EASTERN ASIA — BISHOP 433 



else, do we find the same general stages of culture development — 

 first an Age of Stone, then another of Bronze, and lastly one of 

 Iron. In most lands, man passed from the Stone Age directly into 

 that of Iron; only in the region just named does a true Bronze Age 

 occur.* 



Now this homogeneity in fundamentals must signify something. 

 How may we account for it? Not, certainly, as the result of envi- 

 ronment alone. For three other temperate areas of continental 

 dimensions exist — in Africa south of the Equator and in North and 

 South America; yet none of these has ever evolved a civilization of 

 the kind named. Nor may we lightly dismiss the problem with the 

 facile phrase, so often heard in such connections, that "men's minds 

 work in pretty much the same way everywhere." The reply to 

 this assertion is, simply, that it cannot be true; for, if it were, then 

 we ought to find similar civilizations springing up in all parts of 

 the world, at widely separated times. 



THE STONE AGE IN THE FAR BAST 



On the vastly prolonged Paleolithic Period or Old Stone Age in 

 the Far East we need not dwell here; for it has little discernible 

 bearing on our subject. 



With the succeeding Neolithic Period or New Stone Age it was 

 otherwise. There came into being in eastern Asia several distinct 

 cultures of this general type, some of them traceable even today.^ 

 The peoples possessing these were already members, in a broad 

 sense, of those races that have occupied the region from prehistoric 

 times down to the present. 



CONTACTS WITH CIRCUMPOLAR REGIONS 



The contacts of these Far Eastern Neolithic cultures seem to have 

 been more especially with the northern portions of both the Old and 

 the New Worlds. 



A typical implement common to all parts of this vast area is, or 

 rather was, a rectangular or semilunar stone knife, usually with 

 one or more circular perforations. The use in winter of pit dwell- 

 ings or earth lodges points the same way. Another culture trait 

 found both in eastern Asia and in the circumpolar regions of either 

 hemisphere was the sinew-backed or compound bow. Other instances 

 of a similar sort might easily be adduced. 



*To this fact, certain Indigenous civUizationB of Central and South America form only 

 apparent exceptions. 



'' As regards China especially in this respect, see Dr. Wolfram Eberhard, Early Chinese 

 cultures and their development : A new Working-Hypothesis. Ann. Rep. Smitlisonian Inst, 

 for 1937, pp. 513-530, 1938. 



