REFERENCE TO THE ANTIQUITY OE MAN. 



407 



to me to be part of the phenomena connected with the passage of 

 the great ice-sheet over the eastern counties, and in that sense 

 Preglacial. I hope, when more at leisure, to be able to give other 

 instances. 



In the meantime, I may briefly state my conclusions that the 

 high-level beds of the Somme Valley at Amiens, of the Seine in the 

 neighbourhood of Paris, of the Thames at the Eeculvers, and of the 

 Avon at Salisbury, together with the caves above named, date back 

 to Glacial or Preglacial times, not in the sense of being anterior 

 to the Glacial epoch, but in the sense of belonging to that part 

 of the Glacial epoch when the great ice-sheet was advancing, but 

 had not yet invaded the whole of this area. The ice-flood does not, 

 however, seem to have extended to the Somme and Seine Valleys, 

 and there Man, driven back from more northern latitudes, remained 

 in occupation possibly during the climax of the Glacial epoch, after 

 which he returned to the old ground he had previously occupied, 

 and has left further traces of his presence in the lower drifts of the 

 Valley of the Thames and of other rivers of England, and in the 

 caves of Cresswell and other districts. Man was therefore " Pre- 

 glacial" in one sense, but should, I think, in another sense, be 

 more correctly termed " Glacial" or " Midglacial," inasmuch as it 

 was during the advance of the ice-flood, and only shortly before 

 the land was overwhelmed by it, that he occupied the ground. 



In supposing that Man was present in this part of Europe in 

 Glacial times, I am, however, far from claiming for him the antiquity 

 which a term of 80,000 years would give to Postglacial Man, as 

 usually understood. Eor the reasons before given, I believe that 

 the Glacial epoch — that is to say, the epoch of extreme cold — may 

 come within the limits of from 15,000 to 25,000 years, and, for 

 reasons just named, that of the so-called Postglacial period, or of 

 the melting away of the ice-sheet, to within from 8000 to 10,000 

 years. This might give to Paleolithic Man, supposing him to 

 be of so-called Preglacial age, if we may be allowed to form a 

 rough approximate limit on data yet very insufficient and subject to 

 correction, no greater antiquity than perhaps about from 20,000 to 

 30,000 years ; while, should he be restricted to the so-called Post- 

 glacial period, his antiquity need not go further back than from 

 10,000 to 15,000 years before the time of Neolithic Man. 



Looking at the facts before mentioned — that most of the species of 

 our existing land- and marine fauna and flora appeared in true pre- 

 glacial time, that is to say, in the time of the Forest-bed group, and 

 were the same as now ; that the great extinct Mammalia of that time 

 have left no descendants, but have merely died out as a consequence 

 of the great changes of climate and conditions ; and the difficulty of 

 conceiving that Man could have existed for a period, say, of 200,000 

 years without change and without progress — looking, I say, at these 

 facts, it seems to me that a shorter estimate of time is the only 

 one in accordance with all the conditions of the problem. 



This view of the question also brings the geological and ethnolo- 

 gical data into closer relationship. Palaeolithic Man in north-western 



