SOME NOTES ON THE EAELY HOMINID2E 217 
There is strong evidence from all these remains that the 
Monsterians possessed extraordinarily large heads, and were 
of short stature. 
It should be remembered that Mousterian man was 
essentially a cave-dweller. His remains, however, have some- 
times been discovered in open country, but these areas 
probably only represented summer stations. 
Palaeolithic man lived during the Pleistocene or glacial 
period. It is well known that in Britain the glacial period 
was not continuous, but was subdivided into probably four 
cycles by three warm interglacial periods. 
The Palaeolithic Age has been subdivided into certain 
epochs, which mark the different stages of cultural efficiency. 
They are named as follows, reading from the latest to the most 
ancient : 
(1) Azilian ; (2) Magdalenian ; (3) Solutrean ; (4) Aurig- 
nacian ; (5) Mousterian ; (6) Acheulian ; (7) Chellean ; (8) 
Strepyan ; (9) Mesomian ; and (10) Icenian. 
Icenian and Mesomian implements are regarded by some 
as belonging to the class known as ‘ eoliths,’ the artificial 
origin of which is seriously doubted by certain authorities. 
On the other hand, some of the Icenian implements are 
regarded by distinguished experts as being actually pre- 
glacial. The Mesomian implements have, however, at the 
last moment established their reputation for respectability, 
and are now described (even by the hyper-sceptical) as being 
genuine. 
It is probable that the Strepyan, Chellean, and Acheulian 
cultures predominated during the middle inter-glacial period. 
The Mousterian, commencing in the middle inter-glacial, extends 
to, and overlaps, the Aurignacian, which must be associated 
with the last inter-glacial period ; while the Solutrean, Magda- 
lenian, and Azilian carry us into post-glacial times. 
There occurs one very wide gap in the history of Palaeo- 
lithic man in Europe, wider than the breach between the 
Stone and the Metal Ages, and wider even than that between 
Palaeolithic and Neolithic man. 
This apparent solution of continuity occurs between the 
Mousterian epoch, when Homo Neanderthalensis lived in his 
