CHAPTER III. Man in the Making

MAN IN THE MAKING

HUMAN PROGRESS FROM PREHISTORIC TO MODERN TIMES

Arrival of Man

Long before man appeared upon the scene the brain had passed through certain preliminary grades. Its basic patterns had been perfected. Its most important mechanisms had been improved. All manner of animals inhabited the earth in those preparatory days--fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals of many varieties. They were the stepping stones of progress. When at length the first members of our family arrived their brains were barely human, and they themselves were crude human beings. There was a certain triumph in their advent, however, for at last there were men. The Age of Man which they inaugurated was to differ from all preceding ages in the products of human achievement. This great inaugural event, however, made no particular stir in nature. Its beginnings were insignificant and humble, just as the brain of these earliest men was a far less imposing organ than that possessed by modern people. It was still a crude brain, unrefined in many of its structural details and small in its capacity. Hundreds of thousands of years were still necessary for such a brain to attain its highest efficiency.

To most of us who are accustomed to count time as the hours between breakfast and dinner, or, at the most, as the proverbial threescore years and ten, these long periods sound fabulous and fantastic. In contemplating the past our vision usually stops short at the beginning of history, about five or six thousand years ago. Such a focus is unfortunately nearsighted. It leaves us insensitive to the much longer prehistoric period. Through all this unrecorded time man struggled upward to achieve those successes which at length established the Age of the Frontal Lobe.

Much evidence of this great prehistoric period is now available. Examined carefully and without prejudice it reveals what man must have been when his human journey first started. It tells us much of how he lived and acted; also by what means he succeeded in lifting himself up step by step from his lowly beginnings.

The Duration of Human Existence

It is natural that our first inquiry should be concerning the length of time during which the human race has inhabited the earth. The exact figures, as might be expected, are a matter of much dispute and difference of opinion. All authorities, however, agree that the several stages of human progress must have required a remarkably long period. None of the modern estimations of this period is less than five hundred thousand years. Many calculations, such as those of Sir Arthur Keith, far exceed this figure and place the origin of man as far back as a million years or more. The beginnings of the human species are usually attributed to the early part of the Pleistocene, or the late part of the Pliocene. Keith, however, believes this does not permit of sufficient time for that development which produced all of the effects evidenced in the known features of modern man, as well as those of certain extinct varieties that have long since passed from the human stage. Concluding his famous work, the Antiquity of Man, Keith expresses the opinion that “There is not a single fact known to me which makes the existence of the human form in the Miocene period an impossibility.” This view would set the origin of man back to an astonishingly remote period in the neighbourhood of twelve or fifteen million years ago.

Professor Osborn has recently revised his original estimations concerning the beginning of the human race. He now attributes the rise of man to a time one and a half million years ago.

In all his races, both living and extinct, man constitutes the sixth family in the primate suborder, Anthropoidea (manlike). This family is known as the Hominidæ (men of all types). The progenitors of the human family split off from a common primate stock at some time early in the Oligocene. At this critical juncture, probably twenty-five million years ago, two great branches of the suborder parted company. Thenceforth they developed independently of each other. The first branch from this common stem gave rise to human races. From the second branch arose the great modern anthropoid apes, including the orang-outang, the chimpanzee, and the gorilla. The vast difference that exists between man and all other living creatures is evident in the complexity of human affairs. In size and form of body there are many notable resemblances between man and the apes, particularly the great apes. But here the similarity ends abruptly. Man has created a new world, which he strives to control both by laws of his own making and by subjugating more or less completely all other creatures to his will. His races to-day throughout the world are collectively known as the species Homo sapiens (man of wisdom). This species comprises the African, the Australian, the Mongolian, and the European varieties of mankind.

