PREHISTORIC ART. 355 



IS'ot infrequently theories are advanced as to certain natural artistic 

 manifestations of the human mind. Objections are made to arguments 

 of contact between peoples arising from similarities of objects of art, 

 industry, or decoration. 



Mr. A. K. Wallace, speaking of the supposed migrations of the 

 Swastika, says the cross made with two sticks, laid at right angles, 

 would be the easiest, the most natural, and therefore the most likely 

 sign to have been made first by primitive ujan. 



We hear of the cosmic circle, the solar circle, the magic square, etc., 

 as the "foundations of our original concei)tion of the infinite." The 

 sacred wheel of the law is spoken of as " common to all ancient cos- 

 mogonies invented for the world and all time. * * * The ^Enead 

 of spiritual principles, with their eternal relationships definitely deter- 

 mined by the sacred wheel, have been the inspiration," etc. 



The attention of these and similar theorists is called to the fact that 

 we have traced these art manifestations through three great epochs of 

 prehistoric culture; that we have seen styles and designs of decora- 

 tion without number, and we have to remark the absence of the cross, 

 the circle, and the wheel. The Swastika made its appearance during 

 the bronze age. It seems to have been the earliest known symbol' and 

 was probably related to the cross, but except this, though the styles of 

 decoration were principally geometric and made of dots and lines, the 

 fundamental geometric forms of cross, circle, aud wheel are not found. 



I. PALEOLITHIC PERIOD. 



Flint Chipping.^ 



The eailiest manifestations of human art consisted of the chipping 

 of implements of fiint, practically the first known to have been made or 

 used by man. They belong to the Paleolithic period of the Stone Age. 



1 Wilson, The Swastika, Eept. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1894, pp. 757-1011. 



2 This is sometimes called •' flaking," aud perhaps with equal right. My preference 

 is for the term "chipping," if for no other reason than because it is in more common 

 and greater use. A distinction can he made between the two terms, between the 

 objects which are obtained and the processes by which it is accomplished, though 

 usually no such distinction is made. Webster in his definition of— 



"Flake, n.," speaks of "(1) small collection of snow, (2) a platform of hurdhs, (3) a 

 layer or stratum," but nothing relating to the present question. 



"Flake, v. t., to form into flakes. 



"Flake, v. L, to break or separate into layers, to ]>eel or scale oft"." We more 

 usually say "to. ^afce oj." 



The Standard Dictionary gives — 



"Flake, n. 1. A small flat fragment or loosely cohering mass; a thin piece or 

 (•hi]> of anything; scale; fleck," 



According to Webster, the words "flake" or "flaking" liav.' no rcfrrcucr citlicr to 

 the thing or process involved in this discussion. He says : 



"Chip, n. (1) A piece of wood or other substance separated from a body by a cut- 

 ting instrument, particularly by an axe. It is used also for a piece of stone sepa- 



