, 
 consists almost wholly of badly broken fragments of small 
 size, although in a few cases a sufficient number of pieces 
 has been found to make a reconstruction possible. These 
 prove to be mostly in the form of large kettles so shaped 
 that they could be hung over a fire, and were undoubt¬ 
 edly used as cooking pots. Many of the shards are dec¬ 
 orated with patterns, marked in the clay when soft, 
 consisting of parallel and cross lines of simple geometric 
 designs. 
 
 As in the Danish mounds, stone implements, both 
 broken and entire, are frequent, and consist not 
 only of tools, such as axes and gouges, and of weapons, 
 like hatchets and arrow points, but include also those 
 indicative of the lighter side of life, as ornaments of 
 
MATERIAL AND METHODS 57 
 
 various sorts, and objects probably ceremonial, and used 
 in their worship. 1 
 
 Corresponding to the distribution of the present mol- 
 luscan fauna, the bulk of such a deposit is composed of 
 the shells of the commonest local species; soft-shelled 
 clams in Casco Bay, hard-shelled clams (quahogs) in 
 some other places, and oysters in New Jersey. The ex¬ 
 tensive shell-mounds along the shores of the Chesapeake 
 often cover several acres in a continuous formation, 
 and may reach a depth of twenty feet. A single mound 
 of gigantic proportions lies about the mouth of the Dam- 
 ariscotta River in Maine, and forms a mass estimated to 
 contain eight million cubic feet, wholly of oyster shells. 
 This enormous mound may be explained on the hypoth¬ 
 esis that this point was for a long time a gathering place 
 for an entire tribe, who at certain seasons of the year, un¬ 
 doubtedly in summer, resorted to the coast for the ex¬ 
 press purpose of eating these mollusks. 
 
 In the bottom of shell-mounds, human skeletons, al¬ 
 though infrequent, occasionally occur, pointing to either 
 a hasty interment, or to one occurring in winter, when 
 the ground was frozen. Considering, however, the many 
 indications that these mounds are the remains of sum- 
 mer camps, such as the lack of any indications of the 
 
 *The classic paper on Indian shell-mounds in America is that 
 of Jeffries Wyman, “An Account of some Kjoekken-moeddings, 
 or shell-heaps, in Maine and Massachusetts,” American Nat., 
 Vol. I, January, 1868, pp. 561-584. Wyman’s principal site was 
 at Crouch’s Cave, Lower Goose Island, in Casco Bay, Me.; and 
 in the summer of 1911 an expedition from Amherst College, 
 under the leadership of Professor Frederick B. Loomis, dug 
 through many shell-heaps in the same region, bringing back a 
 large collection of objects, throwing much light on the former 
 activities of the Indians in these parts. This collection is now 
 in the Gilbert Museum at Amherst. 
 
58 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 how to make, we cannot seriously believe much in the 
 more permanent dwellings, which the Indians knew well 
 frozen soil theory, and look for some more plausible 
 hypothesis. 
 
 15. Remains of Houses and Hearths .—As pointed out 
 above, in the discussion of objects introduced into a de¬ 
 posit foreign to them, each sort of deposit has a definite 
 structure, the result of the action of the forces leading 
 to its formation, and thus if a piece of ground, where 
 two or more deposits are mixed, be examined in sec¬ 
 tion, the relation of the separate elements becomes ap¬ 
 parent. The construction of a hut or other structure 
 that involves any disturbance of the soil, such as the 
 driving in of a stake or post, may produce a permanent 
 derangement, easily revealed by a careful excavator. In 
 this way, through simply digging a series of parallel 
 trenches, and studying the sections thus made, the re¬ 
 mains of primitive structures may be brought to light, 
 although no stone or other lasting material may have 
 been used in their construction, and although there may 
 be neither elevation nor depression to mark the site. A 
 post driven into the soil and left to rot in place will often 
 leave a mass of dark loam to replace its subterranean 
 portion, which, in a light sandy soil, or other contrasting 
 material, will be very conspicuous in a smooth section. 
 Even a pit or excavation, filled in subsequently by wash¬ 
 ings from the surface, and brought up to the general 
 level, will often record its exact shape and size in sec¬ 
 tion by revealing the difference between the earth washed 
 in and that of the undisturbed soil in which the pit 
 was originally dug. 
 
 Fig. 12 shows sketches of the excavation of a Neo- 
 
MATERIAL AND METHODS 
 
 59 
 
 lithic manor-house, or communal farmstead, upon the 
 plain near Stiitzheim, Germany. The figure on the left 
 is the ground plan, the several figures on the right are 
 successive cross-sections through the soil along the 
 planes indicated on the ground plan. 
 
 Fig. 12.—A neolithic farmstead; ground plan and sections. (After Forrer, modified.) 
 
 The floor of the structure was sunken below the sur¬ 
 face level, and the house must have been built with low 
 walls and sloping roof in some way not shown in the 
 excavation. There were seven entrances, one at either 
 end (west and east), three upon the south and two upon 
 
<>0 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 the north. Section a is cut through a lateral entrance, 
 also through an isolated pit, serving doubtless as a gran¬ 
 ary or storehouse; b passes through an elevated bench or 
 seat, formed simply by leaving the natural earth in 
 place, Avhen the original excavation for the floor of the 
 main room took place. This seat is placed in close 
 proximity to the fireplace, here indicated by the pile of 
 debris (kitchen-midden) that has collected about it, and 
 the coals of the fire. This spot must have literally 
 formed the focus or hearth, for concentrating the family 
 life during the winter months. The same section cuts 
 through an entrance on the north. Section c cuts 
 through two entrances, placed opposite each other, and 
 forming a passage quite through the middle of the house, 
 while section d cuts through a third entrance on the 
 south side. At e a grave was met with, excavated in the 
 floor, pointing to a death during the winter, when the 
 soil was frozen too hard to allow digging outside. 
 
 It is to be noted that this entire structure, so eloquent 
 of early conditions, and furnishing so much detail, was 
 indicated solely by the arrangement of the different 
 kinds of soil, and with the exception of the skeleton and 
 the kitchen-midden, contained no culture objects. Any¬ 
 thing but the most careful digging, with the separate 
 cross-sections finished by shaving down the sides of each 
 trench with a mason’s trowel or large knife, would have 
 given nothing whatever of the house or the proper rela¬ 
 tion of the kitchen-midden or the skeleton. The method 
 is similar to that used by morphologists with serial sec¬ 
 tions through some small animal, and can be expected 
 to yield as much as the separate sections can be made to 
 reveal. 
 
MATERIAL AND METHODS 
 
 61 
 
 House sites practically always display a definite place 
 for the hearth, as indicated by ashes and pieces of char¬ 
 coal, both substances practically imperishable when once 
 imbedded in undisturbed soil; frequently, too, there are 
 definite associated structures, such as a layer or rampart 
 of partially baked clay, originally intended to confine 
 the fire within its proper limits. Often, in association 
 with the traces of a hearth fire, occur numerous fire¬ 
 stones, small boulders of the size of the fist or a little 
 larger, which were first heated in the fire and then sud¬ 
 denly plunged into a vessel containing water, thus bring¬ 
 ing the latter to a boil by imparting their heat to it. 
 This is the method employed even today among primi¬ 
 tive people in cooking meat, and is naturally the only 
 practical method among a people unable to make a 
 water-container that will stand direct exposure to a fire 
 placed beneath it. The receptacle in which the meat is 
 boiled by means of fire-stones may consist merely of a 
 hollow in the ground, lined with clay or with the skin 
 of a beast, both expedients being resorted to among the 
 American Indians, at the time of the early European 
 explorers. 
 
 The simple presence of charcoal, unattended by other 
 signs of human activity, must be disregarded as probably 
 the result of spontaneous forest fires, which may be 
 kindled in a variety of ways in which man is not in¬ 
 volved ; but localized traces of fire in direct connection 
 either with fire-pits, fire-stones, a clay circle, or the re¬ 
 mains of feasts, speak definitely of a fire built and used 
 purposely, by man, technically, a hearth. Such hearths 
 may be either the definitely localized areas found in 
 association with house sites, or the more diffuse layers 
 
MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 62 
 
 occurring at the mouth of caverns; they also occur in 
 the form of fire-pits. These consist of inverted cones 
 of partly burnt clay mixed with charcoal, about a foot 
 in diameter and perhaps twice as deep. They were 
 originally pits sunk in the earth, in the bottom of which 
 a fire could be kindled and kept for a long time, thus 
 shielded from the wind. Precisely similar fire-pits are 
 employed at the present day by gangs of Italian work¬ 
 men, when working on the highways and on railroads, at . 
 some distance from suitable houses. 
 
 16. Ti n ee Houses and Lake Dwellings. — Primitive 
 people, living in a wilderness unmodified by human in¬ 
 fluence, are exposed to the constant menace of wild 
 beasts, or of still more dreaded human marauders, far 
 more than may be readily understood by civilized mod¬ 
 ern people. They are thus led of necessity to take nu¬ 
 merous precautions against an unforeseen attack, and 
 strive especially to guard their dwellings against sur¬ 
 prise. A frequent expedient is that of constructing a 
 hut high up in the trees, selecting especially for that 
 purpose those that are without lower limbs, and using 
 for ingress and egress a light ladder that can be pulled 
 up at night. Such dwellings are still in use in many 
 parts of the world, notably Papua, and it is altogether 
 probable that similar structures have been made in the 
 remote past. Of these, from the nature of the case, no 
 remains would be left, save, perhaps, an accumulation 
 at the base of the tree resembling a kitchen-midden. 
 Such a heap, found upon or immediately beneath the 
 surface, and entirely isolated from cultural surround¬ 
 ings, would appear as a phenomenon difficult to explain, 
 except in cases where a multiplicity of such isolated 
 
Fig. 13.—A tree-house in British New Guinea. (After Schurz.) 
 
64 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 heaps would suggest the former existence of an entire 
 village, propped up on trees. 
 
 A step beyond such a tree-village is presented by the 
 erection of such dwellings upon artificially placed 
 trunks or piles, driven into the mud along the shallow 
 margins of lakes, where the inhabitants can not only 
 obtain the security of a position high above the surface 
 of the ground, but also gain the additional advantage 
 of a constant supply of fresh fish, easily obtained by fish¬ 
 ing from the house itself. As the piles are all artificially 
 placed, they may be grouped together in some definite 
 plan, and connected by wide platforms, converting the 
 entire village into a communal house or compound. 
 
 Instances of various stages, illustrating the growth of 
 the idea, and its adaptation to special circumstances, are 
 seen to-day among primitive peoples, a marked example 
 of which is met with among the aborigines of the north¬ 
 eastern coast of South America, from which the early 
 Spanish explorers named the region “Venezuela,” i.e., 
 little Venice. Here, as usually, numerous single houses 
 are built in close proximity to one another, and are con¬ 
 nected by common platforms, the whole forming an 
 extensive pile village extending out into the water, and 
 capable of complete isolation from the shore. 
 
 During the development of man in Central Europe 
 similar pile villages (“Pfahlbauten,” “Palafittes”) 
 played an important part, especially along the shores 
 of the Alpine lakes, and these sites form one of the 
 richest treasure houses of prehistoric objects known to 
 the world. Here, in those spots which offer a shelving 
 shore and a considerable layer of soft mud, men have 
 lived continuously for hundreds, and in some cases thou- 
 
MATERIAL AND METHODS 
 
 (35 
 
 sands of years. During all this time the bones and other 
 solid refuse from their tables, broken tools and utensils, 
 articles of value, unintentionally lost, and all such re¬ 
 mains of an active existence, were continually falling 
 from the houses and platforms into the water, and were 
 sealed up in the deep mud, from which they are now 
 recovered, often in considerable profusion. Occasionally, 
 also, the bones of the inhabitants themselves are brought 
 to light, indicative perhaps of some accident in which a 
 body sank into the mud and was not recovered. 
 
 Fig. 14.—Reconstruction of a village of lake dwellings on the Lake of Zurich, 
 based upon the actual remains. (After Forrer.) 
 
 Aside from all such objects, the piles themselves, or 
 the larger part of them, are often preserved, as well as 
 portions of the superstructures, and from these it is 
 possible to make out the essential details of the houses, 
 at least these of certain periods. In all such recon¬ 
 structions comparisons with the pile dwellings of modern 
 times are of great assistance, since similar needs and 
 
66 
 
 MAN'S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 conditions are productive of similar results, often even 
 to considerable detail, and the life of the lake dwellers 
 of the present cannot fail to have much in common with 
 that of people who lived in the same way in the remote 
 past. 
 
 Fig. 15.—Reconstruction of two huts of the Swiss lake-dwellers, showing details. 
 
 (After Forrer.) 
 
 Perhaps the most important prehistoric pile villages, 
 at least those most carefully studied, are those of the 
 Swiss lakes, where nearly two hundred distinct villages 
 have been investigated. The greatest number of these 
 occur on the lakes of Constance, Geneva, Zurich, Biel and 
 Neuchatel. Other lakes also have yielded important re¬ 
 sults, and the museums of Switzerland and Northern 
 Italy are filled with the objects excavated. 1 
 
 Pile villages in a somewhat modified form were also 
 developed in certain of the larger rivers, e. g., the Rhine, 
 where an island was used as the center of the village, 
 
 1 Notable in this respect are the collections in Zurich (Anti- 
 quarisches Museum) ; Neuchatel (Musee des Beaux Arts) ; and 
 Bologna (Museo Civico). 
 
Fig. 16.—Sketch map of the Lakes of Neuchatel and Biel, Switzerland, 
 showing the sites of lake villages. These belong to several 
 periods, extending from the late Neolithic, through the Bronze 
 and early Iron Ages. The site of La Tene, the scene of an un¬ 
 recorded battle between the natives and the Romans, gives its 
 name to one of the periods of the early Iron Age. The others, 
 for the most part, are older. (After Munro.) 
 
68 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 and became extended over the surrounding shallows by 
 means of piles. The famous island in the Seine known 
 as La Cite and forming the heart of Paris, was origi¬ 
 nally the center of the small Gallic tribe of the Parisii, 
 probably once a similar structure. 
 
 Somewhat similar to fixed villages on islands, espe¬ 
 cially when the habitable area is increased by extension 
 of the structure on piles, are the floating villages , with 
 a substructure formed of tree-trunks, not driven down 
 into the mud, but laid out over the water, the whole 
 forming a huge raft, capable of moving about. Such 
 floating villages naturally yield artifacts identical with 
 those from stationary villages, but more scattered, and 
 the former existence of such floating villages has been 
 established from such remains. One of these is thought 
 to have once existed in the river Meuse, near Maestricht; 
 and in the Maglemoos, an extensive moor on the island 
 of Seeland, in Denmark, which must have once been a 
 lake, the remains of just such a raft were found im¬ 
 bedded in the peat, and thus preserved. Associated with 
 this raft were found many thousand artifacts of stone 
 and bone, also teeth of the elk and urns, all character¬ 
 istics of the lake-dweller type of culture. 
 
 While the lake dwellers of Western Europe, includ¬ 
 ing those of Switzerland and Italy, were prehistoric, a 
 certain few of their villages, mainly Swiss, were still 
 occupied when the land was first explored by the Ro¬ 
 mans, and in other countries, notably about the Black 
 Sea, several Greek travelers have studied and described 
 them. Hippocrates thus describes the people of the 
 Phasis, a marshy region at the eastern end of the Black 
 Sea: 
 
MATERIAL AND METHODS 
 
 69 
 
 “Concerning the people of the Phasis, that region is 
 marshy and hot, and full of water, and woody; and at 
 every season frequent and violent rains fall there. The 
 inhabitants live in the marshes, and have houses of tim¬ 
 ber and reeds constructed in the midst of the waters and 
 they seldom go out to the city or the market, but sail 
 up and down in boats made of a single tree-trunk, for 
 there are numerous canals in that region. The water 
 they drink is hot and stagnant, putrefied by the sun, 
 and swollen by the rainfall, and the Phasis itself is the 
 most stagnant and quiet-flowing of all rivers. ’ ’ 1 
 
 Herodotus made his observations upon the lake dwell¬ 
 ers of Lake Prasias in Rumelia, near the mouth of the 
 Strymon. He says : 
 
 “Their manner of living is the following: Platforms 
 supported upon tall piles stand in the middle of the 
 lake, which are approached from the land by a single 
 narrow bridge. At the first the piles which bear up the 
 platform were fixed in their places by the whole body 
 of the citizens; but since that time the custom which 
 prevails about fixing them is this: they are brought from 
 a hill called Orbalus, and every man drives in three for 
 each wife that he marries. Now the men have all many 
 wives apiece, and this is the way in which they live. 
 Each has his own hut wherein he dwells, upon one of the 
 platforms, and each has also a trap-door, giving access to 
 the lake beneath; and their wont is to tie their baby chil¬ 
 dren by the foot with a string, to save them from rolling 
 into the water. They feed their horses and their other 
 beasts on fish, which abound in the lake to such a degree 
 that a man has only to open his trap-door and to let 
 down a basket by a rope into the water, and there to wait 
 a very short time, when up he draws it quite full of 
 them.” 
 
 17. Crannogs— A form of refuge, often made use of 
 
 1 This and the following quotation are taken from Robert 
 Munro, in his “Lake-Dwellings of Europe,” London, 1S90, p. 553. 
 
70 
 
 MAX’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 by a primitive people in time of great tribal danger, is 
 that afforded by an island of firm ground situated in the 
 midst of a great marsh or swamp, and reached only with 
 extreme difficulty. Such a spot is usually strengthened 
 by some artificial fortification, such as a palisade, and 
 if the ground be not high enough of itself above the 
 water level, the structures built upon it are raised on 
 piles, as in lake dwellings, or the ground is built up by 
 stones and logs. 
 
 Such swamp refuges occur in perhaps their most typi¬ 
 cal form in Ireland and Scotland, and bear the name of 
 crannog; they seem to have played an important role 
 during the early development of the Irish people, per¬ 
 haps in the case both of the Iberian aborigines, and 
 their later Celtic invaders, and were used for purposes 
 of defense well into the Middle Ages. 1 
 
 The crannog means of defense was resorted to in 
 southern New England by the Narragansett Indians in 
 their last hold against the English invaders, in 1675. 
 This entire tribe, after suffering sufficiently at the hands 
 of the English to convince them of the great superiority 
 of their enemies, betook themselves to an island in the 
 midst of “an hideous swamp” in South Kingston, R. I., 
 and surrounded the bit of firm ground with a palisade 
 of logs. The English waited until the cold of the win¬ 
 ter converted the water to ice, thus making the swamp 
 passable, and then stormed the fort, slaying with sword 
 
 1 Munro ( loc . cit.) enumerates 103 crannogs in Scotland, and 
 145 in Ireland. Of the former, 56 were constructed wholly, or 
 in part, of wood, forming huge rafts, or artificial islands, in the 
 swamps. Many of them show Roman contact, and proof that 
 they were used as late as the seventh century of our era. In 
 certain of the Irish crannogs were found coins of the three 
 Edward’s. 
 
MATERIAL AND METHODS 
 
 71 
 
 and fire the entire tribe, men, women and children, so 
 far as they were able. This disastrous result showed 
 that while retirement into a crannog. may be a fairly 
 secure manner of defense against an enemy of about the 
 same degree of development it is the worst possible tac¬ 
 tics against a superior foe, since by concentrating a tribe 
 into a single spot, it makes a complete extermination 
 possible. 
 
 To the prehistorian, however, it is this very concen¬ 
 tration that renders a crannog especially valuable. As 
 a last stronghold of a tribe, there are collected there 
 their most cherished possessions, and those that are not 
 of a perishable nature, and are overlooked or trodden 
 into the soil in the heat of victory, remain indefinitely 
 in a very restricted area, awaiting the spade of the ex¬ 
 cavator. Thus “from the Crannogs at Dunshauglin 
 more than one hundred and fifty cart-loads of bones were 
 obtained and used as manure. ’ ’ 1 These were, course, 
 mainly or wholly those of the animals that served as 
 food, showing that a crannog is practically a strictly 
 localized kitchen-midden. Great numbers of objects of 
 stone and bronze, as well as of bone and horn, have been 
 collected. 
 
 Aside from crannogs of British origin, quite typical 
 crannogs are found in various parts of the continent. 
 Thus, in northern Italy (Parma, Modena, Emilia) they 
 are known as terrcmare, and in the peninsula of Istria, 
 at the upper end of the Adriatic Sea, they are called 
 castelliere or pizzughi. Many of these have already 
 yielded much material. 
 
 1 Lord Avebury, “Prehistoric Times,” Gth edition, 1802, p. 109. 
 
72 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 18. Forts and Scharrachs .—Aside from, crannogs, the 
 occurrence of which is naturally restricted to a few defi¬ 
 nite regions, the necessities of defense have developed 
 during prehistoric times numerous artificial structures 
 which, when sufficiently extensive to change the surface 
 of the soil, remain to the present day. 
 
 Thus there occur, in various parts of Europe, exten¬ 
 sive structures associated with hills, or from whose 
 heights they bid defiance. In their simpler form they 
 consist of a ring wall or enclosure, usually an earth¬ 
 work, but often reinforced by stone. More complicated 
 structures may enclose an entire hill, and include ram¬ 
 parts, moats, terraces and mounds, as though forming 
 the foundation for a complete acropolis, the material 
 for which was largely of wood, and hence has long since 
 disappeared. Sometimes a natural hill has been re¬ 
 shaped through extensive grading into the form seen at 
 present; in cases, too, the entire hill is an artificial one, 
 and must have been due to the efforts of the whole 
 tribe, working for a long time. 
 
 Owing to the lack of historical perspective in the 
 popular mind, these works, in every country where such 
 occur, are attributed to some great struggle between 
 peoples with which the present inhabitants are tradi¬ 
 tionally acquainted, and the names commonly applied 
 make some allusion to historic peoples. Thus, a structure 
 of this sort in Alsace is known as the “ Swedish ram¬ 
 part”; one in Hungary is the “Turkish fortress,” and 
 so on. In other cases the names suggest popular myth¬ 
 ology, like the “fairy rings” and “fairy fortresses” 
 in Ireland, while in matter-of-fact England the people 
 content themselves with calling them “rings” or “cas- 
 
MATERIAL AND METHODS 
 
 73 
 
 ties” like Cissbury Ring, Maumbry Ring, Maiden Castle, 
 and the like. 
 
 As collective names for all such structures, which, it 
 is needless to say, are prehistoric, and are of Bronze 
 Age origin at the latest, the German archeologists apply 
 the term Wallburg (i.e., foreign fortress, the word Wall 
 being the same as that met with in Wall-nuss, Wall-fisch, 
 etc., and meaning foreign or “ welsch ”). In Bohemia, 
 
 Fig. 17.—Landscape, showing an extensive scharroch, near Stronegg, in Lower 
 Austria. This particular structure is known locally as the “Hausberg,” per¬ 
 haps preserving in the name the memory of its former use as a habitation. 
 (After Forrer.) 
 
 where 166 of these structures have already been iden¬ 
 tified, 1 they are called Hradiste (from Hrad, or Grad, 
 a city or citadel. Cf. Petro-grad). There is also the 
 Celtic term scharrach, which is occasionally found as 
 the local name for certain specific cases, and which is 
 commonly used by the British and American writers, 
 who employ Celtic terms for prehistoric structures in 
 
 1 Woldrich, in Mitt. Anthrop , Gesell , Wein XXIII, 1883, 
 pp. 1-38. 
 
74 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 general. The persistance of this word in places outside 
 of Britain is seen in the popular designation of one of 
 the great examples of such a structure in Alsace, the 
 ‘ ‘ Scharrachburg. ’ ’ 
 
 Scharrachs vary in size from insignificant mounds to 
 complex citadels, with walls and moats, ramparts, slopes, 
 and terraces. Some of them are plainly built for the 
 purpose of defense, or of enduring a siege; others are 
 so extensive that there never could have been men 
 enough to serve as defenders of the entire place at once, 
 suggesting the structure as organized for defense, not 
 against the concerted action of men, but against the 
 lesser cunning of wild beasts, presumably wolves. In 
 position some occupy heights among masses of hills; 
 some rise from the plain; and some are placed within a 
 loop of a river. Certain of the European scharrachs 
 reach back well into the Age of Stone (Neolithic), as 
 may be proven by the associated artifacts; others are 
 mainly or wholly associated with the Age of Bronze. 
 In a few cases, as with the crannogs, scharrachs may 
 come into recorded history, and are remembered in au¬ 
 thentic traditions, as in the case of the “Danevirke” 
 near Kiel, which are known to have been inhabited in 
 the eighth and ninth centuries of our era. 
 
 In the eastern United States the early pioneers re¬ 
 cord the position of numerous Indian villages, and allude 
 to them as ‘‘forts.” These were collections of the native 
 huts or tents, surrounded by a palisade of logs, placed 
 upright in the ground. Where the palisade was placed 
 upon an earth embankment the latter would be left after 
 the decay of the wood, and present an appearance some¬ 
 thing like the “rings” found in Europe; where there 
 
MATERIAL AND METHODS 75 
 
 had been no such embankment, there would be either a 
 slight ridge resulting from the decay of the wood, or 
 not even that, and the “fort” would disappear, leaving 
 no trace. 
 
 In other cases, as with the European scharrachs, more 
 or less stone was used, or incorporated, in the construc¬ 
 tion, and the remains would have a proportional amount 
 of permanence. Thus the “Queen’s Fort” in southern 
 Rhode Island, between North Kingstown and Exeter, 
 and associated with the sunck-squaw, or “Queen,” 
 Quaiapin, is an irregular enclosure, built upon a rocky 
 hill, or natural pile of rocks. It has a perimeter of 
 nearly eight hundred feet, and is furnished with three 
 bastions, or extended angles, to guard the approaches 
 to the walls. This was one of the main strongholds of 
 the Narragansetts during their wars with the English 
 settlers about 1675, and may easily have had a history 
 in intertribal conflicts long previous to this date. 
 
 Among the numerous earthworks of Ohio and Wis¬ 
 consin, there are many structures which are complicated 
 in design and somewhat suggest certain of the systems 
 of terraces, ramparts, and other earthern structures of 
 prehistoric Europe, and like them suggest an acropolis or 
 metropolitan center. Such a one is the extensive system 
 of works upon which the modern city of Marietta is 
 built, which once consisted of mounds, raised parallel 
 ramparts, and, most remarkable of all, several rectan¬ 
 gular platforms of large size, which look as if they had 
 once been the foundations for extensive buildings, prob¬ 
 ably temples. These were definitely connected in plan 
 with the ramparts, roads and terraces, the whole cover¬ 
 ing the surface of a plain along the Muskingum River, 
 
76 
 
 MAX'S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 fully a mile in length. The construction of the modern 
 buildings has destroyed the larger part of the original 
 earthworks and effectively concealed the original plan, 
 but one of the best of the rectangular platforms has been 
 retained by erecting upon it the new library building. 
 
 Fig. 18.—View of Marietta, Ohio, at the time o settlement in 1780. A hasty 
 sketch taken from an old painting preserved in the Historical Society Collec¬ 
 tion of Marietta College. Squier and Davis present a lithograph of virtual'v 
 the same picture opposite p. 139 of their great work, “Ancient Monuments of 
 the Mississippi Valley,’’ but in this latter a few unimportant details, e. g., 
 the dead tree in the foreground, differ a little. In the original condition 
 the earthworks included several isolated mounds, two large square enclosures, 
 with temple sites, and a “sacra via,’’ consisting of two long parallel 
 ridges, defining a sunken way. The greater part of this extensive system 
 coincides with the residence part of the city of Marietta, and the earth¬ 
 works are nearly obliterated, but the large mound the farthest away from 
 the spectator in this painting lies within the modern city cemetery, and is 
 provided with a flight of steps and a railing on the top. A new city 
 library has iust been erected on one of the temple mounds within the larger 
 square. 
 
 19. Cornfields, Dewponds and Cattle-ways .—Not only 
 are subterraneous disturbances of the soil frequently 
 recorded and the records preserved with great fidelity, 
 but changes made on the surface by human activity may 
 be equally permanent, provided that in the meantime 
 
MATERIAL AND METHODS 
 
 77 
 
 nothing occurs to destroy the record. The blowing of a 
 wind across an exposed plain of sand may obliterate the 
 footprints of a passer-by in an hour’s time, but similar 
 footprints, left on the floor of a chamber in a cave by 
 the one who pushed into place the boulder that sealed it, 
 may remain distinct for a hundred thousand years. The 
 lava from Vesuvius, flowing over the surface of the gar¬ 
 dens of the Pompeian villas, has preserved not only the 
 flower-pots which once held flowers, but the roots and 
 stalks of the flowers themselves, so that now, after nine¬ 
 teen centuries, the plants may be replaced in a restored 
 garden, kind for kind. 
 
 While the above illustrations of the persistence of 
 surface activities are admittedly unusual ones, dealing 
 with extreme cases, the preserving power of a carpet of 
 turf spread over an exposed surface is also very great, 
 and the slight sculpturing of the surface in cultivating 
 the soil, or even that produced by the wearing of paths, 
 or the construction of simple roads, when once covered 
 with verdure, and thus protected from winds and rains, 
 is likely to remain for centuries in about its original 
 condition. 
 
 As an illustration of this may be taken the fields used 
 by the American Indians for the cultivation of maize 
 before the advent of the Europeans with their plow¬ 
 shares. Such fields are found still, even in the more cul¬ 
 tivated parts of New England, where for one cause or 
 another the original surface has been left for the few 
 hundreds of years that separate us from the aborigines, 
 and here the remains are frequently in so permanent a 
 condition that the lapse of as many thousands of years 
 as it now is hundreds would leave the surface unchanged. 
 
Fig. 19.—Remaps of an aboriginal cornfield in Northampton, Mass. The 
 mounds are made separately, placed in rows in one direction but not in 
 the other, and evidently were made to last frcm year to year, cultivation 
 being started each spring in each mound. There was no plowing, or any 
 process that resembled it. In the deed of May, 1664, between the Indians 
 and John Pynchon, et al., by which the adjacent village and the surround¬ 
 ing country were sold to the Englishmen, it was expressly st ! pulated that 
 the Indians should remove at once to the other side of the Connecticut, where 
 the Eng’ish should plow up for them sixteen acres of land for corn planting, 
 but that for the present summer (1664) the Indians should keep their own 
 cornfield, as it was then already planted. This gives the exact date for the 
 last cultivation of this field. 
 
MATERIAL AND METHODS 
 
 79 
 
 In these aboriginal cornfields which antedate the use 
 of the plow, the unit of structure is the single hill, each 
 of which is erected by hand for the nurture of the single 
 plant, or plant association, and which remain year after 
 year in the same place. According to the descriptions 
 of the first European settlers, the surface of each hill 
 was softened up in the early spring, and there were 
 placed in it two or three kernels of “corn” (maize), a 
 bean or two, or occasionally a squash or pumpkin seed, 
 and a fish for fertilization. Otherwise, between the sep¬ 
 arate hills, nothing seems to have been done, and the 
 natural turf was allowed to grow unmolested. The hills 
 were located in rows, sometimes in one direction only, 
 sometimes opposite the hills of the next row, arranged 
 like the squares of a checkerboard. The quincunx ar¬ 
 rangement, where the hills of one row come opposite 
 the intervals of the next, is seldom met with, and on 
 the other hand, a completely irregular arrangement, 
 without rows in either direction, is rather common. Of 
 any attempt at plowing an entire large surface, and the 
 subsequent geometrical arrangement of the hills over 
 a fallow area, there is not the slightest indication. Judg¬ 
 ing from the settlers’ accounts of the first development 
 of a tillage area from the forest, the trees were labor¬ 
 iously felled, and the separate hills established wher¬ 
 ever possible between the stumps, leading to the irreg¬ 
 ular arrangement still often met with, and evidently in¬ 
 dicative of a fairly new field. After the decay of the 
 stumps there seems to have been a natural tendency to 
 get the hills into definite rows, and fields with this ar¬ 
 rangement probably represent a late stage in the recla¬ 
 mation of a tillage area. Presumbly, in reshaping the 
 
80 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 hills from year to year there was a tendency to bring up 
 more soil, and the hills in this way eventually formed 
 structures sometimes two feet in height, and large 
 enough at the base to become confluent. 
 
 In association with the remains of scharrachs, forts, 
 and other signs of the permanent occupancy of a region 
 for a long time, not only the sites of fields and gardens 
 are frequently to be met with, but there may be other 
 surface indications, such as old roads or streets, paths 
 for men, cattle tracks devised by domestic animals, and 
 so on, remaining for a vast number of centuries. Thus 
 in the downs of southern England, in association with 
 the rings and ramparts, are still to be traced many such 
 surface modifications dating from the Bronze Age, or 
 even the Neolithic. Among these are small circular or 
 square areas a little concave, evidently once “dew 
 ponds,” by means of which the inhabitants of these 
 regions solved the problem of the water supply when 
 cut off from the natural watercourses lower down. Such 
 dew ponds, which depend upon the principle of collec¬ 
 tion and storing the atmospheric moisture, have been 
 used in England up to modern times, and men may still 
 be found who understand their construction. 1 
 
 20. Megalithic Monuments .—In many parts of the 
 world there occur curiously placed stones, generally of 
 huge dimensions, and hence called megaliths (Gk. iisyag, 
 large; and XtOoc, stone) which in their position and 
 arrangement show a definite purpose, and cannot be 
 
 1 For this topic cf. Hubbard, Neolithic Dew-Ponds and Cattle- 
 Ways; Longmans, Green & Co., London, 1916; also E. B. Dela- 
 barre and H. H. Wilder, Indian Corn-IIills in Massachusetts, 
 Amer. Anthropol., July-Sept., 1920, pp. 203-225. 
 
MATERIAL AND METHODS 
 
 SI 
 
 accounted for as the result of glacial action, or of any 
 other force save the definite design of man. Such stones 
 occur in a great variety of form and arrangement, and 
 everywhere excite the interest, and often the wonder, of 
 the inhabitants, usually not unmixed with superstition. 
 
 Typical megaliths are rough and irregular of surface, 
 with no attempt at finish or elaboration of the surface, 
 nor do they usully bear any carving or inscription of any 
 sort; yet, in a way, the elaborate stone structures of the 
 early historic peoples, such as the obelisks, and perhaps 
 the pyramids of Egypt, and the temples of Greece, may 
 be nothing more than the elaboration of these cruder 
 types, by which in arrangement and in general form 
 they were long anticipated. 
 
 The simplest type of megalithic structure is the men¬ 
 hir, 1 which consists of a single large pillar, standing up¬ 
 right in the earth, with the base deep in the ground. 
 Menhirs are generally of large or gigantic propor¬ 
 tions, often many times the height of a man, but are 
 proportionately slender, and form a sort of crude 
 obelisk. 2 
 
 Menhirs are occasionally met with arranged in one 
 or more rows across a level plain, and constitute what is 
 technically known as an alignment. Sometimes, too, they 
 are arranged, not in a straight row, or in several paral¬ 
 lel straight rows, but in a circle or oval, the group 
 
 1 Menhir is a Celtic word, from macn, a rock, and Mr, high. 
 
 2 The tallest menhir known, with a height of twenty and a 
 half meters, is situated in Morbihon, Brittany, and is locally 
 known as the “Men-er-Hroek,” or Stone of the Fairies. The 
 others found in the neighborhood are much smaller, measuring 
 between seven and eleven meters. The finished obelisks of 
 Egypt frequently surpass even the menhir of Morbihon, one at 
 Ivarnak measuring over thirty-three meters. 
 
Fig. 20.—Entrance to the village of Menac, at the head of the Carnac Alignment. 
 (From a photograph by Miss Agnes Hunt.) 
 
MATERIAL AND METHODS 
 
 S3 
 
 being then known as a cromlech 1 or stone circle. Both 
 of these types sometimes occur as elements of a vast 
 structure occupying a space many acres in extent, as 
 in the great megalithic temples of Stonehenge and Car- 
 nac, described in Chapter III. 
 
 Aside from structures made with single menhirs, either 
 alone or grouped to form rows or circles, there are two 
 distinct types of compound megalithic formations that 
 result from the piling or arranging of several mega¬ 
 liths into a single structure; the lichaven or trilith , and 
 the dolmen. 2 
 
 The first of these consist of two upright menhirs, set 
 near together, but not in contact, with a third one laid 
 horizontally across the upper ends of the others in the 
 form of an architrave or lintel, forming a great door or 
 gateway. Single triliths may occur; they are also found 
 grouped to form a cromlech or stone circle, like those of 
 Stonehenge. 
 
 The second compound type of monolithic structure, 
 the dolmen, is essentially a stone table, usually of huge 
 proportions, in which a fairly flat top or roof is placed 
 horizontally on the top of three or more uprights. Dol¬ 
 mens occur in the same regions where other types of 
 megaliths are also found and have been interpreted by 
 some, as in the case of triliths and other megalithic 
 structures, as being the cores, or internal skeleton, of 
 structures once covered with earth, which by erosion has 
 long since been removed. 
 
 Megalithic structures of these various types are met 
 with in many parts of the world, but are especially fre- 
 
 1 Cromlech; from Celtic, Tcroumm, curved, and lech , a stone. 
 
 2 Celtic clol-mcn , from dol or daul, a table; and maen, a rock. 
 
Pig. 21.—Views from Carnac, Brittany. From photographs by Miss C. J. Lynch. (a) A small menhir, forming 
 part of an alignment, Carnac. (b) Among the menhirs, Carnac. (c) Dolmen, or stone table, supported by uprights. 
 Situated about a mile from the village of Carnac. 
 
MATERIAL AND METHODS 
 
 S5 
 
 quent in France, Denmark, and the British Isles. In 
 France there have been enumerated 4458 dolmens, and 
 1588 single menhirs, or counting also the menhirs in 
 the various alignments and cromelchs, 6192. 1 These 
 are especially abundant in Brittany, the Department of 
 Morbihon alone possessing 3450 menhirs, more than all 
 the rest of the country. Nearly all of these are made 
 of rough stone, without sign of carving, or more than a 
 slight attempt at a careful shaping, but in a few cases 
 they are fairly symetrical, and occasionally the surface 
 bears definite carvings (petroglyphs). Since, however, 
 some of these last consist of Christian emblems, e. g., 
 the twelve apostles, the Virgin, etc., definitely of recent 
 date, and since the surfaces of these blocks offer tempting 
 fields for such work it is never certain, even when the 
 petroglyphs are of undoubted antiquity, that they were 
 made at the time the stones were set in place. A strik¬ 
 ing secondary modification of an ancient megalithic 
 structure is that of a dolmen at Saint-Germaine-de-Con- 
 folens, Department Charente, where the four support¬ 
 ing monoliths which chance to have been set approxi¬ 
 mately at the four corners of a rectangular top piece, 
 have been carved into cylindrical columns with heavy 
 capitals, and the whole dolmen converted into a small 
 chapel. 
 
 Wherever such striking structures occur, it is only 
 natural for them to excite wonder and speculation, and 
 become connected in the popular mind with local folk¬ 
 lore and tradition. Thus they are variously designated 
 as fairy rocks, fairy homes or tombs, devils’ scats or 
 
 1 Figures from various sources, collected and given by 
 Dechelette, 1008. 
 
86 
 
 MAN'S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 tables, tombs of the giants, of the Saracens, of the 
 English, of the Huns ; beds, chairs and other domestic 
 furniture of Arthur, of Roland, of Gargentua, and so 
 on. The dolmens especially suggest tombs, and are 
 often associated with a long covered gallery leading 
 to the interior. Precisely similar stone structures, form¬ 
 ing a genuine tomb-chamber and the passageway lead¬ 
 ing to it, have been found as the substructure or core 
 of an artificial mound, a circumstance which suggests 
 strongly that the typical dolmens, now standing in the 
 open, were once the cores of similar mounds, subse¬ 
 quently removed through the long continued action of 
 the elements, leaving the stone structures entirely un¬ 
 covered. 
 
 On the other hand, solitary menhirs seem to show no 
 funereal connection, but perhaps may have been me¬ 
 morial stones, marking the site where great events took 
 place, or were somewhat more likely objects of venera¬ 
 tion, in which the vivid imagination of prehistoric man 
 could see the form of the divinity which his fingers were 
 as yet too untrained to attempt to carve. 
 
 That the impression produced upon the untaught by 
 such huge stone structures is one of veneration, if not 
 actual worship, is shown by the attitude towards them 
 taken by the modern population. After the spread of 
 Christianity over Europe, with its iconoclastic tendency 
 towards sacred trees, and all objects associated with the 
 worship of the northern religion, menhirs and dolmens 
 were frequently overthrown, or were else “Christian¬ 
 ized, ’ ’ that is, covered with engraved Christian emblems, 
 surmounted by a cross, and used as wayside shrines. 
 This was plainly the motive in the case of the carved 
 
MATERIAL AND METHODS 
 
 87 
 
 dolmen, above mentioned, with its sculptured col¬ 
 umns. 1 
 
 21. Graves and Burial Places. —Among the most val¬ 
 uable of all prehistoric remains are places of burial, for 
 here are found, not only the bones of the ancient peoples, 
 with all the possibilities arising from careful anthropo¬ 
 metric studies, but frequently also numerous associated 
 objects, placed with and about the dead for ceremonial 
 reasons, and, aside from their intrinsic interest, reveal¬ 
 ing much concerning early philosophy. Among primi¬ 
 tive people the cult of the dead often assumes exagger¬ 
 ated proportions, especially among those that have be¬ 
 come sufficiently civilized to allow the construction of 
 elaborate tombs and burial vaults, while at the same 
 time they lack a sufficient breadth of knowledge to place 
 them in a true relation to the larger world. Thus, in 
 the ancient Egyptian civilization, a necropolis , or city 
 of the dead, always accompanied each city of the living, 
 and occupied a large share of the attention of the people. 
 Here, and elsewhere, the tomb is the dwelling-place of 
 the occupants, and not only may resemble in architec¬ 
 ture the homes of the living inhabitants, but is furnished 
 with the implements and utensils that would be needed 
 if the occupants were still alive. This principle is 
 sometimes carried to such an extent that the favorite 
 domestic animals are buried with the departed chieftain, 
 
 X W. C. Borlase, in his “The Dolmens of Ireland,” 3 vols, 1897, 
 has given an exhaustive review of these structures in that 
 country. The monolithic structures of all sorts, found in Brit¬ 
 tany, are pleasantly described by A. S. Packard, in the Ameri¬ 
 can Naturalist for 1891 (pp 870-890). In the Scientific Ameri¬ 
 can Supplement for Oct. 8, 1909, are given suggestions con¬ 
 cerning the methods employed in transporting and setting up 
 the huge monoliths. 
 
ss 
 
 MAN'S PREHISTORIC TAST 
 
 either killed at the grave or entombed alive, and this 
 custom may be continued so as to include the servants, 
 and even the wives. Practically all of these customs are 
 still extant among various primitive living peoples, and 
 repay the most careful study, since through these the 
 psychological meaning of the details obtained by exca¬ 
 vation often becomes apparent. 
 
 While in many situations and in certain soils human 
 bones are not very durable, and soon vanish completely, 
 in other cases, where the conditions are different, they 
 may last indefinitely, and although they become ex- 
 tremely fragile, still often preserve their exact form, and 
 through the proper means may be removed and hard¬ 
 ened. 
 
 The simplest form of burial is that in which the body 
 is laid in a slight excavation in direct contact with the 
 earth, without coffin or external protection of any kind 
 save, perhaps, a cloth or hide, or something of an equally 
 perishable nature. Even in such cases, under the right 
 conditions, the bones may last for thousands of years. 
 Thus the plains of the Rhine valley are in places thickly 
 .strewn with graves of the Neolithic period, dating per¬ 
 haps from six to ten thousand years before the Chris¬ 
 tian era, and vet in many cases the skeletons are still 
 partly preserved and capable of excavation. With these 
 are usually found various sorts of stone implements and 
 pieces of pottery, indicative of the period to which they 
 belong. Skeletons of the Bronze Age also frequently 
 occur, quite similar in appearance to the first, but defi¬ 
 nitely differentiated from them by the presence of nu¬ 
 merous implements of bronze, perhaps a sword and a 
 buckle for the sword belt in the case of a man, and a 
 
MATERIAL AND METHODS 
 
 S9 
 
 comb, a long hair needle, and a brooch in the case of a 
 woman. 
 
 The proper excavation of such a grave not only re¬ 
 quires considerable technical knowledge in order to real¬ 
 ize all the possibilities of the find, but all the surround¬ 
 ing circumstances, such as the surface geology, the con¬ 
 dition of the soil, and the arrangement of its layers should 
 be carefully noted. When possible, a trained archeolo¬ 
 gist should be called at the very beginning of the work, 
 or when there is no such specialist available, the exca¬ 
 vation should be done only in the presence of the most 
 scientific men obtainable, who should note the details 
 with care. Thus, with respect to the position of the body, 
 one should find one of the following conditions, 
 
 1. Placed horizontally, usually upon the back. The 
 arms may be (a) put upon the chest, (b) laid along the 
 sides, and so on. This is the usual position of burial in a 
 coffin, or when the body is placed in a stone cist or sar¬ 
 cophagus. 
 
 2. Folded up, with the knees to the chin, and placed 
 (a) on the side, (b) on the back, (c) on the face. 
 
 3. True “sitting position, ’’ with the head uppermost. 1 
 
 4. Thrust into a pit without system, the limbs bent 
 or folded haphazard. 
 
 Many archeologists have sought for some definite sym¬ 
 bolic meaning in the various attitudes in which bodies 
 
 1 The so-eallecl “sitting position,” in which aboriginal skele¬ 
 tons are almost always reported to have been found, is usually 
 a journalistic phrase, and signifies any folded position, that is, 
 anything except the usual civilized one, with the body “laid 
 out” straight and on the back or side. The actual sitting 
 position, with the vertebral column upright, the hip-bones below, 
 and the skull above, is of rare occurrence, and when found is 
 generally in association with a mound or tomb of some sort. 
 In certain parts of the earth, however, as in Peru, and in some 
 localities of our own Southwest the true sitting position is 
 usual. 
 
Fig. 22a.—Skeleton of an old Indian man found in North Hadley, 
 Mass., shown exactly as in the grave. Note the fo'.ded position, 
 suggesting the binding of the body when fresh. The photograph 
 was taken from a camera elevated above the body and looking 
 straight down upon it. The skeleton is therefore not in a sit¬ 
 ting position, but folded up, and lying upon the right side. Now 
 in the Museum at Smith College. Prepared by the author. 
 
Fig. 22b.—Skeleton of an Indian man found at Cheapside, near Green¬ 
 field, Mass. Manner of photographing, position, etc., the same as 
 in Fig. 22a. Now in the Gilbert Museum at Amherst College. 
 Prepared by Ralph W. Whipple. 
 
02 
 
 MAX'S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 are buried, and occasionally this belief is justified. In 
 many cases a folded body was probably tied in this posi¬ 
 tion with the avowed intention of preventing either later 
 visitations from the man himself, or the use of the body 
 by an evil spirit, who might possess himself of it to do 
 harm to the living. Sometimes the face will be found 
 turned to a definite point of the compass, frequently the 
 East, which may very likely have had a religious sig¬ 
 nificance, connected with some form of bodily resurrec¬ 
 tion. Again, the utilitarian purpose of folding, or even 
 tying the body in order to make the interment easier, 
 was undoubtedly a frequent motive, especially among 
 a primitive race, poorly equipped with tools for dig¬ 
 ging. 
 
 A curious theory, now known to have been due to a 
 misunderstanding of a modern writer, is that the folded 
 body, the Hocherstellung of the German archeologists, 
 represented the child in the womb, and that this posi¬ 
 tion was symbolic of a new birth from the Earth-Mother. 
 The study of the ideas and customs of modern peoples 
 still in primitive condition, gives much support to all of 
 the above theories save the last, but shows absolutely no 
 evidence of this particular symbolism. 1 
 
 It is always of interest to note the exact relationship 
 of each skeleton to the points of compass, both the di¬ 
 rection of the vertebral column, that is, of the body as 
 a whole, and that to which the face is directed, also in 
 each case the sex, so far as determinable from the bones 
 or the associated artifacts. It is true that here the similar 
 
 1 For positions in burial and their significance, in the light 
 of the study of living races, see R. Andree, in “Archiv fiir 
 Anthropologie,” 1007. 
 
MATERIAL AND METHODS 
 
 93 
 
 direction of a series of skeletons may have been dne 
 merely to convenience or custom, as in old New England 
 “burying grounds” of the seventeenth and eighteenth 
 centuries, but it is precisely in such points that primi¬ 
 tive ritual is likely to show itself, and in a given case 
 the absence of definite plan is as important to establish 
 as the reverse. 1 
 
 The treatment of the bones, both during and after 
 excavation, depends so largely upon the conditions that 
 no general rules can be followed. In most cases the bones 
 when first exposed are soft and easily crumble to pieces, 
 but if they are carefully exposed for a few hours and 
 allowed to dry out before removal they will become much 
 firmer. In no case should a shovel or other large tool 
 be employed in the final excavation, but the earth should 
 be carefully removed by some small implement like a flat 
 stick or knife, or, best of all, mainly by the fingers. A 
 brush, like a clothes-brush (whisk-broom), is also often 
 useful, and much of the earth can be safely brushed 
 away. In cases where the bones are too fragile for the 
 above treatment, certain special methods may be used, 
 such as impregnating the soil, bones and all, in a glue 
 solution, shellac, or water glass, thus making a fossil of 
 
 1 The custom of burying bodies in rows, with or without 
 mounds to mark the single graves, is so universal in Christian 
 countries that one takes for granted that it is; always the 
 custom everywhere. This is, however, no more natural than 
 any other arrangement, and like other methods sometimes 
 appears as a distinct tribal custom. Thus it occurred among 
 certain prehistoric peoples of northern Germany, whose burial 
 places on this account are termed by modern archeologists the 
 Reihengrciber, and it is a possible hypothesis that this common 
 custom of modern times among European peoples may be traced 
 back to these people, either as a direct inheritance or as the 
 perpetuation of an idea. 
 
94 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 the whole mass, which may then be removed in a single 
 piece. 
 
 If the bones lie in moist sand, they may be uncovered 
 only enough to locate them; the sand may then be re¬ 
 placed over them and the whole grave may be isolated 
 from the surroundings by digging deep trenches entirely 
 around the body, and in this condition a box may be 
 built about the whole thing. When a bottom lias been 
 driven through beneath by pushing boards through, one 
 at a time, the box may be screwed up and transported 
 to the museum or laboratory where the investigator 
 wishes to continue to work. Under such favorable con¬ 
 ditions the actual excavation may be carried on, and 
 the most fragile bone, or even a trace of one, may be 
 hardened and fixed by any desired method. 
 
 By this method an interment may be preserved in 
 exactly the same condition that it was in the earth when 
 found by the investigator, and at times such details as 
 the settling of parts of the body shortly after death 
 through decay, displacements by the action of worms, 
 moles, or burrowing insects, and so on, may oe vividly 
 shown. 1 
 
 A series of skeletons of Oscans, discovered a few years 
 ago in Pompeii, beneath the ruins of the Roman city, 
 and antedating them by many hundreds of years, have 
 been left in place, with glass cases built over them, and 
 the whole collection, of some dozen separate graves, en¬ 
 closed within a building erected for that purpose. In 
 
 1 For detaails of the method of excavating fragile skeletons, 
 especially the removal of the entire grave, and the subsequent 
 excavations in the museum, see H. H. Wilder and R. W. Whip¬ 
 ple, in American Anthropologist, July-Sept., 1917, pp. 372-387. 
 
MATERIAL AND METHODS 
 
 95 
 
 this case a museum was built over a set of graves, since 
 they happened to be found in a place constantly visited 
 by sightseers; otherwise some method might be devised 
 for transporting a grave, earth and all, to a museum. 1 
 
 22. Mounds and Tumuli .—A common artificial earthen 
 structure, found in almost all parts of the world, is the 
 mound, typically conical and symmetrical in shape, and 
 varying in size from that of a corn hill to that of a 
 pretentious structure, sightly in appearance and capable 
 of being used as a lookout or observation post. Mounds, 
 like ramparts, are occasionally erected as part of some 
 elaborate system of defense, and have been already men- 
 tiond under the heading of scharrachs, but the common 
 purpose of a mound is funereal, and used as a final 
 abode for the dead. To distinguish such a mound from 
 other types, it may be known as a tumulus or grave- 
 mound. 
 
 The present practice of the disposal of the dead in 
 China well illustrates the formation of grave-mounds. 
 Here there are no burials, in the sense of actual inter¬ 
 ments, but the coffins, often large and elaborate, are 
 set about anywhere in the fields, often along the base of 
 the city walls, and a temporary roof of sods or tiles is 
 placed upon it for its protection. After some time, 
 months or even years, more sods or earth are heaped 
 
 1 There may here be emphasized, not only the advice given 
 above, that of securing the best specialist obtainable, in the 
 event of the discovery of ancient human bones, but also the 
 importance of eventually placing such remains, correctly labeled 
 as to locality, in the nearest public museum, where they may 
 be permanently kept. In private possession such objects are 
 easily injured, the labels are misplaced, and eventually the 
 total destruction or loss of identity of the entire specimen is 
 inevitable. 
 
96 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 up over the original coffin, or over coffin and its tem¬ 
 porary shelter, and eventually the original nucleus 
 disappears beneath a pretentious and symmetrical 
 tumulus. 
 
 The study of these present-day Chinese mounds pre¬ 
 pares us to expect elsewhere as a nucleus human re¬ 
 mains, enclosed in some form of shelter, and, as a mat¬ 
 ter of fact, such is very frequently the case. There are 
 also, especially in regions where cremation has been 
 practiced, plenty of mounds where actual bones are re¬ 
 placed by charred remains, or simply ashes, and in such 
 cases there are likely to be found, associated with the 
 ashes, numerous implements, presumably the possessions 
 of the dead. During the Bronze Age, when incineration 
 was usual, mounds of this period have furnished some 
 of the richest finds of such materials. Occasionally, too, 
 deposits of implements are often found in a mound, 
 without the expected ashes, and it may be supposed 
 that for some reason, either as a cache, or a sacrifice, 
 or as a commemoration, the constructors of the mound 
 intended it primarily to contain the hoard brought to 
 light by modern excavation. We have in Beowulf a 
 detailed account of the building of just such a mound, 
 the appearance and contents of which closely correspond 
 to certain ones actually investigated. 
 
 “Then the Weder people made a mound upon the cliff 
 —it was high and broad, to be seen of sea-faring men; 
 and ten days they built it, the war’s hero beacon. They 
 made a wall round about the ashes of the fire, even as the 
 wisest of men could most worthily devise it there. With¬ 
 in the mound they put the rings and the jewels, all the 
 adornments which the brave-hearted men had taken from 
 the hoard; they let the earth hold the treasure of 
 
MATERIAL AND METHODS 
 
 07 
 
 heroes, put the gold in the ground, where it still re¬ 
 mains, as useless unto men as it was of yore.” 1 
 
 Here also may be considered the ancient Scandinavian 
 custom of preparing a funeral ship for the reception of 
 a chief. A tomb chamber was erected on the deck, and 
 in this were placed, not only the body of the deceased 
 chieftain, but those of several horses and dogs, prob¬ 
 ably those of the animals of which he was especially 
 fond, and which were undoubtedly killed, in order that 
 they might accompany their master. Finally the entire 
 ship was covered by an earthern mound which preserves 
 the ship, in a fair condition, for future archeologists. 
 
 Such a ship may be seen, now placed within the 
 grounds of the University of Christiania, Norway, and 
 enclosed within a building. In this the tomb chamber 
 is still in place, and the ship is adorned with rows of 
 shields, overlapping one another along the sides. The 
 human bones found in the tomb chamber were those of 
 a very large man, and are placed, together with those 
 of the accompanying animals, on tables near the ship. 
 The announcement has just been made of the discovery, 
 by Prof. Brogge of the same University, of another such 
 “Viking ship,” in a still better state of preservation, 
 and with the usual number of dogs and horses, but the 
 human skeleton within the tomb chamber is that of a 
 woman, a “queen,” instead of the usual “king.” 
 
 Aside from all mounds of human construction, de¬ 
 fensive, funereal, or commemorative, there are several 
 natural agencies which are capable for producing well- 
 formed mounds. These are liable to excite the interest 
 of people, and the archeologist would do well to familiar- 
 
 1 “Beowulf,” XLTII. Tinker’s translation, 1910, p. 141. 
 
08 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 ize himself with them and their characteristics. The 
 drumlin is a geological formation produced by the action 
 of the glaciers. It occurs commonly in association with 
 other glacial phenomena, such as gravel hills, and gravel 
 embankments, and any mound that is found in such com¬ 
 pany should be treated with some suspicion. Another 
 sort of mound may he the result of the fall and conse¬ 
 quent uprooting of a large tree in early times. The 
 earth over a considerable area is brought up on the 
 roots, and, after the final decay of the woody structure, 
 assumes an oval shape, rather symmetrical in outline. 
 This sort of mound is usually accompanied by a corre¬ 
 sponding depression on the side from which the wind 
 came that originally uprooted the tree. Ant-hills are 
 responsible for certain small mounds, hut, aside from 
 the tropics, no very considerable mounds ever come from 
 this source. 
 
 23. Cists, Tombs and Sepulchral Chambers .—One of 
 the beliefs deeply imbedded in primitive folklore is that 
 the body laid away is in a sort of sleep, and that it still 
 requires a house as much as, or even more than, when it 
 was alive. There thus arises the idea of the vault or 
 tomb, either for a single individual or for a family or 
 other association of individuals, and there is often, as 
 would be expected, a definite similarity in architecture 
 between the more elaborate tombs and the houses of the 
 living. 
 
 One of the simplest types of receptacle for a dead 
 body is the cist or stone coffin, which consists of four 
 sides, forming an oval or rectangle, with flag-stones for 
 the floor, and either a single large slab, or several smaller 
 ones, for the roof or cover. These are usually designed 
 
MATERIAL AND METHODS 
 
 99 
 
 for the reception of a single body, and are often so 
 small as to necessitate the folding of this one into a 
 compact parcel. Occasionally a cist is of large dimen¬ 
 sions and designed for several bodies. 
 
 Cists in their typical form are frequent in many parts 
 of Europe, many often occurring in association, making 
 a localized necropolis or cemetery. Thus in the Breton 
 island of Thinac, within a space of one hundred and 
 sixty meters, no less than twenty-seven stone cists were 
 unearthed, some of which contained single skeletons, 
 others two, three, or even four. With these were associated 
 implements of polished stone and a little pottery, mark¬ 
 ing the burial as Neolithic. 
 
 An earlier stage of the idea that developed into the 
 cist is seen in the ring or oval found occasionally in 
 Indian mounds in the United States, where the body is 
 found wholly or partly enclosed by stones of various 
 sizes and shapes, placed horizontally and without either 
 floor or cover. 1 By selection of better shaped stones, 
 that is, flat slabs instead of boulders, and by fitting 
 them into box form, the walls of a typical cist are made. 
 Beyond the simple cist comes the gallery-grave, a more 
 complex stone structure, covered with earth heaped up 
 in the form of a mound, designed for the reception of 
 a large number of bodies, and intended either for re¬ 
 peated opening for additional interments, or for a final 
 sealing up at one time. Although there is much indi- 
 
 1 Cf. for instance; Cyrus Thomas, “Mound Exploration,” 12tli 
 Ann. Rep. Bureau of Etlniol., Fig. 31 (Wisconsin). As an ex¬ 
 ample of a more finished Indian cist, though without cover, cf. 
 the same, Fig. 81 (Alexander C., Ill). Cf. also, in the same, an 
 account of the late stone graves near Prairie du Rocher, Ill., 
 pp. 136. 
 
A 
 
 Fig. 23.—A typical gallery grave, with a single opening. Precisely similar struc¬ 
 tures occur, formed of the stone parts alone, but without a covering tumulus 
 (a) View of the entire mound, with the mouth of the gallery, leading into the 
 interior, (b) Ground plan of (a), showing the internal structure; the uprights 
 are shaded, the flat st< nes that form the- roof are given in outline. 
 
MATERIAL AND METHODS 
 
 101 
 
 vidual variation in these structures, so that no two 
 actually correspond, they are similar in general plan. 
 
 A gallery-grave is essentially a large cist, forming a 
 room, or tomb chamber, from which extends a long, 
 low gallery. Both tomb chamber and gallery are roofed, 
 the former with, perhaps, a single flat slab, the latter 
 with a succession of smaller ones. This entire structure, 
 chamber and gallery, is buried beneath a mound of 
 earth, except perhaps at the mouth, and so shaped that 
 the tomb chamber is central, that is, placed beneath the 
 highest point of the mound. Thus completed, the entire 
 structure forms a tumulus, with an opening in the base 
 or not, and with a stone core. 
 
 Gallery graves occur, with two parallel galleries in¬ 
 stead of a single one, but leading into a single tomb 
 chamber; again, a single mound may shelter a number 
 of independent tomb chambers, each with its own gal¬ 
 lery . 1 
 
 Since, now, a tumulus consists simply of loose earth, 
 heaped up over a stone structure, it is probable that in 
 some cases the earth may eventually become eroded and 
 washed entirely away, revealing the stone core, in its 
 original form. In point of fact there are found just 
 such structures, identical with the stone core of typical 
 tumuli, easily explained on this basis, but otherwise quite 
 problematical. In these the tomb chamber itself, with 
 
 1 Such a double gallery grave, with the tumulus still intact, 
 occurs at Mon, Denmark (Forrer, “Urgeschichte des Euro- 
 paers.” Taf. 82, Figs. 3 and 4, p. 240) ; and a large tumulus at 
 Fontenay-le-Marmion. Depte. Calvados, in the eastern part of 
 France once sheltered 11-12 independent gallery graves, each 
 terminating in a small circular chamber (Dechelette “Manuel 
 d'Archeologie,” ISOS, T. 1, p. 398, Fig. 141), 
 
102 
 
 MAN S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 its flat top and its lateral supports, often forms a typi¬ 
 cal dolmen, with a passage (the gallery) leading into the 
 interior, and if we follow up this idea to its logical con¬ 
 clusion, it becomes conceivable that all dolmens may have 
 been originally the central tomb chambers of tumuli, and 
 that, either by the hand of later man, or by natural ero¬ 
 sion, the earth has been removed, leaving the megalithic 
 structure bare. 
 
 In cases where a dolmen occurs alone, without an in¬ 
 troductory passage, this latter may originally have been 
 of wood, and hence perishable, or else the stones may 
 have been subsequently removed, or, finally, it may 
 never have existed, and the chamber alone may have 
 been constructed and sealed, as was believed, perma¬ 
 nently, after the reception of its distinguished dead. 
 
 As the menhir, among a people of growing culture, 
 becomes eventually an obelisk, and as the cromlech be¬ 
 comes the circular temple, with its sculptured columns, 
 so, if we accept the above explanation, does the tumulus 
 become the pyramid, especially as pyramidal, as well as 
 conical, tumuli are occasionally met with. In both 
 cases there is, as the nucleus of the whole structure, the 
 sepulchral chamber, sometimes communicating with the 
 exterior through a stone-lined passage, sometimes per¬ 
 manently sealed, without communication with the out¬ 
 side. When the tumulus is of earth, it is liable to be¬ 
 come removed, leaving the original stone structure in 
 the open air; in the Egyptian pyramid the tumulus, as 
 well as the core, is of stone and mortar, and yet the 
 erosion has already begun in many places, and has fre¬ 
 quently converted the sides, originally made smooth by 
 mortar, into a series of gigantic steps, up which tourists 
 
MATERIAL AND METHODS 
 
 103 
 
 aiT now hauled by Arab guides, a feat never intended 
 by the men under whom these great structures were 
 originally constructed. 
 
 Occasionally in Europe a dolmen occurs, surrounded 
 by a larger circle of stones of which it is the center. 
 This outer wall suggests by its proportions its former 
 use as a low retaining wall around the perimeter of the 
 original tumulus. To those archeologists who prefer to 
 abandon all idea of a connection between a tumulus and 
 a dolmen, the outer circle marks a sacred precinct drawn 
 around a tomb, presumably that of some deified ances¬ 
 tor, and always, as now, intended to stand in the open air. 
 Continuing this idea one is led to see in the much more 
 pretentious cromlechs at Stonehenge and Avebury larger 
 tombs of the same sort, differing mainly in the number 
 and size of the enclosing circles. It is also possible, for 
 those thoroughly committed to the tumulus theory, and 
 the original covering up of such stone structures, to 
 believe that even these great structures were once the 
 cores of gigantic mounds, the washing away of which, 
 as in the case of the smaller tumuli, has revealed the 
 great monoliths as at present. As a matter of fact, the 
 outermost circle at Avebury is still surrounded upon its 
 outer side by an earthen rampart, which is sometimes 
 interpreted as the remnant of the original tumulus, 
 marking its periphery. Yet the argument is not a 
 strong one, and the data are certainly too few to allow 
 a definite assertion either way. The similarity in archi¬ 
 tectural plan between these large and complex temples 
 and a simple dolmen, when surrounded by a circle of 
 stones forming an enceinte or enclosure is undeniable, 
 but can be explained by the very probable assumption 
 
104 
 
 MAN'S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 that all of these works were done by the same people, 
 or by people in the same stage of development. At 
 any rate there seems to be no necessity for believing, 
 because of a similarity in construction, either that all 
 were meant to be earth-covered, or that all were meant 
 to stand free in the open air, but that both types of 
 construction existed side by side . 1 
 
 Dolmens occur in many parts of Europe and Asia, 
 as well as Northern Africa, coinciding very well with 
 the distribution of other megalithic structures. In gen¬ 
 eral “this territory commences in India, and com¬ 
 prises Syria, the Caucasus, the Crimea, many points of 
 the northern littoral of the Black Sea, Northern Africa 
 (Sudan, Tripoli, Tunis, Algeria and Morocco), Spain, 
 Portugal, France, the islands of Brittany, Belgium 
 (rarely), Holland, North Germany, Denmark, and the 
 southeastern part of Sweden . 2 
 
 This extensive distribution puts an end to the old and 
 formerly popular theory which considered these struc¬ 
 tures the work of the Celts, while the close analogy that 
 often exists between the tumuli of the Old and New 
 Worlds, and the study of the associated objects in each 
 case, attaches them definitely to a culture that was late 
 Neolithic, or to the early Bronze Age immediately en¬ 
 suing. As in Europe and Africa, the North American 
 
 1 Since, in the case of a great leader who becomes deified after 
 his death, his tomh eventually becomes a fane or temple where 
 his worship is conducted, the question of what such a structure 
 was when originally constructed becomes of no importance. 
 Thus both Stonehenge and Avebury, and other structures like 
 them, may have been originally erected as tombs, the deification 
 of the occupants of which had the effect of converting them 
 into places of special worship— i.e., temples. 
 
 2 Dechelette, loc. cit., p. 412, 
 
MATERIAL AND METHODS 
 
 mounds are mainly funereal, and bear at their cores the 
 plentiful traces of early interments; often, indeed, the 
 well-preserved skeletons of the original occupants. In 
 all of these structures, when sufficiently obvious to at¬ 
 tract attention, the archeologist must be continually 
 upon his guard against intrusive burials, that is, burials 
 made by a later people, unconnected with the original 
 structure. This phenomenon is commonly met with in 
 Indian mounds, where the artificially piled-up earth of¬ 
 fers better facilities for excavation than the natural 
 soil; there may have been also some feeling of sanctity or 
 veneration concerning such places, where there are pos¬ 
 sibly traditions of actual heroes of the past, or at least 
 the feeling that the purpose of the mound is mortuary. 
 Such intrusive burials occur irregularly disposed over the 
 surface, and bear no relation to the structure as a whole, 
 as is the case with the rightful occupants. Similar 
 intrusive burials have been observed in Europe, where 
 cists or coffins of the Bronze Age, for instance, occur 
 within the galleries of a Neolithic people. 
 
 24. Special and Peculiar Methods of Disposal of the 
 Dead .—To a primitive philosophy a dead body is a 
 curious combination of something to be cherished and 
 something to be dreaded. The processes of decay, ac¬ 
 companied by the development and transformation of 
 numerous creatures, especially various kinds of dip¬ 
 terous insects, are to primitive people wholly mysterious 
 and inexplicable, and furnish a basis for superstitious 
 beliefs. It is probably on account of this latter phenom¬ 
 enon rather than from the disagreeable nature of the 
 processes of decay, to which primitive man would 
 not be especially sensitive, that numerous more or less 
 
106 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 singular procedures connected with the disposal of the 
 body have arisen. Thus certain of the Prairie Indians 
 declare that the first people, finding that a dead body 
 became filled with living things, from which came spirits 
 that flew away to the moon, and fearing that in this 
 way the earth would become depopulated, wisely put a 
 stop to this by inaugurating the practice of cremation. 
 
 Another almost universal belief is in the possibility 
 of the return of the body with the desire to do mischief, 
 either to avenge his death upon the person or persons 
 who have caused it by their enchantments, or to take 
 off with him those whom he has loved in his former life. 
 Again, the fear may not be of the man himself, but of 
 a demon or vampire, which may possess himself of the 
 body, having none himself, and in this borrowed form 
 may creep back to the village with malign intent. To 
 these motives is undoubtedly due the widespread prac¬ 
 tice of tying or wrapping the body, with the arms and 
 legs folded or bound securely; and some see this idea 
 also in the use of stone enclosures and even in tumuli. 
 
 This fear of the body is combined with respect for 
 the remains in the custom of collecting the bones, and 
 reburying them in a special vault, cist, or urn; also the 
 practice of the cinerary urn, to hold the ashes of the 
 deceased belongs here. By all these means the body is 
 rendered innocuous, while it may still be preserved or 
 kept near the former friends. 
 
 Bones may be obtained by exhumation after a suit¬ 
 able period, or may be directly prepared, somewhat after 
 the methods of a museum preparator, by cutting off 
 the soft parts and boiling the remainder. Often the 
 skulls only are saved, and these are sometimes decorated 
 
MATERIAL AND METHODS 
 
 107 
 
 or carved, those of friends through respect, those of ene¬ 
 mies as a sort of exultation over the victory. Often, 
 too, the bones, not merely of a single individual, but of 
 an entire family or small tribe, are, after suitable treat¬ 
 ment, either reinterred, or placed together in a vault, 
 cist, or other container, and forming what is known as 
 an ossuary, that is, a collection of bones. For the hold¬ 
 ing of such collections, particularly the bones of single 
 individuals, large vessels of pottery, funereal urns, are 
 frequently employed, and cases are occasionally met with 
 in which an entire body, without previous dismember¬ 
 ment or process of skeletonizing, is placed in a folded 
 position in a large urn, or beneath an inverted one, the 
 so-called urn-burial. Customs analogous to all of these 
 still obtain in places among cultured races, as, for ex¬ 
 ample, the costly reliquaries of gold, silver and jewels 
 that enshrine the bones of saints, and are stored in the 
 treasure chambers of great cathedrals, or as the cata¬ 
 combs at Palermo, which were in actual operation until 
 about 1890, and in which are stored the bones and dried 
 bodies, not of monks and priests alone, but of thousands 
 of the secular inhabitants of both sexes and all ages. 
 
 The natural tendency to dessication where the air is 
 dry seems to have been the suggestion from which have 
 been developed the various methods employed in mummi¬ 
 fying or embalming the dead, either entire, or, what is 
 more usual, after removal of the viscera and, some¬ 
 times, other soft parts. Such bodies may then be kept 
 in the houses of the living, or house-like tombs may be 
 constructed for them, in some cases forming an exten¬ 
 sive city of the dead, or necropolis. This tendency to 
 segregate the dead is by no means confined to em- 
 
10S 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 balmed bodies, and arises from several motives. Where, 
 for example, a natural grotto or spacious artificial tomb 
 is employed, the reason of this segregation is obvious; 
 in other cases it may be due to respect, as with the Egyp¬ 
 tians, or to a superstitious dread, which is minimized 
 by placing the dead in a place by themselves. In this 
 connection the heavy enclosing walls and iron fences 
 about the cemeteries of modern cultured races are sig¬ 
 nificant. Still another reason for segregation may be 
 found in the existence of places of especial sanctity, 
 and the desire of friends to place the bodies there. This 
 tendency is seen, not only in the crypts and vaults of 
 cathedrals and abbeys, and in churchyards, but in the 
 greet number of stone tombs placed about such sites as 
 Stonehenge and Avebury, and possibly in the many in¬ 
 trusive burials in ancient tumuli. 
 
 All of these mortuary customs are of the greatest 
 interest to the prehistorian in explaining the conditions 
 unearthed by him, as often a slight indication may suf¬ 
 fice to show some ancient custom and suggest the general 
 cultural development of a people. Of all the above cre¬ 
 mation is, of course, the most destructive of data, but 
 the existence of cremation among a prehistoric people, 
 as evidenced by the remains of calcined bones, mixed 
 with ashes, perahps placed in some receptable, is in it¬ 
 self an important evidence. Thus, where in Europe 
 the neolithic inhabitants buried their dead, surrounded 
 by their possessions, the people of the Bronze Age for 
 the most part burned theirs, thus suggesting the con¬ 
 clusion that both the new metal and the new method of 
 disposing of the dead were introduced simultaneously 
 by a race of invaders, possibly those termed the Aryans. 
 
MATERIAL AND METHODS 
 
 109 
 
 25. Town and City Sites .—The primitive “city,” as 
 seen by the stories of the founding of Rome and Car¬ 
 thage, or by the descriptions of cities in the Old Testa¬ 
 ment, was a walled enclosure, built wherever it was most 
 safe and convenient; usually upon a hill, and necessar¬ 
 ily of small proportions. The establishment of such a 
 city was usually the work of one man and his family 
 and dependents, and, although often elaborated later, 
 the original structure was such as could be put up by 
 a few hundred, or even a few dozens, of men within a 
 comparatively short time. Thus the city of Romulus 
 was built upon but one of the seven hills of later Rome, 
 the Palatine, and the early inhabitants, living in “cir¬ 
 cular or oval wattled huts,” 1 could look across their 
 earthen rampart and their outer moat to similar cities 
 upon the neighboring hills. The traveler who penetrates 
 into the interior of the western Sahara, south of Mo¬ 
 rocco, still finds similar conditions, with walled “cities,” 
 the dimensions of which are easily given in feet rather 
 than miles, and where family feuds still flourish, and 
 city rises up against city, as in the days of the Jewish 
 kings. At a later day, when such a city becomes larger, 
 and is enclosed with a pretentious wall of stone with 
 battlements, the original hill-top, upon which always 
 stood the “palace” of the “king,” becomes the citadel, 
 the spot of the greatest veneration. The original palace 
 becomes the temple, and the hill a sacred enclosure. 
 Thus the Acropolis of Athens was anciently the entire 
 city, not unlike many others in the same region. It was 
 especially favored by fortune, however, a larger city was 
 
 1 Frothingliam, “Roman Cities in Italy and Dalmatia,” 1910, 
 p. xvi. 
 
- — / ^ 
 
 Fig. 24.—The Mycenean city of Tiryns, restored in accordance with the data 
 obtained by Schliemann. A typical hill-top city, at its zenith, but not yet an 
 acropolis, since there is no surrounding settlement, and since all the inhabit¬ 
 ants dwell within the city walls. The development of dwelling sites in the 
 plains, about the base of the fortified hill, would convert the original city 
 into the sacred enclosure in the heart of the greater city, the center of the 
 religious life. (From Forrer, after Leonhard and Schliemann.) 
 
