172 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 



Apart from the Magdalenian itself, which is undoubtedly the most in- 

 teresting and the most vital of these variations, we have the Grimaldian 

 in Italy, in South Russia a degenerate industry of Gravettian tradition, 

 in Palestine a kind of hybrid Aurignacian which may extend into the 

 Crimea, in Egypt the Sabylian, in England the Creswellian, while the 

 retreat of the ice sheet in northern Europe made way for the Hamburg 

 culture which is apparently derived from the Upper Gravettian. To 

 round off completely the story of the Palaeolithic blade cultures it would 

 be necessary to pursue a number of these branches into the Mesolithic, 

 but the time at my disposal makes this impossible. In any case the 

 close of the Pleistocene, for general purposes, marks the end of an epoch 

 in human history, and although no catastrophic change is visible, with 

 the dawn of the Mesolithic a new order is already on its way. 



If we now take a last general view of this theoretical picture, we see 

 the Chatelperronian, the earliest identifiable phylum of the blade cultures, 

 already emerging in Lower Palaeolithic times, in some as yet unidentified 

 Asiatic centre. Ultimately it sends out two branches, one into East 

 Africa, to give rise to the Capsian, the other into North-east Europe, 

 to develop into the Gravettian. Meanwhile another stock, the Aurig- 

 nacian, pushes westward, and separates these two great provinces. 

 From the Aurignacian and Gravettian centres migrations pour into 

 Central and Eastern Europe along the southern edge of the ice-sheet, 

 and cultures which in their homelands tend to remain distinct and 

 exclusive suceed and influence each other, until at the extreme limit of 

 their journey we get the characteristic French sequence, which for so 

 long was used as a standard for the rest of the world. Meanwhile along 

 the fringes of the original provinces interpenetration necessarily takes 

 place, and we find the Upper Gravettian filtering along the valleys of the 

 Zagros Arc into southern Kurdistan, while the Aurignacian penetrates 

 northward into the Crimea. Finally, at the close of the Pleistocene, 

 migration on a large scale comes to an end, and numerous local varia- 

 tions spring up all over the Palaeolithic world. 



Outside all this, meanwhile, lies the still mysterious Far Eastern province, 

 with its mixed flake and blade culture. In its early stages this may con- 

 ceivably have played a part in the evolution of the Aurignacian proper, 

 and in this connection it is perhaps significant that Gordon Childe reports 

 the presence of a split-base bone point at Malta. 



The picture which I have outlined is admittedly largely speculative, 

 and the most that I hope for this address is that it will ultimately stimulate 

 discussion and disagreement. I am prepared to be accused of domination 

 by a mirage orientate, but to that I would reply that some of my colleagues 

 seem to me at the moment to be unduly influenced by a mirage africain. 

 Only further discovery will make it possible to decide between us. 