Four Extinct Races of Men

Study of human fossils and ancient implements has revealed the former existence of at least four prehistoric races of man. These races took their parts in the human drama and then, in consequence of factors not altogether clear, became extinct. It is not surprising that man’s obscure prehistoric beginnings are all but lost in the great geological ages which lie behind his recorded history. There can be small wonder that such insignificant traces of his remains have yet been brought to light. The search for these remains has been in progress for little more than a century. Doubtless when this exploration becomes more extensive, also when more people are engaged in its organization, a considerable collection of relics revealing man’s primitive stages will be discovered. Nothing more than a meagre record could be expected because so little effort was originally made to preserve the remains of the earliest prehistoric men. In those long-distant days the bodies of the dead were either disposed of by burning, or merely cast out to be devoured by beasts and birds of prey.

The principal criteria for estimating the antiquity of human remains are four in number. First, the age in geological time of the strata within which the remains are found. Second, the fossil remains of the animals associated with the fossil remains of man, whether these be of still living forms, or entirely extinct species. Third, the human artifacts, that is, implements, ornaments, and other objects produced by human hands, found with the remains. Fourth, the structural characteristics as to skull and other parts of the skeleton, which distinguish these fossil men from living races.

Quite as important as the fossilized bodily remains of prehistoric man are those ancient works of human hands that have been slowly collected as a result of untiring search and scientific industry. It is now possible to classify this great body of evidence. Besides revealing the actual presence on earth of prehistoric man, this classification clearly demonstrates the occurrence of certain cultural stages prior to the historic period. The extinct races of men already brought to light appear to vary considerably from the modern man; so much so, in fact, that a question has been raised concerning the wisdom of creating for each of them a new genus within the human family. One reason for this distinction is that no one of the extinct races may properly be called the ancestor of living man. Some arrangement in the chronological order of man’s appearance on earth is desirable. The exact period of each extinct race cannot be given. But within certain broad limits we are able to assign each prehistoric man to his proper time and place.

Javan Ape Man

Probably the oldest, most primitive of extinct races is the ape man of Java (Pithecanthropus erectus). This ape man belonged to what is called the Trinil race, which, according to Keith, originated more than one million years ago. The ape man, although definitely human in type, had many simian qualities. He was also so similar to man as to justify the view that he represents some transitional stage in human evolution. He possessed a head and a face not unlike those of an ape, but his brain was nearly twice the size of the brain of any simian including the largest of the great apes, the gorilla. It was this transcendent advantage that lifted him above all of the anthropoids and assured him an unassailable place as a member of the human family.

The fossil remains of the ape man were discovered in 1891 by a Dutch army surgeon. Dr. Eugen Du Bois made the discovery on the Bengawan River in central Java where he had been excavating in the hope of finding pre-human fossils. He actually did find a number of mammalian bones, including a single upper molar tooth, which he regarded as those of a new species of ape. On carefully clearing away the rock and gravel at this site on the bank of the river, the top of a skull came to view about a yard from the spot where the tooth had been found. Further excavation brought to light a second molar tooth and a left thigh bone. Both of these were about fifteen yards from the place where the skull had been discovered. These scattered parts were carefully studied by Du Bois, who, in 1894, published a description of a new animal--Pithecanthropus erectus (Pithecus, ape; Anthropus, man). The entire term was meant to signify an upright standing ape man. The word “erectus” refers to the thigh bone concerning which Du Bois observes:

We must therefore conclude that the femur [thigh bone] of pithecanthropus was designed for the same mechanical functions as that of man; the two articulations [upper and lower joint surfaces] and the mechanical axis correspond so exactly to the same parts in man that the law of perfect harmony between form and function of a bone will necessitate the conclusion that this fossil creature had the same upright posture as man, and likewise walked on two legs.... From this it necessarily follows that the creature had the free use of the upper extremities--now superfluous for walking--and that these last [the arms and hands] were no doubt already far advanced in the line of differentiation, which developed them in mankind into tools and organs of touch.... From a study of the femur and the skull, it follows with certainty that this fossil cannot be classified as a simian ... and as with the skull so with the femur the differences that separate pithecanthropus from man are less than those distinguishing it from the highest anthropoid [great ape].... Although far advanced in the course of differentiation this Pleistocene [Age of Man] form had not yet attained to the human type. Pithecanthropus erectus is the transition form between man and the anthropoids which the laws of evolution teach us must have existed; he is the ancestor of man.

