No longer doubted—Men not only existed, but in numbers and widely spread—Pal?olithic Implements of similar Type found everywhere—Progress shown—Tests of Antiquity—Position of Strata—Fauna—Oldest Types—Mixed Northern and Southern Species—Reindeer Period—Correspondence of Human Remains with these Three Periods—Advance of Civilization—Clothing and Barbed Arrows—Drawing and Sculpture—Passage into Neolithic and Recent Periods—Corresponding Progress of Physical Man—Distinct Races—How tested—Tests applied to Historical, Neolithic, and Pal?olithic Man—Long Heads and Broad Heads—Aryan Controversy—Primitive European Types—Canon Taylor—Huxley—Preservation of Human Remains depends mainly on Burials—About forty Skulls and Skeletons known from Quaternary Times—Summary of Results—Quatrefages and Hamy—Races of Canstadt—Cro-Magnon—Furfooz—Truchere—Skeletons of Neanderthal and Spy—Canstadt Type oldest—Cro-Magnon Type next—Skeleton of Cro-Magnon—Broad-headed and Short Race resembling Lapps—American Type—No Evidence from Asia, Africa, India, Polynesia, and Australia—Negroes, Negrillos, and Negritos—Summary of Results.

The time is past when it is necessary to go into any lengthened argument to prove that man has existed throughout the Quaternary period. Less than half a century has elapsed since the confirmation of Boucher-de-Perthes\' discovery of pal?olithic implements in the old gravels of the Somme, and yet the proofs have multiplied to such an extent that they are now reckoned, not by scores or hundreds, but by tens of thousands. They have been found not in one locality or in one formation 318 only, but in all the deposits of the Quaternary age, from the earliest to the latest, and in association with all the phases of the Quaternary period, from the extinct mammoth, woolly rhinoceros, and cave-bear, to the reindeer, horse, ox, and other existing animals. No geologist or pal?ontologist, who approaches the subject with anything like competent knowledge, and without theological or other prepossessions, doubts that man is as much a characteristic member of the Quaternary fauna as any of these extinct or existing animals, and that reasonable doubt only begins when we pass from the Quaternary into the Tertiary ages. I will content myself, therefore, instead of going over old ground and 319 proving facts which are no longer disputed, with showing what bearing they have on the question of human origins.

Pal?olithic Celt (type of St. Acheul).

From Quaternary deposits of the Nerbudda, India.

Pal?olithic Celt in Argillite.

From the Delaware, United States (Abbott).

The first remarkable fact to note is, that at this remote period man not only existed, but existed in considerable numbers, and already widely spread over nearly the whole surface of the habitable earth.

Implements and weapons of the pal?olithic type, such as celts or hatchets, lance and arrow-heads, knives, borers and scrapers of flint, or if that be wanting of 320 some hard stone of the district, fashioned entirely by chipping without any grinding or polishing, have been found in the sands and gravels of most of the rivers of Southern England, France, Belgium and Germany, of the Tagus and Manzanares in Spain, and the Tiber in Italy. Still more numerously also in the caves and glacial drifts of these and other European countries. Nor are they confined to Europe. Stone implements of the same type have been found in Algeria, Morocco, and 321 Egypt, and in Natal and South Africa. Also in Greece, Syria, Palestine, Hindostan, and as far east as China and Japan, while in the New World they have been found in Maryland, Ohio, California, and other States in North America, and in Brazil, and the Argentine pampas in the South. And this has been the result of the explorations of little more than thirty years, prior to which the coexistence of man with the extinct animals was almost universally denied; and of explorations which except in a few European countries have been very partial.

Pal?olithic Flint Celt (type of St. Acheul).

From Algeria (Lubbock).

Pal?olithic Celt of Quartzite from Natal, South Africa.

(Quatrefages.)

322 In fact the area over which these evidences of man\'s existence have been found may be best defined by the negative, where they have not been found, as there is every probability that it will eventually be proved that, with a few exceptions, wherever man could have existed during the Quaternary period, there he did exist. The northern portions of Europe which were buried under ice-caps are the only countries where considerable search has failed to discover pal?olithic implements, while nearly all Asia, Africa, and America, and vast extents of desert and forests remain unexplored.

The next point to observe is, that throughout the whole of the Quaternary period there has been a constant progression of human intelligence upwards. Any theory of human origins which says that man has fallen and not risen is demonstrably false. How do we know this? The time scale of the Quaternary as of other geological periods is determined partly by the superposition of strata, and partly by the changes of fauna. In the case of existing rivers which have excavated their present valleys in the course of ages, it is evident that the highest deposits are the oldest. If the Somme, Seine, or Thames left remains of their terraces and patches of their silts and gravels at heights 100 feet or more above their present level, it is because they began to run at these higher levels, and gradually worked their way downwards, leaving traces of their floods ever lower and lower. In the case of deposits in caves or in still water, or where glacial moraines and débris are superimposed on one another, the case is reversed, and the lowest are the oldest and the highest the most recent.

