SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.— H. 387 



of the Zambesi, south of Victoria Falls, and to obtain the co-operation in 

 this work of the Rev. Neville Jones, of Bulawayo. As a result of systematic 

 research covering an area on the east bank of the river, between the present 

 line of the Falls and the fifth gorge, the sequence of cultures has been defined 

 and their relation to stages in the recession of the Falls from their former 

 position in gorge five to that which they now occupy has been determined. 

 The material collected was first divided into cultural groups on the basis of 

 type and afterwards each group was analysed on the basis of physical con- 

 dition. The cultures represented are : (1) a Pre-Chellian industry which 

 resembles in some respects the Eolithic and in others the Cromerian of 

 Europe ; (2) Chellian ; (3) Acheulian, of which three sub-divisions are 

 recognisable ; (4) Clactonian (2 phases) ; (5) Levalloisian ; (6) Mousterian ; 

 (7) Bambata, which is the Rhodesian equivalent of the European Upper 

 Aurignacian. 



The degree of rolling to which the various groups had been subjected 

 and the entire absence of rolling exhibited by tools collected on the plateau 

 of the old river bed in certain areas, made it possible to relate each group to 

 successive stages in the excavation of the river gorge, which is over 400 ft. 

 in height above the present river and it is clear that a length of 5 miles of 

 this gorge has been eroded since Pre-Chellian times. 



Dr. T. A. Rickard (read by Prof. J. L. Myres). — The nomenclature of 

 archceology (11.40). 



Current nomenclature is not in accord with anthropological facts. The 

 idea that the polishing of stone was characteristic of the Neolithic period 

 is condemned on the ground that the technique of stone fabrication is de- 

 pendent upon the kind of stone available. It has no relation to chronology. 

 Excessive emphasis on flint-knapping ignores the fact that flint is not 

 available in many parts of the world. 



The Neolithic as a period of time has shrunk to a negligible length. 

 The gap between the end of the Palaeolithic and the beginning of metal- 

 smelting leaves less than a thousand years. 



The Bronze Age is a misnomer. The use of the tin-copper alloy repre- 

 sents a minor phase of the use of copper, and characterised only a small 

 part of the world. ' Early Bronze,' based on a faulty knowledge of metal 

 culture, is due mainly to the failure to recognise the use of native copper long 

 before smelting began. 



The use of native copper does not mark a distinct Metal age ; it belongs 

 to the Stone Age, and to the beginning of it. There was no Chalcolithic 

 period, nor any twilight zone of metal usage between the Stone Age and the 

 so-called Bronze Age. After the Stone Age came the Metallurgic Age. 

 The extraction of metal from the ore by smelting is entirely distinct from the 

 hammering of metal by stone and even from the melting of it for the purpose 

 of making ornaments, as in Mexico. 



The use of stone was preceded by the use of less recalcitrant materials, 

 such as wood, bone, and shell. This covered a period of time longer than 

 the Stone Age and distinct from it ; the name ' Primordial ' is suggested. 

 Therefore the three divisions suggested are Primordial, Stone Age, and 

 Metallurgic. 



Exception is taken to the term Homo sapiens. The connotation of wisdom 

 is rendered ridiculous by human behaviour, even to-day. The one faculty 

 that separates man from the beasts of the field is speech. Therefore Homo 

 loquens is suggested. 



