156 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES. 



My second and third visits, in 1905 (when the British Association met 

 here for the first time) and in 1907, showed me that there were already 

 many workers in the field, and that increasing attempts were being made 

 to study the finds stratigraphically and to classify them in accordance 

 with sequence-dating. Still, the work of correlation was hampered by 

 imperfect acquaintance with the results arrived at by European archaeolo- 

 gists. This limitation led to some deductions which were hardly justified 

 by the facts. 



In 1910 I again found myself in South Africa — by invitation of the 

 South African Association. It was at once manifest that there was an 

 increasing recognition of the importance of the geological associations of 

 the earlier types of stone implements, as a means of establishing their 

 relative antiquity and the ordered sequence of their succession. More 

 serious attempts were being made to investigate ancient alluvial deposits 

 and to record the particular strata from which implements were derived, 

 and the depth within the strata. The archaeological collections in the 

 various museums were beginning to be grouped and arranged so as to 

 tell a definite story — the story of the occupation of South Africa in early 

 times by successive waves of immigrants, each wave introducing more or 

 less distinctive culture elements. In this way, the museums were not 

 only attempting to furnish a summary of local archaeological phenomena 

 as interpreted up to date, but they were also oflfering suggestions as to 

 the aims and objectives of future field-research, and indicating the nature 

 of the problems awaiting solution. It was already abundantly clear that 

 the time-honoured aphorism ' Ex Africa semper aliquid novum ' required 

 supplementing with a rider to the effect ' non nunquam, saepissime etiam, 

 et aliquid antiquum,.' There was abundant stimulus to field-workers. 



This year it is my privilege to renew acquaintance with South Africa, 

 whose attractions, be they scenic, zoological, archaeological or ethnological, 

 ever draw me with magnetic force. My gratification is extreme. Not 

 only have I the longed-for opportunity of revisiting scenes full of interest 

 and beauty, but I have an additional source of gratification in the privilege 

 of having been invited to preside over that Section of the British Associa- 

 tion whose concern it is to aid in revealing the great epic story of human 

 progress, both physical and cultural. It is a very great pleasure to note 

 the strides which have been taken since my last visit, nearly twenty years 

 ago, towards unravelling the local archaeological complex, and to note that 

 this pursuit of knowledge is conducted on increasingly methodical and 

 scientific lines. 



It is manifest that the vast African area lying to the south of the 

 Zambesi holds almost unparalleled wealth of archaeological material. It 

 appears as an inexhaustible mine of ancient relics. This is, probably, 

 largely due to the successive waves of immigrant peoples having arrived 

 in early times from the North. South Africa, though spacious, is a cul de 

 sac, a land-terminus beyond which stretches the southern ocean, which 

 arrested any further southward dispersal. We must picture the arrival, 

 one after the other, of primitive peoples in various stages of culture- 

 advancement, and it is natural to assume that the order of their arrival 

 in the far south is indicative of their general culture-status. The more 

 undeveloped peoples, less capable of defending their rights and of holding 



