THE DAWN MEN
The best scientific estimates agree that the third warm interglacial
stage opened about 100,000 years ago, and lasted between 50,000 and
60,000 years. It must be remembered, however, that the eolithic
industry may have commenced more than a hundred thousand years before
this. The borders of one river, the River Somme at St. Acheul, France,
give us a vista of the whole story of the succession of geologic
events, from the eolithic culture through the whole Old Stone Age to
the neoliths, or polished stones. The animal life during this period,
as indicated by the remains, included the mammoth, the rhinoceros, the
hippopotamus, a primitive horse, the sabre-tooth tiger, elephants, and
many lesser species. This animal life is associated with eoliths, with
the next stage of stone industry, called pre-Chellean, and with some
later Chellean chipped implements.
The pre-Chellean differs from the pure eoliths in that it included
stones for weapons, as well as stones for tools or implements. It is
to be noted that there are three methods of concurrent chronology,
depending upon the kind of evidence. The purely geologic evidence
gives us the age by the geologic changes, such as the glaciers, and
the accompanying animal remains; the human skeletal remains give us
the successive pre-human and human races; while the implements give us
the successive stages of industry or culture, such as the eolithic,
pre-Chellean, etc. In the pre-Chellean, there is no longer any question
of human handiwork; these stones were shaped by men or submen. It is
possible that these primitive flint-workers entered Europe by way of
the northern coast of Africa, which was united to Europe by two land
bridges, one at Gibraltar and the other by way of Sicily to Italy.
The stone remains are restricted to Spain, France, Belgium, and Great
Britain. None are found in Germany or central Europe. Thus it is clear
that this race did not enter directly from the east. The best stations
are discovered along the rivers Somme and Seine. The eoliths found in
connection with the Piltdown flint workers, or Dawn Men, were typical
eoliths, and not as advanced as the real pre-Chellean. At this time the
flint workers, from the specimens discovered, were not designing the
shapes of their implements and weapons; they were utilizing the natural
shapes of the flakes and stones. In the industry, a second stage had
been reached. There was first the use of the stone hammer, to make
the sharpened edge; now came, in addition, the retouch, with a second
stone, which further sharpened the implement by knocking off small
chips on alternate sides of the cutting edge, giving it a saw-like
effect. This retouching further made the stone usable, by blunting any
sharp edges which might injure the hand of the user. Often the smooth,
water-worn end of the flint was preserved for this purpose. The name of
these typical stones is hand-stone, or the French _coup de poing_.
Among the types of implements and weapons are the following: the
planing tool, the scraper, the borer, the knife, the hammer-stone, the
throwing-stone, and the hand-stone or _coup de poing_.
The user of many of these implements was discovered at Piltdown, in
Sussex, England. This lies between two branches of the River Ouse,
west of Kent, in which many eoliths have been found. The discoverer,
Dawson, places the age of the remains as during the first half of the
Pleistocene, or Ice Age. About 1911, two portions of a skull were found
here. Careful search revealed a broken jaw, a tooth, two nose bones,
and other sections of the skull; all of these were fossilized. Nearby
were Pliocene mammals, such as the mastodon, the mammoth, and the
hippopotamus; in the same heap from which the Piltdown skull was taken
were found portions of a rhinoceros, hippopotamus, beaver, and deer.
There was also found a single flint, worked on one side, of a very
primitive or pre-Chellean type.
This indicates that the Piltdown man, who has been named _Eoanthropos_
or dawn man, belonged to the period before the true Chellean. The skull
is much less like the apes than any previously discovered. The nose was
flattened, resembling in this some of the existing Malay and African
races. The chin was extremely receding; the teeth are relatively longer
and narrower than those in the modern human jaw. The face projected
forward; the teeth may be called ape-like. Ape-like chin, parallel
grinding teeth, narrow human lower molar teeth, steep forehead,
practically no brow ridges (such as the later Neanderthal race
possessed)—this was the dawn man. The authorities are inclined to the
opinion that the race may have existed at about the same time as the
Heidelberg man. But the Heidelberg man was probably an ancestor of the
Neanderthal race, which largely disappeared later; while the Piltdown
man was a probable ancestor of the recent species of _Homo sapiens_,
to which we belong. Some, it is true, hold that the Piltdown jaw does
not belong to the Piltdown skull; but in any case it is clear that the
Piltdown man was either a direct ancestor of the modern human, or a
near side-branch.
