THE EARLIEST MEN 177 



only question is whether we shall be able when 

 such finds are submitted to us to say, with the 

 slightest certainty, whether they were made by 

 man or not. 



We may pass from these to the Icenian or rostro- 

 carinate implements, found by Mr. Moir below 

 the base of the Red Crag of Suffolk, and described 

 very carefully by Sir Ray Lankester.* The geo- 

 logical period to which the Red Crag belongs is 

 not quite clear. It has usually been assigned to the 

 Pliocene series, but Sir Ray thinks that this is an 

 error ; that its fauna proves that it should be in- 

 cluded in the Pleistocene Age. At any rate it is of 

 great antiquity, and, if the objects described be 

 really of human manufacture, a point on which 

 Professor Sollas has recently thrown doubt, they 

 unquestionably set back the date of man's appear- 

 ance on the earth to a very distant date. The 

 position of these flints must at present be left 

 undecided until the controversy has developed, 

 and further facts as in the case of the " eoliths " 

 appear, when it is possible that a definite opinion, 

 one way or another, may be capable of expression. 



De Mortillet divided the Palaeolithic epoch into 

 four periods, each associated with a special culture 

 or form of implement. This scheme has been 

 somewhat enlarged by other workers, and Sollas' 

 modification may here be given, as it will serve as 

 a convenient scheme when dealing with human 

 remains in the later portion of this paper. 



Commencing with the earlier and proceeding to 

 the later stages we have 



* Philosophical Transactions^ pp. 202, 283. 



