ARRIVAL OF THE PRE-CHELLEAN FLINT WORKERS DURING THE THIRD
INTERGLACIAL--GEOGRAPHY, CLIMATE, AND THE RIVER DRIFTS--PRE-CHELLEAN
FLINT INDUSTRY--THE PILTDOWN RACE--MAMMALIAN LIFE--CHELLEAN AND
ACHEULEAN INDUSTRIES--THE USE OF FIRE--THE SECOND PERIOD OF ARID
CLIMATE--THE NEANDERTHAL RACE OF KRAPINA, CROATIA
The geologic epoch of the arrival of the Pre-Chellean flint workers in
western Europe is by far the most important and interesting one before the
prehistorian. Upon it depends the question of the duration of the Old
Stone Age, the date of appearance of the Piltdown and of the Neanderthal
races, and the whole sequence of climatic and geographic changes
surrounding the early history of man. After weighing all the evidence very
carefully, the balance of opinion seems to sustain the view that this
epoch should be placed _after_ the close of the third glaciation and
_before_ the advent of the fourth, that is, during the Third Interglacial
Stage.
Penck estimated that the third warm interglacial stage[S] opened about
100,000 years ago and lasted between 50,000 and 60,000 years. According to
the theory that we have adopted in this work, the Third Interglacial and
Fourth Glacial embraced the entire period of Lower Palæolithic time, a
period of from 70,000 to 100,000 years, much longer than that of Upper
Palæolithic time, which is estimated at 16,000 to 25,000 years.
GEOLOGIC ANTIQUITY OF THE BEGINNING OF THE STONE AGE
Attention should first be called to the fact that, preceding the epoch we
have now entered, the glacial and interglacial forces operating over the
great peninsula of western Europe had left their impress chiefly on the
glaciated areas and only to a minor degree on the free, non-glaciated
areas. Until toward the close of Third Interglacial times no traces of
northern much less of arctic forests and animals are discovered anywhere,
except along the borders of the ice-fields. It would appear as if the
animal and plant life of Europe were, in the main, but slightly affected
by the first three glaciations. We cannot entertain for a moment the
belief that in glacial times all the warm flora and fauna migrated
southward and then returned, because there is not a shred of evidence for
this theory. It is far more in accord with the known facts to believe that
all the southern and eastern forms of life had become very hardy, for we
know how readily animals now living in the warm earth belts are
acclimatized to northern conditions.
[Illustration: FIG. 52. Human types and culture stages of the last third
of the Glacial Epoch. Theoretic estimates of the geologic and time
divisions and introduction of human races during the Third Interglacial,
Fourth Glacial, and Postglacial Stages (see Fig. 14, p. 41). Prepared by
the author with the aid of C. A. Reeds.]
If, on the other hand, we depend solely on the testimony of the life
conditions, we might conclude that the Pre-Chellean flint workers reached
western Europe either in Second Interglacial times, or during the third
glaciation, or again during Third Interglacial times. Let us consider this
evidence of the fossil mammals more closely.
[Illustration: FIG. 53. Distribution of the principal Pre-Chellean and
Chellean industrial stations in western Europe.]
In favor of the theory that the Pre-Chellean culture is as ancient as
Second Interglacial times, we should consider the fact that in several
localities palæoliths of Pre-Chellean if not of Chellean type have been
recorded in association with the remains of a number of the more primitive
mammals which we have described above as characteristic of Second
Interglacial times. For example, at Torralba, Province of Soria, Spain,
there has been discovered(1) an old typical Chellean camp site, containing
abundant remains of the broad-nosed rhinoceros and of the southern
mammoth, mingled with the remains of other mammals of very ancient type,
identified as the Etruscan rhinoceros and as Steno's horse. Again, along
the River Somme, near Abbeville, in the _gisement du Champ de Mars_,(2) it
is said that Pre-Chellean and Chellean implements have been found in
association with the Etruscan rhinoceros, Steno's horse, and very numerous
specimens of the sabre-tooth tiger and of the striped hyæna. Moreover, in
Piltdown, Sussex, Pre-Chellean flints and the Piltdown skull are said to
have occurred in a layer containing a rhinoceros which may be identified
with the Etruscan. If these very ancient species of animals are rightly
recognized and determined, and if they are truly found as reported in
close association in the same layers with Pre-Chellean and Chellean
flints, the evidence may be considered as quite strong that the beginning
of Chellean culture dates from Second Interglacial times; unless, indeed,
it should prove that these primitive species of mammals survived into
Third Interglacial times in certain favored districts. We should also
consider the possibility that these more ancient animals, the sabre-tooth
tiger, Steno's horse, the Etruscan rhinoceros, and the giant beaver, did
not really belong in the same layer with these old palæoliths but were
accidentally washed into this layer from other more ancient deposits. As a
rule, it is the most recent animals which establish a prehistoric date,
because we know that a palæolith cannot be older than the most recent
mammal with which it occurs.
[Illustration: FIG. 54. Western Europe during the extension of the
ice-fields and glaciers (dots) of the Third Glacial Stage--a period of
continental depression believed to have been less extensive than that of
the Second Glacial Stage (see Fig. 25, p. 65). The line from Scandinavia
to northern Africa corresponds to the section shown in Fig. 13, p. 37.
Drawn by C. A. Reeds, after Geikie and Penck. (Compare Fig. 13.)]
[Illustration: FIG. 55. Excavation at Chelles-sur-Marne, the Palæolithic
station where Chellean flint implements were first discovered. We observe
the very close, regular, and unbroken succession of the geological layers
containing the Chellean, Acheulean, and Mousterian flints.]
The record of the three early glaciations is not fully written in the
animal and plant life, but it appears to be found in the river channels.
Both in England and France these channels attest flooded conditions during
the earlier glaciations, in which large quantities of gravels and sands
were transported, and it is of these materials that the 'high terraces'
were built up. It is chiefly the geologic evidence which establishes the
Pre-Chellean date.
Geologic and climatic lines of evidence in France indicate that the
Pre-Chellean culture is first witnessed during the beginning of Third
Interglacial times. This is the opinion of Boule, Haug, Obermaier, Breuil,
Schmidt, and many other geologists and archæologists. That the first
Palæolithic flint workers found their way into western Europe during the
early part of Third Interglacial times is consistent with our observations
on the sequence of climate, on the formation of the 'low river terraces,'
where palæoliths of the earliest type occur, as well as with the general
succession of mammalian life throughout the climatic changes of this
interglacial period. It would appear, in explanation of the facts cited
above regarding the fossil mammals, that when the Pre-Chellean flint
workers established their camps along the valley of the River Somme in
northern France a very genial climate prevailed in this region, favorable
even, as we shall see, to the survival of some of the Pliocene types of
mammals, such as the sabre-tooth tiger and the Etruscan rhinoceros.
