PLEISTOCENE PERIOD 195 



vegetation ; but such forlorn scenes were well suited at least 

 to the steppe-loving reindeer and the saiga antelope. 



Here was a happy hunting-ground for man, and there is 

 evidence of his presence. Indeed, the pursuit of prey may 

 well have drawn him to this well-stocked scene. As to his 

 abilities as a hunter, it is impossible to form a precise idea. 

 Many of the animals were probably too formidable for him 

 or too fleet of foot ; and except in the case of sickly animals, 

 and those disabled by accident, capture of big game must 

 have required considerable strategy. He certainly possessed 

 pieces of flint chipped down to a sharp edge, and in some 

 cases rudely wrought into scraper-form. How far these 

 implements — known as palseoliths— were useful in the chase 

 it is impossible to say. One cannot imagine their effective- 

 ness to have been great ; and as a rule it was probably by 

 means of cunningly concealed pits that big game was cap- 

 tured. When, however, the prey had been secured, the 

 implements, no doubt, proved highly serviceable for cutting 

 up the carcase for food, and scraping out the skin for clothing. 



These implements, although rudely manufactured, exhibit, 

 nevertheless, more skilful workmanship than the eoliths of 

 the last Period. And the better workmanship tends to 

 show that the possessors were more highly cultured than 

 the men or super- apes of the Pliocene. The human race 

 was progressing, but its hardships and dangers must have 

 been very great. 



If the remains discovered in the Neander Valley near 

 Stuttgart may be taken as relating to this time, these inter- 

 glacial hunters were sturdily built, and stood about five and 

 a half feet in height. Their skulls were of a low type, much 

 depressed at the top ; and their foreheads were receding, 

 and without width or depth. Their brow-ridges, like those 

 of Pithecanthropus, were massive and projecting ; and 

 this must have given them an ape-like physiognomy. Their 

 cranial capacity was, however, much greater than that of 

 the Javan super-ape. Some parts of the skeleton — notably 

 the outer bone of the forearm and the shoulder-blade — 

 possessed simian characters. The thigh-bones in being 

 ;sUghtly curved resembled those of human beings, and so 