MATERIAL AND METHODS 
 
 111 
 
 built around it; the old palace of Erechtheus became 
 the predecessor of the Erechtheum; and the enclosure, 
 now rendered sacred to its inhabitants, rose with their 
 prosperity and became eventually covered with preten¬ 
 tious temples. 
 
 Such a site, when either continuously or intermittently 
 inhabited, becomes in time a rich archeological muse am, 
 since numberless durable objects become lost or thrown 
 away, and remain in the soil. After a long period of 
 occupancy, followed by destruction at the hands of a 
 successful foe, the ruins of such a city may remain de¬ 
 serted for hundreds of years, and become gradually cov¬ 
 ered by dust or sand; when next selected as a city site, 
 perhaps by a tribe who knows nothing about the past 
 history of the place, any walls that are still standing 
 may either be used as a quarry out of which to select 
 building material for the new ones, or they may be 
 simply leveled, and the new city, naturally without cel¬ 
 lars, would be built on the top of the old. In this way 
 the site of Hissarlik, the traditional site of Troy, was 
 occupied successively, at long intervals, by different 
 peoples; and Dr. Schliemann, running his trenches 
 through the soil, found, not only one Troy, but seven, 
 representing as many distinct stages of culture, and all 
 prehistoric. There was found no trace of inscription of 
 any kind, and the entire history of the seven superim¬ 
 posed cities was made out wholly upon the evidence of 
 their material culture, as expressed in their utensils, 
 their weapons, their pottery, and their house sites, with 
 some evidence of their physical structure, as deduced 
 from their bones. 
 
 Similar city sites occur in considerable abundance in 
 
112 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 the peninsula of Greece, in Crete, in Egypt, in Asia 
 Minor, and Syria, especially Mesopotamia, but in many 
 cases, although the ruins often abound with works of 
 considerable artistic merit, there is no inscription to 
 tell us even the name of the city or of the people who 
 inhabited it, or to bear witness to the use or knowledge 
 cf writing in any form. Egypt, however, developed very 
 early a system of hieroglyphics, by means of which the 
 successive dynasties may be arranged in chronological 
 order; in Mesopotamia the cuneiform developed from an 
 older picture writing, and thus preserves to our time 
 upon practically imperishable tablets and cylinders of 
 clay the names of peoples and kings of otherwise for¬ 
 gotten millenia; and a form of inscription is found in 
 Crete, although as yet unread. Yet for a single city 
 site linked to history by decipherable inscriptions there 
 are dozens of others without such records, where the 
 only clues to chronology and racial affinities appear in 
 the artifacts and graves. 
 
 The most important city sites are confined to the 
 warmer regions of the globe, especially the warm tem¬ 
 perate and sub-tropical climes, where otherwise the con¬ 
 ditions are the best for an early development of civili¬ 
 zation, and within those regions all the continents are 
 well represented. While in the Old World many of these 
 sites bear some probable relation to known history, or at 
 least to tradition, the similar remains in the New World 
 are without such connection, and their origin and chrono¬ 
 logy must rest upon deduction. The chief sites of early 
 American civilizations are collected about three geo¬ 
 graphical centers, Mexico, Yucatan and the highlands 
 of Peru, and represent the highest point attained by the 
 
MATERIAL AND METHODS 
 
 113 
 
 American race. These civilizations seem in some cases 
 to have been active and flourishing at the time of the 
 early Spanish conquistadores, like Cortez, Pizarro and 
 Balboa; but these men were unfortunately adventurers 
 without scientific interests, and ruthlessly destroyed the 
 cities and slew the inhabitants. The famous “gold of 
 the Incas,” found in considerable profusion, not in 
 Peru only, but in many other places as well, was taken 
 across the Atlantic in Spanish ships, and the artistic 
 and beautiful forms into which it had been shaped by 
 the Americans, objects that would have incalculably en¬ 
 riched the museums of the world, were transferred into 
 coin, and played a new and important part in develop¬ 
 ing the armies and controlling the diplomacy of Europe. 
 Had these objects of art been made of a less valuable 
 material they would probably have been preserved, and 
 would have been of the greatest assistance in the study 
 of the times and the people that produced them. 
 
 The plentiful remains of walls and temples have 
 proven more durable and are found scattered all through 
 central America, the beautiful, profusely carved ruins 
 overgrown by luxuriant vegetation and hidden in the 
 depths of the tropical forests. These carvings, and the 
 plentiful artifacts found in the sites are essentially sim¬ 
 ilar in style to known objects of modern Indian origin, 
 and leave no reason for the supposition that they were 
 the work of an unknown race. Favored by the climate, 
 and with the natural products of the region, the inhabi¬ 
 tants rose higher in the scale of living than did the 
 aborigines in other places, but, considering the relative 
 advantages, and the material furnished by their natural 
 surroundings in the two cases, the Iroquois of the north- 
 
Fig. 25.—The South Town of the Tiwa pueblo of Taos; a typical New Mexican pueblo, 52 miles northeast of Santa Fe. 
 
 (After Winship.) 
 
MATERIAL AND METHODS 
 
 115 
 
 eastern United States compare very favorably with the 
 southern nations, and at the time of the discovery, al¬ 
 though laboring under all the disadvantages of a harsher 
 climate and an unproductive soil, had laid the founda¬ 
 tion for a state of society which, but for the invasion 
 of the whites, would have soon developed into a com¬ 
 paratively high state of civilization. 
 
 Another good example of organized communal soci¬ 
 ety, combined with the construction of a compact ‘ ‘ city , 9 9 
 in which the separate dwellings are joined into one vast 
 edifice, is seen in the “pueblos” of the southwestern 
 United States, a few of which, like the Zuni and Hopi, 
 are still populous, while others have become deserted, 
 either since the advent of the Spaniards, or in prehis¬ 
 toric times. Of the ruins some are located in great 
 niches high up on the cliffs, and form the well-known 
 “cliff dwellings.” All of these, both modern and an¬ 
 cient, possess a general resemblance to each other, and 
 represent an entirely different solution of the problem 
 of defense from that of a town enclosed with walls, so 
 universal in the Old World. In the true cliff dwellers, 
 sufficient protection was afforded by the altitude of the 
 cliff, so that a defensive technique through the building 
 of walls and ramparts never developed. In the pueblos 
 of the plain the structure itself, wholly or mainly arti¬ 
 ficial, represents the cliff, and the actual dwellings are 
 entered at a considerable height from the ground, and, 
 as in the former case, by a ladder. 
 
 In parts of the world other than those above men¬ 
 tioned, the development towards civilization seems not 
 to have been towards the building of cities, but to have 
 expended itself rather in personal decoration, the manu- 
 
Fig 26.—Ruins of “Cliff Palace”; 'Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado, “a pueblo built in a cave” (Fewkes). This 
 is a typical though unusually extensive, cliff-dwelling, the prehistoric predecessor of the plains-pueblo of modern 
 times. (From a photograph loaned by C. C. Willoughby.) 
 
MATERIAL AND METHODS 
 
 117 
 
 facture of beautiful implements and weapons, and in 
 the practice of hazardous and warlike deeds, so that a 
 people who, from their artifacts, would show a high 
 grade of culture, would be found living in caves or in 
 low huts of the simplest construction. This explains 
 the absence of city sites in northern Europe before late 
 prehistoric times, while otherwise civilization reached a 
 high point. 
 
 In two most unexpected regions occur ruins which, 
 although of the simplest construction, are as yet en¬ 
 tirely unsolved. These localities are Rhodesia, South 
 Africa, and the island of Yap, in the Caroline group, 
 South Pacific. These ruins consist of walls of so-called 
 Cyclopean masonry, and have not as yet been sufficiently 
 excavated to find what forms of artifacts, if any, are 
 connected with them. In spite of the somewhat extrava¬ 
 gant speculations excited by the presence of ruins like 
 these in such unexpected places, their significance is 
 probably merely that of ancient dwellings, or “cities,’* 
 built by the ancestors of the present inhabitants, per¬ 
 haps something like those of the pueblos of Arizona and 
 New Mexico, and does not demand the hypothesis of 
 great civilizations, now absolutely lost and forgotten. 
 
 26. Culture Sites Buried Beneath Volcanic Deposits. 
 —The classical illustration of this condition is that fur¬ 
 nished by Pompeii and Herculaneum, an occurrence well 
 within, not merely the historic period, but at a time and 
 place which produced excellent contemporaneous written 
 records. It is always possible, also, that a similar site 
 from prehistoric times may be brought to light, and 
 there is every reason to expect that in that case the pres¬ 
 ervation of objects would be as perfect as at Pompeii. 
 
ns 
 
 MAN'S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 The experiences there acquired, and the numrous meth¬ 
 ods of excavation and after-treatment, are therefore of 
 great value to the historian. 
 
 In a few localities the probable or certain remains of 
 early human activity have already been found preserved 
 beneath deposits of volcanic origin, although the finds 
 themselves are of rather subordinate interest. Thus at 
 Aurillac in Cantal, Depte. Auvergne, France, there oc¬ 
 curs beneath volcanic deposits of upper Oligocene date a 
 stratum of sand filled with typical eoliths, that is, rough 
 pieces of flint with somewhat doubtful indications of use 
 such as would be given them if employed for simple 
 purposes by a hand shaped like that of man (cf. discus¬ 
 sion of eoliths in §§32 and 33). It is assumed that the 
 sand was accumulated along a river bank, burying from 
 time to time the worked flints left there, and that ulti¬ 
 mately the volcano of Cantal awoke to activity and cov¬ 
 ered with its deposits the entire region, a veritable 
 ‘ ‘ eolithic Pompeii. ’ ’ 1 Another ancent site, referred to 
 the Magdalenian Period in the Quaternary, has been 
 found above Andernach on the Rhine, where beneath a 
 volcanic deposit are found hearths, split bones of horse 
 and reindeer, objects of bone and horn, such as harpoons 
 and lances, as well as numerous paleoliths. Although the 
 most of the volcanic deposits of this region date from 
 the Oligocene, as in the previous case, the character of 
 the artifacts and the species of animals represented, as 
 found below the lava, place this particular eruption much 
 later, a conclusion also allowed from the geological con¬ 
 ditions. 
 
 1 Cf. Forrer; Joe . cit., p. 35. 
 
MATERIAL AND METHODS 
 
 119 
 
 Perhaps no extensive prehistoric site of this nature, 
 with remains of man himself as well as of his work, may 
 ever he found, yet it is always a possibility, and if found 
 is liable to yield results which, in completeness of preser¬ 
 vation, far surpass anything hitherto brought to light. 
 
 Somewhat similar in final result to an inundation of 
 lava is the overwhelming of a culture site by a landslide. 
 Traditions of such catastrophies within historic times 
 exist, like that of the supposed mediaeval town of San 
 Mauritio, near Porlezza, at the east end of the lake of 
 Lugano, in Italy, which is the local explanation of the 
 presence of a ruined church tower, of the twelfth or 
 thirteenth century, situated close under the mountain, 
 and partially buried beneath a detritus of small stones. 
 Such a circumstance would be naturally very unusual, 
 yet it is to chances like these that archeology, historic 
 or prehistoric, is often indebted for the preservation of 
 some of its most valuable material, and is here mentioned 
 as a possible cause for the preservation of data. 
 
 27. Search for Objects Lying Under Water .—This 
 form of archeological investigation, for a long time al¬ 
 luring in its possibilities, has been actually employed 
 only within the past few years, but has already yielded 
 many valuable results. Thus far the work has been 
 confined to lakes and rivers, and to the shallower seas 
 and harbors, but it is within the range of possibility 
 that even the deeper waters of midocean may not prove 
 to future generations so inaccessible as to us, and that 
 even the ocean depths may some time be made to part 
 with their records of early history. Although owing to 
 the late development of ocean navigation such finds will 
 belong practically to the period of written history, there 
 
120 
 
 MAN'S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 is no question but that the ocean is already a vast store¬ 
 house of objects of human workmanship, the results of 
 countless shipwrecks. 
 
 True prehistoric remains, on the other hand, are to 
 be looked for in the waters of lakes and rivers, and 
 those which have been the center of human life and ac¬ 
 tivity from the earliest times, such as the Tiber, the 
 Seine, and the Thames, must cover inexhaustible mu¬ 
 seums of objects, sunk deep in the slime of their beds, 
 yet capable of ultimate recovery through methods al¬ 
 ready known or soon to be perfect. 
 
 The methods to be employed in such research are nat¬ 
 urally of two kinds, dredging or scraping the bottom 
 by means of instruments let down from the surface, and 
 draining or diverting the water for a time, thus laying 
 bare the bed and rendering it accessible to the ordinary 
 methods of the excavator. Thus a project for tempor¬ 
 arily diverting the course of the Tiber as it flows through 
 Rome has already been agitated, though as yet without 
 results. Such an enterprise could hardly fail to bring 
 to light objects of the greatest value, the seven-branched 
 Jewish candle-stick, to mention one of them; yet the 
 astonishing unproductiveness of the Lake of Haarlem 
 in Holland serves as a check upon excessive hope. This 
 lake was formed in the fifteenth century by the over¬ 
 flow of the Rhine, and became the scene of continual ac¬ 
 tivity, including a naval battle. This lake was drained 
 by extensive and costly engineering operations con¬ 
 ducted through the years 1840-1853, yet the land once 
 covered by it, eighteen miles in length and nine in 
 breadth, has yielded nothing whatever of the objects 
 which must have been lost in its waters during the four 
 
MATERIAL AND METHODS 
 
 121 
 
 centuries of its existence, and this in spite of the very 
 numerous irrigation ditches which traverse every por¬ 
 tion of the reclaimed area. 
 
 The other method of search, that through various 
 forms of dredging, has thus far been much more pro¬ 
 ductive, and has been greatly assisted in late years by 
 the employment of various methods which in shallow 
 waters render the bottom more or less clearly visible. 
 Thus a form of water telescope, the bathyscope, was in¬ 
 strumental in the recovery, in 1900-1901, of a shipload 
 of bronze and marble statues, wrecked off the island of 
 Cythera in early Roman imperial times, as they were 
 being carried to Italy. After being discovered they were 
 obtained by divers, and now form some of the most 
 noteworthy objects in the National Museum at Athens. 
 Another instrument with a similar object, the hydro¬ 
 scope, has recently been perfected by an Italian, Giu¬ 
 seppe Pino, and is being applied to a search in Vigo Bay, 
 off the coast of Spain. These and similar methods may 
 he looked to for the recovery of much valuable mate¬ 
 rial of the more recent period, although addition to 
 our knowledge of actual prehistory by this means is not 
 to be expected. 
 
 28. Chance Findings .—Wherever men have lived and 
 wandered, whether as solitary hunters or as nomadic 
 tribes, they carry with them objects of a durable nature, 
 so elaborated by their own skill as to be easily recog¬ 
 nized as the product of human handiwork. Such objects, 
 of stone, of bone or metal, of clay or glass, collectively 
 termed artifacts, furnish imperishable records of man’s 
 former activity. As described above, artifacts collect 
 about the sites of continuous human occupation, and are 
 
122 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 thickly strewn among the ruined walls of prehistoric 
 cities or upon the floors of caves used as dwellings. 
 Aside from such general localities, where artifacts are 
 lost or dropped at random, they are often intentionally 
 placed in the graves with the dead, or committed to the 
 ground for safe keeping and never recovered. It thus 
 happens that, in lands where man has long existed, the 
 earth becomes strewn, as it were, with cultural objects, 
 and these may be met with at any time. Thus almost 
 every American has picked up in the field, or along 
 some country road, at least one flint or quartz arrow 
 point, or perhaps a stone axe; while in many parts of 
 Europe artifacts, not of stone alone, but often of bronze 
 or other metal, are frequently found, as well as coins 
 and bits of glass from later periods. It is obvious that 
 such objects, although distributed without system, are 
 yet most frequently met with in places which, from 
 reasons of physical geography, form natural trails or 
 passes, or where a protected bit of meadow land offers 
 advantages to the primitive agriculturist. It is, for 
 example, a general rule that towns and villages are lo¬ 
 cated among favorable natural surroundings, and that 
 the same advantages, like a bend in a river, a tributary 
 stream, a hill slope with an exposure in some definite 
 direction, with numerous springs along the higher levels, 
 and so on, are equally desirable in all stages of culture. 
 It thus happens that in a country in which one popu¬ 
 lation is replaced by another the centers of population 
 of the two for the most part coincide, and that the cities 
 of the replacing folk are erected on the ruins of the old. 
 Thus it was that the promontory of Troy has been the 
 seat of seven culture sites, while the surrounding conn- 
 
MATERIAL AND METHODS 
 
 123 
 
 try lias none, and thus also, in America, the sites of the 
 most important of the aboriginal towns are now, with 
 a few exceptions either way, occupied by the largest 
 towns of the European race. Since, moreover, a trail 
 or road is constructed for the purpose of connecting 
 important centers, these will also coincide, and thus one 
 culture covers another. 1 
 
 As a result of the above principles, the very best 
 places in which to look for chance findings from past 
 times are approximately those which are most populous 
 at the present da}", or, as this is often inconvenient, the 
 fields and lanes in the immediate vicinity. 
 
 Often, too, the topography of a country concentrates 
 human traffic along definite restricted places. This is 
 illustrated simply by the numerous “carrying places’ 1 
 for canoes in the wilderness of Maine and Canada, nar¬ 
 row places between two river systems near their head¬ 
 waters, and as the same carrying places must have been 
 used for many hundreds, if not thousands, of years, they 
 are especially favorable for the search for objects of hu¬ 
 man culture. An important mountain pass illustrates the 
 same principle upon a much greater scale, since not 
 only has the general traffic between the lands thus con¬ 
 nected been concentrated along certain of these, but large 
 armies have marched over them, with all the chances of 
 
 1 In New England, where a thriving European population has 
 replaced a populous aboriginal one, many of the principal high¬ 
 ways coincide with important Indian trails, and the history of 
 the transformation from one to the other is well known—trail, 
 bridle-path, country road, and finally state road covered with 
 macadam or tarvia. Thus the “Old Pequot trail” in Rhode 
 Island, from Narragansett Pier to Westerly, or the trail from 
 Patuxet (Plymouth. Mass.) to the Wampanoag center at Sow- 
 wams (Warren, R. I.). 
 
324 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 losing various objects. Occasionally, also, some local con¬ 
 dition tends to concentrate objects of a particular kind 
 in a single place, the explanation of which is not always 
 clear. Thus a certain ploughed field in Massachusetts was 
 for a long time a noted place for stone arrow heads. Many 
 handfuls were picked up in a definite spot, with a radius 
 of fifty feet, but in nearly all cases the points were broken 
 off. An examination of the locality revealed the fol¬ 
 lowing: The field lay along the side of a gentle slope, 
 at the foot of which ran a little brook which expanded 
 here into a natural spring. Restoring in imagination 
 the early conditions, we would have an aboriginal forest 
 of great tree trunks clear of undergrowth, and deer 
 frequently coming to the spring. The hunters would 
 naturally resort to this place, concealing themselves 
 upon the other side of the brook, which offered a better 
 view of the spring, and shoot at the deer as they came 
 down to drink. The arrows that missed would strike 
 the trunks of the trees in the opposite hillside, a dis¬ 
 tance of only twenty-five to fifty meters, and would either 
 fall to the ground or remain imbedded in the trees. The 
 fall and decay of the tree trunks would liberate the 
 included arrowheads, and this process, continuing for 
 a long period, would ultimately concentrate a quantity 
 of these at this spot, mainly with the points broken by 
 impact with the tree trunks. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 EUROPEAN PREHISTORY 
 
 Importance of Europe in the Study of Prehistory—The Four 
 Ages of Human Culture—Recent Modifications of Prehis¬ 
 toric Chronology— The Eolithic Aye —Characteristics of 
 Eoliths—The Users of the Eoliths—The Period of Strepy; 
 the Transition to the Paleolithic— Early Paleolithic Timex 
 —The Cliellean Period—The Aclieulian Period— Middle 
 Paleolithic Times; the Mousterian Period—The Aurigna- 
 cian Period; the Solutrean Period; the Magdalenian 
 Period —Late Paleolithic Times; the Azilian-Tardenoisian 
 Period; the Kitchen-Middens—The Transition to the 
 Neolithic —The Neolithic Aye; Modes of Living; the Art of 
 Weaving; the Ceramic Art; Masculine Activities—Mega- 
 litliic Temples—The First Metals; the Cyprolithic Aye — 
 Casting and Smelting; the Advent of Bronze —The Btonzr 
 Aye —The Introduction of Iron— The Early Iron Aye; the 
 Hallstatt and La Tene Periods—The Transition from Pre¬ 
 history to History. 
 
 29. Importance of Europe in the Study of Prehistory. 
 —Not only has the foundation of the science of prehis¬ 
 tory been laid by Europeans, but the great majority of 
 the objects upon which the science is based have been 
 excavated from European soil and stored in European 
 museums. In Europe, also, there lias been a practically 
 continuous history of human development from the first 
 crude attempts to employ the external forces of nature 
 to the highest modern culture, an*d the periods into which 
 this enormous extent of time has been divided have been 
 without exception based upon European material and 
 named from European sites. It is d priori probable 
 
 125 
 
126 
 
 MAX'S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 that in either Asia or Africa, certainly in the former, 
 the history of man has been equally long and equally 
 continuous; it may even be that here occurred the actual 
 development of the successive human or semi-human 
 types that have appeared in Europe from time to time; 
 yet thus far the Asiatic deposits have been but little 
 worked, and the actual data for Asiatic prehistory are 
 not yet in our possession. 
 
 As for the New World, the people inhabiting both 
 North and South America at the time of the discovery 
 belonged, with the possible exception of the Eskimos, 
 to a single homogeneous race, that showed no definite 
 indication of a long previous history on the continent. 
 In culture, they exhibited, it is true, a number of differ¬ 
 ent stages, yet these ranged mainly from the early Neo¬ 
 lithic to the early Bronze Ages (the latter represented 
 by copper), and furnished no generally acknowledged 
 instance of Paleolithic culture, or of Quaternary exist¬ 
 ence. Recent discoveries in the Delaware valley have 
 proven to some the existence of a Quaternary human 
 race, but the evidences are but faint, and restricted to 
 this immediate region. The continent is thus capable 
 of furnishing data for Neolithic development in place, 
 and possibly for a disconnected glimpse of Quaternary 
 man in a single locality, but there is nothing like the 
 connected history of human development as found in 
 Europe . 1 
 
 1 The best general textbook of European Prehistory is that 
 of Dechelette, “Manuel d’Archeologie,” published by Picard, 
 Paris. The first volume, “Archeologie Preliistorique,” appeared 
 in 11)08, and a second Volume, “Archeologie Celtique.’’ came out 
 in 1914, but soon after the author fell in the defense of his 
 country, and the place of Dechelette remains unfilled. A con- 
 
EUROPEAN PREHISTORY 
 
 127 
 
 30. The Four Ages of Human Culture .—The ancient 
 classical writers declared that in the earliest times man¬ 
 kind, ever at strife each with his fellow, fought with 
 such natural weapons as fists, teeth, and nails, aug¬ 
 mented by stones, and by branches plucked from trees. 
 They were for a long time ignorant of the use of fire, 
 but after its employment had been learned, metals were 
 gradually introduced, first bronze, then iron. There was 
 thus established an early division of human history into 
 three distinct ages, characterized respectively by the 
 use of stone, bronze and iron. 
 
 venient compendium in small compass, riclily illustrated and 
 giving the essentials of the “Urgeschlichte des Europaer,” 
 written by Dr. Robert Forrer, was published also in 1908, by 
 Spemann, Stuttgart. A third general work of great value, al¬ 
 though confined mainly to Scandinavia, is the “Nordische Alter- 
 tumskunde” of Sophus Muller, the successor of Worsaie in the 
 Museum at Copenhagen (2 vols. Truhner, Strassburg, 1898). 
 The same author issued also a shorter and more general work 
 by the same publisher, “Urgeschiclite Europas,” in 1895, which 
 is especially full on the Bronze Age and later times, but neglects 
 the Ages of stone. For these latter there is the book of Iloernes, 
 “Der Diluviale Mensch in Europa,” Braunschweig, 19C3, well- 
 treated but condensed; but by far the best, as well as the 
 newest, is “The Men of the Old Stone Age” by Henry Fairfield 
 Osborn (Scribner, 1916). This is limited to the times given in 
 the title, but may be reinforced by Tyler’s “The New Stone 
 Age in Northern Europe,” Scribner’s, 1921, and by the works 
 of the two de Mortillets, “Be Prehistorique,” 1S94, and “Le 
 Prehistoire,” 1910, both published in Paris.. Other and older 
 works in English are the classic of Sir John Lubbock (Lord 
 Avebury), “Prehistoric Times,” now in its sixth edition, and 
 published by the Appletons; the works of Sir John Evans, 
 “Ancient Stone Implements” and “Ancient Bronze Imple¬ 
 ments,” from the same publishers, and Boyd Dawkins’s 
 “Early Man in Britain,” now out of print, and extremely 
 rare. A recent book by Sollas, “Ancient Hunters” (Mac¬ 
 millan, 1911) describes the men of the Stone Ages, and 
 makes interesting comparisons between them and primitive 
 tribes now living. There are also numerous reviews of foreign 
 work given by George Grant MacCurdy in the American Anthro¬ 
 pologist and in’ various Smithsonian Annual Reports. 
 
12S 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 Lucretius states with great clearness that * ‘ the ancient 
 weapons were fists, nails and teeth; also stones, and 
 added to these fragments of boughs from the forest; but 
 after fire and flames were once understood, the forces 
 of iron and bronze were discovered. The use of bronze 
 was known before that of iron. ’ ’ 1 
 
 Horace, though less explicit, draws a spirited picture 
 of early times “when man first crept out of the new- 
 formed earth, a dumb and filthy herd, he fought for 
 acorns and lurking-places with nails and fists, then 
 with clubs, and at last with arms, which taught by ex¬ 
 perience, they had forged. They then invented names 
 for things, and words to express their thoughts; after 
 which they began to desist from war, to fortify cities, 
 and enact laws. ’ ’ 2 
 
 It is then a little surprising that, with these clear state¬ 
 ments of early beginnings before them—at once the most 
 natural and, to scholars, the most probable—the phil¬ 
 osophers of later centuries, blinded by the glamor of a 
 former Golden Age, or Garden of Eden, rejected for 
 centuries this natural method of subdividing human 
 history. Yet this they did, totally and completely, and 
 
 1 Lucretius, “De Rerum Natura,” V. 12S2 ff. 
 
 “Anna antiqua manus, ungues, dentesque fuerunt, 
 
 Et Japides, ct item sylvarum fragmina rami; 
 Posterius ferri vis est, aerisque reperta, 
 
 Et prior aeris erat, quam ferri, cognitus ususP 
 
 2 Herat., Satirae; Lib I. Sat. III. 
 
 “Quam prorepserunt primis animalia terris. 
 
 Mutum et turpe pecas, glandem atque cubilia propter 
 Unguibus et pugnis, dein fustibus, atque it a porro 
 Pugnabant arm is, quae post fabricaverat usus; 
 
 Donee verba, quibus voces sensusque notarent, 
 IVominaque invenere; deliuc absistere bello, 
 
 Oppida coeperunt munire, et ponere leges.” 
 
EUIIOI > EAN PREHISTORY 
 
 120 
 
 it was revived only within the nineteenth century by a 
 Danish scholar, Christian Thomsen. As curator of the 
 great National Archeological Museum at Copenhagen, 
 Thomsen arranged his material, excavated from the soil 
 of the country, according to the threefold classification of 
 Lucretius, stone, bronze and iron , and definitely estab¬ 
 lished this as a scientific chronology in 1836. 1 
 
 This foundation laid by Thomsen was extensively built 
 upon by his successor in the Museum at Copenhagen, 
 Worsaae, who established a further subdivision of each 
 of the three primary ages. It is of especial importance 
 to note that his two subdivisions of the Age of Stone 
 were (1) the Paleolithic, or Old Stone Age, in which the 
 implements were crudely fashioned, and the surface left 
 rough, and (2) the Neolithic, or New Stone Age, the im¬ 
 plements belonging to which were ground down to a 
 smooth, or polished, surface. His subdivisions of the 
 other ages, though important, proved to be of subordi¬ 
 nate value. 
 
 There were thus established four successive ages of 
 human activity, as registered in the construction of their 
 instruments, as follows: 
 
 I. Paleolithic Age; Old Stone Age; surface of im¬ 
 plements left rough. 
 
 1 Thomsen, C. J.. “Ledetraad til Nordisk Oldkyndighed,” 1836 
 (Introduction to Nordic Archeology). 
 
 For an excellent account of the development of this system, 
 and of the activity of these founders of European prehistory, 
 cf. Sophus Muller, “Nordishche Altertumskunde, Strassburg, 
 1S97. Bd. 1 ,pp. 217ff. “Nilsson on the Stone Age” (Engl. 
 Transl.; edited by Sir John Lubbock, is also a classic (London, 
 Longmans, Green & Co., 1868). The original, entitled “Skan- 
 dinaviska Nordens Erinvanare” (The Primitive Inhabitants of 
 tbe Scandinavian North), appeared in numbers between 1838- 
 1843. Nilsson was Professor of Zoology at Lund, in Sweden. 
 
130 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 II. Neolithic Age; New Stone Age; surface of im¬ 
 plements smoothed (“polished”). 
 
 III. Bronze Age. 
 
 IY. Iron Age. 
 
 This sequence of ages, although originally established 
 as a relative chronology for the remains found in north¬ 
 ern Europe, was soon found applicable to other regions 
 as well, and it even became probable that these four 
 ages represent the successive and necessary steps of 
 human development everywhere. Aside from the dif¬ 
 ferences in the types of implements themselves, other 
 constant indications of distinct phases of culture were 
 found associated with each type, so that gradually 
 the main characteristics of each age became estab¬ 
 lished. 
 
 Thus, in the Paleolithic Age man was a nomad hunter, 
 without any knowledge of agriculture, of weaving, of 
 pottery, or of the domestication of animals. He lived 
 in caverns and rock shelters, the occupancy of which 
 he disputed with the cave bear and other fierce beasts; 
 his clothes, if any, consisted of the skins of animals. In 
 Europe at least the early part of this age fell within 
 the time of the Great Ice, and such glacial animals as 
 the mammoth, the reindeer, the cave bear and the 
 hairy rhinoceros, were man’s contemporaries. 
 
 The Neolithic Age, judging from its remains, gives a 
 much more pleasing picture. The glaciers had disap¬ 
 peared, save in the highest mountains, and a series of 
 beautiful lakes occupied the lower levels. In some dis¬ 
 tricts the man of this age lived in settled villages upon 
 the rich alluvial plains which now extended in places 
 
EUROPEAN PREHISTORY 
 
 131 
 
 along the river valleys; in others lie planted piles over the 
 shallow borders of the lakes, and upon them erected 
 whole villages of huts, while, whenever opportunity af¬ 
 forded, he was still not above enjoying the occasional 
 shelter of the caverns, now freed forever from the larger 
 carnivora, and thus kindled his fires and held his feasts 
 upon the very soil that had buried the remains of 
 Paleolithic man and his activities. 
 
 He possessed herds of sheep and goats, animals, as 
 some say, hitherto unknown in Europe, and presumably 
 of Asiatic origin; he tamed the horse, which a cruder 
 age found useful only for food, yet failed to subdue the 
 huge native cattle (Bos primigenius) and used instead 
 a smaller allied form (Bos taurus ), also apparently 
 Asiatic. He was still a skillful hunter, and, especially 
 in the lake villages, developed numerous methods of 
 capturing fish. While the male members of the commu¬ 
 nity engaged thus in the rougher occupations of herd¬ 
 ing and hunting, the women developed the arts of pot¬ 
 tery and weaving, and actual fabrics, woven from the 
 wool of sheep and the fibers of flax, gradually took the 
 place of the more unmanageable skins. Whether the 
 Neolithic culture was attained by natural development 
 in place by Paleolithic Europeans, or whether it was 
 imposed from without through immigration from outside 
 of Europe, cannot at present be settled; and the same 
 question, although in a less insistent form, confronts the 
 student of the transition from Neolithic to Bronze. 
 Here, however, although the malleable metals themselves 
 may have been introduced either through commerce or 
 by invasion of alien people, there could have been no 
 
132 
 
 MAX’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 complete replacement of one people by another, as some 
 think may have been the case in the transition between 
 Paleolithic and Neolithic. 
 
 The next age, which although termed the Bronze Age, 
 is characterized by the introduction of all the common 
 malleable metals found in a free or easily reducible 
 state, begins with the use of such free metals as cop¬ 
 per, tin, silver and gold, elaborated by pounding; then 
 there are successively introduced the arts of melt¬ 
 ing the metals, and running the molten liquids into 
 moulds; of mixing them in definite proportions to 
 obtain results better suited to definite purposes; 
 and finally of reducing certain of them from their 
 ores, thus greatly increasing the amount of available 
 material. 
 
 From the Age of Bronze, during which there devel¬ 
 oped the simple smelting operations necessary to obtain 
 copper and tin from ores, the transition to the use of 
 iron was but a step, and consisted mainly in the discov¬ 
 ery of methods whereby the ores of this metal, more re¬ 
 fractory than those of copper and tin, could be simi¬ 
 larly reduced, and here, along various points through 
 the metallic ages, written history begins. Before this, 
 through the obscurity of the early, half-forgotten le¬ 
 gends of the great historic nations, we hear the clash 
 of bronze swords against bronze armor; and the ringing 
 blows struck by Achilles, by David, or by Siegfried, 
 blend with the cadence of epic poetry. These immortal 
 poems of the heroic ages give us rare glimpses of Bronze 
 Age culture: now a banquet hall, now a public sacrifice, 
 or funeral games, and again an idyl of primitive family 
 
EUROPEAN PREHISTORY 
 
 133 
 
 life. Discounting the glamor placed about them by the 
 bards, and studying them in the twin lights of excava¬ 
 tion and ethnology, or the study of primitive peoples 
 still extant, these poems describe for us in often the 
 minutest detail, the times and the people long thought 
 forgotten or wholly mythical. Greece was scarcely be¬ 
 yond the Bronze Age when she acquired the art of writ¬ 
 ing from further east, and the rapid dissemination of 
 this art through the rest of Europe found the natives in 
 various stages of culture, mainly at about the transition 
 from bronze to iron. And here, with the ability to rec¬ 
 ord the annals of the people in some form of writing, 
 the spade yields to the pen, and the task of the pre- 
 historian is over. 
 
 31. Recent Modifications of Prehistoric Chronology .— 
 The later progress in prehistorical research, which for 
 the past generation has been increasingly rapid, has 
 found it necessary rather to expand than to destroy the 
 foundation laid down by the Scandinavian archeologists. 
 The most fundamental addition has been that of the in¬ 
 troduction of a fifth age, earlier than the Paleolithic, 
 and including the great extent of time that has elapsed 
 between the picking up the first stones with an intelli¬ 
 gent purpose, and the acquirement of sufficient knowl¬ 
 edge to shape them into the crudest form of paleo- 
 liths. To this age of dawning intelligence has been given 
 the appropriate term Eolithic (Gr. 5 'Hg>£ the dawn). 
 During the first, and indeed the greater, part of this 
 extensive epoch, sticks and stones, and probably also the 
 bones of the larger animals, were awkwardly grasped 
 by hands still accustomed to the boughs of trees, and 
 
134 
 
 MAN'S PREHISTORIC FAST 
 
 used quite as they were, without thought of bettering 
 their shape; then, after this step was first taken, tht im¬ 
 proved implement did not at once become a paleolith, 
 but there must have intervened a long period of time, 
 during which these implements were purposely broken, 
 with some attempt at shaping, but without resulting in 
 any definite or constant forms. Most chronologists reckon 
 this transition period with the Eolithic, yec a few propose 
 for it a distinct place in the enumeration of the ages, 
 and give it the name, of Arch eolithic or Transpaleolithic. 
 A similar tendency leads some also to separate from the 
 Paleolithic Age a short period 0 of transition to the Neo¬ 
 lithic, during which the implements were but partly 
 smoothed, yet finely and carefully made; the Mesolithic, 
 or Transneolithic. 
 
 Again, too, some wish to emphasize the introductory 
 period in the use of metals, during which certain metals 
 which occur free, especially copper, were worked much 
 as if they were stone, and shaped on the anvil by beat¬ 
 ing. This stage probably preceded everywhere the use 
 of bronze, the preparation if which demands not only 
 the knowledge of both copper and tin, but the arts of 
 fusing and molding. To this earliest of the metallic 
 periods, in which, while men were still in the Stone Age, 
 and used for the most part stone implements, a few 
 metals were introduced, although treated in every re¬ 
 spect like stones, the term Cyproiithic has been applied. 
 Thus, while to the more conservative prehistorians the 
 ages of human development may be still limited to five, 
 it is also possible, and sometimes convenient, to extend 
 them to eight. The comparison of these two classifica¬ 
 tions is as follows: 
 
EUROPEAN PREHISTORY 
 
 Chronology with five Ages 
 Eolitliic. 
 
 Paleolithic. 
 
 Neolithic . 
 
 Bronze. 
 
 Iron . 
 
 Chronology with eight Ages 
 (Eolithic 
 
 . I Archeolithic 
 
 \ Paleolithic 
 
 . \ Mesolithic 
 
 . Neolithic 
 
 [Cyprolithic 
 l Bronze 
 .Iron 
 
 Another modification, the result of the increase of our 
 knowledge, has been the subdivision of each of these 
 ages into periods, based upon certain characteristics in 
 the implements found, and upon their relative age, geo¬ 
 logically. These periods bear each the name of some 
 locality in which typical deposits occur, usually the first 
 known. Thus, the Chellean Period of the Paleolithic 
 Age, is named from the French town of Chelles (Seine- 
 et-Marne), near which occur deposits investigated by de 
 Mortillet in 1887, and characterized by a certain low 
 type of paleolith, unlike any previously studied. In 
 chronological sequence, as deduced both from the local 
 geological conditions and the types of implement, the 
 Chellean Period seems to follow directly the Strepyan, 
 a period named from Strepy in Belgium, and antedates 
 by a little the Acheulian, a period established upon the 
 French deposits at St. Acheul, in the valley of the 
 Somme. It is to be anticipated that the number of 
 these periods, and of the stages of human devolpment 
 which they represent, will be somewhat increased with 
 greater knowledge, yet for the most part the implements 
 found in localities newly opened up belong to periods 
 already established, and thus, as with geological pe- 
 
136 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 riods, tlie prehistoric sites found in any part of the 
 world, or at least throughout Europe, where the condi¬ 
 tions have been more thoroughly studied, can be con¬ 
 sidered as “Acheulian,” “Mousterian,’’ “Solutrean,” 
 etc., wholly in accordance with the types of implements 
 found, without reference to the geographical location. 
 In estimating the period of a given deposit, the geologi¬ 
 cal conditions have a certain weight; yet if must be rec¬ 
 ognized that the various stages in human development 
 were not necessarily passed through at the same time 
 in all parts of Europe, and that, in the presumable iso¬ 
 lation of one region from another, the men inhabiting 
 one part of the continent might be in the midst of a 
 Mousterian culture, while others had scarcely attained 
 the Chellean or Acheulian. 
 
 While it is thus seen that, with the early inhabitants 
 of Europe living in different grades of culture at the 
 same time, and perhaps progressing at different rates, 
 it is not wholly possible to form an absolute chronology 
 in years for the successive periods of prehistory, or to 
 reconcile them exactly with the various geological events 
 of the Ice Age and afterwards, still many have attempted 
 a general correspondence between the two sets of data. 
 Upon the geological side the successive advances and 
 retreats of ice, as given in Chapter I above, furnish a 
 good background for dating the periods, especially as 
 the bones of the successive faunas, the relative dates of 
 which are well known, are also usually found in the cul¬ 
 ture deposits, under circumstances which show the two 
 to be contemporaneous. If, for example, a deposit con¬ 
 tains flints crudely shaped, and also reindeer bones 
 split for the extraction of marrow, the case is proven 
 
EUROPEAN PREHISTORY 
 
 137 
 
 that the men who made those flints used reindeer as 
 food, and that the climate was such as was suitable for 
 those animals. Actual sketches of the wild ox, the rhino¬ 
 ceros, and the mammoth carved upon bone, or sometimes 
 upon mammoth ivory, have quite the weight of his¬ 
 torical documents, and prove the absolute contempo¬ 
 raneity of these animals with the men who used the 
 associated types of flints. In this way, by the combina¬ 
 tion of all possible evidence, both geological and cul¬ 
 tural, by the study of the associated strata, and by the 
 study of the artifacts, the successive periods of Europe 
 prehistory have been made out, and synchronized with 
 the geological events with sufficient certainty to allow 
 a definite succession with relative dates. Such a 
 chronological table of European prehistory is here pre¬ 
 sented, and it may serve both as a brief general survey 
 of the total period of human activity so far as known, 
 and also as a table of contents for the more detailed 
 account given in the ensuing pages. 
 
 While the succession of prehistoric periods as given 
 here is accepted with only slight modification by all pre¬ 
 historians, there is still some difference of opinion con¬ 
 cerning the synchrony of these periods with the geologi¬ 
 cal events. By the study of both artifacts and the bones 
 of the associated fauna it is generally conceded that the 
 Mousterian and Magdalenian Periods of the Middle 
 Paleolithic were mainly spent in a cold climate, in which 
 cave dwelling was a necessity, while certain other pe¬ 
 riods, like the Solutrean, and perhaps the Chellean, show 
 a warmer climate, and extensive plains, with residence 
 in the open. Because of this some have placed the two 
 first within the long period of the Wurm Ice, with an 
 
138 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 hypothetical warmer time in the middle for the Solu¬ 
 trean, while others have even been inclined to push the 
 Mousterian Period back into the time of the Piss Ice, 
 with the Solutrean filling the warmer interglacial in¬ 
 terval between this and the Wurm. This would put the 
 Acheulian and Chellean between the Riss and the still 
 older Minclel Ice, leaving for the time of the Strepyan 
 (pre-Chellean) activity the Mindel Ice itself. From this 
 extreme antiquity, which is the farthest back ever pro¬ 
 posed, modern investigators, led mainly by the French 
 archeologist, Obermeier, have brought the Middle Paleo¬ 
 lithic much farther forward, and placed the Solutrean 
 just after the close of the Wurm Ice, and the Aurig- 
 nacian and Mousterian within it. The cave life, and 
 evidently cold climate of parts of the Magdalenian Pe¬ 
 riod, are then explained as due to the lesser glaciations 
 of the early Pleistocene, the Biihl, and the Gschnitz, 
 bringing the transition periods (late Paleolithic and 
 Neolithic) well on toward modern times, with the 
 modern river systems already represented by chains 
 of lakes, 1 
 
 1 For recent attempts to establish approximate dates for the 
 periods of European prehistory, and to synchronize them with 
 the geological events, especially those of the great Ice Age, as 
 established by Penck, cf. of the following: Boule, M.: “Observa¬ 
 tions sur un silex taille du Jura, et sur la chronologie de M. 
 Penck.” UAnthropologic, T. 19, 1908. pp. 1-13. Obermeier, H.: 
 “Ees formations glaciaires des Alpes et fhomme paleolitliique.” 
 L'Anthropologie, T. 20. 1909. pp. 496-522. Schmidt, R. R.: “Der 
 Sirgenstein und dis diluvialen Kulturstatten Wurttembergs.” 
 Stuttgart, 1910. 47 pp. 
 
 A translation of several earlier papers by Obermeier (from 
 L'Anthropologie , T. 16, 1905, and T. 17, 1906), together with 
 the author’s supplementary notes to date, is to be found in the 
 Smithsonian Annual Report for 1906, pp. 373-397, with the title 
 “Quaternary Human Remains in Central Europe.” In this 
 there appears a partial chronology, according to the author’s 
 
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE DIVISIONS OF EUROPEAN PREHISTORY 
 
 
 
 Roman Imperial 
 
 
 Z 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 La Tene 
 
 
 CC 
 
 500 B. C. 
 
 Phoenician 
 
 Merchants 
 
 Homeric Age 
 
 
 
 
 
 /~N 
 
 
 Hallstatt 
 
 
 
 1000 B. C. 
 1200-1700 B.C. 
 
 
 
 
 
 CD 
 
 
 Late Bronze 
 
 
 UJ 
 
 
 
 
 
 CD 
 
 CL 
 
 
 Middle Bronze 
 
 
 z 
 
 o 
 
 1700-2200 B.C. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 f— ra 
 
 5 §s 
 
 CJ> 
 
 
 Early Bronze 
 
 
 CO 
 
 2200-3000 B.C. 
 
 2500 B. C. 2nd 
 
 City of Hissarlik 
 (Troy) The 
 "Burnt City" 
 
 3315 B. C. 1st 
 Dynasty in Egypt 
 
 
 
 
 
 t±J £ 
 
 Q_ Qj 
 
 "ca 
 
 
 Hammered 
 copper, etc. 
 
 
 6 S£ 
 
 3000-4000 B.C. 
 
 
 
 
 
 CD 
 
 > 
 
 
 Late Neolithic 
 
 
 O 
 
 4000-4500 B.C. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 err 
 
 
 Early Neolithic 
 (Robenhausian) 
 
 
 Zj 
 
 o 
 
 UJ 
 
 z 
 
 4500-6000 B.C. 
 
 6000-7000 B.C. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 UJ N 
 
 C/5 
 
 
 Campignyan 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Forests 
 
 UJ « 
 
 O ra 
 
 o — 
 
 
 Tardenoisian 
 
 <D 
 
 ca 
 
 
 \ 7000 B.C. 
 
 1 9000 Years ago 
 
 
 
 
 > 
 
 
 Forests 
 
 ~-S 
 
 1 1 1 CO 
 
 1 ' DAilN 
 
 Azilian 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 
 j £ 
 
 rr 1 05 
 
 GSCHNITZ - 
 
 Magdalenian 
 
 
 
 10,000 “ 
 
 
 
 _ 
 
 .1 
 
 Extensive forests 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Sporadic forests 
 
 fo £ 
 
 RilHL 
 
 
 G5 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 O w 
 o_ 
 
 
 Solutre'an 
 
 ■a 
 
 o 
 
 25,000 “ 
 
 Br’unn 
 
 
 
 
 a 5 
 
 Ll 
 
 Steppes 
 
 
 " UH “ 
 
 Aurignacian 
 
 
 
 
 Aurignac 
 
 Cro-magnon 
 
 
 
 
 Tundra 
 
 
 Mousterian 
 
 
 
 
 Grimaldi 
 
 Neandertal 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Acheulian 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Steppes 
 
 Warm-temperate forests 
 
 Steppes 
 
 UJ 
 
 
 Chellean 
 
 CO 
 
 UJ 
 
 
 150.000 " 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 UJ 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 P.ISS 
 
 Strepyan 
 
 
 i 1 
 
 175,000 " 
 
 Piltdown man 
 
 If 
 
 Tundra 
 
 CO 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 UJ 
 
 _1 
 
 CL¬ 
 
 OG 
 
 O 
 
 
 Mesvinian 
 
 
 
 375,000 " 
 
 400,000 “ 
 
 Homo heidel- 
 bergensis 
 
 52 
 
 
 
 or 
 
 «=c 
 
 zr 
 
 CC 
 
 MINDEL 
 
 wmmm> 
 
 Mafflian 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 t— 
 
 «=a: 
 
 rz> 
 
 O' 
 
 
 Reutelian 
 
 (Prestian) 
 
 
 
 475,000 “ 
 
 
 1 1 
 |4 
 
 | e 
 
 > 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 GUNZ 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 500.000 “ 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 ° 
 
 ■o 
 
 
 
 UPPER 
 
 PLIOCENE 
 
 
 
 — 
 
 
 Pithecanthropus 
 erectus (in Java) 
 Possibly this or a 
 
 
 ir 
 
 
 J 
 
 
 
 MIDDLE 
 
 PLIOCENE 
 
 (Kentian) 
 
 
 
 
 similar animal 
 lived in Europe 
 and was 
 responsible for 
 the Eoliths 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 LOWER 
 
 PLIOCENE 
 
 
 
 h- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 >- 
 
 UPPER 
 
 MIOCENE 
 
 (Puy Cournyan) 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 QC 
 
 -< 
 
 MIDDLE 
 
 MIOCENE 
 
 (Cantalian) 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 Dryopithecus 
 
 Dinotherium 
 
 
 1 — 
 
 CC 
 
 LOWER 
 
 MIOCENE 
 
 
 
 UJ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1— 
 
 OLIGOCENE 
 
 (Thenaysian) 
 
 (Boncellian) 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 UPPER 
 
 EOCENE 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ' 
 
 
 / 
 
 
 / 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
EUROPEAN PREHISTORY 
 
 130 
 
 32. The Eolithic Age; Characteristics of Eoliths .—It 
 is impossible to believe that even the crudest of the typi¬ 
 cal stone tools were invented all at once; that at a defi¬ 
 nite time men learned all at once to shape a piece of 
 flint into the form of a definite tool, the use of which 
 they were at once capable. Rather is it necessary to pos¬ 
 tulate a long period of time during which flints and 
 other stones were used for such natural actions as pry¬ 
 ing, striking, and even cutting, as aids for the naked 
 hand in the execution of their work. To this period of 
 unknown limits, extending back to the earliest beings 
 which could in any sense be called “Men,” there has 
 been given the name Eolithic, the Dawning Stone Age, 
 and to the stones thus used but not purposely shaped, 
 the term eoliths. 
 
 It must be conceded that any use of a stone that in¬ 
 volves hitting it against other hard objects would, if suf¬ 
 ficiently strenuous, cause it to be broken or cracked; it is 
 further to be supposed that the effects of such treat¬ 
 ment might be different from the effects produced by in¬ 
 animate forces, like the jostling of stones in a rapid 
 brook, the scraping of pebbles imbedded in the bottom 
 of a glacier, or the action of waves on the shingle. These 
 and other special effects geologists universally profess 
 to be able to differentiate; it would thus be conceivable 
 that stones used by human hands, and thus marked by 
 numerous blows received during such usage, would have 
 
 ideas, and not very different from his later conclusions. In his 
 latest papers Obermeier considers the Mousterian Period as 
 continuing in part beyond the Warm Ice, while Boule, without 
 making the Mousterian so recent, makes the Solutrean and 
 Magdalenian both post-glacial, the former occurring in the 
 ice free interval after the retreat of the Wurm. and the latter 
 experiencing the glacial conditions of the Buhl and Gschnitz. 
 
140 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 sufficiently definite characteristics to allow their past 
 experience to be also learned. 
 
 The use of flint for a tool or weapon, wherever any¬ 
 thing was to be cut, for instance, would continually rec¬ 
 ommend its virtues in this particular to the naked feet 
 of early man, and the picking up of such a flake after 
 it had inflicted a deep cut on a man’s sole, and turning 
 it to use in cutting something else, would be but a short 
 step even at the first. It would then be conceivable that 
 a particular flake would be more easily and naturally 
 handled in one way than in any other, leading to its 
 being more usually taken into the hand in a definite 
 manner. The part covered by the hand would thus be 
 more protected while the blows would fall oftener upon 
 the other portions, and if a second user were to attempt 
 to work with the same piece he also would handle the 
 piece in the same way, so that eventually one part would 
 become well battered up, while the other part would re¬ 
 main smooth. This would naturally divide the entire 
 tool, especially one repeatedly used, into two parts, the 
 manubrium or handle, and the percussion or blade, the 
 differentiation naturally following the use of the piece, 
 entirely without conscious attempt at shaping it for any 
 purpose. (Fig. 27.) Furthermore, if a flint nodule were 
 found too large to be conveniently employed, it would 
 easily be shivered into several more practical pieces 
 for use by hurling it down upon another larger rock, 
 an action that would not demand much special intel¬ 
 ligence, or might be the spontaneous result of drop¬ 
 ping a piece that was found unsuitable after being 
 taken up. 
 
 Certain European localities have become noted for the 
 
EUROPEAN PREHISTORY 
 
 141 
 
 occurrence of more or less typical eoliths, and a few 
 enthusiastic prehistorians have not only found there 
 single tools, with manubrium and percussion, but have 
 also discovered large masses shivered in pieces by being 
 thrown in the manner described, or those from which 
 
 Fig. 27.—Manner of holding an eolith. The manubrium is the part most convenient 
 to hold in the hand. This part is covered by the palm and fingers, and is thus 
 protected from injury, whhe the tool is being used. On the other hand the 
 exposed part, or percussion, being repeatedly struck, is thus chipped and 
 battered. (After Forrer.) 
 
 flakes have been struck for the getting of smaller pieces. 
 In fact, considerable discredit has been given to the whole 
 theory of eoliths by the extravagant claims of their sup¬ 
 porters, who not only see in them a marked degree of 
 differentiation, but find them in sites that have origi- 
 
142 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 nated too far in the past to have been possibly the work 
 of creatures sufficiently man-like to have used them. 
 Thus Rutot, the Belgian, has established eolithic periods 
 like the Mesvinian, the Mafflian, and the Reutelian which 
 
 Fig. 28.—Representative Eoliths: (a) Typical form, with definite manubrium and 
 percussion. From the locality St. Prest. (After Forrer.) (b) Eolith; Mes¬ 
 vinian deposit. (After Rutot.) (c) Eolith; Mafflian deposit. (After Rutot.) 
 (d) Pseudo-eolith, formed as the result of pressure exerted by adjacent rock- 
 masses. From the Oligocene locality of Boncelles. (After Verworn.) 
 
EUROPEAN PREHISTORY 
 
 143 
 
 take us well back before the Mindel Ice, but, not con¬ 
 tent with these, which are more or less probable, speaks 
 of the Cantalian, a site in the Middle Miocene, and even 
 of the Thenaysian, and the Boncellian, which are Oligo- 
 cene, before the appearance of higher primates. The 
 Cantalian, for example, is based upon flints occurring 
 in the lava of the Miocene volcano of Cantal, in France, 
 which has been styled “an eolithic Pompeii.” This site 
 lay originally upon the sands of a gently flowing river, 
 in a luxuriant semi-tropical forest. A very rich fossil 
 flora gave evidence, not only of firs, spruces and larches, 
 of oaks, beeches and elms, but of the hickory and sassa¬ 
 fras, now confined to the Western Hemisphere, as well 
 as of the laurel and the bread-fruit tree. Here lived the 
 three-toed horse, Hipparion , the immediate ancestor of 
 the elephant, Dinotlierium, and the Mastodon, later to 
 leave the Eastern Hemisphere forever. No bones of 
 man or related forms are known from the site, but the 
 sands are plentifully strewn with flints, in which Rutot 
 sees typical eoliths of several sorts. It was at this time, 
 the Middle Miocene, that the volcano of Cantal burst into 
 activity, and covered the entire region with a layer of 
 lava. (Fig. 28.) 
 
 It is claims like this, in which enthusiasts have seen 
 true eoliths in Miocene times, that are apt to throw dis¬ 
 credit upon the entire “eolithic theory,” as some wish 
 to have it called. Whatever we may think of the pos¬ 
 sibility of human or quasi-human activity at so an¬ 
 cient a date, it must be assumed that the first human 
 users of flints employed them in a crude, unelabo¬ 
 rated form, without intentional shaping, but whether 
 it is always possible to detect this use, and distingush 
 
144 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 it in all cases as produced through human agency, is 
 doubtful. 1 
 
 33. The Users of the Eoliths .—While the claims of 
 the extreme advocates of the theory of eoliths may prove 
 excessive; while the assumption of human intelligence 
 as far back as the Oligocene, or even the Miocene, must 
 be looked upon with suspicion; the later eoliths of Plio¬ 
 cene age, or after, may be generally conceded as marked 
 by use, that is, as artifacts . They have been held in 
 hands like ours, which have shielded a part of the sur¬ 
 face while striking chips from other parts of the surface 
 in the accomplishment of certain intelligent aims. But 
 whose were those hands'? Were they those of an intelli¬ 
 gent ape; of an extremely low type of man; or of some 
 form intermediate between the two? Have any bones 
 or bone fragments of these animals, definitely associated 
 with the eoliths, and in contemporaneous deposits, been 
 found; and if found, what light do they throw upon the 
 problem ? 
 
 The Miocene deposits of Europe have yielded numer¬ 
 ous fragments of an anthropoid ape, Dryopithecus, which 
 gets its name “oak-ape” from the impressions of oak 
 leaves found with the fragmentary jaw from which the 
 species was named. This specimen was brought to light 
 at St. Gaudens, in southern France, in 1856, but other 
 remains of presumably the same species have been found 
 in other parts of western Europe, notably a femur (at 
 
 1 An excellent review of the indications of the existence of an 
 Eolithic Age in Europe is given by George Grant MacCurdy in 
 the American Anthropologist for July-Sept., 1905. pp. 425-479, 
 with an extensive bibliography. This article deals sympathe¬ 
 tically with what many anthropologists still call the “theory of 
 eoliths,’’ and includes the detailed classification of the Eolithic 
 Age, as subdivided by the Belgium enthusiast, Rutot. 
 
EUROPEAN PREHISTORY 
 
 145 
 
 first named Paedopithex rhenanus ), found at Eppel- 
 sheim, on the Rhine. This ape, well suited to the semi- 
 tropical forests of the mid-Miocene of Europe, was much 
 like the gibbons of the East Indies, and could by no possi¬ 
 bility have been responsible for the contemporary eoliths. 
 
 Certain teeth from a Pliocene deposit in the Swabian 
 Alps, the “Bohnerz,” seem considerably more human 
 than those from the Dryopithecus jaw; other equally 
 suspicious teeth have been found at Taubach, near 
 Weimar, and in the Shipka cavern in Moravia. 1 These 
 have all been the subject of much serious controversy, 
 but it is now fairly well established that the Shipka 
 teeth, which were in a small fragment of jaw, were much 
 later than the Pliocene, and belonged to a child of the 
 Neandertal race of men; and that the teeth from Tau¬ 
 bach, also Pleistocene, instead of Pliocene, were those 
 of the large European Pan vetus, from the Third Gla¬ 
 cial Period. 
 
 The Bohnerz teeth, on the other hand, are really Plio¬ 
 cene, and although the discoverer, Branco, referred them 
 to Dryopithecus, they seem more human. If they really 
 are so, and are not those of some large ape, like the 
 teeth from Taubach, they establish the presence in Ger¬ 
 many previous to the final coming on of the ice, of a 
 form sufficiently human to have used the eoliths. Al¬ 
 though matters are still in an undetermined state con¬ 
 cerning these, they are likely to be soon better under¬ 
 stood, as has so frequently happened, in the light of 
 future finds in this field. 
 
 1 Branco, W. 1898. “Die menschenahnlichen Zahne aus dem 
 Bohnerz der schwabischen Alb.” Jahresliefte des Vereins fur 
 vaterl. Naturkunde in Wurttemberg , 
 
116 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 Although the European Pliocene gives but slight 
 information concerning its contemporary man-like forms, 
 and furnishes us with merely a gibbon and a possible 
 chimpanzee, together with a bare suggestion of some 
 intermediate form between them and man, the remains 
 of a definite man-ape, or ape-man, contemporary with 
 the European Pliocene, have been found in the island 
 of Java, and it is not too great a strain upon our cred¬ 
 ulity to believe that either this form or a nearly re¬ 
 lated animal lived in Europe. This Javan animal or 
 man was found in 1891-2 by a Dutch military surgeon, 
 Eugen Dubois, and named Pithecanthropus erectus, the 
 erect ape-man. The remains discovered consisted of a 
 cranium, a femur, and several teeth, but they are pre¬ 
 cisely the parts most needed for description and compari¬ 
 son. This creature, with a low, retreating forehead, 
 about intermediate between that of the highest apes and 
 the lowest man, and with a projecting muzzle or snout, 
 also intermediate in degree between that of the apes 
 and man, walked perfectly erect upon long, straight legs, 
 exhibiting human proportions. The cranial capacity of 
 a gorilla rarely exceeds 500 cubic centimeters; that of 
 the lowest type of modern man averages about 1200, 
 and that of Pithecanthropus is estimated at 800. The 
 femur measures in length 455 millimeters, the average 
 length for a man of 1680mm (5 ft. 524"), and, although 
 the other bones are not known, we may assume about 
 this height for the specimen found. From the cranial 
 piece, which is complete as far in front as the eye-sock¬ 
 ets, and from the teeth, the proportions of which gave 
 the data for the dental arch, the entire skull w T as recon¬ 
 structed by Dr. Dubois, and upon this as a basis a face 
 
EUROPEAN PREHISTORY 
 
 147 
 
 was moulded by Dr. J. II. McGregor, of Columbia Uni¬ 
 versity. This reconstruction, moulded upon the skull 
 with careful attention to all anatomical details, gives a 
 head and face curiously intermediate between one of the 
 higher man-like apes and a low type of man; ridges 
 project above the eyes, the cheek bones are broad and 
 high, the nose is flat and extremely broad, and the mouth 
 is very large. An ape’s lips are always thin, without 
 that outward rolling of the mucous surface so charac¬ 
 teristic of man, especially of negroes; the lips of the 
 reconstruction show a slight tendency to roll outwards, 
 and are held a little open, disclosing the large simian 
 teeth, with long canines. The head is carried far for¬ 
 ward, and the neck muscles are so thick that there is 
 scarcely any incurving at the nape. This gives the 
 profile view of the restoration a much more ape-like 
 appearance than the front view possesses. 
 
 Naturally such a reconstruction, resting as it does upon 
 a restored skull, with few data for the face, and with 
 none for such soft parts as nose and lips, ears and hair, 
 must be at best a recapitulation of scientific conclusions, 
 yet, considered as such, it is of value in the same way 
 as is a working hypothesis, a structure built up from the 
 material as far as known, and expected to be modified 
 here and there, and to be eventually remodeled, accord¬ 
 ing to data that may later present themselves. Thus 
 viewed, a reconstruction like this, which expresses every 
 detail that is known or can be deduced from what is 
 known, becomes even to the specialist a work of great 
 value; and for those who are not professional anato¬ 
 mists, and who have therefore not the power of inter¬ 
 preting fragments, it furnishes a translation from 
 
148 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 scientific deductions into plastic form, easily understood 
 
 by all. 
 
 34. The Period of Strepy; the Transition to the Pa¬ 
 leolithic .—While during the long ages that stretch be¬ 
 tween Cantal and Mesvin, if we may believe the testi¬ 
 mony of eoliths, there was no perceptible advance in 
 human activity, important changes took place in the as¬ 
 sociated animals. This is especially well seen in the 
 succession of huge Proboscidians, adapted to the various 
 changes of climate to which the continent was subjected, 
 and often found in close association with the remains 
 of human activity. Throughout the Miocene this group 
 of animals was represented by the Dinotherwm, not yet 
 an elephant, but strongly suggestive of that later special¬ 
 ization. This form gave place in the Pliocene to the 
 first of the genuine elephants, Elephas meridionalis, 
 fitted to a warm climate, and which in its turn yielded 
 to another species, Elephas antiquus, at about the time 
 of the Mindel-Riss Interglacial Period. Bones of this 
 latter animal, were found together with the eoliths of 
 the station at Mesvin, in Belgium. 1 But these two 
 southern animals disappeared at the advance of the Piss 
 Ice and there came in their stead the mammoth, Ele¬ 
 phas primigenius, destined to be long the companion, if 
 not the actual friend, of early man; to furnish him 
 with ivory for the manufacture of valuable tools, and 
 to serve as a favorite model for his growing artistic 
 talent. And with the advent of this huge associate of 
 man, with is rolling tusks and long masses of coarse hair, 
 there came into the long Eolithic night the first ray of 
 
 1 Opened lip in a railway cutting between Mons and Har- 
 mignies. 
 
EUROPEAN PREHISTORY 
 
 149 
 
 dawn, the first sign of the action of a really human in¬ 
 telligence. 
 
 This advance consisted of nothing more than a slight 
 change in the stone artifacts found in the deposits of 
 the period; the first crude attempts at shaping the 
 pieces in such a way as to be better suited to their pur¬ 
 pose. The earliest site at which such flints have been 
 found is at Strepy, in Belgium, from which the period 
 itself, immediately following the Mesvinian, is designated 
 as the Strepyan; and furthermore, as the flints, thus 
 crudely shaped, are no longer typical eoliths, yet too 
 slightly worked to be called paleoliths, the term archeo- 
 litlis has been proposed for them, and the Strepyan pe¬ 
 riod, with perhaps others to be established later, may be 
 made to constitute an Archeolithic Age, inserted be¬ 
 tween the Eolithic and the Paleolithic. The date of this 
 initial activity in the manufacture of tools is usually 
 placed chronologically during the third great glacial 
 advance, that of the Riss Ice, and the men of Strepy 
 must have inhabited the extensive regions which escaped 
 glaciation, running up through Europe in several places. 
 
 Thus at this time, at a period seemingly most unfa¬ 
 vorable for advance, the first step was taken along the 
 upward road leading beyond the eoliths in the direction 
 of the improvement of existing conditions. This step 
 was not a great one. Only a specialist could perceive it. 
 None but an expert, working over a collection of primi¬ 
 tive stone implements could point out the difference be¬ 
 tween the typical eoliths and one which had been 
 slightly improved, yet the latter, and the latter only, 
 shows the results of impacts purposely struck upon 
 the stone, not incident to the use to which it was put, 
 
150 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 but dealt for the sake of improving the shape of the 
 tool and fitting it better for its use. 
 
 Poor enough were these attempts, confined to the strik¬ 
 ing oh an awkward corner or inconvenient projection, 
 yet these very acts inaugurated a revolution, not merely 
 in tool making, but in ethics as well. A stone thus 
 elaborated and improved became straightway unlike 
 others. It possessed an intrinsic value greater than 
 that of the unelaborated stones. It belonged to the man 
 who had thus shaped it. It was his personal possession. 
 No longer now is the stone hurled aside when once the 
 immediate result is accomplished. It has shown itself 
 to be better fitted for its purpose than other stones, and 
 is thus retained by the artificer as a thing of special 
 value. He takes it with him to his rude rock-shelter, 
 and hides it in the moss, or perhaps among the 
 dry leaves that form his bed. On leaving the cave at 
 sunrise he takes it with him, and may eventually elabo¬ 
 rate some device whereby it may be attached to his 
 body, and leave his hands and arms free for action. 
 
 Thus the first ideas of values, of the rights of pos¬ 
 session, of individual property—the initial acts in the 
 long drama of man-making—developed spontaneously in 
 that lonely valley where the glaciers of the Riss Ice 
 groaned and crashed. Feebly developed along the line 
 of intelligent purpose as that animal brain must have 
 been, it has yet devised this first step toward civiliza¬ 
 tion ; it has executed a definite purpose with those hairy 
 Simian fingers; it has made its first real possession. And 
 with this comes a new experience: the burden of prop¬ 
 erty. Henceforth this tool must be kept; looked after; 
 if need be, it must be fought for. This first forward step 
 
EUROPEAN PREHISTORY 
 
 151 
 
 has become not merely an added power; it has become an 
 encroachment upon its animal freedom, with its unre¬ 
 strained joys and its easily forgotten sorrows. The de¬ 
 viser of the first shaped tool has become, for better or 
 for worse, a man; he has tasted of the fruit of the tree 
 of knowledge, and the doors are shut forever between 
 him and his animal Paradise . 1 
 
 It must not be supposed from the above that this first 
 step, so vitally important for all subsequent develop¬ 
 ment, took place at one spot only, and that the site at 
 Strepy marks the sole place where this initial discovery 
 was made. With the utter lack of transportation, or 
 even of intercommunication, between adjacent commu¬ 
 nities, such a discovery would be shared at best by the 
 members of a single family or between other intimately 
 associated individuals, and it would be necessary for 
 exactly similar discoveries to have been made, independ- 
 
 1 Cf. the picture by Thomas Carlyle in “Sartor Resartus,” 
 Chap. V: “Miserable, indeed . . . was the condition of the 
 
 Aboriginal Savage, glaring fiercely from under his fleece of hair, 
 which with the beard reached down to his loins, and hung round 
 him like a matted cloak ; the rest of his body sheeted in its thick 
 natural fell. He loitered in the sunny glades of the forest, living 
 on wild fruits; or, as the ancient Caledonian, squatted himself 
 in morasses, lurking for his bestial or human prey; without im¬ 
 plements, without arms, save the ball of heavy Flint, to which, 
 that his sole possession and defense might not be lost, he had 
 attached a long cord of plaited thongs; thereby recovering as 
 well as hurling it with deadly unerring skill.” While all the 
 details of this picture can hardly stand the criticism of modern 
 anthropology, the general spirit is quite modern, and makes it 
 hard to believe that this passage was written, not only long be¬ 
 fore the discovery of eoliths, but twenty-five years previous to 
 the discovery of the human remains in the Neandertal cavern, 
 and at the very time when the attempts of poor Boucher de 
 Parthes to prove a human agency in the shaping of the paleo- 
 liths in the gravel of the Somme valley were meeting with noth¬ 
 ing but abuse and ridicule at the hands of the savants of the day. 
 
152 
 
 MAN'S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 ently, over and over again by different men, all through 
 this time, perhaps even through this entire Ice epoch, 
 before this Strepyan culture had become universal, even 
 in Western Europe. 
 
 Types of artifacts, precisely similar to the ones found 
 at Strepy, have recently been recognized among the 
 gravel deposits of the river Somme, where are found also 
 the typical implements of the Chellean and Acheulian 
 Period, but distinct from, and older than, either. Upon 
 the basis of these deposits, with their characteristic arti¬ 
 facts of the crudest nature, Commont has recently estab¬ 
 lished his Pre-Chellean Period, but a comparison of the 
 Pre-Chellean artifacts, with those from the deposits of 
 Strepy show the two to have been the same. The glim¬ 
 merings of the light that characterized the deposits at 
 Strepy are thus seen to have been spread over the neigh¬ 
 boring countries at about the same time, and through¬ 
 out western Euorpe preparations were slowly being 
 
 % 
 
 made for the more definitely formed artifacts of the 
 early Paleolithic. 
 
 As for the bodily appearance of the creatures who 
 made this advance, and by so doing first earned the right 
 to be called “Men,” we have, in the testimony already 
 presented in the form of actual bones, two -possible can¬ 
 didates. One of these is the Heidelberg Jaw; the other 
 consists of the Piltdown cranial fragments. The first, 
 practically the jaw of an ape, but with teeth of the 
 human type, suggests the Neandertal man of later times, 
 and is generally considered the direct ancestor of that 
 type, but a little less human. This Heidelberg man was 
 undoubtedly an eolith user, and was perhaps responsible 
 for the contemporary Mesvinian artifacts. The second, 
 
EUROPEAN PREHISTORY 
 
 153 
 
 from Piltdown in Sussex, comes apparently from the 
 time of the Riss Glaciation, contemporary with Strepy, 
 and was fonnd in close connection with flints of the 
 Strepyan type. 
 
 The skull fragments, of which the Piltdown remains 
 consist, are unusually thick, but otherwise indicate a 
 cranium, which, though of a low type, is considerably 
 more like that of modern man than like that of the 
 Heidelberg-Neandertal race. A jaw, found with the 
 other fragments, and supposed at first to be a part of 
 the same individual, is thought by many to be that 
 of a chimpanzee (Pan vetus), living in England at the 
 same time; but the English specialists, who have had 
 the advantage of working over the original fragments, 
 are firmly of the opinion that both the jaw and the 
 cranial fragments belong together. 
 
 Perhaps, during the last part of the Eolithic Age, and 
 also during the Archeolithic, there lived two human 
 types. One had a low cranial vault, heavy ridges over 
 the eyes, and no chin, the direct ancestor of the Nean- 
 dertal race; the other was suggestive of the modern 
 type of man, without accentuated brow ridges, and pos¬ 
 sessed a fairly high cranial vault, yet lower in cranium 
 and brain than any recent race. During this time, also, 
 the first improvements of the long used eoliths may have 
 appeared. More than this we cannot as yet say, nor have 
 we basis for even hypotheses. This is a definite hiatus 
 in our past history, to fill which we must wait for more 
 data. 
 
 35. Early Paleolithic Times; the Chellean Period .*— 
 
 1 The Chellean Period received its name from the town of 
 Chelles (Depte. Seine-et-Marne), France, 15 kilometers east of 
 
MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 154 
 
 The step inaugurated during the epoch of the Riss Ice, 
 that of shaping a tool to suit its purpose better, was soon 
 to bear fruit, as is seen in the artifacts of the times im¬ 
 mediately succeeding the retreat of the Riss glaciation, 
 for here we find the first definitely shaped tool, at least 
 from our standpoint—a moderately large implement pos¬ 
 sessing a crude sort of blade with a rough zigzag edge. 
 
 In proportion to the long ages of the Eolithic, the 
 advance from the first shaping of a flint to the produc¬ 
 tion of even this crude implement is very rapid, and 
 may suggest the appearance by a migration of some 
 more intelligent being than has hitherto inhabited Eu¬ 
 rope ; yet the transition from the archeoliths of the 
 Strepyan to so primitive a tool as the “Chelles axe” is 
 after all a slight one, and after the idea of shaping a 
 flint is once inaugurated the improvement could be easily 
 effected. 
 
 The most typical Chellean artifact is the hand-axe, or 
 “coup-de-poing,” intended to be held in the hand, i. e., 
 used without a handle. One end is designed to be 
 grasped, and is therefore left unchipped, and frequently 
 retains the original crust characteristic of a natural 
 Hint nodule Beyond this comes the blade, which is en¬ 
 tirely covered by concavities caused by rude flaking, and 
 is thus wholly artificial. Around this portion runs a 
 sharp edge, which is a pronounced zigzag, caused by the 
 striking off of large flakes from the two sides alternately . 
 1 his zigzag edge is the special characteristic of a Chelles 
 
 1 uris, where the artifacts occur in the old river terrace gravels.; 
 I nr similar deposits, undoubtedly contemporaneous with these, 
 have been found in other parts of Europe, and have yielded 
 precisely similar implements. 
 