During the early part of the Third Interglacial Stage the climate, so far
as we can judge by the unchanged aspect of the animal life, remained of
the same warm temperate character. Two only of the surviving Pliocene
forms, namely, the sabre-tooth tigers and the Etruscan rhinoceroses,
became rare or extinct. From evidence afforded in Kent's Hole, Devonshire,
Dawkins is led to believe that the sabre-tooth tiger survived in Britain
until Postglacial times. All the rest of the animal world, both the
African-Asiatic and the Eurasiatic mammals, continued to flourish
throughout western Europe.
Not until the latter part of Acheulean times do we discover proofs of a
decided change of climate; in the approach of arid conditions similar to
those of the steppes of western Asia there was a renewal of the great
dust-storms and depositions of 'loess,' such as had previously occurred
toward the close of Second Interglacial times; this was followed by the
still colder climate of the fourth glaciation, which corresponds with the
closing period of Lower Palæolithic culture.
The evolution of the Pre-Chellean into the Chellean and finally into the
Lower Acheulean palæoliths certainly occupied a very long period of time
if we assign it merely the 50,000 or 60,000 years allotted to the Third
Interglacial; but even this allotment seems far too long when we observe
the relatively limited depth of the river deposits in which these flint
cultures succeed each other. For we cannot fail to be impressed by the
regular and very close and unbroken succession of the geologic layers
containing the Chellean and Acheulean artifacts. (See Fig. 55.)
None the less it follows that a long lapse of time must be allowed for
each culture period, and for the advance in technique.(3) It is this wide
distribution that has enabled the de Mortillets (father and son), Capitan,
Rivière, Reboux, Daleau, Peyrony, Obermaier, Commont, Schmidt, and others
to establish in various parts of Europe the main stages of the industrial
evolution of the Old Stone Age, or Lower Palæolithic.
SUBDIVISIONS OF THE LOWER PALÆOLITHIC CULTURES(4)[T]
MOUSTERIAN. Late industry of the Neanderthal races. Extensive use of
the 'flake.'
_Late Mousterian._ La Quina scrapers, small 'coups de poing,' and bone
anvils, closing with the Abri Audit culture.
_Middle Mousterian._ Culmination of the Mousterian 'point' finely
flaked and chipped on one side, the best examples approaching the
Solutrean perfection of technique.
_Early Mousterian._ Heart-shaped 'coups de poing' and Mousterian flake
'points' and flake scrapers.
ACHEULEAN. Early industry of the Neanderthal races. Extensive use of
the nodular core.
_Late Acheulean._ Miniature 'lance points' of La Micoque type,
triangular 'coups de poing,' and flint flakes of Levallois type.
_Middle Acheulean._ Pointed oval 'coups de poing,' much lighter than
the Chellean types, and small implements similar to the Chellean but
much improved in workmanship.
_Early Acheulean._ Broad oval 'coups de poing' much more symmetrical
than the Chellean but still rather heavy. Small types.
CHELLEAN.
_Late Chellean._ Long pointed 'coups de poing,' in most cases flaked
on both sides, with little of the crust of the nodule adhering and the
edges still unsymmetrical. First appearance of the oval 'coups de
poing.'
_Early Chellean._ First appearance of 'coups de poing' of almond
shape. Small implements, including scrapers, planes, and borers. All
implements unsymmetrical and with uneven edges.
PRE-CHELLEAN. Probable industry of the Piltdown and of the
(Pre-Neanderthaloid) Heidelberg races. Use of chance and accidental
forms. Forms partly accidental; retouch limited to the few strokes
necessary to give a point or edge to the tool, or to allow a firm
grasp (protective retouch). Prototypes of 'coup de poing' formed of
flint nodules with crust only partially removed.
If we suppose that the Pre-Chellean flint workers arrived in Europe not
earlier than Third Interglacial times, we can explain all the gradations
in the evolution of their implements in connection with the changes of
climate and of animal life which the geologic and fossil deposits reveal,
especially in the valleys of the Somme and of the Thames.
If, on the other hand, the Pre-Chellean is dated in Second Interglacial
times,[U] it carries this culture back another hundred thousand years and
involves our prehistory in great difficulties. First, there is no proof
whatever that the Pre-Chellean and Chellean flint workers lived during the
period of the formation of the 'high river terraces' of the third
glaciation, for no Palæolithic flints have ever been found buried in the
sands or gravels of the 'high terraces.' The occurrence of archaic flints
on the 'high terraces' of the Somme and of the Seine is in superficial
gravel beds which were deposited long after these 'terraces' had been cut
by river action; this is best seen in the Somme, where archaic flints
occur alike in the gravels deposited upon the 'low,' 'middle,' and 'high
terraces.' Second, there is no proof that the Pre-Chellean and Chellean
flint workers passed through the cold climatic period of the third
glaciation; nowhere in Europe have any records been found of their camps
or stations in association with the cold fauna or flora of Third Glacial
times. Third, the geographical evidence is equally at variance with the
theory that the Pre-Chellean flint workers entered Europe during the
Second Interglacial Stage, for we know positively that in many of the
great river-valleys of Europe, especially those surrounding the Alps, the
rivers were at much higher levels than at present and that they were
transporting the materials out of which the 'high terraces' were being
formed or cutting these 'terraces' down by erosion.
In other words, the geography of Europe in First and Second Interglacial
times was very different from what it is at present; most of the
river-valleys were broader and less deep; some of them had been eroded to
a point below their present levels and had begun to silt up in alluvial
deposits. In Third Interglacial times the river geography of Europe was
substantially as it is to-day, although the coast-lines were still very
different.
When Pre-Chellean man appeared, we shall see that the river-valleys of the
Somme and Marne, in northern France, as well as of the Thames, in
southeastern England, were closely similar to what they are at present in
respect to their water-levels; in other words, the inland geography of
Europe in the north in Chellean times and in central and southern France
in the immediately succeeding Acheulean times was very much like it is at
present. The superficial characters of the valleys were different; the
streams in Chellean times flowed through gravels and sands, partaking of a
glacial aspect; one or more of the 'river terraces' composed of sands and
gravels were still sharply defined, for the soft covering of 'loam' and
alluvial soil from the surrounding uplands and hills had not yet washed
down to soften the outlines of the 'terraces.' Neither were the 'terraces'
covered with the newer deposits of 'loess.'
[Illustration: FIG. 56. Restoration of the geography of western Europe
during the Third Interglacial Stage, showing the ancient land areas (dots)
and the ancient river channels now submerged by the sea. Modified after
Avebury's _Prehistoric Times_ by permission of Henry Holt & Co. The six
white crosses (X) indicate the location of the principal Pre-Chellean
stations of Piltdown on the Ouse, and Gray's Thurrock on the Thames, in
England; of Abbeville, on the north bank, and St. Acheul, on the south
bank of the Somme, and Chelles on the Marne, in France; and of Helin in
Belgium. It will be observed that the English stations are separated from
the others only by the ancient broad valley corresponding with the present
English Channel.]
SECULAR CHANGES OF CLIMATE IN LOWER PALÆOLITHIC TIMES
We find evidences of four climatic and life phases during the long period
of Lower Palæolithic evolution, as follows:
4. _Cold Moist Climate._--Advent of the fourth glaciation. Arrival of
the 'full Mousterian' culture and of the Neanderthal race in Belgium
and France. Repair of men to the warmer shelters, grottos, and
entrances to the caverns. Final disappearance of the hardy Merck's
rhinoceros and the straight-tusked elephant. Arrival of the tundra
fauna, the reindeer, the woolly mammoth, and the woolly rhinoceros.
