WHO WAS PRIMITIVE MAN? 



97 



There are two great geological epochs in which we find remains 

 of man. The first is that of the palaeolithic or old chipped-flint 

 weapons. The second is the modern or recent period, including 

 the three so-called Neolithic, Bronze, and Iron ages. The first or 

 paleolithic epoch is separated from the second or recent epoch by a 

 vast and unknown lapse of time. We may place its date at some- 

 where about 200,000 years back. The remains of human origin be- 

 longing to it all occur under the conditions which we ordinarily 

 describe as geological ; they are found either in the drift deposits of 

 our river-valleys or beneath the concreted floors of caves. They con- 

 sist chiefly of rude stone weapons, in unpolished flint, chipped off by 

 side-blows. What events caused the break in continuity between 

 palaeolithic and recent man in Europe we do not exactly know ; but 

 many of the best authorities believe that it was brought about by the 

 coming on of the last glacial epoch (that is to say, the final cold spell 

 of the recurrent pleistocene cycles). If these authorities are right, 

 then at a period earlier than 200,000 years since, Europe was peopled 

 by palaeolithic men ; and about 80,000 years ago these men were very 

 gradually driven southward by the spread of the polar ice over the 

 whole of the northern tenrperate zone. Be this as it may, however, 

 we know, at any rate, that they belonged to a far earlier state of 

 things, when the whole geographical condition of Europe differed in 

 many respects from that which prevails at the present day. 



On the other hand, recent man in Europe dates back, probably, 

 only some twenty thousand years or so. His remains, whether of the 

 Neolithic, the Bronze, or the Iron age, are found in tumuli still stand- 

 ing on the surface of the ground. Since his reappearance here, no 

 notable changes have taken place in the face of the country. Instead 

 of occurring in deep natural deposits or under the solid floors of pri- 

 meval caves, his bones and his weapons are found in graves or mounds 

 of recent make. The neolithic men, though they used implements of 

 stone, polished them exquisitely by grinding and smoothing, and were 

 in all respects, save in the use of metals and a few similar particulars, 

 as advanced as their successors of the Bronze age. No great gap in 

 time separates them from the bronze and iron men, as a great gap sep- 

 arates all three from the palaeolithic cave-men and drift-men. They 

 were probably identical with two modern races, in three successive 

 stages of their culture ; whereas, the palaeolithic race is cut off utterly 

 from the recent race by a whole unknown interval, presumably repre- 

 senting the time during which Northern Europe was glaciated. Ac- 

 cordingly, with recent man we shall have nothing to do here. 



Again, I must further premise that the very question which heads 

 this paper who was Primitive Man ? is in itself a somewhat irra- 

 tional one. For of course, if we accept the evolutionist theory at all, 

 there never was a first man. The early undifferentiated ancestors of 

 men and anthropoid apes slowly developed along different lines toward 



VOL. XXII. 7 