More extended study of the brain of this ancient fossil creature shows that he was in reality human. This man did, however, retain so much that was ape-like in his make-up that it is difficult to agree with Du Bois in his view that pithecanthropus was a direct human ancestor. He was, of course, able to walk upon both feet much like his modern successors. It also seems probable that in stature this primitive man was not greatly inferior to the human races of the present. It is likely that he employed his hands in the use of weapons and certain crude implements. It also seems probable that he depended upon very primitive means for protecting himself against the numerous enemies that beset his path and lay in wait about his camping places. His time doubtless was fully taken up by the arduous task of gaining sustenance for himself. So busy was he in these obligatory pursuits that he had little opportunity for developing industries or cultural activities. This human creature with his ape-like appearance was closely related to many beast-like contemporaries in the animal kingdom. He managed to hold his position among them only by a narrow margin of superiority. His ascendancy was derived from a dawning ingenuity, which enabled him to equalize the struggle by the cunning of his hand. He took advantage of primitive shrewdness and contrivance to outwit his natural antagonists that far excelled him in power and speed.

However manlike pithecanthropus may have been in respect to the posture of his body and the general character of his locomotion, it is certain that he was much below any of the known races of man in his brain power. His face and head each bore a closer resemblance to the ape than to man. His brain indicates that he had probably acquired some mode of speech, primitive no doubt, yet sufficient for the purposes of simple human communication. It is likewise probable that he lived in tribes and, being gregarious, had learned some of the advantages accruing from community life. He may have had some crude notion at least of the division of labour and its compensations in sharing the results.

Dawn Man of England

From certain flints, which seem to have many features indicating their use as instruments, Professor Osborn believes that there were primitive men living in England at a time earlier even than that assigned to the ape man of Java. These prehistoric people are called “Subcrag Dawn men.” It is his opinion that they made use of certain flint instruments called “rostro-carinates.” Dr. Osborn, believing that these primitive people are close to the beginning of the human race, places their origin in the Pliocene, 1,300,000 years ago. In consequence of the discovery of certain somewhat different flint instruments, he is of the opinion also that the Subcrag men were followed at a little later period by the Foxhall Dawn men (antiquity about 1,200,000 years). Disputes about these early prehistoric Englishmen arise from the fact that no actual human remains of them have yet been found. This, fortunately, is not the case with the now famous English Dawn man of Piltdown, attributed by Professor Osborn and other authorities to the last part of the Pliocene (a little over a million years ago). Piltdown is a town in the weald of Sussex not many miles from the English Channel, between two branches of the Ouse River. To the east of it is the plateau of Kent upon which have been found many flints of earliest prehistoric times. It was at Piltdown that the most famous of English Dawn men was discovered by Mr. Charles Dawson. The fossilized remnants consisted of a number of fragments of this extinct man’s skull. Because of the fragmentary condition of this fossil, it was necessary to give each piece its proper relation to the head in order to reconstruct the skull. A reconstruction of the Piltdown skull was first presented to the Geological Society of London, in December, 1912, by Sir A. Smith-Woodward of the British Museum, and its discoverer, Mr. Charles Dawson. The announcement of this remarkable discovery deeply stirred the interest of scientific circles. An unknown phase of the early human existence was about to be revealed. The reconstructed skull as pieced together impressed all who saw it as a strange blend of ape and man. It seemed that the missing link for which the early followers of Darwin had ardently searched was at length forthcoming. But whether this was the long sought-for missing link or not, the Piltdown strata in Sussex told of a race of human beings who inhabited England long before history had made its feeblest beginnings. Dr. Smith-Woodward believed that the Piltdown fossil dated back to the early part of the Pleistocene period, but Sir Arthur Keith and Professor Osborn now advocate an antiquity far more remote going back to some portion of the Pliocene. Although it is impossible to be more exact in these estimations of prehistoric time, it is clear that a very primitive race of men lived in England long before Cæsar’s invasions; in fact, ages before the ancient Britons claimed the land that was to produce many of the most brilliant lights of history. By some the Piltdown man is regarded as the direct ancestor of modern races; by others he is held to be an independent branch of the human family of quite unknown affiliations.