Refrigeration of western Europe as far south as northern Spain and
Italy. Wide distribution of cold alpine, tundra, and steppe mammals
all over Germany and France, and into northern Spain. Cold tundra
flora in the Thames valley, and at Hoxne, in Suffolk. Migration of the
tundra mammals, the reindeer, mammoth, and rhinoceros all over
southern Britain, Belgium, France, Germany, and Austria.
3. _Arid Climate in Western Europe._--Period of the close of the
Acheulean culture; some of the flint workers seeking the shelter of
cliffs and approaching the entrances to the grottos during the cold
season of the year. A dry steppe climate, prevailing westerly winds,
and deposits of 'loess' all over northern France and Germany.
Appearance of the first Neanderthaloid men in Krapina, Croatia. Cool
forest flora in the region of La Celle-sous-Moret near Paris, followed
by depositions of 'loess' and increasingly cool and arid climate.
Early Mousterian industry. Disappearance first of the more sensitive
pair of Asiatic mammals, the hippopotamus and the southern mammoth
(_E. trogontherii_); persistence of the more hardy, straight-tusked
elephant (_E. antiquus_) and the broad-nosed rhinoceros (_D.
merckii_).
2. _Continued Warm Temperate Period._--Time of the Chellean culture
found at Chelles, St. Acheul, Gray's Thurrock, Ilford, Essex, and
southward in Torralba, Spain. Abundance of hippopotami, rhinoceroses,
southern mammoths, and straight-tusked elephants in northern Germany
at Taubach, Weimar, Ehringsdorf, and Achenheim. Rare appearance of
sabre-tooth tigers. Temperate forest and alpine flora of Dürnten and
Utznach, Switzerland. Early Acheulean culture widely distributed over
all of western Europe.
1. _Early Warm Temperate Period._--The warm climate of the
Pre-Chellean culture period, as seen in the valleys of the Somme, of
the Thames, and of the Seine near Paris, favorable to the southern
mammoth and the hippopotamus. Apparent survival of the sabre-tooth
tiger and the Etruscan rhinoceros in favored regions. A warm temperate
forest flora in La Cellesous-Moret near Paris and in Lorraine.
Arrival of the Pre-Chellean flint workers and of the Piltdown race in
southern England.
It is believed that the climate of Third Interglacial times when it
reached its maximum warmth was again somewhat milder than the present
climate in the same region. In the Alps the glaciers and the snow-line
retreated once more to their present levels. The period opened with humid
continental conditions. The areas left bare by the ice were gradually
reforested. A picture of the climate in this warm period is presented in
the region near Paris in the so-called _tuf de La Celle-sous-Moret_
(Seine-et-Marne). This tufa, which is a hot-springs deposit, overlies
river-gravels of Pleistocene age.(7) The lower levels of the tufa contain
the sycamore-maple (_Acer pseudoplatanus_), willows, and the Austrian
pine, indicating a temperate climate. Higher up in the same deposits we
find evidences of increasingly mild temperatures in the presence of the
box (_Buxus_) and not infrequently of the fig-tree; the Canary laurel
(_Laurus nobilis_) is somewhat rarer and both it and the fig indicate that
the winters were mild, because these plants have the peculiarity of
flowering during the winter season; we infer, therefore, that the climate
was somewhat milder and more damp than it is in the same region at the
present time. The mollusks also indicate greater equability of climate.
These deposits are believed to correspond with the period of Chellean and
early Acheulean industry.
The plants in the highest levels of the same tufa, however, indicate the
advent of a colder climate and also connect this with the Acheulean
culture stage through the presence of Acheulean flints. The deposit of
tufa is covered by a sheet of 'loess' corresponding with the return of an
arid period in late Acheulean times, in the very heart of northern France.
Thus we have a record in the region near the present city of Paris of
three climatic phases, which are also more or less completely indicated in
deposits to the north along the River Somme and in the valley of the
ancient Thames.
In western France we again interpret the fossil flora of Lorraine as
belonging to the cooler closing period of Third Interglacial times and to
the advent of the fourth glaciation, for here the most northern varieties
of the larch (_Larix_) and of the mountain-pine (_Pinus lambertiana_)
predominate.
The clearest view of the contemporary alpine forests is found near Zürich
in the lignitic deposits of Dürnten and of Utznach, which are so
characteristic of the temperate period of the Third Interglacial Stage
that Geikie has proposed to call this stage the _Dürntenian_.(8) It was,
we recall, at Dürnten that Morlot(9) found the first proofs of a warm or
temperate interglacial flora, between the deposits of a retreating glacier
and those of an advancing glacier; for Dürnten is well within the region
which was covered by the vast ice-fields both of the third and fourth
glaciations. The forests which flourished there in Third Interglacial
times were similar to those now found in the same region, consisting of
the spruce, fir, mountain-pine, larch, beech, yew, and sycamore, with
undergrowth of hazel. With this hardy flora are associated the remains of
the straight-tusked elephant, of Merck's rhinoceros, of wild cattle, and
of the stag; another evidence for our opinion that all these Asiatic
mammals had become habituated to the cool temperate climate of the north.
LIFE ON THE RIVER SOMME FROM PRE-CHELLEAN TO NEOLITHIC TIMES
The borders of the River Somme at St. Acheul give us a vista of the whole
story of the succession of geologic events; the great changes of climate,
the procession of animal life, the sequence of human races and cultures.
Here Commont(10) has found the key to the history of this entire country
and enabled us to parallel events here with those occurring far away in
Taubach, on the borders of the Thuringian forest, and at Krems in Lower
Austria, as studied by Obermaier. This is because the 'older' and 'newer'
loess periods, the succession of climates and of mammals, and the
development of human cultures were all not local but _continental_ events.
The purely local events are found in the kinds of gravels and soils which
washed down over the terraces.
It is very important first to clearly picture in our minds and understand
the geography of the Somme at the time of the arrival of the Pre-Chellean
flint workers. It appears certain that all three of the old river terraces
composed of limestone had been cut long before and that the river had
already reached the bottom level of the underlying chalk rock.(11) The
higher terrace, then as now, was 100 feet above the Somme, the middle
terrace about 70 feet, and the lowest terrace extended from a height of
about 40 feet down underneath the present river level (see Fig. 59).
[Illustration: FIG. 57. Three ancient river terraces (I, II, III), on the
west bank of the Connecticut River in Vermont, believed to be of
Postglacial age. The terraces are respectively 140, 60, and 20 feet above
the river, and thus show a profile similar to that of the terraces on the
Somme in Pre-Chellean times previous to the accumulation of the deposits
bearing Palæolithic flints. Photograph by H. H. H. Langill.]