EUROPEAN PREHISTORY 
 
 axe, as the workmen of that period found no wa> of 5 
 making the edge straight (Fig. 29). An examination 
 
 Fig. 29.—Two views, side and edge, of a typical Chellean axe, a “Coup-dc- 
 Poing,” intended to be used in the bare hand, without handle. For this pur¬ 
 pose the lower end is thick, and often still bears the original smooth crust, 
 while otherwise the entire surface is elaborated, i.e., covered with artificial 
 flakes. Note especially the zigzag edge, caused by large flakes, struck off 
 alternately from the two sides. This ; s the most striking type of Chellean 
 workshops, as the men of this time had not yet learned to make a straight 
 edge. (From a specimen in the Smith College Collection. One-half natural 
 size.) 
 
 of many specimens with a view to finding possible indica¬ 
 tions that these axes were ever mounted in a handle has 
 resulted negatively, and we are led to the conclusion that 
 no such improvement as a handle had as yet appeared. 
 
156 
 
 MAX'S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 Aside from these characteristic axes, Chellean de¬ 
 posits furnish no other artifacts that may be definitely 
 termed “paleoliths,” but yield numerous flints of arch- 
 eolithic and eolithic types, which seem also to have still 
 been in common use. This occurrence of implements of 
 cruder form with those of more finished workmanship 
 is always usual in deposits of all ages, and among such 
 primitive modern peoples as the Australians, archeoliths 
 and even eoliths may be found still in use. 
 
 Chellean eoliths, however, show a slightly greater de¬ 
 gree of differentiation than those found in true eolithic 
 deposits, and among them occur small sharp splinters, 
 apparently used as points, stuck into sticks, and used 
 as javelins or spears, crude forms of missile weapons. 
 Thus the arrow may be said to have much antedated the 
 bow, for which it inevitably prepared the way, since its 
 use as a hand javelin would lead to some mechanical 
 method of propulsion. There thus developed various 
 types of throwing-sticks, which appeared during the 
 next two or three periods. The bow, based on a differ¬ 
 ent principle, was much later, almost Neolithic in date. 
 
 36. Early Paleolithic Times; the Acheulian Period .— 
 The flints of the Acheluian Period, named from the type 
 locality of St. Acheul, in the valley of the Somme, in 
 Northern France, 1 show a considerable advance in sev¬ 
 eral directions. An axe made on the Chellean model as 
 
 1 This site is rendered famous for all time as the scene of the 
 labors of M. Boucher de Perthes, a pioneer in European pre¬ 
 history, who worked in the deposits here between 1S45 and 
 1865, and whose results were received with general disbelief, 
 for a recent paper on the same locality, giving the results of 
 new excavations, in which are distinguished the deposits of the 
 Pre-Cliellean, Chellean, and Acheulian Periods, cf. Commont, in 
 L'Antliropolor/ie , T. 19, 1908, pp. 527-572. 
 
EUROPEAN PREHISTORY 
 
 157 
 
 regards form and size, commonly occurs, but shows im¬ 
 portant differences in three distinct ways: 
 
 (1) The entire surface is rendered smoother by the 
 use of finer flakes, (2) the edge has become straight, and 
 
 Fig. 30.—Two ways in which an Acheulian axe may have been mounted. From 
 methods actually in use among primitive people at the present time. B. 
 is taken from Forrer, and represents an Australian method. 
 
 (3) it runs around the entire tool, thus rendering it 
 unlikely that it could have ever been used by holding 
 it in the hand. Naturally no handles, which were un¬ 
 doubtedly of wood, or wood and leather, have ever been 
 found, but several possible methods may be suggested 
 
158 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 by the study of those still in use among modern primitive 
 peoples, some of which are suggested here in Fig. 30. In 
 A the natural angle of a tree limb is taken into account, 
 and the flint is pushed into one end, probably that of 
 the larger piece. Every blow with the implement tends 
 to wedge the flint more firmly into the handle, while a 
 tendency to split is counteracted by winding the wood, 
 just below the insertion of the axe, with a stout thong or 
 sinew. B, after Forrer, shows the Australian method 
 for hafting an axe very similar to the Acheulian type, 
 and still used by them. It consists essentially of a pliant 
 piece of wood bent in the form of a loop by bending it 
 upon itself, and perhaps softened by boiling. The loop 
 is just a little smaller than the largest width of the flint. 
 
 Aside from typical Acheulian axes, various other types 
 of implements occur, showing a gradual perfection of the 
 paleolith. The idea inaugurated at Strepv, that of pur¬ 
 posely shaping a flint to a given use, has already borne 
 much fruit, and the intelligent progress of early human¬ 
 ity, and the gradual precision in the education of the 
 muscles of the arm and fingers, are marked by the in¬ 
 crease in the number of forms of artifact as well as in 
 the better workmanship and the straighter and sharper 
 edges. 
 
 The Acheulian Period, like the Chellean, was a long one. 
 During this period the great ice sheet, which through¬ 
 out the Chellean was confined to the Far North, had again 
 slowly advanced, and covered the Alps and other high- 
 lying areas, ushering in the last of the major great glacial 
 advance, that of the Wurm Ice. The users of the flints, 
 now long accustomed to life in the open air, or in frail 
 shelters made of intertwined branches, began to betake 
 
Fig. 31.—Typical Aeheulian axe, made by rather large and coarse 
 flaking, but with the edge straight, and not zigzag, as in the 
 earlier forms. As this figure is but one half the natural size, 
 it is seen that this implement is rather large. (After Obermeier, 
 in L’Anthropologie.) 
 
160 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC TAST 
 
 themselves to eaves and recesses of the rocks, or shel¬ 
 tered themselves from the north winds beneath over¬ 
 hanging cliffs. These they reinforced by skins or crude 
 thatch, the abris-sous-roches of the French anthropolo¬ 
 gists. 
 
 This change of climate affected, not man alone, but the 
 entire fauna. The Chellean rhinoceros, R. mercki, dis¬ 
 appeared, and was replaced by a similar beast, Rhino¬ 
 ceros tichorhinus, whose skin was clothed with a thick 
 wool. Within the shelter of the forest were found the 
 ancient European ox, Bos primigenius , and the great elk, 
 Cervus megaceros. Vast herds of reindeer were soon to 
 come down from the north, and spread out over the frozen 
 plains, and the wooly mammoth, Elephus primigenius, 
 was soon to present himself as a model to the paleolithic 
 artist. 
 
 This advent of northern animals formed the vanguard 
 of the fourth great glaciation, the Wurm Ice, which, ac¬ 
 cording to Penck, appeared in mid-Europe about forty 
 thousands years ago, and lasted some twenty thousand 
 more. With its retreat, at this date, comes the end of the 
 Quaternary, as usually considered, but still after this 
 three Pleistocene glaciations follow in succession, so that 
 the Middle Paleolithic, which begins with the Wurm Ice 
 and extends through four prehistoric periods, and ends 
 with the glaciation of the Gschnitz, was characterized 
 mainly by being a period of cold climate. For man it 
 was largely a period of cave life, and of hunting arctic 
 animals over the steppes and frozen bogs. 
 
 Yet, after all, with all its disadvantages, it was in many 
 respects the greatest and grandest in human history, for 
 during this time man became man, endowed with arts 
 
EUROPEAN PREHISTORY 161 
 
 and industries; he had killed or driven forever from 
 Europe the worst and fiercest of the carnivores, his most 
 dangerous enemy. In the darkness of the Wurm Ice he 
 entered the eaves with his Acheulian axe in his hand, as 
 yet his only masterpiece; he left them equipped with 
 numerous sorts of implements, of stones, of bone, of ivory. 
 He had learned to carve bits of bone or ivory into the 
 likeness of the animals with which he was familiar; he 
 had learned to sketch incised lines on the walls of his 
 cave giving strikingly accurate outlines of the wild ox, 
 the reindeer, the mammoth, and the horse, and he had 
 painted them in lifelike colors by means of variously 
 colored earths and powdered stones. He had acquitted 
 himself gloriously throughout his long ordeal of initia¬ 
 tion, and after the final retreat of the last general ice 
 sheet, came forth into his full manhood upon the newly 
 reclaimed earth. 
 
 37. Middle Paleolithic Times; the Mousterian Period . 
 —This first of the four periods of the Middle Paleolithic 
 takes its name from the caverns of Le Moustier, in the 
 valley of the Vezere, southern France, and situated a 
 few miles above the little village of Les Eyzies (Dor¬ 
 dogne). Here, upon a slope which lies in terraces, occur 
 four small grottoes, hardly more than rock shelters, 
 placed in nearly a straight line, one above the other. Of 
 these the uppermost has yielded practically nothing, but 
 the others, especially the lowermost one, contain rich 
 paleolithic deposits. The implements found here show, 
 in strict accord with the relative age of the layer in which 
 each occurs, an almost unbroken line of development, be¬ 
 ginning with those of the late Acheulian Period , which 
 are the same as those of the same period elsewhere, and 
 
162 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 continuing throughout the succeeding Mousterian Pe¬ 
 riod, which evidently lasted for a very long time. Here 
 they developed a number of characteristic types of im- 
 
 Fig. 32.—Typical Mousterian hand-axe, of triangular shape, with a 
 straight edge which has been retouched. Two thirds natural size. 
 (After Commont, in L’Anthropologie.) 
 
 plements that show a considerable advance on the Acheu- 
 lian. Thus, while the Acheulian type of axe was still in 
 use, and occurs in most Mousterian deposits, this lat- 
 
EUROPEAN PREHISTORY 
 
 103 
 
 ter period developed also a type of its own, the Mous- 
 terian axe. This is triangular in form, rather broad 
 at the base, which is left in an unfinished state, while 
 the two sides and the point are sharpened with great 
 care. 
 
 A second type, somewhat similar to this, but smaller, 
 is the Mousterian point, specimens of which occur in 
 great numbers in deposits of this period. These points 
 are flattened triangles of flint, with the apex and the two 
 adjacent edges worked down by very fine retouching and 
 carefully elaborated, while the base is left rough. These 
 points may have been mounted in the ends of sticks, and 
 perhaps fastened in by fibres of bast which could be 
 wound tightly around the end of the shaft; the weapons 
 thus made could serve either as spears or javelins to be 
 hurled from the hand, or as lances or daggers to be held 
 firmly, and used to thrust with. Similar weapons seem to 
 have been in use even in the Chellean period, but here the 
 points used were chance splinters that resulted from 
 breaking larger pieces, that is, typical eoliths, while the 
 Mousterian points were carefully elaborated tools, made 
 designedly for a definite purpose. 
 
 The art of retouching the edges of a tool or weapon, V 
 mentioned above, first appears in the Mousterian, and is 
 often seen in artifacts of this period. It consists of one 
 or more rows of small flakes, upon the very edge, 
 and confined to the convex side. By means of these the 
 straight, though rather blunt, edge produced by the 
 coarser chippings, done after the Acheulian method, can 
 be brought down to an extremely sharp and delicate one. 
 Beautiful examples of retouching are frequently seen on 
 the stone arrow points of the North American Indians, 
 
164 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 who have thus brought up to the present a technique 
 started in the late Quaternary. 
 
 In another point this Mousterian Period marks a dis¬ 
 tinct advance upon all preceding times; and that is, it 
 exhibits the first use of bone as a material from which to 
 make tools. In their best form they appear as pointed 
 
 0 $ •« 
 
 ■ __ .... I - i »> . > 
 
 Fig. 33.—Mousterian points; each is made of a medium sized, or large flake, 
 struck off from a flint nodule, with one side elaborated, while the other 
 side is left untouched, simply showing the lines of the original blow 
 which separated it from the original nodule. The elaborated side shows, 
 not only a finer flaking than is seen in the axes of Chellean or Acheulian 
 workmanship, but the edges, especially toward the point, are retouched— 
 that is, flaked along the edges with a row of very small flakes, evidently 
 the last strokes made in finishing the implement. These “Mousterian 
 points’’ were evidently set into long sticks, and used as javelins thrown 
 by hand, or as arrows, propelled by some sort of throwing-stick. The bow, as 
 we know it, was not devised until very much later, perhaps during the trans¬ 
 ition period between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic. (After Dechelette.) 
 
 implements, perhaps the very tools used in making the 
 fine retouching flakes for elaborating the edges, but of 
 this we are uncertain. More frequently are found typical 
 4 ‘bone eoliths,” that is, bones or pieces of bone, not in¬ 
 tentionally shaped as tools, but used just as they were 
 for various purposes, leaving, as in the case of stone 
 eoliths, the marks of use, being scratched and dented by 
 the objects with which they came in contact. That these 
 
EUROPEAN PREHISTORY 
 
 165 
 
 scratches are not simply the chance marks made by a 
 flint scraper in getting the meat off is shown, not only 
 by the concentration of them upon a definite region, but 
 also by the fact that this region is always the exact spot 
 where such scratches would occur if the bone were 
 grasped in the most natural way, and used for ordinary 
 purposes. 
 
 The Mousterian Period seems to have lasted a very 
 long time, and the Mousterian cult is recognized in de¬ 
 posits found in many parts of Europe. 1 
 
 The quest of caves and rock shelters, as shelters from 
 the advancing cold, which was characteristic of the end 
 of the Acheulian and the beginning of the Mousterian, 
 precipitated a conflict which seems hitherto to have been 
 avoided, and brought man face to face with a formidable 
 rival, already in possession of these very retreats, the 
 huge cave bear, TJrsus spelaeus. Against this foe, the 
 counterpart of, or perhaps identical with, the grizzly 
 bear of the Rocky Mountains, with no weapons more for¬ 
 midable than crude stone axes and pointed javelins, man 
 proceeded, and, as the result of his intrepidity and cun¬ 
 ning, actually dispossessed this huge beast of his long- 
 inhabited caves. As an eloquent testimony of this struggle 
 there may now be seen in the prehistoric museum at 
 Trieste the skull of a large cave-bear, with the greater 
 part of a Mousterian axe set in the right temporal fossa, 
 
 1 Important Mousterian sites are those of Taubach, near Wei¬ 
 mar, and Achenheim, near Strassburg, in Germany (the latter 
 perhaps Aurignacian) ; the grotto of Wildkirchli in Switzerland ; 
 several Austrian localities, like that of Willendorf, near Vienna; 
 and perhaps Krapina, in Croatia, although this latter site may 
 be a little more recent, and belong rather to the Aurignacian 
 Period. 
 
166 
 
 MAN'S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 deeply imbedded in the side of the frontal bone. The 
 blow mnst have been dealt at close quarters, as the axe 
 was not a missile weapon; and the strength of arm of 
 the intrepid hunter drove it directly through shaggy 
 hair, skin, and tough temporal muscle* until it reached 
 and nearly penetrated the heavy skull. Terrific as was 
 the blow, the bear yet recovered and lived for many 
 
 Fig. 34.—Skull of a cave-bear (Ursus spelseus), found in a cavern at Nabresina, 
 near Trieste, and bearing on the right side, in the parietal bone, a Paleo¬ 
 lithic stone axe of the Mousterian type. The axe had almost cut through the 
 bone, but the latter had grown firmly around the flint, showing that after 
 the wound the animal had survived, probably for many years. As an axe 
 is not a missile weapon the blow must have been delivered at close quar¬ 
 ters by am an with sufficient courage to have withstood the attack of this 
 huge beast, and w r ith sufficient coolness to deliver the blow at exactly the 
 right time and in precisely the proper spot. This skull is now in the Museo 
 Civico in Trieste, and serves as an eloquent proof of an actual encounter 
 between early man and the worst of his adversaries. (After Marchesetti.) 
 
 years, finally dying in a cave always retained by his race, 
 where although the remains of nearly three hundred bears 
 have already been found, no other signs of contemporary 
 man occur, except this axe. 
 
 Other large animals associated with Mousterian man 
 were the mammoth (Elephas primigenius), the wild 
 horse, the large wild ox or “Ur” of the Germanic leg- 
 
EUROPEAN PREHISTORY 
 
 167 
 
 gends, the bison and the woolly rhinoceros ( Rhinoceros 
 tichorhinns) . The reindeer and arctic fox appeared in 
 the middle Mousterian Period, and during the Aurig- 
 nacian Period, immediately ensuing, at the height of the 
 cold, and just before the final retreat of the ice sheet of 
 the Wurm glaciation, there came the musk-ox (Ovibos 
 moschatus), sure sign of an almost arctic climate. Os¬ 
 born suggests that there was probably to some extent 
 an annual migration of the fauna, and that the extreme 
 northern forms came south in the winter months, while 
 during the summers, which are long in these latitudes, 
 there were occasional visits from the more southern Ele- 
 phas antiquus and Merck’s rhinoceros, remains of which 
 are occasionally found in Mousterian deposits. All ot 
 these indications of cold climate are best accounted for 
 by placing the Mousterian Period as coincident with the 
 Wurm Ice, with its several fluctuations, thus making the 
 open Solutrean coincide with the previous glacial 
 retreat. The resumption of cave life in the Magdalenian 
 may thus be accounted for by the coming on of the 
 minor glaciation of the Biihl. Some authors, however, 
 shift the Mousterian a whole glaciation further back, 
 making it coincide with the Riss Ice, instead of the 
 Wurm, with the Solutrean during the Riss-Wurm inter¬ 
 val, and the Magdalenian in the Wurm glaciation. 
 
 The man of the Mousterian was not the present species, 
 but the species first known to us from the skeleton of the 
 Neandertal cave, and hence called Homo neandertalen- 
 sis. The bones, which are now well known in both sexes, 
 portray man-like form of very stout build, with large 
 chest and powerful forearms; with short legs and prob¬ 
 ably with the soles of the feet somewhat turned in, as in 
 
168 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 the large living apes and in the infants of the present 
 human species. The neck was very stout and short, the 
 better to support the head, which was of enormous size. 
 The teeth were large, the muzzle protruded, but was with¬ 
 out a projecting chin, and the large eye sockets were 
 protected by heavy supra-orbital ridges, which met in 
 the middle and formed a transverse shelf over the eyes. 
 Our whole picture, presented in greater detail elsewhere, 
 is that of a stooping figure, with bowed back and bent 
 legs, probably more active in climbing trees than any 
 living human race, yet spending the most of his time 
 upon the ground; in short, sufficiently distinct from mod¬ 
 ern man to constitute a distinct species. 
 
 38. Middle Paleolithic Times; the Aurignacian Pernod. 
 —To the moderate warmth which characterized the lat¬ 
 ter part of the Mousterian Period succeeded a time of 
 dampness and cold, probably one of those minor fluctua¬ 
 tions characteristic of the waning centuries of the Wurm 
 Ice epoch. While over the level steppes of the river val¬ 
 leys enormous herds of wild horses and mammoths still 
 wandered, the reindeer from the north became more fre¬ 
 quent, and the presence of such animals as the Alpine 
 gopher gives further indication of the changing climatic 
 conditions. The typical deposits of this period occur in 
 the shallower grottoes, or abris-sous-roches of Aurignac, 
 in southern France (Haute-Garonne), but similar de¬ 
 posits are found also in Belgium, Germany, and Austria, 
 always with the same types of artifacts, and associated 
 with the same arctic fauna. Yet, in spite of the unpro- 
 pitious climate, and the privations in life indicated by 
 the enforced shelter in caverns and beneath overhanging 
 rocks, a most noteworthy advance was made in Euro- 
 
EUROPEAN PREHISTORY 
 
 169 
 
 pean culture, for there appeared at this very time the 
 first representatives of the modern species of man, Homo 
 sapiens. The locality where the first of these skeletons 
 were found was near the village of Cro-Magnon, on the 
 river Vezere, but similar skeletons of this period and 
 type are now known from several other parts of southern 
 France, especially Mentone and the adjacent Italian soil, 
 just across the border. The majority of the skeletons 
 found here are those of the Cro-Magnon type, but among 
 them was found a double grave, containing a woman and 
 a boy of pronounced Negroid type, and racially distinct. 
 These were established as the types, and thus far the only 
 representatives of the ‘ ‘ Grimaldi Race, ’ ’ the name taken 
 from the family name of Albert, Prince of Monaco, under 
 whose leadership the excavations took place and upon 
 whose territory the graves were found. 
 
 A skeleton, unearthed at Combe-Capelle, in Perigord, 
 in 1909, has been made the type of a third Aurignaoian 
 race, or even of a new species, perhaps intermediate be¬ 
 tween the Neandertals and the modern species, Homo 
 aurignaeensis. This extreme view of specific distinct¬ 
 ness is not generally held, but this skeleton of Combe- 
 Capelle seems at least a distinct race from the Cro-Mag¬ 
 nons, as it is short in stature, about five feet, three inches, 
 while the average male Cro-Magnons was six feet, one 
 and one-half inches. 
 
 With the coming of these new human types, probably 
 all representatives of the new species II. sapiens, there 
 are associated the following advances in the culture of 
 the period: (1) new types of stone artifacts, (2) arti¬ 
 facts of bone, some of them definitely shaped for use as 
 tools, and (3) the appearance of incised drawings and 
 
170 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 of carvings, representing associated animal forms. Per¬ 
 haps, too, may be mentioned as (4), the final disap¬ 
 pearance from the earth of that sturdy race, the Nean- 
 dertal folk, whose valor in exterminating the cave bear 
 seems mainly to have availed in making the country more 
 habitable for their usurping successors, whose appear¬ 
 ance in Europe was very likely the chief reason for their 
 rapid extinction. Sic vos non vobis! 
 
 Flint artifacts from Aurignacian culture layers are 
 not fundamentally different from those met with in the 
 Mousterian, that is, they are the tools of flint users in 
 the Paleolithic stage of development. Collections of 
 Aurignacian artifacts are, however, notable from the 
 number of small instruments made apparently from 
 
 Fig. 35.—Small stone implements from Aurignacian deposits. (1) 
 Scraper; (2, 3) Knife blades; (4, 5) Borers. (After Dechelette.) 
 
 chance flakes, yet worked down to points and with re¬ 
 touched edges, forming tools called “burins,” and used 
 in the production of the fine engravings also characteris¬ 
 tic of the period. Some of these are remarkable for their 
 small size, plainly indicative of the men who used them, 
 
EUROPEAN PREHISTORY 
 
 171 
 
 who could perform easily and continually certain pre¬ 
 cise motions entirely beyond the best which the Nean- 
 dertal men could do, as shown by the large, coarse arti¬ 
 facts of previous times. 
 
 The same degree of skill is also shown in the delicate 
 implements of bone, horn and ivory, more characteristic 
 of the two following periods, yet not wanting in the 
 Aurignacian, and especially in the statuettes or figurines, 
 the earliest of which are of Aurignacian age. In this 
 connection, however, one involuntarily thinks of the 
 “bone-eoliths” of the previous period, undoubtedly the 
 work of the unfortunate Neandertal people, which, after 
 the analogy of the flints, indicates the beginnings of an 
 art in which the newcomers so easily excelled. 
 
 Concerning the land of origin of this new Aurignacian 
 culture, an Asiastic origin is rendered unlikely from the 
 fact that practically all the Aurignacian deposits occur 
 in south-western Europe, and that through the eastern 
 part, bordering upon Asia, nothing of this form of cul¬ 
 ture has been found. Aside from this much of the best 
 Aurignacian material has been found near the border 
 of the Mediterranean, a position which would strongly 
 suggest Africa as the land from which Homo sapiens 
 entered Europe. The differences, both in culture and in 
 physical character, between him and his Neandertal pre¬ 
 decessor, especially the latter, render a development in 
 place well nigh impossible. The Neandertals were short 
 of stature, averaging about five feet, three inches in 
 height; the Cro-Magnons were giants, the males ranging 
 from five feet, ten inches, to six feet, five inches. The 
 arms and legs of the first were short; those of the second 
 disproportionately long. The men of Cro-Magnon pos- 
 
172 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 sessed an erect carriage; those of Neandertal carried their 
 heads forward, and walked with their knees habitually 
 a little bent, and had curved thighs. In the face the two 
 showed striking differences, certainly great enough to 
 establish specific difference between the two, perhaps 
 sufficient to rank them as separate genera. The large 
 head of the Neandertal man, with its overhanging supra¬ 
 orbital arches, its slanting forehead and low cranium, 
 and its lack of chin, must have contrasted strongly, when 
 in the flesh, with the equally ponderous head of men of 
 the Cro-Magnon, with their smooth brows, high, straight 
 forehead, and firm, prominent chin, raised upon a lofty 
 and erect body. It is no wonder that, as Osborn has 
 pointed out, there was no mating between the two, and 
 consequently no transition forms. The giant from abroad, 
 with his superior culture and physical ability, must have 
 looked upon the sturdy but dwarfish Neandertal, with 
 his beetling brows, as little better than an ape, and as 
 such the latter was probably hunted like an animal, lead¬ 
 ing to his speedy extermination. Whether or not the 
 work of the men of Cro-Magnon, the Neandertal species 
 disappears at this point in our history, and leaves no de¬ 
 scendants. 
 
 Through this sudden substitution of one species of 
 man for another within a comparatively short interval, 
 resulting also in a change of activities and industries, 
 we see that not all prehistory chronicles a continuous 
 evolution of one strain; we realize also that not all cul¬ 
 tural development took place in Europe, or is represented 
 in European deposits. The earlier history of our species, 
 first represented in Europe by the men of Cro-Magnon 
 some forty thousands years ago, is still unknown, and 
 
EUROPEAN PREHISTORY 
 
 173 
 
 must be sought in that yet unknown land of their origin 
 —western Asia, perhaps, or northern Africa. In Europe 
 this Aurignacian Period represents a wide hiatus; and 
 the men, whose gradual evolution we are permitted to 
 trace upward from eoliths and archeoliths, and through 
 the record of the Heidelberg jaw and the Piltdown frag¬ 
 ments, were not permitted to complete their long labor, 
 but “unwept for and unsung” laid in the dust their 
 crude axes and their missile weapons, hand-hurled and 
 ineffective, before the superior intelligence of the modern 
 race. 
 
 39. Middle Paleolithic Times; the Solutrean Period. 
 —The period of Solutre is cast in different scenes from 
 that of the preceding. The great Wurm glaciation has 
 evidently retreated to the far north, and laid bare ex¬ 
 tensive plains or steppes, such as are found now in cen¬ 
 tral Asia. In the cold and dry climate with which the 
 Pleistocene times opened, man came out of his caves and 
 lived throughout the period more in the open; and with 
 the impetus afforded by the vast herds of reindeer and 
 of wild horses, which covered the plains, became a wan¬ 
 dering hunter. Thus the artifacts of the time show great 
 advances in implements of the chase. From the predom¬ 
 inance of the bones of the horse among culture deposits 
 of this period it is plain that this animal formed the 
 principal food, and from this circumstance the Solu¬ 
 trean Period has been termed the “Wild-horse Period.” 
 The animal was, however, hunted entirely for food, and 
 ages were yet to elapse before there is found a bit or a 
 curb, or the fragment of a chariot wheel, to indicate its 
 conquest and enslavement in the service of man. Fleet 
 of foot, and easily apprised of danger, the wild horse is 
 
174 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 not easily caught alive, and not only wit, but courage, 
 was needed to first bring down this noble quarry. 
 
 There are also plentiful suggestions of subtle means of 
 gaining supremacy over the beasts such as pitfalls, traps 
 and snares, by which man matched his cunning with that 
 of his victims; and if we may judge from an indistinct 
 sketch on ivory, dating from this time, the lasso also 
 on both ends, and the whole swallowed by the fish. Upon 
 pulling on this implement it would become placed trans¬ 
 versely across the pharynx or stomach of the victim, and 
 the fish would then be easily pulled in. 
 
 The Solutrean Period was established upon a cave de¬ 
 posit located near the village of Solutre (Saone-et-Loire), 
 France, a deposit that showed at once by the nature of 
 its artifacts a different type of culture from any hitherto 
 known. A characteristic form, occurring in abundance, 
 is the “laurel-leaf point.’* This consists of a thin, flat 
 blade of lanceolate outline, pointed at both ends, and 
 with a finely retouched edge running around the entire 
 margin. This flint was evidently intended to be inserted 
 in the end of a stick, sinking in deeper with every blow, 
 may have been used. Since, moreover, these means often 
 furnished the animals alive, the opportunity of taming 
 and domesticating them was already at hand, although a 
 long time was yet to intervene before this was definitely 
 accomplished. 
 
 As would be expected of a race long accustomed to the 
 chase, the art of fishing was also developed, and, although 
 still without boats, the man of Solutre became an effi¬ 
 cient shore fisherman. The Solutrean fishhook was a 
 straight piece of bone, pointed at both ends, and tied to 
 a thong about the middle. The bait was evidently put 
 
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 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 but prevented from splitting its haft by being tied with 
 thongs. The finished weapon was probably a javelin. 
 
 Among these points, too, there occurs for the first time 
 the barb, placed on one side only, and exhibiting a com¬ 
 plete series of stages, from the simple triangular point 
 with one of the lower corners broken off, to a deep notch, 
 placed much higher up along the side. Since a similar 
 point, barbed on one side only, and hafted as a knife, is 
 found among the modern Eskimo, who show in many 
 other respects a Solutrean level of culture, it is quite 
 probable that here also the tool served a similar use, and 
 that there, as here, the barb was developed as a means 
 for fastening the piece more firmly to the handle. The 
 later development of the double barb in a missile point, 
 with the hostile intention of retaining the weapon in the 
 wound, was thus plainly accidental in origin, and trace¬ 
 able to peaceful and industrial causes. 
 
 40. Middle Paleotliic Times; the Magdalenian Period. 
 —As the men of the Solutrean Period are called the 
 “wild horse hunters,” the Magdalenians are frequently 
 called the “reindeer people,” for the southern migra¬ 
 tions of these animals, begun in the Solutrean, continued 
 throughout the succeeding period, and the contemporary 
 human culture is closely associated with this animal. Its 
 flesh served as food; its bones and horns supplied the 
 materials for numerous implements; its figure was etched 
 upon the walls of the caverns or carved upon ivory 
 poniard handles; and its skins served for clothing, fas¬ 
 tened together by horn or ivory studs, or sewn by rude 
 bone needles or bodkins. 
 
 This great advance in culture development, which 
 shows us a people at about the level of our present day 
 
Fig. 37.—Flints of the Magdalenian Period, from the cavern of Laugerie-Basse 
 (Dordogne) Note especially the row of little tools of various shapes, indi¬ 
 
 cating a well differentiated technique, and trained fingers. One half natural 
 size. (After Bourlon, in L’Anthropologie.) 
 
178 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 Eskimo, 1 is made comprehensible through the study of 
 the Aurignacian and Solutrean, which, in all lines, show 
 the beginnings of those arts that came to fruition in the 
 Magdalenian. 
 
 From this time on, in the study of human develop¬ 
 ment, it is no longer possible to enumerate at length the 
 various types of implements used, for there has been a 
 great multiplication, both in the shapes and sizes, and 
 in the materials; and bone, horn and ivory have been 
 successively added to the flints. Each of these materials, 
 however, presents different possibilities of manufacture, 
 and its introduction is succeeded immediately by new 
 types of implements, rendering possible new industries 
 as well as great improvements of the old. Thus the pur¬ 
 suits of hunting and fishing, which had already in the 
 previous period received much attention, and which, as 
 now, were undoubtedly prosecuted by the male portion 
 of the community, profited greatly from the development 
 of delicate lances and barbed spears, which the use of 
 bone and horn made easily possible. The spear-thrower 
 also, the precursor of the bow, made its definite appear¬ 
 ance, and the elaborate ornamentation to which it was 
 subjected, especially the frequent appearance of a human 
 face at the handle end, suggests not only the great value 
 
 1 W. J. Sollas, in his “Ancient Hunters” (Macmillan, 1911) 
 compares the Mousterians with the Australians in culture, the 
 Aurignacians with the Bushmen, and the Magdelenians with 
 the Eskimo. The extinct Tasmanians may have been Chellean. 
 In many ways these comparisons are striking, and the remains 
 of these modern peoples, if found in deposits many thousands 
 of years from new, would correspond quite closely with those 
 of the prehistoric peoples specified. One must remember, how¬ 
 ever, that, while the Aurignacians and Magdalenians were men 
 of our own species, the Mousterians were Neandertals distinct 
 specifically from Homo sapiens. 
 
EUROPEAN PREHISTORY 
 
 179 
 
 with which it was regarded, but also, after the analogy 
 of many modern peoples, that it was viewed almost as a 
 sentient being, cared for and probably given a definite 
 name, as in the sword “Excalibur” of the Arthurian 
 
 i... i .1 ■■ i-1-1 
 
 Fig. 38.—Implements of bone and horn of the Magdalenian Period, from Che cavern 
 of Laugerie-Basse (Dordogne). One-half natural size. {After Bourlon, in 
 L’ Anthropologie.) 
 
180 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 legends. Similar spear-throwers, for the mechanical pro¬ 
 pulsion of missile weapons, and substituting a stronger 
 force than that produced by the unaided arm muscles, 
 although usually formed of wood instead of horn, are 
 found to-day in many parts of the world; for example, 
 among the Australians, and the Indians of British Colum¬ 
 bia. This weapon is used, not as a missile itself, as in 
 the ease of the boomerang, but as an engine for the pro¬ 
 jection of a javelin, or arrow. The blunt end of the 
 proper missile is received into a notch of the throwing- 
 stick, and is launched forth by a rapid movement of the 
 stick in the hand, much as in the ease of the springy 
 stick used by the modern small boy in hurling green 
 apples or balls of clay. That in this engine, which em¬ 
 ploys the elastic character of the material as an aid in 
 hurling a dart, the possibilities of the bow are already 
 suggested, is evident to all. 1 
 
 1 While there is to us a definite connection between the spear- 
 thrower, a mechanical device for the propulsion of a javelin, 
 and the how and arrow, there is no indication that the latter 
 evolved from the former. The javelin, first hurled by the hand, 
 surely developed into the arrow, hut the spear-thrower never 
 developed into the bow. There are several causes which obscure 
 our knowledge concerning the time or manner of introduction 
 of this latter weapon. In the first place a spear-thrower, or 
 throwing-stick, was made of ivory, horn, or some such rigid ma¬ 
 terial likely to be preserved, while, in order to insure the proper 
 degree of elasticity, a bow must be of wood, a material scarcely 
 to be looked for in deposits of such remote antiquity. The 
 first definite record of bows comes to us from certain of the 
 rock paintings of the Pyrenean region, but an exact date of 
 these in terms of the established periods of prehistory presents 
 serious difficulties, and is uncertain at best. It has often been 
 taken for granted that all the rock paintings in this region, 
 together with the ivory statuettes, belong to the Magdalenian 
 Period, but if this be so, says Breuil, the men living in Spain 
 at that time were in some points very different from their 
 French contemporaries, the typical Magdalenians. It is much 
 
EUROPEAN PREHISTORY 
 
 181 
 
 The woman’s part in this cultural development is re¬ 
 vealed by the numerous bone awls and needles, which sug¬ 
 gest the possibility of shaped garments of skin, to be 
 employed during the winter months as a protection from 
 the cold. Personal adornment, undoubtedly employed 
 by both sexes, sometimes found in earlier periods, has 
 now become a pronounced feature, and pendant orna¬ 
 ments, necklaces, and so forth, of shell, bone and teeth, 
 bored to allow them to be strung, are frequently met with. 
 The danger with which the hunting of the cave-bear 
 was still fraught, and the honor accruing to the slayer, 
 are eloquently told by the occurrence of teeth of these 
 animals, especially the canines, pierced by round holes 
 for attachment to thongs. 
 
 Associated mainly with the Magdalenian Period is the 
 remarkable development of art, expressed in all possible 
 ways, which renders this epoch the Golden Age of the 
 Paleolithic. Within the deposits on the floor of caves 
 and rock shelters are found admirable sketches of con¬ 
 temporaneous animals, cut into the surface of pieces of 
 bone, ivory and stone; and more rarely there occur ex¬ 
 cellent figures in the round, sometimes by themselves, 
 sometimes serving as the handles of poniards and other 
 implements. In these small figures, with the complete 
 animal only three or four inches in length, the technique 
 reaches its highest point of perfection, since they are 
 executed in detail, and often show great skill in adapt- 
 
 more probable that the Pyrenean paintings in which the how 
 and arrow appear are, though ancient, much later than the 
 Magdalenian, and belong to the Azylian Period, or even later. 
 Such a supposition has the advantage of being in close accord 
 with the independent conclusions or archeologists in other coun¬ 
 tries, e. g. the Danes. 
 
182 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 ing an animal form to use as a handle, being at once nat¬ 
 ural in pose and easy to grasp. Thus in a well known 
 poniard of ivory, the handle is a reindeer, with forelegs 
 in a kneeling position and with the head thrown back. 
 The antlers thus rest naturally along the back, the fore¬ 
 legs are practically disposed of, and the hind legs are 
 
 Fig. 39.—Sketch of a bison inscribed upon a small, flat slab of limestone. In 
 the original the length of the body, from nose to rump, is two and three 
 quarters inches, and the height, from forefoot to hump, two inches. Note 
 the marks at the left, below the chest, which may possibly be the signature 
 of the artist! From the Magdalenian deposit in the cavern of Laugerie- 
 Basse. (After Bourlon, in L’Anthropologie.) 
 
 indefinite and continuous with the blade. This handle 
 fits the hand most readily, and places the blade in exactly 
 the proper direction for execution. 
 
 In certain localities, especially in the Pyrenean region 
 in both France and Spain, the walls of the caverns, wher¬ 
 ever a flat surface offers itself, are adorned with large 
 
Fig. 40.—Wall painting, representing a charging bison. Cavern of Altamira, 
 Northern Spain. (After Cartailhac and Breuil, in L’Anthropologie.) 
 
 Fig. 41.—Incised drawing on the wall of the cavern of 'Marsoulas, Haute 
 Garonne, France. Probably Magdalenian. (After Cartailhac and Breuil, in 
 L’Anthropologie.) 
 
184 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 wall paintings, the outline incised after the manner of 
 the smaller sketches, and the surface colored with chalk, 
 ochre, charcoal and various other mineral pigments, 
 which, in the undisturbed seclusion of the caves, have 
 remained to the present day. Indeed, in an inner re¬ 
 cess of the cavern of Tuc d’Audobert (Ariege) there 
 were discovered in 1921 by Count Begouen, a pair of 
 bisons, nearly half life size, modeled in clay, as perfect 
 as when left by the artist. They recline at an angle 
 against a rock protruding from the cavern floor, and are 
 in the form of a very high relief, and not quite complete 
 statues, for the side in contact with the rock was not 
 completed. They are about two feet each in length by 
 one in height, and were finished in great detail, grooves 
 and indented lines representing the manes and flowing 
 hair, and evidently executed by an instrument of bone 
 or wood. They were found in an inner recess of the cave, 
 access to the chamber having been closed by a large rock, 
 and to this circumstance they owe their long preserva¬ 
 tion. Somewhat corresponding to these statues a num¬ 
 ber of reliefs of animals, mainly horses, have been found 
 in the open, associated with rock shelters, and nearly life 
 size. 
 
 The artistic merit of all of these representations, 
 whether painting or sculpture, large or small, is surpris¬ 
 ing. The boldness of the lines, and the exactness with 
 which they express an idea, are often admirable, even 
 viewed from our modern standpoint. They are so ex¬ 
 cellent and so numerous that we possess complete sets 
 of illustrations of at least the larger fauna of the epoch, 
 which would reproduce the conditions for us, even though 
 there were no bones available, with which to corroborate 
 
EUROPEAN PREHISTORY 
 
 185 
 
 the work of the Paleolithic artist. In these representa¬ 
 tions we find with great frequency the bison, the rein¬ 
 deer, and the mammoth, the latter incised or carved in 
 the round upon a piece of its own ivory. More rarely 
 are found bears, both the huge one of the cave, and the 
 smaller brown variety, with the specific characters well 
 marked; also the ur, the horse and the wild pig. 1 
 
 Representations of man himself are of rare occurrence, 
 and then never so well done as are the associated animals. 
 The faces are often grotesque, and the females are usually 
 shown grossly fat, of the type admired by the present- 
 day Bushmen. The human figures are generally nude, 
 perhaps always so, but in a few cases certain regular 
 lines, which cover the bodies, and which cannot be inter¬ 
 preted as shading, represent either hair, clothes or, more 
 likely, tattooing. In incised sketches man often appears 
 
 1 As the best of this Paleolithic art has been found in France 
 and northern Spain, the first record of new discoveries in this 
 line appear in the French technical journals, especially in 
 UAnthropologie. Among these may be mentioned the following : 
 IAAnthropol. T. 15, 1904. pp. 129-170; article by E. Piette on the 
 finds in the cavern of Mas d’Azil (Dept. Arriege). T. 15, 1904, 
 pp. 625-044; Cartailhac and Abbe Breuil on the mural paintings 
 in the cavern of Altamira (Prov. of Santander), Spain. T. 18, 
 1907, pp. 10-36; article by the above authors on the deposits 
 of the grotto of Laugerie-basse (Depte. Dordogne). T. 19, 1908, 
 pp. 15-46, article by the above authors on the cave of Niaux 
 (Arriege). T. 23, i912, pp. 529-562, article by the Abbe Breuil 
 and others on certain caverns of Spain, la Vieja, and Echelles. 
 T. 27, 1916, pp. 1-26, article by the late Capt. Bourlon on the 
 newest finds at Laugerie-basse. Illustrations and description 
 of large rock sculptures are found in L'Anthropol T. 22, 1911, 
 pp. 3S5-402, by Lalanne and Breuil, describing those found at 
 Cap-blanc (Dordogne). The bisons modeled in clay are de¬ 
 scribed by Count Begouen in the same journal, T. 23, 1912, pp. 
 657-665. An excellent popular article, mainly on the mural 
 paintings at Altamira, in Spain, appeared in the Illustrated 
 London Netvs , Aug. 10, 1912. 
 
180 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 as a hunter. In one such he is seen, crawling upon his 
 stomach, with uplifted javelin, stalking a grazing bison, 
 which appears already alert, as though scenting danger; 
 in another an unclothed man walks along, carrying a 
 stick for spear over his shoulder. 1 
 
 It is naturally difficult to date a mural painting found 
 upon the wall of a cave, and we are none too sure con¬ 
 cerning many of the smaller works of art found in de¬ 
 posits that contain both Aurignacian and Magdalenian 
 artifacts, especially as many forms characteristic of the 
 earlier period were still in vogue during the later one. 
 There is consequently some difference of opinion con¬ 
 cerning the time during which this art was at its height. 
 
 There is a well supported view which places much of 
 the art within the Aurignacian Period, and Sollas draws 
 a telling comparison between the Aurignacians and the 
 modern Bushmen, by putting the statuettes of grossly fat 
 women in the Aurignacian Period, and comparing them 
 with the steatopygous females admired by the Bushmen. 
 This date for the statuettes referred to is supported in 
 his recent work (“Men of the Old Stone Age,” 1916) 
 by Osborn, who includes here most of the cruder carv¬ 
 ings and paintings and a few of those with more merit. 
 Others, including Dechelette, consider the Magdalenian 
 
 1 Many of these rather poorly executed human figures are 
 attributed by many authorities to a previous period, the Aurig¬ 
 nacian, which relieves Magdalenian art of the burden of re¬ 
 sponsibility for them. Several incised figures of two feet or 
 more in length have been recently found by Lalanne in the 
 shelter of Laussel (Dordogne) of which good representations 
 will he found in L’Anthropologie. T. 23. 1912, pp. 129-149. One 
 of these figures is that of a well-proportioned man, seen from 
 the side; two others are those of grossly fat women, one holding 
 the horn of a bison in her uplifted right hand. The author 
 considers these definitely Aurignacian. 
 
EUROPEAN PREHISTORY 
 
 1ST 
 
 as the period which witnessed the greater part of the 
 development of Paleolithic art, but this latter author 
 places the last and best pieces in the Azilian, the period 
 immediately following the Magdalenian. As somewhat 
 opposed to the first view, so long as it is still a theory, is 
 the practical absence of artistic power during the Solu- 
 trean, that intervenes between the Aurignacian and Mag¬ 
 dalenian ; also, the crudeness of the Aurignacian manip¬ 
 ulation of bone artifacts used for other purposes. 
 
 The development of art is definitely associated with 
 life in caverns, and points to a time of cool climate, and 
 the plentiful use of fire. It is known also that, aside 
 from the firelight, the Paleolithic artists employed a 
 simple type of lamp. These, in the form of flat, oval 
 pieces of stone, bearing a hollow perhaps for the recep¬ 
 tion of animal fat or oil, have been found on the floor 
 of caves, in association with the mural paintings: yet, al¬ 
 though in modern art and in imaginative literature the 
 early cave artists are commonly represented as working 
 upon, or admiring, their work in the deeper recesses, 
 lamps in hand, there are so few of them found, and the 
 original purpose of these oval discs is still so uncertain 
 that, as an expert archeologist (N. S. Nelson) has stated, 
 in writing to the present author concerning this very 
 point, “the means of lighting used in exploring or while 
 drawing pictures, in distant interiors of the caverns, 
 seems still an unsolved problem.” 
 
 41. Late Paleolithic Times; the Azilian-Tardenoisan 
 Period d—The great geological event which put an end 
 
 1 Sollas, who includes the Mesvinian and Strepyan in the 
 Paleolithic, closes this age with the Magdalenian: Dechelette 
 closes the Paleolithic at the same place and uses the Azilian as 
 
188 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 to the Magdalenian Period and ushered in the periods 
 collectively termed the Late Paleolithic was the final 
 diminution of the cold, and the melting of the great gla¬ 
 ciers. This event brought important changes throughout 
 tral and northern Europe, and profoundly affected all 
 animal and plant life there, including man himself. The 
 melting of the vast ice fields filled the lower lands with 
 chains of great lakes, which roughly defined the modern 
 river valleys; and this condition produced in its turn 
 an unusually heavy rainfall, that developed in those 
 lands that lay above the lake level a plentiful system 
 of rivers. These were precisely the right conditions to 
 produce a luxuriant forest growth, and the face of the 
 country, which had previously exhibited vast steppes or 
 prairies, inhabited by herds of reindeer, bison, wild oxen 
 and horses, became utterly changed. The reindeer, both 
 because of the milder climate, which they could not en¬ 
 dure, and the destruction of the plains upon which they 
 depended, disappeared entirely, perhaps following the 
 glaciers in their northern retreat, and their place became 
 taken by deer, which found in the forest a congenial 
 environment, and which the final extinction of the cave 
 bears, mostly by the hand of man, allowed to multiply 
 almost beyond limit. The mammoth, another steppe ani¬ 
 mal, probably wandered eastward and northward, 
 finally to die out utterly, almost within historic times, 
 in his last strongholds in northern Siberia; but the wild 
 horse, the bison, and the great European wild ox, 
 
 a period of transition to the Neolithic.. Osborn sees in the 
 Azilian-Tardenoisian a “revolution.” where all Paleolithic his¬ 
 tory comes to an abrupt end, and where the entrance of several 
 new races prepares the way for the Neolithic Age. 
 
EUROPEAN PREHISTORY 
 
 1S9 
 
 the “Ur” of the German traditions (Julius Caesar’s 
 “Urus”), although undoubtedly reduced in numbers, 
 were still to survive. 1 
 
 To the prehistorian one of the most striking results 
 
 Fig. 42.—Pebbles painted with alphibetiform characters. The two sides of the 
 same pebbles are shown in three of the cases, connected by dotted lines. These 
 are samples of the “galets colorees” of M. Piette, and occur in considerable 
 numbers in the Tourassian (Azylian) deposit of Mas d’Azyl, the first of the post 
 glacial deposits. The use of these pebbles is unknown. (After Piette.) 
 
 1 The horse, although no longer in a wild state, readily becomes 
 practically so when allowed to run for a time unherded and 
 unconfined, as in the great plains of Hungary, and in the west¬ 
 ern United States; the European bison, Bison europceus , exists 
 now in the form of a few protected herds, much as in the case 
 of its American cousin. Bison americanus; but the great ox, 
 Bos primigenius , mentioned in the Nibelungenlied, and furnish¬ 
 ing both name and coat of arms to the canton of Uri, Switzer¬ 
 land, has become extinct. It was common in the Black Forest 
 at the time of Julius Cspsar, and survived in Poland until about 
 the year 1000. Crossed with the domestic species. Bos taurm, 
 it has, however, contributed its blood to certain breeds, notably 
 the black and white “Holstein,” upon which it has bestowed its 
 large size. The great gray oxen of southeastern Austria also 
 may very likely have a Urus strain. 
 
190 
 
 MAN'S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 of this change is seen in the sudden cessation of artistic 
 power, which in fact, never appears again in the same 
 form. The few drawings definitely ascribed to this pe¬ 
 riod are childish in their execution and not for a moment 
 to be compared to those of the Magdalenian. On the 
 other hand, although it would seem but a poor compen¬ 
 sation for the loss of artistic power, there developed an 
 industry or pastime, the meaning of which is far from 
 clear. 
 
 In certain of the deposits of this period, notable in 
 the grotto of Mas d’Azil in southern France (Ariege) 
 occur numerous small pebbles of rounded shape, painted 
 with bands and stripes in a way almost to suggest 
 some form of lettering. 1 This appearance is prob¬ 
 ably accidental and the pebbles may have been used in 
 playing some sort of game, or in magic, pursuits to which 
 primitive people are always prone, and which occupy an 
 important place in their daily life. A similar type of 
 object consists of small flat pieces of bone of various 
 shapes, incised with all sorts of geometric designs, and 
 
 1 Of. the writings of M. Piette, especially in L' Anthropologic. 
 T. 14. 1903, pp. 641-6.13. in which he shows close similarities 
 between the designs upon the Mas d’Azil pebbles and the primi¬ 
 tive Phoenician and Greek alphabets. This article is, however, 
 immediately followed by another, by Arthur Barnard Cook, 
 denying the alphabetiform character of the pebbles, but com¬ 
 paring them to the churinga, or “bull-roarers,” of the Austra¬ 
 lians, which are small pieces of wood attached to long strings. 
 By whirling these around, strange sounds are produced which 
 the Australians believe to be the voices of their dead. Perhaps a 
 more likely comparison is that of Solomon Reinach ( VAnthro - 
 got. T. 20, 909, pp. 604-605) who cites a custom of the new 
 extinct Tasmanians. These people used little stone plates 
 ‘‘marked in various direction with red and black lines” to rep¬ 
 resent their absent (or deceased?) friends. Aside from the 
 collection of Piette. which contains more than two hundred of 
 these ‘‘painted pebbles,” there are but a few known. 
 
EUROPEAN PREHISTORY 
 
 191 
 
 often pierced eacli with a small hole, by which they 
 may have been strung’ on strings. 
 
 Indicative of a more serious purpose are numerous 
 harpoons, lance-heads, awls and needles, of stag-horn, 
 which suggest the association with the herds of deer now 
 filling the forest, and give to this folk the appellation of 
 the “Stag-people,” sometimes used. 
 
 This period was founded originally by de Mortillet 
 upon remains found in the cave of La Tourasse, near St. 
 Martory (Haute Garonne), France, from which the pe¬ 
 riod was called the Tourassian, but as the contemporary 
 deposits of Mas d’Azil have become more famous, and are 
 of much greater interest, the alternative name of Azilian 
 is now more usually employed. 1 Apparently man still 
 inhabited caves during the early part of the period, but 
 soon abandoned them for the forest and open plains, 
 where he probably erected some form of artificial shelter. 
 Such a form of life is not favorable for the preservation 
 of records, especially as the distinctive artifacts were 
 made of bone and horn, materials which would not be 
 preserved unless in cave deposits, or similar places. The 
 period has thus left behind few definite records, and one 
 gets the impression, which may or may not be true, that 
 there was at this epoch a marked diminution in the 
 human population of Europe. 
 
 It is probably in this period, the Azilian, or in those 
 
 1 The deposits at Mas d’Azil, which have yielded very many 
 valuable objects, has been exploited by a single man, Edouard 
 Piette, who has published a large number of short papers on 
 his finds. These are scattered through various periodicals, 
 mainly in UAntliropologie. His great work. “L’Art pendant 
 l’Age du Renne,” an album of 100 plates, appeared in 1907 
 (Paris). 
 
192 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 immediately following, the Flenusian and Tardenoisian, 
 that a certain type of cave paintings belongs, which oc¬ 
 curs in the same regions as those of the Magdalenian, 
 but is strikingly unlike the latter in every detail. Com¬ 
 pared with the Magdalenian mural paintings these, al¬ 
 though much later, are extremely crude, and differ so 
 much from them in general style that they can easily be 
 distinguished at a glance. 
 
 In these paintings there is always a perfect bewilder¬ 
 ment of detail, although there is evidently an attempt to 
 group all the figures that occur together into a single 
 picture. The animals, in which the stag and the ox 
 largely predominate, are done mostly in silhouette, and 
 are conspicuous from the slenderness of their parts, es¬ 
 pecially the limbs. The same is also true of the human 
 figures, which, unlike the paintings of earlier ages, are 
 everywhere met with, usually in the act of shooting at 
 the various beasts with actual bows and arrows. Both 
 animals and men are shown of very different sizes, 
 possibly with the idea of representing perspective. The 
 men are nude, sometimes with long flowing hair or some 
 sort of headdress. In the few cases in which women are 
 shown, they wear what is unmistakably a long skirt, al¬ 
 though the material, whether of skins or cloth, is not 
 clearly indicated. Thus nothing can be postulated con¬ 
 cerning the knowledge of weaving. 
 
 Naturally, as in all cave paintings, those of this type 
 are difficult to date. That they are very old is certain 
 from several reasons, especially the fact that the floor 
 deposits often cover up the lower parts of the pictures; 
 yet several important points about the delineations them¬ 
 selves show that they are post-Magdalenian. The ani- 
 
Fig. 43.—Rock painting on the wall of a cave near Cueva de la Vieja, Spain, 
 half way between Madrid and Valencia. This is but a small portion of the 
 whole, which forms a confused mass of men and animals, the former gen¬ 
 erally with drawn bows, suggesting hunting scenes. Similar wall paintings 
 are found in many parts of Spain and Southern France, and are far inferior 
 to the beautiful mural art associated with the Magdalenian, although they 
 are much later. In some ways they strikingly resemble the art of the Bush¬ 
 men of South Africa to-day. (After Breuil, Gomez, and Aguilo, in 
 L’Anthropologie.) 
 
194 
 
 MAN'S PREHISTORIC TAST 
 
 mals depicted are exclusively thoce of the more modern 
 times, and fitted to a more modern climate; human figures 
 are constantly met with, and are commonly depicted in 
 the act of discharging arrows by means of genuine bows. 
 The style of drawing, also, is vastly cruder than the art 
 which flourished during the Magdalenian Age, and is 
 totally unlike it. Sollas has shown, and most convinc¬ 
 ingly, too, the close similarity between these and the rock 
 painting of the modern Bushmen of South Africa, and, 
 assuming the date of the paintings to be Aurignacian, 
 has drawn many parallels between these two peoples. 
 This final conclusion of his cannot hold if the paintings 
 are not Aurignacian, but the observation of the similarity 
 of these to the Bushman art is extremely apt, and points 
 definitely to the presence in Europe of people of an al¬ 
 most identical grade of culture. Their date is rather un¬ 
 certain, but it will not be far wrong to place it at about 
 the Azilian-Tardenosian, just previous to the typical 
 Neolithic. 
 
 42. Late Paleolithic Times; the Kitchen-Middens .—• 
 The men of this and the succeeding periods did not, how¬ 
 ever, live exclusively in the forests, or in the interior of 
 the open country, but frequently encamped upon the sea- 
 coasts, or along the shores of the extensive lakes which 
 covered so much of the land area, where they subsisted 
 largely upon the various species of shellfish which were 
 there procurable. As a by-product of this form of life 
 there accumulated in such places enormous masses of 
 shells, the almost indestructible residue from their feasts, 
 which in some places form to-day deposits of many feet 
 in thickness, extending over large areas. Interspersed 
 among the shells are found occasional bones and 
 
EUROPEAN PREHISTORY 
 
 105 
 
 teeth of the animals eaten, and more rarely instru¬ 
 ments of all sorts, either broken and thrown among the 
 refuse, or accidentally dropped. Such refuse heaps form 
 for the prehistorian extremely valuable documents, from 
 which the mode of life of the people who left them can 
 be readily ascertained. Owing to the different character 
 of fresh and salt-water molluscs, the refuse heaps left 
 about the lakes are inconsiderable in bulk or importance, 
 but those deposits along the sea coasts, composed of such 
 bulky shells as those of oysters or clams, are often ex 
 tensive, and actually aid in the formation of promon¬ 
 tories, small headlands, and islands. 
 
 Heaps like these occur in all parts of the world, but 
 in many places, as along the Atlantic coast of the United 
 States, they may be attributed to peoples still living, in 
 this latter case the Indians; in Europe these formations 
 are prehistoric. The best known and most extensive of 
 these are found along the coasts of the Baltic Sea, where 
 the earliest heaps (Maglemoos) are about contemporary 
 with the Stag-people (Azilian) and extend from that 
 time through a part of the Neolithic. * 1 Immediately aftei* 
 
 1 “There is a peculiar difficulty connected with the classifica¬ 
 tion of the kitchen-middens as ‘late Paleolithic.’ Historically 
 there is some ground for doing so, but technologically and typo- 
 logically there is little justification. The method of shaping 
 rock by pecking and rubbing goes back as far as the Aurigna- 
 cian; while, on the other hand, flint flaking and chipping con¬ 
 tinues to the present day in Europe. On technological grounds, 
 therefore, we ought to date the eolithic from the Aurignacian, 
 which no one has ever proposed. 
 
 “Typologically. the problem is considered simplified. Begin¬ 
 ning with the Magdalenian. there was a distinct advance in the 
 
 I one-working industry and a correspondingly marked decline 
 in the flint industry. In Azilian-Tardenoisian times the flint 
 industry gives the impression of almost complete degeneration. 
 There was an effort about this time, or directly following it, 
 to make even chisels and axes out of bone and antler. But 
 
196 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 the final melting of the Wurm Ice the present Baltic Sea 
 was a landlocked lake, presumably the largest in Europe, 
 and filled with fresh water. This is shown by the abund¬ 
 ance of shells of fresh water molluscs (Ancylus) laid 
 down during this time. At last the North Sea broke 
 through the land in many places (Great and Little Belt, 
 Ore Sund) and, as the water of the ocean gained entrance, 
 the oyster and other marine molluscs replaced those of 
 the fresh water. The Baltic thus became one of the great 
 sources of food to the northern Europeans, and even¬ 
 tually, as shown by these refuse heaps, became entirely 
 surrounded by human settlements. The Danish prehis¬ 
 torians of the last century, whose attention was early 
 attracted by these mounds, called them “ Kjokken-mod- 
 dinger,” or “kitchen-middens,” and this name has been 
 accepted as the technical term for such formations every¬ 
 where. 
 
 These northern shell heaps, beginning to be deposited 
 during the Azilian Period, and continuing for many cen¬ 
 turies, represent for the most part that long transition 
 period, previous to the definite Neolithic, during which 
 man slowly acquired the arts used as criteria of this 
 latter age. The most important of these are : (1) smooth 
 stone implements, (2) pottery, (3) weaving, (4) agri¬ 
 culture, and (5) the domestication of animals. These 
 were all acquired during the interval succeeding the 
 
 obviously there was no real opening in that direction and so in 
 the Campignian culture, to which horizon the shell mounds 
 clearly belong, we find the implement maker on a new tack. In 
 Prance and Denmark at least, appear rudely flaked types of both 
 chisels and axes, the true forerunners of the polished type char¬ 
 acteristic of the Dolmen and Passage-grave periods. On that 
 ground I should say that the Neolithic, in its broadest, truest 
 sense, began with the shell mounds.”—N. S. Nelson. 
 
EUROPEAN PREHISTORY 
 
 197 
 
 Azilian, often conveniently designated the Transneo- 
 lithic Period, and the clues to these achievements, the ex¬ 
 planation of the initial experiments leading up to these 
 vast results, are found for the most part in the Scandi¬ 
 navian kitchen-middens. 
 
 Although numerous objects from these deposits are 
 scattered over the world, in museums and collections, the 
 greater part of them are stored in the National Museum 
 at Copenhagen, whither the scholar must betake himself 
 for the best documents of this transition period. 1 
 
 43. Tiie Transition to the Neolithic. —Technically, as 
 embodied in the name, the criterion between the old and 
 the new stone ages (Paleolithic and Neolithic) lies in the 
 art, possessed by the latter, of finishing the entire surface 
 of a stone implement so that it is uniformly of a smooth, 
 or “polished” character, without a trace of the original 
 flaking by means of which it was at first shaped. 
 
 It is also to be emphasized that by no means all of the 
 stone implements of this age were smooth and polished, 
 
 1 Based upon contemporary deposits in other parts of Europe, 
 different prehistorians have sought to divide up the Transneo- 
 lithic into a number of distinct periods, naming them, after the 
 usual manner, from the geographical locality where character¬ 
 istic deposits occur. Thus, immediately following the Azilian 
 (Tourassian), come in order the Flenusian (from Flenu , in Bel¬ 
 gium, with its neighboring site Spiennes ), the Tardenoisian 
 (from Tardenois, Aisne, France) and the Campignian (from 
 Campign/)/, Seine-inferieure, France). In strict definition, 
 the Neo-Uthic Age is characterized by the smoothed or pol¬ 
 ished stone artifacts that occur among its deposits, but this 
 character, although the one selected for obvious comparison 
 with previous times, is in reality much less noticeable and char¬ 
 acteristic of the period than a number of other newly introduced 
 advances. Besides the introduction of polished stone, the Neo¬ 
 lithic Age witnesses the first appearance of pottery, of basketry 
 and weaving, of the domestication of animals, and of agricul¬ 
 ture, together with the numerous subordinate arts and indus¬ 
 tries associated therewith. 
 
198 
 
 MAX’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 expended upon the essentials, such as the sharpening of 
 the point and the two lateral edges, and in improving the 
 general proportions. 
 
 but that the rougher types of stone artifacts continued 
 to be used for certain purposes. For such temporary 
 purposes as arrow-heads, for example, a paleolithic sur¬ 
 face was good enough, and the efforts of the artificer were 
 
 Fig. 44.—Typical Neolithic axes from Longeville, now in the 
 museum at Metz. The socket axes and the triangular 
 ones, tapering to a point at one end, are late Neolithic; 
 the square ones are earlier. (After Schumacher, in 
 Prahistorische Zeitschrift.) 
 
Fig. 45.—Five axes from the Danish kitchen-middens of the transition period, showing as many steps in the conversion of a paleolith 
 into a neolith. (Drawn from specimens in the Smith College Collection.) In (a) the edge is improved by retouching, but with 
 no suggestion of polishing. The others show different degrees of polishing—i.e., smoothing. 
 
200 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 It was thus only the best and most permanent imple¬ 
 ments, like axes and chisels, that received the surface 
 finish, and this art was learned, as the kitchen-middens 
 teach, quite by accident, and presumably in a very short 
 time. 
 
 The whole process is well illustrated by the accom¬ 
 panying figure (Fig. 45), represcenting a series of axes 
 from the kitchen-middens of Denmark. In these it is at 
 once seen that the process was inaugurated by a new 
 method of sharpening the blade, that is, by a long rub¬ 
 bing against another stone, first upon one side, cmd then 
 upon the other. This process, having at first as its sole 
 object the improvement of the cutting edge (Fig 45 b), 
 became continued further up the sides, probably at first 
 to allow the instrument to slip better along the incision 
 made (Fig. 45 c). When, finally, the most bulging por¬ 
 tion of the curve was passed, and it was no longer neces¬ 
 sary for the efficiency of the instrument to continue the 
 process of smoothing, the portion remaining was so 
 small, and the smooth surface gave so much better an 
 appearance, that the surface polishing was completed 
 for esthetic reasons, and the paleolith became a typical 
 neolith (Fig. 45 d, e). 
 
 A second important advance shown by Neolithic people 
 is the art of making pottery; and as “shards/’ or frag¬ 
 ments, of these are practically imperishable, and as such 
 shards are naturally rather abundant about the sites of 
 human activity, their value in estimating the ago and 
 period of culture of a given deposit is very great. They 
 have been well termed the “Leitfossilien,” or guide-fos¬ 
 sils, of Neolithic deposits, and their presence in an un¬ 
 disturbed culture layer must be taken as an undoubted 
 
EUROPEAN PREHISTORY 
 
 201 
 
 proof that the layer in question is Neolithic, or later. 
 Especially, indeed, as we come to post-Neolithic times, 
 shards become of increasing importance, since, from the 
 Bronze Age on to classic times, the potter’s art becomes 
 continually more differentiated. There thus develops not 
 only a multiplicity of form and size, subserving a greater 
 variety of uses, but a great advance in the method of 
 decoration and of finishing the surface, resulting even¬ 
 tually in almost countless types of pots and other clay 
 utensils, the remains of which date a deposit with almost 
 the exactness of a coin. 
 
 According to the ideas of some prehistorians, the Neo¬ 
 lithic culture was introduced by an alien people, presum¬ 
 ably Asiatics, who brought with them the art of pottery, 
 together with a knowledge of agriculture and certain 
 domestic animals, like the sheep and goat; but, as in 
 the case of the smoothing of the stone implements, 
 above cited, there is plenty of evidence to show that 
 certain of the arts characteristic of the Neolithic Age 
 were gradual and local in their development; that is, 
 that they were acquired, in their simplest form, dur¬ 
 ing the periods immediately preceding the definite Neo¬ 
 lithic. 
 
 The first suggestions of modeling objects out of clay 
 naturally and spontaneously occur as the result of con¬ 
 stant association with that substance; and as, this mate¬ 
 rial is everywhere present, its plastic nature and its readi¬ 
 ness to receive impressions are, for primitive people, 
 matters of continual observation. The deposit on the 
 floor of caverns is usually of a clayey nature; clay, too, 
 is often associated with the smaller 1 water pools, or with 
 certain parts of the banks of rivers and ponds, which 
 
202 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 are the especial places sought by early man for his habi¬ 
 tations. 
 
 It must always be remembered, not only that in general 
 primitive man comes far more closely into contact with 
 the phenomena of external nature than we do, but that 
 the quality of the soil walked upon is a matter of much 
 moment to an unshod man. He perceives the least dif¬ 
 ferences in the surface, and constantly feels the ground 
 with his naked feet. The firmness of turf, the shifting 
 character of sand, the slippery nature of clay are 
 thus perceived and differentiated to an extent impos¬ 
 sible to realize by one who, equipped with shoes, walks 
 with comparative indifference over all sorts of footing. 
 It is thus inevitable that the properties of clay were well 
 known to early man, and that when first he attempted to 
 intertwine twigs and branches to form a rude shelter, he 
 would naturally fill the interstices with clay to make the 
 structure watertight at the time of the heavy rain. 
 
 But in this type of hut-building, one hardly beyond the 
 constructive intelligence of the chimpanzee, are found 
 the beginning of the two twin industries, basketry and 
 pottery, for the basket is but a specialization of the twig- 
 woven shelter, and becomes converted into a watertight 
 receptacle by being lined with clay. If such a utensil is 
 left accidentally in too close association with the hearth 
 the fire causes the clay to become hard, and burns away 
 the basket at the same time, yet leaves in place of the 
 mutilated implement one of a new sort that is much 
 better for the original purpose than was the first one be¬ 
 fore the accident. When once thoroughly fired, the ves¬ 
 sel can be suspended over the hearth, or may even be put 
 directly upon the coals, thus for the first time- introduc- 
 
EUROPEAN PREHISTORY 
 
 203 
 
 ing the new technique in cooking, in which the fire is 
 placed beneath the pot in which the cooking is taking 
 place, and by doing away with the clumsy, but time- 
 honored method of boiling by means of hot stones placed 
 in the pot with the food. 
 
 From the various stages of the pot-making industry 
 found in the New World, whose inhabitants at the time 
 of the discovery were within, or very near, the Neolithic 
 type of culture, we find many corroborations of this theo¬ 
 retical sketch of the probable origin of ceramics. In 
 shell mounds and other aboriginal sites there are fre¬ 
 quently found shards, the outer surface of which shows 
 the impress of a mat or basket. In these fossil textiles 
 the stitch of the original cover may be easily recovered 
 by covering the marked surface with wax or plaster, and 
 afterward separating it from the shard. When this is 
 done the woven textile, in positive form, appears upon 
 the plastic material. 
 
 Quite independently of the method of developing pots 
 from lined baskets comes the modern Indian method of 
 building up coiled ware. In this the pot is made by coil¬ 
 ing up in any desired form a clay rope, and then fasten¬ 
 ing adjacent coils by pinching them together at fre¬ 
 quent intervals with thumb and finger. When these 
 pinched places are properly and regularly spaced a pleas¬ 
 ing effect is made, closely resembling the coiled basket, 
 from which it was evidently derived. As this form of 
 basket is itself a highly specialized form, any pot derived 
 from it must also be of much later development than one 
 originally derived from a basket lining, the basket itself 
 being a much more primitive one. 
 
 The constant and universal employment of pottery in 
 
204 
 
 MAX’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 Europe appears at the advent of the Neolithic, among 
 other new industries; at the same time traces of certain 
 very simple pots are found in the Campignian, imme¬ 
 diately preceding the genuine Neolithic, and thus again 
 the question confronts us, whether the art of making and 
 using pottery really developed in place on European 
 soil, or whether it was suddenly introduced from else¬ 
 where. 
 
 Concerning the appearance of domesticated animals, 
 an important Neolithic characteristic, there is the same 
 uncertainty as in the case of pottery. In favor of the 
 gradual development in place are the numerous indica¬ 
 tions in the kitchen-middens, which are in part transi¬ 
 tional, and are placed just before the Neolithic, of a 
 closer association of certain local animals, especially the 
 dog and the pig. The dog manifests his presence here 
 through the unmistakable marks of his teeth upon the 
 bones left from the human meals, and occasionally there 
 appear his own remains, together with those of two va¬ 
 rieties of pig, the little marsh form, sus scrofa palustris, 
 and, for the first time, the common domesticated form, 
 sus scrofa domestica. The whole picture drawn of these 
 early dogs is one of wandering scavengers, living in a 
 sort of spontaneous association with man, tolerated camp 
 followers, trooping in after the meal time, or by night, to 
 feed upon the refuse, but not definitely owned or cared 
 for. In much the same way the jackals of the East, and 
 the coyotes of western America, hang about the camps, 
 and with the slightest encouragement would doubtless be¬ 
 come habitually associated with a human tribe or family. 
 
 Thus, step by step, during the epoch conveniently 
 styled trans-neolithic or proto-neolithic, the cultural ad- 
 
EUROPEAN PREHISTORY 
 
 205 
 
 vances characteristic of the age of polished stone were 
 gradually assumed. Whether this was done by a single 
 European race, without help from outside, or whether 
 the various new arts were gradually introduced from 
 elsewhere, through commerce or invasion, cannot as yet 
 be definitely known. What we are sure of, however, is 
 that during the long period of time intervening between 
 the last retreat of the iec, and the reduction of the great 
 system of post-glacial lakes, while nature was moulding 
 the land surface into its present form, and establishing 
 the existing river valleys with their fertile meadows, man 
 also, with added powers and increased knowledge, was 
 preparing to inhabit the newly prepared lands. That 
 last cave epoch was the period of final man-making. As 
 a beast, equipped only with sticks and stones, at the 
 mercy of the forces of nature, and driven by the resist¬ 
 less advance of the cold, he enters the caves for his long 
 schooling; he emerges from these retreats a man, fur¬ 
 nished with a great variety of well-shaped tools, fabri¬ 
 cated of many materials, and with already the arts of 
 the potter and, perhaps, those of the weaver also. 
 
 No longer has he to fight with gigantic and fearsome 
 brutes for the necessities of life, but as he advances boldly 
 out over the country, now freed for human occupancy, 
 there follow in his train his two first animal friends, the 
 one a companion, the other a serf—the dog and the pig. 
 With these strange attendants he seeks two sorts of sit¬ 
 uations, the rich alluvial meadows and the shores of the 
 mountain lakes, and there constructs for himself definite 
 artificial shelters, in each place of a kind suited to the 
 special environment. To these new sites he brings his 
 new-found arts; in the peace of his environment he 
 
206 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 further elaborates and develops them, and adds others. 
 He learns the uses of many plants hitherto unknown, and 
 seeks to lighten his labors by planting them near his 
 /home; he domesticates the goat and the sheep, and even 
 casts his ambitious eyes toward the wild oxen and horses, 
 wondering if perchance their untrained strength may not 
 become of use to him; he finds that flax and wool furnish 
 the possibility of making long threads which can be used 
 in forming softer and more pliable textures. The world, 
 now fully open, constantly adds to its gifts and increases 
 its opportunities, and man thus passes into the light of 
 the Neolithic. 
 
 44. The Neolithic Age; Modes of Living .—It has just 
 been said that early Neolithic man selected for his habi¬ 
 tation the two environments now offered, the alluvial 
 plains of the river valleys and the shores of the moun¬ 
 tain lakes. The first, with its fertile and mellow soil 
 and its extensive areas of meadow grass, developed its 
 inhabitants into agriculturalists and herdsmen; the sec¬ 
 ond produced a race of fishermen. Along the river mead¬ 
 ows the inhabitants established permanent farmsteads, 
 and the retentive soil still retains the traces of their foun¬ 
 dation posts and their simple excavations. 1 From space 
 occupied by the dwelling itself the surface earth was 
 removed, except in places in which it was left, or even 
 built up in square form, to serve as seats and couches. 
 The fires were confined to a definite hearth, with often an 
 earthen bench or couch in front of it. The details of the 
 superstructure cannot be exactly determined, save that 
 the ground plan was surrounded by posts set at intervals. 
 
 1 Cf. the previous chapter, § 15, and especially Fig. 12. 
 
EUROPEAN PREHISTORY 
 
 207 
 
 From the study of primitive architecture still extant, 
 also, the inference is strong that these posts were con¬ 
 nected by horizontally or obliquely placed crosspieces, 
 bound on by sinews or by some vegetable fiber, and that 
 a similar framework formed a low roof. Upon such a 
 substructure a thatch of branches could be woven, and 
 made tight by the addition of clay, or perhaps adobe, 
 or else the frame may have been covered by coarse mats, 
 as with the Indians of New England. In some cases the 
 establishments were very extensive, occasionally even re¬ 
 sembling the famous long houses of the Iroquois; and 
 judging from the artifacts found in association with such 
 sites—for example, spindle whorls and loom knives in 
 one, agricultural tools in another—it is probable that 
 the houses were sometimes apportioned according to sexes, 
 as is common among primitive peoples everywhere. An 
 entire settlement of this sort, consisting of a cluster of 
 huts and houses of different sorts and employed for dif¬ 
 ferent uses, placed close together, was often surrounded 
 by a ditch and palisade, as a protection from ravenous 
 beasts and human enemies; and thus formed in itself a 
 political unit, independent and isolated, save by occa¬ 
 sional temporary alliances with neighboring clusters, the 
 forerunner of the walled city (Cf. § 25). 
 
