132 HUMAN HISTORY 



Kurope, we may think of Australian culture in its broad general 

 features as representative of the Middle Palaeolithic. ^ 



As has been already indicated in the fourth chapter, it is not 

 proposed to attempt to carry the method so far as to attribute 

 to peoples of different Palaeolithic cultures peculiarities of certain 

 primitive hunting and fishing races. All that it is proposed to do 

 is to look into the general conditions which obtain among hunting 

 and fishing races with the object of throwing light upon the con- 

 ditions in the Palaeolithic era as a whole. Similarly it is proposed 

 to throw light upon the Neolithic period by an inquiry into the 

 conditions obtaining among primitive agricultural races. This 

 method is clearly legitimate. It may nevertheless be said at once 

 that as a matter of fact, so far as the most important conclusions 

 are concerned, we shall find no reasons for thinking that hunting 

 and fishing races differ from agricultural races. The legitimacy 

 of the method is therefore not strictly relevant. It follows from 

 this that the splitting up of the data and the consideration 

 separately of hunting and of agricultaral races is in reality only 

 a matter of convenience. 



14. Before we embark upon this attempt to throw light upon 

 such general characteristics of prehistoric races as are relevant 

 to our particular purpose, there is another point to be considered. 

 One supposition regarding the mode of life of man in early days 

 is that he lived in groups of polygamous families. As monogamy 

 occurs among some of the lowest of existing primitive races, he 

 may have been monogamous. In any case it seems that early 

 man was not promiscuous in his sexual relations. "Whatever his 

 primitive mode of life may have been, man gradually rose to the 

 recognition of common bonds and to the observation in common 

 of certain rules and restrictions. Primitive social organization 

 in fact gradually came into being, and this step, slowly and pain- 

 fully achieved as it no doubt was, represents one of the most 

 important steps ever achieved by man. Then for the first time 

 he began to reap the benefits of co-operation. Clearly we must 

 imagine a primitive form of social organization to have existed 

 in the late Palaeolithic ; the attainment to so relatively high 



' It is interesting to note the cranial capacity of these races and to compare 

 them with the figures given above for prehistoric races : Tasmanians, 1,225 c.c. ; 

 Australians. 1,320 c.c. ; Bushmen, 1,244 c.c. ; Veddahs, 1,201 to 1,336 c.c. ; American 

 Indians, 1,300 to 1,450 c.c. See Hoernes, Natur und Urgeschichte der Menschen, 

 vol. i, p. CO. 



