Produced by Sue Asscher, Robert Prince and David Widger
THE GEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE OF THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN
By Sir Charles Lyell, BT., F.R.S., Etc.
London: Published By J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd.
And In New York By E.P. Dutton & Co.
With Introduction And Notes By R.H. Rastall, M.A., F.G.S.
EVERYMAN
I WILL GO WITH THEE
& BE THY GUIDE
IN THY MOST NEED
TO GO BY THY SIDE.
EVERYMAN'S LIBRARY
EDITED BY ERNEST RHYS.
SCIENCE.
HOC SOLUM SCIO QUOD NIHIL SCIO.
INTRODUCTION.
The "Antiquity of Man" was published in 1863, and ran into a third
edition in the course of that year. The cause of this is not far to
seek. Darwin's "Origin of Species" appeared in 1859, only four years
earlier, and rapidly had its effect in drawing attention to the great
problem of the origin of living beings. The theories of Darwin and
Wallace brought to a head and presented in a concrete shape the somewhat
vague speculations as to development and evolution which had long been
floating in the minds of naturalists. In the actual working out of
Darwin's great theory it is impossible to overestimate the influence of
Lyell. This is made abundantly clear in Darwin's letters, and it must
never be forgotten that Darwin himself was a geologist. His training
in this science enabled him to grasp the import of the facts so ably
marshalled by Lyell in the "Principles of Geology," a work which,
as Professor Judd has clearly shown,* contributed greatly to the
advancement of evolutionary theory in general. (* Judd "The Coming of
Evolution" ("Cambridge Manuals of Science and Literature") Cambridge
1910 chapters 6 and 7.)
From a study of the evolution of plants and of the lower animals it was
an easy and obvious transition to man, and this step was soon taken.
Since in his physical structure man shows so close a resemblance to the
higher animals it was a natural conclusion that the laws governing
the development of the one should apply also to the other, in spite of
preconceived opinions derived from authority. Unfortunately the times
were then hardly ripe for a calm and logical treatment of this question:
prejudice in many cases took the place of argument, and the result was
too often an undignified squabble instead of a scientific discussion.
However, the dogmatism was not by any means all on one side. The
disciples as usual went farther than the master, and their teaching
when pushed to extremities resulted in a peculiarly dreary kind of
materialism, a mental attitude which still survives to a certain extent
among scientific and pseudo-scientific men of the old school. In more
Recent times this dogmatic agnosticism of the middle Victorian period
has been gradually replaced by speculations of a more positive type,
such as those of the Mendelian school in biology and the doctrines of
Bergson on the philosophical side. With these later developments we are
not here concerned.
In dealing with the evolution and history of man as with that of any
other animal, the first step is undoubtedly to collect the facts, and
this is precisely what Lyell set out to do in the "Antiquity of
Man." The first nineteen chapters of the book are purely an empirical
statement of the evidence then available as to the existence of man in
pre-historic times: the rest of the book is devoted to a consideration
of the connection between the facts previously stated and Darwin's
theory of the origin of species by variation and natural selection. The
keynote of Lyell's work, throughout his life, was observation. Lyell was
no cabinet geologist; he went to nature and studied phenomena at first
hand. Possessed of abundant leisure and ample means he travelled far and
wide, patiently collecting material and building up the modern science
of physical geology, whose foundations had been laid by Hutton and
Playfair. From the facts thus collected he drew his inferences, and if
later researches showed these inferences to be wrong, unlike some of his
contemporaries, he never hesitated to say so. Thus and thus only is true
progress in science attained.
Lyell is universally recognised as the leader of the Uniformitarian
school of geologists, and it will be well to consider briefly what is
implied in this term. The principles of Uniformitarianism may be
summed up thus: THE PRESENT IS THE KEY TO THE PAST. That is to say,
the processes which have gone on in the past were the same in general
character as those now seen in operation, though probably differing
in degree. This theory is in direct opposition to the ideas of the
CATASTROPHIC school, which were dominant at the beginning of the
nineteenth century. The catastrophists attributed all past changes to
sudden and violent convulsions of nature, by which all living beings
were destroyed, to be replaced by a fresh creation. At least such were
the tenets of the extremists. In opposition to these views the school of
Hutton and Lyell introduced the principle of continuity and development.
There is no discrepancy between Uniformitarianism and evolution. The
idea of Uniformitarianism does not imply that things have always been
the same; only that they were similar, and between these two terms there
is a wide distinction. Evolution of any kind whatever naturally implies
continuity, and this is the fundamental idea of Lyellian geology.
In spite, however, of this clear and definite conception of natural
and organic evolution, in all those parts of his works dealing with
earth-history, with the stratified rocks and with the organisms entombed
in them, Lyell adopted a plan which has now been universally abandoned.
He began with the most Recent formations and worked backwards from the
known to the unknown. To modern readers this is perhaps the greatest
drawback to his work, since it renders difficult the study of events in
their actual sequence. However, it must be admitted that, taking into
account the state of geological knowledge before his time, this course
was almost inevitable. The succession of the later rocks was fairly well
known, thanks to the labours of William Smith and others, but in the
lower part of the sequence of stratified rocks there were many gaps, and
more important still, there was no definite base. Although this want of
a starting point has been largely supplied by the labours of Sedgwick,
Murchison, De la Beche, Ramsay, and a host of followers, still
considerable doubt prevails as to which constitutes the oldest
truly stratified series, and the difficulty has only been partially
circumvented by the adoption of an arbitrary base-line, from which the
succession is worked out both upwards and downwards. So the problem
is only removed a stage further back. In the study of human origins a
similar difficulty is felt with special acuteness; the beginnings must
of necessity be vague and uncertain, and the farther back we go the
fainter will naturally be the traces of human handiwork and the more
primitive and doubtful those traces when discovered.
