HUMAN HISTOEY 129 



attributed to the Pliocene, we have no knowledge of man before 

 the Pleistocene. It would seem that the pre-human ancestor of 

 the Miocene and Pliocene was probably rather an obscure member 

 of the primate stock retaining generahzed features. Somehow 

 without specialization he managed to survive — possibly in some 

 very limited area. When the rapid evolution of bodily form 

 among the mammals had slowed down, the only specialization 

 in which the pre-human ancestor had indulged began to stand 

 him in good stead. That it carried him as far as it did — to the 

 dominion over all living things — was made possible by the fact 

 that his bodily form was not specialized, but was capable of being 

 turned into an instrument of the mind. The evidence seems to 

 indicate the late Pliocene or early Pleistocene as the era when 

 man began to develop along this path. 



Just as the East was probably the place of man's origin, so it 

 remained the seat of both bodily and cultural evolution. There 

 is no sign of the evolution of human physical form in Europe, 

 nor is there any evidence of the evolution of the main stages of 

 culture in Europe until after the taking of metals into use, though 

 there is evidence both of progress and of decay within the culture 

 periods. The evidence points to the conclusion that successive 

 waves of immigrants brought with them new cultures from the 

 East. Some may have entered Europe from Africa, as perhaps 

 did the Cro-Magnons, bringing the Aurignacian culture. These 

 waves of migration are not, however, to be regarded as com- 

 parable to migrations within the historical period — the Islamic 

 migrations of the Arabs, for instance. These earlier movements 

 were rather of the nature of slow driftings of peoples. They may 

 have been connected with climatic changes and have occupied 

 long periods of time. Quite possibly when we appear to 

 see the extinction of one culture and the sudden replacement 

 of it by another, what in fact happened was that, owing to 

 climatic changes, those who practised the earlier culture had 

 shifted elsewhere before the newcomers occupied the area in 

 question. 



With regard to the bodily evolution of man the first detailed 

 knowledge we have is of the Neanderthal race. We know that 

 Neanderthal man lived in the fourth glacial period. Before this 

 epoch we know nothing of human bodily evolution except from 

 three imperfect specimens which we cannot assign definitely to* 



2498 T 



