594 THE METHODS OF ARCH^OLOGICAL RESEARCH. 



which to ai)i)roach the thoughts aud works of tlie old men has no doubt 

 made our inquiry more complicated aud ditticuU; but it has at the 

 same time uuide the materials almost inexhaustible, and the possibility 

 of solving- problems once deemed iusoluble much more hopeful. 



Let us now turn to some of the concrete results which our more 

 powerful analysis has enabled us to compass. In tlie first jdace, we 

 have learned that it is a mistake to confuse art with race. We can not 

 change our race — that is indelibly stamped upon us by nature. But 

 art — art of every kind — including language, is not an inheritance from 

 luiture, but is as much acqun-ed as are our hats and coats. We learn 

 all our arts. Hence, we must be perpetually on our guard against the 

 fallacy that because art has taken a new dei)arture, therefore we are in 

 the presence of a new race. 



Archieology is a science which can only be profitably studied on 

 inductive methods. Of this a very notable proof is the discussion on 

 the " Origin of man,*' a subject upon which there was much specu- 

 lation twenty-five years ago. It has not the same living interest for 

 us now. The fact is we realize that materials are wanting at])resent 

 to enable us to carry the study very far in this directioUj and the newly 

 fledged hopes of a quarter of a century ago have not fructified. The 

 origin of the human race, so far as archaeological research goes, is abso- 

 lutely beyond our ken, and those who are determined to reach some 

 result in this direction must go to the geologists for their facts aud for 

 their arguments. The moral for the arcLieological vista is this : We can 

 take up the various specialized aud elaborated civilizations which men 

 have produced and trace them up to simpler and less specialized forms. 

 We can separate the tangle created by their mutual influence upon each 

 other, aud trace the enormous changes due to the gradual introduction 

 of new ideas aud new processes, of new weapons and new tools. We 

 cau trace the complicated pedigree until we reach an age when all 

 men used very similar materials and had very similar arts. The 

 cramping influence of having to use these often stubborn materials com- 

 pelled a monotony of form aud of ornament Avhich is in itself bewilderiug. 

 Eventually we reach a stage where it is most difficult to discriminate 

 among races or their cliaracteristics by their art alone. For example, 

 the polished stone axes left by the Caribs, those found in some parts 

 of Europe aud those found in some parts of eastern Asia, are almost 

 indistinguishable. Yet, how widely separated these races are in every 

 respect! We may thus be only too easily deceived in supposing that 

 we are getting nearer to the solution of the problem of the origin of 

 man when our goal is the inevitable one, that with his primitive 

 Aveapons in'imitive man in many latitudes was constrained to surround 

 himself with very similar surroundings. A corrective to this is very 

 speedily reached Avhen we turn to other fields of research, such as 

 language and mythology, and physical constitution. We can trace back 

 the languages of Egypt, of Babylonia, of India, aud China for a long 



