THE ARRIVAL OF MAN IN EUROPE 



have occurred in the physical structure of Eu- 

 rope during the Recent period have been 

 comparatively slight. Of the mammalia living 

 at the beginning of this period, only one species, 

 the Irish elk, has become extinct. The gigantic 

 cave-bear, the cave-lion, the mammoth, and the 

 woolly rhinoceros had all become extinct at the 

 close of the Pleistocene period, and the elephants 

 and hyaenas had finally retreated into Africa. 

 In Europe were now to be found the brown 

 and grizzly bear, the elk and reindeer, the wild 

 boar, the urus or wild ox, the wolf and fox, the 

 rabbit and hare, and the badger ; and along 

 with these there came those harbingers of the 

 dawn of civilization, the dog and horse, the 

 domestic ox and pig, with the sheep and goat. 

 A new race of men, also, the tamers and own- 

 ers of these domestic animals, had appeared on 

 the scene. These new men could build rude 

 huts of oak logs and rough planks, made by 

 splitting the tree-trunks with wedges. Such 

 work was not done with chipped flint-flakes. 

 The men of the early Recent period had the 

 grindstone, and used it to put a fine edge on 

 their stone hatchets and adzes ; so that theit 

 appearance marks the beginning of a new era in 

 culture. The sharp and accurate edge of the 

 axe, unattainable save by grinding, is the sym- 

 bol of this new era, which is known to archaeol- 

 ogists as the Neolithic, or New Stone Age. 