 Such farms, or compounds, consisting each of several 
 associated buildings, were isolated from each other, and 
 placed in the middle of extensive fields which offered graz¬ 
 ing facilities for the flocks and herds. Here they kept, 
 in tame or semi-tame conditions, the herbivorous animals 
 which they succeeded in domesticating—first the goat, 
 then the sheep, and later on the lesser ox, Bos taurus. 
 The pig and dog were the more intimate associates of 
 
208 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 their dwellings, and only the fowls and cats of the mod¬ 
 ern farm were missing. Some obscurity still lies about 
 the origin of many of these domesticated animals, since 
 certain of them, like the goat, the sheep, and the taurus 
 species of ox seem to have originated from wild species 
 that were Asiatic, and not European. This is one of 
 the supports of the hypothesis that the Neolithic civil¬ 
 ization did not develop upon the European continent, 
 but that it was introduced rather suddenly by invasions 
 from Asia, and that the invaders brought with them 
 their already domesticated flocks and herds, as well as the 
 new arts of pottery and weaving. On the other hand, 
 the transitions in the artifacts seem to have been grad¬ 
 ual, and the way was so well prepared for the character¬ 
 istic Neolithic arts at the time they appeared, as to 
 suggest forcibly that the changes were spontaneous and 
 accomplished in situ. It is quite as easy to believe 
 that the European inhabitants, having already achieved 
 their initial successes in domesticating native animals, 
 notably the pig and the dog, obtained these more service¬ 
 able Asiatic forms through a primitive commerce, the 
 simplest and earliest of human intertribal associations; 
 or that, perhaps, they were introduced by one or more 
 small invasions, not of great geographical extent or 
 ethnological importance. Whatever their origin, the im¬ 
 portant fact remains that these animals were introduced 
 as domestic forms at the beginning of the Neolithic Age, 
 and that they effected a complete transformation in the 
 life of the people of Europe everywhere. 
 
 Hitherto wandering hunters, without fixed abodes, liv¬ 
 ing in tents in summer and in caves in winter, the in¬ 
 habitants of Europe had no possessions save those which 
 
EUROPEAN PREHISTORY 
 
 200 
 
 they could take with them at a moment’s notice. Hence 
 they had little to defend, and there was but slight in¬ 
 ducement to attack others save in personal quarrels. But 
 with the establishment of fixed farms, which include a 
 large variety of specialized utensils, and form the center 
 of extensive pastures, covered with flocks and herds, 
 there is not only much to be defended, but a great in¬ 
 ducement to make raids. 
 
 There thus developed defensive works along several 
 lines, the most important of which are fortified hills, 
 “scharrachs” (§18), and islands of firm land in the 
 midst of swamps, “crannogs” (§ 17). It must have been 
 also because of the danger of organized attack from 
 their fellow men that there developed that other main 
 type of Neolithic habitation, the lake dwelling, or lake 
 village (§ 16). Naturally the method of life among the 
 lake dwellers must in many wa} r s have been different 
 from that of the inhabitants of the plains; they could 
 have a few herds, for in nearly all the spots in Europe 
 where lake dwellings exist, precipitous mountains rise 
 from the shore and shut the inhabitants off from graz¬ 
 ing lands. They thus possessed neither milk, cheese, 
 wool, nor the flesh, skins, and other valuable products 
 furnished by flocks and herds. Their main wealth con¬ 
 sisted of the fish which the waters of the lake brought 
 to their very doors. But a most valuable asset consisted 
 of their well-nigh absolute security from attack, since, 
 with the drawbridges up, collected within their houses, 
 and with the lake to furnish an inexhaustible supply 
 both of food and water, an army of invaders, without 
 boats, and with crude missile weapons, could do little 
 or nothing. On the other hand, with a monopoly of the 
 
210 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 fish supply, which they would early learn to dry and 
 smoke and thus convert into a commercial product, they 
 would be of great value to their agricultural neighbors, 
 who would willingly exchange their wool, their cheeses, 
 and their hides, for produce of the lakes. Men could no 
 longer remain isolated, but those of different families, 
 and from different regions, were becoming mutually de¬ 
 pendent upon one another, banded together by commer¬ 
 cial relations, and forced often to defend their interests 
 against a common foe. 1 
 
 45. The Neolithic Age; the Art of Weaving .—Until 
 the dawn of the Neolithic Age the deeds performed and 
 recorded are essentially those achieved by men, or at 
 least by women working in a masculine way, the killing 
 of huge beasts, and the fighting with other men. But from 
 about this time appears the finer touch of the woman’s 
 hand, traces of the manifold activities connected with 
 the home, and the beginnings of the refinements and com¬ 
 forts which woman has ever sought. Perhaps the first 
 division of labor came with the establishment of the first 
 hearth, when “the woman stayed by the fire to keep it 
 alive while the man went to the field or the forest for 
 game,” 2 and perhaps it is from this beginning, sur¬ 
 rounded by different objects, that the two sexes have ever 
 become more and more differentiated. “In contact with 
 the animal world, and ever taking lessons from them, 
 
 1 For the lake-dwellings, during both the Neolithic and Bronze 
 Ages, two excellent works are those of Ferd. Keller. “The Lake 
 Dwellings of Switzerland, etc.,” and Robt. Munro, “The Lake 
 Dwellings of Europe.” The tormer is the older work, and in 
 the English translation appeared in 1S7S (Longmans, Green, 
 and Co.) ; the other is more recent, 1S90, and is published by 
 Cassell and Co. London. 
 
 2 Frederick Starr, in the Editor's Preface to Mason, loc. cit. 
 
EUROPEAN PREHISTORY 
 
 211 
 
 men watched the tiger, the bear, the fox, the falcon, 
 learned their language and imitated them in ceremonial 
 dances. But the women were instructed by the 
 spiders, the nest-builders, the storers of food, and the 
 
 Fig. 46.—Neolithic shards from Rudigheim, Germany; typical pieces with incised 
 ornamentation. They are strikingly similar to those found in the shell heaps 
 and cliff-dwellings of the United States and represent a culture similar to 
 that of our American Indians. (After Wolff, in Prahistorische Zeitschrift.) 
 
212 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 workers in clay like the mud wasp and termites. ’ ’ 1 
 So that, from almost, if not quite, the beginning, while 
 the men have cultivated the arts of war and the 
 chase, woman has worked with equal assiduity and far 
 more patience in cultivating the arts of peace. Not 
 only did she learn to prepare the booty brought in from 
 hunting, and soften the meat by means of the fire 
 which she had learned to use, but it was she, and not her 
 lord, who found out the virtues of the plant world, the 
 grains hidden away in the chaff and the roots concealed 
 in the earth, and learned, not only to find them, but to 
 prepare them by drying, grinding, boiling, baking, and 
 other processes. It was she who prepared garments and 
 tent covers from the skins of beasts; it was through her 
 patience that many of the domestic animals were tamed, 
 and always, in the midst of all these manifold duties and 
 employments, appeared her constant duty and highest 
 joy, the rearing of children. And now, some time 
 after the final retreat of the glaciers, she adds two more 
 of her contributions, the sister arts of weaving and 
 pottery. 
 
 Throughout the middle Paleolithic, that Golden Age 
 of the troglodyte, man still clothed himself with skins, 
 clumsily sewed together by the help of bone awls, and 
 fastened along the edges by bone or ivory studs. But 
 from the beginning of the Neolithic there appear textile 
 fabrics of various sorts, including baskets, mattings and 
 cloths, objects which differ from each other mainly in 
 the materials employed. In some few favored cases, im¬ 
 bedded in the clay of the pile villages, or in the peat of 
 
 1 Otis T. Mason. “Woman’s Share in Primitive Culture.” 
 New York. 1899, pp. 2-3. In studying woman’s part in cultural 
 development this book is invaluable. 
 
10 
 
 Fig. 47.—Implements and other objects associated with Neolithic textile indus- 
 dustry, found on the site of Swiss lake dwellings. (1) and (2), bone imple¬ 
 ments for hackling flax; (3), wooden spindle with thread still on it; (4) and 
 (7), warp stretchers of burnt clay; (5), flax hackle made of bone points, 
 bound together with twine; (6), wooden crochet-hook; (8) spindle-whorl of 
 baked clay; (9), bone bodkin; (10) piece of baked clay, bearing the im¬ 
 pression of a mat of bast fiber; (10a), cast taken from the above, enlarged, 
 Showing the stitch. (After Forrer.) 
 
214 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 the Danish moors, actual fragments of such textiles have 
 been recovered even from Neolithic times; in numerous 
 other cases they have made their impression upon clay, 
 from which, by application of some plastic substance, 
 the appearance of the original textile may be recovered; 
 and lastly, numerous objects employed in the manufac¬ 
 ture of textiles, like spindles, spindle whorls, and por¬ 
 tions of looms, bear an indirect but certain testimony 
 to the existence of the art. 
 
 By the aid, in part, of such remains, and in great part 
 also by observing the methods of weaving still employed 
 by primitive peoples, and studying, not merely the final 
 products, but the character of the instruments em¬ 
 ployed in the process, the prehistorian is able clearly to 
 sketch the gradual development of the textile art, and 
 recover the details of the industry as practiced by the 
 Neolithic people. Both this, and the art of pottery, in 
 their beginnings closely associated, were in every step 
 the achievement of women, and took their beginning in 
 the attempt at employing flexible twigs in house con¬ 
 struction. The chimpanzees and orang-utans of the pres¬ 
 ent day construct for themselves serviceable nests, and 
 twine above them the smaller branches, clumsily inter¬ 
 lacing them as best they may, with thick fingers and in¬ 
 ferior brain. But even the Paleolithic woman was far 
 above this, and, in her twig-twining there soon grew be¬ 
 neath her supple fingers a definite system, by which, per¬ 
 haps, one set of twigs interlocked in a fairly regular 
 fashion with a set in the opposite direction. Such a 
 structure once constructed, she daubs with clay to make 
 it tighter and thus creates the precursor of both the basket 
 and the pot. Constructed like the hut, but made small 
 
EUROPEAN PREHISTORY 
 
 215 
 
 and fastened to the back, the basket greatly facilitated 
 her work of burden bearing, and the same receptacle, 
 lined with clay, made a utensil capable of transporting 
 and storing water, thus solving one of the greatest prob¬ 
 lems of early man. Developing still further along this 
 line, the new-found art was applied to the construction 
 of large mats, with which to clothe the ground of the 
 hut, or throw upon the rude earthen couch ; and in search¬ 
 ing the forest for plant stems, the characteristics of the 
 fibers of flax were discovered. In some way, too, the 
 peculiar virtue of sheep’s wool, at first left upon the 
 hide and employed like other furs, became noticed— 
 how that by twisting small tufts of wool between thumb 
 and finger they become readily drawn out into threads, 
 and this perfectly natural motion was probably often 
 indulged in at idle moments, perhaps while lying upon 
 couches enriched by the hides of the now domestic sheep, 
 before the idea was seized upon and definitely applied. 
 A fairly good yarn may be made by the fingers alone, but 
 the twisting can be much more easily and rapidly accom¬ 
 plished by the use of something that can be made to 
 rotate after the principle of a top, and thus came the 
 spindle and the spindle whorl. The addition of a dis¬ 
 taff, or stick to hold the unspun wool, is now all that 
 is required to finish a spinning outfit such as is still uni¬ 
 versal in southeastern Europe, which the women employ 
 while standing about in the fields watching the cattle 
 and sheep, or in the intervals of rest at home. 1 The 
 
 Hn modern Greece the distaff is called Qoxa (Ital. roca, Ger. 
 rock, in Spinnrock) ; the spindle is &8edxxi, a word anciently 
 used for arrow; and the spindle whorl is oqpovgiAio'v- The two 
 latter objects are respectively identical with the fusns and 
 vorticellum of the Romans. 
 
Fig. 48.—Stone necklace from a Neolithic necropolis near Hanau, Ger¬ 
 many. The bodies had been cremated. Upon this site, above the 
 remains of the Neolithic Age, were found successively deposits of 
 the Bronze Age, the Hallstatt and La Tene Periods, and above these 
 the remains of a Roman villa. (After Wolff in Prahistorische Zeit- 
 chrift.) 
 
EUROPEAN PREHISTORY 
 
 217 
 
 women of modern Bosnia and Dalmatia raise their 
 sheep, shear and clean the wool, spin it into yarn with 
 spindle and distaff, dye it with native dyes which they 
 obtain from local plants, and finally weave it into 
 fabrics, with which they clothe the family, producing 
 beautiful results with the identical method perfected 
 in early Neolithic times. 
 
 In weaving the new-found and pliant textiles, flax and 
 wool, the old and simple stitches, learned in basket mak¬ 
 ing, were undoubtedly the first to be employed, but the 
 greater virtues of these finer and more flexible materials 
 offered more possibilities, which the Neolithic women 
 were not slow to take advantage of; and it may be as¬ 
 sumed that the fabrics developed in the valleys of the 
 Rhine and the Danube, when the horse was still free, and 
 when the earth had not yielded up its metals, rivaled in 
 beauty the products of the modern peasantry in coun¬ 
 tries where the primitive methods are still employed. 
 The inherent love of decoration, which caused the men 
 of Paleolithic times to paint their bodies with ochre and 
 chalk, and to hang about their necks chains of shells or 
 pendants formed of bear teeth, must have bloomed in 
 these happier times into resplendent costumes, consist¬ 
 ing of shirts, aprons and cloaks. Something, indeed, is 
 already known concerning the Neolithic dress from cer¬ 
 tain terra cotta figurines, the markings on which plainly 
 indicate clothing, and much is suggested by the costumes 
 of the modern peasantry in the southeast, probably the 
 direct lineal descendants of Neolithic garments. 1 
 
 1 The fundamental garment for women, as developed in 
 Europe, is the shirt, without sleeves, and coing about to 
 the knees; this is made more complete by the use of either a 
 
MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 21S 
 
 It is also to be remembered that, aside from the art 
 strictly termed weaving, opportunity was given, now that 
 flax and wool were utilized, for greater development of 
 the allied branches of sewing, knotting, and braiding, 
 and there is some definite indication that even embroid¬ 
 ery was not wanting. Back in the Magdalenian are 
 found slender bone and ivory needles, equipped with 
 an eye at one end; and with such a tool the modern 
 style of sewing became possible, replacing the more 
 primitive method of first boring a hole with an awl 
 and then putting the thread through with the fingers. 
 The needle thus came a long time before linen thread 
 
 single heavy apron in front, or two of them, one in front, and 
 one behind. These aprons, still found in the country parts 
 of Greece, Macedonia, and Dalmatia, are unshaped squares of 
 wool, about two and a half feet long by two broad, woven of gay 
 colors and in intricate patterns. At the upper end the sides are 
 folded over a little, making the square a bit narrower at the 
 waist. These, although thick and heavy, are worn summer and 
 winter, the lower part of the shirt serving as a petticoat. The 
 next step was undoubtedly the formation of a skirt, by sewing 
 together the free edges of the apron, and in this way the essen¬ 
 tial' pieces of European woman’s costume became established. 
 For men the fundamental garment was also a shirt, made a 
 little tighter than that of the women, and, as it was often the 
 sole garment except the breech-cloth, it was usually colored and 
 bordered, the Roman “tunic” and the Greek iqdxiov- The 
 garment over this was not an apron, but a loose web of cloth, 
 or shawl, folded and wrapped as the wearer desired, the “toga” 
 of the Romans, and the of the Greeks. In both 
 
 sexes shoes and stockings were developed independently of 
 I he rest, and in southern Europe have been, until recently, 
 of little consequence. Naturally the shoe is much the earliest, 
 in the form of either a sandal or a moccasin, the first a thick 
 sole made of wood or leather strapped to the foot, the second 
 a leather bag, without much success at shaping, the opanka of 
 the modern Croatian peasant. These have always been worn 
 far more by the men than by the women, since the former go 
 over rough new country, while the latter walk mainly along 
 well worn paths, in farmyards and cleared pastures, and in 
 the house. 
 
49. Decoiated Neolithic pottery from the Laibach moor in Carniola, Jugoslavia. (After Forrer.) 
 
220 
 
 STAN'S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 was found, and while the woman of the late Paleo¬ 
 lithic had probably nothing better to sew with than 
 the sinews of animals, their Neolithic granddaughters, 
 equipped with the same needle, but with a vastly im¬ 
 proved thread, could naturally apply this art far more 
 effectually. 
 
 46. The Neolithic Age; the Ceramic Art .—We have 
 already derived the primitive basket from the walls and 
 roof of the woven hut, and have seen how such a basket 
 lined with clay, serves as a receptacle for water. Such 
 a receptacle, with the enclosed water kept at a boiling 
 temperature by the introduction of stones heated in 
 the fire—the primitive method—would serve as an ideal 
 boiling pot, and would replace the more primitive hol¬ 
 low in the clay floor, or the similar one in other sorts 
 of soil, lined with a piece of hide. But the natural 
 result of heat in hardening the clay itself would not 
 long escape notice, and soon the fire might be used 
 directly for this purpose. At first no one knew how 
 to make a pot without a preliminary basket, but the 
 effect of heat would be not only to harden the clay 
 more and more, but to burn off the wicker-work, and 
 leave the hardened clay by itself. Thus by accident 
 the pot, apart from the basket, became a reality, and, 
 although it still required many generations of early 
 artisans to learn to build a pot directly, without weav¬ 
 ing a basket first, yet it was learned eventually, and 
 the trade of the potter became an independent calling. 
 
 As the early pots naturally showed the impression of 
 the basket which then surrounded them, the art of con¬ 
 structing a pot directly from the clay produced so smooth 
 and bare looking a result that the need was felt of re- 
 
EUROPEAN PREHISTORY 
 
 921 
 
 lieving this by imitating the former stitch, and there thus 
 arose the art of pot decoration. In primitive cases this 
 took the form of stamping the surface with little paddles 
 wound with strips of sinew, imitating weaving; sometimes 
 the surface was rolled over with little wooden wheels or 
 cylinders with notched edges or surfaces or in still other 
 cases the lost basket impression was suggested by lines 
 made freehand. It appears, too, that the earlier pots, 
 being rather fragile, were often protected by enclosing 
 them in a bag made of a circular piece of skin, which was 
 
 Fig. 50.—Two methods of suspending a Neolithic pot, from which 
 certain of the characteristics of the ornamentation may have 
 been derived. (After Forrer.) 
 
 drawn up over the top at regular intervals, forming 
 points by which the pot could be suspended. This en¬ 
 closing case naturally marked the soft surface of the 
 clay in a diagonal zigzag line, and developed points and 
 triangles near the top; and this pattern, also, the Neo¬ 
 lithic potters often imitated by lines traced with the bone, 
 so often, in fact, that decoration on the basis of trian- 
 
MAN’S PREHISTORIC TAST 
 
 009 
 
 gular areas became one of the ruling motives among early 
 pottery. The accidental markings made by the fingers 
 suggested frequently the use of these ever present tools 
 for decorating, and many a woman in a Neolithic farm¬ 
 stead has left this form of personal record; sometimes a 
 row of small round concavities, or dells; sometimes the 
 parenthesis-like curve of the finger nail, repeated as a 
 row of parallel curved lines. The typical handle, or 
 ‘ 1 ear, ’ ’ in the form of a loop, so indispensable in the jars 
 and pitchers of to-day, was a Neolithic achievement, 
 and its development may be found in all of its stages, in 
 any large Neolithic deposit. At first a mere raised or¬ 
 nament, or low knob, repeated at frequent intervals 
 around the shoulder of the jar, it soon became of use in 
 the attachment of the cords that suspended the pot above 
 the fire. This use naturally developed these knobs in 
 size and amount of projection, but reduced their num¬ 
 ber, until they became limited to four, or even three, to 
 which the suspensory cords were directly attached. 
 When this stage was reached, the attachment was made 
 still easier by boring a hole through the knob, and such 
 a hole, accidentally made and large enough to admit 
 the finger, proved of value in lifting the pot with the 
 hands. The final step from this point consists mainly 
 in enlarging the hole, with the attendant changes in 
 the form and size of the entire knob, and the handle, 
 as used to-day, is finished. 
 
 The development in form, although not very extensive 
 in comparison with a later date, still showed, during the 
 Neolithic, more than an initial activity. Once away from 
 the limitations of the early basket, the form was limited 
 only by the physical properties of the clay and the ability 
 
ET' ROPE AX PR E HI STORY 
 
 223 
 
 of the potter, and thus a series of forms developed, 
 ranging from tall jars to flat saucer, some restricted 
 above into a neck, others cylindrical, or flaring. The 
 inconvenience of the round bottom, the more primitive 
 form, became early manifest, and the defect was reme¬ 
 died sometimes by the addition of knob-like legs, as in 
 certain types of modern iron kettles, or sometimes by 
 setting the pot into a ring of clay, and welding the two 
 together. This last soon developed into a flat bottom, 
 with a slight flare at the edges. 
 
 Thus, although certain methods of finish and decora¬ 
 tion, unknown to the people of the Neolithic, were the 
 product of later ages, and although the introduction of 
 the potter’s wheel was to revolutionize the method of 
 manufacture, it is yet seen that the main lines of later 
 development were already laid down, and that certain 
 of the essential features, introduced at that time, were 
 not to be improved, even at the present day. 
 
 47. The Neolithic Age; Masculine Activities .—While 
 now the women of the Neolithic Age were developing 
 the arts of agriculture, weaving and pottery, and domes¬ 
 ticating and caring for the most essential of the domes¬ 
 tic animals, the men were far from idle. 
 
 For them there were still, as ever, the pursuits of hunt¬ 
 ing and fishing, the providing for defense against their 
 enemies, and ’an occasional raid against those of their 
 neighbors with whom they had, fancied that they had, or 
 perhaps hoped to have, some grievance. It was true that 
 owing to the valiant struggles of their predecessors, 
 there was no longer the menace of dangerous brutes, for 
 the cave-bear was long since dead, and save for an occa¬ 
 sional encounter with an infuriated ur, or an elk at bay, 
 
Fig. 51.—Neolithic arrow heads and other stone implements from Swiss lake 
 dwellings. No. 5 is still covered with asphalt, used for attaching the stone 
 to the wooden shaft, and No. 11 is a stone knife or saw, still fastened to 
 its wooden handle by the same substance. (After Forrer.) 
 
EUROPEAN PREHISTORY 
 
 225 
 
 hunting had well-nigh sunk to the level of a routine 
 trade; yet, true to the instincts of the race, with the 
 general advance along other lines, the arts of war, as 
 practiced against their fellow men, became developed 
 also; and the men whose descendants of the distant future 
 were to deck their ships with steel plates, and equip 
 them with high explosives and terrific engines of whole¬ 
 sale destruction, were not remiss in matching cunning 
 and strength with one another in improved methods of 
 attack and defense. It was mostly men of Neolithic 
 times who erected, over vast districts in Europe, those 
 fortresses or ref ugia, which consist of improving the de¬ 
 fensive strength of natural hills by means of walls and 
 ramparts and the structures variously known as schar- 
 raehs, wallburge, hradiste, etc., previously mentioned 
 (§§ 17, 18, 42) and many of the crannogs or fortified 
 islands, also, although used by later men, were originally 
 built up and fortified during the Neolithic Age. Indi¬ 
 cations point, in fact, to an age, not by any means wholly 
 pastoral or agricultural, but an age also of invasion, of 
 unrest, probably of great tribal movements, the courses 
 of which may never be satisfactorily worked out. 
 
 In another direction, also, very different in character 
 from that followed by the arts of war, the men of the 
 Neolithic Age were extremely active, and the results 
 have ever since served to awaken the admiration and sur¬ 
 prise, not to say awe, of all succeeding generations. This; 
 is in the erection of those huge monolithic structure 
 which occur in great abundance in various parts of Eu 
 rope, and range in complexity from single pieces, stand¬ 
 ing on end, like obelisks, to great systems, arranged in 
 rows, circles, and other definite forms, and covering a 
 
MAX'S PREHISTORIC TAST 
 
 226 
 
 territory hundreds of acres in area (§§ 20,22). Many 
 of these were definitely tombs, and may have formed 
 originally the core or framework of artificial mounds or 
 tumuli, the removal of which through natural erosion 
 brought the stone structure again to light. Others, es¬ 
 pecially the largest and most complex, were certainly 
 temples, with the essential attributes of all temples: 
 (1) a majestic approach, (2) an antechamber, and (3) 
 an inner sanctuary. Even in these cases, however, an 
 original mortuary purpose is by no means excluded, as 
 these structures may have been erected to honor some 
 deified hero of forgotten antiquity, and may thus have 
 served as tomb and temple at one and the same time. 
 The enormous quantity of these megalithic structures, 
 scattered in rather definite areas over Europe and North¬ 
 ern Africa, points to the existence of a widspread and 
 powerful cult, in the observance of which the people 
 put forth their best energies and employed their highest 
 efforts. 
 
 In general, the men of the Neolithic Age placed their 
 dead in the ground, the manner of disposal showing a 
 great variety of methods. Sometimes they were laid 
 upon their backs or sides in a perfectly straight posi¬ 
 tion; sometimes they were placed on their sides in the 
 well-known ‘‘Hockerstellung that is, doubled up, with 
 the knees approaching the chin; and again, various 
 types of urn-buriai are not infrequent, in which either 
 the folded body, or the dismembered bones, are placed 
 in a huge urn, and enclosed in a rough tomb composed 
 of a circle of large stones. The cist-grave, made of flat 
 stone slabs, in the form of a rectangle, with floor and 
 roof as well as sides, is also no unusual occurrence. In 
 
EUROPEAN PREHISTORY 227 
 
 most cases, also as lias been tlie almost universal custom 
 among all humanity, various personal possessions, both 
 ornaments and weapons, were laid with the body, and 
 often, too, one or more utensils containing food. Judg¬ 
 ing from the mortuary customs of living races, among 
 whom almost every Neolithic method may still be 
 found somewhere, these various customs are adopted 
 neither by chance nor wholly as utilitarian, but possess a 
 definite religious significance, and point not only to the 
 existence of complicated rituals, such as exist to-day 
 among the American aborigines, but to a considerable 
 diversity of rites, which, judging from primitive people 
 of the present day, points in its turn to a similar diver¬ 
 sity of race and probably language. 
 
 48. Megalithic Temples. In several localities of west¬ 
 ern Europe combinations of various types of megaliths, 
 such as alignments, triliths, and cromlechs, consisting 
 of hundreds or even thousands of separate stones, and 
 extending over a considerable territory, are so placed as 
 to form a definite architectural plan. Moreover, since 
 these structures either consist of, or become focused in, 
 a system of stone circles, which seems to form an inner 
 enclosure of worship, it may not be too presumptious to 
 see in such architectural plans actual temples, with 
 roads leading to them, and other accessories. 
 
 Three of these are especially extensive, and deserve 
 particular notice, those of Stonehenge and Avebury, in 
 Wiltshire, England, and that of Carnac-Menac in Brit¬ 
 tany, near the coast. Of these the latter, which is the 
 most extensive in area, and consists of the largest num¬ 
 ber of separate megaliths, may be first considered. It 
 begins with eleven parallel rows of huge menhirs — i.e., 
 
22S 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC TAST 
 
 alignments, which run almost exactly east and west for 
 a distance of about three kilometers. The separate men¬ 
 hirs very in height from six meters down to a half meter, 
 and define a series of parallel avenues across the plain. 
 About eleven hundred and seventy stones are still in 
 place, but originally the total number in these align¬ 
 ments must have been not far from two thousand. 
 Toward the western end these great avenues became 
 cut off by short alignments running across the longitu¬ 
 dinal ones, and both these and the cross rows were here 
 probably once connected by masonry, forming a series of 
 rectangular rooms or courts. Beyond these in turn, the 
 alignments terminate in the remains of a vast stone 
 circle, or rather two concentric circles, which may be 
 identified as the temple proper. Unfortunately, a large 
 part of this has been quarried for building material, and 
 now forms the modern village of Menac, which is situ¬ 
 ated within the enclosure, so that the original plan of 
 this, the most essential part of the whole, is hard to 
 follow. 
 
 The architectural plan of Carnac is thus strongly sug¬ 
 gestive of a vast temple with a long approach, and in¬ 
 voluntarily suggests that other Karnak 1 in Egypt, 
 where the idea crudely suggested by the first is carried 
 out with the potent addition of the sculptor’s skill. The 
 rough-hewn stones of the one have changed to crouching 
 sphinxes, between which the worshipper walks toward 
 the terminal temple, where the unshaped menhirs have 
 become symmetrical columns with lotus capitals; yet the 
 
 1 Is this resemblance in name wholly accidental? If a pure 
 coincidence it is certainly a remarkable one, when we con¬ 
 sider also the singular parallelism in the structures for which 
 both are famous. 
 
EUROPEAN PREHISTORY 220 
 
 plan is similar, and the Breton Carnac in actual size is 
 much superior to the other. 
 
 As the solitary menhir probably developed into the 
 finished obelisk, so the passage from the cromlech or 
 rude stone circle to the temples of Egypt and Greece is 
 equally simple. The uprights, when shaped, become col¬ 
 umns, and in certain cases, like the so-called Temple of 
 Vesta at Rome, retain the primitive circular arrange¬ 
 ment. With the change of ground plan from the circle 
 to the rectangle comes the pediment, and with the great 
 advance in the production and employment of building 
 materials comes the possibility of a roof, a feature al¬ 
 ready employed in the case of the dolmen, but in this 
 monolithic form, utterly impossible for large structures. 
 
 Of the two great British megalithic structures, Ave¬ 
 bury and Stonehenge, the former is much the larger in 
 ground plan, but the latter is the better preserved. At 
 Avebury the central temple consists first of a mighty 
 cromlech, twelve hundred feet in diameter, composed 
 of one hundred separate stones, each five or six meters 
 high; then, within this, two smaller cromlechs, each 
 double, with a few separate menhirs filling the center. 
 Of these lesser cromlechs the outer circle contains thirty 
 stones and the inner twelve, in each case. Extending 
 from each side of this complex central edifice pass two 
 avenues, each formed of a double alignment of menhirs, 
 in nearly opposite directions, to terminate, at a dis¬ 
 tance of a half mile or more from the great central 
 cromlech, in two lesser terminal cromlechs, each double, 
 like those within the central circle, and about four hun¬ 
 dred and fifty meters in diameter. One of these ter¬ 
 minal cromlechs is still in fair preservation, the other 
 
230 
 
 MAN'S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 has become nearly destroyed in building the village of 
 Avebury which is situated almost entirely within its 
 area. Placed in strict accordance with this colossal 
 ground plan, and just within the sheltering arms of the 
 two lateral avenues, and at equal distances from each, 
 once stood the artificial mound known as “Silbury Hill,” 
 one hundred and thirty feet in height, and covering five 
 and a half acres, easily the largest artificial mound in 
 Europe. 1 
 
 Stonehenge, so much smaller than Avebury that Au¬ 
 brey, in 1665, could write that the latter “as much ex¬ 
 ceeds Stonehenge as a cathedral does a parish church,” 
 is yet superior to it as a ruin—that is, it is more com¬ 
 plete, and stands out upon the plain in such a way as 
 to produce a powerful impression of solitary grandeur. 
 
 1 The structure at Avebury is now in a very bad state of 
 preservation, so bad, indeed, that the original plan is difficult 
 to make out, and allows an opportunity for differences of 
 opinion. According to the investigations of Stukeley, in the 
 middle of the eighteeth century, the entire ground plan pre¬ 
 sents the form of the conventionalized head of a steer or cow, 
 the central temple forming the head, and the two lateral 
 avenues, gently curving and becoming narrower toward the 
 ends, the horns. These are tipped by two small cromlechs. 
 
 It is quite possible that Stukeley, writing nearly two hundred 
 years ago, possessed data now destroyed, but at present the 
 indications of such a plan are faint at best, and some openly 
 disbelieve it. Thus Schuchhardt, who went carefully over the 
 structure in 1910, finds but one of the two great lateral avenues, 
 the one leading east; but, on the other hand, discovers traces 
 of a second street leading southeast to an ancient settlement 
 upon the river Rennet. The main structure he finds in much 
 the same form as have others; a great stone circle, enclosing 
 two smaller circles, one with one, the other with three mono¬ 
 liths in the center. He also considers both Stonehenge and 
 Avebury to have been memorial monuments rather than 
 temples , on the ground that they are premycenaean in culture, 
 and that even as late as the Mycenaean Period no true temples 
 are found. Cf. Schuchhardt, C., “Stonehenge,” in Prdhistrische 
 Zeitschrift, Bd. II, 1910. pp. 292-340. 
 
EUROPEAN PREHISTORY 
 
 231 
 
 It possessed, in its original condition, an outer circle of 
 thirty very large menhirs, probably capped entirely 
 around, from one to another, with horizontal pieces form¬ 
 ing architraves. Just within this was a slightly smaller 
 circle of thirty low menhirs, less than half the size of 
 
 Fig. 52.—Stonehenge, on Salisbury Plain, England, restored. It consisted orig¬ 
 inally of an outer circle of stones, connected by architraves, and measur¬ 
 ing some 13 feet in height, which surrounds certain inner structures, the 
 most noticeable features of which are five gigantic triliths, each of two 
 uprights and a cross piece. With the cross pieces these triliths stand at 
 
 a height of between 19 and 26 feet. Within the triliths again is an oval 
 of rather small uprights, and near one end, at about one focus of the oval, 
 is placed a flat stone, usually considered to be an altar. The whole is 
 thought to be a temple, but may have also been a tomb or a mausoleum, 
 erected to the individual who was afterwards worshiped there. Hundreds 
 of graves, some of them in the form of mounds, occur in the immediate 
 neighborhood of Stonehenge, and date mostly from the early Bronze Age. 
 (From Schuchart, after Browne, 1834, in Prahistorisclie Zeitschrift.) 
 
 the others, and without cap pieces. Within this, again, 
 there stood five mighty triliths, the largest stones in the 
 entire structure, of which one formed the head, and the 
 others the sides of a great oblong figure, a horizontally 
 placed arch. Within this was a second row of small 
 menhirs, forming also a loop or arch. In the innermost 
 enclosure, near the trilith called here the head, was 
 
MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 placed a large square stone with a flat top, strongly sug¬ 
 gestive of an altar. 
 
 Here, in these extensive structures, as well as in the 
 case of isolated menhirs, there comes naturally the ques¬ 
 tion of the way in which these enormous blocks of stone 
 could have been moved and finally set in place. In the 
 handling of these pieces it is probable that rollers and 
 pulleys played a considerable part, but much was un¬ 
 doubtedly accomplished by excavations and the forma¬ 
 tion of earth mounds. Thus, to set a menhir it would 
 be necessary only, when the stone was once brought to 
 the right place, to excavate a large pit beneath one end, 
 involving slightly more than half the total weight. When 
 completed, the stone, by mere force of gravitation, would 
 drop into the excavation, and, at the same time, assume 
 a nearly erect position, which could be completed by 
 means of a pulley, and without much further effort. 
 The fact that in most cases the heaviest portion of the 
 * menhir is beneath the surface of the ground, seems to 
 corroborate this theory. If, now, a sloping wall of earth 
 were banked along one side of a row of menhirs when 
 once set, an inclined plane would be presented, up which 
 cap stones could be rolled into place upon the tops of 
 the uprights, and when once correctly set the removal 
 of the earth would leave the whole as at present. This 
 suggestion receives support from the presence of such 
 a rampart along the outer side of the great outer circle 
 at Avebury, although there is here no suggestion of an 
 attempt to cap the uprights. 
 
 Concerning the data of construction and use of these 
 and other megalithic structures, a little light has been 
 shed through excavation in the neighborhood, and by 
 
EUROPEAN PREHISTORY 
 
 233 
 
 the examination of associated graves. Thus, within 
 three miles around Stonehenge there are about three 
 hundred burial mounds, which, when opened, are shown 
 to be of the early Bronze Age. Other writers are in¬ 
 clined to consider the great megalithic structure con¬ 
 siderably older than the graves, and refer these huge 
 ruins to the late Neolithic. It is quite probable, how¬ 
 ever, that all do not belong to the same time, and that 
 megalithic construction, begun in the Neolithic, con¬ 
 tinued thereafter for a very long time; it is also possible 
 that in places the men of the Bronze Age have used 
 these monuments of an earlier time, just as, at present, 
 in various parts of Prance, ancient dolmens have be¬ 
 come chapels for Christian worship. These structures 
 certainly antedate by a very long period any historic 
 record, and belong to the prehistoric. Nestor, at the 
 burial of Patroclus, defines to his son the course for 
 the chariot race, a part of the funeral games: 
 
 “On either side 
 
 Where narrowest is the way, and all the course 
 Around is smooth, rise two white stones, set there 
 To mark the tomb of someone long since dead, 
 
 Or form a goal for men in ages past. 1 
 
 and in the same way the modern visitor at Stonehenge 
 or Avebury stands in the presence of the monuments of 
 a forgotten antiquity. 
 
 As a matter of curiosity, however, a Scotchman named 
 Pergusson, who wrote as late as 1873, and whose careful 
 and detailed descriptions of British megaliths have made 
 
 Quoted from Sir John Lubbock (Lord Avebury), in “Pre¬ 
 historic Times,” 6tli ed. p. 10. In the next few pages he dis¬ 
 cusses the probable date of Stonehenge. 
 
234 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 him a recognized authority on the subject, has given a 
 ridiculously recent date to all of them, declaring both 
 Stonehenge and Avebury to be not only not prehistoric, 
 but actually post-Roman, and associates certain of them 
 with the battles fought by the semi-mythical King Ar¬ 
 thur and the knights of his Round Table! 
 
 49. The First Metals; the Cyprolithic Age .—Such a 
 religious development as that indicated by the temples 
 and tombs was in great part a masculine activity, for in 
 all historic cases it is the men who establish the beliefs 
 and devise the rites. In certain of the best established 
 religions of the present day, women either play no part at 
 all, or are suffered to appear as auditors at certain times 
 only. Except in a few specific cases, the priests, especially 
 the chief ones, belong to the male sex, and where there are 
 institutions of priestesses, they form only a part of a 
 larger cult controlled by men. Priests and nobles, among 
 primitive civilizations, are usually in sympathy, and 
 the high priest and the king are often identical. The 
 late Neolithic form of government was most likely a 
 hierarchy, and the number and complexity of the vari¬ 
 ous ceremonials very great. 
 
 And it was among such a civilization, to people with 
 flocks and herds, to people who could spin and weave 
 and make pots, that a new substance called copper grad¬ 
 ually made its way from the southeast through the chan¬ 
 nels of commerce, the forerunner of the series of metals, 
 the use of which was destined to give the final impetus 
 to civilization. Copper, like gold, silver, and a few 
 other metals, occurs occasionally in the free state, un¬ 
 combined with other elements. Pieces of these free 
 metals, gold especially, had naturally long attracted at- 
 
Fig. 53.—Copper implements from the Cyprolithic Age of Central Europe. (1-5),, 
 dagger blades; (6-9), beads and pendants; (10), necklace of copper beads; 
 (11, 13), finger-rings; (12), fish-hook. (After Forrer.) 
 
236 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 • 
 
 tention, and gold nuggets are occasionaly met with in 
 Neolithic graves, together with pearls and precious stones, 
 and used solely as ornaments. In the island of Crete, 
 where free native copper is obtainable, this metal also was 
 used during the Stone Age for the same purpose, and here 
 first, according to many authorities, experiments were 
 made in beating it out between stones. This had been 
 the treatment accorded from the earliest times to stones 
 from which implements were to be made, but in the 
 case of this new material the results were radically dif¬ 
 ferent. Instead of striking off flakes here and there, as 
 in all former experiments, the artisans succeeded only 
 in pounding it out into plates, or drawing it out into 
 wire, the one not very thin, and the other not very deli¬ 
 cate; yet they, especially the last, opened up new pos¬ 
 sibilities of manufacture. The results appear in early 
 Cretan graves in the form of spiral rings and long pins 
 for fastening clothing, usually with a crude twist or 
 spiral for a head; also in a certain type of lance or short 
 sword. 
 
 Pieces of this malleable metal soon found their way 
 to the continent, presumably first along the eastern 
 shores of the Mediterranean; and up the valley of the 
 Danube, and from thence gradually but surely, this ma¬ 
 terial became disseminated even to the farthest con¬ 
 fines of Europe. Its advent was, of course, much earlier 
 in the South, and had barely reached Scandinavia at a 
 time when it had already come into quite general use 
 in the Mediterranean lands. At first employed only for 
 ornaments, and solely the possessions of the rich, it 
 gradually became used in the making of knives and 
 lance heads, and, whenever possible, replaced the imple- 
 
EUROPEAN PREHISTORY 
 
 237 
 
 ments of stone. These early copper artifacts were 
 crudely hammered out upon stone anvils, and in many 
 cases, as was natural, were good copies of stone imple¬ 
 ments, both in shape and size. Others struck out into 
 new lines rendered possible by the qualities of this new 
 material, and produced utensils made of thin plates, 
 perforated with holes for attachment to handles; in both 
 characters definite departures from previous lines of 
 manufacture, as such things would not be possible in 
 stone. The readiness with which this new substance 
 could be beaten out into the form of a wire, still retain¬ 
 ing its tenacity, was early seen, and later in Germany 
 and France, as earlier in Crete, such pieces were wound 
 into small spirals to adorn the fingers, and twisted into 
 more utilitarian shapes such as fishhooks. 
 
 As the advantages of this new material became con¬ 
 tinually more manifest, men all over Europe were stim¬ 
 ulated to search their native mountains for pieces of the 
 same metal, and in several places, as in Hungary, the 
 province of Salzburg in Austria, and in Spain, success¬ 
 ful copper mines were opened, where the mining was 
 accomplished by implements of wood and stone; and 
 the rock broken by huge stone hammers. Mining opera¬ 
 tions for extracting flint had long been known (e. g., at 
 Spiennes, during the late Paleolithic), so that men were 
 quite ready, when the demand became sufficient, to delve 
 in the earth for this new metal, and follow veins of it 
 through the rock. 1 
 
 At about this time, too, probably as a direct result 
 of the search for copper, a new malleable metal was 
 
 1 Sop lius Muller: “Urgeschiclite Europas,” p. 47. 
 
238 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 found in the distant island of Britain, and from that 
 center became gradually disseminated over continental 
 Europe. This metal, tin, while nearly or quite as malle¬ 
 able as copper, was soon found to be more brittle, and 
 hence was not as serviceable for tools and weapons; but, 
 on the other hand, its white color and silvery lustre, 
 which contrasted so strikingly with copper, and perhaps 
 also with the dark skins of the people, brought it into 
 much favor for personal decoration. 
 
 While now, the introduction of copper and tin in 
 small quantities, mainly as objects of adornment, left 
 the people for a short time still in pure Neolithic sur¬ 
 roundings, the continued increase of these metals, espe¬ 
 cially the inevitable replacement of stone implements by 
 metallic ones, eventually effected a marked change in 
 their culture, especially in that aspect of it exhibited to 
 the archeologist. The people had become Cyprolithic; 
 they used both flint and copper, but employed the latter 
 precisely as a stone , beating it into shape by hand, upon 
 stone anvils, by methods not very different from those 
 employed in shaping flints. 
 
 This stage, however, was of short duration—as some 
 think, and with considerable right, far too short a stage 
 to serve as the basis of one of the main subdivisions of 
 prehistoric chronology—and seems rather a transition to 
 the next period than a period in itself. The passage 
 over into the definite “Age of Bronze ’ 9 was effected 
 mainly through the dissemination of two new inven¬ 
 tions: (1) that of melting the metals, and casting them 
 in stone molds, and (2) that of smelting , or obtaining 
 the pure metals from their ores. 
 
 50. Casting and Smelting; the Advent of Bronze .— 
 
EUROPEAN PREHISTORY 
 
 239 
 
 Just, how or where the men of Europe first learned that 
 copper and tin would melt in a hot fire, and that, when 
 molten, they could be poured into molds, the shape 
 of which they would retain permanently and in 
 every detail when cooled again, is not definitely known, 
 but both of these metals, with which man did his chief 
 early experimenting, have a low melting point, and there 
 must have been frequent cause to observe this phenom¬ 
 enon, through the effect of the hearth fire upon objects 
 of copper and tin that accidentally found their way 
 among the coals. This experience is so natural, and its 
 teachings so plain, that the invention must have been 
 independently made in many parts of the continent at 
 about the same time; and thus, within a short period, 
 implements of molded or cast metal soon replaced those 
 that were beaten out in the old way. The molds were 
 cut out of soft stone, made of two pieces pinned to¬ 
 gether, and when once equipped, and supplied with suf¬ 
 ficient raw material, a primitive workshop, employing 
 but three or four hands, could turn out copper imple¬ 
 ments, the exact duplicates of one another, with great 
 rapidity. 
 
 The next step, equally spontaneous, occurred one day 
 when, in some such primitive shop, the founder, finding 
 his supply of copper running low, threw a little tin into 
 his melting pot with the copper, and found, to his great 
 surprise, that the finished material was unlike that 
 formed of either metal alone, but that it united the 
 tenacity of copper to the hardness of tin, so that a hard 
 blow could be dealt without either turning the edge or 
 causing the weapon to shiver into pieces. The color, 
 too, was a pleasing one, intermediate between the two 
 
240 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 original materials, and men saw, for the first time, 
 bronze, a?i alloy of copper and tin. 
 
 A second great advance, resulting from these simple 
 metallurgic operations, was the discovery of smelting, 
 a process through which the metal could be obtained 
 from certain of its ores. Although the metals com¬ 
 monly used, copper and tin, occur in very limited 
 quantities in the free state their ores, minerals in 
 which the metal occurs in chemical combination with 
 other elements, are frequently found in abundance. Of 
 these ores, the simplest are the oxides and sulphides, 
 which demand for their reduction nothing more than 
 the mixing of the pulverized ore with charcoal, and the 
 subjection of the mixture to a considerable degree of 
 heat. Since these oxides often occur in the course of 
 primitive metal working, such a reduction, at least on a 
 small scale, would occasionally catch the eye of the smith. 
 These processes demanded a higher temperature than 
 that required simply to fuse the pure metals, and for this 
 purpose a primitive blast furnace became developed, 
 with the bag-like skin of an animal for bellows, such as 
 is still in use among the native smiths of central Africa. 
 This apparatus, in itself merely a mechanical lung for 
 blowing the fire, and thus augmenting the force of the 
 heat, is but a simple invention, and was used in all 
 probability in the process of melting the free metals 
 before its employment to aid in the reduction of ores; 
 but with the knowledge of simple smelting opera¬ 
 tions, this bellows became of greater importance, and 
 became eventually fitted with a frame and worked by a 
 lever. 
 
 This gradual increase of discovery and invention, com- 
 
EUROPEAN PREHISTORY 
 
 241 
 
 bined with the renewed zeal of the miners, multiplied 
 the amount of available metal many fold. It gradually, 
 but surely, replaced the less efficient stone implements, 
 not of the wealthy and powerful only, but eventually 
 of the lower classes as well; and as a direct result stim¬ 
 ulated every industry by supplying them with better 
 tools. The combination of copper and tin, bronze, had 
 by this time replaced the use of either metal alone for 
 most purposes. In the earliest bronze implements, for 
 example, there is too much copper for the greatest 
 efficiency (95.5 per cent), but soon the proportion 
 of tin increased to 10.12 per cent, the usual pro¬ 
 portion. Toward the end of the bronze period a part 
 of the tin was replaced by the newly found metal, 
 lead, and the proportion of copper, tin and lead 
 used for most purposes became about 88:7:5, respec¬ 
 tively. 
 
 The gradual introduction, first of copper, and then of 
 bronze, with the consequent dropping off in the earlier 
 materials, is shown by the help of the accompanying 
 table, which gives the proportionate number of arti¬ 
 facts of stone, copper and bronze during the periods in¬ 
 volved in the transition. 1 
 
 Period Percentage of Stone Copper Bronze 
 
 Early Neolithic . 
 
 .100 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 Middle Neolithic. 
 
 . 00 
 
 1 
 
 0 
 
 Late Neolithic . 
 
 
 10 
 
 0 
 
 Cyprolithic (1st phase). . . 
 
 
 25 
 
 0 
 
 Cyprolithic (2nd phase).. 
 
 
 50 
 
 0 
 
 Cyprolithic (3rd Phase) . . 
 
 .40 
 
 50 
 
 10 
 
 Earliest Bronze . 
 
 .30 
 
 30 
 
 40 
 
 Early Bronze . 
 
 . 15 
 
 15 
 
 70 
 
 Middle Bronze . 
 
 . 3 
 
 3 
 
 94 
 
 1 Robt. Forrer, “Urgeschichte des Europaers,” p. 319. 
 
242 
 
 MAN'S PREHISTORIC TAST 
 
 51. The Bronze Age . 1 —With the Age of Bronze we 
 enter the outer portals of history, for the art of writing 
 appeared in Europe at about this time, coming from the 
 mysterious East, and the priests and scribes began to 
 record their annals. When then they first took up the 
 pen to write down the tribal memories of the past, they 
 wrote of the Bronze Age, putting into lasting form tra¬ 
 ditions that had long been transmitted only through the 
 faulty memories of men accustomed to the marvelous. 
 Their poets, wont to entertain the men assembled in 
 the banquet hall with tales of Bronze Age heroes, and 
 to sing of Achilles, Beowulf and Siegfried, now recorded 
 their songs, with the actual facts, already half-forgotten 
 and distorted in their own favor, upon the dried 
 entrails of sheep, or upon the flat walls of temples. Thus 
 arose the first written literature, such as the Iliad, Sieg¬ 
 fried, and the Song of Roland, and the scenes depicted 
 in them give us invaluable glimpses of Bronze Age civil¬ 
 ization. Although, in contrast to the Ages of Stone, 
 the Bronze Age was a period of great advancement, 
 or even of luxury, still, as compared with modern 
 civilization, the times were barbarous in the extreme. 
 
 1 For the study of the Bronze Age in detail, far too vast a 
 field to be more than mentioned here, the reader may consult 
 such older, comprehensive works as “Ancient Bronze Imple¬ 
 ments,” by Sir John Evans; Paul du Cliaillu, “The Viking 
 Age”; or Montelius, “Die Chronologic der iiltesen Bronzezeit 
 in Nord Deutschland und Skandinavien.” Such classics as 
 Babbock’s “Prehistoric Times,”and Boyd-Dawkins’s “Early Man 
 in Britain,” give much concerning the Bronze Age. and it must 
 also be remembered that the Bronze Age activities form a 
 large part of the labors of the classical archeologists, and that 
 thus the study of prehistory has been greatly enriched by such 
 excavations as those of Schliemann at Hissarlik (Troy) and 
 Mycenae, and those of Evans and the two Haweses in Crete. 
 
Pig. 54.—Sword hilt and two daggers from the earliest 
 Bronze Age in Scandinavia. (After Sophus Muller.) 
 
244 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 Men enjoyed the lust of carnage, and gloated over 
 the details of the bloodiest struggles; they celebrated 
 the deaths of heroes by funeral games, and invoked 
 the aid of the gods by the sacrifice of oxen, dismem¬ 
 bered by priests in the sight of all the people. Even 
 an occasional human sacrifice was advocated, like that 
 of Iphigenia; or actually performed, like that of Jeph- 
 
 Fig. 55.—Gold bracelets from the Bronze Age, all Scandinavian. Above: 
 heavy gold bracelet, worn by a warrior. Earliest Bronze Age. Be¬ 
 low: two more delicate gold bracelets, also worn by men; later than 
 the one above. (After S. Muller.) 
 
 thah’s daughter; and the bodies of the bravest of foes 
 were dishonored in the most shameful manner. 
 
 The banqueting halls of Odysseus were used in the 
 intervals of the feasts as abattoirs for the slaughtering 
 of oxen, and the floors were littered at all times by the 
 
Fig. 56.—Bronze implements and weapons from the Middle Bronze Age in 
 Central Europe. (1), knife; (2), lance, from Skane, Sweden; (3), sword- 
 hilt, from West Gotland, Sweden; (4) sword-hilt, from Bohemia; (5), dag¬ 
 ger, Scandinavia; (6), sword, Tyrol; (7), stud, Tyrol; (8), bracelet, Hart- 
 hausen; (9), arrow-point, Switzerland; (10), two views of decorated stud, 
 Sweden; (11), sickle, Hungary; (12), brooch, Wallishofen, Lake of Zurich, 
 Switzerland; (13), hair-needle, Southern Germany; (14), sword-hilt, Lor¬ 
 raine. (After Forrer.) 
 
246 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 hides and horns, left around apparently without any 
 especial regard to the feelings of the banqueters. The 
 laundry of King Alcinous was left to accumulate for 
 many months, and was finally washed by the members 
 of his own family, and carried to the shore in a gold- 
 trimmed chariot! There was everywhere the greatest 
 incongruity between the gold and jewels with which their 
 utensils were decorated, and the menial occupations in 
 which they were used; between the architectural splen¬ 
 dors of the palaces, and the squalor of the life that went 
 on within their walls. 
 
 During the Bronze Age there developed a high decor¬ 
 ative art, and the implements, especially those of war, 
 the constant companions of the warriors, became covered 
 with the most intricate decorative engraving. Gold was 
 possessed in considerable profusion; and in place of 
 coinage, which had not yet appeared as such, this metal 
 was made up into household utensils or personal orna¬ 
 ments, often of great beauty. Yet the possessors of 
 these almost priceless splendors were often forced to 
 live in caves, or in dwellings of rude construction, under 
 circumstances which we of the present age, would not 
 accord to paupers, or even criminals. The people pos¬ 
 sessed neither soap, bathtubs, nor tooth brushes; and 
 the towns, and even walled cities, had no sewage system 
 of any kind. 
 
 Aside from the ornaments, jewels and personal weap¬ 
 ons worn or carried by the people of the Bronze Age, 
 of which the legends often give detailed descriptions 
 that are corroborated by excavation, especially that of 
 tombs and graves, there had developed a complex and 
 i extensive costume, adapted to each sex, and suited to 
 
Fig. 57.—Late Bronze Age in Central Europe; bronze hair-needles. 
 
 (After Forrer.) 
 
Fig. 58.—Implements from the Late Bronze Age; lake-dwellings of Wallishofen, 
 Lake of Zurich, Switzerland. (After Forrer.) 
 
EUROPEAN PREHISTORY 
 
 249 
 
 the variations of climate and annual changes of tem¬ 
 perature. Precise evidence concerning costumes in the 
 Baltic region is furnished by the clothing on bodies 
 found in the peat of Danish moors, enclosed in coffins 
 made of hollow logs. This clothing, of wool or linen, 
 consists of caps, cloaks, shirts and gowns, the latter gath¬ 
 ered about the waist, and confined by a leathern girdle. 
 Even nets for the hair, worn by the women, have been 
 found. Unfortunately, however, the custom of burning 
 the dead was widespread during the Bronze Age, and 
 the numberless urns, containing calcined bones and 
 ashes, although in themselves important documents for 
 tracing the distribution of Bronze Age culture, leave 
 us no information concerning either the clothing or the 
 physical traits of the people themselves. 
 
 Much material from the Bronze Age has been obtained 
 from Scandanavia and the Swiss lakes, where the sites 
 of the pile dwellings, extensively used during the Neo¬ 
 lithic, continued to be inhabited during at least a por¬ 
 tion of this age. From the classical archeologists in 
 Greece and Crete most valuable records have been fur¬ 
 nished, especially those of the Mycenaean and Minoan 
 civilizations; the first at Mycenae, and the neighboring 
 sites of Tiryns and Argos, in Peloponnesus, the latter 
 at Knossos in Crete. About the first cluster the legends 
 of King Agamemnon, and about the latter those of King 
 Minos, with his famous labyrinth ; 1 but while these 
 
 1 It has been recently brought to light that the original Cretan 
 word, rendered 7ia6uQivfio<; by the Greeks, has no suggestion of 
 a maze in a cavern, or anything even remotely suggesting it, 
 but was their regular word for the double-headed, or double- 
 bladed, axe, the heraldic symbol of their country, or of their 
 chief city. Thus, the entire myth of the Cretan labyrinth, with 
 
250 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC TAST 
 
 legends are probably each of local origin in their respec¬ 
 tive localities, and perhaps refer even to actual Bronze 
 Age rulers, the excavations mean vastly more than that, 
 and reveal in many places, not only a long continued 
 and probably illustrious Bronze Age civilization, but a 
 previous long Neolithic period as well, antedating the 
 former and extending to the third or fourth millennium 
 before our era. 
 
 At the present time an extensive Bronze Age civil¬ 
 ization is being unearthed in Austria, extending upward 
 through Carinthia and westward to the Tyrol, also south 
 and east along the Adriatic Sea. Of this, unlike Crete 
 and the Pelopponnesus, historj^ has preserved nothing, 
 not even traditions, and whatever is to be won must be 
 accomplished through excavation alone. 
 
 52. The Introduction of Iron .—As the appearance 
 of copper and tin throughout central Europe gives proof 
 of at least the beginnings of an extensive commerce, so 
 the extension of the bronze culture, with the close simi¬ 
 larity in culture objects over the entire continent, shows 
 this intercourse to have been continually maintained and 
 gradually increased. Originating in the Orient, per¬ 
 haps along the shores of Phoenicia, where, at the dawn 
 of written history, we find the great center of the carry¬ 
 ing trade, the goods from the East seem to have followed 
 definite trade routes. Long before this time men had 
 developed boats perhaps beginning in the lake villages 
 of the Neolithic Age with floating logs, soon to be elab¬ 
 orated into crude canoes; and by the time of the Bronze 
 Age large merchant canoes carrying goods, and pro- 
 
 tlie story of Tliesens and Ariadne, had its origin, like so many 
 other mythical stories, in a mistaken etymology. 
 
euroTeax prehistory 
 
 251 
 
 pelled at least by oars, if not by sails, rendered an easy 
 communication along the shores quite possible. The 
 Mediterranean Sea, with its numerous accessory gulfs 
 and inlets, strewn thickly with islands, and with the 
 coasts furnished with frequent harbors, offered excep¬ 
 tional facilities for the development of navigation, and 
 the hardy mariners who first brought the copper from 
 Cyprus to the mainland would find it quite possible, by 
 creeping along the coasts, to reach, not only all parts of 
 Greece, but Italy as well, and become eventually mas¬ 
 ters of the two great accessory seas, the Euxine and the 
 Adriatic. Once possessed of the coasts, certain great 
 rivers, like the Danube, and the Po, and later still, the 
 Rhone, offered feasible routes into the interior of the 
 country; and by the establishment of a few overland 
 routes across the divides to the headwaters of other rivers, 
 like the Loire and the Rhine, all parts of Europe could 
 be reached. More than a hint concerning these early 
 routes is contained in the story of the voyages of the 
 Argonauts, in which there are suggestions of the Danube, 
 the Straits of Gibraltar, the coast of France, and perhaps 
 the Rhine and the Baltic, together with an account of 
 transporting the ship bodily, by land route, by means of 
 rollers, across a divide, from river to river. That such 
 practices were actually resorted to in the Bronze Age, 
 or a little later, has been shown by the discovery far 
 inland of ancient ships, set on rollers, and evidently 
 abandoned during such an attempt. 
 
 With all parts of Europe thus tied together by nu¬ 
 merous trade routes, it is easy to understand how the 
 various types of bronze implements became so generally 
 distributed, and how the most distant parts seem to have 
 
252 MAN'S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 possessed similar equipment at about the same time. 
 Through this almost simultaneous appearance every¬ 
 where of the new inventions and new types of imple- 
 plements, weapons and ornaments, it is possible with 
 
 Fig. 59. Women’s costumes in Scandinavia in the Early Bronze Age. 
 This drawing is based upon a find at Borum-Eschol, Denmark, which 
 consisted of a coffin made of a hollow oaken log, in which there was 
 a woman’s body, with the garments, and some of the flesh, pre¬ 
 served in the peat, in which the burial had been made. Several 
 other similar finds, of both men and women, have been made from 
 time to time, and we are now we’l informed concerning almost every 
 detail of the costumes worn by both sexes at that remote epoch. 
 (After S. Muller.) 
 
 some exactness to subdivide the Age of Bronze into 
 periods, and give them definite dates. The entire Bronze 
 Age may thus be included between about 3000 B. C. 
 
EUROPEAN PREHISTORY 
 
 253 
 
 and 1000 B. C., divided into three periods of constant 
 development, as follows: 1 
 
 Early Bronze Age 2800-2200 B. C. 
 
 Middle Bronze Age 2200-1700 B. C. 
 
 Late Bronze Age 1700-1200 B. C. 
 
 These dates must be modified a little in applying them 
 to the different countries, as a country like Greece, lying 
 nearer the source of copper, would be earlier supplied 
 with that metal than would the remoter districts of 
 Scandinavia and England; yet each phase of bronze cul¬ 
 ture seems to have become practically universal in turn, 
 undoubtedly through the commercial enterprise of for¬ 
 eign merchants. Of these, the ones who first brought 
 the copper to the mainland of Europe were undoubtedly 
 the Cretans, who at the beginning of their activity con¬ 
 veyed it to the nearest land (Phoenicia), but soon found 
 their way to Greece, where first on European soil the 
 Bronze Age culture became established. There were 
 some who, emboldened by their success thus far, pushed 
 their way still farther, and opened up the earliest trade 
 routes through the country, yet at the beginning of 
 written history we find Phoenicians, and not Cretans, in 
 control of European commerce. 
 
 A rapid change from one to the other at about the end 
 of the Bronze Period is curiously indicated by the sud¬ 
 den introduction at this time of the Phoenician system of 
 
 1 These are the dates given for Crete by Charles W. and 
 Harriet Boyd Hawes (1909). For central Europe the periods 
 should all be somewhat later. Forrer takes an extreme view, 
 and advances the Neolithic to 2100 B. C. “Breasted places 
 Egyptian copper beyond 3400 B. C., iron beyond 2475 B. C., 
 with bronze coming in at a somewhat later date.”—N. S. 
 Nelson. 
 
2 54 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 weights and measures, as indicated not only by the actual 
 weights of rings and bracelets of this period which cor¬ 
 respond to exact fractional parts of the Phoenician mina 
 and shekel , but by the discovery of real Phoenician 
 weights. 1 And it is with the coming of the Phoenician 
 merchants that two new substances appear, glass 
 
 Fig. 60.—Pattern of the woman’s jacket found at Borum-Eshol, Den¬ 
 mark. Early Bronze Age. The long slit is for the head. The 
 two lower wings are brought together to form the front, and were 
 fastened together by studs. The upper flap, (e), is also folded over 
 to cover the upper part of the chest in front, and meets the lower 
 part, to which it is fastened. The outer wings of the upper piece 
 are sewed together, and form ihe sleeves, which reach to the elbows. 
 (After S. Muller.) 
 
 and iron. For a time these seem to have been very rare 
 and precious, for they were used wholly for ornament— 
 the glass for personal decoration and the iron for the 
 adornment of sword hilts, heavy bracelets and other 
 valuable bronze implements. It appears in the Homeric 
 poems (oihriQOi;) as an article of great value, and of 
 rare occurrence; while the common metal, of which 
 implements and weapons of all sorts were made, was 
 
 1 Forrer Hoc. .s ■it.), p. 3G4, instances, a Phoenician mina 
 of lead, found in the lake station of Wollishofen. Other weights 
 from lake dwellings are based upon the Cretan system. 
 
EUROPEAN PREHISTORY 
 
 bronze (xahioq). Small pieces of iron were given 
 as prizes to victors, 1 and iron is spoken of as being 
 worked with much toil (^oXi'm^to'S) . 2 During the 
 period of the early Jewish kings as recorded in the Old 
 Testament, the use of bronze (in the King James ver¬ 
 sion translated “brass”) was practically universal, while 
 iron appeared only rarely, and then for special purposes. 
 In the temple of Solomon all the metal furnishings of 
 the altar, not of gold, were of bronze, which an imported 
 workman, named Hiram, cast “in the clay ground be¬ 
 tween Suecoth and Zarethan, ’ ” 3 but iron tools are men¬ 
 tioned in describing the construction of the Temple 
 itself. The colossal image of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream 
 was mainly of gold and bronze, with legs of iron. 4 The 
 coming of the Iron Age was gradual, and in those coun¬ 
 tries of which we possess an early literature, these be¬ 
 ginnings are placed on record. 
 
 52. The Early Iron Age; the Hallstatt and La Tenp 
 Periods .—As far as concerns Europe, it is only in Greece 
 that we possess written records of the introduction of 
 iron, and these occur within the dimness of legends 
 rather than in the true light of history; elsewhere we 
 must still rely upon excavation, as with the earlier pe¬ 
 riods. 
 
 Objects illustrative of the early Iron Age are widely 
 distributed over Europe, generally associated with ob¬ 
 jects characteristic of the late Bronze Period, and rep¬ 
 resent a transition period between the two. Thus a few 
 
 1 Iliad, XXIII, 11. 261-850. Of. Seymour, “Life in the Hom¬ 
 eric Age.” Macmillan. 
 
 2 Iliad, VI, p. 48; Od. XXI, p. 10. 
 
 3 1 Kings, vii. 46. 
 
 4 Daniel, ii. 32-34. 
 
256 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 implements of iron occur in certain of the later Swiss 
 lake dwelling sites, and in a few of the Italian ter remare, 
 but they are common in the crannogs of Ireland and 
 Scotland, which were inhabited at a much later date 
 than the former. The entire region about the head of 
 
 Fig. 61.—Bronze war-trumpet, or “lure,”’ from the late Bronze Age of Scandinavia. 
 These are found with comparative frequency in the moors and peat-bogs, 
 usually in pairs, which when blown, sound in unison. A pair of these was 
 used recently, and played an ancient Scandinavian war march at a Congress of 
 Archeology. (After S. Muller.) 
 
EUROPEAN PREHISTORY 
 
 257 
 
 the Adriatic Sea, extending up through Carinthia and 
 Tyrol, as well as down along the eastern coast, is espe¬ 
 cially rich in early iron sites. 
 
 From this abundance of material two characteristie 
 sites, in which the deposits are typical and very abun¬ 
 dant, have been especially selected to mark definite 
 periods, Hallstatt and La Tene. The first of these pe¬ 
 riods is, locally at least, wholly prehistoric, and marks 
 a transition, in which bronze is still extensively used 
 along with iron; in the second the replacement is prac¬ 
 tically complete, and the deposits occasionally contain 
 also objects of Roman or Celtic origin. 
 
 The Hallstatt site is a narrow glen in the Norie Alps, 
 about an hour’s walk from the village of Hallstatt, on 
 the Hallstatter See. Here, in 1846, an ancient necrop¬ 
 olis was discovered and excavated, the first of the work 
 being done by Ramsauer, and continued by van Sacken. 
 In all, 993 tombs were excavated, of which 533 were in¬ 
 terments, while the remainder had been incinerated. 
 
 Other important sites of the same culture, and evi¬ 
 dently contemporaneous in their activity, are those of 
 Watsch, St. Margarethen, near Laibach, and Sta. Lucia, 
 near Tolmino, all in Carniola, Carinthia, and Upper Aus¬ 
 tria. The classic description of the type locality is by 
 von Sacken, “Das Grabfeld von Hallstatt in Oberoester- 
 reich, und dessen Alterthiimer. ” Wien, 1868, 4, 26 Pis. 
 The objects found in all these Hallstatt Period deposits 
 are rich in numbers and variety, and include both bronze 
 and iron, the former much predominating. Similar ob¬ 
 jects occur in places over a wide surrounding area, 
 including the Tyrol and northern and central Italy, and 
 record an extensive civilization, of which absolutely no 
 
258 
 
 MAX'S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 record is to be found in history, although certain of the 
 historic peoples, like Greece, perhaps, and Crete and 
 Egypt certainly, must have been contemporaneous. Like 
 Horace’s ‘‘kings before Agamemnon, unwept for and 
 unknown,” they “became lost in the obscurity of a long 
 night because they lacked an inspired bard.” 
 
 But, although as yet neither a scrap of writing nor 
 an inscription of any sort has been found, these people 
 
 Pig. 62.—Bronze situla of the Hallstatt Period; found 
 at the Certosa, Bologna, Italy. (After S. Muller.,) 
 
 have yet left a curious pictorial record of themselves, exe¬ 
 cuted in repoussee work upon a certain type of bronze 
 object, characteristic of the period. These objects are 
 the situlcB, a sort of pail with a handle, used perhaps for 
 conveying wine at banquets. They are in large part 
 
EUROPEAN PREHISTORY 
 
 259 
 
 plain, or decorated by a succession of ribs running 1 
 around them, but in others clear zones are left, which 
 bear intricate patterns. In a few cases this clear zone 
 bears, instead of a conventional pattern, outline pictures 
 of the daily life of the people, executed with curious 
 proportions, and bordering on the grotesque, but with a 
 faithfulness to detail which furnishes much direct evi¬ 
 dence concerning the conditions of the times. These 
 
 Fig. 63.—Design taken from a bronze situla of the Hallstatt Period found at 
 Watsch in the Tyrol. (After Forrer.) 
 
 figures are usually in the form of processions, in which 
 walk stately individuals with flat or pointed caps, and 
 with long, straight garments, reaching from neck to feet, 
 and provided with sleeves. The horse, too, frequently 
 appears, either ridden or harnessed to a chariot or wagon. 
 The charioteers skillfully direct the horses, while a great 
 personage stands by his side; in one case a man in a two¬ 
 wheeled carriage, beautifully ornamented, is doing the 
 driving himself, and has his wife with him. Tn another 
 
260 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 case peculiar utensils are being administered to person¬ 
 ages seated in chairs, and in one of these a hatless man 
 carries a situla in his right hand, and offers something 
 in his left to a seated person. A constantly recurring 
 picture is that of pairs of naked boxers, with objects 
 on their hands like our dumbbells, and attended by men 
 with long cloaks, who come in from each side, appar¬ 
 ently referees. From this it has been inferred that these 
 pictorial situlge were used as prizes to the victors in 
 contests similar to those portrayed upon them, but this 
 is, of course, nothing but surmise. The occasional pres¬ 
 ence of a helmet and shield, placed in the form of a 
 trophy between the two contestants, suggests a more 
 serious motive than that of simply an athletic sport. Still 
 other situlse picture spirited trains of fighting men in 
 two-horse chariots, or long lines of foot soldiers with 
 either oval or circular shields, and carrying spears with 
 points directed downward; still again, women with 
 mantles and skirts carry heavy burdens upon their 
 heads, and men, accompanied by dogs, bear the carcass 
 of a goat or deer, strapped to a pole, the ends of which 
 they rest upon their shoulders. Grotesque animals ap¬ 
 pear, also in procession, often with long curly tongues 
 extended, and with birds perched upon their backs. In 
 short, the available space of such situlae is crowded with 
 designs like those mentioned, and filled with suggestion 
 to the prehistorian. 
 
 The site of La Tene, which gives its name to a period 
 considerably later than that of Hallstatt, is very differ¬ 
 ent in character, having been a military stronghold, and 
 not a necropolis. This site is situated at the extreme 
 northeastern end of Lake Neuchatel, in Switzerland, at 
 
EUROPEAN PREHISTORY 
 
 261 
 
 the very outlet of the lake, at a point which for many 
 centuries had been covered by a few feet of water, and 
 called by the fishermen "La Tene” (the shallows). Ex¬ 
 tensive engineering work, completed in 1876, the “Cor¬ 
 rection des eaux du Jura,*’ drained this end of the 
 lake and converted the shallows into dry ground. 
 
 The remains found here give evidence of extensive pile 
 structures, a military station, and a battlefield, which 
 put an end to the settlement, and, notwithstanding the 
 extensive remains of early pile villages scattered along 
 
 Fig. 64. —View of the shallows of Lake Neuchatel; site of La Tene. 
 
 (After Forrer.) 
 
 the shores of the same lake, and even near this very spot, 
 it soon became clear that the especial station of the shal¬ 
 lows had nothing whatever to do with them. These 
 latter are, like the lake dwellings all over the Alpine 
 countries, Neolithic or Bronze Age in date, while the 
 implements from La Tene are, with very few excep¬ 
 tions, of iron, together with objects of glass and other 
 materials associated with the Iron Age. Most definite of 
 all are the coins, of Celtic and Roman workmanship, 
 found under conditions which preclude later intrusion. 
 
65.—Iron lance-heads, axes, and other weapons and ornaments from La 
 
 Tene. (After Forrer.) 
 
 Fig. 
 
 
EUROPEAN PREHISTORY 
 
 263 
 
 There is thus no doubt that the station at La Tene 
 was a military one, guarding the outlet of the lake, and 
 that it came to its end suddenly, as the result of a suc¬ 
 cessful attack. The probable battlefield was strewed 
 with unsheathed swords, bridle bits and chariot-wheels, 
 and there have been found there the bones of thirty to 
 forty men, some of the skulls showing sword gashes across 
 the top. The station was undoubtedly erected and main¬ 
 tained by the Helvetians, to guard the approaches in 
 that direction, and “the discovery of Roman remains, 
 such as coins, tiles, pottery, bricks (one with the mark 
 of the 21st legion, ‘Rapax’) on and around La Tene, 
 leave little doubt that its conquerors were the Romans.” 1 
 54. The Transition from Prehistory to History. —Cer¬ 
 tain characteristics of the life at Hallstatt, as depicted 
 on the situlae, remind us forcibly of the Homeric Age 
 in Greece, and although there is not the slightest trace 
 of intercommunication between them, they may well have 
 been contemporary, or nearly so. In La Tene, however, 
 a few centuries after, come the clash of Roman arms and 
 the waving standards of Roman legions, and from this 
 time on the entire continent becomes lighted by the torch 
 of history. Perhaps the times recorded in the late 
 Bronze and early Iron Ages especially in Austria, are 
 those during which the Germanic nations were engaged 
 in their early wanderings, and already assembling to 
 the north of the Danube, from which they were later 
 to throw themselves upon Rome. It is certain that in 
 dealing with these later periods we are investigating 
 the activities of peoples contemporaneous with the early 
 
 1 Robert Munro, “The Lake Dwellings of Europe,” 1890, p. 298. 
 
264 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 historical periods of Greece, and probably Rome also, 
 and that they are thus prehistoric only in the sense that 
 they have left no written records themselves, and that 
 
 Fig. 66.—Implements, mainly of reindeer horn, from the 
 early Iron Age station of Kjelminsel, Norway, now in 
 the museum at Christiana. One third natural size. 
 
 (After Solberg, in Prahistorische Zeitschrift.) 
 
 no one with the knowledge of writing had ever traveled 
 among them. 
 
 Thus, beginning with the earliest records of human 
 or semi-human activities, marked upon the sensitive sur- 
 
EUROPEAN PREHISTORY 
 
 265 
 
 faces of pieces of flint, through the times of the Great 
 Ice, and during the millennia since its retreat, Europe 
 has had a continuous human history, confused no doubt 
 many a time by incursions from the neighboring conti¬ 
 nents, and by the more or less complete effacement of 
 one race by another over vast areas. 
 
 “The prehistory of Europe sounds at first like the 
 murmurs of the primeval forest; deep darkness, relieved 
 here and there by spots of dim light, along the margins of 
 which are thrown the shadows of strange animal forms. 
 Apes play among the tree-tops, and we see, behind a 
 fleeing drove of wild cattle, the pursuing hunter, known 
 only in outline—the First Man. 
 