Out of the eoliths and the later pre-Chellean implements came that
stage of human industry called the true Chellean. These workers
improved the older types of implements, and invented new ones. The
flint worker was still largely dependent upon the natural shape of
the shattered fragment of flint; he had not yet learned to shape it
symmetrically. Half a dozen definite varieties of the hand-stone or
_coup de poing_ can be distinguished; De Mortillet speaks of this as
the only tool of the Chellean tribes, used for all the purposes of axe,
chisel, saw, and awl—an early combination tool. The pointed form was
undoubtedly used as a dagger, both in war and in the chase.
There was plenty of game to chase, even if the larger mammals had still
to be avoided. Roaming Europe at this period were the Southern mammoth,
the hippopotamus, the straight-tusked elephant, the broad-nosed
rhinoceros, the hyena, lion, and bison. The hyena now found is the
spotted one, which had replaced the older striped hyena; the lion has
taken the place of the great sabre-tooth tiger. Red deer and giant deer
crashed through the brush; the brown bear appears for the first time;
there are varieties of wild horses, and a primitive species of wolf.
Some of these the Chellean men hunted; among their regular prey were
badgers, martens, otters, beavers, and still smaller mammals.
In all the continents, except Australia, we find stone implements
similar, in their main outline, to the Chellean; but there are always
minor differences. This indicates that the development was probably a
natural one occurring to primitive man widely scattered, rather than
that the Chellean culture spread over the world.
It is noteworthy that not a single pre-Chellean or Chellean station
has been found in Germany, Switzerland, or the rest of central Europe.
But the next stage, the Acheulean, is found throughout these regions.
During Chellean times this land might have been unfavorable for human
habitation; or the traces of man’s occupancy might have been washed
away, or may be still undiscovered. The Rhine, the Danube, even north
Germany, exhibit traces of the next period. In general, the Acheulean
flint workers, like the Chellean, preferred open country to caves and
grottoes. Up to this time man has been largely an outdoor dweller.
But a noteworthy exception to this is found in the great grotto of
Castillo, near Puente Viesgo, in Santandar, northern Spain. This cavern
was filled with deposits to the depth of 45 feet, from the floor to
the roof; Obermaier, who first explored these deposits thoroughly,
found here thirteen layers, covering eleven stages of industry, and
presenting a natural museum of the history of western Europe from
Acheulean times to the Age of Bronze, in Spain. For fifty thousand or
more years this great grotto was used, and then abandoned, by tribe
after tribe. It is a monumental volume of prehistory, which can be read
by the archeologist almost as clearly and precisely as if it were in
printed type. It is in the first period found here, the Acheulean, that
the first positive evidence of the use of fire by man is found, in the
shape of charred wood and bones. The discovery of fire has been made.
Man is on his road to what we call progress.
The Acheulean stone implements and weapons are increasingly numerous.
We find half a dozen varieties of the hand-stone, used for many
purposes; we find choppers, planing tools, scrapers, drills,
borers, knives, blades, and points. For the war and chase there are
lance-points, throwing stones, knives, and dart and spear heads.
The core or center of the flint is still used for the large typical
instruments; but the flakes are coming into wider use in a great
variety of forms. Gradually the blades grow finer and sharper; they
were probably used for butcher knives for dismembering the carcasses of
game, and for cutting up the skins; other tools were used as scrapers
to clean the hides, which were finally dressed by the aid of the
planing tool. The smaller implements are much improved. The knives
are fine and perfect, although lacking the symmetrical shape of later
stages. In all probability, the women of the tribe were the ones who
dressed the hides. Some of the finer implements were used to split
marrow bones, and furnish a choice feast. The stone work is a great
improvement over the crudity of the Chellean workers; but it seems
rough indeed, compared to the work of the Upper Paleolithic age, and
rougher still when contrasted with the polished stone of the Neolithic
Age.
These first three races, the Ape-man or _Pithecanthropos erectus_, the
Heidelberg man, and the Piltdown or Dawn Man, have left few skeletal
remains. We are next to study a race about which we can speak with much
more certainty—the Neanderthal Men.