THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN 3 



to the most casual observer, while others are discernible 

 largely to the expert only. Back of the Paleolithic lies the 

 Eolithic, or Dawn Stone implement period, the definition of 

 which originally implied that the stone implements of that 

 time were not artifacts in the sense of purposeful manufacture, 

 but that they were merely pieces of stone of convenient size 

 which showed the effect of use. Later authorities admit of the 

 presence of certain retouching on the margins of implements 

 they still call eoliths, although just where they would draw the 

 line between eoliths on the one hand and paleoliths of crudest 

 workmanship on the other is not clear. Yet other authority 

 would disclaim any human association with these eoliths, either 

 of use or manufacture, and invoke the physical forces of 

 nature to account for their seeming. But our purpose is not 

 to tell again the arguments, but merely to establish, if possible, 

 on the basis of such evidence, a further criterion for the test- 

 ing of man's antiquity. It becomes at once evident, however, 

 that all races of mankind are by no means in the same degree 

 of cultural advancement at a given time, and that for ages of 

 human history the relatively static and the highly advanced 

 peoples must have dwelt contemporaneously in divers portions^ 

 of the earth, just as, for instance, the native Tasmanians, of 

 whom the last survivor died in 1877, were in a state of culture 

 which some have called Eolithic and others a rather early stage 

 of the Paleolithic, perhaps Mousterian (Osborn). It becomes 

 necessary therefore to confine ourselves to some definite region 

 which has been the home of mankind from remote ages, in 

 order to establish a chronological series. There is no doubt 

 in my mind that in the course of time certain portions of Asia 

 will provide us with a chronology of great interest and amaz- 

 ing antiquity, but thus far our knowledge of European cultures 

 is at once the most detailed and the most accurately dated, and 

 the one with the fewest omissions in the series. There are 

 readily applied checks on the European chronology, for it has 