 ‘ ‘ But the picture changes; the forest becomes a steppe. 
 In the background gleam the white glaciers. Over the 
 long stretches of steppe grass droves of mighty mam¬ 
 moths are stampeding; herds of buffaloes, too, and wild 
 horses. Nearer the glaciers reindeer are browsing. And 
 behind all these lurks Man, now a troglodyte, seeking 
 the chance of a lucky spearthrust. 
 
 “Again the picture changes; mammoth and reindeer 
 have vanished. Packs of dogs run through the wood, 
 through the vistas of which we catch glimpses of moun¬ 
 tain lakes, with the fishermen from the lake villages 
 throwing their nets. Sheep and goats are grazing upon 
 the open meadows, and in the distance stretch the fal¬ 
 low fields of the first agriculturists. 
 
 “Then this, too, is effaced. Strange merchants bring 
 gleaming metals; ruddy copper and yellow bronze. They 
 hold up before the astonished eyes of the natives gleam¬ 
 ing gold and particolored glass; and hard after glass, 
 comes iron. We see the arts, the technical crafts, con¬ 
 tinually increase. Mighty walls and temples arise, we 
 hear the Celtic war-cry; then the tramp of Roman le¬ 
 gions. Cagsar, Tacitus, send us their message—prehis¬ 
 tory becomes merged into history. ’ ’ 1 
 
 1 Robert Forrer ( loc . cit.) ; p. 1. 
 
CHAPTER/ IV 
 
 PREHISTORY OF AFRICA, ASIA AND THE OCEANIC ISLANDS 
 
 Relation of Europe to Asia and Africa—Prehistory of Africa— 
 Remains of Cyclopean Masonry in Maslionaland—Prehis¬ 
 tory of Asia. 
 
 55. Relation of Europe to Asia and Africa .—It is 
 only for geographical convenience that Europe can be 
 spoken of as a continent. Between it and Asia the bound¬ 
 ary wall is less high and less formidable than that which 
 separates western North America from the Mississippi 
 Basin, and the sea which divides it from Africa is not 
 only of recent appearance, geologically speaking, but is 
 nearly spanned by three long peninsulas, reinforced in 
 part by large islands to serve as stepping stones. For 
 these reasons Europe has not been left to develop its 
 human history by itself, but has been constantly modi¬ 
 fied by migrations from the neighboring continents. As 
 far back as may be followed by written documents and 
 sculptured monuments, Europe has been isolated for 
 scarcely a moment, but has been the scene of almost 
 continuous invasion, sometimes in the form of more or 
 less organized armies or military conquests, but more 
 often as the gradual encroachment of a whole people* 
 a tribal migration. 
 
 In its permanent physical effects upon the population, 
 the influence of a military expedition is usually slight, 
 even though its success is complete, and the conquerors 
 
 266 
 
AFRICA, ASIA AND THE OCEANIC ISLANDS 267 
 
 succeed in imposing their language and customs upon 
 the conquered race; for here the invaders consist wholly 
 of males, and their numbers are generally much less than 
 those of the people whom they subdue. In many cases, 
 too, like the Huns, 1 their stay is temporary, and they 
 leave few traces of themselves save a trail of pillage and 
 carnage which a comparatively short time will efface. A 
 tribal migration, on the other hand, where the warriors 
 bring with them their wives and families and where the 
 advance consists of a slow and steady pressure in a given 
 direction, the previous inhabitants will give way before 
 them and eventually become either absorbed into or re¬ 
 placed by the invading race. 
 
 Thus the invasion of Italy by Hannibal left practi¬ 
 cally no Punic strain among the people of that penin¬ 
 sula ; the furious onslaught of the Huns passed like a 
 fiery scourge over Europe, but left neither straight black 
 hair nor slanting eyes to mark its passage; and even the 
 long Roman military command of Britain left few traces 
 written in the physiognomy of the British people. Far 
 different were such invasions as that of the Ostrogoths 
 into the Po valley, or the Beni Israel into Canaan. Of 
 the journey of Theodoric “the emphatic language of 
 contemporaries justifies us in saying that it was pre¬ 
 eminently a nation, in all its strength and all its help¬ 
 lessness, that accompanied him. His own family, 
 
 1 Jornandes, in speaking of the Huns, during their great inva¬ 
 sion of Europe in the middle of the fifth century, says: “They 
 are little in stature, but lithe and active in their motions, and 
 especially skilled in riding; broad-shouldered, good at the use 
 of bow and arrows; with sinewy necks, and always holding their 
 heads high in their pride. To sum up, these beings under the 
 form of man hide the fierce nature of the beast.” 
 
 Cited from Hodgkins, “Italy and Her Invaders,” vol. i, p. 244. 
 
268 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 mother, sisters, nephews, evidently were with him. . . . 
 As with the chief, so with the people. Procopins says, 
 'With Theodoric went the people of the Goths, putting 
 their wives and children, and as much of their furniture 
 as they could take with them, into their wagons.’ 5,1 
 
 The children of Israel present another type of tribal 
 migration, since their state of civilization had been for a 
 long time a nomadic one, and thus their migration dif¬ 
 fered little from their customary mode of life. It be¬ 
 came a definite plan at first only in the minds of their 
 leaders; and the goal of their wanderings, and the pur¬ 
 pose of driving out or killing the previous inhabitants, 
 developed through their direction and at their instiga¬ 
 tion. On leaving Egypt this people "journeyed from 
 Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on 
 foot, that were men, besides children. And a mixed 
 multitude went up also with them; and flocks, and 
 herds, even very much cattle.”' The subsequent his¬ 
 tory of the conquest of Israel over the Canaanites, espe¬ 
 cially the account of their wholesale massacre of these 
 previous occupants, could have but one outcome, and 
 that of a complete ethnic replacement in that region, 
 more complete, in fact, than that of the Indians of New 
 England by the English Puritans, who avowedly took 
 as a model this very tribe. 
 
 While, now, great military expeditions, with their pro¬ 
 found influence upon political and social conditions, and 
 their insignificant one upon ethnological characteristics, 
 are essentially a modern phenomenon, since they depend 
 
 1 Trans, by Hodgkins, “Italy and Her Invaders,” vol. iii, pp. 
 180-181. 
 
 2 Exodus, xiii, 37, 38. 
 
AFRICA, ASIA AND THE OCEANIC ISLANDS 269 
 
 so largely upon extraneous means of transportation, a 
 slow tribal migration demands nothing which could not 
 be met by people in the most primitive condition. It is 
 thus natural to suppose, especially as the curtain of 
 recorded history rises upon a world already turbulent 
 and uneasy, a world of constant change of equilibrium 
 through invasion and conquest and tribal movement, 
 that the same conditions extended far back into the un¬ 
 known past, and even that the first recorded deeds of 
 this character were merely the continuation of an un¬ 
 recorded series, vastly longer than that of which we have 
 information. The extensive steppes north of the Cas¬ 
 pian Sea, where the Ural chain softens down into a suc¬ 
 cession of low hills, or disappears altogether amid low¬ 
 lands and marshes, offer to an Asiatic horde, traveling 
 on foot, and advancing by slow stages, an open gateway 
 into Europe, while for a race that has knowledge of 
 even the crudest sort of navigation the Danube, reached 
 from the Black Sea, offers an easy road into the very 
 heart of the continent. From Africa the way to Asia 
 is plain, through Suez and the peninsula of Sinai; by 
 the aid of primitive boats Sicily, Crete and Cyprus could 
 be attained and colonized, and from these colonies the 
 mainland of Europe could be reached at several points. 
 At Gibraltar the two lands are almost in contact. 
 
 In view of purely geographical conditions, it is a priori 
 impossible for a European population to have devel¬ 
 oped in anything like isolation: rather have various 
 ethnic strains been intermingled here, probably from 
 both Asia and Africa, and have produced the diversified 
 peoples of present-day Europe. While there is still 
 much disagreement among the ethnologists concerning 
 
270 
 
 MAN'S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 the original ingredients of this mixture, a broadly rec¬ 
 ognized theory considers that the vivacious, long-skulled, 
 brunette people of southern Europe were immigrants 
 from North Africa, and that still further north they 
 have everywhere come in contact with a short-headed 
 race of Asiatic invaders, who extend in a broad belt, at 
 
 Fig. 67.—Arrow and lance-heads from the Eastern Sahara. 
 
 (After Noel in L’Anthropologie.) 
 
 about the level of Switzerland, entirely across the conti¬ 
 nent to the coast of the Atlantic; yet, even granting 
 this, who may presume to say that these shadowy mi¬ 
 grations were the first in this region, or that the strains 
 thus introduced were themselves of pure stock and homo¬ 
 geneous ? 
 
AFRICA, ASIA AND THE OCEANIC ISLANDS 271 
 
 56. Prehistory of Africa .—It is thus of the greatest 
 importance that the prehistorian now turns to the two 
 continents closely associated with Europe; Asia and 
 Africa, for it is to these lands we are to look for the 
 origin of the peoples who first populated Europe, and 
 probably also for the origin of the human race itself. 
 When, about the middle of the nineteenth century, the 
 work of Boucher de Perthes upon the paleoliths of the 
 Somme valley began to bear fruit, and stone implements 
 from various parts of Europe, at first mainly Scanda- 
 navia and France, began to fill the museums, similar 
 objects were brought to light in the neighboring conti¬ 
 nents, especialty in places where, as in Egypt and Syria, 
 excavations were being conducted for other purposes. 
 In Africa genuine paleoliths were first found in the Nile 
 valley, deep in the soil upturned in the excavation of 
 Egyptian antiquities, often, indeed, beneath the founda¬ 
 tions of ancient Egyptian buildings themselves, point¬ 
 ing to the occupation of the valley of the Nile ages 
 before this first historical dynasty. Thus true paleo¬ 
 liths of flint were found by Arcelin in 1869 at Sakkara 
 and Gizeli, among the great pyramids and by Hamy and 
 Lenormant at Thebes in the same year. From then on 
 paleoliths were reported, with ever increasing frequency, 
 from various quarters along the same valley. Zittel 
 pushed his investigation into the depths of the Libyan 
 desert, far from present-day oases, and found paleoliths 
 there also, proving beyond question the former fertility 
 of that region, and its occupation at one time by man. 
 From these earlier reports, during the 70’s and 80’s of 
 the previous century, the discoveries have progressively 
 multiplied, until now the area of distribution of paleo- 
 
terial, however, and the data are insufficient for attempt¬ 
 ing to reconstruct any outline of African prehistory. 
 
 A certain type of megalithic monument, the menhir, 
 or single stone column of vast proportions, occurs scat¬ 
 tered across the northern portions of the continent. 
 These, on the one hand, are continued through Morocco, 
 
 272 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 liths in Africa has widely extended, and includes, be¬ 
 sides the Nile valley, the western Sudan, especially 
 around Timbuctoo, and the valley of the lower Congo. 
 The study is still in the stage of the collection of ma- 
 
 Fig. 68.—Po.'fhpr* axes of the NeoMthic type from the 
 Eastern Sahara. (After Noel, in L’Anthropologie.) 
 
AFRICA, ASIA AND THE OCEANIC ISLANDS 273 
 
 to Spain, and thence directly to France, where in Brit¬ 
 tany such structures come to a high state of develop¬ 
 ment; while proceeding eastwards to Egypt, they are 
 shown in finished form in the obelisk. These structures 
 are for the most part late Neolithic, or possibly early 
 Bronze, in date, and their occurrence over this broad 
 area, and across the Straits of Gibraltar, suggests a 
 kinship in origin and indicates, perhaps, the migration 
 of a prehistoric people across northern Africa and up 
 through western Europe; or perhaps only the conquest 
 and gradual spread of power and influence from a small 
 center over alien races. 
 
 57. Remains of Cyclopean Masonry in Mashonaland. 
 Interest has always been attached to possible archeologi¬ 
 cal discoveries in those parts of central and southern 
 Africa that so long resisted exploration, and from time 
 to time reports have been spread concerning remarkable 
 ruins somewhere in those parts, of which the local tribes 
 can give no information. Such are the ruined walls of 
 Cyclopean masonry at Zimbabwe, Mashonaland, and sim¬ 
 ilar structures have been brought to light in other parts 
 of the same general region. While at the present time 
 little can be postulated concerning all such ruins, since 
 many of them have not only never been excavated, but 
 have not even been carefully described, it is well to bear 
 in mind that no reliance can be placed upon the native 
 traditions or memory, as “no native appears to know 
 anything of the past, unless that past happens to have 
 been within his own personal recollection. ” 1 It is also 
 to be noted that a neglected building or wall of masonry, 
 
 1 E. M. Andrews. “The ‘Webster’ Ruin in Southern Rho¬ 
 desia,” in Smithsonian Quarterly, No. 4, 1907-S, p. 37. 
 
274 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 abandoned in a tropical jungle, becomes soon overgrown 
 with vegetation, and takes on the appearance of extreme 
 age. 
 
 The recent excavation of the small “ Webster ” ruin 
 in southern Rhodesia is of much interest as a typical 
 illustration of this, since the examination failed to prove 
 an antiquity of more than two centuries, although it was 
 not learned what the structure was, or the reason for 
 
 Fig. 69.—The “Webster Ruin” in Southern Rhodesia. (After Andrews.) 
 
 its construction. This ruin, discovered by white men in 
 1892, consists of a nearly circular wall, built in two tiers. 
 The diameter on the ground is about fifty feet, and the 
 height of the first tier nine feet. The second tier is set 
 in at about the same distance as the height of the first 
 tier, and rises upward of four feet above the other. At 
 one side is left a gap for the door, beside which, and 
 
AFRICA, ASIA AND THE OCEANIC ISLANDS 275 
 
 upon the inner tier, there is a little extra structure, 
 three feet in height, capped by a flat stone. The stones 
 of which the structure is composed are rather flat, and 
 average about thirty pounds each in weight. They are 
 laid in irregular courses, and are without mortar, but 
 are in places reinforced with earth, which was probably 
 their condition throughout. Outside of this ruin or 
 “temple’’ were several stone slabs set nearly erect in 
 the ground, as though marking graves, and upon an¬ 
 other side were small stone heaps, also thought to be 
 graves. 
 
 About a mile to the north of this ruin, near the pres¬ 
 ent kraal of Chief Ichickwanda, is found another similar 
 structure, though somewhat smaller, the walls enclosing 
 a room with a diameter of twelve feet, and seven feet in 
 height. This ruin is better built than the previous one, 
 and the stones used are not only much larger, but show 
 some attempt at having been dressed into shape. Around 
 this structure are four smaller and cruder enclosures. 
 
 In spite of the promising appearance of both of these 
 sites, a thorough excavation of the former, made by Mr. 
 E. M. Andrews in 1906, was barren of results. No 
 human bones were found, even in the “graves,” but the 
 disturbed earth was filled with bones of the antelope, 
 shards of native manufacture, iron spear heads and other 
 implements, and in one or two places small bits of 
 green glass and even smaller fragments of bowls of 
 Nankin china. The glass can be traced to the jars used 
 by the neighboring Portuguese for wine, and the china 
 may easily have come from the same source. From the 
 evidence presented, the excavator was convinced that 
 the ruin “cannot be earlier than the end of the six- 
 
276 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 teenth century, and is probably later. It was undoubt¬ 
 edly built by the present natives, or some allied tribe, 
 either for defense, or more probably as a cemetery, for 
 the disposal of their dead.” This instance is cited at 
 length, not as a contribution to prehistory, which, in 
 the usual sense, it is not, but for the purpose of em¬ 
 phasizing the two points previously mentioned: the 
 short memory of the natives, and the rapidity with 
 which, in a tropical country, an abandoned structure 
 assumes the appearance of extreme age. As a result of 
 the first, there is practically no true history in any por¬ 
 tion of central or southern Africa, save that of the past 
 two hundred years, since the settlement of that region 
 by white people. Before this time, recent as it is, all 
 is prehistory in the sense that it is unrecorded. As 
 with America, the discovery of which but slightly ante¬ 
 dated that of the region in question, little can be 
 obtained from tradition, something may be learned 
 through the study of the various tribal languages and 
 the physical features, but the main reliance must be 
 placed upon excavation, for the records held in the soil 
 are for the most part permanently preserved, and—if 
 the work is carefully done—chronologically dated, and 
 cannot fail to give correct clues when properly read. 
 It is idle to speculate concerning what may be in store 
 for us in the future in this regard, yet we may be 
 confident that eventually the entire history of man upon 
 this continent will be traced as elsewhere, through the 
 results of his activities and the occasional chance pres¬ 
 ervation of his bones. 
 
 58. Prehistory of Asia .—Although still practically 
 unknown in its prehistory, the continent of Asia holds, 
 
AFRICA, ASIA AND THE OCEANIC ISLANDS 277 
 
 without much doubt, the essential data for the study of 
 the last phases in the development of the human race. 
 It is true that the soil of Europe has yielded, in chro¬ 
 nological succession, a series of forms gradually 
 approaching the present type, but it is also true that 
 there is yet no indication of a European origin for any 
 of these, and they are generally looked upon as suc¬ 
 cessive migrants from elsewhere, either Asia or Africa. 
 Again, the Pithecanthropus , almost, if not quite, a 
 direct transition form between Simians and man, was 
 found in the island of Java, closely associated with 
 eastern Asia, and while in itself not whollv conclusive, 
 is yet ci marked indication that the origin of the race 
 was Asiatic. 
 
 When Asiatic prehistory is finally studied, it will 
 possess an advantage over that of Europe in the ancient 
 date reached by actual written inscriptions, since they 
 will prove of the greatest value in dating contemporary 
 remains elsewhere, whatever grade of culture they may 
 represent. In other words, in this continent, where 
 recorded history dates back six or seven millenia, a 
 quantity of data will be eliminated from the problem 
 presented to the prehistorian, who will thus be enabled 
 to deal wholly with periods not merely relatively an¬ 
 cient, but actually so. 
 
 During the past few years a beginning has been made 
 in this more ancient Asiatic history by the discovery of 
 many types of stone implements in various parts of 
 that great continent. In Syria, at first about the 
 Lebanon range and in Palestine, and later in the north, 
 stone implements were found, representing both Paleo¬ 
 lithic and Neolithic culture, while in that country the 
 
27S 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 Bronze age is known to have extended between about 
 2000-1250 B. C., and ended with the advent of the Phil¬ 
 istines, who introduced iron. 
 
 Still, the form or style of an implement does not 
 necessarily prove for it great antiquity, since a crude 
 implement may often be used for a bit of rough work 
 rather more effectively and with more economy than 
 
 Fig. 70.—Flint axes of Acheulian type, from the North of Syria. 
 (After Arne, in L’Anthrcpologie.) 
 
 a better one. Thus, in the ancient turquois mines on 
 the peninsula of Sinai, worked by the Egyptian kings 
 from Snefru, B. C. 3122, to Raineses II, B. C. 1326, 
 are found the crudest type of stone axes, resembling 
 the coups-de-poing of the European Chellean period 
 yet these were undoubedly in common use during these 
 comparatively recent times. 
 
AFRICA, ASIA AND THE OCEANIC ISLANDS 279 
 
 Aside from the extreme west the discovery of stone 
 implements has been reported from the island of Cey¬ 
 lon, from Tonkin, the French colony in China, and 
 from Japan. The prehistoric studies in Ceylon 1 were 
 made in cave deposits, and consist of Paleolithic instru¬ 
 ments of about the Magdalenian type, evidently made 
 and used by a small human race, of about the size of 
 the present Veddahs, although the discoverers feel sure 
 that the latter could have had no connection with these 
 deposits, which are undoubtedly of great age. On the 
 other hand, implements of the early Paleolithic, as well 
 as of the Neolithic and Bronze ages, are as yet unknown 
 in the island, although axes of the Chellean type occur 
 on the adjacent continent. 
 
 The investigation in Tonkin 2 was that of a cavern 
 deposit 75 kilometers north of Lang-Son, and consisted 
 of flint and bone implements of a crude Neolithic cul¬ 
 ture, together with one or two pieces of shell ornaments 
 and a little pottery. The absence of animal bones and 
 the presence of many shells of Unio, etc., suggest that 
 the people were not hunters, but subsisted largely upon 
 vegetables and mollusks. 
 
 In Japan the study of prehistory has already been 
 prosecuted to a considerable extent, with the result of 
 finding many traces of the previous existence of a stone- 
 age culture in many parts of the Japanese islands. The 
 remains consist of extensive kitchen-middens, and of 
 traces of semi-subterranean houses, both associated with 
 
 1 P. Sarasin, “Praehislorische Ergebnisse unserer neusten Reise 
 im Inneren von Ceylon.” Korresp. Bl. d. dentsch. Ges. fur 
 Anthrop. Bd. 38, 1907. p. 94. 
 
 2 Mansuy, M. H., “Gisement prehistoriqne de la caverne de 
 Pho-Binh-Gia (Tonkin).” UAnthropologie, T. 20, 1909, p. 531. 
 
280 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 plentiful artifacts. Thus far these remains seem to in¬ 
 dicate the former presence of two distinct races, the 
 one, limited to the Ryu Kyu islands and Formosa, the 
 other upon the two largest of the main islands, Yezo 
 and Nippon. The first race was without stone arrow¬ 
 heads, and its pottery never possesses a trace of textile 
 upon its surface; the second had arrow-heads of stone, 
 as well as those of wood, bone, and horn, and its re¬ 
 mains yield also clay figurines. Some authorities do 
 not consider either race to have been the direct ances¬ 
 tors of the Ainus, but think that they represent pre- 
 Ainu peoples, probably the “ Koropokguru ’ ’ of the old 
 Ainu legends, and that they migrated northwards at 
 the coming of the Ainus. Others consider the Koropok¬ 
 guru as wholly imaginary, think that the Ainus were 
 themselves the real aborigines, and look to find traces 
 of their ancestors among these early remains. The cul¬ 
 ture of these prehistoric peoples was Neolithic, but 
 their pottery seems unlike that of the Ainus of the 
 present day. 1 
 
 Such fragmentary notes of isolated discoveries are 
 thus far all that can be presented under the head of 
 the prehistory of Asia, but it must be remembered that 
 sixty years ago the study of European prehistory was 
 equally fragmentary, and with the facts uncoordinated 
 and apparently unrelated. The discoveries thus far made 
 tend to stimulate interest in this work, and emphasize 
 the statement made above concerning the great impor¬ 
 tance of Asia in this regard. 
 
 1 For a recent summary of the work of Japanese archeolo¬ 
 gists, cf. Matsnmoto on “The Stone Age People of Japan,” in 
 Amer, Anthropologist, Vol. 23, 1021, pp. 50-70, 
 
AFRICA, ASIA AND THE OCEANIC ISLANDS 281 
 
 In various parts of Oceanica occur ruins which look 
 ancient, and which the present natives do not connect 
 with the former history of their own race. Both this 
 shortsightedness of anything which antedates the mem¬ 
 ory of living men, and the ancient appearance of ruins 
 which are recent, form the standpoint of an archeolo¬ 
 gist, are well known elsewhere; the former among primi¬ 
 tive people everywhere, and the latter in the tropics, 
 where recently abandoned ruins are left to the mercy 
 of luxurious tropical vegetation, and thus these Oceanic 
 ruins, although by no means solved, are not necessarily 
 very ancient. There may be mentioned in this connec¬ 
 tion, the cyclopean walls met with in the Carolines, and 
 more especially the stone statues found in Easter Island. 
 This island, the easternmost of the South Sea group, is 
 within about two thousand miles of the South American 
 coast, and belongs to Chile, used mainly as a pasturage 
 for sheep. The island is volcanic, and is covered with 
 statues carved from the lava of a certain mountain, set 
 with their backs to the sea, and similar to one another 
 in shape. They number about two hundred, besides 
 almost numberless ones, in process of being carved in 
 place, and evidently destined to be carried away from 
 the bed rock, and set in place. They range in size from 
 six feet up to thirty, and one of the uncompleted ones 
 still on the mountain is sixty feet high. Some have sug¬ 
 gested that these huge ones were never intended to be 
 moved, but were intended for high reliefs to permanently 
 adorn the cliffs. The isolated figures were placed upon 
 high foundations of masonry, but were all overthrown 
 during a tribal war about the beginning of the nine¬ 
 teenth century, and now lie on their backs. They are 
 
282 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 pleasantly and minutely described in a book by Mrs. 
 Seoresby Routledge, about 1920, and form the subject 
 of an illustrated article by her in the National Geo¬ 
 graphic Magazine, January, 1921. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 PREHISTORY OF THE TWO AMERICAS 
 
 The Problem of a “New World”—Supposed Remains of Glacial 
 Man in North America—Claims concerning Pre-Indian Re¬ 
 mains in South America—American Stone Implements—- 
 American Articles of Bone, Shell, and Similar Materials— 
 American Metal Work—American Basketry and Weaving-— 
 American Pottery—Classification of American Aboriginal 
 Objects—American Architecture; Single Dwellings and 
 Community Houses—American Architecture: Remains of 
 Temples and Temple-Cities—American Graves—Mounds, 
 Funereal and Commemorative—American Petroglyphs and 
 Other Forms of Writing—Central American Glyphs and 
 Codices—Possible Connection between the Civilizations of 
 the Eastern and Western Worlds. 
 
 59. The Problem of a “New World .”—To under¬ 
 take the study of the prehistory of the two Americas is 
 to engage in a problem for which no foundation stone 
 has been laid for us; a field of research unconnected 
 with the course of recorded history save within the past 
 four centuries. This vast double continent, although 
 occupying an entire side of the globe, has, until this 
 brief space of time, existed as a world apart, and the 
 learning of Greece, Rome, Arabia, and later Europe 
 left no place for it within their treasure-houses of ac¬ 
 cumulated knowledge. When however, this continent, 
 literally a “New World’’ as it was well called, was 
 first discovered and then explored by Europeans, it was 
 found to be everywhere inhabited, from the icy fields of 
 the far north, through both temperate zones and the 
 
 283 
 
2S4 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 intervening torrid area, even to the extreme southern 
 land of fire, the tierra del fuego. 
 
 Hanging in culture throughout the various phases of 
 the Neolithic, from the crudest to the most superior, 
 passing even beyond its hounds in a few favorable 
 regions, where hardened copper took the place of the 
 more typical bronze, the inhabitants are of a single 
 ethnic type. Although varying in complexion, the most 
 superficial of somatic characters, from a light skin, 
 approaching that of the European, to a deep brown 
 like that of many negroes; varying also quite as much 
 in costume, in house building, in foods, and in indus¬ 
 tries; unlike in language, and even in the word roots 
 employed for the commonest conceptions; they are 
 yet of one homogeneous race. Everywhere the straight 
 black hair, low and often slanting foreheads, with high 
 cheek bones placed far apart, large noses of medium 
 breadth and well accentuated, mark them as members 
 of that race which, by an unfortunate mistake of the 
 first explorers, has become universally known as 
 “Indian.” 
 
 From this sweeping conclusion, however, the Eskimo 
 may be excepted, and these little Arctic men are per¬ 
 haps better considered as late wanderers from the camps 
 of similar Arctic peoples of northeastern Siberia, who 
 could easily have spread across Behring Strait to their 
 present location. Yet if the true “Indians” populated 
 America from northeastern Asia in the first place, as 
 seems likely, there can be no profound racial difference 
 between them. 
 
 This assertion of the ethnical homogeneity of the 
 American Indians does not necessarily bring with it 
 
PREHISTORY OF THE TWO AMERICAS 
 
 285 
 
 the corollary that such was always the case, or that 
 the present race were the first and only occupants of 
 the Americas. While the prevailing opinion has long 
 been, and perhaps still is, that the Indians were the 
 first and only comers to the New World previous to its 
 discovery by Europeans, there are those who, indepen¬ 
 dently in the case of the northern and southern conti¬ 
 nents, maintain the existence of one or more pre-Indian 
 American races, and the assertion has even been stoutly 
 maintained by some that it was upon American soil, 
 rather than in any part of the Old World, that primitive 
 humanity completed the chain of development that 
 ended in the formation of the genus Homo. In North 
 America skeleton remains have been found from time to 
 time, in various parts of the country, such as the “ Cala¬ 
 veras skull, ’ ’ the ‘ ‘ Lansing skull, ’ ’ the ‘ ‘ Nebraska man, ’ ’ 
 and so on, for which, because of the antiquity of the de¬ 
 posit in which they were found, or because of certain 
 primitive features in the bones themselves, or because of 
 both, a considerable age has been claimd, usually a Gla¬ 
 cial age and a Paleolithic culture; but the most careful 
 investigations of these remains by sober-minded and 
 conservative men have thus far resulted in the failure 
 to prove these claims. Definite proof of geological age 
 is in every case lacking, and the remains themselves 
 show no physical features unlike those of modern 
 Indians. 1 
 
 60. Supposed Remains of Glacial Man in North 
 
 1 Hrdlicka, “Skeletal Remains Suggesting or Attributed to 
 Early Man in North America.” Bureau Am. Ethnol., Bull. No. 
 53, Washington, 1907. For the other side cf. Gilder, in Ameri¬ 
 can Anthropologist, 1908, pp. GO-73; also in Records of the Past, 
 May-June, 1911. 
 
286 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 America .—In one part of the country only are any¬ 
 thing like adequate proofs submitted for the existence 
 of a pre-Indian race, or of men of a true Paleolithic 
 culture, and this is in the Delaware valley, in and 
 immediately about the city of Trenton. Here, in 1873, 
 Dr. A. C. Abbott, a resident, discovered in the Trenton 
 gravels, of undoubted Glacial age, an abundance of 
 what appeared to be large paleoliths of simple con¬ 
 struction, much like those first found by Boucher-de- 
 Perthes in the gravels of the Somme valley, northern 
 France. The most characteristic was that of the ‘ ‘ turtle 
 back,” an implement somewhat similar to the coup-de- 
 poing of the French gravels, yet other forms were not 
 wanting, and all were found in place, several feet 
 below the surface, in undoubted glacial gravel. 
 
 Although Abbott’s discoveries convinced several ex¬ 
 perienced observers during the next two decades, among 
 others N. S. Shaler of Harvard, and W. Boyd-Dawkins, 
 the noted English archeologist, yet still others, like 
 Joseph Leidy, were not convinced of the antiquity of 
 these artifacts, and in 1893 W. IT. Holmes of the U. S. 
 Bureau of Ethnology stated definitely that the Trenton 
 implements were merely “wasters” or “objects,” cast 
 away by modern Indians whose village sites occupied 
 the surface above the gravel. 1 In holding this opinion 
 it is plainly necessary to reject all proofs that these 
 objects had really been found in place in undisturbed 
 glacial gravel, and, as a matter of fact, the earlier 
 excavations seem to have been conducted with some 
 
 1 W. H. Holmes, “Are There Traces of Man in the Trenton 
 Gravels?” Journal of Geology . Vol. I, Jan.-Feb., 1893. Cf. also 
 H. C. Mercer in Amer. Nat., Nov., 1S93. 
 
PREHISTORY OF THE TWO AMERICAS 
 
 287 
 
 lack of precision, and furnish no positive proof con¬ 
 cerning the original position of the objects. The prob¬ 
 lem had become, as expressed by Mercer, in 1897, “nar¬ 
 rowed down to evidence produced at one site, and 
 to a question of observation of individuals.” 1 
 
 An excellent resume of this Trenton gravel problem 
 is the recently published report of Ernest Volk, in 
 which are embodied the results of his indefatigable 
 labors for twenty-two years in and about the city of 
 Trenton. 2 In this region he finds both bones and arti¬ 
 facts of three successive human races, which he desig¬ 
 nates in order, from above downward: (1) The Dweller 
 of the Black Soil. (2) The Dweller of the Yellow Soil. 
 (3) Glacial Man. 
 
 The “black soil” is the surface loam, and its “dwel¬ 
 ler” is the modern Indian, whose plentiful artifacts 
 occur everywhere upon and within this deposit, and 
 who, in his deeper excavations, such as graves, fire- 
 pits, and post-holes, carries the black soil with him, 
 producing intrusions, or disturbances from above, in 
 the subjacent layers. 
 
 In contrast with this race, and much older, is the 
 one whose artifacts occur at Trenton in a layer of 
 yellow sand immediately underlying the loam and so 
 closely related to the surrounding matrix that they must 
 have been contemporary with its deposition. The arti¬ 
 facts of this period are limited to crude implements of 
 
 1 H. C. Mercer, “Researches Upon the Antiquity of Man,” Publ. 
 Univ. Penna. Series in Philogy, Literature, and Archeology. 
 Vol. VI, 1897, p. 85. 
 
 2 Ernest Volk, “The Archeology of the Delaware Valley.” 
 Papers of the Peabody Museum, Cambridge, Vol. V, Aug., 1911 
 (the entire volume, 25S pp. and 125 plates). 
 
288 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 argillite, and to quarzite pebbles broken by fracturing 
 and by fire. Traces of skeletons of the yellow drift 
 man himself, lying beneath undisturbed layers of strati¬ 
 fied sand, show them to have been large and well-built, 
 but the bones have hitherto proved too fragile to allow 
 satisfactory disinternment. 1 
 
 Of the man of the true glacial gravels, beneath the 
 yellow drift, Volk obtained but a few doubtful frag¬ 
 ments ; the middle and upper portion of the shaft of a 
 femur, and three partial fragments which fit together. 
 If we accept Mr. Volk’s careful statements concerning 
 their position when found, they must be considered suf¬ 
 ficient, few as they are, to prove the existence of man 
 in this valley, contemporaneously with the more recent 
 deposits of the glaciers, but there are reasons for 
 doubt. The femur seemed to have been shaped arti¬ 
 ficially to form a handle for some implement, and its 
 human origin is not sure. All the fragments were 
 badly ground and worn, as if by the rough treatment 
 to which glacial material is usually subjected. In 
 form, however, the skeletal fragments are not in any 
 way unusual, and may easily have been those of the 
 modern type of Indian, save for the supposed geological 
 relationships of the pieces. 2 
 
 The latest claim for Quaternary man in North 
 America arises from the discovery of human bones in 
 Vero, on the east coast of Florida, under circumstances 
 which seem to date them well within glacial times. 
 
 1 For the most recent paper on the human remains from the 
 yellow soil. of. that by Leslie Spier in Antlirop. Papers of the 
 Amer. Mus. Nat. History, Vol. 22, New York, 1918. 
 
 2 Hrdlicka, Report, given as an appendix to the paper of 
 Volk, 1911, above cited. 
 
PREHISTORY OF THE TWO AMERICAS 289 
 
 This find w.as made in 1916, while digging a drainage 
 canal, and consists of four human skeletons, in close 
 association with the bones of Pleistocene animals, such 
 as the mastodon, the giant ground sloth (Megatherium), 
 the bison, and the wild horse. Upon investigation of 
 the spot by 0. P. Hay and A. Hrdlicka, the former 
 of the Carnegie Institute at Washington, the latter of 
 the Smithsonian Institution, opinions became divided, 
 Dr. Hay feeling that the human bones were contempo¬ 
 raneous with the associated animal bones; and Dr. 
 Hrdlicka believing them to be not ancient, but the result 
 of intrusive burial at some relatively modern date. 1 
 
 This latter fate, that of not being considered ancient, 
 has befallen the “Cuzco man,” a product of the Yale 
 expedition to Peru in 1911. This was at first consid¬ 
 ered to be of “glacial age,” by the discoverers, but its 
 claim to antiquity was later disproved by the discoverers 
 themselves. 
 
 61. Claims Concerning Pre-Indian Remains in South 
 America. —While, up to the present, the northern con¬ 
 tinent has furnished few signs of human activity before 
 the arrival of the red man, South America has yielded 
 a number of remains upon which claims have been based, 
 as attesting the presence not only of genuine pre-Indian 
 human beings, but of so many and such significant trans- 
 tion forms as to suggest seriously this continent, rather 
 than any part of the Old World, as the land of origin 
 of the human race. These discoveries, which have been 
 
 1 A. Hrdlicka. “Recent Discoveries Attributed to Early Man 
 in America.” Bull. Bureau Amer. Eth.. No. 66, 1918. Tlie other 
 side is ably supported by Hay, in Amer. Anthropol., Yol. 20, 
 pp. 1-36, 1918. 
 
290 
 
 MAN’S TREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 heralded in rapid succession within the last few years, 
 have naturally not only provoked discussion, but have 
 attracted to South American soil many eminent anthro¬ 
 pologists and paleontologists, who have variously esti¬ 
 mated the value of the discoveries. 1 
 
 This great activity had its focus and point of origin 
 in a single man, the late Dr. Florentino Ameghino of 
 the Museo Nacional, Buenos Aires, who, although ably 
 seconded by other savants, has been the central figure in 
 the movement. Early in the development of this work, 
 perhaps too early for more than a fancy sketch, Ame¬ 
 ghino postulated the probable steps in the upward devel¬ 
 opment of man, and embodied this in a phylogenetic 
 tree, unique in character and decidedly unlike those of 
 other anthropologists. In this scheme a succession of 
 small creatures in the Cretaceous period, Clenialites, 
 Pitheculites, etc., leads up to the “primitive Homin- 
 icke, ” which, by a process of “bestilization” develop into 
 the anthropomorphic apes of the present day. 
 
 Continuing, on the other hand, along a still general- 
 
 1 These remains have been for the most part found and 
 described by the late Dr. Florentino Ameghino (d. 1912), 
 whose delineations and theories excited all Europe. Several 
 noted European savants made the journey to Argentina to 
 see the material and the sites, among whom were the geologist 
 Steinmann, who returned unconvinced, and the anthropologist 
 Eehmann-Nitsche, who gave some credence to the finds. The 
 latest, and probably the most important, visit, was that of 
 Ilrdlicka of the Smithsonian Institution in 1911, who studied 
 both the specimens and the sites in company with Ameghino 
 himself, and with the most favorable opportunities for investi¬ 
 gation. As related in detail in his final report (Bureau of 
 Ethnol., Bull No. 52. 1912), he found nothing to support Ame- 
 ghino's claims. The bones in all cases proved to be either 
 those of Indians of the present race, or of well-known extinct 
 animals. 
 
PREHISTORY OF THE TWO AMERICAS 291 
 
 ized path, came the successive genera of Tetraprothomo, 
 Triprothomo, Diprothomo, Prothomo, and finally Homo, 
 while the successive lines of differentiation from these 
 gave rise to such forms as Pithecanthropus, and Pseud- 
 homo heidelbergensis. At the time this tree was con¬ 
 structed many of the stages, some of which were of 
 fundamental importance, were not known from actual 
 specimens, but certain of these deficiencies were later 
 supplied, in part from new discoveries of Primate mate¬ 
 rial, and in part from remains already stored in the 
 museums of South America, and perhaps wrongly esti¬ 
 mated hitherto. Thus an atlas, discovered by Ameghino 
 in 1887, and named by Lehmann-Nitsche Homo neogceus, 
 was brought into line with a curiously shaped femur 
 from the same deposit, the Tertiary of Monte Hermosa, 
 and named Tetrapjrothomo argentinus, thus filling an 
 important blank in the phylogenetic tree. The chance 
 discovery in 1896, during the construction of a drydock 
 in the harbor of Buenos Aires, of the frontal bone of 
 an apparently very low type, filled for Ameghino 
 another gap, and the piece was named Diprothomo 
 platensis. 1 
 
 Claims so astonishing and revolutionary in character 
 as these naturally aroused not only the attention but also 
 the criticism of the entire scientific world, who, when 
 furnished with the necessary casts and photographs, 
 subjected the entire evidence to a rigid examination. 
 
 1 Ameghino, “Le Diprothromo platensis, nn precurseur de 
 l’homme du pliocene inferieur de Buenos Aires.” An. del 
 Museo Nacional de Buenos Aires, 1909. For a critical study 
 of the South American finds of Ameghino, which includes the 
 account of a personal investigation of the sites, cf. Bureau 
 Amer. Ethnol., Bull. No. 52, by Hrdlicka and others. 
 
Fig. 71.—Ameghino’s “Diprothomo platensis,” as restored by him from the 
 debatable fragment. (From Schwalbe, after Ameghino.) 
 
 Fig. 72.—Ameghir.o's “Dipr thomo”; the fragment in two positions. In or.e 
 of these, that indicated by the dotted lines, the fragment is s anted back¬ 
 wards, as was done by Ameghino, and appears as in Fig. 71, representing an 
 extremely low type. In the position ind’eated by the full lines the same 
 fragment is placed correctly, and becomes quite human, with nothing un¬ 
 usual about it. (After Schwalbe.) 
 
PREHISTORY OF THE TWO AMERICAS 
 
 203 
 
 Schwalbe 1 examined the frontal bone from the drydock, 
 the “ Diprothomo platensis” of Ameghino, and proved 
 beyond question that the bone was in every feature that 
 of the modern species of man, in all probabiliity that of 
 a native Indian, and that the appearance of an extremely 
 low, retreating forehead had been given simply by a 
 wrong orientation of the piece in its relation to the 
 entire head. The ease with which such a mistake may 
 be made will be seen by any student if he will take 
 in his hand a detached frontal portion of a human 
 skull and try to place it in what seems a natural posi¬ 
 tion. 
 
 The Tetraprothomo, as it consists of two separate 
 bones, an atlas and a femur, still allows several opinions, 
 and as the discovery of the latter is so recent, a compar¬ 
 atively small amount has been written upon it as yet. 
 Lahmann Nitsche 2 considers the atlas not quite human, 
 but belonging to some precursor whom he names Homo 
 neogceus (the man of the New World), but most others 
 (e. g. Schwalbe and Hrdlicka), find in it no essential 
 difference from the corresponding bone in modern South 
 American Indians. Concerning the femur, the criticism 
 is still more severe, since, as Hrdlicka has recently 
 shown, it seems more than likely to be that of a Tertiary 
 member of the Felidce, that is, a fossil cat of unknown 
 species. 
 
 1 G. Schwalbe, “Studien zur Morphologie der Siidamerikan- 
 isehen Primatinforen.” Zeits. Morph, u. Anthrop., Bd. 13, 1910 
 pp. 209-288. 
 
 2 Leliman-Nitsche (in collaboration* with others) : “Xoovelles 
 researches snr la formation pampeenne et riiomme fossile de 
 la Repnblique Argentine.” Revista del Mnseo de La Plata, 
 Buenos Aires, 1907. 
 
294 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 Thus, in the light of recent criticism, European and 
 North American, the extravagant claims of South Amer¬ 
 ica as the cradle of the human race are becoming rap¬ 
 idly disproved, and with these there fall also the numer¬ 
 ous supposed cases of human remains of Quaternary 
 date, such as those of the cave deposits of Lagoa Santa 
 (Minas Geraes, Brazil), those of the Pampean deposits 
 of Buenos Aires, and those of Patagonia. Hrdlicka, in 
 the work just cited (Bulletin 52, 1912), assisted by 
 several other specialists, has reviewed in order each of 
 the more prominent and likely cases, not only studying 
 the original specimens, but visiting also the site of the 
 excavation, and wherever, indeed, the bones are human, 
 they are in no way unlike those of the modern Indian of 
 the region. In all cases, also, the geological conditions 
 are indefinite, and show at least the possibility of a late 
 intrusion of the remains with the deposit in which they 
 were found. 
 
 The southern continent, when carefully studied, but 
 corroborates the teaching of the northern, that the native 
 Indian, himself a late comer, geologically speaking, 
 found the entire continent devoid of all human inhab¬ 
 itants, and that, furthermore, with the single possible 
 exception of the Delaware valley, where the testimony 
 is still slight, nothing human had previously either arisen 
 or appeared there. A “New World,” as the Americas 
 seemed to the European voyagers of four centuries ago, 
 this twin continent is in a larger sense a new world to 
 the entire human race: a world where the human species 
 was, perhaps, first seen at the time, geologically mod¬ 
 ern, when the immediate precursors of the Indians first 
 found their way over from the Eastern Hemisphere. 
 
PREHISTORY OF THE TWO AMERICAS 
 
 295 
 
 By what route or routes this was accomplished, whether 
 by Behring Strait from northeastern Asia, whether 
 from Polynesia or the coast of Africa in drifting 
 canoes, or whether by some former land bridge now 
 lost beneath the waters, we cannot say, nor have the 
 Indians themselves any traditions that bear upon the 
 problem. 
 
 All that can be asserted, and that without too much 
 positiveness, is that, still with the possible exception of 
 the recent finds in the Delaware valley, there is nothing 
 to indicate a long occupancy of American soil by the 
 Indian. His culture in various regions represents about 
 every phase of the Neolithic, as shown in Europe, and 
 in a few places the entrance into an age corresponding 
 to that of the Bronze, but even if all this development 
 was run through after reaching America, which is by no 
 means certain, the time required, as measured by the 
 data furnished by research in Europe, would be but a 
 few thousand years—eight, or ten at most. 
 
 The whole subject is, however, still open. The con¬ 
 tinued study of the Trenton gravel, and of the yellow 
 drift lying between it and the superficial black soil, may 
 yield something certain. The North American claimants 
 to age, like the skulls of Calaveras and Long’s Hill, may 
 yet be reinstated in spite of the fact that definite proofs 
 of age are wanting; and it must be kept in mind that 
 even a complete disavowal of claims of extreme age in 
 the case of all South American material hitherto 
 unearthed does not prove that no such specimens may 
 ever be found within that continent. The more conser¬ 
 vative view, however, still is that the Indian was a com¬ 
 paratively late arrival, that he found the continent at 
 
296 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 the time of his advent entirely unoccupied by human 
 beings, and that we have as yet no absolutely definite 
 records of any previous race who may have occupied a 
 portion of it at an earlier time. 1 
 
 62. American Stone Implements .—The best known 
 stone implements are the “arrow-heads” or points, which 
 are rather commonly scattered over the country, always 
 upon or near the surface, and are familiar objects to 
 farmers and others engaged in work that disturbs 
 the surface soil. They are also frequent in Indian 
 shell-mounds, about aboriginal village sites, and in 
 
 1 Never, even at the time of the early explorers, were the 
 American Indians spread over the entire country. They lived 
 for the most part in scattered villages, each with its “chief" 
 and leading men, and of these chiefs now one and now another 
 —apparently by the force of his personal character—gained a 
 supremacy, more or less complete, over the surrounding ter¬ 
 ritory. New England, at the time it was decimated by the 
 plague of 1616-18, was thickly settled from the Indians’ point 
 of view, yet as counted by such men as Daniel Gookin and 
 Roger Williams, who traveled among the tribes and knew them 
 intimately, the largest villages numbered but a few hundreds 
 each. An Indian population, except in the case of the Pueblo 
 tribes, who inhabit permanent structures, shows a tendency 
 towards a slow shifting or migration, so that in the course of 
 a few centuries the position of important tribes could change 
 considerably. There are, for example, good indications that 
 the Pequots and Mohegans of Connecticut, whom the Colonists 
 found in possession of territories with fairly definite boun¬ 
 daries, had migrated to this part of the country some three to 
 four hundred years before from further northwest, and prob¬ 
 ably the Niantics, whom they dispossessed, had settled there 
 but a few centuries before them, at the longest. Throughout 
 southern New England the sites of Indian villages and ceme¬ 
 teries, laid bare by the spade, were known as such by the 
 settlers of the seventeenth century, and no really prehistoric- 
 sites, unmentioned in the traditions of the white people, have 
 been found. This speaks strongly for the recency of occupation 
 by members of the human race in the region specified, and 
 suggests the gradual spread of the Indians over a virgin 
 country within a measurable time. 
 
Fig. 73.—American aborigines at work in a native quarry workshop. From a 
 group in plaster, prepared by Dr. W. H. Holmes for the World’s Columbian 
 Exposition in Chicago in 1893. (After Holmes.) 
 
29S MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 graves—indeed, in the latter place, often found im¬ 
 bedded in vertebra or the skull, plainly the cause of 
 death. 
 
 But aside from chance finds, such objects are more 
 closely associated with the Indians themselves, or with 
 traditions, for not only were the natives equipped with 
 stone-tipped arrows at the time of the discovery, but the 
 use of these and other forms of stone implements has 
 continued in places to the present time. Thus it has 
 been possible as late as the latter part of the nineteenth 
 century to observe directly and describe the aboriginal 
 methods of manufacture of flints and other stone imple¬ 
 ments, and more than one archeologist lias learned to 
 manufacture excellent artifacts, which, in their details 
 such as chipping and retouching, closely resemble those 
 of aboriginal make. 1 This work is laborious and diffi¬ 
 cult to learn, and Catlin remarks that “ great skill was 
 required, and a thorough knowledge of the nature of 
 each stone, a slight difference in quality necessitating 
 a totally different manner of treatment. ” 
 
 Aside from the points there are numerous other types 
 of stone implements made and used by the American 
 aborigines, both within historic times and earlier. These 
 are mainly Neolithic in grade of workmanship, although, 
 as always among Neolithic culture, cruder, roughly fin- 
 
 1 The most important work dealing with aboriginal methods 
 of manufacturing stone implements is W. H. Holmes’s “Hand¬ 
 book of Aboriginal American Antiquities,” published as Bull. 
 No. 60 of the Bureau of Ethnology, 1916. In an extensive 
 paper on “Stone Implements of the Potomac-Chesapeake Tide¬ 
 water Province” (Bureau of Eth., Yol. 15, 1S93-94), W. H. 
 Holmes describes the technique requisite in the case of many 
 kinds of material, and in PI. Cl 11 are given some implements 
 of his own manufacture, produced by wholly aboriginal methods. 
 
PREHISTORY OF THE TWO AMERICAS 
 
 299 
 
 ished forms, were also in common use for the coarser 
 work . 1 
 
 The stone artifacts most commonly met with are the 
 so-called “arrow-heads,” which really consist in large 
 part of points used for tipping arrows, but among 
 which, and commonly confused with them, are many 
 other kinds of implements, such as knives, scrapers, 
 borers, and so on. Axes, both grooved and ungrooved, 
 are frequent, as are also chisels and gouges, spades, ban¬ 
 ner-stones, and the like . 2 The most of these were origi¬ 
 nally associated with handles, or other essential parts of 
 wood or leather, so that in their present denuded condi¬ 
 tion, they give but a slight suggestion of the really 
 effective implements they once were . 3 Stone mortars 
 and other stone dishes are rare, but are likely to be met 
 with in any part of North America, often in association 
 with the pestles used in grinding corn. Such pestles 
 were often heavy and were used in association with h 
 
 1 Two recent works, with beautiful illustrations, many of 
 them in the natural colors, are those of W. K. Moorehead, 
 “The Stone Age in North America,” 1910, and “Stone Orna¬ 
 ments of the American Indians,” 1917. Other works by the 
 same author are also of value. Of. also papers by Beauchamp 
 in the New York State Bulletins, Yol. 4, Nos. 16 and 18. 
 Shorter papers, with beautiful illustrations, have been, pub¬ 
 lished by Perkins in the American Anthropologist from time to 
 time, e.g. in Yol. 11, 1909; Vol. 14, 1912. 
 
 2 For a study of the stone axes and adzes of New England, 
 cf. Willoughby, C. C., in American Anthropologist, Vol. 9, 1907, 
 pp. 296-306. 
 
 3 In a few rare cases, in which the soil was especially favor¬ 
 able to preservation, the wooden parts have been found in 
 connection with the stone; in other cases the original condi¬ 
 tion of the entire tool has been learned from the study of 
 analogous tools still in use among primitive peoples, or by the 
 use among modern Indians of similar implements in which the 
 stone part has been replaced by pieces of iron or steel, obtained 
 from the whites. 
 
300 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 springy sapling, from which they swung by a leathern 
 thong directly over the mortar, the greater part of the 
 weight being taken up by the wood. 
 
 The most artistic aboriginal work in* stone was lav¬ 
 ished on tobacco pipes, which, like all hand work, were 
 never twice alike, and offer among them a great range 
 of effort from a simple bowl with a stem continuing in 
 the same direction, to an elaborate effigy, attached to a 
 stem placed at right angles to the main axis of the fig¬ 
 ure. A pipe in the collection of Smith College repre¬ 
 sents a squatting human figure, holding in his arms a 
 relatively large bowl, but with all the lines so softly 
 executed that both the bowl and the lines of the figure 
 are felt rather than too definitely expressed—the work 
 of some prehistoric and forgotten Rodin. It may here 
 be noted, that, as in this case, whenever a human head 
 or face is included in the pipe design, it is so placed as 
 to look inwards, towards the smoker, rather than out¬ 
 wards, towards the smoker’s associates. 
 
 Then follow several classes of stone objects designated 
 as “problematic.” Many of these, like the flat banner- 
 stones, and the various shapes of “pendants” were prob¬ 
 ably for the decoration of the person, designating the 
 wearer as one distinguished in some way from his fel¬ 
 lows. Many of these are of slate or of soapstone, ma¬ 
 terial easy to work and not able to stand a hard strain. 
 Some pieces are crude attempts at sculpture, such as 
 the “bird-stones” which plainly represent these crea¬ 
 tures, or small human effigies, possibly fetishes or idols. 
 Similar carvings are found, executed in bone or wood—■ 
 naturally easier materials to work than stone, but less 
 enduring from the standpoint of the archeologist. Still 
 
PREHISTORY OF THE TWO AMERICAS 
 
 301 
 
 other problematic objects occur, often well shaped and 
 executed with considerable care, that are usually desig¬ 
 nated as “plummets’’ or “sinkers,” and which may 
 easy have been loom-weights for holding and keeping 
 taut the warp threads in a loom. Some of these, too, 
 may have hung as pendants from necklaces, and have 
 thus a decorative significance. 
 
 63. American Articles of Bone, Shell, and Similar 
 Materials. —These, like stone implements and pottery, 
 occur abundantly in shell heaps, and mounds of various 
 sorts, and in association with graves. The bone articles 
 form the usual variety found in Neolithic culture-sites 
 everywhere, and consist largely of awls, bodkins, scrap¬ 
 ers, and similar tools. By notching a pointed shaft one 
 or more times, an effective fish-spear is produced. 
 
 Shells were everywhere in extensive use employed 
 either as they are, or more or less elaborated. 1 The 
 unworked shells of many bivalves, such as clams, unios, 
 and mussels, were employed singly as dishes, spoons, and 
 ladles, or scrapers, and a pair of small ones used together 
 formed a practical pair of tweezers for eradicating a 
 straggling beard. 
 
 Attached to a suitable handle a single shell of a large 
 
 1 For an important early paper on shell ornaments, cf. 
 W. H. Holmes, “Art in Shell of the Ancient Americans.” This 
 is found in the 2nd Ann. Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, 
 1880-81. Beauchamp, in the Bulletins of the New York State 
 Museum at Albany, has written numerous memoirs upon the 
 objects made by the aborigines, and there are to be recom¬ 
 mended in connection with this especial subject his “Wampum 
 and Shell Articles Used by New York Indians,” in March. 1001. 
 and “Horn and Bone Implements of the New York Indians,” 
 March, 1902. For his papers on stone implements and on 
 pottery, cf. the references in footnotes elsewhere in this 
 chapter. 
 
*02 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 bivalve formed a fairly useful hoe or shovel, and a pon¬ 
 derous univalve, like Strombus, fitted upon the end of 
 a stick, often served as a war club, or casse-tete. Handled 
 in the proper manner, a shell could be cut or carved, 
 and in this way was constructed a great variety of orna¬ 
 ments, such as pins, pendants, or perforated disks, and 
 the great variety of perforated objects to be strung in 
 series, i.e. beads. It was even possible, although not com¬ 
 mon, to make a simple shell axe, or celt, from a very 
 heavy shell, like a Strombus, somewhat after the model 
 of the much more abundant stone celts. 
 
 Considerable decorative or pictorial art was frequently 
 displayed in engraving upon smooth shell disks, and 
 these results sometimes’ bore a striking resemblance to 
 the art of the Aztecs, as appears upon their stone carv¬ 
 ings or in their famous parchment books, or codices. 
 This is especially true of a number of such disks from 
 the mounds of Missouri and Tennessee, which suggest 
 either the development of a local school of art, or an 
 actual commerce with the civilizations further south of 
 them. 1 
 
 Over the northeastern part of the United States and 
 Canada, however, the main direction taken by shell art 
 was in the production of small beads of two or more 
 colors, and the weaving of them into belts of various 
 patterns, which possessed a definite meaning, true picto- 
 graphs. Such beads are commonly termed wampum, 
 from the Algonquin word wampi (white) by which they 
 designated the white beads only, wampumpeag, in dis- 
 
 1 Cf. illustrations to article by MacCurdy, “Shell Gorgets 
 from Missouri,” in American Anthropologist, Vol. 15, 1913, esp. 
 figs, on pp. 405, 400, and 407. 
 
PREHISTORY OF THE TWO AMERICAS 
 
 303 
 
 tinction from the mowesu, or suckarihock, the black ones. 
 In the east they were slowly and laboriously constructed, 
 one at a time, from the shell of a variety of mollusks, 
 especially Sycotypus, and the hard clam, or quahog, 
 Venus mercenaria, the white and purple portion of which 
 
 Fig. 74.—Shell gorget with figure strongly suggestive of Mexican art. 
 Found at St. Mar’y’s, Perry County, Mo., and now in the collection 
 at Yale University. (After McCurdy.) 
 
 furnished the two colors commonly used. These beads 
 were used as money, the purple being of the greater 
 value, and possessed an intrinsic worth because of the 
 large amount of labor expended upon them. This labor 
 was, of course, infinitely greater than that employed by 
 
304 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 the English in the manufacture of glass beads, and this 
 disparity gave an opportunity for deceit on the part of 
 the whites, which the latter seem to have used to their 
 benefit, especially in the purchase of land. 1 
 
 More elaborate wampum belts, wrought into compli¬ 
 cated figures, had a more or less definite meaning, which 
 could be read by those familiar with the significance of 
 pictographs, and were thus used to impart information, 
 especially in their councils, where they served as impor¬ 
 tant documents, such as intertribal treaties. (Fig. 75.) 
 
 Fig. 75.—A wampum belt belonging to the Onondagas. (After Holmes.) 
 
 64. American Metal Work .—Objects of metal, of cop¬ 
 per, of bronze, silver, or gold, in the form of medals, 
 brooches, or religious or fraternal emblems, are fre- 
 quently found in late Indian graves, and indicate con¬ 
 tact with European culture through traders and mission¬ 
 aries. It is absolutely proved, however, that there occur 
 also objects of copper, as also of the more precious 
 
 1 A recent memoir upon tlie use of wampum is that of Frank 
 G. Speck. “The Functions of Wampum Among the Eastern 
 Algonkian,” in Mem. Amer. Antliropol. Assn., Vol. G, No. 1, 1819. 
 
PREHISTORY OF THE TWO AMERICAS 303 
 
 metals, gold and silver, which were of aboriginal origin, 
 without suggestion of European provenance, and often 
 probably antedating in age the advent of the first 
 European discoverers. Such native objects are made, 
 of course, of those metals which are found in the New 
 World in a free state, like the copper of Lake Superior, 
 and, when found at a distance from their source, they 
 indicate an extensive intertribal commerce. 
 
 These aboriginal metal objects are made, not by mold¬ 
 ing or casting, but by being hammered out in a way sim¬ 
 ilar to the usual treatment of stone implements. The 
 difference in physical properties between a piece of flint 
 and a piece of pure native copper is such, that the result 
 of such treatment, while it chips the first, flattens the 
 latter into a thin plate, or draws it out into a wire. 
 The aborigines seem to have been slow to perceive these 
 differences, and the prevailing endeavor seems to have 
 been to reproduce the shapes of the old stone imple¬ 
 ments in these new T kinds of stone, the native metals. 
 Naturally, owing to their rarity, nuggets of gold were 
 used only as ornaments for the person, while copper was 
 used, not only for this latter purpose, but frequently 
 also for such tools and weapons as axes and spear points. 
 Such a type of industry is termed cyprolithic, or cop- 
 perstone, and where this industry is distinct, it may 
 be used as a basis for establishing a Cyprolithic Age, 
 interpolated between the Neolithic Age and that 
 of Bronze—continued experiments with the native 
 metals gradually leading, through the discoveries of 
 casting, and later, smelting, to the use of various 
 alloys. 
 
 In Europe this was actually the course taken, but in 
 
306 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 America, at the time of the discovery by Europeans, the 
 aboriginal Americans were at best no further along than 
 well developed Neolithic peoples, just entered upon a 
 Cyprolithic culture in some places. 
 
 There is no doubt but that the early European traders, 
 intently observant of the objects which the Indians 
 valued, manufactured in Europe and brought over for 
 trade purposes large numbers of copper beads and other 
 trinkets; but these may always be distinguished from 
 the native objects by a simple chemical analysis, since 
 in all European copper, which is obtained from the 
 ores, there are always traces of the lead, iron, cobalt, 
 nickel, and other metals, which occur there, while in 
 such copper as the Indians could get before the coming 
 of the Europeans, the metal was pure, without such 
 traces. Naturally, such aboriginal copper artifacts are 
 most plentiful in the vicinity of the natural supply, and 
 it thus happens that the state of Wisconsin surpasses all 
 other North American regions in the abundance of such 
 objects, more than twenty thousand of which now occur 
 in the museums of that state. 
 
 As used for ornament, copper is most frequently met 
 with in the form of sheets, disks, or tubes, the shapes 
 which could be the most readily beaten out from native 
 pieces found free, and it is in such forms that the early 
 travelers and discoverers described and figured it. 
 Among the late graves, and even among recent In¬ 
 dians, are occasionally found breastplates composed of 
 small copper tubes, woven together in a definite pattern 
 by thongs, and while in recent years it would be quite 
 possible to obtain such tubes from Europeans, they 
 would be most readily manufactured from small native 
 
PREHISTORY OF THE TWO AMERICAS 
 
 307 
 
 pieces by first beating them into plates, and then roll¬ 
 ing them up. The famous “Skeleton in Armor,” found 
 at Fall River, Mass., in 1841, immortalized by Longfel¬ 
 low as “a Viking bold,” and burned up a few years 
 later by the destruction of the Fall River town hall by 
 fire, was undoubtedly equipped with a breastplate of 
 this sort. 
 
 Fig. 76.—Plate published in 1591 by De Bry, representing American aborigines 
 well decorated with copper ornaments, including earrings, necklaces, brace¬ 
 lets, leglets, and pendants hanging from the waist. As this plate was 
 drawn so long ago, it is very unlikely that any of the copper objects shown 
 here were of European prevenance. (From Moore, after De Bry.) 
 
 In manufacturing metallic objects, the aborigines evi¬ 
 dently knew the effect of annealing, that is, of soften¬ 
 ing the copper by heat, but there seems to have been 
 little if any suggestion of actually melting the metal, 
 and running it into a mold when molten. This would 
 undoubtedly have been the next step in development, 
 
30S 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 judging from the history of culture in Europe, but this 
 step seems never to have been taken until the advent of 
 men from across the ocean with their vastly higher civ¬ 
 ilization. At the very beginning of this phase of history 
 iron knives and axes, brass kettles, swords and muskets, 
 were introduced, and the native cyprolithic culture was 
 lost at once. 
 
 Concerning the aboriginal use of gold, it will be 
 remembered that in some parts it was found in consid¬ 
 erable abundance at the time of the discovery, and it 
 was the presence of aborigines decorated with beads, 
 pendants, rings, bracelets, and other gold ornaments, 
 which awakened the cupidity of the Spaniards. In his 
 work on the antiquities of Chiriqua (cited below, sub 
 American Pottery) MacCurdy describes many grotesque 
 images of gold, or of a sort of aboriginal gold plate, and 
 discusses the possible methods of manufacture. It seems 
 very certain that, at least in the case of gold, the Ameri¬ 
 can aborigines were in possession of the art of melting 
 the metal, and casting it in molds, as this was described 
 by both Spanish and English writers of the sixteenth 
 century. The Americans, then, at the time-of discovery, 
 were locally, wherever they could obtain the free metals, 
 not merely in the Cyprolithic but well started in the 
 first experiments leading to the culture of the Bronze 
 Age. This great advance, however, was found only in 
 a few places, although the products of this culture were 
 distributed by means of an extensive commerce to peo¬ 
 ples who had not yet gained the ability to manufacture 
 such things themselves. 
 
 65. American Basketry and Weaving .—In no way 
 has a more grateful light been thrown upon the study 
 
rREHISTORY OF THE TWO AMERICAS 
 
 309 
 
 of prehistory by the aborigines of America than in 
 the fields of basketry and weaving, for in these two sis¬ 
 ter industries the material products are so perishable, 
 that only in the rarest eases are actual specimens of 
 them preserved. These people, when first brought to 
 the notice of Europeans, only four hundred years ago, 
 were living in the midst of a tj’pical Neolithic culture, 
 exactly that period which has witnessed in Europe the 
 origin, growth, and almost complete development of 
 these industries. 
 
 We have, in the first place, a goodly number of early 
 accounts of the industries of various Indian tribes, and, 
 in the second place, there is the chance to observe these 
 industries conducted in nearly the aboriginal manner, 
 for, even, in spite of the introduction of modern ma¬ 
 chinery, with modern mills and factories, there are still 
 plenty of Neolithic fingers that are content to accom¬ 
 plish the work in the old way. 
 
 In Chapter III the origin of both pottery and bas¬ 
 ketry has been traced to the devices gained in primitive 
 house-building, when first the need of constructing a 
 firmer wall of twigs and branches caused man to im¬ 
 prove upon the simple heaping up of these materials, 
 and led to a systematic intertwining of twigs and to 
 daubing them over with clay. The gradual acquire¬ 
 ment of various types of “stitch” in weaving the twigs 
 led to the basket; the building up of a clay cover over 
 the framework became the pot. Cloth differs from a 
 basket or a woven mat only in the kind of material used, 
 and the employment of various vegetable fibers and of 
 hair and wool of animals, developed the art of weaving. 
 “No wide gulf separates the different varieties of tex- 
 
310 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 tiles . . . beginning' with such coarse products as brush 
 fences and fish weirs and ending with the finest lace and 
 needlework. ’ ’ 1 
 
 Mason ascribes the origin of basketry and weaving, in¬ 
 cluding the discovery of the various materials used, and 
 the technique of dyeing, to women. He states: “With 
 a few exceptions the makers of baskets are women. In 
 the division of labor belonging to the lowest stage of 
 culture the industrial arts were fostered by women, the 
 military and the aggressive arts by men.” Again he 
 says: ‘ 1 The first and most versatile shuttles were 
 
 women’s fingers. Machinery has added speed. But 
 there are many niceties of technique to which the 
 machine device cannot yet aspire.” 
 
 There are two fundamentally different types of basket, 
 the woven and the coiled or sewed. In all forms of 
 weaving, whether basket, mat, or cloth, there are two 
 sets of elements running at right angles and intertwined 
 with each other. Of these one, often the stiffer, and 
 always the one taken as the more fundamental, is the 
 warp; the other is the weft or web. The warp is first set 
 up, approximately in the position it is finally to assume 
 
 1 Otis Tufton Mason, our best authority on Indian basketry 
 and kindred subjects. His most important work, appearing in 
 the Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution for 1902, 
 bears the title “Aboriginal American Basketry: Studies in a 
 Textile Art Without Machinery,” and consists of some 375 
 pages, interspersed with more than 200 text-figures and fol¬ 
 lowed by 24S plates. Both this and the other quotations used 
 in this section are taken from this work. Other important 
 works by the same author, referred to elsewhere in this book, 
 and fundamental to students of the development of human 
 culture, are “Woman’s Share in Primitive Culture” and “The 
 Origin of Invention.” Chapter III in the first of these two 
 books deals fundamentally with all forms of weaving, includ¬ 
 ing basketry. 
 
PREHISTORY OF THE TWO AMERICAS 
 
 311 
 
 and the weft is woven across the warp, one thread at a 
 time. 
 
 There are three sub-varieties of woven fabrics em¬ 
 ployed for baskets, (a) the plain weave, (b) the wic¬ 
 kerwork, and (c) the twined weave. In the first of these 
 the warp and weft are alike, and are simply placed alter¬ 
 nately over and under each other, giving an effect like 
 a checkerboard. By allowing the weft to run over two, 
 three or four of the warp threads a diagonal or diaper 
 effect is produced, and by introducing a dye to differen¬ 
 tiate the two sets, or by making the two sets of splints 
 of different widths, or by using different materials, still 
 other kinds of patterns will be produced. Wickerwork 
 requires a rigid warp, such as would be made by pliant 
 osiers, and a more supple weft, such as could be intro¬ 
 duced by rushes or thin splints. This is the style of the 
 majority of cheap baskets in use among the more civ¬ 
 ilized peoples; it is also the form which makes the best 
 fish-weirs. The third type, the twined weave, has the 
 greatest number of truly artistic possibilities, and that 
 and the other main type, the coiled ware, have ever been 
 the favorites among aboriginal experts. There is a single 
 row of strands forming the warp, but there are two 
 wefts which are carried across the warp together and 
 after passing a strand of the latter make a half turn 
 or twist, so that their position relative to the outer and 
 inner surfaces is reversed. By the use of two colors 
 for the two wefts, and the retention of one of the wefts 
 upon either side desired for two or more warp threads, 
 a pattern, of greater or less complexity in accordance 
 with the skill of the artisan, may be produced. 
 
 Coiled ware is not woven in any sense of the word, 
 
312 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC TAST 
 
 but is laid in the form of a coil, and the last portion of 
 the coil is continually sewed to the previous coil. By 
 employing these principles, and only these, the aborig¬ 
 inal American woman has devised an endless variety 
 of styles of baskets, and in these her inherent love for 
 beauty has found expression. 
 
 “As you gaze upon the Indian basket maker at work, 
 herself frequently unkempt, her garments the coarsest, 
 her house and surroundings suggestive of anything but 
 beautjq you are amazed. You look about you, as in a 
 cabinet shop or atelier, for models, drawings, patterns, 
 pretty bits of color effect. There are none. Her pat¬ 
 terns are in her soul, in her memory and imagination, 
 in the mountains, water courses, lakes, and forests, and 
 in those tribal tales and myths which dominate the 
 actions of every hour. She hears suggestions from an¬ 
 other world. Her tools are more disappointing still, 
 for of these there are few—a rude knife, a pointed bone, 
 that is all. Her modeling block is herself. Her plastic 
 body is the repository of forms. Over her knee she 
 molds depressions in her ware, and her lap is equal to 
 all emergencies for convex effects. She herself is the 
 Vishnu of her art, the creator of forms!” 
 
 The weaving of cloth differs from that of baskets 
 merely in the texture of the materials used. In cloth, 
 too, there is usually a more complicated technique em¬ 
 ployed in the preparation of the material to be woven— 
 that is, the art of spinning , which is preliminary to 
 weaving, and the counterpart of which in basketry is 
 simply the gathering and the preparation of the splints 
 or rushes. Spinning, which is essentially a twisting to¬ 
 gether of fibers to make the yarn or thread, requires, as 
 its first essential, some form of spindle or rotating stick. 
 In the type universal in Europe this spindle is a sort of 
 
PREHISTORY OF THE TWO AMERICAS 
 
 313 
 
 top, and consists of the spindle itself, a straight stick, 
 and the spindle whorl, a disk or wheel to supply the 
 weight. The more usual American type, instead of a 
 spindle whorl, is fitted with a long, narrow block, which 
 rotates around the spindle, exactly like a watchman’s 
 rattle, and the thread is attached to this instead of to 
 the spindle. A technique still more primitive than either 
 form uses no spindle at all, but twists the yarn between 
 the two palms, or between the palm of one hand and the 
 upper surface of the thigh, the spinner sitting on the 
 ground with legs extended. 
 
 When the yarn is once prepared the process of cloth 
 making begins at the same place as does the making of a 
 basket after the material is gathered; only the yarn is 
 so much finer and more pliant than are the basket splints 
 that more complicated devices may easily be employed 
 in the weaving. All the warp threads for an extensive 
 piece of cloth may be set up at one time, and the weft 
 may be run across them at one stroke. Furthermore, 
 by placing a stick called a huddle , or heald , across the 
 warp, and attaching to it certain of the warp threads 
 —every alternate one in simple weaving—and then 
 drawing the heald toward the weaver, the warp becomes 
 separated into two layers, which are so distinct that the 
 weft may be put across the entire line at one motion, 
 thus effecting in a moment the same result that in a 
 basket demands the twining of the weft across the warp, 
 a strand at a time. The weft thread, instead of being 
 held at the end in the fingers, is now more conveniently 
 wound about a little short stick, the shuttle , and this is 
 passed between the two systems of warp threads, sep¬ 
 arated by the heald. 
 
314 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 This process in its most simple and elementary form, 
 is frequently met with in America, both North and South, 
 and by this the entire evolution of the industry may be 
 traced. Thus the women of British Guiana weave their 
 queyus, or embroidered aprons, upon a frame consisting 
 
 Fig. 77.—Ordinary Navajo blanket loom. The heald, to which the warp 
 threads of the lower shed are attached, and the batten or sword-shaped stick 
 for pushing down the weft, are well seen. (After ’Matthews.) 
 
PREHISTORY OF THE TWO AMERICAS 315 
 
 of two sticks, the one straight, the other curved, and 
 shaped like a capital letter D. Across this loom the 
 warp threads are stretched, spreading a little at the 
 ends which are attached along the curved stick, and 
 placed a little nearer together along the straight one. 
 Better and more complicated looms are met with among 
 other aboriginal peoples, until we find among such skilled 
 weavers as the Navaj os the ability to manufacture the 
 most beautiful and artistic rugs and blankets. 1 Cloth 
 of many patterns, often showing the greatest skill in 
 stitch and in the introduction of patterns, are found 
 in greatest abundance in the graves of the pre-eolum- 
 bian cemeteries of Peru, where the dry air of the high 
 altitudes, and the dry, sandy soil, have combined to pre¬ 
 serve, often with a startlingly modern appearance, the 
 clothing of the individual interred, who died before the 
 New World had been discovered by Europeans. 
 
 Aside from weaving, the variations and elaborations 
 of the textile industries embraced in the words sewing, 
 netting, knitting, lace-making, knitting, crocheting, and 
 embroidering, have all been evolved by primitive women 
 of Neolithic culture, and have been preserved, often in 
 their earliest and most elementary form, among the 
 native inhabitants of two Americas. 2 
 
 1 An excellent paper on the Navajo weavers, describing their 
 looms and the technique of rug making, is that by Washington 
 Matthews, found in the Ann. Rep., Bureau Ethnol., Vol. 3, 
 1881-82. 
 
 2 A fundamental analysis of the arts of weaving, including 
 the allied industries, will be found in the two books by Otis 
 Tufton Mason, already cited, “Woman’s Share in Primitive 
 Culture” (Appleton, 1899), and “The Origin of Invention” 
 (Scribner, 1915). The author’s dedication of the former “to 
 all good women, living or dead, who with their brains, or by 
 their toil, have aided the progress of the world,” is significant. 
 