The reprinting of the "Antiquity of Man" is particularly appropriate at
the present time, owing to the increased attention drawn to the subject
by recent discoveries. Ever since the publication of the "Origin of
Species" and the discussions that resulted from that publication, the
popular imagination has been much exercised by the possible existence
of forms intermediate between the apes and man; the so-called "Missing
Link." Much has been written on this subject, some of it well-founded
and some very much the reverse. The discovery of the Neanderthal skull
is fully described in this volume, and this skull is certainly of a low
type, but it is more human than ape-like. The same remark applies
still more strongly to the Engis skull, the man of Spy, the recently
discovered Sussex skull, and other well-known examples of early human
remains. The Pithecanthropus of Java alone shows perhaps more affinity
to the apes. The whole subject has been most ably discussed by Professor
Sollas in his recent book entitled "Ancient Hunters."
The study of Palaeolithic flint implements has been raised to a fine
art. Both in England and France a regular succession of primitive types
has been established and correlated with the gravel terraces of existing
rivers, and even with the deposits of rivers no longer existing and
with certain glacial deposits. But with all of these the actual bodily
remains of man are comparatively scanty. From this it may be concluded
that primitive methods of burial were such as to be unfavourable to the
actual preservation of human remains. Attempts have also been made to
prove the existence of man in pre-glacial times, but hitherto none of
these have met with general acceptance, since in no case is the evidence
beyond doubt.
One of the most important results of recent research in the subject has
been the establishment of the existence of man in interglacial times.
When Lyell wrote, it was not fully recognised that the glaciation of
Europe was not one continuous process, but that it could be divided into
several episodes, glaciations, or advances of the ice, separated by
a warm interglacial period. The monumental researches of Penck and
Bruckner in the Alps have there established four glaciations with mild
interglacial periods, but all of these cannot be clearly traced in
Britain. One very important point also is the recognition of the
affinities of certain types of Palaeolithic man to the Eskimo, the
Australians, and the Bushmen of South Africa. However, it is impossible
to give here a review of the whole subject. Full details of recent
researches will be found in the works mentioned in the notes at the end
of the book.
Another point of great interest and importance, arising directly from
the study of early man is the nature of the events constituting the
glacial period in Britain and elsewhere. This has been for many years a
fertile subject of controversy, and is likely to continue such. Lyell,
in common with most of the geologists of his day, assumes that during
the glacial period the British Isles were submerged under the sea to a
depth of many hundreds of feet, at any rate as regards the region
north of a line drawn from London to Bristol. Later authors, however,
explained the observed phenomena on the hypothesis of a vast ice-sheet
of the Greenland type, descending from the mountains of Scotland
and Scandinavia, filling up the North Sea and spreading over eastern
England. This explanation is now accepted by the majority, but it must
be recognised that it involves enormous mechanical difficulties. It is
impossible to pursue the subject here; for a full discussion reference
may be made to Professor Bonney's presidential address to the British
Association at Sheffield in 1910.
It will be seen, therefore, that the "Antiquity of Man" opens up a wide
field of speculation into a variety of difficult and obscure though
interesting subjects. In the light of modern research it would be an
easy task to pile up a mountain of criticism on points of detail. But,
though easy, it would be a thankless task. It is scarcely too much to
say that the dominant impression of most readers after perusing this
book will be one of astonishment and admiration at the insight and
breadth of view displayed by the author. When it was written the subject
was a particularly thorny one to handle, and it undoubtedly required
much courage to tackle the origin and development of the human race from
a purely critical and scientific standpoint. It must be admitted on all
hands that the result was eminently successful, taking into account the
paucity of the available material, and the "Antiquity of Man" must ever
remain one of the classics of prehistoric archaeology.
This edition of the "Antiquity of Man" has been undertaken in order to
place before the public in an easily accessible form one of the best
known works of the great geologist Sir Charles Lyell; the book had an
immense influence in its own day, and it still remains one of the best
general accounts of an increasingly important branch of knowledge.
In order to avoid a multiplicity of notes and thus to save space, the
nomenclature has been to a certain extent modernised: a new general
table of strata has been inserted in the first chapter, in place of the
one originally there printed, which was cumbrous and included many minor
subdivisions of unnecessary minuteness.
The notes have been kept as short as possible, and they frequently
contain little more than references to recent literature elucidating the
points under discussion in the text.
R.H. RASTALL.
1914.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
The passage of the Beresina (in verse), 1815.
Principles of Geology, being an attempt to explain the former
changes of the earth's surface, by reference to causes now in
operation, 1830-33
(third edition, 1834;
fourth, 1835;
fifth, 1837;
sixth, 1840;
seventh, 1847;
ninth, entirely revised edition, 1853;
tenth, entirely revised edition, 1867, 1868;
eleventh, entirely revised edition, 1872;
twelfth, edited by L. Lyell, 1875).
Elements of Geology, 1838
(second edition, 1841).
A Manual of Elementary Geology
(third and entirely revised edition of the former work, 1851;
fourth and entirely revised edition, 1852;
fifth, enlarged edition, 1855;
Supplement to the fifth edition, 1857;
second edition of the Supplement, revised, 1857).
Elements of Geology,
sixth edition, greatly enlarged, 1865.
Travels in North America, with geological observations
on the United States, Canada, and Nova Scotia, 1845.
A Second Visit to the United States of North America, 1849.
The Students' Elements of Geology, 1871
(second edition, revised and corrected, 1874;
third, revised, with a table of British fossils
[by R. Etheridge], 1878;
fourth, revised by P.M. Duncan, with a table of British fossils
[by R. Etheridge], 1884).
The Geological Evidences of the Antiquity of Man,
with remarks on theories of the origin of species
by variation, 1863;
(second edition, revised, 1863;
third edition, revised, 1863;
fourth edition, revised, 1873).
There has also been published The Student's Lyell: a Manual of
Elementary Geology, edited by J.W. Judd, 1896 (second edition
revised and enlarged, 1911).
LECTURES, ADDRESSES, AND ARTICLES:
On a Recent Formation of Freshwater Limestone in Forfarshire
("Transactions of the Geological Society" 2nd series, volume 2,
1826, part 1).
On a Dike of Serpentine in the County of Forfar ("Edinburgh Journal
of Science" 1825).