Since the most primitive Pre-Chellean flints occur in the coarse gravels
which lie on the floors of these terraces immediately above the chalk,
they prove that the entire excavation of the valley had been completed
when the Pre-Chellean workers arrived there. Commont believes that this
was the actual topography of the valley during the Third Interglacial
Stage. The occurrence of Chellean flints in the white sands overlying the
coarse gravels of the middle and upper terraces does not indicate that the
flint workers were encamped here while these terraces were being cut out
by the River Somme but rather that they sought these convenient bluffs for
their quarries during the time that these sands and gravels were washing
down from the sides of the valleys and from the plateaus above.
[Illustration: FIG. 58. Four typical forms of the Chellean _coup de
poing_, or 'hand-stone,' from the ancient quarries of St. Acheul. About
one-half actual size.
_a._ Disc-shaped--upper left.
_b._ Oval--upper right.
_c._ Poniard-shaped--lower left.
_d._ Almond-shaped--lower right.
In the collection of the American Museum of Natural History.]
[Illustration: FIG. 59. Section of the ancient river terraces on the south
bank of the River Somme at St. Acheul-Amiens, showing stations on the low,
middle, and high terraces where flints were worked from the very beginning
to the very end of the Old Stone Age. After Commont, 1908, 1909--modified
and redrawn. The section shown runs northwest and southeast, in a gentle
slope nearly 1-1/2 miles in length, from the summit, 70 meters (about 230
feet) above sea-level, down to the river 47.3 meters (155 feet) below.
Since Rigollot's excavations in 1851 sixteen flint-working stations have
been discovered here, chiefly through building operations, most of them
being on the middle and high terraces. This gives some idea of the vast
extent of these ancient encampments, which cover the entire period of the
Old Stone Age--perhaps 125,000 years.]
PREHISTORY OF ST. ACHEUL
_NEOLITHIC._
_Campignian_, recent earth and loam.
_UPPER PALÆOLITHIC._
_Solutrean._
_Upper Aurignacian_, loam.
_Middle Aurignacian_, 'newer loess' and gravel.
_LOWER PALÆOLITHIC._
_Late Mousterian_, gravel and 'newer loess.'
_Early Mousterian_, base of 'newer loess' (_l'ergeron_).
_Middle Acheulean_, 'older loess' and drift.
_Early Acheulean_, gravels below 'older loess' (_E. antiquus_).
_Late Chellean_, fluviatile sands and mollusk fauna.
_Early Chellean_, first coups de poing; old 'white sands' (_E.
antiquus_).
_Pre-Chellean_, prototypes of coup de poing; old 'lower gravels' (_E.
antiquus_).
The history of the climatic changes in the ancient valley of the Somme is
most clearly written in these successive deposits, 15 feet in thickness,
above the 'lower gravels' at St. Acheul. Along with the Pre-Chellean and
Chellean flints in the 'old gravels' and 'white sands' we find records of
the moist warm temperate climate which then prevailed in northern France
and which undoubtedly was most favorable to the hippopotami, rhinoceroses,
and elephants of those times. The river mollusks found with the late
Chellean flints are another indication of the temperate forest climate
which continued through early Acheulean times.
In the middle Acheulean are found the earliest deposits of 'older loess'
which indicate a climate still temperate but arid, belonging to the middle
of the Third Interglacial Stage. In Mousterian times we find heavy
deposits of gravels corresponding to the moist cold climate of the Fourth
Glacial Stage, followed in middle Aurignacian times by fresh layers of
'newer loess,' indicating the return of a dry climate. Finally, the layers
of loam which were washed down over the sides of the valley, and in which
the remains of Solutrean and Aurignacian camps are found, indicate the
renewal of moist and probably forested conditions.
Thus, two dry loess periods are indicated in this valley, the first or
'older loess' belonging to Third Interglacial times, and the second or
'newer loess' to Postglacial times; and we clearly perceive that in the
culture layers here there is no evidence whatever of more than one
glacial stage preceded by a dry climatic period and deposits of loess. If
the Pre-Chellean flint workers had arrived in this river-valley as early
as Second Interglacial times, we should find proofs of three periods of
arid climate and loess deposition and of two glaciations.
Beginning with middle Acheulean times the flints are found in deposits of
gravels, loams, brick-earths, and 'older loess,' which all belong to a
succeeding geologic stage and are of more recent date than the lower
gravels and sands on the terraces which they overlap and conceal. Deposits
of this kind have also been drifted down from the highest levels toward
the bottom of the valley, and Commont distinguishes three different
depositions or layers of 'loess loam,' the lowest or oldest of which
contain Acheulean flints, while the middle loams contain Mousterian
implements.
Even toward the close of the Third Interglacial Stage there were periods
of warmth, perhaps during the height of the hot summer season, when
animals of the warm fauna migrated from the south. Thus Commont has
recently discovered in the valley of the Somme a station of Mousterian
flint workers, whose industry is associated with remains of the three
animals typical of the warmer climatic phase; namely, the straight-tusked
elephant, the broad-nosed rhinoceros, and the hippopotamus. He has
reaffirmed his belief that the greater part of this chapter of human
prehistory, both as to the surface topography of the Somme valley and the
evolution of the flint cultures from Pre-Chellean to Mousterian times,
occurred during the Third Interglacial Stage.
THE EARLY WARM TEMPERATE PERIOD OF THE PRE-CHELLEAN CULTURE[V]
We have observed that from Torralba in the Province of Soria, Spain, to
Abbeville, near the mouth of the Somme, in the north of France, three
types of animals which entered Europe as early as Upper Pliocene times,
namely, the Etruscan rhinoceros, the horse of Steno, and the sabre-tooth
tiger, are said to occur in connection with early Chellean artifacts. The
two former species may possibly be confused with early forms of Merck's
rhinoceros and the true forest horses of Europe, but there can be no
question as to the identification of the sabre-tooth tiger, numbers of
which were found by M. d'Ault du Mesnil, at Abbeville, on the Somme, with
early Chellean flints.
PRE-CHELLEAN FAUNA
Southern mammoth.
Etruscan rhinoceros.
Hippopotamus.
Primitive horse (_Equus stenonis_)?
Sabre-tooth tiger.
Broad-nosed rhinoceros.
Straight-tusked elephant.
Giant beaver (_Trogontherium cuvieri_).
Short-faced hyæna.
Typical Eurasiatic forest and meadow fauna, including deer, bison, and
wild cattle.
The mammalian life of the Somme at this time, as found in the _gisement du
Champ de Mars_ near Abbeville, is very rich. Among the larger forms there
is certainly the great southern mammoth (_E. meridionalis trogontherii_),
and possibly also the straight-tusked elephant (_E. antiquus_). There are
unquestionably two species of rhinoceros, the smaller of which is
recognized by Boule as the Etruscan, and the larger as Merck's rhinoceros.
Steno's horse is said to occur here, and there are abundant remains of the
great hippopotamus (_H. major_); the sabre-tooth tigers were very numerous
as attested by the discovery of the lower jaws of thirty or more
individuals. The short-faced hyæna (_H. brevirostris_) is also found, and
there are several species of deer and wild cattle.
