HUMAN HISTOEY 123 



the Upper Palaeolithic there is a loss of skill so far as stone imple- 

 ments are concerned ; there is no general decadence, however, as 

 the making of implements from bone, horn, and ivory shows 

 a considerable advance. Further, drawing and painting reached 

 their highest development. The remains from this era are very 

 abundant and well known, and exhibit a vast number of types 

 of implements giving a general impression of a considerable 

 degree of material wealth relatively to the fact that agriculture 

 was not practised. 



At the very end of the Upper Palaeolithic the Magdalenian 

 culture is succeeded by a rather obscure stage known as the 

 Azihan-Tardenoisian. There is again a sudden and very distinct 

 break in the evolution of culture. In nearly all respects there is 

 a failure to reach the previous level of skill. Both flint and bone 

 implements are of inferior workmanship. The artistic spirit 

 vanishes. Little is known about this culture ; possibly man at 

 this period was not so unskilled, as at first sight seems to have 

 b^fin the case, for he had apparently domesticated the dog.^ 

 (^ 1^ Neohthic culture is marked by the practice of agriculture, 

 thg^omestication of animals ,2 the polishing of stone implements, 

 and the making of pottery.^ Though it is strongly contrasted 

 with the preceding culture, there is considerable evidence of 

 a transition period. This evidence, however, is generally inter- 

 preted as indicating the infiltration of the new culture from the 

 East, and not the evolution of the new culture in Europe. Even 

 at this relatively recent period in history the chronology is vague. 

 The Swiss Lake Dwellings (Eobehausian period) represent the 

 typical fully developed European Neolithic culture, and are 

 dated about 8000 to 7000 b. c. Farther East there is evidence of 

 a far greater antiquity. MonteHus on the basis of De Morgan's 



1 Azilian remains are confined to the south of Europe ; Tardenoisian remains 

 are widely distributed in Europe. To this period also belongs the Maglemose 

 culture from Zeeland. Some grain found in the cave of Mas d'Azil has been 

 interpreted as showing that agriculture was practised ; in all probability, however, 

 the grain has been introduced recently — perhaps by rats. Certain curiously 

 marked pebbles are known from Azilian times and have been taken by some 

 authors to be evidence of the use of an alphabet. This interpretation cannot be 

 accepted, though possibly these markings may have been signs intended to assist 

 the memory— such as were in use in Peru, for example. 



^ Palaeolithic man may have kept animals as pets. Many primitive races have 

 a passion for keeping pets though they derive no economic advantage from so doing. 



^ That agriculture is an art learnt but recently is not yet appreciated by 

 some men of science. Thus Sir A. D. Hall in a book published in 1919 says 

 that ' agriculture must be almost coeval with the human race ' {Fertilizers and 

 Manuren, p. 2). 



