396 ANNUAL, REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1920. 



changes of climate such as those of which evidence has been found during 

 historic times in central Asia ; and, finally, the climate of the world pulsates 

 in cycles of 36 years. 



In spite of the undoubted influence of climate, it would seem that 

 the growth and decay of successive civilizations is in great part a 

 biological phenomenon analogous to the age cycles referred to 

 above, although the matter is evidently far too complex to allow one 

 to generalize with safety. 



According to Prof. Flinders Petrie, 13 as quoted by Spurrell, 14 

 " there have been eight distinct periods of civilization in Europe, 

 from the earliest dawn of civilization in Egypt, the duration of each 

 period tending to be longer than its predecessor; and the intervals 

 are marked by an inrush of barbarian races and an interlude of 

 destruction and admixture of blood." Professor Petrie founds his 

 analysis of civilization on sculpture, on the grounds that sculpture 

 is available over so long a period and is so easily presented to the 

 mind. In the sculpture of every period can be seen the same se- 

 quence of growth and decay. The archaic stage, in spite of crudity, 

 is invariably marked by boldness and vigor. Next, the treatment 

 loses its archaic character and becomes more free, the details beintj 

 more skillfully subordinated to the whole. From this point the 

 period of highest achievement is soon reached; all traces of archa- 

 ism have disappeared, inspiration is still powerful, and workman- 

 ship well-nigh, sometimes entirely, perfect. After this the treat- 

 ment tends to become over-elaborate, the inspiration is lost, and a 

 period of unintelligent copying ensues, followed by one of degra- 

 dation and ultimate decay. 



Civilization is an intermittent phenomenon, its growth and fall 

 being comparable to summer and winter in nature. Professor Petrie 

 shows how this analogy was familiar to the ancients under the guise 

 of the "great year," the Etruscans speaking of the great year as 

 the period of each race of men that should arise in succession. He 

 makes the following quotation from Plutarch's Life of Sulla, which 

 refers to the close of the Etruscans' own period of 1,100 years, in 

 87 B.C.: 



One day, when the sky was serene and clear, there was heard in it the 

 sounds of a trumpet, so shrill and mournful that it frightened and astonished 

 the whole city. The Tuscan sages said that it portended a new race of men, 

 and a renovation of the world, for they observed that there were eight several 

 kinds of men, all differing in life and manners; that Heaven had allotted to 

 each its time, which was limited by the circuit of the great year; and that 

 when one race came to a period, and another was rising, it was announced by 

 some wonderful sign from either earth or heaven. So that it was evident at 



13 Flinders Petrie, W. M., The Revolution of Civilization, London, Harper, 1912. 

 11 Spurrell, H. G. F., Modern Man and His Forerunner, London, Bell, 191S. 



