8 MAN : PAST AND PRESENT. [CHAP. 



pliocene age itself may well be doubted, and in the absence 

 of sufficient evidence must in any case be left for the present 

 an open question. Reasons have elsewhere been given 1 for 



rejecting Sergi's tertiary Hominidtz, assumed to 

 Migrations ^ e a l rea dy specialised in pliocene times, and the 



more probable view seems still to be that the occu- 

 pation of the globe was not effected, or at least not completed, 

 before the early pleistocene epoch. In other words, the earth was 

 mainly peopled by the generalised pleistocene precursors, who 

 moved about, like the other migrating faunas, unconsciously, 

 everywhere following the lines of least resistance, advancing or 

 receding, and acting generally on blind impulse rather than of 

 any set purpose. 



That such must have been the nature of the first migratory 

 movements will appear evident when we consider that they were 

 carried on by rude hordes, all very much alike, and differing not 

 greatly from other zoological groups, and further that these migra- 

 tions took place prior to the development of all cultural appliances 

 beyond the ability to wield a broken branch or a sapling, or else 

 chip or flake primitive stone implements 2 . 



Herein lies the explanation of the curious phenomenon, which 

 is such a stumbling-block to premature systematists, that all the 

 works of early man, and man himself, everywhere present the 



most startling resemblances, affording absolutely no 



Uniform ....... .. 



character of elements for classification, for instance, during the 

 Early Man and t { mes corresponding with the Chellian or first period 



his Works. 



of the Old Stone Age. Years ago Virchow declared 

 that there was no distinguishing between the forms of palaeolithic 

 implements found in the Eastern and Western Hemispheres, and 

 those who have examined the collections in Argentina, the United 

 States, and Europe will readily assent to that statement. 



After referring to the identity of certain objects from the 

 Hastings kitchen-middens and a barrow near Sevenoaks, Mr 

 W. J. L. Abbot proceeds : "The first thing that would strike one 



1 Eth. p. 37- 



2 Thus Lucretius: 



"Anna antiqua manus, ungues, dentesque fuerunt, 

 Et lapides, et item silvarum fragmina rami." 



