HISTORICAL CYCLES — CRAWFORD 447 



Sir Flinders Petrie's views are set forth in a little book of not more 

 than 14,000 words — about twice as long only as this article. Civili- 

 zation, he maintains, is intermittent; it has its seasons — a spring of 

 l)reparation, a summer of fulfillment, an autumn of decline, and a 

 winter of death. In each region cycles of civilization have succeeded 

 each other several times ; and on each occasion the phases are marked 

 by similar characteristics which may be detected by objective methods 

 of study. The evidence of sculpture is valuable, partly because it 

 is less perishable than most works of art; admittedly, however, it 

 " is only one, and not the most important, of the many subjects 

 that might be compared throughout various ages," but " it is avail- 

 able over so long a period in so many countries" (p. 9). It is 

 therefore used as the main, but not the only criterion in his survey. 

 Others are painting, literature, music, mechanics, and wealth; po- 

 litical development is also brought into the scheme, though only oc- 

 casionally referred to. 



The region regarded as a composite whole is that of Europe and 

 Egypt. The center of gravity shifted within it from Egypt to 

 Greece and thence to Kome and western Europe; but there was 

 throughout the area a series of phases or waves of culture, separated 

 by troughs. During the last 10,000 years or thereabouts he finds evi- 

 dence of eight phases or great years. The first two are prehistoric; 

 then came five covering the whole dynastic period of Egypt ; last of 

 all came the classical and modern (or west European) phases. It 

 is possible to criticize the phases as Sir Flinders Petrie visualizes 

 them, though there are few who have the range of knowledge required 

 for such a task. What matters now is the existence of such phases, 

 which some deny. To this main issue all others are subsidiary. 

 We consider that Sir Flinders Petrie has proved his case quite 

 conclusively. Ever since we first read the book 20 years ago, we have 

 been testing the theory against the background of whatever we have 

 at the time been studying, whether in books or museums or in the 

 world of to-day; and we have found it fit the facts. A theory 

 which works is already half proved. 



Each phase passes from archaism through maturity to decline. 

 •' The careful working of detail separately, without treating it as 

 part of a whole to be blended together, is the essential mark of 

 archaism" (pp. 21, 22). Note, in passing, that this is a purely 

 objective test, quite free from the bias of taste or prejudice and 

 capable of being applied almost mechanically by an expert. Ex- 

 amples of archaism in art will probably occur to all. Such are the 

 early Greek statues with the " archaic " grin, preceding the period 

 of classical maturity. In the west European phase, archaic begin- 

 nings (as at Chartres) blossomed into maturity in the middle of 