Neanderthal Man

Some time early in the Pleistocene, variously estimated from 800,000 to 900,000 years ago, another race of man made its appearance in Europe. This was the Heidelberg race (Homo Heidelbergensis). These people manifested many traits distinctly more human than the ape man. It is believed from the implements found in the neighbourhood of his fossil remains that the Heidelberg man made use of crude implements both of wood and stone. This man, although he became extinct before human progress had made great advances, appears to have been the ancestor of the Neanderthal race (Homo Neanderthalensis). This latter is the third race of prehistoric men recognized up to the present time. Much more than all others who had gone before him, Neanderthal man has left traces of himself. Many of these relics are the stone implements that he employed. From these implements it is evident that the organization of his life had made long strides in the direction of his more modern successors. His advances in industry and in cultural development laid the foundation for all the stages that progressively evolved as the human race rose through the Old Stone Age. Yet the fate of Neanderthal man was not unlike that of other prehistoric men. In time he also became extinct. His disappearance occurred about fifty thousand years ago, when a fourth and even greater race of primitive men came into Europe. These were the Cromagnons. After they had completely replaced the Neanderthals they flourished for a long time, in the end to be replaced by the races of Neolithic men which continued dominant up to the time when man gained mastery over the metals.

It seems clear, then, that the earliest human beings began as simple, nomadic hunters. After the passage of great intervals of time and an actual succession of races, men acquired the crude essentials of manufacture and then gradually, as in the Cromagnon period, developed the dexterity and æsthetic sense of the artist. Finally, in the New Stone Age, they learned the practices of agriculture.

The past of prehistoric man has been subdivided into periods characterized by the presence of implements employed in his several activities. In general, these periods bear the name of French stations or towns near which the discoveries of the implements have been made. French archæologists have so successfully devoted themselves to the efforts of classifying the flint implements that they have established a chronological order in the development of human progress during the long periods of man’s prehistoric existence.

The Old Stone Age

Man’s first great epoch on earth was the Old Stone Age (Paleolithic, 900,000 years ago). In this era, which began at some time in the first interglacial period, the only implements were devised from flint or stones of other kind, from wood, carved ivory, and bone. The Old Stone Age was followed by the Neolithic (New Stone Age), which began in postglacial times and rapidly led up to the thresholds of history, through the Bronze and Iron ages.

Long before the Old Stone Age it is probable that man was at work in the slow development of industries that later were to assume great importance. Hunting was the great incentive out of which all of his early industries were evolved. Little is known of his cultural development, although it seems fairly clear that the Subcrag Dawn men used certain implements called rostro-carinates, while the Dawn men of Foxhall and Piltdown employed very primitive implements known as eoliths. These were so crude in appearance that they are looked upon by many as merely accidental forms. With such simple and limited instruments, man’s struggle for existence in these earliest days must have been most severe. Even at the time when the Old Stone Age began, the primitive flint implements manifested considerable development. For example, in the Pre-Chellean cultural stage (beginning 700,000 years ago), the chase is represented almost exclusively by a simple flint knife. This knife, although extremely crude, in conjunction with other equally crude combinations of stone and stick, gave man a slight balance of power over other animals inhabiting the field and forest as his competitors. His simple equipment furnished the means to gain his daily food, and to establish that footing by which he rose step by step.

