PALEOLITHIC RACES AND THEIR 

 MODERN REPRESENTATIVES 



By W. J. SOLLAS, D.Sc, F.R.S. 

 Professor of Geology in the University of Oxford 



Solutrian Man and the Bushmen 



The upper palaeolithic epoch is characterised throughout by the 

 fauna of the mammoth : at first, in the Solutrian age, the horse, 

 mammoth, and bison are the predominant animals, but later, in 

 the Magdalenian, the reindeer plays a more important part. 



The fauna of the mammoth is often spoken of as the cold- 

 fauna, in contradistinction to the fauna of Elephas antiquns, or 

 the warm fauna. It is generally difficult to draw very precise 

 inferences from fauna to climate : the mammoth was certainly 

 well fitted to withstand cold, but it roamed over a very wide 

 area ; its range was possibly determined less by temperature 

 than the distribution of the plants upon which it fed. The 

 remains of plants found in the stomach of the mammoth dis- 

 covered in 1 90 1 included a species of Carex, Thymus serpylhim, 

 Papaver alpinum, and Ranunculus acris var. borealis, all seed- 

 bearing species ; in a previous find pine needles are said to have 

 been found between the teeth. The horse has been supposed to 

 indicate extensive prairies, but Prezevalsky's wild horse, which 

 existed in upper palaeolithic times, now inhabits the great 

 Dsungarian desert, between the Altai and Thian-Shan Moun- 

 tains. It is said to prefer the saline districts, and to be able to 

 go a long time without water. The bison was widely distributed 

 over Europe in early historical times, and it now survives in 

 Lithuania ; the American bison roamed the prairies. The 

 reindeer is at present confined to the Arctic regions of both 

 hemispheres ; it flourishes best in a cold, dry climate. In 

 winter it finds shelter in the woods, and does not venture 

 into the low, treeless plains except in summer. Another cold- 

 loving animal of the period is the musk ox, which now inhabits 

 the Arctic parts of North America and Greenland. Lieutenant 



Greenly found it in Grinnell Land as far north as lat. 8i£° N. 



667 



