Chapter II 



THE WONDERS OF ANCIENT CRETE 



We have so far considered only part, and probably 

 not the most important part, of the effect of the Ice 

 Age on the prehistoric savage. It is doubtful whether 

 the men of the New Stone Age in Europe — the men 

 who now learned to till the ground, tame animals, 

 build huts, weave, and so on — were the descendants 

 of the Cave Men. Most authorities think that they 

 came from Africa, and, with their superior weapons 

 of polished stone and higher intelligence, partly 

 exterminated and partly absorbed the older Euro- 

 peans. These obscure questions do not concern us 

 much in themselves, but it is essential to try to 

 understand what was happening south of Europe 

 while the Cave Men sat by their fires in the decorated 

 caverns of the Pyrenees and slowly developed their 

 grunts and gestures into articulate speech. 



When the last and most severe ice-sheet spread, 

 a large part of the inhabitants of Europe would 

 undoubtedly go south with the sun. We have positive 

 evidence that they did, and that there were occasional 

 arrivals of higher types of men from Africa. At this 

 time Spain had a land-connection with Africa, and it 

 is possible that there was also a land-bridge through 

 Italy and Sicily. But the fertile country available in 

 North Africa is only a comparatively narrow strip 

 between the mountains (which would have a broad 



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