War in this period was not among man’s highly organized pastimes. He appears to have had no implements for warlike pursuits. He had, however, invented certain instruments for industrial and domestic purposes, such as a flint scraper, a planing tool, a drill, and a stone hammer. Nothing among his primitive equipments appears to have answered the purposes of art or artistic production.

In this early Pre-Chellean period, man was a vagrant hunter. He lived without the protection of habitation and was thus exposed to the devastations of the great meat-eating animals that followed his wanderings. He had not acquired sufficient constructive ingenuity to protect himself against these dreaded marauders. They stalked him in his marches by day and lay in wait on the outer edges of his camps to find him an easy prey when he slept at night. The less fortunate members of his tribes were within easy reach of these night prowlers that waited only for darkness to help them in the capture of their human quarry. Man’s slow imagination required ages to show him that he held in his own hands the power to subjugate the beasts of prey. For a long time he struggled on this low level of intelligence. He lived a hand-to-mouth existence, passing his days like other animals, getting his food supply as he dared, and protecting himself as best he could. Doubtless some critical occurrence like the discovery of fire and its uses may have furnished a new incentive for his advance. Some great change in climate with increasing cold may have stimulated him to more vigorous exertion, may have forced him to become a more persistent hunter of animals, both for their meat and the warmth to be had from their protecting skins. Long winter seasons when game was scarce may also have taught the wisdom of storing his supply of provisions and thus aroused in his imagination some conception of the advantages in thought for the future. Living along with him was an imposing host of other mammals. Among them were the lion, the wolf, the cave bear, the deer, and the wild boar. Over the plains roamed the Etruscan rhinoceros, the Mosbach horse, and the ancient elephant. Following this game he wandered from station to station, always living near the course of the great rivers, but showing little tendency to establish a permanent abode. A restless migrant, he was moved by the dictates of the seasons almost as instinctively as the migratory birds and beasts. He had not learned the secrets which later enabled him to stand against the severe vicissitudes of climate. The idea which gave him that self-assurance to stake out his own claim, to assert his right to his own angle of earth, was still in embryonic state.

Neanderthal Progress

The foundations of that possessive sense destined to become the chief characteristic of the human race and at length the ruling passion of humanity had as yet been laid down only in their simplest form. It was Neanderthal man who introduced the first real advances over this primitive level of life. In the Chellean cultural period (500,000 years ago), even more in the Acheulean period (400,000 years ago), his race developed rapidly. His progress is shown by a great increase and considerable refinement in all of the small implements which he employed.

He now developed a chisel or adze-like tool for shaping his wooden implements. He made flint points to form darts and spear heads to aid him in the chase. But for all these advances, it was not until Neanderthal man passed into his wonderful Mousterian stage of culture, about 300,000 years ago, that the human race took a most decisive step forward. This step was in every sense critical and epoch-making. It may also be looked upon as a highly profitable step. The effects of it have made themselves felt with increasing force upon all the subsequent development of the human race. It was a new departure that, taken so long ago, actually led the Neanderthal man to the threshold of an idea in many ways quite original. Ultimately the expansion of this idea was to become one of the keystones of all social organization. It may indeed be regarded as the fundamental principle in the upbuilding of human society. This notable step forward gave the Mousterian man the first real conception of property holding. It implanted in his mind that germ out of which grew the rights of possession. This was an idea which was handed down by him as an heirloom to all the remainder of his race, and to all other races of mankind. The conception of property holding developed from the fact that the Neanderthal man in Mousterian times became a cave dweller. He sought shelter from the elements in these rude dwellings fashioned by nature. Why he had not availed himself of these shelters long before is not difficult to understand. The caves which he might have found to his liking were already inhabited by dangerous tenants, such as the cave lion, the leopard, the hyena, the wolf, the great cave bear, and perhaps even the dread Machærodus or sabre-toothed tiger. All of these were his natural enemies. For the most part they had been successful enemies. Man had scarcely dared to dispute the right of way with them, far less the right of possession. Through all his long periods of upward progress, he had not yet learned the means by which he could contend with these beasts of prey on anything like an equal footing. They took from him at will and his retaliation at best was feeble. They, rather than he, were the real masters of the situation. This state of affairs was bound to continue until some critical discovery revealed a new instrument whose deadliness placed in human hands a supremacy over these creatures. Some strategy, some modification of the old flint instruments, perhaps some new combination of them with fire, at length gave Neanderthal man the needed advantage and then he drove the hostile beasts out of the caves. In time he established there his own dwelling places, and there proclaimed his inalienable right of possession. Such a hazardous undertaking undoubtedly required a hardy courage and an unwavering persistency. Yet a hard-fought contest of this kind could not fail to have a marked influence on the final outcome. Once man had gained the right of ownership, all of the struggles incident to it served to emphasize his final sense of possession. This triumph did much to stimulate human desire for gain. It seems fairly clear that from it arose the incentives of conquest. Since Mousterian times man has expended much of his energy in exploiting this new advantage. He has made laws to justify and regulate it. The rights of possession have had a dominating influence over all of his economic and political organizations. Most of his moral code has been built up around these rights. States and empires have been founded upon them, while the governing principle in the life of the individual has been the right to have and to hold. In a word, this newly expanded sense of possession started by Neanderthal man has become an essential element in all the achievements of mankind. It has no less been the cause of much woe and maladjustment in the race.

