FROM PRIMITIVE TO MODERN MAN 767 



BtioiT the close of Neolithic time all of the direct ancestors of the 

 modern European races had established themsi-lves in westi'rn Euroj)e. 

 \\ itii the acKcnt oftlu' l^ronze Age, man was rapidly attaining those manual 

 capacities wherebx he might transcribe a record ol himsell, and thus enter 

 U])on an epoch of real historic consciousness. Some authorities set the begin- 

 ning of this historical |)eriod only as lar back as the commencement ol the 

 Eg\ptian calendar between lour and live thousand years ago. This dawn ot 

 history was followed by a procession of great events beginning in the earl\- 

 prc-dynastic eras ol Egy[)tian ci\'ili/.ation. The sabseciueiit de\-elo|)ments ol 

 the Pharaonic art and culture, the successive resplendence ol Chaldean, ol 

 Babylonian, of Grecian and ol Roman achie\ements m the realms ol civil, 

 artistic and philosoj^hical organization need little lurther comment than to 

 note in w hat great measure all of the remarkable progress was the work of tlu' 

 human hand. Each civilization m its turn i-ontributed to the development ol 

 the race w hich, passing through the long eclipse of the dark ages of medieval 

 times, emerged again in the brilliant light of the Renaissance and has gone for- 

 ward with a steady progress in material accomplishments into modern times. 



The Birthplace and Mic.katorv Trails of Mankind 



The cradling place ol mankind has been a matter ol much sjjcculation. 

 It is now generally accepted that this was located not m Europe, but rather 

 in the extensixe central regions ol the Asian continent. From such a birth- 

 place the race has gone lorth in successive waves of migration to the north, 

 to the east, to the south and to the west. These successive waves have not 

 brought forth a uniform product, nor ha\e the results ol the development of 

 the people thus migrating manifested the same ethnological progress or 

 specialized differentiation. Indeed, there seem to be certain almost irresist- 

 ible inlluences at work in consequence of the course and direction w hich the 

 various migrations have taki'ii. 



