ON PKIMITIVE MAN : I. HIS TlilES AND HIS COMPANIONS. 243 



inventors and users of metals. But the Palseolithic mau, 

 that is, the man of the early Stone age, as he appears, at any 

 rate in Europe, even if we may suppose him to have had 

 ancestors who were metallurgists, was himself totally 

 ignorant of the use of metal. 



Now if we look over any typical collection of the imple- 

 jnents of primitive man, derived from ancient gravels, and 

 from caves, we are struck with the fact that such implements 

 vary in character, not only in material, but, what is of much 

 greater importance, m form, and in amount of differentiation, 

 and such variation is found to correspond with difference ot 

 antiquity ; the farther back we go in time, the ruder and less 

 difierentiated are the implements. We must not, however, 

 conclude that every rudely-formed implement of a certain 

 type which we may find, is necessarily one of the earliest 

 age. 



The mere shape of an implement, although having a 

 certain value of its own, is not an absolute clue to its 

 antiquity. To determine this we have to take note of the 

 bed in which it was found, and under what chcumstances it 

 occurred there, also, when jDossible, what animal remains 

 accompanied it. Type undoubtedly has a value not to be 

 overlooked in the classification of implements, but we must 

 not insist too rigidly upon it. 



Bearing this in mind we may recognise the value of the 

 classifications of Palaeolithic times given by M. de Mortillet, 

 and yet more recently by M. Cartailhac, in connection with the 

 discoveries in France, which classifications will not, however, 

 altogether hold good for other regions, such as our own, for 

 instance ; especially is this the case with regard to M. de 

 Mortillet's Palseontological grouping ; he divides the Pleisto- 

 cene age into four groups, the earliest the Chelleen, with a 

 warm and damp climate, and characterised by the presence 

 of the Pliocene rhinoceros, i?. Merkii, the hippopotamus, and 

 Elephas antiquus. Man then lived, making use of only very 

 simple forms of implements, the pear-shaped hatchet, and 

 rude scrapers, made from the stone of the locality. 



The next stage is the Mousterien, when cold had increased, 

 and glaciers extended lower down the valleys, and the Arctic 

 mammalia, the mammoth, the woolly rhinoceros, musk ox, 

 and other northern forms appeared. ]\Ian's implements were 

 still rude in character, but there was greater differentiation 

 in form. This stage was followed by the Solutreen, Avhieh 

 was milder ; horses were abundant, as well as reindeer and 



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