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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVIII. No. 987 



the ice, testify to the eroding and transport- 

 ing power of the last glaciation, as well as to 

 its long period of activity. The Eiss termi- 

 nal moraines and gravel beds are still greater; 

 hence indicate a longer period of glaciation 

 for the Riss epoch. If the various glacial 

 epochs were of unlike duration, so also were 

 the interglacial epochs. Penck finds that in 

 the foothills of the Alps, where the gravel 

 beds of the four glacial epochs appear as ter- 

 races, those of the first two epochs lie consid- 

 erably higher than those of the last two. The 

 valley erosion between the Mindel and the 

 Eiss epoch was, therefore, greater than that 

 of the Eiss-Wiirm interglacial epoch. On 

 the other hand, the Eiss-Wiirm is longer than 

 the time that has elapsed since the maximum 

 Wiirm extension. The alternation of cold 

 and warm faunas confirms the theory of the 

 relatively great length of time required. 

 Since authorities do not agree as to the geo- 

 logical position of the various cultural epochs, 

 it is not strange that they should also difPer 

 in their estimates concerning the absolute 

 length of these epochs. 



Obermaier admits that his own figures are 

 ultra-conservative. He places the close of the 

 neolithic age at about 2000 B.C., its beginning 

 some 6000 B.C. The date separating the proto- 

 neolithic from the Magdalenian is 12000 B.C., 

 the beginning of the Magdalenian at least 

 16000 B.C. To the Solutrean and Aurigna- 

 cian each he ascribes 5,000 years, and to the 

 Mousterian, Acheulian and Chellean each 

 10,000 years. He thus arrives at a minimum 

 figure of 50,000 years for the time that has 

 elapsed since the appearance of paleolithic 

 man, and at least 100,000 years for the age of 

 the pre-paleolithic Heidelberg jaw. 



L. Pilgrim is much more liberal in his esti- 

 mates'! for a chronology of the Ice Age, his 

 total amounting to 1,290,000 years. Penck's 

 figures are somewhat more conservative ; he al- 

 lows some 30,000 years for the time that has 

 elapsed since the maximum Wiirm glaciation, 

 60,000 years for the Eiss-Wiirm epoch, more 

 than 240,000 years for the Mindel-Eiss epoch, 

 and for the entire duration of the Ice Age 

 1,000,000 years. Hildebrandt's estimate for the 



Quaternary is 530,000 years. Schlosser and 

 Boule are inclined to regard the Giinz epoch 

 as belonging to the upper Pliocene. 



Obermaier rightly rejects all human re- 

 mains whose age is in doubt. After this is 

 done there is still left a formidable list rep- 

 resenting every culture horizon. The Tilbury 

 skeleton is thought to be of Quaternary age, 

 while the remains from Galley Hill, Engis, 

 Furfooz, La Hastiere, Trou Magrite, Goyet, 

 Trou du Chaleux, Briix and Podbaba, are set 

 aside as uncertain. He believes that we must 

 go back to Eocene times in order to find the 

 bridge that connects man with the ancestors 

 of living anthropoids and cites Pithecan- 

 thropus erectus as an example of how close an 

 anthropoid line can come to the human with- 

 out being or becoming a part of it. Proplio- 

 pithecus hcBcheli, a fossil ape from the Oligo- 

 cene of Egypt, is probably the ancestor not 

 only of Simiidce, but also of Hominidae. 



The eolithic question is discussed at con- 

 siderable length. It is contended that on me- 

 chanical grounds alone there is no way of 

 distinguishing between man-made and nature- 

 made eoliths. The so-called Tertiary and 

 Quaternary eoliths are not accepted unless 

 they are made of material foreign to the de- 

 posit in which they are found, or are associ- 

 ated with human bones, hearths or other in- 

 dubitable evidence of man's presence. On 

 the other hand, it is admitted that some primi- 

 tive races of to-day are in the eolithic stage, 

 that all eoliths may not be due to natural 

 causes, and that the lower jaw from Mauer 

 represents eolithic man. 



In Part II. the reader has a handy resume 

 of the culture periods connecting the paleo- 

 lithic with historic times; neolithic, bronze 

 and iron ages. It is, however, in Part I. that 

 the author speaks with special authority and 

 from a wealth of first-hand knowledge. Pro- 

 fessor Obermaier is to be congratulated on the 

 completion of a work that will be admired 

 alike for its magnitude and general excel- 

 lence. 



Geoege Grant MacCurdy 



Yale TJniveksity, 



New Haven, Conn. 