Mousterian Success and Character

It is difficult to estimate the importance of this contribution to the development of human progress. We may at least give Mousterian man due credit for establishing this new assertiveness. He likewise deserves recognition because this achievement was an outstanding milestone on the road toward higher humanity. For this reason it is worthy of a special commemorative date. As chronicled by Professor Osborn, this memorable occurrence, the beginning of cave dwelling, took place about 300,000 years ago. In more senses than one it was a red-letter day for humanity. It was especially a red-letter day because of the recurring bloodshed of innumerable wars destined to arise out of the lust and greed inspired by this expanded sense of possession. This, however, is the most unfavourable aspect of the Mousterian’s new idea. He himself should not be made to appear too black on this score. He was actually a considerable personage and introduced many other new ways of looking at life that have been highly advantageous to us all.

Living in dark caves as he did, especially in the long bleak winters, as the glacial periods crept down upon him, he must have found much of mystery in those dim recesses to stimulate his imagination. It is probable that he became a believer in occult forces of nature, and perhaps even developed a system of magic. These suppositions become more probable from the fact that he, for the first time in human experience, established the custom of burying the dead. The men who lived before him belonged to what may be called the pre-burial period. This fact unquestionably accounts in part for the scanty human remains before Mousterian times. The Neanderthal Mousterian not only buried his dead but he developed an elaborate burial ceremony. The general nature of this ceremony is shown by the position of the body and of the limbs as they were found folded and flexed in the fossilized remains of these men of the Old Stone Age. With certain primitive people this is still the custom. Even in the case of some of the ancient Egyptian kings many personal belongings were buried with the dead. Favourite weapons of the chase, useful implements of one kind or another, ornaments and other trinkets presumably dear to the departed ones, have been found with the skeletons in these Neanderthal sepulchres. Special attention was given to prevent pressure upon or crushing of the head by means of placing large flat stones upon either side of it. There are some indications that even as far back as the Old Stone Age man, as part of his burial service, deposited certain articles of food beside the body of the departed. All of these facts clearly reveal that as long ago as 300,000 years man had acquired his first religious ideas. There is every suggestion about these burial ceremonies that the Mousterian cave man believed in another life after death. He appears to have had a strong conviction that the body was but a temporary container of some intangible spirit that in its time passed on into another world. It seems probable that he also believed in the return of the departed spirit to its earthly habitations, else why did he place food in the sepulchres? In his crude way of thinking he seems to have had certain well-fixed ideas of the pursuits and occupations in the life hereafter. For this reason he left a useful collection of weapons and other implements close at hand, ready for the spirit that had left the body. The Mousterian idea of immortality may have been simple, but there is no doubt that it existed. Whether there was a belief in God or not is difficult to discern. It is probable, however, that the Mousterian, like all other primitive people, did have some conception of a supreme being, and that he had thus laid the foundations of religion.

