PALEOLITHIC RACES 515 



some, like Prof. M. Hoernes, who reject the Strepyian, and 

 recognise no distinction between the remaining three stages of 

 the lower palaeolithic, throwing them all together into a single 

 subdivision termed the Chelleo-Mousterian. Inconvenience 

 will naturally attend both an excess and defect of refinement in 

 classification ; but to underestimate the value of distinctions is 

 far less likely to elicit the truth, and almost certain to give more 

 trouble in the end. 1 



The separate existence of the first three stages, the Strepyian, 

 Chellean, and Acheulean, as well as the true order of their 

 succession in time, is proved in the clearest manner by the 

 classic section St. Acheul and that at Helin, near Spiennes, 

 already alluded to. This latter may also serve to give us some 

 idea of the interval of time between them ; and, judging from the 

 thickness of the intervening beds, the Acheulean is separated 

 from the Chellean by a period of approximately the same duration 

 as that which separates the Chellean from the Strepyian. 



The Strepyian Stage 



In this stage we encounter for the first time implements 

 which, beyond dispute, have been shaped for definite ends. 



The distinctive character of the Strepyian industry, accord- 

 ing to M. Rutot, is that all the implements retain a considerable 

 part of the original crust of the flint nodule from which they 

 have been fashioned. 



The most characteristic is a remarkable weapon evidently 

 intended to be used as a dagger. 2 An elongated flint nodule, 



1 M. Commont has completely justified M. Mortillet's classification. Vide 

 Commont, " Contribution a l'Etude des Silex tailles de St. Acheul et de Moustier," 

 Bull. Soc. Linn, die Nord de la France, xvii., 1905, p. 292, xix. 1907. The latest 

 classification of the lower palaeolithic by M. Hugo Obermaier is as follows : 



mousterian 

 Acheulean Upper 

 Levallois 

 La Micoque 

 „ Lower (base of La Micoque and Le Moustier) 



Chellean Upper, with bouchers 



„ Lower, without bouchers 



H. Obermaier, Mitth. d. prahistorischen Kom. d. K. Ak. Wiss. Wien. Bd. ii. 

 No. 1, 1908. M. Obermaier correlates the Strepyian of Belgium with the Upper 

 Chellean of St. Acheul. 



2 M. Hugo Obermaier has cast doubts on the genuineness of these daggers, 

 (H. Obermaier, op. cit. p. 89). M. Rutot has replied to M. Obermaier's objections 

 in a pamphlet entitled "The Terrible Secret," 1908, printed by Hayez, Brussels. 



