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THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



examples of the migration of an element of 

 culture. For this Aurignacian procedure 

 eventually spread to the ends of the earth, so 

 that, long after the major portion of the inter- 

 vening territories had become swamped with 

 successive waves of other cultures. South 

 Africa, Australia and America have preserved 

 for us the termini of these extremely ancient 

 migrations. 



After the Aurignacian culture was estab- 

 lished in Europe, another wave, apparently 

 coming through eastern Europe, introduced 

 the Solutrian phase of industry, which in 

 turn gave place to the Magdalenian. The 

 latter was not developed from the Solutrian 

 in Western Europe, nor was the Solutrian 

 derived from the Aurignacian. All three 

 represent distinct offshoots from the common 

 parent in either Asia or Africa, each of which 

 successively intruded into Europe and sup- 

 planted its predecessor there. There are 

 reasons for believing that long before the close 

 of the Magdalenian epoch a new culture was 

 beginning to filter into Europe from the South 

 and to make its impress upon the distinctive 

 civihzation. Eventually this new influence 

 became dominant and developed into the 

 higher phase which is known as the New 

 Stone, or Neolithic, age. To me the facts 

 seem to point quite clearly and definitely to 

 the conclusion that the Azilian people repre- 

 sent the vanguard of the New Stone age. 

 But Professor Osborn, who impartially sum- 

 marizes the evidence wath great fulness, 

 inclines to the view that the Azilian epoch 

 represents the concluding phase of the Old 

 Stone age. But this fact serves to illustrate 

 the conclusion that there is no real break 

 between the Old and the New Stone ages. 

 The real break is between the Lower and the 

 Upper Palaeolithic ages. 



One of the most remarkable aspects of 

 modern anthropological thought is that anat- 

 omists and archaeologists, in many cases, 

 adopt as a self-evident proposition in expla- 

 nation of their data a view which most ethnol- 

 ogists not only most strenuously reject, but 

 also refuse even to discuss. It is gratifying to 

 find that Professor Osborn speaks with no 

 uncertain voice in favor of the common-sense 

 point of view. 



"Certainly the archasologic testimony 

 strongly supports [the] culture-invasion hy- 

 pothesis. " "It is apparent that [in the sud- 

 den appearance and development of the 

 Aurignacian industry in Europe] we witness 



not the local evolution of a single people, but 

 rather the influence and collaboration of 

 numerous colonies reacting more or less one 

 updn the other and spreading their inventions 

 and discoveries." 



Amidst the relatively simple conditions of 

 culture in Europe of the Old Stone age this 

 explanation of the facts stands out clearly as 

 the true and only tenable one. But at the 

 same time the study of these early cultures 

 reveals "the great antiquity of the spirit of 

 man and the fundamental similarity between 

 the great steps of prehistory and history." 



Men have continued to imitate one another 

 and to borrow ideas the one from the other, 

 from that remote period until today. This 

 has been the chief factor in the upbuilding 

 and the spreading abroad of the civilization 

 to which the world at large is heir at the 

 present time. 



"The rise of the spirit of man through the 

 Old Stone age [in Europe] cannot be traced 

 continuously in a single race because the races 

 were changing; as at the present time, one 

 race replaced another, or two races dwelt side 

 by side." Professor Osborn might have 

 added also that then, as now, a small group of 

 immigrants provided with some means of 

 dominating another community, such as 

 superiority of weapons or skill, might force its 

 culture upon, and so leaven that of the subject 

 population. 



"The sudden appearance in Europe. . . . 

 of a human race with a high order of brain 

 power and ability was not a leap forward but 

 the effect of a long process of evolution else- 

 where." 



"Whether the Neanderthals were exter- 

 minated entirely or whether they were driven 

 out of the country, is not known; the en- 

 counter was certainly between a very superior 

 people, both physically and mentally. . . . 

 and a very inferior degenerate people." In 

 fact, "after prolonged study of the works of 

 the Cro-Magnons," Professor Osborn says of 

 these newcomers "one cannot avoid the con- 

 clusion that their capacity was nearly if not 

 quite as high as our own." They were in 

 fact members of our own species, Homo 

 sapiens, and except for the fact that they 

 lacked the advantages which we enjoy of the 

 knowledge and experience accumulated dur- 

 ing many millennia by them and their suc- 

 cessors, they were quite as competent and as 

 well-endowed by nature as we are. 



They represent what I might call the Neo- 



