^2)6 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL.83 



They would imply, first of all, the invasion of Europe during the 

 height of the last glaciation. This is not in harmony with the main laws 

 of human and biological spread, namely : Movement in the direction 

 of least resistance, and movement in the direction of better material 

 prospects, which latter are, first of all, climate and food. In the entire 

 history of Europe, free movements of men have tended always toward 

 " a place in the sun " and away from the cold. 



Such views postulate, next, relatively large numbers of the new- 

 comers to suffice for the vast task. But such large numbers would 

 necessarily mean somewhere near a still larger mother-population, and 

 there is no trace, either in western Asia or northern Africa, the only 

 regions from which such invasions at those tunes would have been 

 practicable, of any such great Aurignacian population. Moreover 

 even in those parts everywhere the Aurignacian follows upon the 

 Mousterian. 



It is a very serious question whether in paleolithic times, when man 

 was without tamed animals, without stocks of non-perishable food, 

 dependent wholly on hunting without yet a bow and arrow, and in 

 the imperfect social organization of that time, any larger armed 

 invasion would have been feasible. A peaceful extension, on the other 

 hand, would not lead to the annihilation or expulsion of the invaded 

 population, but to a greater or lesser amalgamation with the native 

 stock. A complete displacement of an extensive group by any agency 

 is difficult to conceive, and there would remain to be explained the 

 fate of the displaced people. 



It stands to reason that these great difficulties would have to be 

 satisfactorily explained away before there could be a general in- 

 telligent acceptance of an Aurignacian invasion with Mousterian 

 extinction. 



Finally, the coming of a distinct and superior species of people 

 ought to have left a very tangible record on the sequence and nature 

 of the cultural levels of the two stocks. 



As to sequence, 257 of the better-known and recorded Mousterian 

 sites (as recorded by MacCurdy) show, on analysis, the conditions 

 given in the table on page 337. 



The Mousterian culture, in nearly one-half of its stations in the 

 open, follows, it is seen, direct upon the Acheulian ; and the Aurigna- 

 cian, in very nearly one-half of the rock-shelters and. caves, and in 

 not far from one-third of the stations in the open, follows upon the 

 Mousterian. It would seem that these figures speak for a rather 

 close relation of these peoples in their habits, and that particularly 



