QUATERNARY AGE 



PRESENT PERIOD 



The climate of Europe had now settled down to much as 

 it is at the present day ; and the same may broadly be said of 

 the fauna and the vegetation. This state of things may date 

 back fifty thousand years or more ; but until historic times 

 are reached all dates are conjectural. 



No trace, artistic or otherwise, is to be found in this Period 

 of the Cave men. Some of them may have been absorbed 

 by new invaders of Europe. In any case pictorial art on 

 the continent had declined ; for the artist-work of the 

 new lords of the soil was far inferior to that of the " old 

 masters." 



The earUest chronicles that have been found of man in banish 

 Europe in the Present Period consist of the ancient sheU- shell- 

 mounds of Denmark. On the coasts of Jutland, and along mounds 

 some of the fiords of Zealand, men were living in more or less 

 permanent settlements. The fact best recorded about these 

 people is that they were great consumers of oysters, cockles, 

 mussels, and periwinkles. From the size of the shells it is 

 evident that the molluscs were in " fine " condition ; and 

 it may be presumed that the Baltic waters then contained 

 more salt than now. 



These settlers, however, did not subsist entirely on molluscs. 

 They were also lovers of pork and venison. In the neigh- 

 bouring forests numbers of wild boar, red deer, and roe deer 

 fell to their skill and cunning. In the art of hunting they 

 certainly surpassed the Cave men, as they possessed dogs 

 of a jackal type trained to be of service in the chase. Their 

 diet was further varied by fish and fowl ; and there is evidence 

 that the wild swan and the great auk occasionally enriched 



