THE EVOLUTION Of MAN 751 



duction in jaw size is correlated with a reduction in the size and com- 

 plexity of the teeth. There is a strong tendency for the third molars, 

 the wisdom teeth, to become vestigial. These changes probably follow, 

 directly or indirectly, from the evolutionary trend towards larger brains 

 and greater intelligence. These more intelligent descendants were less 

 dependent upon sheer physical strength for getting food and fighting 

 enemies, animals and other men. Speech was invented, tools and weap- 

 ons were made, man began to live in clans and tribes and progressed 

 beyond his former state of being a tree-dwelling primate to that of a 

 ground-dwelling, civilized animal. 



325. Cultural Evolution 



Corroborative evidence for the relationships and temporal order 

 of these primitive and modern men comes from the objects they made 

 and used, called artifacts, which were deposited along with the fossils. 

 The science of archeology is concerned with the finding, identifying 

 and interpreting of the tools, weapons, cooking utensils, ornaments and 

 other objects made by man. 



Although early man must have learned to pick up and use stones 

 of a convenient size and shape, it was not until the middle Pleistocene, 

 apparently, that he learned how to chip pieces of flint to make hand 

 axes. The culture characterized by these chipped stone tools is called 

 the Lower Paleolithic, and was the culture of Java and Peking man. 

 These men lived in caves and were hunters and food gatherers who had 

 learned how to use fire. The association of certain kinds of axes and 

 scraping tools with the Java and Peking men provides clues for the 

 study of their distribution, for similar artifacts without skeletal remains 

 have been found in India and Burma. More advanced tools from the 

 third interglacial and the last glacial periods represent the Middle Paleo- 

 lithic culture. Neanderthal man is associated with the Mousterian cul- 

 ture, a Middle Paleolithic one. Each of these cultures is recognized by 

 the style of tools and weapons made. The Mousterian implements were 

 made by chipping flakes from a piece of flint and then sharpening the 

 edges by removing more flakes with a bone tool. The common weapon 

 of this time was a triangular piece of stone, the forerunner of both the 

 spear and arrowhead. 



Later, in the Upper Paleolithic culture, an improved method of tool 

 making was discovered, in which the flakes were removed from the 

 piece of flint by means of steadily and carefully applied pressure, rather 

 than by blows. This produced long, slender, knifelike blades, many of 

 which were elaborately and skillfully carved, and were true works of 

 art. These Upper Paleolithic men, Cro-Magnons and others, were 

 painters as well as skilled craftsmen; their cave paintings, found in 

 France and Spain, show a remarkable grasp of the principles of design. 

 These men of the Upper Paleolithic introduced bone needles and other 

 tools and probably invented the bow and arrow. 



The Mesolithic, or Middle Stone age, shows no important advance 

 over the Paleolithic cultures. Mesolithic man was still a hunter and 



