It has been the tendency of certain anthropologists, of most popular
writers, and of most artists in Europe and America to represent the men
of the Old Stone Age as scarcely raised above the level of the brutes.
I have protested against this point of view on what I believe to be
very good grounds, namely, that modern man could not have ascended from
a group of brutes. There must have been from the very first, along the
various lines of human ascent, a premium on the qualities of mind, on the
rudiments of human character, and on the refined tendencies of the best
of men as we know them to-day. Such a sprinkling of fine characteristics
is observed by travelers who study the most primitive races of mankind
with a sympathetic attitude of mind; many are discovered among the
Malays, despite their head-hunting propensities, and delightful traits
of character are found among the Polynesians, despite their occasional
cannibalism.
It is in this sympathetic also appreciative state of mind that the author
of the present work approaches his subject, the Mousterians, a very
ancient and primitive branch of the human race. The environment in which
these people lived was certainly very crude and the conditions were
very hard, nevertheless it is reasonable to presume that they possessed
many desirable although rudimentary qualities of mind and character. The
present author may idealize these primitive men as James Fenimore Cooper
idealized the Indians, but I believe he would be nearer the truth than if
he brutalized them.
If it is clearly understood that the work of Mr. Langford is an
interpretation of prehistoric human nature, an interpretation based on a
certain class of facts, a working hypothesis as to the qualities of the
Mousterian people which may be contrasted with other working hypotheses
and developed with the progress of discovery, then this work is well
worth while and may be read and enjoyed in the same way that we enjoy the
painted restorations of these people, of their life and times.