DEVELOPMENT OF PRIMAL SHAPING ARTS. 513 



Such studies can not add greatly to our actual knowledge of events, 

 although they may serve a good purpose in confirming or discrediting 

 conclusions reached by other means, but they will materially assist in 

 preparing the way for an intelligent consideration of those meager 

 shreds of history that extend, like the edge of a frayed garment, 

 back into the realms of the unknown. 



The present study suggests the need of conservatism in interpreting 

 the scattered records available to prehistoric archaeology. Where the 

 conditions under which men have lived are so varied, there must needs 

 be great diversity in art achievement, and the order of the steps of 

 human progress established in one region can not be applied with 

 safety to another or to all, notwithstanding strong tendencies toward 

 uniformity. Regional art groups must be examined primarily in the 

 light of local conditions, and general results are to be reached by a 

 comparative study of these special results. The actual order of pro- 

 gress of the race in the primal stages can never be absolutely known; 

 and thus it is that hypothesis is called upon to supply an order of events 

 consistent with what is known of the laws of life and art. 



SM 1901 33 



