THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN 213 



lands contemporaneously. On the contrary, it 

 seems likely that as the cold became more severe 

 in the north he migrated southwards to middle 

 Europe, where tundra conditions obtained. With 

 the end of this period comes the disappearance 

 of the Magdalenians, and at this point we enter 

 a region of great uncertainty. 



We know that the Neolithic or Polished Stone 

 Age came after the Magdalenian : is there any 

 connection between them, or is the hiatus com- 

 plete, and was the Neolithic civilisation the 

 property of a totally different race ? Of course 

 no one doubts that somewhere or another the 

 hiatus was bridged over, for no one argues that 

 when Palaeolithic man came to an end a perfectly 

 new race unconnected with him came into being. 

 But, so far as we can judge, in the northern part 

 of Europe, at any rate, Palaeolithic man did dis- 

 appear off the face of the earth, which remained 

 uninhabited by man at least for a prolonged 

 period. " It is beyond question," writes W. B. 

 Wright (p. 78), " that in post-glacial times 

 neither Ireland, Wales, nor the northern half of 

 Great Britain were occupied by man until the 

 long subsequent Neolithic invasion. Even the 

 south of England affords evidence of this general 

 exodus, for here there is a complete break both 

 in stratigraphical relations and style of work- 

 manship between the implements of the two 

 periods. Between the Palaeolithic and Neolithic 

 culture of Great Britain there is a great gulf 

 fixed, and no amount of research has succeeded 

 in finding any trace of a transition between the 



