252 AXXALS yEW TOBE ACADEMY OF SCIEXCES 



perature in Italy is indicated by the fact that the Alpine mammals such 

 as the marmot {Ardomys marmotta) . chamois (Rupicapra) and steinbok 

 (Ihex) came down to the plains.^- The ^"old elephant"^ {E. antiquus) 

 fauna appeared in Italy earlier than in northern Europe. Similarly the 

 hippopotamus survived in Italy longer than in France and Germany, so 

 it is not surprising to find its remains associated with those of the broad- 

 nosed rhinoceros (D. merckii) in a cave near IMentone on the French 

 Eiviera which belongs just prior to the Postglacial period of Aurignacian 

 culture corresponding with the period immediately succeeding the Fourth 

 glaciation.^^ Italy was a forested country at the time that central Europe 

 was tundra-like or steppe-like. 



Culture Stages. — Under all these varying conditions of climate human 

 evolution progressively advances, and where the "species^' of lower mam- 

 mals fail us the successive human culture stages enable us to sharply 

 distinguish the intervals of time. 



Bepetition of Loess Depositions. — According to Wiist^* (p. 229) the 

 First (I) and Second (II) Glacial and the First Interglacial Stages (1st) 

 are represented in the single northern (Saxonian -|- Scanian) glaciation 

 of Thuringia. The successive depositions of loess therefore occurred as 

 follows : 



Postglacial Stage, the youngest loess. Postglacial terraces. 

 1\ (WtJRM) GLACIAL STAGE, equivalent to northern glaciation III. 



3rd (Riss-Wiirm) Interglacial fitage, younger loess. The lower terraces 

 of the '2nd (/. e.. 3rd Interglacial). 

 Ill (RISS) GLACIAL STAGE, equivalent to glaciation II of the north. 



2nd (Mindel-Riss) Interglacial Stage, older loess. The higher and middle 

 terraces of the First (/. e., 2nd) Interglacial. 

 I-II (GtJXZ-MIXDEL) GLACIATION, equivalent to glaciation I of Thuringia. 



First Glacial Stage — Grxz, Scaxiax, Xebraskax 



The First Glacial Stage is believed to have been nearly contempo- 

 raneous in Europe and I^orth America. It is estimated (Penck) that 

 the various ice caps reached the climax of their advance 520,000 years 

 ago and that the snow line in the Alpine Eegion descended 1,200m. lower 

 than the present snow line. In the north of Germany and in Sweden 



^ IssEL. A. : "Liguria geologie e preistorica." Ref. by Boule in L'Anthrol., pp. 602- 

 604. 1893. 



^ Pexck, a. : "Die alpinen Eiszeitbildungen der prahistorische Mensch." Arch. 

 AnthropoL. N. S.. VoL I. Xo. S. pp. 78-90. 1904. 



^ WtST. EwALD : "Die plistozanen Ablagerungen des Travertingebietes der Gegend 

 von Weimar und ihre Fossilienbestiinde in ihrer Bedeutung fiir die Beurteilung der Kli- 

 maschwankungen des EiszeitaUers." Zeitschr. f. Naturwissensch.. Band 82. Heft 3-5, 

 pp. 161-252. Leipzig. 1010. Published Mar.. 1911. 



