46 THE HUMAN SPECIES 



arms stretched forward, the right hand apparently holding a 

 wooden club. Now, because the calves and seat are very little 

 developed, and the latter, moreover, is somewhat long, and the 

 face characterised by a very prominent nose, retreating brow 

 and chin, Piette concludes the sketch to represent the Pithecan- 

 thropus erectus, whereas it is obviously only another example of 

 a childishly executed human portrait. 



As to the descent of Palaeolithic man we are still by no 

 means well informed. We can, certainly, as Homes 1 remarks, 

 prove that he existed in various places, but whence he came 

 and his previous manner of existence \ve know not nor can we 

 ascertain it without a "history of his antecedents' antecedents". 

 Broadly speaking, the discoveries of Western Europe permit us 

 to conclude that during the diluvial period several different races 

 existed. Some of the inhabitants of the middle period probably 

 came from Africa originally. But we can form no opinion as to 

 the probable birthplace of Neanderthal man, nor can we state 

 with certainty 2 whether the people of the third period, the rein- 

 deer hunters of Cro-Magnon and Laugerie, were of Northern 

 or of Southern origin ; or whether they had developed in Middle 

 Europe from earlier existing forms. As France and Spain were 

 connected with North Africa by an isthmus, during the diluvial 

 period, Homes considers this to have been the source whence 

 Middle Europe received its palaeolithic inhabitants, and he 

 assigns the same part to this " Diluvial Orient " as that played 

 by West Asia in more recent times in connection with Europe. 

 A closer acquaintance with the details of this question is, in the 

 opinion of Homes, only to be obtained by the co-operation of 

 palaeolithic geology and archaeology. 



European Diluvial Man. Transition from the Palaeolithic 

 to the Neolithic Period. 



The same doubt and uncertainty that envelops the origin of 

 diluvial man has long surrounded his later fate. Did he simply 

 disappear in order to make room for the newly arrived neolithic 

 man, or was some remnant left that under new influences de- 



1 Homes, Der dilnv. Mensch, etc., p. 2. 

 - Homes, he. cit., p. 184. 



