12 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 



ward, leaving behind them the innumerable relics of their former presence, which 

 we find in the late Pleistocene caves of France and England. The Eskimos, then, 

 are probably the sole survivors of the Cave-men of the Pleistocene period: among 

 the present people of Europe the Cave men have left no representatives what- 

 ever. 



With the passing away of Pleistocene times, further considerable changes 

 occurred in the geography of Europe and its population. Early in the Recent 

 perjod the British Islands had become detached from each other and from the 

 continent, and the North Sea and the English and Irish Channels had assumed 

 very nearly their present sizes and shapes. The contour of the Mediterranean, 

 also, had become nearly what it is now ; and in general such changes as have oc- 

 curred in the physical structure of Europe during the Recent period have been 

 comparatively slight. Of the mammalia living at the beginning of this period, 

 only one species, the Irish elk, has become extinct. The gigantic Cave-bear, the 

 cave-lion, the mammoth, and the woolly rhinoceros had all become extinct at the 

 close of the Pleistocene period, and the elephants and hysenas had finally retreat- 

 ed into Africa. In Europe were now to be found the brown and grizzly bears, 

 the elk and reindeer, the wild boar, the urus or wild ox, the wolf and fox, the 

 rabbit and hare, and the badger; and along with these there came those harbing- 

 ers of the dawn of civiUzation, — the dog and horse, the domestic ox and pig, with 

 the sheep and goat. A new race of men, also, the tamers and owners of these 

 domestic animals, had appeared on the scene. These new men could build rude 

 huts of oak logs and rough planks, made by splitting the tree trunks with wedges. 

 Such work was not done with chipped flint-flakes. The men of the early Recent 

 period had the grindstone, and used it to put a fine edge on their stone hatchets 

 and adzes ; so that their appearance marks the beginning of a new era in culture. 

 The sharp and accurate edge of the axe, unattainable save by grinding, is the 

 symbol of this new era, which is known to archaeologists as the Neolithic, or 

 New Stone Age. 



The huts of the Neolithic farmers and shepherds were built in clusters, and 

 defended by stockades. Wheat and flax were raised, and linen garments were 

 added to those of fur. The distaff and loom, in rude shape, were in use, and 

 grain was pounded in the mortar with a pestle. Rude earthenware vessels were 

 made, sometimes ornamented with patterns. Canoes were also in use. The 

 dead were buried in long barrows, and from the almost constant presence of ar- 

 row-heads, pottery, or trinkets in these tombs it has been inferred that the Neo- 

 lithic men had some idea of a future Hfe, and buried these objects for the use of 

 the departed spirits, as is the custom among most savage races at the present 

 time 



The celebrated lake-villages of Switzerland belong to the Neolithic or early 

 Recent period ; and the remains of their cattle and of their cultivated seeds and 

 fruits have thrown light upon the origin of the Neolithic civilization. It is cer- 

 tain that the domestic animals did not originate in Europe, but were domesticat- 

 ed in Central Asia, which was the home of their wild ancestors ; and, moreover, 