316 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 66. American Pottery .—As elsewhere among Neo¬ 
 lithic people, the potter’s art was highly developed 
 among the American aborigines, and owing to the almost 
 indestructible nature of the material, the broken re¬ 
 mains of objects of baked clay, shards, are an almost 
 constant accompaniment of excavation. 1 
 
 Pottery has developed everywhere in response to one 
 of the first needs of humanity, at least as soon as men 
 possess settled houses and families, namely that of the 
 transportation of water. In a few favored localities, 
 such as a cave with dripping water, or an encampment 
 upon the side of a river or lake, or near a living spring, 
 this want is not especially felt, but in a dry country 
 where water sources are not ever at hand, each indi¬ 
 vidual, if he has no means of transporting water, must 
 make daily pilgrimages of some distance to slake his 
 thirst, and the habitual use of water for any other pur¬ 
 pose is not to be thought of. Water in very limited 
 quantities may be transported in hollow shells and espe¬ 
 cially in gourds; wherever the bamboo abounds cylin- 
 
 1 Cf. especially the article by Cushing, upon the pottery of 
 the Zuni Pueblos, in Fourth Ann. Rep., Bureau of Ethnol., 
 1884-85. For illustrations of pottery, cf. various articles by 
 Holmes, Fewkes, and others scattered through the volumes of 
 the above series, for example. Vols. 3, 4, 6, 13, 17, 20, 22, 
 For a sktch of the development of the pot from the basket, cf. 
 O. T. Mason, “Woman’s Share in Primitive Culture.” 
 
 As one out of a large bibliography of works on American 
 aboriginal pottery, may be mentioned a recent work by 
 MacCurdy, “A Study of Chiriquian Antiquities,” a quarto 
 memoir of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, with 
 250 pages of text, including 380 text-figures, and with 49 plates, 
 many of them colored. It contains several pages of bibliog¬ 
 raphy. Mem. Conn. Acad. Arts and Sci., 1911. 
 
 For plates of Arizona pottery, cf. Hough in Annual Report of 
 the Smithsonian Institution, 1901 (published 1913). This 
 contains 101 beautiful plates. 
 
PREHISTORY OF THE TWO AMERICAS 317 
 
 drical buckets may be made of its stems, but such means 
 alone are insufficient for the needs of humanity in gen¬ 
 eral, and the inventive faculty is stimulated to pro¬ 
 vide receptacles more universally accessible. 
 
 To supply these needs there have been at least two 
 lines of development; first, the employment of the skins 
 of animals, leading to the skin water bottle in use in 
 many parts of the world, and second, the attempt to 
 make a basket tight enough for the purpose. The first 
 of these lines is a simple one, and may easily have 
 been developed through the use of a raw skin to line a 
 cooking hole, that is, a small depression in the ground, 
 filled with water, which is brought to a boil by heating 
 small stones in a neighboring fire and dropping them in 
 at frequent intervals. The other line is very complicated 
 in its development, but has led to vastly better and more 
 serviceable results. The art of basketry is one of the 
 most primitive of industries, and with the wealth and 
 variety of the materials furnished, and the ease of 
 manipulation, the artificer, generally a woman, requiring 
 nothing but her fingers for the construction, easily at¬ 
 tains a high degree of skill. Many primitive peoples of 
 the present clay construct baskets that are practically 
 water-tight, and there is no reason to believe that this 
 art could not have been attained in early times. However, 
 an easier and perfectly natural step to take to obtain 
 the same result with less skill or effort, would be to 
 employ pitch, clay, or other plastic material, to fill 
 the interstices and render an ordinary basket water¬ 
 tight. 
 
 In the life of a modern city dweller clay is a sub¬ 
 stance rarely met with, but it continually takes the 
 
31S 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 attention of a primitive man living in an untamed 
 natural environment. To such a man the daubing a 
 basket, either inside or out, with clay, in an attempt 
 
 Pig. 78.—Prehistoric American shards, with the impressions of the textiles upon 
 which they were origina’ly built; also casts from these made in plaster, 
 and showing the positives of the textiles themselves. (After Holmes.) 
 
 at making a serviceable water receptacle, is the simplest 
 of acts, and one undoubtedly discovered independently 
 thousands of times, and employed by every primitive 
 family with whom the need arises. When, however, the 
 
PREHISTORY OF THE TWO AMERICAS 
 
 319 
 
 clay dries, or perhaps becomes baked by being acciden¬ 
 tally left in or about the fire, it parts company from 
 the basket, and forms an object which, used with great 
 care, may be employed as a utensil by itself, a true piece 
 of pottery. 
 
 The birth of pottery is thus inseparable from basketry, 
 and there follows a long period of development, during 
 which every pot is formed either upon or within a 
 basket. This has two fundamental results; first, primi¬ 
 tive pots take the forms originally devised for baskets, 
 and retain certain limitations imposed by the textile 
 material, and second, they possess an external surface, 
 covered with the impression of the basket stitch. Shards 
 of such early pottery, impressed by the stamp of the 
 basket which served as a form or mold, are frequently 
 met with in excavation; and by using them in turn as 
 molds, and covering the surface with plaster of Paris, 
 the details of numerous kinds of prehistoric basketry 
 have been recovered. 1 
 
 When, now, this stage is reached, it is not long before 
 the art is acquired of forming the clay utensil directly, 
 without the use of the previously constructed basket, and 
 these endeavors take two distinct forms, coiled ware 
 and molded ware. Coiled ware copies in clay, so far as 
 possible, the technique employed in making a coiled bas¬ 
 ket ; it is a basket of this type made of a different mate¬ 
 rial. To make such a utensil an actual clay rope is 
 first made by rolling the clay in the flat hand; this is 
 then used to make any shape desired, and within the 
 possibilities of a coil. The separate coils arc then tightly 
 
 1 W. H. Holmes, in Second Ann. Rep., Bureau of Ethnol, 
 1880-81. 
 
320 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 fused together by making “stitches” at intervals— 
 places where the clay of two adjacent coils is pinched 
 together—and the dish is finished. 
 
 Molded ware gets farther away from the idea of the 
 basket, and the technique of making it is a new one. 
 
 Fig. 79.—Iroquoian pottery vessels. These have got somewhat away from the 
 basket, and have been moulded directly with the hands, but the symmetry is 
 that of the eye, and there is no suspicion of a potter’s wheel. (After C. 
 Parker.) 
 
PREHISTORY OF THE TWO AMERICAS 
 
 321 
 
 Here a piece of clay sufficient to make an entire pot is 
 taken, and molded into shape by thumb and fingers. 
 There are here no clay rope and no stitches, but the 
 shape becomes gradually perfected under the hands of 
 the potter, a shapeless mass eventually assuming the 
 shape and proportions desired. Naturally such uten¬ 
 sils are made round, like baskets, an idea from which 
 men are seemingly loth to depart, but there is no rea¬ 
 son in the technique for making them so, and square 
 dishes occasionally appear, and even eccentric forms in 
 the shape of birds or other animals are quite possible. 
 In molded ware of the round form, varying between 
 the form of a tall cylinder and a flat dish, it is impos¬ 
 sible to center them exactly and hand-made pots stand 
 more or less lopsided, as one side is sure to overbalance 
 the rest. This is eventually obviated by a great inven¬ 
 tion, the potter’s wheel which is a solid wheel horizon¬ 
 tally placed and made to revolve rapidly by some sim¬ 
 ple mechanism, perhaps a treadle. When a lump of 
 clay is placed in the middle of this wheel, and touched 
 by a stick or other firm object when revolving, every 
 contact surface becomes a part of a circle, and the entire 
 lump rises or falls, spreads or flattens, always in exact 
 response to what is done to it along the side. This 
 exact shaping takes place rapidly, and the result is per¬ 
 fectly centered—a high achievement, and one which 
 necessarily takes the place of all cruder methods where- 
 ever it can be installed. So complex a mechanism is 
 above the level of Neolithic culture, and no parts of 
 such a machine are ever found in Neolithic remains, nor 
 do any Neolithic shards show the mathematical accu¬ 
 racy of wheel-made pottery. This sort the Indians 
 
322 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 never developed and a wheel-made shard means a post- 
 Columbian deposit. 
 
 But it is not enough for either the prehistoric or the 
 modern potter simply to make a utensil of the proper 
 shape: the aesthetic feeling demands that it he decorated. 
 The beginning of this is seen in the impress of the bas¬ 
 ket weave upon the outer surface. This is at first looked 
 upon as a natural and necessary surface effect, and is 
 missed when pots are made direct. All sorts of de¬ 
 vices, therefore, are employed for producing this effect 
 artificially, and this feeling forms one of the motives, 
 perhaps the main one, for the production of incised 
 ware, in which a pattern is produced upon the soft clay 
 by incising it with some object, a stick or sharp bone, 
 or even the finger nail. Further decorative effects are 
 produced by the use of various mineral colors, at first 
 rubbed into the incised lines, or used to cover the inter¬ 
 mediate fields, but later employed alone upon a smooth 
 surface. In all this decoration, beginning with the first 
 incised ware, there has been a definite meaning, varying 
 from the attempt to reproduce a mechanical effect to an 
 elaborate symbolism based upon a complicated mythol¬ 
 ogy and phlosophy. The pottery of a primitive people 
 becomes its library, and the first crude inscriptions 
 and early records of a cultured race, aside from the 
 more formal ones engraved upon stone, are inscribed 
 upon clay. 1 
 
 1 It is the further development of this idea that is seen in 
 the real libraries of clay tablets, with their cuneiform inscrip¬ 
 tions, found among the ruins of ancient Assyrian civilization. 
 This method of writing undoubtedly first developed upon 
 the sides of pots and vases, which, when the use of writing 
 became more common, were replaced by cylinders and flattened 
 tablets made for the purpose. 
 
PREHISTORY OF THE TWO AMERICAS 323 
 
 Thus for a variety of reasons—the abundance and the 
 indestructibility of shards, the records of industrial 
 development which they bear, the indications occasionally 
 recorded of primitive beliefs and ideas—the field offered 
 by the study of pottery is of first importance, especially, 
 in studying that fringe of the subject lying between 
 prehistory and history. Shards, moreover, at once so 
 permanent and so characteristic, like the guide fossils 
 of the paleontologist serve to date a culture deposit, 
 often with much accuracy and are thus valuable, not 
 only in themselves, but in the light they throw upon 
 other associated objects. 
 
 This short sketch of the development of pottery is 
 based upon the observations of American ethnologists 
 made upon the aborigines in this continent. In no part 
 of the world has the material been so favorable for this 
 study as here, since practically every step in this indus¬ 
 try may be found in operation among the living, while 
 the history of the past among the same people may be 
 traced by the shards. Upon the arid plains of the 
 Southwest of the United States, where water sources 
 are few and scattered the importance of conveying and 
 storing water becomes paramount, and largely on ac¬ 
 count of this, doubtless, the various arts connected with 
 pottery have attained an especially high development. 
 Here and elsewhere upon the western continent, anthro¬ 
 pologists have the great advantage of studying the living 
 artificers, watching the manufacture of the utensils, and 
 learning from the lips of the people themselves the mean¬ 
 ing and the symbolism of the details of the work and 
 the steps of the process. Judging from the remains, the 
 pottery of the European Neolithic and Bronze Ages has 
 
324 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 evidently gone through a similar development, and these 
 remains receive an interpretation by comparison with 
 the practically identical productions of America of which 
 the significance is known. When the American conti¬ 
 nent was discovered by Europeans it was entirely Neo¬ 
 lithic, and possessed everywhere Neolithic stone imple¬ 
 ments, pottery, and textiles. In regions furnished with 
 native copper the aborigines fabricated ornaments and 
 numbers of simple tools and weapons of that metal, 
 manufacturing them, however, by hammering them out 
 with a stone hammer and without casting them in molds. 
 They thus showed in favored localities the beginnings of 
 a Cyprolithic, or copper-stone, culture. 
 
 67. Classification of American Aboriginal Objects .— 
 As would be expected, the task of classifying the pot¬ 
 tery, stone implements, and other objects of aboriginal 
 manufacture is an extremely difficut one. The objects in 
 question come, not from large and organized factories, 
 but from the hands of individual artisans, who are 
 bound by few conventions and in the shaping of each 
 piece are free to vary the work as they wish, following 
 every mood or whim, or the exigencies of the material. 
 The systems in use by the various collectors and by the 
 different museums have likewise been widely different. 
 
 The first subdivision, on which all agree, rests upon 
 the material of which the artifacts are constructed, and 
 includes (1) stone, (2) bone and horn, (3) shell, and 
 (4) copper ; (gold and silver are very rare, but may be 
 met with). Pottery in the broad sense, including not 
 only pots and vases, but pipes and figurines, might make 
 another group. Beyond this the classification might be 
 based upon use, and include such classes as arrow and 
 
PREHISTORY OF THE TWO AMERICAS 
 
 325 
 
 spear points, axes, scrapers, pendants, fish spears, and 
 so on; or else, especially as the exact use of many of 
 the artifacts is unknown, upon shape alone, without 
 reference to use. 
 
 Some of the possibilities of classification are illustrated 
 by the accompanying series of sketches, prepared some 
 years ago by a committee from the American Anthro¬ 
 pological Association, illustrative of a scheme of classi¬ 
 fication proposed, but not generally adopted. 1 The 
 committee, on stating the principles on which its classi¬ 
 fication was based said: “The classifications here offered 
 and definitions here proposed in some detail are based 
 so far as possible on form alone. ... It has been the 
 particular aim of the Committee to avoid or to get rid 
 of those classes and names that are based on uses 
 assumed but not universally proven for certain speci¬ 
 mens.” (The italics are our own.) The committee 
 further quoted a remark of W. II. Holmes, that “the 
 difficulty in classification and in nomenclature comes 
 largely from our lack of complete and detailed knowl¬ 
 edge; with increased knowledge will come decreased 
 difficulty. ’ ’ 
 
 The class of stone implements is naturally and ob¬ 
 viously divided into those with chipped, and those with 
 smooth surface; and the subdivisions of the former, as 
 indicative of the possibilities, are as follows, illustrated 
 by Fig. 80: 
 
 1 This committee consisted of the following: Dr. Charles 
 Peabody, Chairman: John H. Wright, J. D. McGnire F. W. 
 Hodge and Warren Iv. Morehead. The sketches shown here 
 were selected as types from the collections at the Peabody 
 Museum of Archeology at Cambridge, and permission to use 
 the same was kindly given by Mr. Peabody. 
 
o 
 
 Fig. 80.—Outline drawings of chipped stone from the Peabody Museum, Cam¬ 
 bridge, Mass., and selected as types of form, accompanying the classification 
 given in the text. The numbers are those of the Peabody Museum. 
 
 Length cm. 
 
 1 . 
 
 No. 
 
 64398 
 
 4 
 
 Miss. 
 
 Base straight. 
 
 2. 
 
 No. 
 
 64397 
 
 3.75 
 
 Miss. 
 
 Pointed at both ends. 
 
 3. 
 
 No. 
 
 64405 
 
 8.5 
 
 Miss. 
 
 Oblong. 
 
 4. 
 
 No. 
 
 61796 
 
 6.0 • 
 
 Miss. 
 
 Stem expanding; barbed. 
 
 5. 
 
 No. 
 
 61796 
 
 6.0 
 
 Miss. 
 
 Stem expanding, not barbed. 
 
 6. 
 
 No. 
 
 61796 
 
 7.0 
 
 Miss. 
 
 Stem nearly straight, -slightly barbed. 
 
 7. 
 
 No. 
 
 61869 
 
 5.0 
 
 Miss. 
 
 Stem contracting, barbed. 
 
 8. 
 
 No. 
 
 64334 
 
 4.0 
 
 Miss. 
 
 Stem contracting, not barbed. 
 
 9. 
 
 No. 
 
 1217 
 
 5.0 
 
 Cal. 
 
 With two scraping edges. 
 
 10. 
 
 No. 
 
 61874 
 
 4.0 
 
 Miss. 
 
 With three scraping edges. 
 
 11. 
 
 No. 
 
 64410 
 
 5.5 
 
 Miss. 
 
 Rectangular in cross section. 
 
 12. 
 
 No. 
 
 48816 
 
 3.75 
 
 Miss. 
 
 Like a projectile point, but with the point'become 
 
 a curve. 
 
 (After Charles Peabody and the Committee.) 
 
PREHISTORY OF THE TWO AMERICAS 
 
 327 
 
 I. 
 
 II. 
 
 III. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Classification of Articles of Chipped Stone. 
 
 Knives, or projectile points. 
 
 Larger—5 cm. or more in length. 
 
 Smaller—less than 5 cm. in length. 
 
 1. Without stem. 
 
 A. Flakes, long and thin. 
 
 B. Pointed. 
 
 r Base convex. 
 
 Base straight (Fig. SO, 1). 
 
 (a) at one end 
 
 Base concave 
 
 (b) at both ends (cf. Fig. SO, 2) 
 Oblong (cf. Fig. 80, 3). 
 
 Circular. 
 
 With stem. 
 
 A. Stem expanding from base. 
 
 C. 
 
 D. 
 
 (a) Base concave 
 
 (b) Base straight 
 
 (c) Base convex 
 
 (Fp 
 
 barbed 
 or 
 
 not barbed 
 
 B. Stem with sides parallel. 
 
 (a) Base concave 
 (c) Base convex 
 
 (b) Base straight 
 
 f barbed 
 j or 
 
 ( not barbed. 
 
 . SO, 
 (Fig 
 (Fig. SO, 
 
 C. Stem contracting from base. 
 
 (a) Base concave 
 (c) Base convex 
 
 (b) Base straight __ 
 
 D. Shouldered implements. 
 
 (a) Chipped on one side. 
 
 (b) Chipped on both sides. 
 
 barbed 
 or 
 
 not barbed 
 
 4) . 
 
 80 ). 
 
 5) . 
 
 (Fig. 88, 
 (Fig. 
 
 7). 
 
 SS, 
 
 8 ). 
 
 Scrapers. 
 
 Types: 
 
 1. With one scraping edge. 
 
 2. With two scraping edges (Fig. SO, 10). 
 
 3. With three or all scraping edges (Fig. SO, 10). 
 
 Implements for Perforating or Engraving. 
 
 Types : 
 
 1. Round or rectanagular in cross section (Fig. 
 
 SO, 11). 
 
 2. With major and minor axes in cross section. 
 
 3. Varying. 
 
 Implements for Percussion. 
 
 Types: 
 
 1. Shaped like a projectile point with the point be' 
 
 come a curve (Fig. 80, 12). 
 
 2. Hammer-stones chipped before using. 
 
 (Note: 1. Forms may possess regular or inten¬ 
 tional serration. 
 
 2. Forms may be combined or eccentric.) 
 
MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 32S 
 
 The classification of pottery, as treated by this com¬ 
 mittee, 1 was based, (1) as to decoration; whether plain, 
 stamped, incised, or painted; (2) as to manufacture; 
 whether sun-dried, burnt, hand-molded, or coiled; (3) 
 as to material; clay sand, shell, and other combinations, 
 and (4) as to form. Certain definitions applicable to 
 pots and vases of various form were found advisable, 
 as follows: 
 
 A simple vessel must consist of a body, and may have a rim, 
 neck, foot or handle, or any combination of these. 
 
 1 . Body. 
 
 A formation capable of holding within itself a liquid or 
 solid substance. 
 
 2 . Rim. 
 
 (a) A constituent part of the vessel forming the termina¬ 
 tion of the body. 
 
 (b) A constituent part of the vessel recognizable by a 
 change in thickness of the substance in the terminal sec¬ 
 tions. 
 
 3 . Neck. 
 
 A constituent part of the vessel recognizable by a more 
 or less sudden decrease in the rate of increase or decrease 
 of the diameter. 
 
 4 . Foot. 
 
 A non-constituent part of the vessel recognizable by a 
 diameter in cross section, whose rate of change is sud¬ 
 denly varied by the increased diameter of the body. 
 
 5 . Handle. 
 
 A non-constituent part of the vessel consisting of some 
 outside attachment. 
 
 Body. It is suggested that students, in tomparing the forms 
 of the cross sections of vessels, pay particular attention to the 
 proportion of the diameter to the height and the rate of change 
 of this proportion, and refer to the following definitions of the 
 two dimensions. Height : Perpendicular distance from the base 
 to the most distant part of the rim. Diameter'. The length 
 from any point on the sides to any other point distant 180° 
 measured on a line perpendicular to the height. Base : The 
 point of contact on a plane of contact of the body with a hori¬ 
 zontal surface. 
 
 1 Proposed l y Mr. J. D. McGuire. 
 
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330 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 Tlie following analysis of form was presented: 
 
 Body: These are so various, depending on relative height 
 and diameter of the cross-section, that an analysis is too cum¬ 
 bersome to be of service for general reference. 
 
 N eck : 
 
 1. With increasing diameter (Fig. 81, 2). 
 
 2. With constant diameter (Fig. 81. 3). 
 
 3. With decreasing diameter (Fig. 81, 4). 
 
 4. Combinations. 
 
 Lip: A constituent part of the neck of body recognizable 
 by a suddenly increasing diameter of neck or body that con¬ 
 tinues increasing to the rim. (Fig. 81, 5.) 
 
 Foot: 
 
 1. Continuous— 
 
 (a) With increasing diameter. 
 
 (b) With constant diameter. 
 
 (c) With decreasing diameter (Fig. 81, 1). 
 
 2. Not continuous— 
 
 Differentiated by— 
 
 (a) Number. 
 
 (b) Angle with the horizontal. \ 
 
 (1) Expanding upward. 
 
 (2) Perpendicular to horizontal. 
 
 (3) Contracting upward (Fig. 81, 6). 
 
 Handles — Types: 
 
 Differentiated by— 
 
 1. Number. 
 
 2. Position on the vase. 
 
 (A) Body (Fig. 81, 7). 
 
 (B) Neck. 
 
 (C) Foot (Fig. 81, 8). 
 
 (D) Combinations. 
 
 3. Form. 
 
 (A) Continuous with body or neck. 
 
 (B) Not continuous with body or neck. 
 
 (a) With constant direction. 
 
 (b) With varying direction. 
 
 (c) With reentry upon vessel. 
 
 It is not intended in these pages to advocate this par¬ 
 ticular method of classifying aboriginal objects, nor has 
 the scheme presented above been definitely adopted. 
 There is only the intention to show that such objects, 
 although representing the individual style of many arti¬ 
 ficers, untrammeled for the most part by canons of taste, 
 
PREHISTORY OF THE TWO AMERICAS 
 
 331 
 
 are yet capable of scientific classification, expressing 
 slight differences of form and other characters. Should 
 these lines fall under the eye of an amateur collector, it 
 will surely be of value to say that of all characters or 
 attributes of on aboriginal object, be it flint point or 
 clay shard, the exact locality where the piece was found, 
 even often to the details of an individual field, is of the 
 utmost importance—much more than the details of shape 
 or the suppositions concerning the probable use, for 
 these latter may be deduced at any time from the piece 
 itself, while the details concerning locality, once lost or 
 disassociated from the object, can never be put beyond 
 doubt. While all are urged to collect aboriginal objects, 
 classifying or arranging them in the way that most 
 appeals to their individual tastes, it is the first duty for 
 the collector to record the exact locality of each piece. 
 The identity of a given piece may be fairly well secured 
 by pasting, or better, painting, a number or letter upon 
 it; it is also an excellent idea to keep a notebook, upon 
 the pages of which each piece is recorded in outline, 
 made by laying the piece directly upon the page, and 
 tracing the outlines around it, much in the way of chil¬ 
 dren who learn to draw their hands in the same man¬ 
 ner. Upon each outline may be written the details of 
 the locality, as well as the number it bears in the collec¬ 
 tion, and, thus labeled and described, even a small col¬ 
 lection will be of ten times the value of one many times as 
 large, with the locality labels disarranged or lost. It 
 may even be said that the former will be of professional 
 value, and forms a definite record of the past, while 
 the value of the latter is practically nothing. 
 
 68. American Architecture; Single Dwellings and 
 
MAN'S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 Community Houses .—At the time of the discovery, and 
 undoubtedly for a long time previous, the civilization 
 of the American aborigines was that characteristic of 
 Neolithic peoples everywhere; in some localities nomad 
 hunters, or primitive agriculturists, and in others larger 
 or smaller fixed communities. Of the first type, wan¬ 
 dering from place to place, in pursuit of game, the usual 
 form of dwelling was the tent, formed of skins, and easily 
 transportable; while agriculture, even the care of a 
 small field of maize, anchored the possessor to a definite 
 spot, and developed various types of a more or less per¬ 
 manent house. 
 
 It is on the western plains of the United States that 
 the tepee, an excellent type of the former, especially 
 developed, and, being light and easily put up, this work 
 was largely developed by the women. A tepee, or, more 
 accurately, tipi, is a conical tent, made, as long as it was 
 possible, of the dressed skins of buffaloes (bisons). 
 
 “The separate skins are cut and fitted on the ground 
 into a single piece resembling the cover of an umbrella. 
 The seams are all sewed tightly from top to bottom 
 except one, which is fastened by a lacing from the top 
 to within four or five feet from the ground. The open¬ 
 ing thus left is the doorway, the door itself being a buf¬ 
 falo robe or piece of cloth, fastened above and left to 
 hang loose, except in bad weather, when it can be tightly 
 stretched by thongs, attached to the lower corners. The 
 ground being selected, the tepee is spread out upon it. 
 Three poles are lightly tied together near the smaller 
 ends, and thrust under the covering, passed through the 
 orifice at the top, raised upright, and the lower end 
 spread out as far as possible. A rope or rawhide thong 
 attached to the top of the covering is then thrown over 
 the. crossing of the poles. One woman pulls on the end of 
 
PREHISTORY OF THE TWO AMERICAS 
 
 333 
 
 this rope, while another adjusts the tripod of poles until 
 the covering is stretched vertically and laterally. The 
 other poles are then carried in one by one; the small end, 
 thrust through the top opening, is laid against the point 
 of crossing of the first three, the large end being carried 
 out as far as possible. When all the poles are in, they 
 are arranged equidistant, in a circle, stretching the cov¬ 
 ering as tightly as possible, a few wooden pins are driven 
 into the ground through slits in the bottom of the cov¬ 
 ering on the outside, and the work is done. . . . Two 
 quick working women can put up a tepee in five min¬ 
 utes, and take it down in three. To prevent the wind 
 from blowing directly down the top, a sort of winged cap 
 is provided, managed from below with strings, or a deer¬ 
 skin fastened between two poles is set up on the wind¬ 
 ward side of the opening. It is shifted with the wind. 1 
 
 In southern New England a similar type of hut was 
 made of a framework of light wood, clothed both within 
 and without with woven mats, the work of the women. 
 They are thus described by the Plymouth Pilgrims, who 
 saw them for the first time on Cape Cod: 
 
 “The houses were made with long sapling trees, bended 
 and both ends stuck into the ground; they were made 
 round, like unto an Arbour, ani covered downe to the 
 ground with thick and well wrought matts, and the doore 
 was not over a yard high, made of a mat to open; the 
 chimney was a wide open hole at the top, for which they 
 had a mat to cover it close when they pleased; one 
 might stand anf goe upright in them, in the midst of 
 them were foure little tranches knockt into the ground, 
 and small sticks laid over, on which they hang their Pots, 
 and what they had to seeth; round about the fire they 
 lay on mats, which are fheir beds. The houses were 
 double matted, for as they were matted without, so were 
 
 1 O. T Mason, “Woman’s Share in Primitive CnUrre.’’ pp. 
 153-54 
 
334 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 they matted within, with newer & fairer matts. In the 
 houses we found wooden Boules, Trayes, & Dishes, 
 Earthen Pots, Hand baskets made of Crab shells wrought 
 together, also an English Paile or Bucket, it wanted a 
 Bayle, but it had two Iron eares: there was also Baskets 
 of sundry sorts, bigger and some lesser, firmer and some 
 coarser: some were curiously wrought with blacke and 
 white in pretie workes. ’ ’ 1 2 
 
 Among a few tribes, like the Iroquois (the Ong- 
 wanonsionni, “we of the extended lodge”), an advanced 
 communism made it possible for a number of families 
 to unite in the construction of a common dwelling, and 
 where, as in the treeless country of Arizona and New 
 Mexico, the buildings were constructed of stone rather 
 than wood and were added to from time to time, there 
 arose a mass of continuous houses, usually placed at 
 various levels, the pueblo." Such structures more usually 
 crowned the summit of an elevation with precipitous 
 sides, a typical acropolis, but in the cliff region of Utah 
 and Colorado, huge niches cut out by nature upon the 
 face of well-nigh inaccessible cliffs, and improved by the 
 hand of man, offered facilities in some ways superior to 
 those of an isolated summit. 
 
 Of the various types of wooden dwellings, the foun¬ 
 dations may be sometimes traced by the disturbance of 
 
 1 “Mourt’s Relation: An account of the exploration sent out 
 by the Mayflower, when stationed in Provincetown Harbor, 
 November. 1620.” This account was probably written by 
 William Bradford. 
 
 2 Cf. the various Annual Reports Bureau of Ethnology, Wash¬ 
 ington, e.y.. the paper by V. Mindeleff on “Pueblo Architec¬ 
 ture.” 8th. 1886-87. and the more recent one of Fewkes, 22nd, 
 Pt. 1. 1900-01. C. Mindeleff. in the 17th Annual Report, treats 
 of Navajo houses, and Fewkes. in the same volume, describes 
 an expedition to Arizona, including details of cliff-house ruins, 
 and makes a study of food bowls and their decoration. 
 
Fig. 82.—Kiva (restored) of the great community house of Tyuonvi (El Rito de los Frijoles), New Mexico. The holes 
 in the cliff were for the reception of beams of construction now lost. (From a photograph loaned by 'Miss F. 
 Grace Smith.) 
 
336 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 earth attending the construction, either by the settling of 
 posts or in more definite excavation (cf. §15). This is 
 especially true in the case of defensive structures, or 
 forts, which are sometimes extensive, and in which the 
 walls were originally formed of palisades of upright logs, 
 set close together. In all such study, however, there is 
 little to attract the eye of the inexperienced, and even 
 structures involving considerable excavation are fre¬ 
 quently overlooked, or confused with the surface irreg¬ 
 ularities caused by fallen trees or the erosion due to 
 brooks. Munro, the Scottish archeologist, has used as a 
 guide in the excavation of prehistoric hut-sites in Scot¬ 
 land and Ireland, the simple character of the ground 
 plan of aboriginal structures. He says: 
 
 ‘ ‘ My own experience has hitherto taught me to regard 
 prehistoric dwellings as either round or rectangular, or 
 at least near approaches to these figures. We know that 
 forts, and other buildings constructed on hill tops, or 
 on the summit of rocks difficult of access, often assume 
 extremely irregular forms in accordance with the nat¬ 
 ural contour of the ground. But whenever prehistoric 
 man abandoned his primary places of abode, such as 
 caves and rock shelters, and took to building for himself 
 houses in the open, he invariably adopted the simplest 
 plan of construction, viz., either circle, oval, square, or 
 rectangle, just as the savage still does. ’ ’ 1 
 
 When habitations are constructed of stone, and espe¬ 
 cially when the site selected has a restricted area, as in 
 the case of a hill top or niche in the side of a cliff, the 
 houses are almost always built together in the form of 
 a complex communal dwelling. Such were the “cities” 
 of antiquity, like the one constructed by Romulus, or 
 
 1 Robt. Munro, “Bosnia, Herzegovina, and Dalmatia,” 1900. 
 
Fig. 83.—A modern Indian pueblo; Tesuque, New Mexico. 
 
M‘)Q 
 
 OOo 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 like those of classic times in Greece and Palestine. In 
 these countries, in fact, such communal towns are still to 
 be found, each new house being constructed against pre¬ 
 vious structures, so that the labor of building at least 
 one side wall is spared. “The cities and villages of 
 Palestine, so far as appearance is concerned, vary in 
 size merely. The houses of a small village are often¬ 
 times just as closely packed as the buildings in a city, 
 so that a village will look like a fragment knocked off 
 a city. ’ ’ 1 
 
 Thus is explained an Indian pueblo, in which an 
 archeologist, familiar with classic lands, sees merely the 
 usual primitive form of communal dwelling, an oppidum, 
 or perhaps an acropolis, in accordance with site (Cf. 
 §25). Our great Southwest, including especially the 
 drainage areas of the San Juan and the Rio Grande, 
 centering at about the point where the four states of 
 Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico come together, 
 is thickly covered with the remains of pueblo architec¬ 
 ture, and from here the sites spread over the border 
 into Mexico, where the region is still in great part unex¬ 
 plored. The living remnants of the great aboriginal 
 people are gathered into about thirty pueblos, including 
 among the best known communities the Zuni and 
 Hopi. These furnish data of the utmost importance to 
 the student of American ethnology, and offer some expla¬ 
 nation of the manners and customs of the pueblo peoples 
 of the past. These seem to have been influenced by the 
 ' ztec civilization that developed in Mexico, although 
 there was probably no original connection between 
 
 1 Elilui Grant, in “The Peasantry of Palestine,” 1907, p. 43. 
 
PREHISTORY OF THE TWO AMERICAS 
 
 339 
 
 either and the Central and South American civiliza¬ 
 tion. 
 
 The pueblos of the valleys and mesas are undoubtedly 
 the descendants of the older cliff houses and cliff pal¬ 
 aces, now found, long ago deserted, on the walls of the 
 canyons. The similarity of architecture is indicated, 
 among other things, by the long horizontal rows of holes 
 along the face of the cliff, for the reception of the inner 
 ends of ceiling beams. In the modern pueblo the blank 
 side wall of a pre-existing building serves the purpose 
 of the cliff face, and receives the ceiling beams of the 
 new structure. 1 
 
 69. American Architecture; Remains of Temples and 
 Temple-Cities. It was one of the great disasters of his¬ 
 tory that the four great centers of aboriginal Ameri¬ 
 can civilization, that had developed under the favoring 
 conditions of a tropical climate, and needed only slight 
 aid and encouragement from the culture of Europe to 
 take their place among the great civilizations of the 
 world, should have met, when almost at the goal, not 
 the easy-going French trappers, the shrewd Dutch tra¬ 
 ders, or even the Puritanic English colonists, but the 
 Spanish conquistadores, accompanied by fanatical relig¬ 
 ious leaders, representing in combination the two worst 
 human passions, lust for gold and propagandist zeal. 
 With no feeling of pity or sympathy concealed beneath 
 either black robe or steel corselet, these invaders were 
 let loose upon the innocent nations, who, inspired by a 
 fatal tradition of white gods with beards who were to 
 
 1 Good illustrations of the cliff-ruins of Tsankawi. N. M., 
 are found in the National Geographic Magazine, September, 
 1909, p. 87. 
 
340 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 help and teach them, actually welcomed the intruders 
 and offered presents of gold and treasure. 
 
 At the advent of the Spaniards the natives were pos¬ 
 sessed of majestic temples of carved stone, superb monu¬ 
 ments, and public courts; they possessed great treasure 
 in gold and jewels; and had actually recorded their his¬ 
 tory through forgotten ages in books made of the agave 
 leaf, and inscribed in hieroglyphic symbols stamped by 
 means of movable wooden blocks. Once a Spanish priest 
 penetrating with difficulty into the unknown wilderness, 
 came to a village where “he beheld a venerable man 
 seated under the shade of a palm tree, with a great book 
 open before him, from which he was reading to an atten¬ 
 tive circle of auditors the wars and wanderings of their 
 forefathers. With difficulty the priest got a sight of the 
 precious volume, and found it covered with figures and 
 signs in marvelous symmetry and order. ’ ’ 1 
 
 Yet, resisting the appropriation of their wealth by the 
 Spanish warriors, these innocent people were slain by 
 thousands; unwilling to discard their national beliefs for 
 the religion of the black-robed European priests, they 
 suffered the tortures of martydom. Their temples were 
 demolished; their monuments were overthrown; and 
 their libraries, in part centuries old, and containing 
 priceless annals, were burned in the public squares. * ‘ The 
 historian Torquemada asserts that five cities alone 
 yielded to the Spanish governor at one requisition no 
 less than sixteen thousand volumes,” of which “every 
 leaf was destroyed.” 2 
 
 1 D. G. Brinton, “Myths of the New World,” 3rd Ed., 1896, 
 pp. 26-27. Quoted from Humboldt. “Vues des Cordilleres,” p. 72. 
 
 2 Ibid. p. 25. 
 
PREHISTORY OF THE TWO AMERICAS 
 
 341 
 
 After such a thorough campaign of annihilation it 
 might be supposed that nothing could now be learned 
 concerning the native civilizations that sought the help 
 of the Spaniards, but there are still a few data to be 
 found. The ruins of their cities, overgrown with a trop¬ 
 ical vegetation, furnish much, especially as these ruins 
 are profusely decorated with hieroglyphic inscriptions; 
 there are still some traditions to be collected from the 
 few native descendants; there are, too, the various spoken 
 languages and dialects, which assist in tracing tribal 
 affinities, and are suggestive concerning former tribal 
 wanderings and intertribal associations; and, lastly, a 
 handful of the agave books have survived and are kept 
 by some of the great museums of the world, as priceless, 
 treasures, the Mexican and Maya codices. From all 
 these sources it has been made out that there were, at 
 the time of the discovery, four of these tropical Ameri¬ 
 can civilizations, mainly independent of each other—the 
 Aztec, the Maya-Quiche, the Chibchan, and the Qui- 
 chua, the first Mexican, the second centering in Yuca¬ 
 tan and Guatemala, the third Colombian, near Bogota, 
 and the fourth Peruvian. 
 
 The Aztecs, from their speech, a dialect of the great 
 Nahuan language, show some affinity with the Shosho- 
 nean tribes further north (Comanche, Pai-ute, etc.) 
 which suggests northern origin for the entire Nahuan 
 family, and shows the Aztecs to be a tribe that migrated 
 southward, until it came into contact with the Maya- 
 Quiches. 
 
 This latter, found mainly in Yucatan and Guatemala, 
 were of a much older civilization than their northern 
 neighbors, the Aztecs, and spoke a totally distinct lan- 
 
342 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 guage. At the time of the discovery they were already 
 on the wane, yet their former greatness was attested by 
 the great temple cities even then abandoned, and, from 
 our standpoint, prehistoric. It is these Maya cities that 
 form the great ’ruins of Central America, which have 
 now for so long attracted the attention of archeologists, 
 yet which still await in great part the spade of the exca¬ 
 vator. This great Maya civilization was entirely dis¬ 
 tinct from the two remaining ones of the four, and is 
 separated by the entire length of the isthmus and more. 
 
 The Chibchan formed a small, though independent, 
 center in the heart of Colombia, and were again sepa¬ 
 rated by a long interval from the civilization of the 
 Peruvians. This last contained two distinct subdivis¬ 
 ions, the Quichas, with their two tribes, Inca and 
 Aymara, inhabiting the lofty Andean plateau, with its 
 center about Lake Titicaca, and the Yuncas, who occu¬ 
 pied the coast regions. The Quichas, who attained the 
 highest civilization among the Peruvians, were not want¬ 
 ing in temples and other stone structures, but their chief 
 peculiarities were their cult of the dead, with embalm¬ 
 ing and the establishment of necropoles as with the Egyp¬ 
 tians, and their extensive use of copper, to which by an 
 art now unknown they imparted a hardness almost like 
 that of steel. They were thus a little beyond the true 
 Neolithic stage, generally characteristic of the Ameri¬ 
 cas, and might more properly be described as virtually 
 in the Bronze Age. In fact, these advanced South 
 American peoples must be technically ascribed to the 
 actual Bronze Age, although in its initial stages, since 
 in some of the copper artifacts more or less tin is 
 found, occasionally up to twelve to sixteen per cent, 
 

 Fig. 84.—Ruins of one of the temples at Tikal, Guatemala (Temple V). Each 
 temple is placed on the summit of a lofty artificial mound, in the shape of a 
 pyramid, with stone steps forming each side. This entire city consists of a 
 bewildering mass of temples and palaces, arranged in general in three separate 
 groups, or acropoles. Tikal, evidently not the ancient name, in the local 
 Maya speech signifies “place where spirit voices are heard.” (After Tozzer.) 
 
344 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 thus making the metal technically not copper but 
 bronze. 
 
 The picturesque ruins of Maya cities occur scattered 
 over Yucatan, Guatemala, and a part of Honduras and 
 Nicaragua, buried in such luxuriant tropical vegetation 
 that they are found with great difficulty, and some in¬ 
 deed, may yet remain undiscovered. Not uncommon 
 have been experiences like that of Joaquin Miller in 
 Nicaragua, who 
 
 ‘ Hound a city old,—so old, 
 
 Its very walls were turned to mould, 
 
 And stately trees upon them stood. 
 
 No history has mentioned it, 
 
 No map has given it a place; 
 
 The last dim trace of tribe and race— 
 
 The world’s forgetfulness is fit. 
 
 It held one structure grand and mossed, 
 
 Mighty as any castle sung, 
 
 And old when oldest Ind was young, 
 
 With threshold Christian never cross’d; 
 
 A temple budded to the sun, 
 
 Along whose somber altar stone 
 Brown bleeding virgins had been strown, 
 
 Like leaves, where leaves are crisp and dun, 
 
 In ages ere the Sphinx was born, 
 
 Or Babylon had birth or morn. 1 
 
 Whether in serious prose one may impute so vast an 
 age to Central America ruins is doubtful, since at the 
 arrival of the Spaniards at the beginning of the sixteenth 
 century, the Maya civilization, although long past its 
 zenith, was yet manifest in a few places, and some of 
 the cities were still inhabited. 
 
 1 Joaquin Miller, “Songs of the Sierras,” 1871, in “With 
 Walker in Nicaragua.” 
 
345 
 
 PREHISTORY OF THE TWO AMERICAS 
 
 The first of the ruined Maya cities to attract the gen¬ 
 eral attention of the modern world, were those explored 
 during the middle of the nineteenth century, such as 
 Uxmal (Yucatan), Copan (Honduras), and Palenique 
 (Southern Mexico), but the explorations of the last few 
 years, especially those conducted since 1898 by the Pea¬ 
 body Museum of Cambridge, 1 have revealed a large num¬ 
 ber of other cities of equal or greater size and grandeur 
 —Piedras Negras, Yaxchilan, Tikal, Loltun, Chacmol- 
 tun, and many others. 
 
 Fig. 85 (p. 000) shows a carved stone lintel (No. 26) 
 from the temple at Yaxchilan, Usumatsintla Valley, on 
 the Guatemala side of the boundary. (108x85 cm.) “A 
 woman of rank presents a tiger’s head, prepared as a 
 helmet, to the sacrificial priest. The woman has on 
 shoes, her cuffs are of scale work, her tunic (huipilli) 
 shows a reticulated pattern, her headdress is of medium 
 size and adorned with conventionalized flowers, her ear- 
 ornaments are very distinct, and a line of small dots 
 borders the lips and ends in a scroll on the cheek turned 
 toward the spectator. Below the face is a necklace of 
 stone beads, with a medallion in front. The woman car¬ 
 ries with both hands a tiger’s head, with a great plume 
 of feathers, probably meant as a head covering for the 
 priest. ... A pendant ornamented with tassels hangs 
 from the woman’s hands down to the ground. The 
 priest has buskins, leg-bands, and striped cuffs. His 
 
 1 Peabody Museum Memoirs, beginning 1900, Folios, with 
 beautiful photographs. A good account of excavation at a 
 single site is found in Morley’s recent paper on the ruins of 
 Chichen Itza, Yucatan, publ. by the Carnegie Institute, Wasln 
 ington, Nov. 1, 1913. This includes an excellent bibliography 
 on Maya sites. 
 
34G MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 jacket shows a tasteful pattern in lines, and is orna¬ 
 mented with six rayless stars; a broad sash of shell-work 
 reaches from his neck to his knees; the ear ornaments 
 are peculiar.. His headdress, with handsomely executed 
 flowers, has a grotesque face on top, and out of the knot 
 at the back falls a plume of feathers. In his right hand 
 the priest holds a sacrificial knife, and his left hand 
 lies against the front of the tiger’s head.” There is 
 also a short inscription of nine characters, arranged in 
 the form of a T, between the two figures. 
 
 Although showing much variation in the ground plan, 
 in accordance with the surface topography, the cities 
 are very similar in general architecture. The extant 
 ruins are mainly those of temples and palaces, arranged 
 about paved courts, or crowning isolated hills, accom¬ 
 panied by monuments erected here and there. The tem¬ 
 ples and other pretentious buildings are set upon a 
 series of great stone bases, formed like the lower tiers of 
 pyramids, so that the edifices that crown the top are 
 accessible by steps from all directions. The chambers 
 and passage ways are roofed over, either by horizontal 
 beams and architraves, or by the use of pointed arches, 
 high and narrow, with straight sides, like the capital 
 letter A. Occasionally, too, the point is truncated and 
 finished by a short horizontal piece, like the cross-bar 
 of the same letter. The isolated steles are monolithic, 
 with usually two opposing flat surfaces for carving, and 
 are often securely set into the cement that forms the 
 pavement of the plaza or court. 
 
 Everywhere, upon convenient surfaces, walls, stelae, 
 and even steps, there is a profusion of carving, done in 
 an archaic, and often grotesque, style suggestive of 
 
Fig. 85.—After Teobert Maler. 
 
348 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 Egyptian and early Greek art (Mycenean). The iso¬ 
 lated stelee are carved, usually upon two opposite sides, 
 with conventionalized human figures, apparently por¬ 
 traits of distinguished personages, who are probably 
 priestly rulers. They are accompanied by heads and 
 other symbols of various deities, expressing their par¬ 
 ticular allegiance, and in a few cases human victims, 
 alive and bound with cords, lie at their feet. In all cases, 
 on stele or wall or step, the available places, such as the 
 spaces between pictures, are covered with inscriptions, 
 called for convenience glyphs, in the same square form 
 and of the same general appearance as those preservd 
 in the few extant manuscripts. Their variety, however, 
 is endless and thus they seem to be not phonetic symbols, 
 but an elaborate system of pictographs, perhaps given 
 a definite meaning by combining them with certain ideo¬ 
 graphic signs. In some favored spots, also, as upon the 
 interior walls of chambers, extensive mural paintings 
 are still to be seen. 
 
 In all cases time and luxuriance of tropical vegeta¬ 
 tion have crumbled the stone and forced the joints apart, 
 and unless they are speedily taken care of the destruc¬ 
 tion of these beautiful ruins is inevitable. The fall of 
 a giant tree that holds in the tenacious grasp of its roots 
 important pieces of masonry may do irreparable dam¬ 
 age to the site of a temple or palace, while a forest fire, 
 that often engenders a high degree of heat, especially 
 if followed at once by a rainstorm, while the stone is still 
 hot, might prove the complete destruction of an entire 
 city. In addition to natural forces, however, innu¬ 
 merable human atrocities are ever imminent, especially 
 under the sway of a lax Central American government, 
 
PREHISTORY OF THE TWO AMERICAS 
 
 340 
 
 and the gravest dangers are feared by archeologists for 
 the safety of these priceless ruins. In one case a con¬ 
 cession of land, which happened to include an important 
 prehistoric city, was given by the government to some 
 native woodchoppers for a few dollars; in another a 
 railroad has been run perilously near an important site, 
 and the inevitable train of unregulated visitors have 
 scraped off precious bits of mural painting “and the 
 clean white space thus made upon the wall has been 
 utilized to inscribe visitors’ names and mongrel 
 poetry. ’’ 1 
 
 Even the native Mayas, although descendants of the 
 race who built the monuments, retain little or no national 
 consciousness, and are dangerous in several ways: some 
 dig in all directions through the ruins, in search of the 
 great stores of gold and treasure which they believe to 
 be buried there; others fear the magical power of the 
 effigies carved upon the steles, and render them harm¬ 
 less by the simple and childish device of obliterating 
 their faces. It is thus with pleasure that we here record 
 the praiseworthy efforts of at least one enterprise to 
 clear and preserve intact these priceless ruins. The 
 United Fruit Co. has recently acquired some land in 
 Guatemala, within which is situated the city site of 
 Quirigua, a typical ruin. This site the Company, at the 
 suggestion of its local manager, Mr. Victor M. Cutter 
 of Porto Barrios, has set apart for a permanent park, 
 and intends to free the ruins from their load of tropical 
 vegetation, to have them thoroughly excavated and kept 
 
 1 Edw. II. Thompson, in Memoirs, Peabody Museum, Yol. 3, 
 No. 1, p. 10. 
 
350 
 
 MAX’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 from further destruction, and eventually to render the 
 site accessible for visitors and students. 
 
 This work is now well under way, under the manage¬ 
 ment of Mr. Edgar L. Hewett, aided by the St. Louis 
 Society of the Archeological Institute of America, who 
 have already published the report of Mr. Hewitt’s work 
 for the first two years of the undertaking (1910, 1911). 1 
 Quirigua will probably thus become for some time the 
 most available site for the study of the prehistoric civ¬ 
 ilization of Central America, yet it is to be hoped that 
 either the local governments, or the enterprise of private 
 societies and individuals, will in the near future subject 
 the other important sites to a similar treatment. 
 
 70. American Graves .—Among many tribes of the 
 American Indians the cult of the dead was well devel¬ 
 oped, and in those cases in which the body was placed 
 in a grave or tomb the most valued possessions of the 
 deceased were frequently buried with him. 2 During the 
 summer of 1913 an important aboriginal cemetery was 
 unearthed at Burr’s Hill in Warren, R, I., the Indian 
 “Sowwams,” chief town of the Wampanoags. This cem¬ 
 etery, as dated from the associated objects, covers the 
 trade period with Europeans in that place, and ends, 
 naturally, with the death of King Philip, their leader, 
 and the flight of the tribe (about 1600-1676). Great 
 
 1 Edgar L. Hewett, “Two Seasons’ Work in Guatemala.” 
 Bull. Archeol. Inst. Amer., June. 1911. Of. also a paper by 
 Neil M. Judd, in Amer. Anthropoh, Vol. 17, 1915, pp. 128-138, 
 with account of the work of making plaster casts of works of 
 art at Quirigua. 
 
 2 For a recent summary of methods of burial among the 
 North American Indians, cf. David I. Bushnell, Jr.. “Native 
 Gemeteries and Forms of Burial East of the Mississippi,” as 
 Bulletin 71 of the Bureau of Amer. Ethnology, 1920. 
 
PREHISTORY OF THE TWO AMERICAS 
 
 351 
 
 quantities of kettles, spoons, knives, beads, pipes, swords, 
 and guns, as well as numerous other objects, were ob¬ 
 tained, all of English, French, and Dutch manufacture, 
 besides much native wampum and pottery. Generally 
 there was a quantity of red pigments, in powder or 
 lumps, and the few pieces of dried skin found showed 
 that this same pigment had been used in some cases to 
 cover the body of the deceased. 
 
 Allowing for the new elements in the objects found, 
 introduced by trade with Europeans, the graves found 
 at Warren correspond exactly to the descriptions of the 
 older graves excavated on Cape Cod (Truro) by the 
 Plymouth Pilgrims in November, 1620, while the May¬ 
 flower lay in the harbor at Provincetown. One of the 
 excavators, probably William Bradford, gives the fol¬ 
 lowing account: 
 
 “and as we came into the plaine ground, wee found a 
 place like a graue, but it was much bigger and longer 
 than we had yet scene. It was also covered with boords, 
 so as we mused what it should be, and resolved to dig it 
 vp, where we found, first a Matt, and vnder that a fayre 
 Bow, and there another Matt, and vnder that a boorcl 
 about three quarters long, finely carued and paynted, 
 with three tynes, or brooches on the top, like a Crowne; 
 also between the Matts we found Boules, Trayes, Dishes, 
 and such like Trinkets; at length we came to a faire new 
 Matt, and vnder that two Bundles, the one bigger, the 
 other lesse. We opened the greater and found in it a 
 great quantitie of fine and perfect red Powder, and in 
 it the bones and skull of a man. The skull had fine yel¬ 
 low haire still on it, and some of the flesh vnconsumed; 
 there was bound up with it a knife, a packneedle and 
 two or threefold iron things. It was bound up in savior’s 
 canvas Casacke, and a payre of cloth breeches; the red 
 powder was a kind of Embaulment, and yeelded a strong, 
 
352 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 but not offensiue smell, it was as fine as any flower. We 
 opened the lesse bundle likewise, and found of the same 
 Powder in it, and the bones and head of a little childe, 
 about the leggs, and other parts of it was bound strings, 
 and bracelets of fine white Beads; there was also by it 
 a little Bow about three quarters long, and some other 
 odd knackes; we brought sundry of the pretiest things 
 away with vs, and covered the Corps vp again. After 
 this, we digged in sundry like places, but found no more 
 Corne, nor anything else but Graues: There was varietie 
 of opinions amongst vs about the embalmed person; 
 some thought it was an Indian Lord and King: others 
 sayd, the Indians haue all blacke hayre, and never any 
 was seene with brown or yellow hayre; some thought it 
 was a Christian of some speciall note, which had dyed 
 amongst them, and they thus buried him to honour him; 
 others thought, they had killed him, and did it in triumph 
 over him. ’ ’ 1 
 
 This early account of the archeological investigations 
 by the New England Puritans reveals them as very much 
 like their present descendants, and showing some true 
 scientific interest in their red brothers, although, per¬ 
 haps, not a wholly sympathetic one. We certainly share 
 with them their doubts concerning the body with the 
 “fine yellow hayre,” as we are prevented from consid¬ 
 ering it simply faded, as sometimes occurs in old graves, 
 by the evident recency of the burial with “some of the 
 flesh unconsumed.” Their surmises concerning this 
 problematic body have been shared by all later commen¬ 
 tators, but there is not the least doubt concerning the 
 aboriginal nature of the graves in general, and their 
 condition. As in this excavation by the Puritans, great 
 masses and lumps of a similar red powder, undoubtedly 
 
 1 “Mourt’s Relation,” first paper. 
 
PREHISTORY OF THE TWO AMERICAS 
 
 353 
 
 a paint or pigment, were found in the graves excavated 
 at Warren, R. I., in 1913, and in at least one case an 
 extensive portion of skin from one of the bodies was 
 found dried, and covered with this paint, which seemed 
 to have acted as a preservative. This red powder is 
 often characteristic of aboriginal graves, as was found 
 recently during the excavation of graves in Maine. In 
 many of these, where all traces of bones and teeth had 
 long disappeared, the indestructible red powder was 
 frequently found in abundance. 
 
 In aboriginal interments the body was seldom if ever 
 placed in the grave in an extended position, but was 
 folded up in some more or less natural position. Rarely, 
 as was often the case with the more distinguished dead, 
 the body was placed in a true sitting position, but this 
 is usually a journalistic phrase, and adapted to express 
 any of the many possible folded positions. A common 
 position for western Massachusetts was a folded or 
 flexed one, the body lying on the right side, with the 
 knees to the chin, and the arms placed together with the 
 hands in front of the face. There is often a more or 
 less universal custom locally to place all bodies in a 
 similar orientation to the points of the compass, and 
 in excavation this point should always be carefully 
 noted, but even when a certain position seems the rule, 
 there are likely to be many exceptions. 
 
 Concerning the probable reasons for folding aborigi¬ 
 nal bodies, the similar customs still in use among other 
 primitive peoples, are very suggestive. There may be 
 only the utilitarian idea of putting the body into as 
 small a compass as possible to avoid digging a large hole; 
 there are also frequently found definite ideas connected 
 
MAX'S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 354 
 
 with certain religions beliefs. Of these the most general 
 seems to be some idea of the possible possession of the 
 body by an evil spirit, which, without a body, naturally 
 cannot do very much harm. For this very reason it is 
 plain that such a spirit seeks to enter a recent body in 
 order to accomplish his purposes, and it is the desire of 
 the friends of the deceased to prevent such action. Con¬ 
 sequently it often becomes the custom to bind and tie 
 up a body as soon as life departs, as a preventive of its 
 later possession, and the bones of such a bound body, 
 long after the decay both of the flesh and of the leathern 
 bonds, would be in just the position as is actually the 
 case. 
 
 With an aboriginal body certain objects, like the weap¬ 
 ons or other personal utensils, or the food bowls or 
 other dishes, are frequently placed, and thus a grave, 
 even when the bones have long since disappeared, is 
 often a fruitful source of valuable objects. 
 
 Quite aside from interment in the earth, the other 
 forms of the disposal of the dead, like suspension of the 
 body upon the bough of a tree, burial of the whole body 
 or of its dismembered portions in an urn, occur in 
 various parts of America. Cremation does not seem to 
 have been practiced in the New World. 1 
 
 71. Mounds, Funereal and Commemorative .—A mound 
 in the sense of a raised hillock of earth more or less reg¬ 
 ular in shape and raised above the surrounding surface, 
 may be the result of various causes. It may be due 
 to agencies other than human, as the so-called 
 
 1 For a general synopsis of the mortuary customs of the 
 North American Indians, cf. Yarrow, in Annual Reports of the 
 Bureau of Ethnology, Vol. 1. 
 
PREHISTORY OF THE TWO AMERICAS 355 
 
 “ tree-mounds , 9 ’ resulting from the uprooting of a great 
 tree, and the subsequent deposition of the earth and 
 stones held by the roots; or, again, it may be connected 
 with human activities although produced quite uninten¬ 
 tionally, as in the case of wind-blown sand heaped over 
 the ruins of an abandoned pueblo or town site. Such 
 city mounds, or tells, 1 are seen by hundreds in the plains 
 of Mesopotamia, and similar ones occur in great num¬ 
 bers in the northern part of Mexico. 2 
 
 Distinct from all such are mounds intentionally con¬ 
 structed by the hand of man, and of these there are many 
 kinds, corresponding to a variety of purposes. Some 
 may form a part of a system of defensive earthworks, 
 or be erected as the foundation of some other structure; 
 others are funeral or commemorative, that is, tombs 
 or monuments. 
 
 The development of a funereal mound as a grave for 
 a single individual may receive at least a partial expla¬ 
 nation from the custom yet practically universal over 
 large portions of China. In this latter country the dead 
 are not buried, that is, inhumed beneath the surface; 
 but the coffin, often a ponderous affair, is placed some¬ 
 where in a field or on the ground at the base of a city 
 wall, and covered, perhaps with a straw thatch, a tiled 
 roof, or eventually surrounded by a brick wall, built 
 close about it. As a second stage, which may occur 
 months, or even years afterward, the earth is heaped 
 around and above the entire structure, and forms a more 
 or less pretentious mound. 
 
 'Arabic word, used throughout Mesopotamia to designate 
 such structures. 
 
 2 Cf. Carl Lumholz, “Unknown Mexico,” 1902, Vol. 1, Chap. IV, 
 
356 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 Many of the mounds of artificial origin, which occur 
 all over North America, and especially in Ohio and 
 Wisconsin, betray upon excavation a structure similar to 
 these recent Chinese ones: a mound of earth, and at their 
 core a single skeleton, often enclosed in a stone cist or 
 
 erected over them. (After Thomas.) 
 
 tomb chamber of some sort. The matter is often ren¬ 
 dered at first sight more complicated by the presence of 
 other aboriginal skeletons, placed irregularly over the 
 surface, and evidently due to the intrusive burial, often 
 centuries after the erection of the original mound, of 
 other bodies, whose friends sought the spot either from 
 
PREHISTORY OF THE TWO AMERICAS 357 
 
 the supposed sancity of such places, or because of the 
 more utilitarian advantage of digging in a spot of soft 
 
 soil. 
 
 When actually excavated, such mounds reveal their 
 purpose as tombs of the dead (tumuli) by the presence 
 
 Fig. 87.—The Gallaway Mound, Munroe Co., Tennessee. Here there is a special 
 chamber, defined by a circle of stones, but without roof or floor, in which 
 were four skeletons. The rest, ten in number, were outside of this circle, but 
 still beneath the middle portion of the mound, and at the same level as the 
 rest. They are thus contemporary with the enclosed ones, and not the result 
 of later intrusive burials. (After Thomas.) 
 
 in the center of one or more bodies, the position of which 
 is directly related to the position of the mound, form¬ 
 ing its core. In the simplest cases the body, or bodies, 
 were laid either flat upon the ground or upon the floor 
 

 Fig. 88.—Mound in Allamakee Co., Iowa. Within this is a stone chamber, en¬ 
 closing a seated skeleton, surrounded by vases and other utensils. (After 
 Thomas.) 
 
 Fig. 89.—Vertical section through the central axis. 
 
 Fig. 9D.—Ground Plan. 
 
 Two plans of a mound in Jo Daviess Co., Ill., 10 feet high, and 65 feet in 
 diameter. It contained a crypt 13 by 7 feet in ground plan, with an inner 
 chamber 7 feet square. This contained eleven seated skeletons. 
 
PREHISTORY OB 1 THE TWO AMERICAS 
 
 359 
 
 of a shallow pit, and the mound piled directly upon 
 them (Fig. 86); or perhaps a large part were thus 
 treated, while a few, evidently the more eminent per¬ 
 sonages, were partially protected by rings of stones 
 (Fig. 87). In other cases the stone protection becomes 
 a complete cist, or coffin, or an elaborate tomb chamber, 
 within which the dead were laid, surrounded by their 
 possessions, in the form of pottery or stone implements. 
 (Fig. 88-90.) 
 
 Mounds of these various types occur in many parts 
 of the United States; so generally distributed, in fact, 
 that in a recent map of mounds in this country east of 
 the Mississippi, the one territory adequately studied in 
 this respect, the only states in which mounds have not 
 been found thus far are Vermont and Delaware. While 
 few and scattered along the Atlantic slope, except for 
 a small territory in Florida, they occur in profusion in 
 the Central Eastern states, that is, Wisconsin, Michigan, 
 Illinois, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Wisconsin pos¬ 
 sesses, almost exclusively, .the singular type known as 
 elongate mounds, in the form of long ramparts, and 
 shares with Ohio the possession of the so-called effigy 
 mounds, with outlines in the form of various animals; 
 turtles, serpents, or birds with outspread wings. Other 
 than in shape, however, these singular mounds are not 
 different from the rest. 1 
 
 Concerning the builders of the mounds, later investi¬ 
 gation has found nothing in support of the older view, 
 widely diffused in school textbooks and in popular writ- 
 
 1 The most extensive work upon the mounds of the XT. S. 
 is that of Cyrus Thomas, “Burial Mounds of Northern United 
 States,” in B. of Ethnol., 5th Ann. Rep., 1SS3-S4. 
 
360 
 
 MAN'S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 ings, that they were the work of a race other than the 
 modern Indian. The skeletons thus far found are of 
 Indian type, and certain mounds have been erected quite 
 within historic times, or within the tribal memory of the 
 Indians themselves. In the writings of the early mis¬ 
 sionaries and explorers, also, there is abundant evidence 
 of the causal association of Indians with mounds. 
 
 Some of the most extensive mound formation in the 
 United States occurs in certain parts of Ohio, such as 
 the Scioto Valley at Chillicothe and the Muskingam 
 Valley at Marietta. At such sites there occur various 
 types of earthworks, ramparts, platforms, and simple 
 mounds, the ground plans of which suggest the former 
 presence of something like a city, which, in the time 
 of its culmination, covered with such superstructures as 
 the Indians were able to build, must have made an 
 imposing appearance. At Marietta, for instance, on a 
 level plain at the juncture of the Muskingam with the 
 Ohio, the first white settlers saw a series of pretentious 
 earthworks, which, judging from contemporary paint¬ 
 ings and other sketches, consisted of raised embank¬ 
 ments in the form of two great squares and a large 
 mound, surrounded by a moat; also from the middle of 
 one side of the larger square ran two long walls par¬ 
 allel with each other, evidently forming the sides of a 
 broad avenue leading away from the square, and sug- 
 esting a via sacra , or path for ceremonial processions. 
 The idea is still further suggested by the great flat 
 platforms, or temple foundations, placed within the 
 larger square. 
 
 The present city of Marietta is practically coincident 
 with this pretentious site of the aborigines, and the 
 
PREHISTORY OF THE TWO AMERICAS 
 
 361 
 
 earthworks are mostly leveled or built into streets. The 
 largest of the “temple sites” is now used for the new 
 city library, which insures its preservation, and the great 
 mound had its perpetuation secured by selecting the 
 surrounding land as the site for the modern cemetery. 
 This mound is thirty feet in height, and one hundred 
 and fifteen feet in diameter, beyond which is a moat 
 fifteen feet wide and four feet deep, with an external 
 enclosing rampart outside of this. On one side the 
 mound is provided with a flight of modern steps, ascend¬ 
 ing to a flat area on the top, where are placed several 
 seats for the accommodation of visitors. 1 
 
 72. American Petroglyphs and Other Form of Writ¬ 
 ing .—The generic word petroglyph, signifying any carv¬ 
 ing executed upon stone, is used more especially to mean 
 something carved in such a way as to impart informa¬ 
 tion—in a broad sense, an inscription. Such petroglyphs, 
 which consist in part of definite, clearly recognized pic¬ 
 tures, and in part of lines of unknown significance, occur 
 throughout the United States, engraved, sometimes 
 upon the sides of cliffs and large boulders, sometimes 
 upon smaller slabs and stones. A typical petroglyph, 
 and one which has become historic, in the sense of hav¬ 
 ing been much exploited, visited, and written about, is 
 the famous Dighton Rock, near Fall River, Mass. For 
 a time, when American archeology was in its infancy, 
 
 1 For a description of this site, as well as many others, the 
 classic authority is Squier and Davis,” Ancient Monuments of 
 the Mississippi Valley,” Smithsonian Institution, 1S47. This is 
 provided with numerous maps and ground plans. The volume 
 forms the first number of the “Smithsonian Contributions to 
 Knowedge,” and is a worthy beginning volume from an institu¬ 
 tion that was then in its infancy. 
 
3G2 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 this rock was brought into connection with a partially 
 armored Indian skeleton found in the neighborhood, 
 “the Skeleton in Armor,” and also with a stone mill 
 belonging to one of the early white settlers of Newport, 
 and probably built by him; and the whole series of 
 objects, taken together, were considered to be the remains 
 
 Fig. 91.—A recent photograph of the famous Dighton Rock, as it lies in the 
 Taunton River, exposed at high tide. (From a photograph loaned by E. B. 
 Delabarre.) 
 
 of an early Scandinavian colony. This, under the lead¬ 
 ership of one Leif Eriksen, came to some unknown coun¬ 
 tries in the west about the year 1000 A. D., and one of 
 these, called in the saga “Vinland the Good,” has been 
 doubtfully identified with the shores of Massachusetts or 
 "Rhode Island. The Dighton Rock inscription is, how¬ 
 ever, mainly Indian, with later additions, and shows 
 
PREHISTORY OF THE TWO AMERICAS 
 
 363 
 
 the typical style characteristic of aboriginal picto- 
 graphs. 1 
 
 Although there has been as yet no great success in 
 reading or understanding these inscriptions, some light 
 is shed upon the subject by studying the devices and 
 or the lower side of buffalo hides, worked into the deco¬ 
 inscriptions of our modern Indians, who are able not 
 only to make such writings, but to tell us what they 
 mean by them, and how they are read. This picture 
 writing of the present time is wrought upon birch bark 
 rative patterns of baskets or wampum belts, or even tat¬ 
 tooed into the skin of their own bodies. From such stud¬ 
 ies it may be deduced: (1) that the American aborigines 
 made no attempt at phonetic writing, that is, the repre¬ 
 sentation of definite vocal sounds by conventional char¬ 
 acters; 2 (2) that their main attempts at expressing 
 thoughts were by means of pictures that portrayed actual 
 events, or represented an idea; and (3) that certain of 
 these symbols, often used, became highly conventional¬ 
 ized and obscure, and required to be learned individ¬ 
 ually to give any meaning. Many of these obscurer 
 signs, however, probably represent a natural develop¬ 
 ment from an older form in which a definite picture was 
 apparent, and which, losing lines and curves as it be- 
 
 1 For a critical historical study of the Dighton Rock, and 
 especially the psychology of those who have investigated it, 
 cf. the exhaustive papers of E. B. Delabarre. These are (1) 
 “Early Interest in Dighton Rock.” Cambridge, Univ. Press, 
 1916; (2) “Middle Period of Dighton Rock History,” ibid., 
 1917; (3) “Recent History of Dighton Rock.” ibid., 1919. These 
 napers were issued as Publications of the Colonial Society of 
 Massachusetts. 
 
 2 Students of Central American archeology are inclined to 
 find traces of the use of certain symbols as representatives of 
 definite sounds, and thus be truly phonetic. 
 
364 
 
 MAN'S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 comes frequently made, in time comes to be represented 
 by but a few lines of the original picture, and these 
 highly conventional. Such a character would in time 
 pass through the stage of being an actual picture ( pic - 
 tograph) and become a symbol or sign ( ideograph ), 
 meaningless to anyone ignorant of the past history 
 through which this symbol has gone. 
 
 Still another principle may be considered in connec¬ 
 tion with the writings of North American Indians, and 
 that is the high development of the gesture language. 
 This consists of an almost countless number of positions 
 and actions of the arms and hands, by means of which an 
 elaborate and often detailed conversation may be carried 
 on by parties at a distance; and since the signs were 
 the same over a wide area, and among different tribes, 
 this form of language could be used equally well where 
 the spoken tongues of the two parties were mutually 
 incomprehensible. If, now, an Indian attempted to 
 record certain definite ideas upon a stone or piece of 
 leather, it would often occur to him to make a picture, 
 not of the idea itself, but of the particular gesture of 
 arms and hands which gave everywhere the same idea, 
 and there would thus arise a character which, even while 
 still in the picture stage, would convey no meaning to a 
 European scholar. 
 
 The above principles may be illustrated, and the 
 psychology of Indian writing be explained, by a few 
 illustrations taken from two common forms of native 
 literature, winter-counts and mnemonic songs. The for¬ 
 mer, kept by the wise men of the tribe, were a sort of 
 calendar to record the tribal annals, and in the case of a 
 man who began as a young man, or whose memory was 
 
PREHISTORY OF THE TWO AMERICAS 365 
 
 to be trusted, and who eventually lived to a ripe old 
 age, might extend over a long period. As the years had 
 no consecutive numbers, and dated from no definite 
 event, they were designated, in the mind of the recorder, 
 by the characteristics of each winter, or by some marked 
 event that took place during this season, and these char¬ 
 acteristics were recorded, usually upon the inner side of 
 a tanned buffalo hide, by means of symbols. 
 
 In spite of the strongly individual, and often local, 
 nature of such records, one made by a man of influence 
 would be known to the Indians over a large territory, 
 and used by them as a calendar. Thus the winter-count 
 of Lone-Dog, which extended over seventy-one winters, 
 beginning with that of 1800-1801, “was known to a large 
 portion of the Dakota people. ’ ’ 1 This particular record 
 is painted upon a buffalo skin, with the symbols placed 
 in the form of a spiral, beginning at the center; and as 
 usual, each symbol represents a winter, and records an 
 event by which it was rendered memorable. Thus, for 
 the first winter (1801-1802), the symbol given means 
 “thirty Dakotas were killed by Crow Indians.” There 
 is here no sign for Crows, which is intended to be remem¬ 
 bered, but a long black mark always signifies the death 
 of a Dakota. The sign for the second winter signifies 
 “Many died of smallpox,” and is a sufficient record of 
 the disease, especially in the natural colors, with the 
 blotches in red, but gives no symbol for ‘ ‘ many, ’ ’ which 
 
 1 Col. Garrick Mallery, “Picture Writing of the American 
 Indians.” BM. of Ethnol., 10th Ann. Rept., 1888-89, p. 266 seq. 
 This work, which occupies an entire volume, is of the greatest 
 importance, for the subject of Indian inscriptions of all sorts. 
 Lone-Dog’s buffalo robe, with the winter-count painted upon it, 
 is here given in color. 
 
366 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 again is to be remembered. The horseshoe for the third 
 winter signifies “A Dakota stole horses with shoes on/’ 
 and the fourth winter, “They stole some curly horses 
 from the Crows,” is for them sufficiently indicated by 
 a horse covered with black spots. 
 
 Often, however, the symbol was more obscure, as in 
 the symbol for the winter of 1810-11, “Black-stone made 
 medicine.” For this one must first know that a buffalo’s 
 head is very important in the “making of medicine,” 
 
 pig 92 ._a “winter-count,” or Indian calendar, which has a separate sign for 
 
 “ each winter, recording some signal event that, to the maker of the count, 
 has seemed of sufficient importance to be used to designate that particular 
 season. Thig is a fragment of the winter-count of Lone-Dog, a Dakota Indian. 
 The original was painted in a spiral upon the inside of a buffalo-hide. The 
 figure is explained further in the text. (After Mallory.) 
 
 i.e., the conducting of important incantations, and then 
 must recognize as such the curious object attached in an 
 inverted position to the head of the medicine man. 
 Lone-Dog, as it seemed, used no designations to mark 
 the various men who appeared in his inscription, but in 
 certain other winter-counts that was done by attaching 
 a symbol representing the name to the head of the 
 figure. 
 
 The winter, as a whole, when spoken of, was desig- 
 
PREHISTORY OF THE TWO AMERICAS 
 
 367 
 
 nated throughout the area which employed a certain 
 winter-count by a compound word giving the character¬ 
 istic of that season. Thus, in the winter count of Bat- 
 tiste Good, a Boule Dakota, which included almost the 
 entire eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and natu¬ 
 rally required several successive annalists, the sjunbols 
 for the first ten winters were to be read as follows: 
 
 1701- 02 The-three-killed-who-went-fishing winter 
 
 1702- 03 Camped-cutting-the-ice-through winter 
 
 1703- 04 The-burying winter 
 
 1704- 05 Killed-fifteen-Pawnees-who-came-to-fight winter 
 
 1705- 06 They-eame-and-killed-seven-Dakotas winter 
 
 1706- 07 Killed-the-Gros-Ventre-with-snow-shoes-on win¬ 
 
 ter 
 
 1708-09 Brought-home-Omaha-horses winter 
 
 These are hardly to be designated as “the annals of a 
 quiet life!” On the contrary, the hardships of primi¬ 
 tive life are frequently but too evident, as in 1720-21, 
 “Three-lodges-starved-to-death winter,” or in 1722-23 
 ‘‘ Deep - snow - and - only-tops-of-lodges-visible winter. ’’ 
 These events were occasionally interspersed with a 
 thrilling encounter, like the somewhat unchivalrous one 
 of 1729-30, “Killed-the-Pawnees-encamped-alone-with- 
 their-wives winter,” or that of 1773-74, the “Killed- 
 two-Pawnee-boys-while-playing winter.” The winter of 
 1791-92 was hardly an exciting one, the most noted 
 event being recorded in the title, “ Saw-a-white-woman 
 winter.” 
 