English Scientific Societies ("Quarterly Review" volume 34; three
papers with Sir Roderick and Mrs. Murchison; "Edinburgh
Philosophical Journal," 1829; abstract in "Proceedings of the
Geological Society" 1; "Annales des Sciences Naturelles" 1829;
abstract in "Proceedings of the Geological Society" 1).
Address delivered at the Geological Society of London, 1836.
Lectures on Geology--Eight Lectures on Geology, delivered at the
Broadway Tabernacle, New York ("New York Tribune" 1842).
A Paper on Madeira ("Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society"
10, 1853).
On the Structure of Lavas which have Consolidated on Steep Slopes
("Philosophical Transactions" 1858).
Address (to the British Association) 1864.
TRANSLATIONS:
Antiquity of Man, translated into French by M. Chaper, 1864; and
into German by L. Buchner, 1874.
Elements of Geology (sixth edition), translated into French by M.
J. Gineston, 1867.
Report, extracted from the "Aberdeen Free Press" and translated
into French, of Sir C. Lyell's address before the British
Association, 1859, under the title of Antiquities antediluviennes:
L'homme fossile.
LIFE:
Life, Letters and Journals of Sir Charles Lyell, edited by his
sister-in-law, Mrs. Lyell, 1881.
See also:
Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, 1887.
Life and Letters of Sedgwick, by Clark and Hughes, 1890.
LIST OF CONTENTS.
CHAP. 1.
INTRODUCTORY.
Preliminary Remarks on the Subjects treated of in this Work.
Definition of the terms Recent and Pleistocene.
Tabular View of the entire Series of Fossiliferous Strata.
CHAP. 2.
RECENT PERIOD--DANISH PEAT AND SHELL MOUNDS--
SWISS LAKE-DWELLINGS.
Works of Art in Danish Peat-Mosses.
Remains of three Periods of Vegetation in the Peat.
Ages of Stone, Bronze, and Iron.
Shell-Mounds or ancient Refuse-Heaps of the Danish Islands.
Change in geographical Distribution of Marine Mollusca
since their Origin.
Embedded Remains of Mammalia of Recent Species.
Human Skulls of the same Period.
Swiss Lake-Dwellings built on Piles.
Stone and Bronze Implements found in them.
Fossil Cereals and other Plants.
Remains of Mammalia, wild and domesticated.
No extinct Species.
Chronological Computations of the Date of the Bronze and Stone
Periods in Switzerland.
Lake-Dwellings, or artificial Islands called "Crannoges,"
in Ireland.
CHAP. 3.
FOSSIL HUMAN REMAINS AND WORKS OF ART OF
THE RECENT PERIOD--continued.
Delta and Alluvial Plain of the Nile.
Burnt Bricks in Egypt before the Roman Era.
Borings in 1851-54.
Ancient Mounds of the Valley of the Ohio.
Their Antiquity.
Sepulchral Mound at Santos in Brazil.
Delta of the Mississippi.
Ancient Human Remains in Coral Reefs of Florida.
Changes in Physical Geography in the Human Period.
Buried Canoes in Marine Strata near Glasgow.
Upheaval since the Roman Occupation of the Shores of the
Firth of Forth.
Fossil Whales near Stirling.
Upraised Marine Strata of Sweden on Shores of the Baltic
and the Ocean.
Attempts to compute their Age.
CHAP. 4.
PLEISTOCENE PERIOD--BONES OF MAN AND EXTINCT MAMMALIA
IN BELGIAN CAVERNS.
Earliest Discoveries in Caves of Languedoc of Human Remains
with Bones of extinct Mammalia.
Researches in 1833 of Dr. Schmerling in the Liege Caverns.
Scattered Portions of Human Skeletons associated with Bones
of Elephant and Rhinoceros.
Distribution and probable Mode of Introduction of the Bones.
Implements of Flint and Bone.
Schmerling's Conclusions as to the Antiquity of Man ignored.
Present State of the Belgian Caves.
Human Bones recently found in Cave of Engihoul.
Engulfed Rivers.
Stalagmitic Crust.
Antiquity of the Human Remains in Belgium how proved.
CHAP. 5.
PLEISTOCENE PERIOD--FOSSIL HUMAN SKULLS OF THE
NEANDERTHAL AND ENGIS CAVES.
Human Skeleton found in Cave near Dusseldorf.
Its geological Position and probable Age.
Its abnormal and ape-like Characters.
Fossil Human Skull of the Engis Cave near Liege.
Professor Huxley's Description of these Skulls.
Comparison of each, with extreme Varieties of the native
Australian Race.
Range of Capacity in the Human and Simian Brains.
Skull from Borreby in Denmark.
Conclusions of Professor Huxley.
Bearing of the peculiar Characters of the Neanderthal Skull
on the Hypothesis of Transmutation.
CHAP. 6.
PLEISTOCENE ALLUVIUM AND CAVE DEPOSITS WITH FLINT IMPLEMENTS.
General Position of Drift with extinct Mammalia in Valleys.
Discoveries of M. Boucher de Perthes at Abbeville.
Flint Implements found also at St. Acheul, near Amiens.
Curiosity awakened by the systematic Exploration of the
Brixham Cave.
Flint Knives in same, with Bones of extinct Mammalia.
Superposition of Deposits in the Cave.
Visits of English and French Geologists to Abbeville and Amiens.
CHAP. 7.
PEAT AND PLEISTOCENE ALLUVIUM OF THE VALLEY OF THE SOMME.
Geological Structure of the Valley of the Somme and of the
surrounding Country.
Position of Alluvium of different Ages.
Peat near Abbeville.
Its animal and vegetable Contents.
Works of Art in Peat.
Probable Antiquity of the Peat, and Changes of Level
since its Growth began.
Flint Implements of antique Type in older Alluvium.
Their various Forms and great Numbers.
CHAP. 8.
PLEISTOCENE ALLUVIUM WITH FLINT IMPLEMENTS OF THE VALLEY
OF THE SOMME--concluded.
Fluvio-marine Strata, with Flint Implements, near Abbeville.
Marine Shells in same.
Cyrena fluminalis.
Mammalia.
Entire Skeleton of Rhinoceros.
Flint Implements, why found low down in Fluviatile Deposits.