This remarkably rich collection of mammals is associated with flints of
primitive Chellean or, possibly, of Pre-Chellean type.(12) In Torralba,
Spain, the same very ancient animals occur, and it appears possible that
this was the prevailing mammalian life of Pre-Chellean times.
We may conclude, therefore, that there is considerable evidence, although
not as yet quite convincing, that the early Chellean flint workers arrived
in western Europe before the disappearance of the Etruscan rhinoceros and
the sabre-tooth tiger.
THE PRE-CHELLEAN STATIONS
(See Figs. 53 and 56.)
The dawn of the Palæolithic Age is indicated in various river-drift
stations by the appearance of crude flint _weapons_ as well as _tools_ or
_implements_, in addition to the supposed tools of Eolithic times. There
is an unmistakable effort to fashion the flint into a definite shape to
serve a definite purpose: there can no longer be any question of human
handiwork. Thus there gradually arise various _types_ of flints, each of
which undergoes its own evolution into a more perfect form. Naturally, the
workers at some stations were more adept and inventive than at others.
Nevertheless, the primitive stages of invention and of technique were
carried from station to station; and thus for the first time we are
enabled to establish the archæological age of various stations in western
Europe.
Only a few stations have been discovered where the Palæolithic men were
first fashioning their flints into prototypes of the Chellean and
Acheulean forms. With relation to the theory that these primitive flint
workers may have entered Europe by way of the northern coast of Africa, we
observe that these stations are confined to Spain, southern and northern
France, Belgium, and Great Britain. Neither Pre-Chellean nor Chellean
stations of unquestioned authenticity have been found in Germany or
central Europe, and, so far as present evidence goes, it would appear that
the Pre-Chellean culture did not enter Europe directly from the east, or
even along the northern coast of the Mediterranean, but rather along the
northern coast of Africa,[W] where Chellean culture is recorded in
association with mammalian remains belonging to the middle Pleistocene
Epoch.
The southernmost stations of Chellean culture at present known in Europe
are those of Torralba and San Isidro, in central Spain. In the Department
of the Gironde is the Chellean station of Marignac, and it is not unlikely
that other stations will be discovered in the same region, because the
Palæolithic races strongly favored the valleys of the Dordogne and
Garonne, but thus far this is the only station known in southern France
which represents this period of the dawn of human culture.
[Illustration: FIG. 60. Very primitive palæoliths from Piltdown, Sussex,
consisting chiefly of tools and points of triangular and oval form,
fashioned out of flint nodules split in two and flaked on one side only,
with very coarse marginal retouch. After Dawson. Nos. 1 and 2 are nearly
one-half actual size; No. 3 nearly one-quarter actual size.]
The chief Pre-Chellean and Chellean stations were clustered along the
valleys of the Somme and Seine. Of those rare sites presenting a typical
Pre-Chellean culture, we may note the neighboring stations of St. Acheul
and Montières, both in the suburbs of Amiens on the Somme, and the station
of Helin, near Spiennes, in Belgium, explored by Rutot. A very primitive
and possibly Pre-Chellean culture was found on the site of the Champ de
Mars, at Abbeville. This culture also extended westward across the broad
plain which is now the Strait of Dover to the valley of the Thames, on
whose northern bank is the important station of Gray's Thurrock, while
farther to the south is the recently discovered site of Piltdown, in the
valley of the Ouse, Sussex.
The flint tools (Fig. 60) found in the layer immediately overlying the
Piltdown skull are excessively primitive and indicate that the Piltdown
flint workers had not attained the stage of craftsmanship described by
Commont as 'Pre-Chellean' at St. Acheul. "Among the flints," observes
Dawson, "we found several undoubted flint implements besides numerous
'eoliths.' The workmanship of the former is similar to that of the
Chellean or Pre-Chellean stage; but in the majority of the Piltdown
specimens the work appears chiefly on one face of the implements."
[Illustration: FIG. 61. Primitive _coups de poing_ or 'hand-stones' of
Pre-Chellean type, found in the lower gravels of the middle and high
terraces at St. Acheul. After Commont. One-quarter actual size.]
In the Helin quarry near Spiennes(13) occur rude prototypes of the
Palæolithic coup de poing associated with numerous flakes which do not
greatly differ from those in the lowest river-gravels of St. Acheul; there
is a close correspondence in the workmanship of the two sites, so that we
may regard the Mesvinian of Rutot[X] as a culture stage equivalent to the
Pre-Chellean. The river-gravels and sands of Helin which contain the
implements also resemble those of St. Acheul in their order of
stratification. Of special interest is the fact that a primitive flint
from this Helin quarry, known as the 'borer,' is strikingly similar to the
'Eolithic' borer found in the same layer with the Piltdown skull in
Sussex. By such indications as this, when strengthened by further evidence
of the same kind, we may be able eventually to establish the date both of
this Pre-Chellean or Mesvinian culture and of the Piltdown race.
In considering the Pre-Chellean implements found at St. Acheul in 1906, we
note(14) that at this dawning stage of human invention the flint workers
were not deliberately designing the form of their implements but were
dealing rather with the chance shapes of shattered blocks of flint,
seeking with a few well-directed blows to produce a sharp point or a good
cutting edge. This was the beginning of the art of 'retouch,' which was
done by means of light blows with a second stone instead of the
hammer-stone with which the rough flakes were first knocked off. The
retouch served a double purpose: Its first and most important object was
further to sharpen the point or edge of the tool. This was done by
chipping off small flakes from the upper side, so as to give the flint a
saw-like edge. Its second object was to protect the hand of the user by
blunting any sharp edges or points which might prevent a firm grip of the
implement. Often the smooth, rounded end of the flint nodule, with crust
intact, is carefully preserved for this purpose (Fig. 61). It is this
grasping of the primitive tool by the hand to which the terms 'coup de
poing,' 'Faustkeil,' and 'hand-axe' refer. 'Hand-stone' is, perhaps, the
most fitting designation in our language, but it appears best to retain
the original French designation, coup de poing.
[Illustration: FIG. 62. Primitive _grattoir_, or planing tool (side and
edge views), of Pre-Chellean type, found in the lowest gravels of the
terraces at St. Acheul. After Commont. One-quarter actual size.]
As the shape of the flint is purely due to chance, these Pre-Chellean
implements are interpreted by archæologists chiefly according to the
manner of retouch they have received. Already they are adapted to quite
a variety of purposes, both as weapons of the chase and for trimming and
shaping wooden implements and dressing hides. Thus Obermaier observes that
the concave, serrated edges characteristic of some of these implements may
well have been used for scraping the bark from branches and smoothing them
down into poles; that the rough coups de poing would be well adapted to
dividing flesh and dressing hides; that the sharp-pointed fragments could
be used as borers, and others that are clumsier and heavier as planes (see
Fig. 62).
The inventory of these ancestral Pre-Chellean forms of implements, used in
industrial and domestic life, in the chase, and in war, is as follows:
Grattoir, planing tool.
Racloir, scraper.
Perçoir, drill, borer.
Couteau, knife.
Percuteur, hammer-stone.