It is for these reasons that the cave-dwelling Mousterian man especially deserves our attention. The features of his face and the character of his body as reconstructed by scientists make him appear to be a particularly formidable human being. Everything about him indicates that he was powerful and aggressive. In a word, he was a splendid fighting machine with heavy, protruding lower jaw, low beetling brow, thick and short neck, long and heavy-muscled arms, short, powerful legs slightly bent at the knees. He was a fierce and dangerous antagonist; one, from all we know of his history, as courageous as he was powerful. It is probable that in consequence of his cave dwelling he had begun to live in fairly large organized communities. Such life as this had many influences upon his social activities. It developed his use of language. It stimulated his interest in industries other than those of the chase. It caused expansion in his imagination, leading to the establishment of racial tradition. It produced the spirit of individual competition as well as the pursuits of tribal rivalry. War up to this time seems to have been limited very largely to individual encounters. Now for the first time differences of opinion and controversies between one community and another were most likely settled by group combat. Here, therefore, were laid the foundations of war that was to prove one of the most irresistible and costly of all human indulgences. The self-assertiveness, which must have resulted from the cave man’s realization that he had finally gained the upper hand in many details over the natural world, caused him to change his attitude. Instead of being a fugitive, he now became a conqueror. It was this positive self-feeling that gave rise to most of his more expansive ideas. The multiplication of these ideas easily led him on into the realm of fancy and brought him many illusory interpretations concerning the workings of nature.

During the Mousterian period Neanderthal man did not make many material changes in the implements used before his time. In some instances there was a distinct improvement of the old ideas; in others there was a distinct decline or even suppression of some of the most effective instruments. The cave man’s aims, however, were considerably modified by his new mode of life. His sheltered existence lessened his physical powers to resist disease. The making of clothing from the skins of animals also grew out of this more sheltered type of life. In the end it produced a people less accustomed to the elements than those earlier and hardier races that had lived in the open. The effects of this need for clothing made themselves felt not only in the industry of producing garments but quite as much in the production of implements necessary for such work. Cave dwelling permitted disease and imperfect hygiene to go their full length in producing inroads upon this great Mousterian race. The ravages of infection and contagion had better opportunity to exert their baneful influences. These and other insidious factors were secretly at work. In course of time the Mousterian culture began to show signs of a steady deterioration. For some mysterious reason these men of the Old Stone Age slowly began to lose ground. The prominence held by the Neanderthal race during lower Palæolithic times was distinctly on the wane as this period approached its end.

Cromagnon Ascendancy

Finally a profound change came over the inhabitants of western Europe. For some as yet unknown reason the Neanderthal race entirely disappeared from the earth. Its place, however, was taken by another and a greater people, the Cromagnons. Without question this was a replacement of a lower race by one of much higher development. The Neanderthal was on a distinctly lower plane than any now existing human type. The Cromagnon ranks high among the races of mankind in intellectual attainment and in known capacities for production. He belongs to the species Homo sapiens, that same species of man which has made modern history. He held sway during the last part of the Old Stone Age, appearing in Europe about fifty thousand years ago. Like those races which had gone before him, he passed through many interesting phases of culture and growth. All of these were characterized by the development of stone implements, thus making him still a man of the Old Stone Age. He added many new attainments as a result of new human capacities. He stands out particularly as the first artist of mankind, and sets a mark as one of the most splendid examples of humanity both for his superb physical appearance and for his remarkable mental qualities. But he, too, like all others who preceded him, was destined to decline and then to disappear.