Rivers shifting their Channels.
Relative Ages of higher and lower-level Gravels.
Section of Alluvium of St. Acheul.
Two Species of Elephant and Hippopotamus coexisting with Man
in France.
Volume of Drift, proving Antiquity of Flint Implements.
Absence of Human Bones in tool-bearing Alluvium, how explained.
Value of certain Kinds of negative Evidence tested thereby.
Human Bones not found in drained Lake of Haarlem.
CHAP. 9.
WORKS OF ART IN PLEISTOCENE ALLUVIUM OF FRANCE AND ENGLAND.
Flint Implements in ancient Alluvium of the Basin of the Seine.
Bones of Man and of extinct Mammalia in the Cave of Arcy.
Extinct Mammalia in the Valley of the Oise.
Flint Implement in Gravel of same Valley.
Works of Art in Pleistocene Drift in Valley of the Thames.
Musk Ox.
Meeting of northern and southern Fauna.
Migrations of Quadrupeds.
Mammals of Mongolia.
Chronological Relation of the older Alluvium of the Thames
to the Glacial Drift.
Flint Implements of Pleistocene Period in Surrey, Middlesex,
Kent, Bedfordshire, and Suffolk.
CHAP. 10.
CAVERN DEPOSITS, AND PLACES OF SEPULTURE OF THE PLEISTOCENE PERIOD.
Flint Implements in Cave containing Hyaena and other extinct
Mammalia in Somersetshire.
Caves of the Gower Peninsula in South Wales.
Rhinoceros hemitoechus.
Ossiferous Caves near Palermo.
Sicily once part of Africa.
Rise of Bed of the Mediterranean to the Height of three hundred
Feet in the Human Period in Sardinia.
Burial-place of Pleistocene Date of Aurignac in the South of France.
Rhinoceros tichorhinus eaten by Man.
M. Lartet on extinct Mammalia and Works of Art found in the
Aurignac Cave.
Relative Antiquity of the same considered.
CHAP. 11.
AGE OF HUMAN FOSSILS OF LE PUY IN CENTRAL FRANCE
AND OF NATCHEZ ON THE MISSISSIPPI DISCUSSED.
Question as to the Authenticity of the Fossil Man of Denise,
near Le Puy-en-Velay, considered.
Antiquity of the Human Race implied by that Fossil.
Successive Periods of Volcanic Action in Central France.
With what Changes in the Mammalian Fauna they correspond.
The Elephas meridionalis anterior in Time to the Implement-bearing
Gravel of St. Acheul.
Authenticity of the Human Fossil of Natchez on the Mississippi
discussed.
The Natchez Deposit, containing Bones of Mastodon and Megalonyx,
probably not older than the Flint Implements of St. Acheul.
CHAP. 12.
ANTIQUITY OF MAN RELATIVELY TO THE GLACIAL PERIOD
AND TO THE EXISTING FAUNA AND FLORA.
Chronological Relation of the Glacial Period, and the earliest
known Signs of Man's Appearance in Europe.
Series of Tertiary Deposits in Norfolk and Suffolk immediately
antecedent to the Glacial Period.
Gradual Refrigeration of Climate proved by the Marine Shells
of successive Groups.
Marine Newer Pliocene Shells of Northern Character near Woodbridge.
Section of the Norfolk Cliffs.
Norwich Crag.
Forest Bed and Fluvio-marine Strata.
Fossil Plants and Mammalia of the same.
Overlying Boulder Clay and Contorted Drift.
Newer freshwater Formation of Mundesley compared to that of Hoxne.
Great Oscillations of Level implied by the Series of Strata
in the Norfolk Cliffs.
Earliest known Date of Man long subsequent to the existing
Fauna and Flora.
CHAP. 13.
CHRONOLOGICAL RELATIONS OF THE GLACIAL PERIOD
AND THE EARLIEST SIGNS OF MAN'S APPEARANCE IN EUROPE.
Chronological Relations of the Close of the Glacial Period
and the earliest geological Signs of the Appearance of Man.
Effects of Glaciers and Icebergs in polishing and scoring Rocks.
Scandinavia once encrusted with Ice like Greenland.
Outward Movement of Continental Ice in Greenland.
Mild Climate of Greenland in the Miocene Period.
Erratics of Recent Period in Sweden.
Glacial State of Sweden in the Pleistocene Period.
Scotland formerly encrusted with Ice.
Its subsequent Submergence and Re-elevation.
Latest Changes produced by Glaciers in Scotland.
Remains of the Mammoth and Reindeer in Scotch Boulder Clay.
Parallel Roads of Glen Roy formed in Glacier Lakes.
Comparatively modern Date of these Shelves.
CHAP. 14.
CHRONOLOGICAL RELATIONS OF THE GLACIAL PERIOD
AND THE EARLIEST SIGNS OF MAN'S APPEARANCE IN EUROPE--continued.
Signs of extinct Glaciers in Wales.
Great Submergence of Wales during the Glacial Period
proved by Marine Shells.
Still greater Depression inferred from Stratified Drift.
Scarcity of Organic Remains in Glacial Formations.
Signs of extinct Glaciers in England.
Ice Action in Ireland.
Maps illustrating successive Revolutions in Physical Geography
during the Pleistocene Period.
Southernmost Extent of Erratics in England.
Successive Periods of Junction and Separation of England, Ireland,
and the Continent.
Time required for these Changes.
Probable Causes of the Upheaval and Subsidence of the Earth's Crust.
Antiquity of Man considered in relation to the Age of the existing
Fauna and Flora.
CHAP. 15.
EXTINCT GLACIERS OF THE ALPS AND THEIR CHRONOLOGICAL RELATION
TO THE HUMAN PERIOD.
Extinct Glaciers of Switzerland.
Alpine Erratic Blocks on the Jura.
Not transported by floating Ice.
Extinct Glaciers of the Italian Side of the Alps.
Theory of the Origin of Lake-Basins by the erosive Action
of Glaciers considered.
Successive phases in the Development of Glacial Action in the Alps.
Probable Relation of these to the earliest known Date of Man.
