ANTHROPOLOGY 599 



ideal organization for anthropology in Africa might be envisaged 

 as a central institute in Great Britain, much on the lines of the 

 existing International Institute of African Languages and Cul- 

 tures, but supported largely by Government funds and maintain- 

 ing anthropologists permanently in the African territories. These 

 officers could be called upon by local governments in any special 

 circumstances, but, for most of their time, would be left to build up 

 a foundation of fact and theory for permanent reference by the 

 administrative and technical departments. 



PRE-HISTORY 



Africa may have been the cradle of the human species, a view 

 advanced a long time ago by Charles Darwin and others, and given 

 strong support by the discovery of the Taungs skull [Australopithe- 

 cus) in the Transvaal in 1924 by Professor R. Dart. Sir G. E. Smith 

 pointed out that this skull, though that of an ape, more nearly 

 resembles man than does any other ape. Dr. R. Broom (1936) has 

 thrown further light on the subject by the discovery near Krugers- 

 dorp of an advanced type of ape, which appears to be nearly 

 related to that from Taungs. 



That some sort of man inhabited Africa very early in pleisto- 

 cene times is proved by the stone implements discovered in many 

 parts of the continent. These have been correlated with tools 

 found in Europe, but the correlations have not always stood the 

 test of time. As a generalization it may be claimed that, with cer- 

 tain regional modifications, the sequence of cultures in Africa 

 appears to resemble the sequence in Europe, but this does not 

 imply contemporaneity of cultures, nor the racial identity of the 

 peoples associated with them. In interpreting these results, which 

 are involved with questions of past climates and geological change, 

 Burkitt (1928) for South Africa, Wayland (1934) for Uganda, 

 Leakey (1931 and 1934) for Kenya, and Miss Caton-Thompson 

 (1934) for the Fayum have been the chief workers. In West 

 Africa P. Laforgue ( 1 93 1 ) has given a preliminary account of the 

 Stone Age. During the pleistocene. Old Stone Age tools were 

 shaped only by chipping. At the end of the pleistocene the New 

 Stone Age saw the grinding and polishing of tools and also the 