Pierre de jet? throwing stone?
Prototypes of coup de poing, hand-stone.
It includes five, possibly six, chief types. The true coup de poing, a
combination tool of Chellean times, is not yet developed in the
Pre-Chellean, and the other implements, although similar in form, are more
primitive. They are all in an experimental stage of development.
Indications that this primitive industry spread over southeastern England
as well, and that a succession of Pre-Chellean into Chellean culture may
be demonstrated, occur in connection with the recent discovery of the very
ancient Piltdown race.
THE PILTDOWN RACE(15)
The 'dawn man' is the most ancient human type in which the form of the
head and size of the brain are known. Its anatomy, as well as its geologic
antiquity, is therefore of profound interest and worthy of very full
consideration. We may first review the authors' narrative of this
remarkable discovery and the history of opinion concerning it.
Piltdown, Sussex, lies between two branches of the Ouse, about 35 miles
south and slightly to the east of Gray's Thurrock, the Chellean station of
the Thames. To the east is the plateau of Kent, in which many flints of
Eolithic type have been found.
[Illustration: FIG. 63. Discovery site of the famous Piltdown skull near
Piltdown, Sussex. After Dawson. A shallow pit of dark-brown gravel, at the
bottom of which were found the fragments of the skull and a single
primitive implement of worked flint (see Fig. 65).]
The gravel layer in which the Piltdown skull occurred is situated on a
well-defined plateau of large area and lies about 80 feet above the level
of the main stream of the Ouse. Remnants of the flint-bearing gravels and
drifts occur upon the plateau and the slopes down which they trail toward
the river and streams. This region was undoubtedly favorable to the flint
workers of Pre-Chellean and Chellean times. Kennard(16) believes that the
gravels are of the same age as those of the 'high terrace' of the lower
valley of the Thames; the height above the stream level is practically the
same, namely, about 80 feet. Another geologist, Clement Reid,(17) holds
that the plateau, composed of Wealden chalk, through which flowed the
stream bearing the Piltdown gravels, belongs to a period later than that
of the maximum depression of Great Britain; that the deposits are of
Pre-Glacial or early Pleistocene age; that they belong to the epoch after
the cold period of the first glaciation had passed but occur at the very
base of the succession of implement-bearing deposits in the southeast of
England.
On the other hand, Dawson,(18) the discoverer of the Piltdown skull, in
his first description states: "From these facts it appears probable that
the skull and mandible cannot safely be described as being of earlier date
than the first half of the Pleistocene Epoch. The individual probably
lived during the warm cycle in that age."
The section of the gravel bed (Fig. 64) indicates that the remains of the
Piltdown man were washed down with other fossils by a shallow stream
charged with dark-brown gravel and unworked flints; some of these fossils
were of Pliocene times from strata of the upper parts of the stream. In
this channel were found the remains of a number of animals of the same age
as the Piltdown man, a few flints resembling eoliths, and one very
primitive worked flint of Pre-Chellean type, which may also have been
washed down from deposits of earlier age. These precious geologic and
archæologic records furnish the only means we have of determining the age
of _Eoanthropus_, the 'dawn man,' one of the most important and
significant discoveries in the whole history of anthropology. We are
indebted to the geologist Charles Dawson and the palæontologist Arthur
Smith Woodward for preserving these ancient records and describing them
with great fulness and accuracy as follows (pp. 132 to 139):
Several years ago Dawson discovered a small portion of an unusually thick
human parietal bone, taken from a gravel bed which was being dug for
road-making purposes on a farm close to Piltdown Common. In the autumn of
1911 he picked up among the rain-washed spoil-heaps of the same gravel-pit
another and larger piece of bone belonging to the forehead region of the
same skull and including a portion of the ridge extending over the left
eyebrow. Immediately impressed with the importance of this discovery,
Dawson enlisted the co-operation of Smith Woodward, and a systematic
search was made in these spoil-heaps and gravels, beginning in the spring
of 1912; all the material was looked over and carefully sifted. It appears
that the whole or greater part of the human skull had been scattered by
the workmen, who had thrown away the pieces unnoticed. Thorough search in
the bottom of the gravel bed itself revealed the right half of a jaw,
which was found in a depression of undisturbed, finely stratified gravel,
so far as could be judged on the spot identical with that from which the
first portions of the cranium were exhumed. A yard from the jaw an
important piece of the occipital bone of the skull was found. Search was
renewed in 1913 by Father P. Teilhard, of Chardin, a French
anthropologist, who fortunately recovered a single canine tooth, and later
a pair of nasal bones were found, all of which fragments are of very
great significance in the restoration of the skull.
[Illustration: FIG. 64. Geologic section of the Piltdown gravel bed,
showing in restored outlines at the bottom of layer 3 the position in
which the fragments of the skull and jaw were found. After Dawson.
1. Surface soil, with flints. Thickness = 1 foot.
2. Pale-yellow sandy loam with gravel and flints. One Palæolithic worked
flint was found in the middle of this bed. Thickness = 2 feet, 6 inches.
3. Dark-brown gravel, with flints, Pliocene rolled fossils and
_Eoanthropus_ skull, beaver tooth, 'eoliths' and one worked flint.
Thickness = 18 inches.
4. Pale-yellow clay and sand. Thickness = 8 inches.
5. Undisturbed strata of Wealden age.]
The jaw appears to have been broken at the symphysis, and somewhat
abraded, perhaps after being caught in the gravel before it was completely
covered with sand. The fragments of the cranium show little or no signs of
stream rolling or other abrasion save an incision caused by the workman's
pick.
Analysis of the bones showed that the skull was in a condition of
fossilization, no gelatine or organic matter remained, and mingled with a
large proportion of the phosphates, originally present, was a considerable
proportion of iron.[Y]
[Illustration: FIG. 65. The single worked flint of very primitive type
found in the same layer (3) with the fragments of the Piltdown skull.
After Dawson. One-half actual size.]
The dark gravel bed (Fig. 64, layer 3), 18 inches in thickness, at the
bottom of which the skull and jaw were found, contained a number of
fossils which manifestly were not of the same age as the skull but were
certainly from Pliocene deposits up-stream; these included the water-vole
and remains of the mastodon, the southern mammoth, the hippopotamus, and a
fragment of the grinding-tooth of a primitive elephant, resembling
_Stegodon_. In the spoil-heaps, from which it is believed the skull of the
Piltdown man was taken, were found an upper tooth of a rhinoceros, either
of the Etruscan or of Merck's type; the tooth of a beaver and of a
hippopotamus, and the leg-bone of a deer, which may have been cut or
incised by man. Much more distinctive was a single flint (Fig. 65),
worked only on one side, of the very primitive or Pre-Chellean type.
Implements of this stage, as the author observes, are difficult to
classify with certainty, owing to the rudeness of their workmanship; they
resemble certain rude implements occasionally found on the surface of the
chalk downs near Piltdown. The majority of the flints found in the gravel
were worked only on one face; their form is thick, and the flaking is
broad and sparing; the original surface of the flint is left in a smooth,
natural condition at the point grasped by the hand; the whole implement
thus has a very rude and massive form. These flints appear to be of even
more primitive form than those at St. Acheul described as Pre-Chellean by
Commont.