Correspondence of the same with successive Changes in the
Glacial Condition of the Scandinavian and British Mountains.
Cold Period in Sicily and Syria.
CHAP. 16.
HUMAN REMAINS IN THE LOESS, AND THEIR PROBABLE AGE.
Nature, Origin, and Age of the Loess of the Rhine and Danube.
Impalpable Mud produced by the Grinding Action of Glaciers.
Dispersion of this Mud at the Period of the Retreat of the
great Alpine Glaciers.
Continuity of the Loess from Switzerland to the Low Countries.
Characteristic Organic Remains not Lacustrine.
Alpine Gravel in the Valley of the Rhine covered by Loess.
Geographical Distribution of the Loess and its Height above the Sea.
Fossil Mammalia.
Loess of the Danube.
Oscillations in the Level of the Alps and lower Country required
to explain the Formation and Denudation of the Loess.
More rapid Movement of the Inland Country.
The same Depression and Upheaval might account for the
Advance and Retreat of the Alpine Glaciers.
Himalayan Mud of the Plains of the Ganges compared to
European Loess.
Human Remains in Loess near Maestricht, and their probable
Antiquity.
CHAP. 17.
POST-GLACIAL DISLOCATIONS AND FOLDINGS OF CRETACEOUS AND
DRIFT STRATA IN THE ISLAND OF MOEN, IN DENMARK.
Geological Structure of the Island of Moen.
Great Disturbances of the Chalk posterior in Date to the
Glacial Drift, with Recent Shells.
M. Puggaard's Sections of the Cliffs of Moen.
Flexures and Faults common to the Chalk and Glacial Drift.
Different Direction of the Lines of successive Movement,
Fracture, and Flexure.
Undisturbed Condition of the Rocks in the adjoining Danish Islands.
Unequal Movements of Upheaval in Finmark.
Earthquake of New Zealand in 1855.
Predominance in all Ages of uniform Continental Movements
over those by which the Rocks are locally convulsed.
CHAP. 18.
THE GLACIAL PERIOD IN NORTH AMERICA.
Post-glacial Strata containing Remains of Mastodon giganteus
in North America.
Scarcity of Marine Shells in Glacial Drift of Canada and the
United States.
Greater southern Extension of Ice-action in North America than
in Europe.
Trains of Erratic Blocks of vast Size in Berkshire, Massachusetts.
Description of their Linear Arrangement and Points of Departure.
Their Transportation referred to Floating and Coast Ice.
General Remarks on the Causes of former Changes of Climate
at successive geological Epochs.
Supposed Effects of the Diversion of the Gulf Stream in a
Northerly instead of North-Easterly Direction.
Development of extreme Cold on the opposite Sides of the Atlantic
in the Glacial period not strictly simultaneous.
Effect of Marine Currents on Climate.
Pleistocene Submergence of the Sahara.
CHAP. 19.
RECAPITULATION OF GEOLOGICAL PROOFS OF MAN'S ANTIQUITY.
Recapitulation of Results arrived at in the earlier Chapters.
Ages of Stone and Bronze.
Danish Peat and Kitchen-Middens.
Swiss Lake-Dwellings.
Local Changes in Vegetation and in the wild and domesticated
Animals and in Physical Geography coeval with the Age of
Bronze and the later Stone Period.
Estimates of the positive Date of some Deposits of the later
Stone Period.
Ancient Division of the Age of Stone of St. Acheul and Aurignac.
Migrations of Man in that Period from the Continent to England
in Post-Glacial Times.
Slow Rate of Progress in barbarous Ages.
Doctrine of the superior Intelligence and Endowments of the
original Stock of Mankind considered.
Opinions of the Greeks and Romans, and their Coincidence with
those of the Modern Progressionist.
CHAP. 20.
THEORIES OF PROGRESSION AND TRANSMUTATION.
Antiquity and Persistence in Character of the existing Races
of Mankind.
Theory of their Unity of Origin considered.
Bearing of the Diversity of Races on the Doctrine of Transmutation.
Difficulty of defining the Terms "Species" and "Race."
Lamarck's Introduction of the Element of Time into the Definition
of a Species.
His Theory of Variation and Progression.
Objections to his Theory, how far answered.
Arguments of modern Writers in favour of Progression in the
Animal and Vegetable World.
The old Landmarks supposed to indicate the first Appearance of Man,
and of different Classes of Animals, found to be erroneous.
Yet the Theory of an advancing Series of Organic Beings not
inconsistent with Facts.
Earliest known Fossil Mammalia of low Grade.
No Vertebrata as yet discovered in the oldest Fossiliferous Rocks.
Objections to the Theory of Progression considered.
Causes of the Popularity of the Doctrine of Progression as
compared to that of Transmutation.
CHAP. 21.
ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES BY VARIATION AND NATURAL SELECTION.
Mr. Darwin's Theory of the Origin of Species by Natural Selection.
Memoir by Mr. Wallace.
Manner in which favoured Races prevail in the Struggle for
Existence.
Formation of new Races by breeding.
Hypotheses of definite and indefinite Modifiability equally
arbitrary.
Competition and Extinction of Races.
Progression not a necessary Accompaniment of Variation.
Distinct Classes of Phenomena which Natural Selection explains.
Unity of Type, Rudimentary Organs, Geographical Distribution,
Relation of the extinct to the living Fauna and Flora,
and mutual Relations of successive Groups of Fossil Forms.
Light thrown on Embryological Development by Natural Selection.
Why large Genera have more variable Species than small ones.
Dr. Hooker on the Evidence afforded by the Vegetable Kingdom
in favour of Creation by Variation.
Steenstrup on alternation of Generations.
How far the Doctrine of Independent Creation is opposed to the
Laws now governing the Migration of Species.
CHAP. 22.
OBJECTIONS TO THE HYPOTHESIS OF TRANSMUTATION CONSIDERED.
Statement of Objections to the Hypothesis of Transmutation
founded on the Absence of Intermediate Forms.
Genera of which the Species are closely allied.
Occasional Discovery of the missing Links in a Fossil State.
Davidson's Monograph on the Brachiopoda.
