CHAPTER VI 
MAN THE CAVE DWELLER 
Nor until the final great glacial stage, that of the Wiirm, 
did man, in Europe at least, begin definitely to live in 
caves, forced thereto no doubt by the increasing cold. We 
often speak of “cave men” as though they were, from 
first to last, of one and the same species. But we err in 
doing so, for it was precisely during this cave-dwelling 
period that there occurred the most fundamental change 
in mankind so far known in human history. 
At first, as we move backward in time, through the 
Ages of Iron, of Bronze, and of Polished Stone, we meet 
with men of essentially modern type, differing in no very 
marked way from the races found today in all parts of the 
globe. The same thing applies in almost equal degree to 
the Mesolithic, or Middle Stone Age, and to the last of 
the three subdivisions of the Old Stone Age proper, that 
usually called the Upper Paleolithic. For even then, dur- 
ing and just after the close of the last glacial stage, we 
find living in Europe men of large brains, well developed 
foreheads and chins, and sometimes almost gigantic 
height. It is just here that the change occurs. Before the 
last-mentioned peoples, and differing from them far more 
than does any one modern race from another, lived the 
lowly Neanderthal man, short of stature and slightly 
stooping of posture, with a large head, thick neck, enor- 
mous projecting brows, retreating forehead and chin, and 
powerful frame. 
Back to this point, the beginning of the Middle Paleo- 
lithic or Mousterian epoch, our knowledge of the different 
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