v.] PREHISTORIC ARCHAEOLOGY. 145 



6. Though we have no exact measure of time, we can 

 at least satisfy ourselves that this period was one of very- 

 great antiquity. 



7. Yet man already inhabited "Western Europe. 



8. He used rude implements of stone ; 



9. Which were never polished, and of which some 

 types differ remarkably from any of those that were 

 subsequently in use. 



10. He was ignorant of pottery, and (II) of metals. 



I will now proceed to examine these eleven con- 

 clusions at somewhat greater length : — 



1. That these beds of gravel and loam, or, as it is 

 technically called, " loess," extend along the slopes of the 

 valleys, and reach sometimes to a height of 200 feet 

 above the present water-level, is a mere statement of 

 fact, about which no difference of opinion has arisen. 



2. That these beds of gravel and loess were not 

 deposited by the sea, is proved by the fact that the 

 remains which occur in them are all those of land or 

 fresh-water, and not of marine species. That they were 

 deposited by the existing rivers is evident, because in 

 each river- valley they contain fragments of those rocks 

 only which occur in the area drained by the river itself. 

 As, therefore, the rivers drained the same areas then as 

 now, the geography of Western Europe cannot have 

 been at that period very different from what it is at 

 present. 



3. The fauna, however, was very different, the most 

 important species being — Ursus spelosus (the cave- 

 bear), U. prisons, Hycena spelcea (the cave-hysena), Felis 

 spelcea (the cave-lion), Canis lagopus (the Arctic fox), 



