CHAPTER XII 

 THE COMING OF MAN. 



WE have watched the long succession of varied life on the 

 earth recorded in the rocks, and now we come to the most 

 momentous event of all in the history the coming of Man. 

 The first certain evidence of the presence of man on the 

 earth is found with the coming of the Glacial Period, 

 unless indeed the supposed flint implements found by 

 Mr. Reid Moir, under the Crag in Suffolk, should prove him 

 earlier still. It is a rare chance that the skeleton of a land 

 animal is preserved ; especially rare in the case of a skeleton 

 so frail as that of man. The best chance for the preserva- 

 tion of bones is in deposits in caves, which were frequently 

 the dens of wild beasts and the shelters of man. But the 

 implements used by early man were happily of a very 

 imperishable nature. His favourite material, if he could 

 get it, was flint. Flint could by dexterous blows have 

 flake after flake taken off, till it formed a tool or weapon 

 with sharp point and cutting edge. The implements, 

 though only chipped, or flaked, were often admirably 

 made. They have very characteristic shapes. Moreover, 

 the kind of blow struck obliquely by which these early 

 men made their tools left marks which stamp them as of 

 human workmanship. The flake struck off shows what is 

 called a " bulb of percussion " a swelling which marks 

 the spot where the blow was struck and from this 

 extends a series of ripples, producing a surface like that of a 

 shell, from which this mode of breaking is called conchoidal 

 fracture. Often, by further chipping the flake itself is 

 worked into an implement. Implements have also been 



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