[Illustration: FIG. 66. Eoliths found in or near the Piltdown gravel-pit.
After Dawson. One-half actual size.
_a._ Borer (above).
_b._ Curved scraper (below).]
The eoliths found in the gravel-pit and in the adjacent fields are of the
'borer' and 'hollow-scraper' forms; also, some are of the
'crescent-shaped-scraper' type, mostly rolled and water-worn, as if
transported from a distance. This is a stream or river bed, not a
Palæolithic quarry.
There can be little doubt, however, that the Piltdown man belonged to a
period when the flint industry was in a very primitive stage, antecedent
to the true Chellean. It has subsequently been observed that the gravel
strata(3) containing the Piltdown man were deeper than the higher stratum
containing flints nearer the Chellean type.
The discovery of this skull aroused as great or greater interest even than
that attending the discovery of the two other 'river-drift' races, the
Trinil and the Heidelberg. In this discussion the most distinguished
anatomists of Great Britain, Arthur Smith Woodward, Elliot Smith, and
Arthur Keith, took part, and finally the original pieces were re-examined
by three anatomists of this country.[Z]
[Illustration: FIG. 67. Skull of South African Bushman (upper) exhibiting
the contrast in the structure of the jaw and forehead. One-quarter life
size. Original restoration of the Piltdown skull (lower) made by Smith
Woodward in 1913. One-quarter life size.]
It is important to present in full the original opinions of Smith
Woodward, who devoted most careful study to the first reconstruction of
the skull (Fig. 67), a model which was subsequently modified by the actual
discovery of one of the canine teeth. In his original description it is
observed that the pieces of the skull preserved are noteworthy for the
great thickness of the bone, it being 11 to 12 mm. as compared with 5 to 6
mm., the average thickness in the modern European skull, or 6 to 8 mm.,
the thickness in the skull of the Neanderthal races and in that of the
modern Australian; the cephalic index is estimated at 78 or 79, that is,
the skull is believed to have been proportionately low and wide, almost
brachycephalic; there was apparently no prominent or thickened ridge above
the orbits, a feature which immediately distinguishes this skull from that
of the Neanderthal races; the several bones of the brain-case are
typically human and not in the least like those of the anthropoid apes;
the brain capacity was originally estimated at 1070 c.cm., not equalling
that of some of the lowest brain types in the existing Australian races
and decidedly below that of the Neanderthal man of Spy and La
Chapelle-aux-Saints; the nasal bones are typically human but relatively
small and broad, so that the nose was flattened, resembling that in some
of the existing Malay and African races.
[Illustration: FIG. 68. Three views of the Piltdown skull as reconstructed
by J. H. McGregor, 1915. This restoration includes the nasal bones and
canine tooth, which were not known at the time of Smith Woodward's
reconstruction of 1913. One-quarter life size.]
The jaw presents profoundly different characters; the whole of the bone
preserved closely resembles that of a young chimpanzee; thus the slope of
the bony chin as restored is between that of an adult ape and that of the
Heidelberg man, with an extremely receding chin; the ascending portion of
the jaw for the attachment of the temporal muscles is broad and thickened
anteriorly. Associated with the jaw were two elongated molar teeth, worn
down by use to such an extent that the individual could not have been less
than thirty years of age and was probably older. These teeth are
relatively longer and narrower than those in the modern human jaw. The
canine tooth, identified by Smith Woodward as belonging in the lower jaw,
strengthened by the evidence afforded by the jaw itself, proves that the
face was elongate or prognathous and that the canine teeth were very
prominent like those of the anthropoid apes; it affords definite proof
that the front teeth of the Piltdown man resembled those of the ape.
The author's conclusion is that while the skull is essentially human, it
approaches the lower races of man in certain characters of the brain, in
the attachment of the muscles of the neck, in the large extent of the
temporal muscles attached to the jaw, and in the probably large size of
the face. The mandible, on the other hand, appears precisely like that of
the ape, with nothing human except the molar teeth, and even these
approach the dentition of the apes in their elongate shape and
well-developed fifth or posterior intermediate cusp. This type of man,
distinguished by the smooth forehead and supraorbital borders and ape-like
jaw, represents a new genus called _Eoanthropus_, or 'dawn man,' while the
species has been named _dawsoni_ in honor of the discoverer, Charles
Dawson. This very ancient type of man is defined by the ape-like chin and
junction of the two halves of the jaw, by a series of parallel
grinding-teeth, with narrow lower molar teeth, which do not diminish in
size backward, and by the steep forehead and slight development of the
brow ridges. The jaw manifestly differs from that of the Heidelberg man in
its comparative slenderness and relative deepening toward the symphysis.
The discussion of this very important paper by Smith Woodward and Dawson
centred about two points. First, whether the ape-like jaw really belonged
with the human skull rather than with that of some anthropoid ape which
happened to be drifted down in the same stratum; and second, whether the
extremely low original estimate of the brain capacity of 1070 c.cm., was
not due to incorrect adjustment or reconstruction of the separate pieces
of the skull.
Keith,(19) the leader in the criticism of Woodward's reconstruction,
maintained that when the two sides of the skull were properly restored and
made approximately symmetrical, the brain capacity would be found to equal
1500 c.cm.; the brain cast of the skull even as originally reconstructed
was found to be close to 1200 c.cm. This author agreed that skull, jaw,
and canine tooth belonged to _Eoanthropus_ but that they could not well
belong to the same individual.
In defense of Woodward's reconstruction came the powerful support of
Elliot Smith.(20) He maintained that the evidence afforded by the
re-examination of the bones corroborated in the main Smith Woodward's
identification of the median plane of the skull; further, that the
original reconstruction of the prognathous face was confirmed by the
discovery of the canine tooth, also that there remained no doubt that the
association of the skull, the jaw, and the canine tooth was a correct one.
The back portion of the skull is decidedly asymmetrical, a condition found
both in the lower and higher races of man. A slight rearrangement and
widening of the bones along the median upper line of the skull raise the
estimate of the brain capacity to 1100 c.cm. as the probable maximum.
Elliot Smith continued that he considered the brain to be of a more
primitive kind than any human brain that he had ever seen, yet that it
could be called human and that it already showed a considerable
development of those parts which in modern man we associate with the power
of speech; thus, there was no doubt of the unique importance of this skull
as representing an entirely new type of "man in the making." As regards
the form of the lower jaw, it was observed that in the dawn of human
existence teeth suitable for weapons of offense and defense were retained
long after the brain had attained its human status. Thus the ape-like form
of the chin does not signify inability to speak, for speech must have come
when the jaws were still ape-like in character, and the bony changes that
produced the recession of the tooth line and the form of the chin were
mainly due to sexual selection, to the reduction in the size of the
grinding-teeth, and, in a minor degree, to the growth and specialization
of the muscles of the jaw and tongue employed in speech.