 A mnemonic song was inscribed, usually upon a scroll 
 of birch bark, and was used by the priests during their 
 elaborate ceremonies as an aid to the memory. The rit¬ 
 ual was, of course, carefully memorized, but upon the 
 
368 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 document in question a symbol stood for each line, and 
 suggested its meaning. It was thus much as though a 
 child, who was to recite at a public gathering some well- 
 known poem, should aid his memory as to both the 
 sequence and the contents of each stanza, by drawing a 
 little picture illustrating them in order, and should hold 
 it before him when reciting. Thus in a certain chant 
 of the Ojibwa (Chippewa) Indians, at a certain point in 
 the ceremony, the shaman says: 
 
 ‘ ‘ When I come out the sky becomes clear, 
 
 The spirit has given me power to see. 
 
 I brought the medicine to bring life. 
 
 I, too, see how much there is. 
 
 I am going to the medicine lodge 
 I take life from the sky. 
 
 Let us talk to one another 
 
 The spirit is in my body, my friend.’’ 
 
 As he says this, he looks at a certain part of his scroll 
 of bark, upon which are painted the following eight 
 pictures, each illustrative of one of the above lines. The 
 first of these is a sacred otter skin, the use of which 
 brings a clear sky. In the second the priest is seated 
 upon a mountain, communing with the god Manido. The 
 third represents the thunder bird flying up and entering 
 the sky, not a very obvious connection with the lines to 
 be remembered, and the fourth is still more obscure, but 
 suggests again the idea of seeing from a mountain. The 
 fifth is a leg going to the lodge, and in the sixth an arm 
 is reaching up toward a sacred shell, while the myste¬ 
 rious power of life is shown by a zigzag line, perhaps 
 suggestive of the lightning. No. 7 is obvious, if we 
 understand by the circles simply the location of the two 
 
sented here is explained in the text. (After Mallory.) 
 
370 
 
 MAN'S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 speakers, and in No. 8 the spirit, by means of these same 
 wavy lines, is entering the head of the priest. 
 
 It is through the study of such inscriptions, the mean¬ 
 ing of which is still remembered by certain individ¬ 
 uals, that one may at least get an idea that the various 
 petroglyphs—although perhaps their original interpre¬ 
 tation may never he recovered—may yet have had an 
 actual and very definite meaning for the people for 
 whom they were originally carved. Often, indeed, 
 where the pictographic character of the inscriptions is 
 still preserved, they seem to tell a definite story, with 
 numerous details; in other cases the pictures have given 
 place to idiographs, and the meaning is correspondingly 
 obscured. 1 
 
 Geographically, pictographs are spread over both 
 Americas. They are reported, sometimes in consider¬ 
 able numbers, from Canada, from nearly every state of 
 the Union, from Mexico, and the republics of South 
 America; also from the West Indies. In most localities, 
 they are crudely conceived and roughly executed, as in 
 those here figured, but in association with the higher 
 civilization of tropical America, especially that of the 
 Mayas, they developed, on the one hand, into decorative 
 
 1 Some extremely interesting attempts at the interpretation of 
 certain pictographs found in Rhode Island have recently ap¬ 
 peared ^ from the pen of Professor E. B. Delabarre. One treats 
 of an inscription on a stone axe, possibly once a signed pos¬ 
 session of the renowned King Philip; the other a rock carving 
 interpreted by the aid of the phonetic alphabet of George 
 Guest, a Cherokee, but given in the Wampanoag language. 
 R. I. Hist. Soc. Coll., Jan., 1920. A small boulder, covered 
 with inscriptions, a typical pictograpli, from Wrentham, Mass., 
 was described by the present author in the American Anthro¬ 
 pologist, Vol. 13, 1911, p. 65-07. It is the picture given here. 
 (Fig. 94). 
 
Fig. 94a.—Indian inscription carved upon a small boulder of trap rock, weighing about 30 pounds, and found 
 near “Joe’s Rock’’ in West Wrentham, Mass., about the year 1840. Two photographs of the boulder. 
 
372 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 figures in relief, and on the other, into a system of 
 square characters known as glyphs, the one leading 
 toward pictorial art, the other toward a more definite 
 form of writing. These two forms occur in close asso¬ 
 ciation over most of the available surfaces of the tem¬ 
 ples and palaces, and are especially abundant upon the 
 isolated steles or columns. These inscriptions and fig¬ 
 ures carved in relief upon stone edifices are almost or 
 
 Fig. 94b.—The inscription transcribed directly from the boulder shown in Fig. 94a, 
 
 made by the author. 
 
 quite identical with those found in the few parchment 
 books still preserved, the codices, and in attempting an 
 interpretation the two may thus be considered together. 
 
 73. Central American Glyphs and Codices .—In 
 studying the ruins of the great Maya-Quiche civiliza¬ 
 tion, and to some extent also that of the Aztecs to the 
 north of them, one is struck with the detailed account 
 of the people, their lives and their customs, depicted 
 
PREHISTORY OF THE TWO AMERICAS 373 
 
 in their sculpture. Everywhere, upon every available 
 place, lintels, side-walls, and even, in some cases, the 
 flights of steps, the surfaces are covered either with 
 reliefs, representing priests, gods, conquerors, suppli¬ 
 ants, and beneficiaries, or with rows of grotesque char¬ 
 acters called glyphs , arranged in squares and undoubt¬ 
 edly forming some sort of inscription. Especially pro¬ 
 fuse are the carvings upon the isolated monuments, or 
 stela, which were evidently mortuary and commem¬ 
 orative in character, and set forth the mighty deeds and 
 great wisdom of ancient leaders. 
 
 Yet, as the extant ruins are those of temples, palaces, 
 and public squares, while the simple bamboo huts of the 
 people have perished, so also do these unsculptured rec¬ 
 ords concern themselves mainly with the gods and great 
 human personages, while we catch only an occasional 
 glimpse of the rank and file mainly in the guise of sup¬ 
 pliants or sacrificial victims. The Maya civilization was 
 a complete hierarchy, as splendid as that of ancient 
 Egypt, and the stone records show noted priests resplen¬ 
 dent with decorations and clad in costly robes, yet too 
 often with cringing suppliants at their feet. Thus, at 
 Yaxchilan (Usumatsintla valley, South Mexico), series 
 of monumental stelas encircle the temples, and present 
 two flat sides for reliefs: the one turned toward the 
 temple displays the figure of a god, the other that of a 
 priest or warrior, without much doubt the personage for 
 whom the monument was erected. Before each side was 
 usually an altar, and as similar altars are pictured upon 
 the reliefs, in association with human victims, there is 
 little room for doubt that the real ones were employed, 
 at least occasionally, for the same purpose. 
 
Fig. 95.—Stele from Quirigua, covered with glyphs. (After Morley.) 
 
PREHISTORY OF THE TWO AMERICAS 
 
 Often, too , the priests bear idols or other sacred 
 objects in their hands, the latter suggestively similar to 
 the “medicine bundle” of many North American tribes, 
 used in their frequent ceremonials. An object of great 
 reverence singularly enough, was the cross, of quite the 
 same proportions as the usual Christian emblem, but 
 with a tuft of plumes, or perhaps conventionalized 
 branches, growing from the top of the itpright. This 
 emblem is frequently seen in the hands of the priest, 
 who grasps it by the upright, below the cross bar, and 
 is so suggestive of Christian rites, especially when thus 
 grasped, that an early connection with Christianity 
 might seem at first glance almost proved. Yet, on the 
 other hand, this emblem is not unlike those used in 
 Indian ceremonials at the present time, and must of 
 course be considered as having arisen independently of 
 Christianity. At least one monument, too, gives a sly 
 hint of the origin of the conventional deities, at least of 
 their apparition among men, for it reveals such a god, 
 with the robes of dignity and all the emblems and sym¬ 
 bols, in the act of removing a fierce-looking, quite impos¬ 
 sible and grotesque mask, and revealing behind it an 
 ordinary human face, strikingly like that of a Maya 
 priest. 
 
 The glyphs, square in outline, are placed in rows, 
 either horizontal or vertical, and occupy at times the 
 entire surface of a lintel or side of a stela; at others 
 they fill the otherwise plain background left around and 
 between the figures. Each glyph is a complex and intri¬ 
 cate carving, sometimes extremely so, in which are 
 embodied grotesque human profiles, arms, and hands; 
 writhing serpents; conventionalized figures, circular, 
 
A B 
 
 Fig. 96.—Outlines of glyphs from Palenque. 
 
 (a) From the temple of the Foliated Cross, (b) From the 
 temple of the Sun. (After Morley.) 
 
PREHISTORY OF THE TWO AMERICAS 
 
 377 
 
 oval, or elongated—the whole presenting such a bewil¬ 
 derment of scrolls and curves that one looks in vain for 
 the exact repetition of a single character. 1 
 
 “The first real advance in interpreting the Maya writ¬ 
 ing seems to have been made by Professor Ernst Forste- 
 mann of the Royal Library of Dresden, who in the 
 decade from 1880-1890 published a number of studies 
 on a Maya hieroglyphic manuscript in the Royal Library 
 at Dresden. Using Landa’s values for the day and 
 month signs, Forstemann finally worked out the basic 
 principles of Maya chronology, and in 1887 he an¬ 
 nounced the fundamental discovery that the long num¬ 
 bers of the Dresden Codex designate particular days in 
 Maya history, and are all counted from the same start¬ 
 ing point, a sort of Maya Birth of Christ as it were.” 
 
 Mr. Joseph Thompson Goodman, “after twelve years 
 of patient laborious research gradually won his way into 
 the general meaning of the Maya writing and demon¬ 
 strated that at least one-lialf of its two hundred odd 
 characters deal with the counting of time in one phase 
 or another, i.e., chronological and astronomical data ex¬ 
 pressed in an arithmetic system and notation of great 
 ingenuity and exceeding accuracy.” 2 
 
 There still remains a large mass of glyphs which are 
 neither calendric nor astronomical in meaning, and, as 
 
 1 For suggestions for the interpretation of the glyphs, cf. 
 Thomas, “Mayan Calendar Systems.” Part I, Ann. Rep., B. of 
 Ethnol, Vol. 19, Part 2, 1897-98; Part II, Ann. Rep., B. of 
 Ethnol., Vol. 22, Part 1, 1900-01. Bulletin No. 28 of the Bureau 
 of Ethnology (1904) on “Mexican Antiquities,” is practically 
 filled with papers on the glyphs and their possible meanings by 
 Forstermann and Seler, the founders of the study. A more 
 recent work, giving the results of our knowledge up to 1915, 
 is that of Sylvanus Griswold Morley, published as Bulletin 57 
 of the Bureau of Ethnology, Washington, 1915, and entitled 
 “An Introduction to the Study of Maya Hieroglyphics.” 
 
 2 The two above quotations are by Sylvanus Griswold Morley, 
 in Amer. Anthropol., Vol. 21, 1919, p. 443. 
 
378 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 they follow a given date, may well he the details of what 
 happened upon this date. 
 
 Although but little progress has yet been made to¬ 
 ward an interpretation of this extraordinary method of 
 recording thought, a few points have become fairly well 
 established and should be kept in mind. 
 
 1. The inscriptions are mainly calendar records of 
 the passage of time, the enumeration of the years as 
 related to certain great events. In this way they may 
 be perhaps extensions of the “winter-count” system ex¬ 
 plained a few pages back. As such glyphs must consist 
 largely of numerals, perhaps also of symbols which stand 
 for the names of noted personages or for the gods, and 
 as these are probably not phonetic, there is little likeli¬ 
 hood that the personal names may ever be recovered. 
 
 2. Each elemental picture used for the purpose of ex¬ 
 pressing a definite idea possesses but one essential char¬ 
 acteristic, often a single line or curve, while all the rest 
 may be varied in accordance with the ability or caprice 
 of an individual writer or carver. Thus the profile heads 
 appear to be mostly digits, in which, not the expression, 
 or any especial characteristic of the face, determines the 
 meaning, but some little point, like the cross over the 
 eye, or a plug through the ear. 1 
 
 As a suggestion of the way in which these Maya in¬ 
 scriptions might read, if they could be interpreted as 
 was doubtless done by their contemporaries, who remem¬ 
 bered the arbitrary meaning of numerous signs, we still 
 have a few Mexican annals, written down in Spanish 
 at the time of the conquest, or immediately after. Such, 
 
 1 After Morley. p. 97. 
 
PREHISTORY OF THE TWO AMERICAS 
 
 for example, is the “Cakchiguel Calendar,” which, 
 although employing a calendar system a little different 
 from that of the Mayas, may yet be taken as an example 
 of the style of these annals. Quotations from this are 
 as follows: 
 
 “The day of the revolt was appointed by this chief, 
 Cay Hunahpu, and on this day, 11th Ah, the revolt 
 broke out.” 
 
 “One year less ten days after the revolt was hanged 
 the chief orator Ahmoxnay on the day 11th Akbal.” 
 
 “The day 8 Ah completed the 14th year after the 
 revolt. 
 
 The day 5 Ah completed the 15th year after the revolt. 
 
 The day 2 Ah completed the 16th year after the revolt. 
 
 The day 12 Ah completed the 17th year after the 
 revolt. 
 
 The day 9 Ah completed the 18th year after the revolt. 
 
 On the day 3 Caok the doves passed over the city of 
 Iximche, . . . 100 days after the doves had been seen 
 the locusts came ... on the day lg. ” 
 
 “On the 10th Ah was completed the 35th year after 
 the revolt. Forty days were lacking to complete three 
 years from the date of the submission of the kings, when 
 Belehe Qat died ... on the 7th Quell.” 1 
 
 The Mexican manuscript books, or codices, are of the 
 same sort described by the early Spanish explorers, and 
 were destroyed by thousands during the fierce religious 
 propaganda conducted by the Jesuit missionaries. A 
 very few of these survive in American and European 
 museums, and have been the subject of much study and 
 research. 2 
 
 a Quoted from the translation by Brinton, 1885. “The Annals 
 of the Cakehiquels,” by Cyrus Thomas, in 22nd Ann. Rep., B. 
 Of Eth., 1900-1901. pp. 275-277. 
 
 2 Cf. the facsimiles of the various codices published at the 
 expense of the Due de Loubet, and explained in detail by Dr. 
 
380 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 These manuscripts were written upon long strips of 
 sheepskin, made by piecing a number (15 to 20) of sep¬ 
 arate pieces together. Instead of being rolled, they are 
 folded back and forth, and bear a thin board at each 
 end, so placed that when the folding is complete the 
 two boards coincide and form the covers. The surface 
 of the skin is covered by a very fine stucco, and upon 
 this surface the pictures and symbols are painted in 
 bright colors. The few extant codices have survived as 
 if by miracle, and have run a hazard. Thus the Codex 
 Borgia, now in the Vatican Library, belonged to the 
 Italian family of the Giustiniani. In the seventeenth 
 century it was given to some children by -servants, un¬ 
 der the impression that it was a book of comic pictures, 
 and was rescued from them only after considerable muti¬ 
 lation had taken place. Through Cardinal Staphano 
 Borgia it came eventually to the Vatican. The Dresden 
 Codex can be traced back only to 1739, when it was dis¬ 
 covered at Vienna. It had been probably in the family 
 of some Spaniard who had traveled in Mexico. Codex 
 Vaticanus No. 3773 reached the Vatican Library about 
 the year 1570, but its earlier history is wholly unknown. 
 
 Concerning the contents and meaning of these remark¬ 
 able Mexican books there seem to be at least two kinds: 
 first, annals, like the carved glyphs of the Maya ruins, 
 and second, religious formulations concerning the gods, 
 and the calendars, used for purposes of divination and 
 for casting horoscopes. The first sort, to which the Dres- 
 
 Eduard Seler; also the various papers on Maya and Mexican 
 calendar systems, numerals, etc. (in Ann. Rep., B. of Eth., 
 3, 5, 16, 19, 22; Bull, of Eth. IS and Ann. Rep., Smithsonian 
 Inst., 1903). 
 
PREHISTORY OF THE TWO AMERICAS 3S1 
 
 den Codex belongs, contains, among pictures of gods with 
 their symbols, characters like the glyphs, many of which 
 may be read as numbers. In the second sort, of which 
 both Codex Borgia and Codex Vaticanus 3773 are typi¬ 
 cal examples, are set down the gods ruling the days and 
 hours, their attributes and their symbols, together with 
 numerous occult relationships between them and various 
 natural objects. They usually begin with the “Tona- 
 lamatl,” or the twenty daj^s of a calendar unit (a 
 month), with the god that rules over each, together with 
 his symbols; this section is followed by numerous others 
 of similar import, such as “The nine lords of the night 
 hours. ’ ’ “ The five and twenty divine pairs. ” “ The four 
 times five guardians of the Venus Period,” “The five 
 goddesses of the West and the five gods of the South,” 
 and so on. These data are usually in pictures alone, 
 without inscriptions, and have been interpreted in great 
 part through knowledge of the older Mayan and Mexi¬ 
 can mythology, as recorded by the Spaniards, and still 
 recalled in fragments by the living descendants of the 
 old native civilizations themselves. 
 
 A certain degree of correspondence between the 
 codices and the carved inscriptions upon the rock ruins 
 is an item of vast importance and gives us the hope that 
 by the use of both sources much of the mystery which has 
 always surrounded these ancient civilizations may be 
 ultimately explained. 
 
 74. Possible Connection Between the Civilization of 
 the Eastern and Western Worlds. —It is only natural, 
 in studying the remains of the civilization devel¬ 
 oped in Central America, with its highly developed hier¬ 
 archy and its extensive ritual, that one finds constant 
 
3S2 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 similarities or coincidences between them and the cults 
 of the Old World—Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, or early 
 Greece—and it is also natural that numerous theories 
 should arise of pre-columbian connection between the 
 two hemispheres. Especially has this field proved 
 attractive to mystics of all nations, those whose natural 
 impulses prefer the mysterious to the matter of fact. 
 Such students find without difficulty in these unknown 
 and imperfect relies of an involved priestcraft a direct 
 connection with mystic rites in other places and times. 
 
 While, however, one cannot be too dogmatic, it is at 
 present a safe point to remember that the more sober 
 scholars find in the American civilizations nothing which 
 cannot as well be explained through a development in 
 place, without the aid of extraneous influence. Thus in 
 what is yet known of the archeology of the New World, 
 neither bones nor ruins, neither culture deposits nor 
 artifacts, give any definite suggestion of anything fur¬ 
 ther than the activities of an homogeneous race of peo¬ 
 ple, comparatively late comers, who found their way 
 to the Western World a few thousand years ago, when 
 the surface of the land was about as at present, and who, 
 in the course of their generally nomadic existence, cov¬ 
 ered the greater part of both continents with a sparse 
 population. In certain spots favored by the climate, 
 they became more sedentary and developed a rather high 
 grade of civilization, advancing in culture to a grade 
 corresponding to the early Cyprolithic or even the early 
 Bronze Age of Europe. 
 
 The region of the Old World from which they came, 
 and the route or routes by which they attained the 
 American continent are still problems not definitely 
 
PREHISTORY OF THE TWO AMERICAS 
 
 383 
 
 solved, but, in the general opinion of scholars the place 
 of origin was somewhere in northeastern Asia, and the 
 route of approach was either by the Aleutian Islands, 
 across Behring Strait, or by a more southern route, in¬ 
 volving a longer or shorter journey by sea. The fact 
 that the inhabitants of both Americas were ignorant of 
 sails at the time of the discovery by Europeans shows 
 that any journeys by water must have been made in 
 primitive dugouts, propelled by paddles or oars. Con¬ 
 fessedly the manner by which the ancestors of the Amer¬ 
 ican Indians arrived in the New World is still obscure, 
 but the idea that they, like the late arrivals from 
 Europe, are not autochthonous but emigrants from the 
 Eastern Hemisphere, is opposed to no definite and posi¬ 
 tive facts and is quite in accord with the known data. 
 
CHAPTER. YI 
 
 KNOWN TYPES OF PREHISTORIC MAN 
 
 Early Speculations and Discoveries—The Neandertal Man 
 (1850)—More Individuals of the Neandertal Race; the 
 Two Skeletons of the Spy Grotto (1885-6)—The Cannibal 
 Feasts at Krapina (1899-1905)—The Young Boy in the 
 Cavern of LeMoustier (1907)—The Skeleton of La Cha- 
 pelle-aux-Saints (1908) ; The Most Recently Discovered Re¬ 
 mains of Homo neandertalensis —Some Ancient Skulls from 
 Old Collections, with Supposed Affinities to Homo nean¬ 
 dertalensis — The Three Quarternary Races of Homo 
 sapiens: Cro Magnon, Grimaldi, and Aurignac—Paleolithic 
 Human Remains of Doubtful Position, but Representing 
 the Modern Species, Homo sapiens —Late Paleolithic In¬ 
 terments ; the First Brachycephals—Early European Ape- 
 Man : Homo heidelbergensis and Eoanthropus dcvwsoni — 
 The Javan Ape-Man: Pithecanthropus erectus —Hesper- 
 opitliecus liaroldcooki—Speculations Concerning the Pedi¬ 
 gree of Modern Man. 
 
 75. Early Speculations and Discoveries. —To races 
 who are themselves well past the Stone Age the chance 
 discovery of definitely shaped instruments of flint and 
 other stones awakens a feeling of the mysterious, and 
 these objects become naturally associated with such 
 well-nigh universal myths as those of strife in heaven 
 and of wars among the gods, especially as the majority 
 of the instruments found are of a decidedly warlike 
 character. Thus in the eleventh century a “heaven 
 axe” was considered a suitable gift to pass between great 
 emperors, and “even as late as the seventeenth century 
 a. French ambassador brought a stone hatchet, which 
 
 384 
 
KNOWN TYPES OF PREHISTORIC MAN 
 
 385 
 
 still exists in the museum at Nancy, as a present to the 
 Prince-Bishop of Verdun, and claimed for it health- 
 giving virtues. 5,1 The early years of the eighteenth 
 century, however, began to dispel the mystery surround¬ 
 ing such objects, for travelers like Jussieu and Lafitau 
 described precisely similar implements which they had 
 seen in use among primitive peoples still alive; “also 
 there was found in the year 1715 in the heart of London 
 (Gray’s Inn Lane) a large pointed weapon of black flint 
 ... in contact with the bones of an elephant, in a 
 gravel bed.” 
 
 Yet instances like this last, so wholly at variance with 
 the teachings and ideas of the times, were for the most 
 part disregarded, and, although such cases were few and 
 far between, they were bound to multiply. Thus, in 
 the year 1800, John Frere found at considerable depth 
 in the clay beds of Hoxne, in Norfolkshire, crude flint 
 implements, which could not have been introduced there 
 but must have been built into the deposit during its 
 formation. Still better testimony to the existence of 
 prehistoric man in Britain came from the investigation 
 of a cavern near Torquay, in Devonshire, commonly 
 known as “Kent’s Hole,” the initial exploration of 
 which began in 1825 by the work of Rev. Mr. McEnery, 
 a Roman Catholic priest. He found here “in red loam 
 covered with stalagamite, not only bones of the mam¬ 
 moth, tichorrhine rhinoceros, cavebear, and other mam¬ 
 malia, but several remarkable flint tools, some of which 
 
 1 Andrew Dixon White, in the “History of the Warfare of 
 Science with Theology.” Appleton’s, New York, 1896, Vol. 
 1, pp. 266-267. From this source also is taken the list of early 
 discoveries of the remains of prehistoric man which immedi¬ 
 ately follows. 
 
MAX’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 386 
 
 he supposed to be of great antiquity.” 1 It is always 
 to be regretted that the discoverer kept bis notes in 
 manuscript and never published the detailed results 
 of his investigation. 
 
 Almost simultaneously with the first investigation of 
 Kent ’s Hole by McEnery (1823) ancient human bones 
 were found by Boue deep in the alluvial deposits of the 
 Tthine, under circumstances that showed them to have 
 been contemporaneous with the formation of the deposit, 
 but this discovery was not especially to the taste of 
 Cuvier, to whom the bones were brought, and the find 
 was virtually suppressed. 
 
 But such suppression can be but temporary and local, 
 and, once men’s attention was called to the possi¬ 
 bility of such discovery, no matter what their teachings 
 or tendencies, new reports of similar finds came thick 
 and fast, and in many parts of Europe. “In 182$ 
 Tournal, of Narbonne, discovered in the neighboring 
 cavern of Bize specimens of human industry, with a 
 fragment of a human skeleton, among bones of extinct 
 animals.” 2 In 1829 came the investigation of the caves 
 of Gard, near the former one, by Christol; in 1833 that 
 of the caverns of Engis, Engihoul, and many others in 
 Belgium by Schmerling; and in 1840 a renewed and 
 careful study of Kent ’s Hole by Godwin Austin. In 
 these researches human bones were frequently found; 
 for instance, there was obtained at Engis the cranial 
 portion of a skull, and at La Naulette a jaw, which ex¬ 
 cited special interest. Later investigation has resulted 
 in a lessened interest in the skull from Engis, but the 
 
 1 Sir Charles Lyell, “Antiquity of Man,” London, 1873, p. 98. 
 
 2 Andrew D. White, loc, cit., p. 270. 
 
KNOWN TYPES OF PREHISTORIC MAX 
 
 3S7 
 
 La Naulette jaw is chinless, and may be brought into 
 line with a number of later discoveries to be consid¬ 
 ered elsewhere. All these discoveries, so far as con¬ 
 cerned actual skeletons, were soon eclipsed by the discov¬ 
 ery in 1856 on German soil, but near the Belgian fron¬ 
 tier, of the famous Neandertal skeleton, in the valley of 
 that name, near Diisseldorf. 
 
 76. The Neandertal Man (1856).—-“The spot is a 
 deep and narrow ravine about seventy English miles 
 northeast of the region of the Liege caverns (Engis, etc.) 
 
 . . . and close to the village and railway station of 
 Hoehdal between Diisseldorf and Elberfeld. The cave 
 occurs in the precipitous southern or left side of the 
 winding ravine, about sixty feet above the stream, and 
 a hundred feet below the top of the cliff. ’ ’ 1 
 
 The cave was a narrow fissure or cleft, with an open¬ 
 ing, as stated by Lyell, sixty feet up the steep face of 
 the cliff. Here, when first examined by Dr. Fuhlrott 2 
 of the neighboring city of Elberfeld, the cave expanded 
 from the mouth into a small room, seven feet wide and 
 fifteen deep, and high enough to allow him to stand up¬ 
 right. The deposit upon the bottom was composed of a 
 loam or mud, ‘'mixed with rounded fragments of chert, 
 
 1 Sir Charles Lyell, loc. cit., p. 80. Lyell visited the spot in 
 1860, in company with the discoverer, I >r. Fuhlrott, who brought 
 with him the original skull. In the four years since the dis¬ 
 covery the work of quarrying the stone from the face of the 
 cliff had made profound changes, and the site has since then 
 been entirely obliterated. We have thus only the verbatim 
 descriptions of the few savants acquainted with the place. The 
 cave in question bore the name of the “Feldliofner Grotte.” 
 Lyell's figure of it is given elsewhere in this work (Fig. 0, 
 p. 50). 
 
 2 Fuhlrott, “Per Fossile Menscli aus dem Neandertal.” Puis- 
 berg, 1865. 
 
3S8 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 and was very similar in composition to that covering 
 the general surface of that region. ’ 71 In this deposit 
 was found the skeleton of a man, which presented a 
 number of surprising characters; but, although it was 
 probably complete and in a good state of preservation 
 when uncovered, the discovery was made by the work¬ 
 men engaged in quarrying out the stone, and they had 
 taken the skeleton out before any scientific man arrived. 
 When Dr. Fuhlrott arrived on the spot he learned that 
 only the skull and some of the larger bones had been 
 saved, and he succeeded in securing only the following: 
 the cranial portion of the skull, without trace of face; 
 both femora; the righ clavicle, scapula, humerus, ulna, 
 and radius; the left humerus and ulna; the left os coxae, 
 and five rib fragments. The most of these were in 
 fairly complete condition, but the right scapula, left 
 humerus, and the hip bone were deficient. 
 
 It was also unfortunate that the relations of the 
 cavern and the deposit were such as not to allow an 
 exact, or even approximate, estimate of age. The de¬ 
 posit, which showed no trace of stalagmite, may pos¬ 
 sibly have been washed down into the cavern through 
 the fissure which, extending obliquely downward for a 
 distance of a hundred feet or more, connects the cav¬ 
 ern with the surface of the upper level, and if so, the 
 skeleton enclosed within it probably came by the same 
 route. On the other hand, it is more likely that the 
 deposit was washed into the floor of the cave by the 
 spring overflows of the river Diissel at the time when 
 : t flowed at the level of the mouth, and before its action 
 
 1 C. Lyell, loc. cit., p. 62. 
 
KNOWN TYPES OF PREHISTORIC MAN 389 
 
 had cut out the final sixty feet of the ravine. In this 
 latter case either the body may have been brought in 
 with the water or else the man, taking shelter within the 
 cave may have died there, and been covered up by sub¬ 
 sequent deposits. In the former case both the deposit 
 and the skeleton brought in with it may have been of 
 any age, either recent or old; in the latter, the date of 
 both must have been very remote. Whether, with mod¬ 
 ern experience, a definite date could have been assigned 
 to the skeleton of the Neandertal cavern, were it exca¬ 
 vated to-day, cannot now be stated; at least at the time 
 no certainty was felt concerning the geological proof 
 of age, but the attention was riveted rather upon the 
 extraordinary form and proportions of the skeleton itself. 
 
 The separate bones were of a caliber and thickness 
 unknown in men of the modern type, and the cranium 
 was extremely large and heavy. At the same time, the 
 limb bones were about the same length as those of a 
 modern man of rather short stature, and refuted at once 
 all notion of extraordinary height. The muscular 
 attachments were exceptionally large and conspicuous, 
 and ‘ ‘ some of the ribs, also, were of a singularly rounded 
 shape and abrupt curvature, which was assumed to 
 indicate great power in the thoracic muscles. ’ ’ 1 But the 
 most singular formation was exhibited by the skull. 
 Although massive, and of dimensions exceeding that of 
 the average of any living race, the entire cranial roof 
 was depressed below that of the lowest savage, and the 
 orbits were overhung by heavy projecting ridges. Pro¬ 
 fessor Huxley said, “ There can be no doubt that . . . 
 
 l Lyell, loc. cit., p. S3. 
 
MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 35)0 
 
 this skull is the most brutal of all known human skulls, 
 resembling those of the apes not only in the prodigious 
 development of the superciliary prominences and the 
 forward extension of the orbits, but still more in the 
 depressed form of the brain-case, in the straightness of 
 the squamosal suture, and in the complete retreat of 
 the occiput forward and upward, from the superior 
 occipital ridges.” 1 
 
 Naturally, opinions were much divided concerning so 
 remarkable a skeleton. Those who considered it a man 
 had to agree with Professor Huxley that it was “the 
 most pithecoid of human crania yet discovered . 9 9 Others 
 considered it not a man at all but an ape, or perhaps an 
 individual which happened to show an extraordinary 
 amount of reversion. The most prominent of these latter 
 was Rudolf Virchow, the great pathologist, who unfor- 
 fortunately expressed as his official opinion that the 
 bones were not normal and were probably those of a 
 congenital idiot! 2 At a later time he doubted the geo¬ 
 logical age of the bones and suggested that they prob¬ 
 ably belonged to the Merovingian period, or might even 
 have been those of a Cossack who perished in the Na¬ 
 poleonic wars ! 3 
 
 On the other hand Professor Schaffhausen, who pub¬ 
 lished the first memoir on the subject,, 4 considered the 
 
 1 Quoted by Lyell, Toe. cit.. p. 80. 
 
 2 R. Virchow. “TJntersuchung des Neanderthalschadels,” Ber¬ 
 liner Gesellsch. fur Anthropol. Ethnol. und Urgeschichte, 1872; 
 also, Archiv fur Anthropol., Bd. VI, 1873. 
 
 3 Cf. the review by Klaatsch in Anat. Ergebnisse, Bd. IX, 
 1899, p. 425. 
 
 4 Schaffhausen, “Zur Kenntniss der altesten Rassenschadel.” 
 Muller’s Arch., 1858. A translation of this review by Busk, 
 with some notes of his own. appeared in England in the Nat. 
 Hist. Review, No. 2, April, 1861. 
 
KNOWN TYPES OF PREHISTORIC MAN 
 
 391 
 
 skeleton that of a normal individual, though of a race 
 hitherto unknown. The depression of the forehead was a 
 natural character, not the result of any artificial deforma¬ 
 tion such as is frequently practised by primitive peoples. 
 
 77. More Individuals of the Neandertal Race; the 
 Tivo Skeletons from the Spy Grotto (1886).—For thirty 
 years after its discovery the Neandertal skeleton was 
 destined to remain unique, and in spite of the opinions 
 of Huxley, Schaffhausen and others, to the effect that it 
 was a normal specimen of a race, or even a species, more 
 ape-like than any yet known; in spite also of the mani¬ 
 fest desire at that very time to furnish a spectacular 
 proof of human evolution by presenting something like 
 the “Missing Link” of popular demand, still the un¬ 
 qualified statement of so great an authority as Virchow, 
 and the acceptance of it by a few such men as Johannes 
 Ranke, naturally dissuaded anatomists from carrying 
 on further researches in the matter, and the bones lay 
 accumulating dust upon a shelf in the Museum of the 
 University of Bonn. This attitude was, however, 
 changed at once by the fortunate discovery in the years 
 1885 and 1886 of the skeletons of two more individuals 
 with characters practically identical with that from the 
 Neandertal, and presenting a few more parts, not found 
 in the Neandertal specimen, notably the mandible, and 
 a portion of the maxilla. 1 
 
 1 First announcement: de Puydt and Lohest, in Ann. Soc. 
 Biol. Belgique, 1886. 
 
 Definite paper: Fraipont and Lohest, “La race humaine de 
 Neanderthal ou de Canstadt en Belgique. Reclierches ethno- 
 graphiques sur des ossements humains, decou verts dans depots 
 quaternaires d’une grotte a Spy et determination de leur age 
 geologique.” Arch, de Biol., 1887, T. VII, pp. 587-757 (with 
 four plates). 
 
Fig. 97.—The two crania from the Spy grotto, in Belgium. Drawn from casts. Spy II is rather small 
 for skulls of this race, and is probably female. It is also broader than Spy I. The length and 
 breadth measurements of the two are respectively 145/201 and 196/154, which give the length-breadth 
 indices as 72.1 and 78.06. 
 
KNOWN TYPES OF PREHISTORIC MAN 
 
 393 
 
 This discovery was made in the grotto of Spy, near 
 Namur, in Belgium, by MM. Marcel de Puydt and Max 
 Lohest, but the two associated with themselves M. Frai- 
 pont, the colleague of Lohest at the University of Liege. 
 The bones were preserved in this latter institution. 
 Here, contrary to the case of the Neandertal skeleton, 
 the excavation was made by scientific specialists, and 
 every detail of the site, such as position, associations, 
 and so on, was accurately observed. In the place where 
 the skeletons lay, rather across the mouth of the cave 
 than within it, a cross section of the deposit presented 
 three layers: an upper one, containing worked flints of 
 the Mousterian and Solutrean types, a middle layer, 
 containing flints of the Montaiglian (or Aurignacian) 
 type, and a bottom layer, without doubt Mousterian. In 
 all three layers bones of the mammoth were found, and 
 in the two lower ones those of the Rhinoceros tichor- 
 rhinus occurred also. The skeletons lay directly upon 
 the lowest layer, firmly imbedded in a breccia which 
 ran all through the middle layer, and resisted the stroke 
 of the pick. There was felt absolutely no doubt on the 
 part of the discoverers that the skeletons were contem¬ 
 poraneous with the deposits, that is, with the culture and 
 fauna represented there, but there was room for dis¬ 
 cussion as to whether the men had simply died on the 
 spot, resting on the lower layer, or whether there had 
 been an intentional interment while the second layer 
 was being deposited, although the discoverers inclined 
 to the first view. The two skeletons lay about 2.5 meters 
 from each other, one of them across the axis of the 
 grotto, resting upon the side, and with the hand placed 
 
MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 «°)94 
 
 against the lower jaw. The position of the other was 
 not determined. 
 
 Here, then, was an absolute proof of the existence in 
 Europe, contemporaneously with the mammoth and 
 woolly rhinoceros, of a low type of man, more bestial 
 in appearance than any race now living; the men asso¬ 
 ciated with the Mousterian culture. The bones were, 
 moreover, identical with those from the Neandertal cav¬ 
 ern, thus forever disproving the contention of Rudolf 
 Virchow, supported by Johannes Ranke, that the latter 
 bones were pathological, and probably belonged to an 
 idiot. The Spy skeletons were somewhat more complete 
 than was the Neandertal, and supplied among other 
 parts, a nearly complete mandible and maxilla, with 
 teeth. The mandible was chinless like that of La Nau- 
 lette, that is, although unusually broad and heavy in the 
 symphysial region, the profile outline of the jaw drops 
 downward or even a little backward from the base of 
 the alveolar region, as in the simian apes, without a 
 trace of the mental prominence, or chin, which charac¬ 
 terizes even the lowest of modern men. The other ape¬ 
 like characters, such as the heavy and projecting supra¬ 
 orbital ridges, the retreating forehead, the lowness of 
 the cranial dome, and lastly a marked tibial retroversion, 
 preventing the legs from becoming perfectly straight, 
 are alike in all three skeletons in question, and together 
 make up a picture of a being sufficiently unlike any 
 modern race to form a new species, Homo Neanderta- 
 lensis , named from the locality of the type sneeimen, 
 
 78. The Cannibal Feasts at Krapina (1899-1905).— 
 Since the two sites which had hitherto yielded remains 
 of this primitive type of man were located near together 
 
KNOWN TYPES OF PREHISTORIC MAN 
 
 395 
 
 in northwestern Europe, the next discovery of similar 
 remains from near the southeastern corner of the con¬ 
 tinent came as a surprise. This time it was in the little 
 town of Ivrapina in Croatia, almost on the southern 
 boundary of Hungary, where a deposit of diluvial (qua¬ 
 ternary) age had been opened up, and where, in 1899, 
 Professor Gorjanovic-Kramberger, from, the neighbor¬ 
 ing University of Agram, found the first of the series 
 of human bones destined to make the site famous. 1 
 
 The site, in its original condition, was a shallow niche 
 excavated by natural forces in a nearly white Miocene 
 conglomerate. This niche, perhaps fifty feet wide and 
 half as deep, possessed a fairly level floor, at the outer 
 limit of which, a few feet deeper, flowed a small brook or 
 creek. Occasional inundations of the brook at high water 
 covered the floor with deposits of sand and mud, and a 
 layer or two of pebbles, and within this were buried the 
 shells of fresh-water mollusks and the bones of the 
 beaver. This floor, beside the brook, formed an ideal 
 camp-site for man, and here he left, not only his crude 
 flint implements, but his hearths, constructed of stones, 
 his piles of ashes, and the bones of the animals brought 
 there for food, and split for marrow, as with primitive 
 peoples everywhere. But here, among the victims, were 
 plentifully scattered the bones of men, broken for mar¬ 
 row and occasionally calcined by the heat, too evident 
 
 1 Gorjanovic-Kramberger, Karl. “Der diluviale Mensch von 
 Krapina in Kroatien; ein Beitrag zur Paheanthropologie.” 
 Publ. in a series by Walkoff; Studien uber die Entwickelung- 
 mechanik des Primatenskeletes, 4°, pp. 59-277 (14 plates and 
 52 text figures). 
 
 An excellent resume of the excavations at Krapina is given 
 by Obermaier in L’Anthropologie, 1905, p. 13, “Les stations 
 paleolithiques de Krapina.” 
 
396 
 
 MAN'S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 witness of cannibalism. In the intervals of human 
 occupancy the conglomerate from the walls of the niche, 
 as indeed continues at the present time, loosened and 
 rattled down upon the floor, covering up bones, hearth, 
 implements, and all signs of human activity, so that each 
 new camping party would live on the top of the previous 
 deposit without disturbing it. In this way there suc¬ 
 ceeded one another no less than nine culture layers, each 
 contributing toward the filling up of the niche, until, 
 no longer of value as a shelter, it finally disappeared 
 entirely and the site presented the appearance of a 
 smooth, steep hillside. Meanwhile the brook, the 
 Krapinica, cut deeper and deeper into its bed, as 
 the floor of the niche rose, so that during the human 
 occupancy it was no longer possible for the brook to 
 inundate the cave, while it became constantly more of a 
 climb for the men wandering along the brook to ascend 
 to the floor of the niche. At present the niche lies high 
 up on the side of a ravine, while the Krapinica flows, 
 a small stream two or three feet wide, seventy-five feet 
 below. 
 
 The scientific excavation of this site, slow and difficult 
 because of the hard nature of the deposit, continued 
 nearly every summer from 1899 to 1905, and ended only 
 with the complete clearing out of the former niche, 
 leaving nothing further to be done here. Each of the 
 nine layers contained fragmentary human bones, and 
 scattered generally through them all were artifacts of 
 the Mousterian and Aurignacian types, as well as the 
 bones of Rhineroceros merckii, TJrsus spelaeus, Bos primi- 
 genius, and other characteristic Quaternary animals. 
 
 What type of man the cannibals themselves may have 
 
KNOWN TYPES OF PREHISTORIC MAN 397 
 
 been cannot be surely known, but the abundant frag¬ 
 ments of their victims show in every feature the char¬ 
 acteristics of the skeletons of Spy and Neandertal, and 
 it may be supposed, with some degree of probability, 
 that the eaters were of the same race. Certain it is that 
 
 Fig. 98.—Site of the excavation at Krapina in Croatia, from a photograph by 
 H. H. and I. W. Wilder. This figure is made by piecing two separate 
 photographs together, and although they do not exactly match, they give a 
 good idea of the place. Originally the site was a level shelf in the side of 
 the valley, at the level of the brook, the Krapinitza; gradually the brook 
 has cut deeper and deeper, while the shelf has become covered up by 
 debris that has rattled down from above. The removal of the debris uncov¬ 
 ered no less than nine fire-sites, each with the remains of human bones. 
 
 the culture associated with the hearths was no higher 
 than that of the Mousterian, or at best, Aurignacian, 
 since to these periods belong the artifacts, undoubtedly 
 for the most part the property of the cannibals rather 
 than the victims, and in at least one discovery since then 
 
MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 similar tools have been found in close association with 
 Homo neandertalensis. Among the fragments occurred 
 frontal pieces with typical supra-orbital tori, the heavy 
 ridges so long commented on in the case of the skeleton 
 of Neandertal; the mandibles were chinless, the fore¬ 
 heads retreating, and the cranial dome low. It is, how¬ 
 ever, of note that the cranial outlines showed the pro¬ 
 portions of brachycephalic heads, rather than the marked 
 dolichocephaly of the western specimens, and thus sug¬ 
 gest a differentiation into races, somewhat paralleling 
 that of the modern species. 1 2 
 
 Even among the Ivrapina remains themselves there 
 were at least two well-marked varieties, a heavy and 
 robust type, and a light and graceful one, named respec¬ 
 tively by Gorjanovic-Kramberger II. primigenius / var ; 
 spyensis and II. primigenius, var: krapinensis. Although 
 well seen in many of the other bones the characteristics 
 of the two varieties are especially contrasted in the man¬ 
 dibles, which in the first case present a wide, heavy 
 
 1 Thus in the case of the skull designated as “C,” Gorjanovic- 
 Kramberger, by methods of construction, determines the length- 
 breadth measurements as ITS and 149 mm. which gives an 
 index of S3.T. This may he compared with the indices of the 
 western specimens; Neandertal 147/199.5 = 73.6; Spy I 145/201 
 =z 72.13; and Spy II 154/196 — 78.6; loc. cit., p. 96. “Krapina 
 D,” a larger individual than “C” gives the figures 169/197.5 
 = 85.8. 
 
 2 The German anthropologists, headed by Schwalbe, who first 
 definitely proved the Neandertal type of man to belong to a 
 distinct species, adopted for it the name of Homo primigenius, 
 originally proposed by Wilser in 1897. The type had long been 
 called, however, the “Neandertal man,” and King in 1864, and 
 Cope in 1893, had proposed for it the scientific name of Homo 
 neandertalensis. Aside from priority the name “primigenius” 
 lost its meaning with the discovery of the Heidelberg jaw, 
 and thus from all reasons the name neandertalensis is to be 
 preferred. 
 
KNOWN TYPES OF PREHISTORIC MAN 
 
 399 
 
 body like that of the Spy skeleton No. 1, while in the 
 other the body of the jaw is as narrow as in Homo 
 sapiens , but as chinless as the first. Thus, as measured 
 from the casts, the widths of the jaw of Spy I, from the 
 alveolar edge to the mental ridge, in the median line 
 (symphysial height) 1 is 34.5 mm; in a heavy Krapina 
 jaw, 37.0, and in a light Krapina specimen but 29, about 
 an average for H. sapiens. Upon the side, beneath the 
 middle of the second molar tooth the respective mea¬ 
 surements are 31.5; 33.5; and 27. The three jaws here 
 compared are all of them adults, not senile, and in gen¬ 
 eral outline are of about the same size. 
 
 79. The Young Boy in the Cavern of Le Moustier 
 (1907).—Hard upon the completion of the excavation 
 of the niche at Krapina came the unearthing of a skele¬ 
 ton of Homo neandertalensis at the classic French sta¬ 
 tion of Le Moustier, in the alley of Vezere. 2 The pre¬ 
 historic station here consists of four separate rock shel¬ 
 ters, “abris sous roclies,” opening from as many terraces 
 of a steep mountain slope, almost in a perpendicular 
 line, one above another. Of these the three upper ones 
 had long been the site of archeological labors of much 
 
 1 As measured by Fraipont this jaw was 38 mm. wide; 
 but Schoetensack, who remeasured it in connection with his 
 work on the Heidelberg jaw, could not possibly make it over 
 35 mm. 
 
 2 H. Klaatseli und O. Hauser, “Homo mousteriensis liauseri. 
 Ein altdiluvialer Skeletfund im Departement Dordogne und 
 seine Zugehorigkeit zuin Neandertaltypus.” Arch, fur Antho- 
 pol., N. F., P>d. VII, 1908. The discovery is reported also by 
 Klaatsch in the Anat. Ergebnisse (Merkel und Bonnet), Bel. 
 XVII, 1907, pp. 448-457. 
 
 H. Klaatsch, “Die Fortschritte der Lehre von der Neander- 
 talrasse.” In Merkel u. Bonnet’s Ergebn. der Anat. u. Ent- 
 wickel., Bd. 17, 1907, pp. 431-402. Six plates. (This includes 
 a review and criticism of the paper of Sollas.) 
 
400 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC TAST 
 
 importance, and have furnished both name and type of 
 artifact to the Mousterian Period of the Paleolithic Age. 
 The lowest shelter, however, had long been concealed 
 under the foundation of a barn, the removal of which 
 at about this time gave Dr. Otto Hauser, a Swiss arche¬ 
 ologist, the opportunity to excavate. But ten meters 
 distant from the site rendered classic by the labors of 
 Lartet and Christy in 1863, the shelter yielded an abun¬ 
 dance of artifacts, including coups de poing of the 
 Acheulian type and typical Mousterian implements. 
 Here in March, 1907, Hauser first came upon the skele¬ 
 ton in question, but took the precaution to cover it up 
 again, and postponed further work until the 10th of the 
 next month, when he continued the excavation in the 
 presence of witnesses, who made affidavit that the de¬ 
 posit about and above the skeleton was undisturbed. 
 After this he again paused, and the final removal of 
 the bones was made the following August, in the pres¬ 
 ence and with the help of a number of noted anthro¬ 
 pologists, assembled for the purpose. 
 
 The skeleton proved to be that of a young person, 
 probably male, with a massive head and heavy jaws, and 
 short limbs. The leg bones were exceptionally short 
 (femur 380, tibia 90 mm., max. length), but as shown 
 by the separate ephyses, indicated mainly that the adult 
 length had not been reached. The stature, as based upon 
 the leg bones, was estimated at approximately 1450- 
 1500 mm. The teeth of both jaws were well preserved 
 and were notably large and heavy, without trace of 
 caries; the four third molars were still under the gums. 
 The skull, which had to be carefully reconstructed from 
 literally hundreds cf fragments, exhibits the massive 
 
KNOWN TYPES OF PREHISTORIC MAN 
 
 401 
 
 proportions characteristic of the species neandertalensis 
 and is a trifle larger than either one of the Spy skulls 
 or the Neandertal, but a slight change of position in the 
 fragments might vary the dimensions by several milli¬ 
 meters. The cast of the reconstruction by Klaatsch 
 is 206 mm. in maximum length and 156 or more in 
 breadth, but these figures may not be wholly reliable. 
 As one would expect in an adolescent skull such fea¬ 
 tures as the supra-orbital tori, so characteristic of 
 the species, are not strongly expressed, but are well 
 indicated, and need only the development of further 
 growth. 
 
 In position the skeleton lay as if sleeping; the right 
 side of the skull and the right elbow lay upon a flat 
 block of flint, the elbow beneath the cheek, as if the head 
 were resting upon the flexed arm, while the left arm was 
 thrown out straight forward. At or near the place for 
 the left hand was found a perfect Mousterian axe, of 
 ovate outline, and flat, with the edge running entirely 
 around. Although, in a deposit abounding in artifacts, 
 difficult to prove, the impression was given to the exca¬ 
 vators that the axe and skeleton had been originally 
 associated, and that the body of the young boy had been 
 carefully placed by his friends in the position found, 
 with his axe in his hand. There thus comes at once the 
 impression of a cult, a belief in a life after death, and 
 at the least the affection of parents or friends; a pleas¬ 
 ing contrast to the many and repeated cannibal feasts 
 at Krapina. The study of Quaternary man has hardly 
 begun, however, and the discoveries of the next few 
 years may be expected to furnish more information, not 
 only concerning the bodily characteristics, but also coh- 
 
402 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 cerning the mode of life and stage of culture of those 
 remote times. 
 
 80. The Skeleton of La Chapelle-aux-Saints (1908).— 
 Two years after the excavation of the skeleton at Le 
 
 Moustier, and before the final results of this find had 
 become generally disseminated, came the news of the 
 discovery, in a neighboring Department, that of Correze, 
 of still another skeleton of Homo neandertalensis, much 
 
KNOWN TYPES OF PREHISTORIC MAN 
 
 403 
 
 more complete than any previously known. The dis¬ 
 covery was made in a little grotto near the village of La 
 Chapelle-aux-Saints by two young priests, their younger 
 brother, and a friend. 1 These young men, the MM. 
 Bouysonnie and M. Bardon, had excavated and explored 
 this grotto for some time previous, and had collected 
 from the culture deposit found within a number of 
 
 Fig. 99b.—Cross section of the cave at La Chapelle-aux-Saints, taken through 
 
 the line CD in Fig. 99a. 
 
 paleoliths of the Mousterian type, together with the 
 bones of the animals used for food. In thus excavating 
 they revealed in section a depression in the bed rock at 
 the bottom of the deposit, suggesting a grave, and while 
 continuing the work further within this, without espe¬ 
 cial care, the young brother, Paul, found, and drew out, 
 a humerus fhat was unmistakably human, and almost 
 immediately uncovered a cranium with neandertaloid 
 
 1 Boussonie, A. et J., et Bardon, L., “Decouverte d’un Squeb 
 ette humain Monsterien a la bouffia de la Chapelle-aux-Saints 
 (Correze).” UAnthropologie, T. 19, 1908, pp. 513-518. 
 
 M. Boule, “L’Homme fossile de la Capelle-aux-Saints.” Ibid., 
 pp. 519-525. 
 
404 
 
 MAN'S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 characters. Save for a displacement and slight distor¬ 
 tion of the parts as the result of the pressure of the 
 deposit accumulated above it, the skull was practically 
 entire, and was taken up, together with the soil about it, 
 in one piece. The other bones of the skeleton were then 
 removed with apparently as much care as could well 
 be expected of four young men not trained for such 
 work, especially as they found themselves “dans lo 
 necessite de nous hater, presses par le temps et les cir- 
 constances” ( loc . cit. p. 514). Probably the expert 
 excavators from Le Moustier would have been able to 
 remove this skeleton in a better state of preservation, 
 and, through the employment of technical methods, and 
 by taking several days for the work, might even have 
 gotten it out practically entire, in spite of the fact that 
 the young men found that the bones broke “trop souvent 
 au moindre effort yet the work was done most con¬ 
 scientiously, and represents the best efforts of the ex¬ 
 cavators, so that even with the imperfections which a 
 greater technical skill might have obviated, the skeleton 
 of La Chapelle-aux-Saints is by far the best and most 
 complete specimen of Homo neandertalensis thus far 
 known. 
 
 The skull, slightly restored in places by M. Boule, to 
 whom the young men sent their find, reveals for the first 
 time the exact lines and proportions found in the actual 
 head and face of this species. Although the head is a 
 little larger than any of the previous ones (max. length 
 208 mm; max. breadth 156), the stature, as well as can 
 be made out from the incomplete leg-bones, was rather 
 short, not above 1600 mm, a few points above the average 
 given for 1200 Japanese soldiers (1585 mm). The femur 
 
Fig. 100.—Two views of the skull of La Chapelle-aux-Saints: A. Fitted 
 with the rightful jaw, but with the teeth and alveoli rejuvenated, 
 as the actual skull was senile. B. Fitted with the jaw from the 
 Sands of Mauer, Homo heidelbergensis, to show that this latter 
 type may not have been so very unliae the Neanderthal type. (After 
 Boule, in L’Anthropologie.) 
 
406 
 
 MAN'S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 shows a marked curvature, and the axis of the tibia dis¬ 
 plays a sharp bend near the proximal end (retrover¬ 
 sion), both characters quite as in the other neanderta- 
 lensis specimens and hence normal specific characters. 
 Because of these the legs “avaient normalement une 
 attitude flechie se rapprochant de celles des Anthro- 
 poides, dont la plupart out aussi des femurs tres courbes 
 et des tibias tres retroverses.” 1 The fibula was of 
 greater caliber than in modern man, as indicated by the 
 articular surface for it upon the distal end of the tibia, 
 and this, together with numerous indications in the. 
 joints of the tarsus, suggests an habitual inturning of 
 the soles and the necessity of resting upon the outer 
 edge of the foot when walking, again a decided simian 
 character. 
 
 These suggestions of a body well adapted for a life 
 in part arboreal are further corroborated by the stout¬ 
 ness of the humeri with their large heads, characters 
 which reveal great strength in the shoulder joints; by 
 the strong outward curve of the radius which broadens 
 the interosseous space and membrane and increases the 
 surface of origin for the flexor muscles of the fingers; 
 and again by the few extant finger bones themselves, 
 which are short and extremely large in caliber. The 
 thumb was more readily opposable than in modern man, 
 and possessed a freer motion. Finally the enormous 
 head, resting upon an extremely short neck, was carried 
 far forward, as in the large man-apes, a character indi¬ 
 cated by the shape and position of the occipital foramen, 
 
 1 M. Boule, “L’Homme fossile cle la Chapelle-aux-Saints” 
 (Second article). VAnthropologic, T. 20, 1009, pp. 257-271. 
 The quotation is found on p. 270. 
 
KNOWN TYPES OF PREHISTORIC MAN 
 
 407 
 
 elongated anteroposteriorly and placed farther back than 
 in the modern species. 
 
 Yet, in spite of the undeniably simian characters 
 shown in the bodily frame of the species neandertalensis, 
 there was here as in Le Moustier, abundant evidence of 
 an intentional interment, with some care in the dis¬ 
 posal of the body. The excavation in the soil under¬ 
 lying the deposit of a suitable shape and size for the 
 reception of a body, must have been a grave dug for 
 the purpose, and the leg-bones of a wild ox, found in 
 cJose association with the head, were in all likelihood 
 placed there intentionally to supply the wants of the 
 deceased. A more positive evidence of the developing 
 mentality of the species was shown later in a most con¬ 
 vincing way by MM. Boule and Anthony, who suc¬ 
 ceeded in making an intereranial cast of the brain, in 
 which they were enabled to locate and study a number 
 of important superficial features. These features, such 
 as the fissures and convolutions, showed in general a char¬ 
 acter intermediate between that of the highest apes and 
 modern man, as shown by accurate measurements, and 
 the only fair conclusion is that the mental characters 
 were also intermediate. “II est clone probable que 
 VHomme de la Correze et VHomme de Neanderthal ne 
 devaient posseder qu’un psychisme rudimentaire, supe- 
 rieur certainement a celui des Anthropoides actues, mais 
 inferieur d celui de n’wiporte quelle race humaine 
 actuelle.” 1 The reduction of the foot of the third 
 frontal convolution indicates, if not the actual absence 
 
 1 M. Boule et R. Anthony, “L’Encephale de l’Homme fossile 
 de la Chapelle-aux-Saints.” VAnthropologic, T. 22, 1911, pp. 
 129-196 (26 figs.). The quotation occurs on p. 194, 
 
40S 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 of an articulate language, at least the existence of only 
 a very rudimentary one; the slight preponderance of 
 the left side over the right shows, not the fully devel¬ 
 oped right-handedness of modern man, but only the 
 beginning of such a condition; and thus wherever a 
 physiological or psychic character can be interpreted 
 from a supercial anatomical one, the result of the ex¬ 
 amination shows a condition somewhere between that 
 of the apes and that of modern man. The brain of 
 Homo neanclertalensis “ est dejd un encephale humaine 
 par Vabondance de sa matiere cerebale. Mais cette 
 maiere manque encore de Vorganisation superieure 
 qui caracterise les Hommes actuel” (loc. cit. last sen¬ 
 tence) . 
 
 81. The Most Recently Discovered Remains of Homo 
 Neandertalensis; 1909-1911.—Since the discovery and 
 successful excavation of the skeleton at La Cliapelle- 
 aux-Saints several others of the same species have been 
 found, so that there is no longer any doubt concerning 
 the presence of this type of man in western Europe, and 
 no considerable gap left in the knowledge of his bodily 
 form. 
 
 The year following the discovery of the Neandertal 
 skeleton at La Chapelle-aux-Saints, on September 17, 
 1909, a similar skeleton was found by Capitan and 
 Pyronie in the cavern of La Ferrassie in the Dordogne, 
 near the famous center of Les Eyzies. This site, which 
 is rich in artifacts of the Paleolithic Age, from the 
 Acheulian to the Aurignacian, presents definite layers 
 of all these periods in succession, and the skeleton was 
 found in the lower Mousterian, resting upon the sur¬ 
 face of the underlying Acheulian. As this was not an 
 
KNOWN TYPES OF PREHISTORIC MAN 
 
 409 
 
 intrusive burial of a later date, the skeleton is precisely 
 dated, and comes definitely from the lower Mous- 
 terian. 
 
 It was that of a male, with all the characters of the 
 Neandertal species. It was lying upon its back, with the 
 legs drawn up toward the pelvis, with the face turned 
 a little toward the left, and with the mouth widely 
 open. The left arm was lying along the side and the 
 right arm was bent, and a little elevated. There were 
 no indications of intentional burial, other than the fact 
 that it had not been disturbed by wild beasts, which 
 points either to some sort of structure originally piled 
 upon it, or to its being left in the interior of the cave 
 during a continued human occupancy. 
 
 On September of the following year, 1910, the same 
 investigators found a second skeleton of the same type 
 and period. This was very near the first; and was that 
 of a small female. In August, 1912, some remains of 
 children were found at the same place. 
 
 Again, about a year from the discovery of the second 
 La Ferrassie skeleton, on September 18, 1911, still 
 another skeleton of Homo neandertalensis was found by 
 Dr. Henri-Martin in the cave of La Quina (Charente), 
 the Department adjoining that of Dordogne on the north¬ 
 west, and near the type station of Aurignac. This also 
 lay at the base of the lower Mousterian deposit, but the 
 parts were somewhat dislocated, and the general impres¬ 
 sion was given that the body had been long macerated 
 by water, and had finally been carried into the cave by 
 an overflow of the adjoining river, which buried it at the 
 same time in sand. This skeleton, probably female, 
 showed separation of the cranial bones at the sutures, 
 
410 
 
 MAN'S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 evidently due to the maceration; yet as the teeth, which 
 were very large and strong, were well worn on the 
 biting surfaces, the individual must have been fully 
 mature, probably from twenty-five to thirty years of 
 age. 
 
 The cranium, as is usual in the western specimens of 
 this ancient species, was very dolichocephalic, and 
 showed an index of 65-68. The face was poorly pre¬ 
 served, but the proportions of one of the orbits could 
 be partly made out. The left ramus of the jaw was 
 present, and showed enormous proportions, as in the 
 large apes. In front the jaw was chinless, and typical 
 for the species. As in the case of the skull of La Cha- 
 pelle-aux-Saints, an endocranial cast was made, and 
 this showed a brain of similar proportions and of the 
 same low type as the other. This La Quina skeleton 
 has been placed, together with those from La Ferrassie, 
 and La Chapelle-aux-Saints, in the Museum d’Histoire 
 Naturelle in Paris. 
 
 Since the discovery of this first La Quina skeleton, 
 numerous other Neandertal skeletal remains have been 
 found at the same site, until, in a recent article ( Journ . 
 Pliys. Antlirop. Jan.-March, 1922) MacCurdy has been 
 able to enumerate remains of some twenty individuals 
 found here since 1911. Perhaps the most interesting 
 find is that of a child of this same race, discovered by 
 Mme. Henri-Martin while her husband was away at the 
 Avar. This skull has been figured in L’Anthropologie, 
 T. 31, p. 331. 
 
 The Broken Hill skull from southern Rhodesia, South 
 Africa, is the latest of the remains of the Neandertal 
 
KNOWN TYPES OF PREHISTORIC MAN 
 
 411 
 
 race, and came to light in November, 1921. 1 This, 
 although a near relative of Homo neandertalensis of 
 western Europe, stood perfectly erect, as is seen by the 
 position of the foramen magnum; also the face, between 
 the nasal cavity and the mouth, is somewhat longer than 
 in the neandertalensis. Perhaps the most sensational 
 circumstance about this find is that, in its position geo¬ 
 logically it does not appear to be very old, and is thought 
 by some to have been deposited within recent times. 
 Becoming extinct in Europe in the Middle Paleozoic, 
 the Neandertal man may have continued existence in 
 Africa much longer, gaining the modifications in which 
 it differs from the typical neandertalensis, and contin¬ 
 uing its existence up to quite modern times. Indeed, it 
 has been seriously suggested, although improbable, that 
 somewhere in the interior of the continent this ancient 
 type is still alive, and may be found by some fortunate 
 explorer in the flesh. This would only repeat the dis¬ 
 covery of the Okapi, a mammal first known only from 
 its fossil bones found in Europe, but afterwards discov¬ 
 ered alive in Africa. Surely, “ex Africa semper quic- 
 quid novum.” 
 
 82. Some Ancient Skulls from Old Collections, with 
 Supposed Affinities to Homo Neandertalensis. —In the 
 collection of the Hof museum at Stuttgart there is a frag¬ 
 mentary human cranium which has had a long and 
 curious history. Although the records are not absolutely 
 reliable, it is supposed to have been one of the objects 
 
 1 The first announcement of this discovery appeared, accom¬ 
 panied by excellent illustrations, in the Illustrated London 
 News, Nov. 19, 1921. 
 
412 
 
 MAN'S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 exhumed in the year 1700 in the neighboring town of 
 Cannstatt, along with the bones and tusks of mammoths 
 and similar remains of other Quaternary animals. Over¬ 
 looked at the time, it was first described and figured by 
 Jaeger in 1835, who noted its peculiar shape, especially 
 the low forehead and the prominent superciliary ridges, 
 and naturally, after the discovery of the Neandertal 
 skull, the interest in this skull from Cannstatt became 
 renewed. It was referred to by Fraas in 1866 and by 
 Holder in 1867, and in 1870 was sent to Quatrefages, 
 who, with his colleague Hamy, was then at work upon 
 the “Crania Ethnica,” which appeared in 1873. These 
 authors also recognized a close similarity between the 
 skulls of Cannstatt and Neandertal, and from them 
 established a primitive human race, the oldest known, to 
 which they gave the name of the “Cannstatt race.” It 
 seemed to possess the characteristics, now so well known, 
 of the Neandertal skull: the exaggerated superciliary 
 ridges, continued across the glabelle and the low retreat¬ 
 ing forehead, and they noted also an extreme length for 
 the frontal bone, measured over the outer surface from 
 nasion to bregma. While others had already begun to 
 speak of a “ Neandertal race, ’ ’ these authors employed 
 for the same thing the name of the prior discovery, as 
 it should be considered the type. 
 
 Later students of the skull from Cannstatt, however, 
 noticed that the characters of the Neandertal type, now 
 still better known from the two specimens from Spy, 
 were at the best but faintly shown by it, and in 1906 
 Schwalbe, in an exhaustive memoir, at once historical 
 and anatomical, removed it forever from the Neandertal 
 type, and showed it to be not different from human skulls 
 
KNOWN TYPES OF PREHISTORIC MAN 
 
 413 
 
 of modern times. 1 Moreover, the data concerning the 
 original find were confusing and uncertain, and showed 
 that the cranium, and also several clay pots, were either 
 the results of a late intrusive burial in the Quaternary 
 deposit, or were from an ancient cemetery in the imme¬ 
 diate neighborhood. Through the final conclusion, that 
 the Cannstatt skull was in no way different from recent 
 skulls, and that its date was in all probability no older 
 than the late Roman period, or that of the still later 
 invasions, this once celebrated specimen is removed 
 from the field of the prehistoric. Naturally also the 
 term “Cannstatt race,” as the designation of that now 
 known as “Neandertal” from the name of the type spe¬ 
 cimen, Homo neaderalensis, is no longer to be used. 
 
 The “Sudbury calvaria,” an English specimen, is 
 still another case of ancient human remains excavated 
 during the uncertain period, studied casually by the 
 authorities of the time, and now revived and critically 
 examined by the help of the more exact methods which 
 the research of the last few years has developed. It was 
 found about the year 1864 in an alluvial deposit near 
 Sudbury in Derbyshire, associated with remains of Bos 
 primigenius and Bos longifrons, and was figured and 
 described by Edwin Brown in the Transactions of the 
 Midland Scientific Association for the Session of 1864- 
 1865. In 1866 Huxley described the skull, under the 
 erroneous name of “Ledbury,” and stated that “a little 
 flattening and elongation, with a rather greater develop- 
 
 1 <4. Schwalbe. “Das Schadelf ragmen t van Cannstatt.” The 
 third article of his “Studien zur Vorgeschichte des Menschen,” 
 published as a “Sonderheft to the Zeitschrift fur Morphologic 
 und Anthropologic, 1900, pp. 1S3-22S (one plate and 13 text 
 figures). 
 
414 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 ment of the supraciliary ridges, would convert this into 
 the nearest likeness to the Neandertal skull which has yet 
 been discovered.” Since the writing of this statement 
 by Huxley the skull has remained unknown, and vir¬ 
 tually lost, when, very recently, the English anthro¬ 
 pologist Duckworth/ with the help of the son of the late 
 Mr. Edwin Brown, has succeeded in finding it at Sudbury 
 Hall, where “for forty-six years it has lain on a table 
 in the gallery.” Thus found and identified, Dr. Duck¬ 
 worth has subjected the skull to a careful examination 
 by modern methods, as a result of which it is shown that, 
 while much of the resemblance to Homo neandertalensis 
 is superficial, and vanishes upon detailed measurements, 
 it is yet extremely primitive for Homo sapiens, and 
 belongs in that category of intermediate forms, like the 
 skulls of Galley Hill, Brux and Briinn, at present of 
 uncertain position, and with an assemblage of low char¬ 
 acters which are never found in combination in recent 
 skulls. 
 
 Still another English specimen is the “Gibraltar 
 skull,” in the Hunterian Museum of the Royal College 
 of Surgeons in London, which has recently and definitely 
 been recognized as a typical female specimen of the 
 species neandertalensis. This skull has had a long and 
 curious history, involving periods of interest and neg¬ 
 lect, and the inevitable misunderstandings of the early 
 work on prehistoric man. 
 
 According to Keith, who has worked out its early his¬ 
 tory (cf. Nature, Sept. 7, 1911), the first mention of it is 
 
 1 W. L. H. Duckworth, “The Sudbury Calvaria: a revised and 
 extended description. Journal of Anal, and Physiol., July, 
 1912, pp. 328-349 (17 figures). 
 
KNOWN TYPES OF PREHISTORIC MAN 
 
 415 
 
 in the minutes of a scientific society at Gibraltar, under 
 the date of March 3, 1848: “ Presented, a Human Skull 
 from Forbes Quarry, North Front, by the Secretary.” 
 From Gibraltar the skull found its way to England, 
 where it was studied by George Busk, and was the sub¬ 
 ject of a brilliant and humorous letter from the paleon¬ 
 tologist Falconer to Busk (Aug., 1864), suggesting for 
 the skull the name “Homo: var. calpicus, Calpe being 
 the ancient name for the rock of Gibraltar.” Fal¬ 
 coner called the skull a “priscan pithocoid,” and both 
 he and Busk evidently regarded it as extremely primi¬ 
 tive. 
 
 Concerning the deposit in which this specimen was 
 found, or the surroundings and associated objects, unfor¬ 
 tunately nothing is known, the only information con¬ 
 cerning its antecedents being the note concerning it in 
 the Museum catalogue, No. 371. “A mutilated cranium 
 remarkable for the low, retreating forehead, prominent 
 supra-orbital ridges, and peculiar conformation of the 
 maxillag.—From a quarry behind Forbes Battery in the 
 brecciated talus under the north front of the rock of 
 Gibraltar. ’ ’ 
 
 Some few years after the correspondence with Fal¬ 
 coner, Busk exhibited this skull before the Anthropo¬ 
 logical Congress held at Norwich in 1869, and Huxley, 
 who saw it at this time, spoke of its primitive character. 
 In the same year also the skull was described by Broca, 
 who mentions especially the great size of the orbits. 
 From this time on the Gibraltar skull excited no especial 
 interest until, soon after the discovery of the Galley Hill 
 cranium in 1888, the former was again brought to light 
 for comparison, and placed by Macnamara with the 
 
416 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 newly discovered one under the name of the “ Galley 
 Hill group.” 
 
 Through subsequent study of these two specimens this 
 enforced alliance has now been broken, and the skull 
 from Galley Hill has been referred to the modern spe¬ 
 cies, although showing certain primitive characters; 
 while the one from Gibraltar has been definitely recog¬ 
 nized as a typical female of Homo neandertalensis. This 
 last decision was rendered positive by comparison with 
 the skull from La Chapelle-aux-Saints, which showed an 
 almost perfect face of this species. Allowing for sex 
 differences, the skulls compare perfectly, and make an 
 excellent pair for type specimens of this ancient species. 
 
 83. The Three Quaternary Races of Homo Sapiens: 
 Cro-Magnon, Grimald, and Aurignac .—As has already 
 been shown, the excavation of such skeletons as those 
 of Neandertal, Spy, Krapina, Le Moustier, and La 
 Chapelle-aux-Saints from undisturbed Quaternary 
 deposits, in association with the remains of a typical 
 diluvial fauna, such as the mammoth, cave-bear and rhi¬ 
 noceros, and with exclusive Paleolithic artifacts, shows 
 abundant proof of the existence at that period of a low¬ 
 browed human species, with large eyes and projecting 
 jaws, with short, curved legs, and stout arms and chest: 
 a form showing simian resemblances to a much more 
 marked degree than are seen in any modern race. It is 
 also certain, by means of the same definite proofs, the 
 excavation of skeletons in undisturbed deposits, that men 
 of the modern species, Homo sapiens, differentiated even 
 into several distinct races, inhabited southern France at 
 least at the same remote epoch, probably contempora¬ 
 neously with the first. 
 
KNOWN TYPES OF PREHISTORIC MAN 
 
 417 
 
 The two chief sites from which such remains have 
 been obtained thus far are (1) the cave, or abri-sous- 
 roclie of Cro-Magnon, at Les Eyzies, in the Department 
 Dordogne, and (2) a series of grottoes upon the Riviera, 
 almost at the boundary between France and Italy, where 
 excavations have been largely carried on under the per¬ 
 sonal supervision of the ruler of that region, Albert, 
 Prince of Monaco. The skeletons from these two locali¬ 
 ties represent two distinct races: the first, the ‘ ‘ Cro- 
 Magnon race,” is named from the first locality, which 
 has thus far produced only this type; the second, the 
 “Grimaldi race,” is negroid in character, and has been 
 found in the site at Monaco, in association with the first, 
 which is identical in character with that found at Cro- 
 Magnon itself. 1 
 
 The name ‘ ‘ Cro-Magnon ” is given to a small rock 
 shelter, a few minutes walk northwest of the village of 
 Les Eyzies, in the heart of the cave district of the Vezere 
 valley, Departement Dordogne, southern France. It was 
 first opened up in 1868, during the building of a railroad, 
 and five skeletons were found by the workmen. Of these, 
 parts of four were rescued by M. Lartet, and eventually 
 
 1 For accounts of the skeletons from Cro-Magnon and vicinity, 
 see: Lartet, “Une Sepulture des Troglodytes du Perigord,” Bull. 
 Soc. d’Anthrop., 1868, pp. 335-349. Quatrefages et Hamy, 
 “Crania Ethnica,” Paris, 1882. 
 
 For the site at Monaco, especially the Grimaldi race, see: 
 Verneau, in VAnthropologic, 1902, pp. 561-5S5; and 1906, pp. 
 291-320. The last paper gives a review of the excavations at 
 this site, since the beginning, in 1872. Boule, in VAntliropol- 
 o</ie, 1906, pp. 257-290. The paper describes the geological con¬ 
 ditions at the site. 
 
 The above work of Verneau and Boule, together with im¬ 
 portant papers by Villeneuve, Cartailhac, etc., is given in a 
 collection edited by Albert, Prince of Monaco, entitled, “Les 
 Grottes de Grimaldi,” publ. 1906. 
 
418 
 
 MAN’S rREIIISTORIC TAST 
 
 found to be representatives of a new human race. Al¬ 
 though in date and associations belonging to the Aurig- 
 nacian period and thus still Quaternary, they show none 
 of the conspicuous characteristics of Homo neandertalen- 
 sis, but fall quite within the limits of proportions of the 
 species sapiens. The brows lack the heavy ridges; the 
 orbits, instead of being large and round, with an orbital 
 index of 96 or thereabout, are extremely narrow (micro¬ 
 seme) ; and the jaw possesses a typical chin, with the 
 point even a little emphasized, at least in a specimen of 
 advanced age, the one described as the “ Vieillard.” 
 Quite unlike H. neandertalensis , the race of Cro-Magnon 
 was of very large stature, often considerably over six 
 feet, 1 and the heads were extremely big, even exceeding 
 those of large men of the present time. Thus, while it is 
 
 1 The total stature of typical individuals of the two races, 
 Neandertal and Cro-Magnon, as given in Osborn, “Men of the 
 Old Stone Age,” p. 237 and p. 295, respectively, is as follows: 
 Neandertal race: 
 
 Neandertal (Boule) . 1550 mm. (5 ft. 
 
