MAN FROM THE FARTHEST PAST 
The superstitious beliefs inspired by the early stone 
hatchet persisted far down into later times, and the ax 
remained a symbol of power and authority among certain 
peoples, even into the historical period. Thus beautifully 
polished examples in jade were symbols of kingly authority 
in Bronze Age China, while the ax, especially in its double 
or two-edged form, retained great ceremonial significance 
in ancient religious observances in parts of the Mediter- 
ranean area. 
Throughout the long earlier periods, before and during 
the Old Stone Age, man sought refuge from the rain under 
overhanging cliffs, and from the cold inside the mouths of 
caves. Probably, too, he learned in time to erect simple 
windbreaks or lean-tos of bark or leafy boughs. And, as 
we have seen, certain designs of the later Old Stone Age 
in western European caves may represent huts or cabins; 
but with the advent of the stone ax it became a much 
simpler matter to cut down saplings and make huts roofed 
with leaves, bark, or skins, like those of so many savage 
tribes the world over, even today (Plate 63). Primitive 
man seems sometimes to have erected these for safety’s 
sake among the branches of trees, on piles over water, or 
even on rafts moored a short distance from the shore. But 
further than this man hardly got during this middle period 
of transition. 
While Middle Stone Age man can not claim the in- 
vention of the bow and arrow, which, as we saw, first 
appeared with certainty in the Upper Capsian, its use 
probably became general during the Mesolithic Period. 
As with so many other discoveries of primary impor- 
tance, we do not know when or where or how the bow and 
arrow originated. Probably some accident suggested them. 
It has been held that the idea came from the instrument 
known as the bow-drill, an implement used even today for 
drilling holes, kindling fires (Fig. 67), and the like. The 
invention may also have been made more than once, 
though this seems unlikely. 
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