CHAPTER VI 
THE MOUSTERIAN PERIOD IN ENGLAND AND THE 
MEN OF THAT PERIOD IN FRANCE 
In this chapter we are to take another great step back- 
wards into the past. The period of Neolithic man lies 
far behind us ; in the two preceding chapters we have 
made a cursory survey of the men of the late Palaeolithic 
cultures, and formed, on the limited evidence at our 
disposal, some estimate of their antiquity. As nearly as 
we can guess at present, the point in time which we 
have reached is some twenty-five thousand or thirty 
thousand years back. We are now to enter a middle 
Palasolithic period during which the men of Europe 
worked their stone implements in a very characteristic 
style — the fashion and culture which is universally known 
by the name of Mousterian, because the workmanship, 
in its typical form, was found at an early stage of pre- 
historic exploration (1863) in one of the Vezere caves 
of France, Le Moustier, The Mousterian period was 
probably as long in its duration as the late Palaeolithic, the 
Neolithic, and the Metal ages put together — twenty-five 
thousand years. The evidence on which this statement 
is based will become apparent as we proceed with this 
survey. Thus, we are writing under the belief that the 
Mousterian age commenced some fifty thousand years 
ago. Very probably these estimates may need readjust- 
ment in the light of further discoveries. 
The story of late Palaeolithic man, as told in the last 
chapter, came to an end on the low or 20-foot terrace 
of, th<i iiQrth bank of the Thames, at the British Admiralty 