Why the Gradational Forms, when found, are not accepted as
Evidence of Transmutation.
Gaps caused by Extinction of Races and Species.
Vast Tertiary Periods during which this Extinction has been going
on in the Fauna and Flora now existing.
Genealogical Bond between Miocene and Recent Plants and Insects.
Fossils of Oeningen.
Species of Insects in Britain and North America represented by
distinct Varieties.
Falconer's Monograph on living and fossil Elephants.
Fossil Species and Genera of the Horse Tribe in North and
South America.
Relation of the Pliocene Mammalia of North America, Asia,
and Europe.
Species of Mammalia, though less persistent than the Mollusca,
change slowly.
Arguments for and against Transmutation derived from the
Absence of Mammalia in Islands.
Imperfection of the Geological Record.
Intercalation of newly discovered Formation of intermediate Age
in the chronological Series.
Reference of the St. Cassian Beds to the Triassic Periods.
Discovery of new organic Types.
Feathered Archaeopteryx of the Oolite.
CHAP. 23.
ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF LANGUAGES AND SPECIES COMPARED.
Aryan Hypothesis and Controversy.
The Races of Mankind change more slowly than their Languages.
Theory of the gradual Origin of Languages.
Difficulty of defining what is meant by a Language as distinct
from a Dialect.
Great Number of extinct and living Tongues.
No European Language a Thousand Years old.
Gaps between Languages, how caused.
Imperfection of the Record.
Changes always in Progress.
Struggle for Existence between rival Terms and Dialects.
Causes of Selection.
Each Language formed slowly in a single Geographical Area.
May die out gradually or suddenly.
Once lost can never be revived.
Mode of Origin of Languages and Species a Mystery.
Speculations as to the Number of original Languages or
Species unprofitable.
CHAP. 24.
BEARING OF THE DOCTRINE OF TRANSMUTATION ON THE ORIGIN OF MAN,
AND HIS PLACE IN THE CREATION.
Whether Man can be regarded as an Exception to the Rule if the
Doctrine of Transmutation be embraced for the rest of the
Animal Kingdom.
Zoological Relations of Man to other Mammalia.
Systems of Classification.
Term Quadrumanous, why deceptive.
Whether the Structure of the Human Brain entitles Man to form
a distinct Sub-class of the Mammalia.
Intelligence of the lower Animals compared to the Intellect and
Reason of Man.
Grounds on which Man has been referred to a distinct Kingdom
of Nature.
Immaterial Principle common to Man and Animals.
Non-discovery of intermediate Links among Fossil Anthropomorphous
Species.
Hallam on the compound Nature of Man, and his Place in the Creation.
Great Inequality of mental Endowment in different Human Races and
Individuals developed by Variation and ordinary Generation.
How far a corresponding Divergence in physical Structure may
result from the Working of the same Causes.
Concluding remarks.
NOTES.
PLATES AND FIGURES.
PLATE 1. A VILLAGE BUILT ON PILES IN A SWISS LAKE.
FIGURE 1. SECTION OF THE NEANDERTHAL CAVE.
FIGURE 2. SIDE VIEW OF THE CAST OF PART OF A HUMAN SKULL FOUND BY DR.
SCHMERLING EMBEDDED AMONGST THE REMAINS OF EXTINCT MAMMALIA IN THE CAVE
OF ENGIS.
FIGURE 3. SIDE VIEW OF THE CAST OF A PART OF A HUMAN SKULL FROM A CAVE
IN THE NEANDERTHAL.
FIGURE 4. OUTLINE OF THE SKULL OF AN ADULT CHIMPANZEE, OF THAT FROM THE
NEANDERTHAL, AND OF THAT OF A EUROPEAN.
FIGURE 5. SKULL ASSOCIATED WITH GROUND FLINT IMPLEMENTS.
FIGURE 6. OUTLINES OF THE SKULL FROM THE NEANDERTHAL, OF AN AUSTRALIAN
SKULL FROM PORT ADELAIDE, AND OF THE SKULL FROM THE CAVE OF ENGIS.
FIGURE 7. SECTION ACROSS THE VALLEY OF THE SOMME IN PICARDY.
FIGURE 8. FLINT IMPLEMENT FROM ST. ACHEUL, NEAR AMIENS, OF THE
SPEAR-HEAD SHAPE.
FIGURE 9. OVAL-SHAPED FLINT HATCHET FROM MAUTORT.
FIGURE 10. FLINT TOOL FROM ST. ACHEUL.
FIGURES 11, 12 AND 13. DENDRITES ON SURFACES OF FLINT HATCHETS IN THE
DRIFT OF ST. ACHEUL.
FIGURE 14. FLINT KNIFE OR FLAKE FROM BELOW THE SAND CONTAINING Cyrena
fluminalis.
FIGURE 15. FOSSILS OF THE WHITE CHALK.
FIGURE 16. SECTION OF FLUVIO-MARINE STRATA, CONTAINING FLINT IMPLEMENTS
AND BONES OF EXTINCT MAMMALIA.
FIGURE 17. Cyrena fluminalis, O.F. Muller, sp.
FIGURE 18. Elephas primigenius.
FIGURE 19. Elephas antiquus, Falconer.
FIGURE 20. Elephas meridionalis, Nesti.
FIGURE 21. SECTION OF GRAVEL PIT CONTAINING FLINT IMPLEMENTS AT ST.
ACHEUL.
FIGURE 22. CONTORTED FLUVIATILE STRATA AT ST. ACHEUL.
FIGURE 23. SECTION ACROSS THE VALLEY OF THE OUSE.
FIGURE 24. SECTION SHOWING THE POSITION OF THE FLINT WEAPONS AT HOXNE.
FIGURE 25. SECTION OF PART OF THE HILL OF FAJOLES.
FIGURE 26. SECTION THROUGH THE ALLUVIAL PLAIN OF THE MISSISSIPPI.
FIGURE 27. DIAGRAM TO ILLUSTRATE THE GENERAL SUCCESSION OF THE STRATA IN
THE NORFOLK CLIFFS.
FIGURE 28. Cyclas (Pisidium) amnica var.(?)
