528 



THE CHANGING GENERATIONS 



ently more N than other Europeans. Boyd thinks that the Basques are a relict 

 population descended from the earlier inhabitants of Europe, and on these 

 grounds he erects a hypothetical sixth great group, the Early European, which 

 presumably included the Cro-Magnons and other proto-European peoples. 



In concluding this brief survey of human races, let us emphasize once 

 more that (1) none of these races exists save as a variable population, 

 (2) each such population contains many people who as individuals could 

 not be recognized as belonging to that race, (3) all existing races are con- 

 nected to others by transitional populations, and (4) the races conven- 



Fig. 31.15. Polynesians. Left, a Samoan; right, a Hawaiian, modeled by Malvina Hoffman. 

 (Courtesy Chicago Natural History Museum.) 



tionally recognized and named represent only a small fraction of the 

 genetically different "isolates" that exist at various levels within the 



species. 



CULTURAL LEVELS AND EVOLUTIONARY TRENDS 



Man's evolutionary history divides itself into two very unequal periods 

 characterized by quite different evolutionary trends. The first comprised 

 all of human existence up to perhaps 8,000 years ago; the second includes 

 subsequent time. Since the factors responsible for the change were cul- 

 tural, let us briefly consider the role of culture in human evolution. 



What culture is. Culture is the whole body of knowledge and belief, 

 custom and practice by which a group of people lives, and all the things 

 these people make and do in consequence. Transmitted from generation 