In like manner if the fauna has changed, the remains found in the highest deposits of rivers and lowest, of 323 caves will be the oldest, and will become more modern as we descend in the one case or ascend in the others.

This is practically confirmed by the coincidence of innumerable observations. The oldest Quaternary fauna is characterized by a preponderance of three species, the mammoth (Elephas primigenius), the woolly rhinoceros (Rhinoceros tichorinus), and the cave-bear (Ursus spel?us).

There are a few survivals from the Pliocene, as the gigantic elephant (Elephas antiquus) and a few anticipations of later phases, as the reindeer, horse, and ox, but the three mentioned are, with pal?olithic man, the most characteristic. Then comes a long period when a strange mixture of northern and southern forms occurs. Side by side with the remains of Arctic animals such as the mammoth, the glutton, the musk ox, and the lemming, are found those of African species adapted only for a warm climate, the lion, panther, hyena, and above all the hippopotamus, not distinguishable from the existing species, which could certainly not have lived in rivers that were frozen in winter.

The intermixture is most difficult to account for. No doubt Africa and Europe were then united, and the theory of migration is invoked. The Arctic animals may, it is said, have moved south in winter and the African animals north in summer, and this was doubtless the case to some extent. But there are some facts which militate against this theory; for instance, the hyena caves, which seem to show a continuous occupation by the same African species for long periods. Nor is it easy to conceive how the hippopotamus could have travelled every summer from Africa to Yorkshire, and retreated every autumn with the approach of frost. 324 Such instances point rather to long inter-glacial periods with vicissitudes of climate, enabling now a northern, and now a southern fauna to inhabit permanently the same region.

Be this as it may, the fact is certain that this strange intermixture of northern and southern species is found in almost all the European deposits of the Quaternary age, until towards its close with the coming on of the second great glacial period, when the southern forms disappear, and the reindeer, with an Arctic or boreal flora and fauna, become preponderant, and extend themselves over Southern France and Germany up to the Alps and Pyrenees.

The Quaternary period is therefore roughly divided by geologists into three stages: 1st, that of the mammoth and cave-bear, there being some difference of opinion as to which came first, though probably they were simultaneous; 2nd, the middle stage of the mixed fauna; 3rd, the latest stage, that of the reindeer.

Now to these stages there is an exact correspondence in the character of the human implements found in them. In the earliest, those of the oldest deposits and of the oldest animals, we find the rudest implements. They consist almost exclusively of native stones, chipped roughly into a few primitive shapes: celts, which are merely lumps of flint or other hard stone with a little chipping to supplement natural fractures in bringing them to a point or edge, while the butt-end is left rough to be grasped by the hand; scrapers with a little chipping to an edge on one side; very rude arrow-heads without the vestige of a barb or socket; and flakes struck off at a blow, which may have served for knives. As we ascend to later deposits we find these primitive types 325 constantly improving. The celts are chipped all over and the butt-ends adapted for haftings, so also are the other implements and weapons, and the arrow-heads by degrees acquire barbs. But the great advance occurs with the use of bone, which seems to have been as important a civilizing agent for pal?olithic as metals were for neolithic man. This again seems to have been due to the increasing preponderance of the reindeer, whose horns afforded an abundant and easily manipulated material for working into the desired forms by flint knives.

At any rate the fact is, that as we trace pal?olithic man upwards into the later half of the Quaternary period when the reindeer became abundant, we find a notable advance of civilization. Needles appear, showing that skins of animals were stitched together with sinews to provide clothing. Barbed arrows and harpoons show that the arts of war and of the chase had made a great advance on the primitive unhafted celt. And finally we arrive at a time when certain tribes showed not only an advance in the industrial arts, but a really marvellous proficiency in the arts of sculpture and drawing. In the later reindeer period, when herds of that animal and of the wild horse and ox roamed over the plains of Southern France and Germany, and when the mammoth and cave-bear, though not extinct, were becoming scarce, tribes of pal?olithic savages who lived in the caves and rock shelters of the valleys of Southern France and Germany, and of Switzerland and Belgium, drew pictures of their chases and of the animals with which they were surrounded, with the point of a flint on pieces of bone or of schist. They also carved bones into images of these animals, to adorn the handles of their 326 weapons or as idols or amulets. Both drawings and sculptures are in many cases admirably executed, so as to leave no doubt of the animal intended, especially in the case of the wild animals, for the rare portraits of the human figure are very inferior. Most of them represent the reindeer in various attitudes, but the mammoth, the cave-bear, the wild horse, the Bos primigenius, and others, are also represented with wonderful fidelity.

With the close of the reindeer age we pass into the Recent period and from pal?olithic to neolithic man. Physically there is no very decided break, and we cannot draw a hard-and-fast line where one ends and the other begins. All we can say is, that there is general evidence of constantly decreasing cold during the whole post-glacial period, from the climax of the second great glaciation until modern conditions of climate are fairly established, and the existing fauna has completely superseded that of the Quaternary, the older characteristic forms of which having either become extinct or migrated. How does this affect the most characteristic of all Quaternary forms, that of man? Can we trace an uninterrupted succession from the earliest Quaternary to the latest modern times, or is there a break between the Quaternary and Recent periods which with our present knowledge cannot be bridged over? And did the division of mankind into distinct and widely different races, which is such a prominent feature at the present day and ever since the commencement of history, exist in the case of the pal?olithic man, whose remains are so widespread?