FIGURE 29. CLIFF 50 FEET HIGH BETWEEN BACTON GAP AND MUNDESLEY.
FIGURE 30. FOLDING OF THE STRATA BETWEEN EAST AND WEST RUNTON.
FIGURE 31. SECTION OF CONCENTRIC BEDS WEST OF CROMER.
FIGURE 32. INCLUDED PINNACLE OF CHALK AT OLD HYTHE POINT.
FIGURE 33. SECTION OF THE NEWER FRESH-WATER FORMATION IN THE CLIFFS AT
MUNDESLEY.
FIGURE 34. Paludina marginata, Michaud (P. minuta, Strickland). Hydrobia
marginata.
FIGURE 35. OVAL AND FLATTISH PEBBLES.
PLATE 2. VIEW OF THE MOUTHS OF GLEN ROY AND GLEN SPEAN.
FIGURE 36. MAP OF THE PARALLEL ROADS OF GLEN ROY.
FIGURE 37. SECTION THROUGH SIDE OF LOCH.
FIGURE 38. DOME-SHAPED ROCKS, OR "ROCHES MOUTONEES."
FIGURE 39. MAP OF THE BRITISH ISLES AND PART OF THE NORTH-WEST OF
EUROPE, SHOWING THE GREAT AMOUNT OF SUPPOSED SUBMERGENCE
OF LAND BENEATH THE SEA DURING PART OF THE GLACIAL PERIOD.
FIGURE 40. MAP SHOWING WHAT PARTS OF THE BRITISH ISLANDS WOULD REMAIN
ABOVE WATER AFTER A SUBSIDENCE OF THE AREA TO THE EXTENT
OF 600 FEET.
FIGURE 41. MAP OF PART OF THE NORTH-WEST OF EUROPE, INCLUDING THE
BRITISH ISLES, SHOWING THE EXTENT OF SEA WHICH WOULD BECOME
LAND IF THERE WERE A GENERAL RISE OF THE AREA TO THE EXTENT OF
600 FEET.
FIGURE 42. MAP SHOWING THE SUPPOSED COURSE OF THE ANCIENT AND NOW
EXTINCT GLACIER OF THE RHONE.
FIGURE 43. MAP OF THE MORAINES OF EXTINCT GLACIERS EXTENDING FROM THE
ALPS INTO THE PLAINS OF THE PO NEAR TURIN.
FIGURE 44. Succinea oblonga.
FIGURE 45. Pupa muscorum.
FIGURE 46. Helix hispida, Lin.; H. plebeia, Drap.
FIGURE 47. SOUTHERN EXTREMITY OF MOENS KLINT.
FIGURE 48. SECTION OF MOENS KLINT.
FIGURE 49. POST-GLACIAL DISTURBANCES OF VERTICAL, FOLDED, AND SHIFTED
STRATA OF CHALK AND DRIFT, IN THE DRONNINGESTOL.
FIGURE 50. MAP SHOWING THE RELATIVE POSITION AND DIRECTION OF SEVEN
TRAINS OF ERRATIC BLOCKS IN BERKSHIRE, MASSACHUSETTS,
AND IN PART OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
FIGURE 51. ERRATIC DOME-SHAPED BLOCK OF COMPACT CHLORITIC ROCK.
FIGURE 52. SECTION SHOWING THE POSITION OF THE BLOCK IN FIGURE 51.
FIGURE 53. SECTION THROUGH CANAAN AND RICHMOND VALLEYS AT A TIME WHEN
THEY WERE MARINE CHANNELS.
FIGURE 54. UPPER SURFACE OF BRAIN OF CHIMPANZEE, DISTORTED.
FIGURE 55. SIDE VIEW OF BRAIN OF CHIMPANZEE, DISTORTED.
FIGURE 56. CORRECT SIDE VIEW OF CHIMPANZEE'S BRAIN.
FIGURE 57. CORRECT VIEW OF UPPER SURFACE OF CHIMPANZEE'S BRAIN.
FIGURE 58. SIDE VIEW OF HUMAN BRAIN.)
GEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE OF THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN.
CHAPTER 1. -- INTRODUCTORY.
Preliminary Remarks on the Subjects treated of in this Work.
Definition of the Terms Recent and Pleistocene.
Tabular View of the entire Series of Fossiliferous Strata.
No subject has lately excited more curiosity and general interest among
geologists and the public than the question of the Antiquity of the
Human Race--whether or no we have sufficient evidence in caves, or in
the superficial deposits commonly called drift or "diluvium," to prove
the former co-existence of man with certain extinct mammalia. For the
last half-century the occasional occurrence in various parts of Europe
of the bones of Man or the works of his hands in cave-breccias and
stalagmites, associated with the remains of the extinct hyaena, bear,
elephant, or rhinoceros, has given rise to a suspicion that the date of
Man must be carried farther back than we had heretofore imagined. On
the other hand extreme reluctance was naturally felt on the part of
scientific reasoners to admit the validity of such evidence, seeing that
so many caves have been inhabited by a succession of tenants and have
been selected by Man as a place not only of domicile, but of sepulture,
while some caves have also served as the channels through which the
waters of occasional land-floods or engulfed rivers have flowed, so that
the remains of living beings which have peopled the district at more
than one era may have subsequently been mingled in such caverns and
confounded together in one and the same deposit. But the facts brought
to light in 1858, during the systematic investigation of the Brixham
cave, near Torquay in Devonshire, which will be described in the sequel,
excited anew the curiosity of the British public and prepared the way
for a general admission that scepticism in regard to the bearing of cave
evidence in favour of the antiquity of Man had previously been pushed to
an extreme.
Since that period many of the facts formerly adduced in favour of the
co-existence in ancient times of Man with certain species of mammalia
long since extinct have been re-examined in England and on the
Continent, and new cases bearing on the same question, whether relating
to caves or to alluvial strata in valleys, have been brought to light.
