MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS. 



CHRONOLOGY OF THE HUM AN PERIOD.* 



By J. WooDiiRiDGE Davis. 



The earliest exact <late we Lave is that of the victory of Corcebus, 

 the ruiiDer, at the Olympian festival, July 21, B. C. 776. Beyond this, 

 uncertainty grows from years into decades and from decades into cen- 

 turies until, in the earliest existing traditions, it becomes supreme ; 

 and yet man's history is not half told. 



Of the vast preceding ages from which no word has come, the chro- 

 nology is necessarily based ui)on traces of the events themselves. So 

 the best results we can expect from an exploration of this dark region 

 of time are a meager knowledge of events, a fairly accurate knowledge 

 of successions, and a very inaccurate knowledge of durations. 



There is however an artificial difficulty in the way of the student 

 of archaeology, namely, the several scales used in the division of ])re- 

 historic time. A like difficulty pertaining to the era of written records 

 has been overcome by means of forraulai for the translation of nlates 

 from one scale to another. But no systematic attempt seems to have 

 been made to correlate the various scales applied to the measurement 

 of the older Quaternary. 



For instance, the antiquity of a certain "find" is rated by reference 

 to the geological event then taking place; of another, according to a 

 scale indicated by the successive disappearances of wild animals from 

 a particular district. Other scales are based upon the progress in 

 human arts and customs, the successive flomestication of animals, etc. 

 Each author relies especially ujwn one or two of these modes of reckon- 

 ing with occasional references to some of the others. Except to experts, 

 this is confusing. 



On this account the chart appended was prepared for private use. 

 Here it is attempted to exhibit the ])rincipal scales in their chronologi- 

 cal inter-relations. This was accomplished by collecting and arranging 

 all the cross-references occurring in many of the best works, chiefly 

 those of Worsaae, Morlot, Gastaldi, Lartet and Christie, Lubboek, 

 Lyell and Dawkins. 



("From the School of Mines QuaiterJi', No. 4, vol. x.) 



583 



