SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.— H. 471 



Dr. Margaret Murray. — Some sociological aspects of Cambridge (11.50). 

 Anthropology should not be applied merely to recording ' ye beastly 

 customs of ye heathen,' but should be used for studying our own people. 

 An English anthropologist studying England has one great advantage over 

 those who go among the heathen in being able to speak the language fluently ; 

 accurate information is therefore more easily obtained. The peculiar con- 

 dition of Cambridge, with its sharp division into Town and University, 

 offers an interesting field for anthropological investigation. 



Mr. Percy Leason. — A new view of Quaternary cave Art (12.30). 



A review of the current and accepted ideas of the depiction of ' action ' 

 in the art of the Quaternary period is undertaken, the subject being 

 approached from the viewpoint of the artist rather than the anthropologist. 

 The view of the extraordinarily life-like attitudes and the splendid ' action ' 

 exhibited by many of these famous examples is reviewed and discussed. 

 A criticism is given of the view that they reveal an almost ' photographic ' 

 accuracy of vision that was exercised by Quaternary man in order that his 

 models should be ' made at all hazards to look as if they were moving.' 



It is suggested that the life-like postures exhibited by many of these 

 figures are apparent rather than real, and that on closer examination they show 

 faults that are evident even to the ' slowest ' eye. In particular there is a 

 striking contrast between the treatment of the bodies of the animals and 

 the feet. 



This, however, is not to be attributed to any lack of capacity on the part 

 of the artist, for the general ' tip-toe ' appearance, and the often relaxed 

 appearance of the legs, when they should be tense if the beast were involved 

 in the action in which it appears to be depicted, is actually due to the fact 

 that the cave artists made painstaking studies of dead animals. This is 

 consistent, not only with the postures in which many fine examples are 

 depicted, but with the skill with which the body and other characteristics 

 are often delineated. 



Furthermore it is demonstrated that if this theory is accepted another 

 difficulty of the artist in viewing the many examples of cave art is also 

 explained — i.e. that the sighting point is often lower than the centre of the 

 animal's body and very often lower than the level of the feet. 



A series of illustrations in support of the thesis was presented. 



Afternoon. 

 Symposium on The Middle Palaolithic (2.0). 



Mr. M. C. BuRKiTT. — Introduction. 



In Lower Palaeolithic times at least two distinct civilisations, each com- 

 prising a number of cultures, can be distinguished even in such a restricted 

 area as Europe. The use of well-known French culture names for these 

 allied cultures — even if they belong to the same culture cycle or civilisation — 

 creates difficulties. Prehistorians should determine the cultural sequence 

 for each geographical area, name them using local names, and only later 

 correlate them with cultures belonging to the same civilisation elsewhere. 



One of the civilisations during Lower Palaeolithic times in Europe includes 

 a large number of cultures whose industries were more particularly made on 

 flakes. Only in eastern France and Eastern England do we find these 

 industries associated with others made from cores (the coup de poing civilisa- 

 tion). The flake-tool industries are all allied, although slightly differing 