To qualify myself for the appreciation and discussion of these cases,
I have visited in the course of the last three years many parts of
England, France, and Belgium, and have communicated personally or by
letter with not a few of the geologists, English and foreign, who have
taken part in these researches. Besides explaining in the present volume
the results of this inquiry, I shall give a description of the glacial
formations of Europe and North America, that I may allude to the
theories entertained respecting their origin, and consider their
probable relations in a chronological point of view to the human epoch,
and why throughout a great part of the northern hemisphere they so often
interpose an abrupt barrier to all attempts to trace farther back into
the past the signs of the existence of Man upon the earth.
In the concluding chapters I shall offer a few remarks on the recent
modifications of the Lamarckian theory of progressive development and
transmutation, which are suggested by Mr. Darwin's work on the "Origin
of Species by Variation and Natural Selection," and the bearing of this
hypothesis on the different races of mankind and their connection with
other parts of the animal kingdom.
NOMENCLATURE.
Some preliminary explanation of the nomenclature adopted in the
following pages will be indispensable, that the meaning attached to
the terms Recent, Pleistocene, and Post-Tertiary may be correctly
understood. [1]
Previously to the year 1833, when I published the third volume of the
"Principles of Geology," the strata called Tertiary had been divided
by geologists into Lower, Middle, and Upper; the Lower comprising the
oldest formations of the environs of Paris and London, with others of
like age; the Middle, those of Bordeaux and Touraine; and the Upper, all
that lay above or were newer than the last-mentioned group.
When engaged in 1828 in preparing for the press the treatise on geology
above alluded to, I conceived the idea of classing the whole of this
series of strata according to the different degrees of affinity
which their fossil testacea bore to the living fauna. Having obtained
information on this subject during my travels on the Continent, I learnt
that M. Deshayes of Paris, already celebrated as a conchologist, had
been led independently by the study of a large collection of Recent
and fossil shells to very similar views respecting the possibility of
arranging the Tertiary formations in chronological order, according to
the proportional number of species of shells identical with living ones,
which characterised each of the successive groups above mentioned. After
comparing 3000 fossil species with 5000 living ones, the result arrived
at was, that in the lower Tertiary strata there were about 3 1/2 per
cent identical with Recent; in the middle Tertiary (the faluns of the
Loire and Gironde), about 17 per cent; and in the upper tertiary, from
35 to 50, and sometimes in the most modern beds as much as 90 to 95 per
cent.
For the sake of clearness and brevity, I proposed to give short
technical names to these sets of strata, or the periods to which they
respectively belonged. I called the first or oldest of them Eocene, the
second Miocene, and the third Pliocene. The first of the above terms,
Eocene, is derived from Greek eos, dawn, and Greek kainos, recent;
because an extremely small proportion of the fossil shells of this
period could be referred to living species, so that this era seemed to
indicate the dawn of the present testaceous fauna, no living species of
shells having been detected in the antecedent or Secondary rocks.
Some conchologists are now unwilling to allow that any Eocene species of
shell has really survived to our times so unaltered as to allow of its
specific identification with a living species. I cannot enter in this
place into this wide controversy. It is enough at present to remark
that the character of the Eocene fauna, as contrasted with that of the
antecedent Secondary formations, wears a very modern aspect, and that
some able living conchologists still maintain that there are Eocene
shells not specifically distinguishable from those now extant; though
they may be fewer in number than was supposed in 1833.
The term Miocene (from Greek meion, less; and Greek kainos, recent) is
intended to express a minor proportion of Recent species (of testacea);
the term Pliocene (from Greek pleion, more; and Greek kainos, recent), a
comparative plurality of the same.
It has sometimes been objected to this nomenclature that certain species
of infusoria found in the chalk are still existing, and, on the other
hand, the Miocene and Older Pliocene deposits often contain the remains
of mammalia, reptiles, and fish, exclusively of extinct species. But the
reader must bear in mind that the terms Eocene, Miocene, and Pliocene
were originally invented with reference purely to conchological data,
and in that sense have always been and are still used by me.
Since the first introduction of the terms above defined, the number of
new living species of shells obtained from different parts of the globe
has been exceedingly great, supplying fresh data for comparison, and
enabling the palaeontologist to correct many erroneous identifications
of fossil and Recent forms. New species also have been collected in
abundance from Tertiary formations of every age, while newly discovered
groups of strata have filled up gaps in the previously known
series. Hence modifications and reforms have been called for in the
classifications first proposed. The Eocene, Miocene, and Pliocene
periods have been made to comprehend certain sets of strata of which the
fossils do not always conform strictly in the proportion of Recent to
extinct species with the definitions first given by me, or which are
implied in the etymology of those terms. These innovations have been
treated of in my "Elements or Manual of Elementary Geology," and in the
Supplement to the fifth edition of the same, published in 1859,
where some modifications of my classification, as first proposed, are
introduced; but I need not dwell on these on the present occasion, as
the only formations with which we shall be concerned in the present
volume are those of the most modern date, or the Post-Tertiary. It
will be convenient to divide these into two groups, the Recent and the
Pleistocene. In the Recent we may comprehend those deposits in which not
only all the shells but all the fossil mammalia are of living species;
in the Pleistocene those strata in which, the shells being Recent,
a portion, and often a considerable one, of the accompanying fossil
quadrupeds belongs to extinct species.
Cases will occur where it may be scarcely possible to draw the line of
demarcation between the Newer Pliocene and Pleistocene, or between the
latter and the recent deposits; and we must expect these difficulties to
increase rather than diminish with every advance in our knowledge, and
in proportion as gaps are filled up in the series of geological records.
The annexed tabular view (Table 1/1) of the whole series of
fossiliferous strata will enable the reader to see at a glance the
chronological relation of the Recent and Pleistocene to the antecedent
periods. [2]
TABLE 1/1. STRATIFIED ROCKS.
KAINOZOIC OR TERTIARY: Pleistocene and Recent. Pliocene.
Miocene.
Oligocene.
Eocene.
MESOZOIC OR SECONDARY: Cretaceous. Jurassic.
Triassic.
PALAEOZOIC OR PRIMARY: Permian. Carboniferous.
Devonian or old Red Sandstone.
Silurian.
Ordovician.
Cambrian.
PRECAMBRIAN OR ARCHAEAN.