These are questions which can only be answered by the evidence of actual remains of the human body. 327 328 Implements and weapons may have altered gradually with the lapse of ages, and new forms may have been introduced by commerce and conquest, without any fundamental change in the race using them. Still less can language be appealed to as a test of race, for experience shows how easily the language of a superior race may be imposed on populations with which it has no affinity in blood. To establish distinction of races we consult the anthropologist rather than the geologist or philologist.

PORTRAIT OF MAMMOTH.

Drawn with a flint on a piece of Mammoth\'s ivory; from Cave of La Madeleine, Dordogne, France.

EARLIEST PORTRAIT OF A MAN WITH SERPENTS AND HORSES\' HEADS.

From Grotto of Les Eyzies. Reindeer Period.

REINDEER FEEDING.

From Grotto of Thayngen, near Schaffhausen, Switzerland.

On what are the distinctions of the human race founded? Mainly on colour, stature, hair, and on the anatomical character of skulls and skeletons. These are wonderfully persistent, and have been so since historical times, intermediate characters only appearing where there has been intercrossing between different races. But the primitive types have continued unchanged, and no one has ever seen a white race of Negroes, or a black one of Europeans. And this has certainly been the case during the historical period, or for at least 7000 years, for the paintings on old Egyptian tombs show us the types of the Negro, the Libyan, the Syrian, and the Copt as distinct as at the present day, and the Negroes especially, with their black colour, long heads, projecting muzzles, and woolly hair growing in separate tufts, might pass for typical photographs of the African Negro of the nineteenth century.

Of these indications of race we cannot hope to meet with any of the former class in Quaternary gravel or caves. We have to trust to the anatomical character to be drawn from skulls and skeletons, of which it may be inferred, as a matter of course, that they will be few and scanty, and will become constantly fewer and more 329 imperfect as we ascend the stream of time to earlier periods. It must be remembered also that even these scanty specimens of early man are confined almost entirely to one comparatively small portion of the earth, that of Europe, and that we have hardly a single pal?olithic skull or skeleton of the black, the yellow, the olive, the copper-coloured, or other typical race into which the population of the earth is actually divided.

We are confined therefore to Europe for anything like positive evidence of these anatomical characters of prehistoric and prim?val man, and can only draw inferences from implements as to those of other portions of the earth and other races. Fortunately these racial characters are very persistent, especially those of the skull and stature, and they exist in ample abundance throughout the historic, prehistoric, and neolithic ages, to enable us to draw very certain conclusions. Thus at present, and as far as we can see back with certainty, the races which have inhabited Europe may be classified under the heads, tall and short, long-headed and broad-headed, and those of intermediate types, which latter may be dismissed for the present, though constituting a majority of most modern countries, as they are almost certainly not primitive, but the result of intercrossing.

Colour, complexion, and hair are also very persistent, though, as we have pointed out, we have no certain evidence by which to test them beyond the historical period. But the form of skulls, jaws, teeth, and other parts of the skeleton remain wonderfully constant in races where there has been little or no intermixture.

The first great division is in the form of the skull. Comparing the extreme breadth of the skull with its 330 extreme length from front to back, if the breadth does not exceed three-fourths or 75 per cent. of the length, the skull is said to be dolicocephalic or long-headed; if it equals or exceeds 83 per cent. it is called brachycephalic, i.e. short or broad-headed. Intermediate indices between 75 and 83 per cent. are called sub-dolicocephalic, or sub-brachycephalic, according as they approach one or the other of these extremes, but these are of less importance, as they probably are the result of intercrossing.

The prognathism also of the jaws, the form of the eye-orbits and nasal bones, the superciliary ridges, the proportion of the frontal to the posterior regions of the skull, the stature and proportions of the limbs, are also both characteristic and persistent features, and correspond generally with the type of the skull.

The controversy as to the origin of the Aryans has led to a great deal of argument as to these ethnological traits in prehistoric and neolithic times, and the interesting volume of Canon Taylor\'s on the Origin of the Aryans, and Professor Huxley\'s article on the same subject in the Nineteenth Century for November 1890, give a summary of the latest researches on the subject. We shall have to refer to these more fully in discussing the question as to the place or places of human origins; but for the present it is sufficient to state the general result at which the latest science has arrived.

The theory of a common Asiatic centre from which all the races of mankind have migrated is given up as unsupported by the slightest vestige of evidence. When we first know anything of the Aryan and other European races, we find them occupying substantially very much the same regions as at present. There are four distinct 331 European types, two tall and two short, two long-headed and two broad-headed. Of these two were fair, and two dark, and one, apparently the oldest in Western Europe and in the Mediterranean region, and probably represented by the Iberians, and now by the Spanish Basques, was short, dark, and long-headed; a second short, dark, and broad-h............