 Neandertal (Manouvrier) . ^ 1632 (5 ft. 
 
 La Cbapelle (Boule) . 1570 (5 ft. 
 
 La Chapelle (Manouvrier).... 1611 (5ft. 
 
 Spy (Manouvrier) . 1633 (5 ft. 
 
 La Ferrassie I (Manouvrier) 1657 (5 ft. 
 
 La Ferrassie II. 1482 (4 ft. 
 
 The last is probably a female; the others male. 
 
 1 in.) 
 
 4 in.) 
 lin.) 
 
 3 in.) 
 
 4 in.) 
 
 5 in.) 
 
 10 in.) 
 
 The aver¬ 
 
 age of the male Neandertal individuals is 1633 mm. (5 ft. 4 in.). 
 
 Cro-Magnon race: 
 
 Adult males of: 
 
 Cavillon . 1790 mm. 
 
 Barma Grande II. 1820 
 
 Baousso da Torre II. 1850 
 
 Barma Grande 1. 1930 
 
 Grotte des Enfants. 1940 
 
 Average of males: 1870 mm. (6 ft. 1 in.) 
 
 Woman from Cro-Magnon.... 1S00 mm. 
 
 Woman, Barma Grande. 1650 
 
 Youth of 15 yrs., Barma Grande 1650 
 
 (5 ft. 10 in.) 
 (5 ft. 11 in.) 
 (6 ft. 4 in.) 
 (6 ft. 4 in.) 
 (6 ft. 4 in.) 
 
 (5 ft. 10 in.) 
 (5 ft. 5 in.) 
 (5ft. Sin.) 
 
KNOWN TYPES OF PREHISTORIC MAN 
 
 419 
 
 unusual in modern skulls to meet with one having a 
 maximum length of 200 mm., or over, two casts from the 
 original find, that of the “old man,” and the one desig¬ 
 nated Cro-Magnon II, measure in length respectively 
 206 and 203.5. In this connection one cannot help being 
 reminded of the enormous heads of H. neandertalensis, 
 and the supposition has arisen from more than one quar¬ 
 ter that the race of Cro-Magnon is a hybrid race, the 
 result of the crossing of the two species. When, how¬ 
 ever, the separate features of these large skulls be con¬ 
 sidered, as given above, they are seen to be typical of 
 the species sapiens, with no suggestion of the other 
 species, and all support for the hypothesis vanishes. 
 
 As in all of the types of early man of either species, 
 unless, possibly in certain of the Krapina specimens, 
 the Cro-Magnon skulls are dolichocephalic, the index, 
 according to Topinarcl (La Anthropologie, 1876, p. 465), 
 averaging 73.22. In the ‘ ‘ Vieillard ’ ’ with a total breadth 
 of 154 mm. (cast), the index is 74.7, and the Cro- 
 Magnon II (also cast) the breadth is 155 and the index 
 is 76.1. 
 
 Since the discovery of the first four skeletons in the 
 abri of Cro-Magnon, a number of others with the same 
 characteristics and from the same period have been found 
 in the vicinity; one in the abri of Laugerie-basse in 1872, 
 one in the abri of Raymonden at Chancelade in 1888, in 
 the grotto of Duruthy at Sores (Dept. Landes) in 
 1872-73, and in the grotto of Hoteaux at Rossilon (Dept. 
 Ain). In several cases the occurrence of perforated 
 shells and mammal teeth in close association with the 
 bones suggests the bodily adornment, in true primitive 
 style, with necklaces, bracelets, and girdles formed of 
 
420 
 
 MAN'S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 Fig. 101.—Cro-Magnon type of skeleton from 
 Bausse-Rousse, near Monaco. (After Verneau, 
 in L’Anthropologie.) 
 
 these objects; and 
 there are occasional 
 indications of special 
 treatment of the 
 body, such as the ty¬ 
 ing of the limbs to¬ 
 gether to form a com¬ 
 pact package, or the 
 dismemberment of the 
 body and a rearrange¬ 
 ment of the parts. 
 
 The same, or a 
 closely related, race 
 cf men is found in 
 the grottoes of Gri¬ 
 maldi, in the princi¬ 
 pality of Monaco on 
 the Riviera where, 
 since 1872, no less 
 than fourteen skele¬ 
 tons of the Cro-Mag¬ 
 non type have been 
 unearthed. These also 
 quite usually appear 
 adorned with various 
 ornamental shells 
 and teeth, which 
 often occur by hun¬ 
 dreds, and there ap¬ 
 pears about the bones 
 a profusion of red 
 ochre, evidently used 
 to paint either the 
 
KNOWN TYPES OF PREHISTORIC MAN 
 
 421 
 
 bones or the bodies. The first skeleton found in 
 this region occurred in the grotto of Cavillon, and was 
 discovered by Riviere in 1872. It acquired at the time 
 considerable fame under the name of '‘Man of Men¬ 
 tone. ” In this and the year following the same in¬ 
 vestigator found in the grotto of Baousso da Torre three 
 more adult skeletons, one of which, profusely decorated 
 with shells, possessed a stature of fully two meters; in 
 1874 this was followed by the discovery of the skeletons 
 of two children, of four and six years, in tne G-rotte des 
 Enfants. Julien, who next investigated the grottoes, in 
 1844, found a skeleton in the Grotto de la Barma Grande, 
 with the head encased in red ochre, and in the same cave 
 four more were discovered by Abbo, in 1892 and 1894. 
 In 1901 further excavations were carried on in the 
 Grotte des Enfants by Albert, Prince of Monaco, who 
 found, not only two more skeletons of the Cro-Magnon 
 type, but in addition a double grave, containing the 
 bones of an old woman and a youth of a totally distinct 
 race, with many negroid characters. This race of Homo 
 sapiens has been named the “Grimaldi race,” after the 
 family name of the Prince who made the discovery; the 
 name also being that of the region in which the grottoes 
 occur. These negroid skeletons, although distinct in 
 race, were evidently of the same culture status as their 
 Cro-Magnon associates, for they also were adorned with 
 a profusion of perforated shells. About the head of the 
 youth was a crown of four rows of Nassa shells, and two 
 bracelets of the same were about the left arm of the 
 woman. As in the case of the skeleton of Chancelade, 
 the closely approximate position of certain of the limb 
 bones suggested a post-mortem ligation of the parts, 
 and the skeletons were somewhat folded so as to present 
 
422 
 
 MAN'S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 an appearance closely resembling that sometimes found 
 among the American aborigines. 1 (§69 above.) 
 
 The discovery of so many skeletons of modern type, 
 decorated and painted, in a deposit of not later than 
 the Magdalenian, and in the midst of the Quaternary, 
 
 Fig. 102.—Double grave, containing a young man and an old woman, from Bausse- 
 Rousse, near Monaco. These skeletons show negroid characteristics, and are 
 racially distinct from the Cro-Magnon skeletons associated with them. Upon 
 these, as thus far the only representatives, is founded the so-called Grimaldi 
 Race, from the family name of the Prince of Monaco, on whose territory and 
 under whose leadership the find was made. (After Verneau, in L’Anthropologie.) 
 
 1 Cf. Verneau, V Anthropoid 1902, p. 5S7. Fig. 2, with Wilder, 
 Amer. Anthropologist , VII, 1905, pp. 297-2S8, PL XXIII, 1. 
 
KNOWN TYPES OF PREHISTORIC MAN 
 
 423 
 
 has naturally awakened the suspicion that the burials 
 were intrusions, and were themselves of Neolithic age 
 or later. This view was held, for example, by no less 
 an authority than G. de Mortillet in France, and by 
 Castelfranco and Pigorini in Italy; but the most recent 
 excavations, those of the Prince of Monaco, which were 
 conducted with much care and thoroughness, and de¬ 
 signed in part to settle this very point, prove beyond all 
 doubt that the skeletons and the deposit were contem¬ 
 poraneous. 1 Verneau says: 
 
 “A Vheure actuelle aucune hesitation n r est permise; 
 
 it est amplement demontre par les resultats des fouilles 
 pratiquees dans la Grotte des Enfants, que les Troglo¬ 
 dytes des Baousse-Rousse enterrainent leurs morts d 
 Vepoque quaternaire. Les recherches methodiques 
 executees avec un soin meticuleux dans cette caverne 
 
 one, leve les derniers doates.” 2 
 
 During the summer of 1909 an extremely well-pre¬ 
 served skeleton, nearly complete, was found in a deposit 
 of undoubted lower Aurignacian age, associated with 
 artifacts characteristic of the period. The site was the 
 rockshelter {atari) of Combe-Capelle, in Montferrand, 
 Perigord, and the discovery was made by Otto Hausser, 
 the same anthropologist who discovered the Mousterian 
 
 1 These excavations were under the immediate charge of the 
 Abb6 de Villeneuve, assisted by M. Lorenzi, and the results were 
 substantiated by MM. Boule, Cartailhas and Capitan. The 
 decisions against the Quaternary date of the remains had been 
 based upon insufficietn data, and had been made previous to 
 these last ones. 
 
 2 Loc. cit., 1902; quoted by D£chelette, Manuel <TArclieologle, 
 I, 1908, pp. 290-291. This work also contains a clear review 
 of all the skeletons obtained from the site in question up to 
 the date of publication. 
 
424 
 
 MAN S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 skeleton three years before. As in the other case he 
 associated with him in the actual excavation Professor 
 Klaatseh, and thus the results, both in actual remains, 
 and in observation of the position and the associated 
 objects, leave nothing to wish for. The skeleton, now in 
 the Museum at Berlin, is nearly complete, but with a 
 few injuries to the separate bones. 1 
 
 Although at first considered to be a distinct species 
 of the genus Homo, and named Homo aurignacensis, 
 the Combe-Capelle skeleton is plainly no more than a 
 variety of H. sapiens, although perhaps with close affin¬ 
 ity to the Cro-Magnon race. The stature, however, is 
 short (1600 mm.-5 ft. 3 in.), and the skull is very doli¬ 
 chocephalic (cranial index 65.75). It is this latter char¬ 
 acter which has led to suppositions of a possible affinity 
 with certain other very long-headed skulls, such as the 
 Briinn II (cran. index 68.1) and the Briix (cran. index 
 69 approx.) attributed to the Solutrean, and considered 
 below. At the present the exact position of the Combe- 
 Capelle skeleton is doubtful, and there are professional 
 supporters for each of the four possible views: (1) that 
 it is a late Cro-Magnon; (2) that t belongs with the 
 Briinn II group; (3) that it is a form intermediate 
 between the two; and (4) that it is a distinct variety, 
 i.e., Homo sapiens, var. aurignacensis. The extreme 
 view, held by its discoverers, that it is a distinct new 
 species, Homo aurignacensis, is not likely. 
 
 84. Paleolithic Human Remains of Doubtful Posi¬ 
 tion, but Representing the Modern Species, Homo 
 
 1 For the skeleton of Combe-Capelle, ef. the account of the 
 original discovery by Ivlaatseh, in Prdhist. Zeitschr., I, 1910, 
 pp. 273-338, and in Zeitschr. f. Ethnol., 1910, pp. 513-577. 
 
KNOWN TYPES OF PREHISTORIC MAN 
 
 425 
 
 sapiens /—A number of undoubtedly ancient crania, 
 found in various parts of Europe, mostly before the 
 methods of investigation and comparison had progressed 
 sufficiently to estimate their value rightly, have been 
 studied from time to time, often with some attempt to 
 associate them in groups, or otherwise show their affin¬ 
 ities. Naturally these alliances, based upon insufficient 
 data, are frequently found to be artificial, and the whole 
 subject has needed the maturer judgment of these later 
 years. Within the last decade this more critical exami¬ 
 nation of these older specimens has been made, and has 
 resulted in placing the subject upon a sounder basis. 
 
 Preeminent in this work has been the Strassburg 
 anthropologist, the late Professor Schwalbe, but numer¬ 
 ous others, among whom may be especially mentioned 
 Klaatsch, Gorjanovic-Kramberger, and Obermeier, have 
 contributed noteworthy results in this field. 
 
 As one of the first results of this modern criticism the 
 “Galley-Hill group” of MacNamara, consisting of the 
 two skulls, Gibraltar and Galley Hill, has been broken 
 up, and its members disassociated; the Gibraltar skull 
 referred to Homo neandertalensis, as treated above, and 
 the Galley Hill specimen united with Homo sapiens, as 
 an extremely primitive type of that species, associated 
 with the skull from Briix. For these two types, Galley 
 Hill and Briix, distinctly lower than any other known 
 
 1 For general works on these and other ancient skulls, cf. 
 the following: G. and A. de Mortillet, “La Preliistoire,” 3rd ed., 
 Paris, 1900, pp. 251-260 and 291-302; H. Obermaier, “Les restes 
 humaines quaternaires dans Europe centrale,” Part I, L'Anthro¬ 
 pologic, 1905, pp. 3S5-410, and Part II, UAnthropologie, 1906, 
 pp. 55-80; E. Fischer, Article, “Fossile Hominiden,” in “Hand- 
 worterbuch der Naturwissensckaften”; Fischer, Jena, 1813. 
 
426 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 specimens of Homo sapiens, Wilser and Gorjanovic- 
 Kramberger propose the name Homo fossilis, a variety, 
 or perhaps a species, intermediate between the two spe¬ 
 cies neandertalensis and sapiens, but nearer the latter. 
 This proposal is a convenient one and serves to isolate 
 this primitive group from the rest, a position borne out 
 by careful measurements; yet a few other skulls, like the 
 one from Combe-Capelle, are not far removed and serve 
 perhaps to link this group to that of Cro-Magnon, thus 
 denying it a sufficient degree of isolation to be consid¬ 
 ered a separate species. 
 
 The Galley Hill cranium was found in 1888 by Elliot, 
 an amateur collector, at the place of that name, three 
 quarters of a mile northwest of the town of Northfleet. 
 Kent. The specimen included originally the entire skel¬ 
 eton, but unfortunately the bones, which were very soft, 
 were first found by a workman, and neither he nor Mr. 
 Elliott were very successful in removing them. Thus 
 the portions recovered were fragmentary and included, 
 besides a skull with the facial bones wanting, the right 
 half of the jaw, the femora, tibiae, the clavicle and 
 humerus of one side, and fragments of the pelvis and 
 sacrum. 
 
 These bones were first subjected to a scientific investi¬ 
 gation in 1895 by Newton, 1 but his paper was a short 
 one, and there is great need of a more complete study of 
 this interesting form. In features this skull, like all the 
 early specimen of H. sapiens, is extremely long and nar¬ 
 row, having a maximum length of 205 mm. and a breadth 
 
 1 E. T. Newton. “On a Human Skull and Limb-bones found 
 in the Paleolithic Terrace Gravel at Galley Hill, Kent.” Quart. 
 Journ. Geol. Soc., August, 1895, pp. 505-527 (1 plate). 
 
KNOWN TYPES OF PREHISTORIC MAN 427 
 
 of but 132, which give a cranial index of 64.4. The cra¬ 
 nial dome is low, and the forehead somewhat retreating. 
 There are conspicuous superciliary ridges, but they con¬ 
 tain only the superciliaiy elements of Schwalbe, and not 
 the supra-orbital ones lateral to these, and are thus not 
 comparable to the tori of the species neandertalensis. 
 The face is not markedly prognathous, and the chin pos¬ 
 sesses a good mental prominence. 
 
 The same general characteristics are met with in the 
 cranium from Briix in Bohemia, recently described in 
 detail by Schwalbe. 1 This skull was found in the sub¬ 
 urbs of the town of Briix in Bohemia, forty miles north¬ 
 west of Prague, and near the German border. It was 
 excavated on Dec. 12, 1871, and came into the possession 
 of Dr. V. Fric, the proprietor of the well-known Nat¬ 
 ural Science establishment. At the site of discovery the 
 surface loam has a depth of two feet, followed imme¬ 
 diately beneath by a deposit of good building sand. At 
 the depth of six inches within this latter, or two and one 
 half feet beneath the surface, there was found a typical 
 Neolithic axe, of the type known as a casse-tete , and 
 some two feet beneath this lay the skeleton. 
 
 The circumstances of this find are thus in no way 
 positive, and have led to no definite conclusion concern¬ 
 ing age. The sand layer is generally considered Quater¬ 
 nary, but Woldrich believes it to be more modern, yet 
 concedes that the skeleton and the axe were associated 
 
 *G. Schwalbe, “Das Schadelfragment von Briix nnd ver- 
 wande Schadelformen.” Article II in the “Studien zur Vorge- 
 schichte des Menschen,” published as a “Sonderheft” to the 
 Zeitscher. fur Morphol. und Anthropol., pp. 81-182, 3 plates and 
 31 text figs. (For the Gibraltar skull, cf. especially pp. 154« 
 160.) 
 
428 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 accidentally and have nothing to do with each other. It 
 is thus necessary to rely wholly upon the physical char¬ 
 acters of the skull itself, which shows a close resemblance 
 
 A 
 
 Fig. 103.—Two views of the skull-fragment from Briix in 
 Bohemia. (After Schwalbe.) 
 
 to that from Galley Hill, although the cranium is smaller. 
 Schwalbe estimates the maximum length, if the skull 
 were complete, at 190-195 mm. and the maximum breadth 
 
KNOWN TYPES OF PREHISTORIC MAN 
 
 429 
 
 at 130-135, giving a cranial index of approxiately 69. 
 The cranial dome as shown in profile is low, at about 
 the lowest limit for the recent species. As in the 
 Galley Hill skull, the superciliary ridges are heavy and 
 somewhat projecting, but they consist of the medial or 
 superciliary element only (medial to the supra-orbital 
 foramen) and are thus simply an exaggeration of what 
 are found in modern male skulls, and are not the supra¬ 
 orbital tori of the Neandertal species, which possess also 
 a large lateral element, and extend entirely across the 
 brows. 
 
 A third skull, belonging with the two last is that 
 known as “Briinn II” and found by Makowsky at 
 Briinn in Moravia, in 1891. 1 It was found during the 
 excavation for a building, and was badly injured during 
 removal, an unlucky step on the part of a workman 
 utterly destroying the jaw and a large part of the face. 
 The site was evidently an interment, and, as in the Cro- 
 Magnon graves, there were found a quantity of shells 
 used for decoration, in this case over six hundred Den- 
 talium shells. There were also other associated objects 
 
 1 Six years before this the same investigator had found and 
 exploited another supposedly ancient skull, which is known 
 as “Briinn I,” and is liable to be confused with the one of 
 1891, especially as casts of both of them a^’e furnished by Dr. 
 Kranz of Bonn, and are often found in collections in associa¬ 
 tion. No. I was found on the “Roter Berg,” near the city, 
 and No. II in the city itself, on Max-Joseph Strasse, but it hap¬ 
 pened that No. II lay in red earth, and is stained a deep 
 red color, while No. 1, although found on the Roter Berg, is 
 not red, but ochre yellow. As these colors are reproduced in 
 the casts, this circumstance is likely to add to the confusion. 
 As it has proved, Briinn I is quite modern in type, and perhaps 
 in date, being not earlier than Neolithic, while Briinn II, con¬ 
 sidered here, is definitely Quarternary in date, and of an 
 extremely low and distinctive type of Homo sapiens. 
 
A 
 
 Fig. 104.—Two views of the skull-fragment from Brunn in 
 Moravia. This is the one from Max-Joseph Strasse within 
 the city, and often designated as Brunn II. Another skull, 
 found on the Roter Berg outside the city, and known as 
 Brunn I, is probably quite modern (Neolithic). (After Ma- 
 kowsky.) 
 
KNOWN TYPES OF PREHISTORIC MAN 
 
 431 
 
 of interest, such as small perforated disks of bone and 
 ivory, and a little human effigy of mammoth ivory, 
 thought by experts to have been cut out while the ivory 
 was still in a fresh state. This statuette was in two 
 pieces, with several parts lacking, and showed little 
 artistic skill. The skull is a large one, with a length of 
 204 mm.; yet with a breadth of only 139 mm., it is very 
 dolichocephalic, and shows a cranial index of only 68.2. 
 The cranial vault profile is, however, higher than in the 
 skull of Brtix, and compares well with the Cro-Magnon 
 average. 1 
 
 The Egisheim cranium, which lacks face and jaw, 
 and is otherwise very fragmentary, is yet of much im¬ 
 portance. It was found in 1865 by Faudet at Egisheim, 
 near Colmar in Alsace, and, like the foregoing, occurred 
 in the loess, associated with the bones of Quaternary 
 animals. In spite of its great age, however, it is defi¬ 
 nitely of the species sapiens , and belongs somewhere 
 near the Cro-Magnon race, perhaps, as suggested by 
 Klaatsch, a transition to the modern type. With a 
 length of 197 mm. and a breadth of 150, which gives a 
 moderately dolichocephalic index of 76.1, the skull is 
 removed from the Galley Hill-Brux-Briinn group, and 
 comes nearer the Cro-Magnons. 2 
 
 85. Late Paleolithic Interments; the First Brachy- 
 cephals .—The first skulls of the brachycephalic, or broad- 
 
 1 A. Makowsky, “Dei* diluviale Menseh in Loss von Briinn.” 
 Mitt, anthrop. Ges. Wien., 1892, pp. 73-84 (3 plates). M. Kriz, 
 “Beitrage zur Ivenntniss der Qnartarzeit in Mahren.” Steinitz, 
 1903, pp. 560 (ISO figs.). 
 
 2 G. Schwalbe, “Ueber die Schadel-formen der altesten Men- 
 sclienrassen mit besonderen Beriicksicbtignng des Schadels 
 von Egisheim.” Mitteilungen d’ naturliist. Gesellscli, in Kol¬ 
 mar, 17 Stn., 1S97. 
 
KNOWN TYPES OF PREHISTORIC MAN 
 
 433 
 
 headed, type date from the Azilian Tardenoisian Period 
 of the Late Paleolithic, and have thus far been obtained 
 from three localities: the grotto of Furfooz, in Belgium; 
 at Grenelle, near Paris; and the grotto at Ofnet, west of 
 Munich. The first of these was a grotto used for inter¬ 
 ment, and contained the skeletons of sixteen individuals, 
 the mouth being closed by a great stone block. Discov¬ 
 ered by Dupont in 1866, too early for careful study of 
 the site, only two of the skulls were sufficiently well pre¬ 
 served for observation, but these were seen at the time 
 to be brachycephalic, and as such excited quite a little 
 interest at the time. Upon these Quatrefages and Hamy 
 founded their “Brachycephalic Furfooz race,” a name 
 which may be convenient to retain for all remains of 
 this type. 1 
 
 The Grenelle remains consist of a single skull, exca¬ 
 vated in 1870, with unfortunately too little data to be 
 sure of its period. It is definitely brachycephalic, but 
 is probably Neolithic. 
 
 The burial at Ofnet was found in the larger of the two 
 grottoes at this place, and is in the method of interment 
 employed absolutely unique. The deposits on the floor 
 of this grotto consist in order, from the bottom up, of 
 Aurignacian, early Solutrean, late Magdalenian, Azilian- 
 Tardenoisian, Upper Neolithic, Hallstatt-La Tene, and 
 medieval, with characteristic artifacts in each, and in 
 
 1 For the Furfooz interment, cf. E. Dupont, “Etudes sur les 
 feuilles scientifiques executees pendent l’hiver de 1865-1S66 
 dans les caverns des bords de la Lesse.” Bull. Acad. R. de 
 Belgique, Ser. 2, T. 22, pp. 31-54. The skull nests at Ofnet 
 are described and pictured by Sclilitz, in Part III of a large 
 work written by R. R. Schmidt and others, with the title, 
 “Die diluviale Vorzeit Deutschlands,” Stuttgart, 1912. 
 
431 
 
 MAN'S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 the Azilian-Tardenoisian layer were found two masses, 
 or * ‘nests,” of human skulls, disposed in a single layer, 
 and facing uniformly west. In the larger nest there 
 were no less than twenty-seven such skulls, and in the 
 other, distant from the first only about three feet, were 
 six more. With nearly all of them were associated 
 numerous beautifully worked Azilian flints, and they 
 were decorated with ornaments made of stag horn and 
 
 Fig. 106.—The two nests of skulls found at Ofnet, near Munich. These consist 
 of remains of men, women, and children, mainly the two latter, and the 
 heads with part of the necks attached had been cut off, either when the vic¬ 
 tims were still alive or soon after death. Both dolichocephalic and bra- 
 chycephals are the earliest known skull of this type. In age these deposits 
 are determined to be Azilian-Tardenoisian. (After R. R. Schmidt.) 
 
 sea shells. All lay embedded in ochre, used probably 
 as paint, and, as the central ones were more crushed 
 than the outer ones, it may be deduced that the skulls 
 were not placed there simultaneously, but were added 
 singly, or a few at a time. The majority of the skulls 
 were those of women and children, but there were four 
 adult males. 
 
 Naturally a matter of immediate interest is that of a 
 possible explanation of this singular mode of interment, 
 
KNOWN TYPES OF PREHISTORIC MAN 
 
 435 
 
 but as yet there is no very satisfactory one. The heads 
 had evidently been placed there when fresh, and had 
 been cut off from the bodies with heavy knives of flint, 
 for the jaws and neck vertebrae were still in associa¬ 
 tion with the skulls, and upon the latter were numer¬ 
 ous deep gashes which could only have been thus in¬ 
 flicted. The prevalence of children suggests cannibal¬ 
 ism, yet in that case the heads would have formed a part 
 of the feast, and they would hardly have been laid away 
 in ochre, and with the valuable associated objects. The 
 other most natural suggestion is that of a ritualistic 
 sacrifice, yet the indications are too few to raise this 
 above the rank of a guess. 
 
 What is of especial interest to the anthropologist is 
 the fact that in these nests is found a mixture of both 
 long and short-headed skulls, together with others that 
 are hybrids between the two. The short-heads corre¬ 
 spond well with those of Furfooz, and undoubtedly 
 belong to the same race, but the long-heads are in gen¬ 
 eral shape unlike the earlier long-heads of Briinn and 
 Briix, and must be considered as new importations, like 
 the others. One of the eight short-headed skulls has a 
 cranial index of 83.33, while the best preserved long¬ 
 headed skulls shows one of 70.5. Some have seen in 
 these earliest European Brachycephals the advent of 
 the Alpine race of later times, and in the same way the 
 long-heads may be Mediterraneans; but we know at pres¬ 
 ent too little of the intermediate history to draw safely 
 such fundamental conclusions. As in so many other 
 cases, it is better to consider the Ofnet burials as fur¬ 
 nishing data of the utmost importance, without attempt¬ 
 ing as yet to relate them too definitely to other facts. 
 
436 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 86. Early European Ape-Men; Homo Jieidelbergen- 
 sis a7id Eoanthropus dawsoni .—Placing the advent of the 
 present human species in Europe within the Aurigna- 
 cian period, and associating his immediate predecessor, 
 Homo neandertalensis, with the Mousterian, we have a 
 vast period of time earlier than this during which activ¬ 
 ities quite beyond the power of any known ape con¬ 
 stantly manifested themselves. Someone was responsi¬ 
 ble for the hand axes of the Acheulian, and someone 
 had learned to make a straight cutting edge for them 
 which in the previous period he could not do. Someone 
 still earlier, at Strepy and perhaps at Mesvin, busied 
 himself with flint tools, and made the initial experi¬ 
 ments in shaping them into better and more convenient 
 forms; and if we can believe the imperfect evidences, 
 someone still earlier, even back in the Pliocene, held 
 chance pieces of flint in hands much like ours, and used 
 them for various simple mechanical purposes. 
 
 But what was the appearance of the being or succession 
 of beings whose activities are thus expressed? In what 
 bodily shape was housed the restless spirit that expe¬ 
 rienced successively the tropical warmth and the first 
 glaciations, whose descendants developed into the man 
 of Neandertal, and whose roots went deep into the line 
 of Simians? Has a single scrap of hone or tooth, im¬ 
 bedded in glacial drift or wind-blown sand, come down 
 to us to afford a single glimpse of such transition 
 beings? 
 
 At the present writing European prehistorians are 
 able to present remains of two such specimens in that 
 continent, not precisely dated, but of early Quaternary 
 origin, the Heidelberg jaw and the Piltdown cranium. 
 
KNOWN TYPES OF PREHISTORIC MAN 
 
 437 
 
 The first of these was discovered October 21, 1907, by 
 Dr. Otto Schoetensack of Heidelberg, in a gravel pit in 
 the village of Mauer, about ten kilometers south of his 
 
 a 
 
 Fig. 107.—The mandible found at Mauer, 15 kilometers south of Heidelberg in 
 1907, and the type and only known fragment of the species Homo heidelber- 
 gensis. (After Schoetensack.) 
 
438 
 
 MAN'S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 place of residence. 1 This pit has long been used as a 
 source of building sand, and has yielded from time to 
 time during many years occasional bones and teeth of 
 early Quaternary mammals, and, because of this, has 
 long been under the surveillance of the university author¬ 
 ities. In this they have been ably seconded by the Direc¬ 
 tor of the pit, Herr Rosch, who, at the time of this impor¬ 
 tant discovery, had been on the watch for some thirty 
 years, and had carefully made over to Dr. Schoetensack 
 every bone fragment that came to light. 
 
 The entire deposit in this pit is fully twenty-five 
 meters thick, and belongs to the early Quaternary, as 
 may be seen by the occurrence of the bones of the Ele- 
 phas antiquus instead of Elephas primigenius, of Rhi¬ 
 noceros etrucus, and not R. tichorhinus, and the absence 
 of the cave hyena; and here, almost at the bottom of 
 the stratified and undisturbed deposit, 24.63 meters be¬ 
 neath the surface, was found the jaw in question. It 
 was broken in two pieces by the blow of the spade 
 which revealed it, but the specimen was fortunately so 
 perfectly preserved that there was no splintering and 
 the two pieces were easily fastened together exactly. 
 Furthermore, a small oval pebble had become firmly 
 cemented to the teeth of the left side by lime, and in 
 its removal the crowns of four teeth, two premolars and 
 the two first molars, were taken off, but the teeth of 
 the opposite side are complete and perfect, as indeed 
 is the entire dentition otherwise, which represents that 
 of an adult in full vigor, without a break or sign of 
 
 1 Otto Schoetensack, “Dei* Unterkiefer des Homo heidel- 
 bergensis aus den Sanden von Mailer bei Heidelberg,” Engel- 
 mann, Leipzig, 190S, (37 pp. and 13 plates. 
 
KNOWN TYPES OF PREHISTORIC MAN 
 
 439 
 
 caries, and with the chewing surfaces only slightly worn 
 down. 
 
 Viewed as a whole, the jaw is extremely heavy and 
 massive; the teeth are wholly of the human type, with¬ 
 out excessive emphasis on the canine, or suggestion of 
 diastema, but the jaw itself is strongly simian. If, how¬ 
 ever, we compare it carefully with the jaw of Spy I, or 
 jaws of the heavy type from Ivrapina (var. spyensis) 
 we find them all somewhat similar, save that the jaw 
 from Heidelberg is thicker and more massive. One of 
 the most strikingly simian features of the Heidelberg 
 jaw is the ramus, which is so broad and at the same time 
 so short, that the outer surface presents almost a square 
 surface for the insertion of the masseter, quite as in the 
 anthropoid apes, e.g., the gibbon. Now neither the jaw of 
 Spy I, nor the specimens of the Spy type from Ivrapina, 
 possess anything more than fragments of the ramus, but 
 in the skeleton from La Chapelle-aux-Saints, although 
 a little senile and nearly toothless, the jaw is practically 
 complete. When restored in a few places, and with the 
 shrunken alveoli built out and equipped with teeth, M. 
 Boule asserts that it bears an extraordinary resemblance 
 to the jaw from Heidelberg; and, still more important 
 he fits the cast of the latter to the skull from La 
 Chapelle-aux-Saints, and finds that it fits almost as 
 well as does the jaw that belongs with it, harmonizing 
 fairly well in outline and in general contours. (Cf. 
 Fig. 100.) 
 
 It thus seems likely that the jaw “from the sands of 
 Mauer, ” in spite of its strikingly simian features, was, 
 after all, in its general appearance not so very much 
 below that of Homo neandertalensis, but that, when 
 
440 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 studied in detail, every character that differed at all 
 differed in the direction downward, or toward the 
 simians. Thus, in the thickness through the body of 
 the jaw, those of Spy I and Heidelberg measure respec¬ 
 tively; at the mental foramen, 13.5 and 18.5; across the 
 third molar, 16 and 23.5; and at the symphysis, 15 and 
 17.5. The width at the symphysis (symphysial height) 
 is hard to ascertain in the Heidelberg specimen, because 
 of the loss of the alveolar processes upon the outer side, 
 a condition which exposes the roots of the incisor teeth, 
 but the indications are that in this measurement the two 
 jaws are the same, 34.5 or 35. That, however, the body 
 of the jaw is higher in the Heidelberg specimen further 
 back is shown by a comparison of the measure taken 
 beneath the middle of the second molar teeth, 28.5 in 
 Spy I, and 31.8 in the Heidelberg. 
 
 In the ramus, which is so broad and short as to sug¬ 
 gest strongly an ape, the least breadth, taken where the 
 margins curve in a little, is 51.5 mm. while in recent 
 men this measurement is seldom above 35. 
 
 Summarizing the evidence thus far concerning the 
 jaw “from the sands of Mauer” we may acknowledge 
 with Schoetensaek that it is “pre-neandertaloicl,” and 
 represents a stage previous to that shown in Homo nean- 
 dertalensis. Although difficult to date, it seems by the 
 associated animals to belong somewhere in the Second 
 Interglacial Period, that of the Mindel-Kiss, and thus 
 antedates the Neandertal men by perhaps two hundred 
 thousand years. Judging by its characteristics it was 
 probably the direct ancestor of the latter, and thus rep¬ 
 resents an earlier stage of the race which culminated in 
 the Mousterian, and then died out, or was exterminated, 
 
KNOWN TYPES OF PREHISTORIC MAN 
 
 441 
 
 leaving no descendants. The physical differences are 
 great enough to place it as an independent species of 
 the same genus, and it has thus taken its place among the 
 other “men” as Homo heidelbergensis. 
 
 The other early Quaternary specimen is the “Pilt- 
 down skull,” found in 1911, but first announced offi¬ 
 cially in March, 1913, with the publication of a carefully 
 written description of the site. 1 
 
 About ten years previous to this date Mr. Charles 
 Dawson noticed some flints in the country road near 
 Piltdown Common, Fletching, Sussex (England) and 
 ascertained that the material forming the surface in 
 this spot came from a near-by gravel bed, from which it 
 had been taken to mend the road. He then consulted the 
 workmen employed at the gravel bed, and made an 
 arrangement something like that of Dr. Schoentensack 
 with the officials at Mauer, by which the men were to 
 save for him any bone fragments found there. Some 
 days after this a workman handed him a piece of a very 
 thick parietal bone, which he kept, but delayed publish¬ 
 ing until he found more. In 1911, some years after this 
 first discovery, he himself found in the pit a fragment 
 of a frontal bone, also thick, which he took to his col¬ 
 league, Professor Arthur Smith Woodward. After this 
 both men made a more careful study of the pit, and col- 
 
 1 Clias. Dawson and A. S. Woodward, “On the discovery of 
 a paleolithic human skull and mandible in a flint-bearing gravel 
 overlying the Wealden (Hastings beds), at Piltdown, Fletching 
 (Sussex).” Quart. Journ. Geol. Sac., Vol. 69, No. 273, March 
 1913, pp. 117-151. (This number contains three papers on this 
 subject, by Dawson, Woodward, and G. Elliott Smith. Cf, 
 also reviews of the find in Science, Nov. 7, 1913, pp. 663-664, 
 and by MacCurdy, in Amer. Anthropol Yol. 15, 1913, pp. 248- 
 256.) 
 
442 
 
 MAN'S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 lected several more pieces, presumably of the same skull 
 and also a very primitive jaw, all of which had evidently 
 been carelessly thrown aside by the workmen. They ob¬ 
 tained also bones of a Pliocene elephant, and flint arti¬ 
 facts of both Chellean and pre-Chellean types, also 
 eoliths. These numerous objects were plainly of a dif¬ 
 ferent original date, and had been collected in the glacial 
 drift by the not too gentle force of ice. Thus the bones 
 “cannot be safely described as being of earlier date than 
 the first half of the Pleistocene (Quaternary) Epoch. 
 The individual probably lived during a warm cycle in 
 that age. ’ ’ 1 
 
 The skull is a little surprising in not being strik¬ 
 ingly different in form from that of the recent species. 
 The bones are, however, unusually thick and heavy, and 
 the brain cast, made from the bones, is unmistakably 
 very low and ape-like. Otherwise the general form is 
 rounded, with a fairly high forehead, and without indi¬ 
 cation of the heavy supraorbital tori so marked a fea¬ 
 ture of Homo neandertalensis. The jaw, on the other 
 hand, is unmistakably simian, much more so than the 
 Heidelberg specimen; and it is for this reason that the 
 investigators felt the necessity of placing the specimen 
 in a new genus, to which they gave the name of Eoan- 
 thropus. For the specific name, Woodward selected the 
 obvious dawsoni , in honor of the discoverer. In the 
 paper cited the new genus is rather loosely defined “by 
 its ape-like mandibular symphysis, parallel molar-pre¬ 
 molar series, and narrow lower molars which do not 
 decrease in size backwards; to which diagnostic charac- 
 
 1 Dawson, loc. cit. 
 
KNOWN TYPES OF PREHISTORIC MAN 
 
 443 
 
 ters may probably be added the steep frontal eminence 
 and slight development of brow ridges.” 
 
 On account of the undoubtedly simian character of the 
 mandible, as compared with the almost modern form of 
 the cranium, some anthropologists have felt from the 
 first that the two parts do not belong together, a posi¬ 
 tion that may easily be maintained from the confessedly 
 non-contemporaneous character of the other objects 
 found in the pit; and this feeling became stronger after 
 the careful examination of the jaw and teeth by an 
 American specialist on the primates, Dr. Gerritt S. 
 Miller, who pronounced the jaw definitely that of a 
 chimpanzee (genus, Pan). Of this he made a new 
 species, Pan vetus, and by this claimed the presence 
 of one of the large modern anthropoid apes in Quater¬ 
 nary England, hitherto unknown. To the jaw belongs 
 also a canine tooth, found after the other pieces by the 
 Rev. Fr. Teilhard, a friend of Dawson. 
 
 In spite of the lack of date for any of the fragments, 
 and the known lack of contemporaneity in many of 
 the pieces colleeted, the great thickness of the cranial 
 pieces, and the primitive character of the brain, as indi¬ 
 cated hy them, show that we have here to do with a 
 really new form, perhaps generally distinct from 
 Homo , and more in line of ancestry with modern man 
 than Homo neandertalensis, which is now generally 
 felt to be, not a direct ancestor, but a side branch. Homo 
 heidelbergensis comes into the Neandertal line, as its 
 ancestor, but the entire line died out during the late 
 Quaternary, and left no descendants. Eoanthropus, 
 on the other hand, may easily have been somewhere 
 in the direct line leading to the modern species, and 
 
Fig. 108.—The Piltdown Skull, Eoanthropus dawsoni; from the gravel pit at 
 Piltdown, in Sussex, England. A. The cranial fragment, with restoration of 
 the missing parts, seen from the left. B. The same, from above. C. The 
 mandibular half, from the inside, but without the missing tooth, which was 
 found detached from the other piece. (After Smith-Woodward.) 
 
KNOWN TYPES OF PREHISTORIC MAN 
 
 445 
 
 may prove to be a species intermediate between the lat¬ 
 ter and the Javan semihuman-creature, Pithecanthro¬ 
 pus, whose presence in Europe has never been indicated. 
 
 87. The Javan Ape-Man Pithecanthropus Erectus .— 
 During* the linal decade of the last century, when the 
 discoveries in the grotto of Spy were still very recent, 
 and some years before the findings at Krapina, a start¬ 
 ling discovery was made in a most unexpected part of 
 the world, and one of a most unexpected nature. This 
 was the unearthing in 1894, in the island of Java, of 
 the skeleton of a being almost intermediate between man 
 and the highest apes, closely corresponding to the ‘ ‘ Miss¬ 
 ing Link” of a previous generation of speculators. Ernst 
 Haeckel, in his philosophical writings, had already pos¬ 
 tulated such a creature, man-like but speechless, to which 
 he had given the name, Pithecanthropus alalus, and his 
 friend and admirer, Gabriel Max the artist, had painted 
 a now famous picture of this hypothetical animal, and 
 presented it to Haeckel upon the latter’s sixtieth birth¬ 
 day. Speculation and painting were alike fictitious, but 
 here, if not in the flesh, at least in the bones, discov¬ 
 ered by Dr. Eugene Dubois, a Dutch medical mission¬ 
 ary, was an actual being, no longer imaginary, but real. 
 Naturally Dubois gave to it the name Pithecanthropus , 
 but, as he could not deny it the power of some rudiments 
 of speech, he chose for the specific name, instead of 
 alalus, the speechless, the word erectus, the most promi¬ 
 nent physical character of the new-found bones. 
 
 These bones consisted of a cranium, almost complete, 
 an entire right femur, and two teeth, all quite detached 
 from one another, yet resting at exactly the same level, 
 and without much doubt the fragments of the same skel- 
 
44 t> 
 
 MAN'S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 eton. In geological time the stratum in which they were 
 found had long been considered late Pliocene, but a care¬ 
 ful reexamination of the spot made it a little later, pos¬ 
 sibly corresponding to the beginning of the Ice Age 
 (Pleistocene) in the north. 
 
 Immediately following this discovery there followed a 
 heated discussion concerning the systematic position of 
 this new creature. Some considered it definitely a man, 
 but much lower than any hitherto known; others called 
 it an ape, perhaps something like a gigantic gibbon; 
 while there was not lacking a strong faction, who saw in 
 Pithecanthropus a definite transition form, intermediate 
 between the two. 
 
 The late Gustav Schwalbe of Strassburg, through his 
 detailed study of the remains, became the leading sup- 
 
Fig. 110.—Cranium of Pithecanthropus, seen from above, and compared with 
 the similar contours of (1) the Neandertal cranium, and (2) that of a gibbon, 
 Hylobates. The gibbon outline is represented by dots; that of the Neander¬ 
 tal by dashes. (After Schwalbe.) 
 
448 
 
 MAX’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 porter of this latter position, and considered Pithecan¬ 
 thropus as marking a stage in the direct ancestry of 
 Homo heidelbcrgensis and Homo neandertalensis, and 
 probably of modern man also. It was possible, from the 
 sknll fragment, to calculate approximately the cranial 
 capacity, which was found out to be not far from 850 
 cc. That of our highest apes does not exceed 500 cc. 
 while that of the lowest of the recent species gives a 
 capacity of 1200-1300. 
 
 A result harmonious with the last attended the exami¬ 
 nation of the “calvarial height,” that is, the height of 
 the cranial roof, measured in a profile curve. Upon the 
 nasion-inion line the greatest perpendicular was erected, 
 and the length of this expressed in terms of the length 
 line. In modern man this perpendicular averages a little 
 more than one-half of the length line (52 per cent) ; in 
 the Neandertal species 40 per cent, and in Pithecanthro¬ 
 pus 34.2. It may also be noted that the length-breadth 
 index of Pithecanthropus is 73.4, showing that the head 
 is dolichocephalic, like the Neandertal species and all 
 the early specimens of H. sapiens, while in all of our 
 modern apes, without exception, the heads are brachyce- 
 phalic. The study of the endocranial cast, taken from 
 the skull fragment, showed a fairly well-developed third 
 frontal convolution (the “speech center” of Broca), 
 larger than in any of the higher apes, yet less than in 
 the Neandertals, and suggesting the crude beginnings of 
 an articulate speech. Pithecanthropus, then, was not 
 alalus. 
 
 Naturally, the unearthing of remains so vital to human 
 interest centered our attention upon eastern Asia, and 
 before long a German expedition, equipped by Mme. 
 
KNOWN TYPES OF PREHISTORIC MAN 
 
 449 
 
 Selenka, the widow of Dr. Emil Selenka, the anthro¬ 
 pologist, went to Java and made further detailed exca¬ 
 vation of the site at Trinil. A single tooth only, a lower 
 molar, rewarded their patience, but it probably belonged 
 to the same individual, and gave further data concern¬ 
 ing the proportions of the mandible. 
 
 During the present writing an extensive expedition, to 
 last several years and include a large part of eastern 
 Asia, made under the leadership of Dr. R. C. Andrews, 
 and sent by the American Museum of Natural History 
 of New York City, is well under way, and, although the 
 objects in view include many interests, one of the chief 
 is the search for further remains of the ancestors of 
 man. It is to be hoped and expected that further impor¬ 
 tant discoveries may be announced at any time. 
 
 88. Hesperopithcus liaroldcooki. —A recent anounce- 
 ment, undoubtedly of the greatest significance in 
 this connection, but far too fragmentary to give us 
 much definite information. Mr. Harold Cook, living 
 on a ranch in Sioux Co., Nebraska, wrote to Professor 
 Henry Fairfield Osborn, on February 25, 1922, an¬ 
 nouncing the discovery of an ancient tooth of human 
 appearance, a second molar, the upper left, in Pliocene 
 strata there. The tooth was associated with remains of 
 Pliohippus, and probably with Pliauchenia, the giant 
 camel. It was found in the Snake Creek Beds. 
 
 The tooth was sent later to Professor Osborn, at the 
 American Museum in New York, who named the species 
 in honor of its discoverer, H esperanthropus haroldcooki. 
 Judging from the tooth alone, this species seems to have 
 been about half-way between Pithecanthropus and the 
 man of the present, and is assumed to represent a very 
 
450 
 
 MAN S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 early migrant from Asia to the New World, having 
 come by land route, which would have then been quite 
 possible. 1 
 
 89. Speculations Concerning the Pedigree of Modern 
 Man .—In the early days of the science, after the Nean- 
 dertal man was accepted as a normal type, and not patho¬ 
 logical, the natural tendency was to consider that he was 
 the immediate ancestor of present-day man, and that he 
 developed in place in Europe during the long time which 
 separates the Mousterian period from the present. The 
 discovery of the Cro-Magnon race, however, with its 
 sudden appearance in Europe at a definite date, and the 
 complete absence of all transition forms between it and 
 the Neandertal type, emphasize the constant possibility 
 of the introduction of new types by migration rather than 
 by development, and the definite distinctness of the two 
 species. For some time such early specimens as the 
 skulls of Galley Hill and Briinn were looked upon as 
 somewhat neandertaloid, and the skeleton of Combe- 
 Capelle, when first found, aroused the hope anew that 
 here at last was an intermediate type between the nean- 
 dertalensis and modern man, but the later, more care¬ 
 ful anatomical study of all the early fragments shows 
 more and more plainly the complete distinctness of the 
 two species. The line of the Neanclertals came to an 
 abrupt end at about the Aurignacian, and that of the 
 modern type appeared equally suddenly under circum¬ 
 stance that necessitate the assumption of a migration. 
 
 J This tooth was featured, w r ith excellent illustrations; in 
 the Illustrated London News for June 24. 1922, with an article 
 by the distinguished English anthropologist, Dr. G. Elliott 
 Smith. 
 
KNOWN TYPES OF PREHISTORIC MAN 451 
 
 The fact that the Neandertal type had no future, 
 however, does not preclude interest in its past, which 
 can be studied as in the case of any other extinct 
 form; and here comes in the jaw from the sands of 
 Mauer, near Heidelberg. Boule first pointed out that 
 this jaw, ape-like as are its proportions, fits the skull 
 from La Chapelle, a typical Neandertal man, surpris¬ 
 ingly well, needing only a few minor changes in details; 
 and this, although largely a coincidence, is yet sugges¬ 
 tive, for the jaw and skull not only fit mechanically, but 
 seem not inharmonious in form. (Cf. Fig. 100.) One 
 gets the same result by comparing the jaws only, the one 
 from Heidelberg with those of the Neandertal type: 
 namely, that while the former is much more simian it 
 is neanderloid, far more so than any jaw of modern 
 form. From these and similar observations it is now 
 generally felt that in the man of Heidelberg, present 
 in Europe as early as the Mindel-Riss epoch, and dif¬ 
 fering from an ape mainly in his ability to use as tools 
 the chance sticks and stones that came to his hand, we 
 see the direct, immediate ancestor of the Neandertal 
 type. 
 
 Properly speaking, we should now rest at this point 
 and await further finds before continuing our specula¬ 
 tion, but the point is one of such vital interest that, in 
 the absence of actual data, we may be allowed to indulge 
 in hypotheses while we wait. There comes first to our 
 mind the possible relations of the Javan Pithecanthro¬ 
 pus: whether it was the ancestor of the Ileidelberg- 
 Neandertal line only, or of the Home sapiens line only, 
 with several unknown intermediate links, or whether it 
 may have been the common ancestor of both lines. The 
 
452 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 discovery of the Piltdown fragments, suggesting a pos¬ 
 sible “Eoanthropus,” gave a hint of a distinct line lead¬ 
 ing to modern man, either from Pithecanthropus, or 
 from a more man-like form lower down, leaving Pithe¬ 
 canthropus out on the side. 
 
 For a time, especially in America, the determina¬ 
 tion of the Piltdown jaw by Miller as that of an ape 
 threw Eoanthropus into disfavor, but with the English 
 investigators there seems to be no doubt that both skull 
 fragments and jaw were parts of the same individual. 
 If this is the case, Eoanthropus is the most important 
 fossil now in existence, showing that the line leading 
 to the man of the present day early developed a high 
 forehead and large brain, avoiding the line that lead 
 through a low and slanting forehead, and heavy brows. 
 
 Perhaps, when a more complete skull is found of this 
 species, it may suggest something definite of the line 
 traversed by Homo sapiens in attaining his present con¬ 
 dition, although both Pithecanthropus and Homo heidel- 
 bergensis fit in much better as ancestors of the Neander- 
 tal type, than as those of sapiens. It is by no means 
 impossible to believe that sapiens has come directly from 
 neandertalensis somewhere else, if not in Europe. Un¬ 
 doubtedly much of the last part of human development 
 has taken place in Africa and Asia, and it may not be 
 until we are well informed concerning the prehistoric 
 deposits of these continents that we will be in posses* 
 sion of the essential data for explaining the human 
 pedigree satisfactorily. 
 
 If, now, we assume that the Heidelberg man was a 
 direct ancestor of the Neandertal, and that Pithecan¬ 
 thropus represents a still earlier stage along the same 
 
KNOWN TYrES OF PREHISTORIC MAN 
 
 453 
 
 line, the comparisons of proportions and the lines of 
 contour are extremely reasonable and harmonious. 
 Starting with Dubois’ restoration of the skull of Pithe¬ 
 canthropus on the one hand, and the skull of La Cha- 
 pelle-aux-Saints, as rejuvenated by MacGregor, on the 
 
 Fig. 111.— Hypothetical form, showing skull outlines intermediate be¬ 
 tween those of Pithecanthropus, as reconstructed by DuBois, and 
 La Chapelle-aux-Saints, to which has been attached the jaw of 
 Homo heidelbergensis. It represents a transition form, midway 
 between the two. 
 
 other, an extremely plausible intermediate form may be 
 made by the superposition of the two, drawn at the same 
 size, and tracing lines half way between the two outlines, 
 and to this hypothetical form may be given the jaw from 
 Heidelberg, unchanged. (Fig. 111.) The result, as 
 shown here, is a perfectly possible intermediate form, 
 and furnishes this Pithecanthropus - heidelbergensis, 
 neandertalensis line with so many steps that nothing is 
 
454 
 
 MAN’S PREHISTORIC PAST 
 
 wanting. Whether the outlines of the real heidelberg- 
 ensis skull, when found, will resemble these, cannot now 
 be known, but it cannot be far different. 
 
 The possible steps below Pithecanthropus, that is the 
 comparisons between it and the apes, have already been 
 a subject of much speculation, and it has to be acknowl¬ 
 edged that while no one of the present genera is an im¬ 
 mediate ancestor to this form, yet in all of them there 
 are definite signs of close relationship. Viewed as candi¬ 
 dates for the position of near ancestry, the orang-utan 
 fails through his excessive prognathism and his short 
 cranium. The gorilla, when adult, even in the female, 
 masks what would be strongly similar outlines by its 
 tendency to develop huge muscular ridges over the crest 
 and across the occipital region; and the chimpanzee, in 
 some respects the best candidate, has a rather weak jaw. 
 The general appearance of the skulls of our modern 
 anthropoids is that of several specializations, or varia¬ 
 tions, of a common ancestral type, which existed per¬ 
 haps in the Miocene or earlier, and it would seem that 
 in this, if it could be produced, we would find the imme¬ 
 diate ancestor of Pithecanthropus. 
 
 If, now, we may accept the Neandertal man as an 
 ancestor of the present type, developed elsewhere than 
 in Europe, we have a single line of pedigree without 
 gaps, and consistent in form and in the age of the sep¬ 
 arate members. The assumption of such a direct line 
 accounts for all the facts yet known with the exception 
 of the Piltdown fragments, which are at present in a 
 much less certain position than they were thought to be 
 some time ago. To accept these as a definite lower type 
 in the direct line of human ancestry would remove from 
 
KNOWN TYrES OF PREHISTORIC MAN 
 
 455 
 
 this latter both the Neandertal and Heidelberg types, 
 and probably Pithecanthropus, and would substitute for 
 what we have in these an almost complete blank, with 
 nothing but these fragments, without certain date, to 
 fill it. Naturally, the data are still insufficient for any 
 definite postulates concerning human ancestry, but at 
 the moment the hypothesis presented here seems a very 
 plausible one. Should the reader keep track of new dis¬ 
 coveries in this field, and note the speculations and 
 changes of opinion produced by each new find, he will 
 find it a field of intense interest, well worthy of philo¬ 
 sophical consideration. 
 

INDEX 
 
 A 
 
 Abraham, 52. 
 
 Acheulian axe, 158. 
 
 Ache Lilian period, 156, 158, 
 
 159. 
 
 aeropoles, 72, 109. 
 acropoles, in America, 334. 
 Africa, flints in, 272. 
 
 Age of Bronze, 127. 
 
 Age of Iron, 127. 
 age of remains, methods of 
 ascertaining, 33. 
 
 Age of Stone, 127. 
 
 Ainu people, 280. 
 alignments, 82, 85. 
 alphabetiform characters, 189. 
 alphabetiform characters of 
 Mas d’Azil, 189, 190. 
 Anaptomorplms, 9. 
 
 Andernach am Ithein, a Mag- 
 dalenian site, 118. 
 
 Andrews, R. C., 449. 
 ape-man, 12, 21. 
 arrow-heads, classification of, 
 325-327. 
 
 arrow-heads, Indian, 296-299. 
 Arclieolithic Age, 134. 
 
 Asia, prehistory of, 277. 
 Athens, 109. 
 auerochs, 12. 
 
 Aurignac race, 416, 423, 424. 
 Aurignacian period, 168-172. 
 Aurillac in Cantal, 118. 
 Avebury, 103, 104, 108, 227-234. 
 Avmara, 342. 
 
 Azilian, 188-192. 
 
 Azilian art, 192-199. 
 
 Azilian - Tardenoisian period, 
 187-194. 
 
 Aztecs, 341, 342. 
 
 B 
 
 basketry as origin of pottery, 
 317. 
 
 basketry, Indian, 308-311. 
 bathyscope, 121. 
 
 Beowulf, description of 
 mounds, 96. 
 bison, 12. 
 
 bisons in clay, 184. 
 bisons, clay of Tuc d’Audo- 
 bert, 184. 
 
 body, fear of, 106. 
 
 Bohemia, hradiste in, 73. 
 Bohnerz teeth, 145. 
 bone artifacts, Indian, 301. 
 Breasted, 4. 
 
 Breccia, 48. 
 
 Breton Island o' Thinac, 99. 
 Britons, ancient, 5, 37. 
 bronze, 240, 241. 
 
 Bronze Age, 132, 242-250. 
 Bronze age, cremation din ing, 
 108. 
 
 Bronze age, life of the, 243- 
 246. 
 
 bronze, percentage of, 24 i. 
 Brunn I, skull 429, 430. 
 
 Briinn II, skull, 429, 450. 
 Briix, skull of, 425, 427, 42*8. 
 Buhl ice, 20. 
 
 Burr’s Hill (R. I.) Indian 
 cemetery, 350. 
 
 457 
 
458 
 
 INDEX 
 
 C 
 
 Caesar, Julius, 5. 
 
 Calaveras skull, 295. 
 
 Calvarial height, 446. 
 
 Canstatt, skull of, 412, 413. 
 Carlyle on prehistoric man, 151. 
 Carnac-Menac, 227, 228. 
 carrying places, 123. 
 
 Carso, 45, 48, 49. 
 
 Carthage, 109. 
 castelliere, 71. 
 casting, 23S, 239. 
 catacombs at Palermo, 107. 
 cave bear, 12. 
 
 cave bear skull with Mouster- 
 ian axe, 49, 156. 
 cave burials, 53. 
 cave hyena, 12. 
 cave-men, 44. 
 
 cave paintings, Azilian, 193, 
 194. 
 
 cave paintings, colors for, 47. 
 cave paintings, Magdalenean, 
 181-1S7. 
 caverns, 44. 
 
 Cliellean axe, 154, 155. 
 Chellean period, 154, 155, 160. 
 Cliibchuans, 341, 342. 
 
 Children of Israel, 267, 268. 
 Chinese burial customs, 96. 
 Christian symbols upon mega¬ 
 liths, 85, 86. 
 
 chronological table, between 
 pp. 137-138. 
 
 chronology with eight ages, 
 135. 
 
 chronology with five ages, 135. 
 Cissbury ring, 73. 
 cists, 98, 99, 101, 105, 106. 
 cists, of bronze age, 105. 
 cities, Central American, 113. 
 cities, walled, 109. 
 city, formation of, 109. 
 city site, 112. 
 
 clay bisons of Tuc d’Audobert, 
 184. 
 
 cliff palace, 116. 
 
 cloth, American, 309-314. 
 
 Codices, Maya, 372, 377-380. 
 
 coiled ware in America 311. 
 Columbus, 5. 
 
 Combe-Capelle, skeleton of, 
 450. 
 
 commerce in the Bronze age, 
 
 251. 
 
 copper objects, Indian, 304-307. 
 cornfields of American In¬ 
 dians, 77-79. 
 
 coups-de-poing, 154, 155. 
 coups-de-poing in Africa, 278. 
 crannogs, 69, 70, 209. 
 crannogs among American Ind¬ 
 ians, 70. 
 
 cremation during Bronze age, 
 108. 
 
 Cretaceous, 8, 9. 
 
 Cretan labyrinth, 249. 
 
 Crete, 249. 
 crevasses, 13. 
 
 Cro-magnon, man of, 171, 172. 
 Cro-magnon race, 416, 417, 418, 
 419, 420, 421, 431, 450. 
 cromlechs, S3, 102. 
 
 Cuzco man/289. 
 
 Cyprolithic Age, 134, 234-238. 
 Cyprolitliic age in Europe, 305, 
 306. 
 
 Cyprolithic culture in Amer¬ 
 ica, absence of, 308, 324. 
 
 D 
 
 Daun ice, 20. 
 
 Delaware Valley. 126, 294, 295. 
 Dighton Itock, 362. 
 Dinotherium, 148. 
 
 Diprothomo platensis, 291-293. 
 displacement during excava¬ 
 tions, 35. 
 distaff, 215. 
 
 disturbance of bones, 34, 35. 
 dog, Neolithic, 204. 
 dolina, 49. 
 
 dolmen, 83, 102, 103, 104. 
 dress during Bronze age, 249, 
 
 252, 254. 
 
 dress, Neolithic, 217, 218. 
 Dryopithicus, 144, 145. 
 
 Dubois, Eugen, 445. 
 
INDEX 
 
 459 
 
 E 
 
 Easter Island, 281. 
 
 Egypt, flints in, 271. 
 Egyptians, 4, 3G. 
 
 Egisheim skull, 431, 432. 
 elephant, 30. 
 
 Elephas antiquus, 12, 148. 
 Elephas meridianalis, 14S. 
 Elephas primigeneus, 12. 
 enceinte, 103. 
 
 Engis, cave of, 386. 
 Eoanthropus, 442, 443, 444, 
 452. 
 
 Eocene, 8, 9. 
 
 Eolithic Age, 133, 139. 
 
 Eolithic Pompeii, an, 118. 
 eoliths, 10. 
 
 eoliths, characteristics of, 140- 
 142. 
 
 eoliths, users of, 144. 
 
 Equus antiquus, 12. 
 Erechtlieum, 111. 
 
 Erechtheus, palace of, 111. 
 Euphrates, 5. 
 
 European prehistory, For rev’s 
 picture of, 265. 
 
 Europe in study of prehistory, 
 125. 
 
 F 
 
 fairy ring, 72. 
 fear of body, 106. 
 
 Finland, 20. 
 
 first man (Strepyan), 148-153. 
 flint artifacts, early ideas con¬ 
 cerning, 384, 385. 
 
 Formosa, aborigines of, 280. 
 forts, 72, SO. 
 
 forts, American Indian, 75. 
 funeral ships among Scandi¬ 
 navians, 97. 
 
 Furfooz, grotto of, 433. 
 Furfooz race, 433, 435. 
 
 G 
 
 gallery graves, 99, 100, 101. 
 Galley Hill group, 425, 431, 
 450. 
 
 Galley-Hill skull, 426. 
 
 Garden of Eden, 128. 
 Geological chronology, 6, 16, 
 
 18. 
 
 Gschnitz ice, 20. 
 
 Gibraltar skull, 414, 415, 416. 
 glacial action, results of, 13. 
 glacial man in America, 2S5- 
 
 289. 
 
 glacial pebbles, characteristics 
 of, 15. 
 
 glyphs, 373-377. 
 gold, use of among Indians, 
 308. 
 
 Golden age, 12S. 
 graves, excavation of, 93, 94. 
 graves, gallery, 99, 100, 101. 
 graves, Neolithic, 88. 
 graves, position of bodies in, 
 89. 
 
 Grenelle, site of, 433. 
 
 Grimaldi race, 416 421, 422. 
 Guatemala, 4. 
 
 H 
 
 Haarlem, lake of, 120. 
 
 Haeckel, Ernst, and Pithecan¬ 
 thropus, 443, 444. 
 
 Hallstatt site, 257. 
 
 Homo heidelbergensis, 436, 437, 
 438, 439, 440, 441, 450, 451. 
 handle of pot origin of, 221, 
 
 009 
 
 hearth, remains of, 58-61. 
 Heidelberg jaw, 152. 
 Heidelberg man, 436. 
 Herculaneum, 117. 
 
 Herodotus on lake dwellings, 
 69. 
 
 Hesperopithecus hare ldcooki, 
 449. 
 
 Hippocrates on lake dwellings, 
 69. 
 
 Hissarlik, 111. 
 
 history, distinction from pre¬ 
 history, 2. 
 hockerstellung, 92. 
 hog-backs, 15. 
 
 Hopi, pueblo of, 115. 
 
460 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Horace, 2, 128. 
 
 horse, 12. 
 
 house-building among Ameri¬ 
 cans, 333-335. 
 
 Huns, picture of, 267. 
 
 Huxley’s opinion concerning 
 the Neandertal skeleton, 3S9. 
 
 Ha aena spelaea, 12. 
 
 hydroscope, 121. 
 
 I 
 
 ice-free areas, 11, 19. 
 
 ice-free intervals, 23. 
 
 Iliad, 3. 
 
 mca, 342. 
 
 incineration in bronze age, 96. 
 
 Indian burials, 353. 
 
 Indian habitations of America, 
 296. 
 
 Indian mounds, 354, 356, 357, 
 358, 359. 
 
 Indians, a homogenous race, 
 284. 
 
 intrusive burials, 105, 108. 
 
 intrusive remains, 34. 
 
 Ireland, crannogs in, 70. 
 
 J 
 
 Japan, prehistory of, 79. 
 
 Japanese kitchen middens, 279. 
 
 K 
 
 Kafrnak, 228. 
 
 Karst, 45, 48, 49. 
 
 Kent’s Hole, England, 385, 386. 
 
 kitchen middens, Baltic, 194- 
 197. 
 
 kitchen middens, Casco Bay, 
 Maine, 53. 
 
 kitchen-middens, Danish, 56, 
 194-199. 
 
 kitchen middens in crannogs, 
 
 71. 
 
 kitchen middens in Japan, 279. 
 
 Kiva, 335. 
 
 Koropokgaru of Ainu legends, 
 
 2S0. 
 
 Krapina skeletons, 394, 395, 
 396, 397, 398. 
 
 L 
 
 Labrador, 20. 
 labyrinth, Cretan, 249. 
 
 La Cliapelle aux Saints, skele¬ 
 ton of, 403-407. 
 lake deposits, 28. 
 lake dwellings, 64-68. 
 lamps, Magdalenian, 187. 
 
 La Naulette, 386. 
 
 Lang-son, Tonkin, excavations 
 at, 279. 
 
 Latene, station at, 261-263. 
 Legends, primitive, 1. 
 
 Leif Erikson, 362. 
 
 Le Moustier skeleton, 399-401. 
 loess, 19, 30, 31. 
 loom, Indian, 313-316. 
 loom weights, Indian, 301. 
 Longs Hill skull, 295. 
 Lucretius, 128-129. 
 lures. Bronze Age war trump¬ 
 ets, 256. 
 
 M 
 
 Magdalenian art, 176-187. 
 Magdalenian period, 176-187. 
 Maiden Castle, 73. 
 man, representations of in 
 Magdalenian, 185, 186. 
 manubrium of an Eolith, 140. 
 Marietta, Ohio, mounds in, 
 359, 360. 
 
 Mas d’Azil, 189, 190. 
 
 Mashona land, Cyclopean ruins 
 in, 273-275. 
 matrix, 35, 36. 
 
 Maumbry Ring, 73. 
 
 Max, Gabriel, and Pithecan¬ 
 thropus, 445. 
 
 Maya Codices, 372, 377-380. 
 Maya-Quiche, 341, 344, 372, 
 373. 
 
 Maya temples, preservation of, 
 350. 
 
 Maya writing, 377-380. 
 megalithic monuments, S0-S5. 
 menhirs, 82. 
 menhirs in Africa. 272. 
 Mesolithic Age, 134. 
 
INDEX 
 
 461 
 
 Mesopotamians, 4. 
 methods ot ascertaining age ol 
 remains, 33. 
 
 migrations from Asia to 
 Europe and Africa, 269. 
 Miocene, 7. 
 
 Mnemonic songs, Indian, 364- 
 369. 
 
 monoliths. Neolithic, 225. 
 More, Sir Thomas, 107. 
 mound exploration, American 
 Indian, 99. 
 
 mounds and tumuli, 95. 
 mounds, Casco Bay, 53, 56, 
 
 57. 
 
 mounds, Chinese, 355, 356. 
 mounds, Danish, 56. 
 mounds, Indian, 354, 356, 357, 
 
 358, 359. 
 
 mounds in Ohio, builders of, 
 
 359. 
 
 mounds at Marietta, Ohio, 75, 
 76. 
 
 Mousterian axe, 162, 163. 
 Mousterian period, 161-167. 
 Mousterian points, 163, 164. 
 Mycenae, 4. 
 
 Mycenean, 36. 
 
 N 
 
 Neandertal man, 450. 
 
 Neandertal man, the mod re¬ 
 cent discoveries, 408-411. 
 
 Neandertal skeleton, 50, 387- 
 389. 
 
 necropoles, 87, 99, 101, 107. 
 
 Neolithic, 129. 
 
 Neolithic Age, 130, 131. 
 
 Neolithic culture, theory that 
 it came from Asia, 201. 
 
 Neolithic dress, 217, 218. 
 
 Neolithic houses, 206-209. 
 
 new world, America as a, 2S3. 
 
 New World populated from 
 the Old, 382, 383. 
 
 Norse colonies in America, 
 361, 362. 
 
 Notharctus, 9. 
 
 O 
 
 Obelisks, 102. 
 
 Obermeier’s chronology, 138. 
 Objects lying under water, 119- 
 124. 
 
 Oceanica, prehistory of, 281. 
 Odyssey, 3. 
 
 Ofnet, grotto of, 433, 434, 435. 
 Oscans, skeletons of, at Pom¬ 
 peii, 94. 
 ossuaries, 107. 
 
 P 
 
 Paedopithex, 145. 
 palafittes, 64-68. 
 
 Paleolithic, 129. 
 
 Paleolithic Age, 130. 
 
 Palermo, catacombs at, 107. 
 Palestine, prehistory of, 277- 
 278. 
 
 Pan vetus, 153, 443. 
 
 Penck, 16, 18. 
 
 Pentaur, Song of, 3. 
 percussion of an Eolith, 140. 
 periods of human culture, no¬ 
 menclature, 136, 137. 
 Peruvian Indians, 341, 342. 
 petroglyplis, American, 361- 
 364, 371-376. 
 pfahlbauten, 64-68. 
 pictographs, 370, 371. 
 pig, 204. 
 
 pile villages, 64-68. 
 
 Piltdown man, 436, 441, 442, 
 443, 444, 452. 
 
 Piltdown skull, 153. 
 pipes, Indian stone, 300. 
 Pithecanthropus, 10, 146, 147, 
 277. 
 
 Pithecanthropus erectus, 445, 
 446, 447, 448, 452, 454. 
 Pizzuglii, 71. 
 plummets, 301. 
 
 Pompeii, 77, 117. 
 
 Pompeii, Eolithic, 143. 
 post-glacial action, 19, 23. 
 post-glacial rivers, 23. 
 pottery, classification of, 328- 
 330. 
 
462 
 
 INDEX 
 
 pottery, Indian, 316. 
 pottery, origin of, 220. 
 problematic stone objects, 300. 
 pre-Cliellean period, 152. 
 precolumbian, 5. 
 prehistoric dwellings, shape 
 of, 336. 
 
 pre-Indians in America, 285. 
 pre-Indian remains in South 
 America, 289-293. 
 
 Pueblo of Hopi, 115. 
 
 Pueblo of Taos, 114. 
 
 Pueblo of Zuni, 115. 
 
 Pueblos, 115, 337-339. 
 
 Puritan excavations of Indian 
 graves, 351, 352. 
 
 Puritans, 339, 340. 
 
 Puritans in New England, 
 268. 
 
 pyramids, 102. 
 
 Q 
 
 Quaternary, 7, 19. 
 
 Quichuas, 341, 342. 
 
 R 
 
 Ramesseum at Thebes, 3. 
 reindeer, 12. 
 remains, age of, 33. 
 
 Rhodesia, South Africa, 117. 
 river deposits, 28. 
 river terraces, 19, 24, 28. 
 rivers, search of, 120. 
 rock shelters, 37-40. 
 
 Rome, founding of, 109. 
 
 S 
 
 Sahara, western, 109. 
 
 Sakkara and Gizeh, flints at, 
 271. 
 
 sand dunes, 19, 31. 
 
 San Maurizio, near Porlezza, 
 119. 
 
 scharrachs, 72-74, 80, 209, 225. 
 Schliemann, Dr., 111. 
 Schwalbe, Gustav, 446. 
 Schwalbe’s criticism of Dipro- 
 tliomo, 291, 292. 
 
 Schweizersbild, 39-43. 
 
 Scotland, crannogs in, 70. 
 Selenka, Emil and Mine., 449. 
 shards, 200. 
 
 shards showing basket stitch, 
 203. 
 
 shards with imprints of tex¬ 
 tiles, importance of, 323. 
 shell artifacts, Indian, 301- 
 304. 
 
 sinkers, 301. 
 sink holes, 48. 
 
 situlae of Hallstatt period, 
 258-260. 
 
 skeleton in armor, 307, 362. 
 Solutrean period, 173, 174, 175, 
 176. 
 
 Song of Pentaur, 3. 
 
 South American claims for 
 origin of man, 294. 
 
 Spanish conquistadores, 340, 
 341. 
 
 spear-thrower, Magdalenean, 
 ISO. 
 
 spindle, 215. 
 
 spy skeleton, 391, 392, 393, 394. 
 stag people, Azilian, 191. 
 stone artifacts Indian, 295. 
 stone coffins, 98. 
 stone implements, American, 
 122 . 
 
 Stonehenge, 103, 104, 108, 227- 
 234. 
 
 Strepyan period, 148-151. 
 Sudbury calvaria, 413. 
 superstitions concerning body, 
 106. 
 
 Swedish rampart, 72. 
 
 Syria, prehistory of, 277. 
 
 T 
 
 Tarandus rangifer, 12. 
 Tarsius, 10. 
 
 temple architecture in Central 
 America, 345-347. 
 temple carvings of Central 
 America, 345-347. 
 temples. Central American, 
 113, 339-349. 
 
INDEX 
 
 463 
 
 temples, Neolithic, 226. 
 terremare, 71. 
 
 Tertiary, 7, 10, 13. 
 Tetraprothomo, 293. 
 
 Thinac, island of in Brittany, 
 99. 
 
 Thomas More. Sir, 107. 
 Thomsen, Christian, 129. 
 Tiber, 120. 
 
 Tigris, 5. 
 tin, 238. 
 
 Tiryns, 110. 
 
 Tonkin, prehistory of, 279. 
 trade routes of Bronze age. 
 251. 
 
 traditions, 1. 
 
 transition skull between Pithe¬ 
 canthropus and Neandertal, 
 453. 
 
 transition to Neolithic, 197- 
 200 . 
 
 tree houses, 62. 63. 
 
 Trenton gravels, 287, 299. 
 Troy, 122. 
 
 Troy, site of, 111. 
 tumuli, 95, 101-103. 
 
 Turkish fortress. 72. 
 turquoise mine of Sinai, 27*. 
 
 V 
 
 undisturbed deposits, 33. 
 ur. 12. 
 
 urn burials, 106. 107. 
 
 I T rsus speheus, 12. 
 
 TJrsus spelseus with Mouste- 
 rian axe, 166. 
 
 V 
 
 Vero, Fla., human remains, 
 288, 289. 
 
 Vesuvius, 77. 
 
 villages in Palestine, 338. 
 villages, Indian, 336-338. 
 Viking ships, 97. 
 
 Virchows’ opinion concerning 
 the Neandertal skeleton, 
 390. 
 
 Volk, on ghicial man, 287, 288. 
 
 W 
 
 wallburg, 73. 
 walled cities. 109. 
 wampum, 302-304. 
 weaving, Indian, 309-313. 
 weaving, Neolithic, 210-218. 
 Webster ruin in Rhodesia. 
 274. 
 
 wild horse period (Solutrean). 
 173. 
 
 winter counts, Indian, 364-367. 
 writing, 3. 
 
 Wurm ice, 19. 
 
 Y 
 
 Yap. Caroline Island, 117. 
 Yucatan. 4. 
 
 Z 
 
 Zuni, pueblo of, 115. 
 
I 
 
 I