[Illustration: FIG. 69. The Piltdown skull with the right half removed to
display the extreme thickness of the bones and the shape of the brain. As
restored by J. H. McGregor. One-quarter life size.]
[Illustration: FIG. 70. Outline of the left side of the Piltdown brain,
compared with similar brain outlines of a chimpanzee and of a high type of
modern man. One-half life size.]
At first sight the brain-case resembles that of the Neanderthal skull
found at Gibraltar, which is supposed to be that of a woman; it is
relatively long, narrow, and especially flat, but it is smaller and
presents more primitive features than those of any known human brain.
Taking all these features into consideration, we must regard this as being
the most primitive and most ape-like human brain so far recorded; one
such as might reasonably be associated with a jaw which presented such
distinctive ape characters. The brain, however, is far more human than the
jaw, from which we may infer that the evolution of the brain preceded that
of the mandible, as well as the development of beauty of the face and the
human development of the bodily characters in general.
The latest opinion of Smith Woodward[AA] is that the brain, while the most
primitive which has been discovered, had a bulk of nearly 1300 c.cm.,
equalling that of the smaller human brains of to-day and surpassing that
of the Australians, which rarely exceeds 1250 c.cm.
The original views of Smith Woodward and of Elliot Smith regarding the
relation of the Piltdown race to the Heidelberg and Neanderthal races are
also of very great interest and may be cited. First, the fact that the
Piltdown and Heidelberg races are almost of the same geologic age proves
that at the end of the Pliocene Epoch the representatives of man in
western Europe had already branched into widely divergent groups: the one
(Heidelberg-Neanderthal) characterized by a very low projecting forehead,
with a subhuman head of Neanderthaloid contour; the other with a flattened
forehead and with an ape-like jaw of the Piltdown contour. We should not
forget that in the Piltdown skull the absence of prominent ridges above
the eyes may possibly be due in some degree to the fact that the type
skull may belong to a female, as suggested by certain characters of the
jaw; but among all existing apes the skull in early life has the rounded
shape of the Piltdown skull, with a high forehead and scarcely any brow
ridges. It seems reasonable, therefore, to interpret the Piltdown skull as
exhibiting a closer resemblance to the skulls of our human ancestors in
mid-Tertiary times than any fossil skull hitherto found. If this view be
accepted, we may suppose that the Piltdown type became gradually modified
into the Neanderthal type by a series of changes similar to those passed
through by the early apes as they evolved into typical modern apes, with
their low brows and prominent ridges above the eyes. This would tend to
support the theory that the Neanderthal men were degenerate offshoots of
the Tertiary race, of which the Piltdown skull provides the first
discovered evidence--a race with a simple, flattened forehead and
developed eye ridges.
[Illustration: FIG. 71. Restoration of the head of Piltdown man, in
profile, based upon the reconstruction shown in Fig. 68, p. 137. After
model by J. H. McGregor. One-quarter life size.]
Elliot Smith concluded that members of the Piltdown race might well have
been the direct ancestors of the existing species of man (_Homo sapiens_),
thus affording a direct link with undiscovered Tertiary apes; whereas, the
more recent fossil men of the Neanderthal type, with prominent brow ridges
resembling those of the existing apes, may have belonged to a degenerate
race which later became extinct. According to this view, _Eoanthropus_
represents a persistent and very slightly modified descendant of the type
of Tertiary man which was the common ancestor of a branch giving rise to
_Homo sapiens_, on the one hand, and of another branch giving rise to
_Homo neanderthalensis_, on the other.
[Illustration: FIG. 72. Restoration of the head of Piltdown man, full
front, after model by J. H. McGregor. One-quarter life size. (Compare
Figs. 68 and 71.)]
Another theory as to the relationships of _Eoanthropus_ is that of
Marcelin Boule,(21) who is inclined to regard the jaws of the Piltdown and
Heidelberg races as of similar geologic age, but of dissimilar racial
type. He continues: "If the skull and jaw of Piltdown belong to the same
individual, and if the mandibles of the Heidelberg and Piltdown men are of
the same type, this discovery is most valuable in establishing the cranial
structure of the Heidelberg race. But it appears rather that we have here
two types of man which lived in Chellean times, both distinguished by very
low cranial characters. Of these the Piltdown race seems to us the
probable ancestor in the direct line of the recent species of man, _Homo
sapiens_; while the Heidelberg race may be considered, until we have
further knowledge, as a possible precursor of _Homo neanderthalensis_."
The latest opinion of the German anatomist Schwalbe(22) is that the proper
restoration of the region of the chin in the Piltdown man might make it
possible to refer this jaw to _Homo sapiens_, but this would merely prove
that _Homo sapiens_ already existed in early Pleistocene times. The skull
of the Piltdown man, continues Schwalbe, corresponds with that of a
well-developed, good-sized skull of _Homo sapiens_; the only unusual
feature is the remarkable thickness of the bone.[AB]
Finally, our own opinion is that the Piltdown race was not related at all
either to the Heidelbergs or to the Neanderthals, nor was it directly
ancestral to any of the other races of the Old Stone Age, or to any of the
existing species of man. As shown in the human family tree in Chapter VI,
the Piltdown race represents a side branch of the human family which has
left no descendants at all.
MAMMALIAN LIFE OF CHELLEAN AND ACHEULEAN TIMES(23)
The mammalian life which we find with the more advanced implements of
Chellean times apparently does not include the old Pliocene mammals, such
as the Etruscan rhinoceros and the sabre-tooth tiger. With this exception
it is so similar to that of Second Interglacial times that it may serve to
prove again that the third glaciation was a local episode and not a
wide-spread climatic influence. This life is everywhere the same, from
the valley of the Thames, as witnessed in the low river-gravels of
Gray's Thurrock and Ilford, to the region of the present Thuringian
forests near Weimar, where it is found in the deposits of Taubach,
Ehringsdorf, and Achenheim, in which the mammals belong to the more recent
date of early Acheulean culture. The life of this great region during
Chellean and early Acheulean times was a mingling of the characteristic
forest and meadow fauna of western Europe with the descendants of the
African-Asiatic invaders of late Pliocene and early Pleistocene times.
[Illustration: PL. IV. The Piltdown man of Sussex, England. Antiquity
variously estimated at 100,000 to 300,000 years. The ape-like structure of
the jaw does not prevent the expression of a considerable degree of
intelligence in the face. After the restoration modelled by J. H.
McGregor.]
Southern mammoth.
Hippopotamus.
Straight-tusked elephant.
Broad-nosed rhinoceros.
Spotted hyæna.
Lion.
Bison and wild ox.
Red deer.
Roe-deer.
Giant deer.
Brown bear.
Wolf.
Badger.
Marten.
Otter.
Beaver.
Hamster.
Water-vole.
The forests were full of the red deer (_Cervus elaphus_), of the roe-deer
(_C. capreolus_), and of the giant deer (_Megaceros_), also of a primitive
species of wild boar (_Sus scrofa ferus_) and of wild horses probably
representing more than one variety. The brown bear (_Ursus arctos_) of
Europe is now for the first time identified; there was also a primitive
species of wolf (_Canis suessi_).