The Cromagnon is interesting to us because he was the probable conqueror of the great Neanderthal race. What secret power he had to achieve this conquest, to subdue and destroy these fierce cave dwellers, is still unknown. It may have been that he brought with him some new implements for warfare, such as the bow and arrow, and that he had many other advantages of this kind. In any event, he showed no quarter to the Neanderthals, whom he seems to have destroyed completely. He did not even follow the custom of many conquerors, of intermarrying with the women of the conquered race. No generally admitted sign of Neanderthal features or characters persists among the race of men after the last Mousterian days. Beyond question it was the increased brain power of the Cromagnons which gave them their real advantages. This opinion is based on the appearance of the large brain case of this race and the development of the almost modern forehead and forebrain. In the main, our admiration for the ancient Cromagnon people depends upon something entirely different from their powers of conquest. They may have been great as warriors, but they were far greater as artists. This is the aspect of their lives that interests and influences us most.

The Cromagnons were a race that developed somewhere in Asia and migrated westward into Europe. They came in contact with the Neanderthals and probably destroyed them. They had no ancestral connections of any kind with this other race. They possessed a brain capable of more complex ideas, greater comprehension, more reasoning powers, a wider, more facile imagination. Still more they were endowed with a highly artistic sense and were capable of advanced education. Their society was differentiated along the line of capacity and talent for work. Their artistic productions as shown in the mural decorations of their caves were so excellent as to place them among the truly great achievements of mankind. In the pursuits of industry and domestic life, the Cromagnons added little in the way of innovation. They adapted and perfected what the Mousterians had previously used. They did introduce, however, what no other people had ever employed; namely, tools and implements for sculpture and engraving. These tools in the main were small and delicate instruments made of flint. Among these was a fine drill, an engraver, an etcher, a carving chisel, a mortar, a hammer stone, and a polisher.

Cromagnon Cultural Periods

The Cromagnon, like the Neanderthal, passed through certain cultural phases. Each of these periods lasted many thousands of years and each of them was much longer than the Christian Era. The first of these cultural steps was the Aurignacian period, in which the great awakening of artistic enthusiasm occurred. The peak of artistic devotion, however, came in the Solutrean period, which was the acme of achievement in the flint industry. Decline set in during the next, the Magdalenian period, which brought the closing stage of Cromagnon culture. And then in the Azilian period the last survivors of the greatest race in the Old Stone Age, grown old in their industries and feeble in their art, saw the setting of the Cromagnon sun and the passing of their kind into the darkness. Many changes came about in Cromagnon industries, due to the influences of trade invasions and new inventions, but in their art these people showed one continuous and sustained development.

The impressive feature about Cromagnon art, especially in the Aurignacian period, is the absence of that period of infantilism and crudity almost always observed in the artistic development of primitive races. The Cromagnon first reveals his artistic effort in a state of sturdy youth. His art passed directly into a relatively mature stage. Its treasures preserved in the art galleries of the ancient caves, comprising remarkable drawings, sculptures, and paintings, fully warrant the title of “Palæolithic Greeks” conferred upon the Cromagnon. Indeed, they resemble the Greek and Egyptian artists in many ways. Like them, the Cromagnon resorted to painting his reliefs whether they were of the bison, the horse, the deer, or the great mammoths. The relative simplicity of his technical skill depended upon the employment of fewest possible lines and boldest of strokes. To his accuracy of reproduction and his simplicity of style he imparted a third great quality. This added artistic element, which has made his art live in a class well up to the standards of later periods, was a feeling of motion, particularly of locomotion. With this he vividly endowed the animals carved upon the walls of his cavern, upon bone or ivory.

Motives of Cromagnon Art

It is clear that the Cromagnons were cave dwellers like the Neanderthals, but they also depended largely upon the chase for their living. Why, then, did they in the dark recesses of their caverns resort to these remarkable artistic activities? These efforts could scarcely be meaningless diversions. They must have been more than pastimes, for hours not devoted to the hunt or combat. Such arduous pursuits as these surely had some serious and pertinent object in their lives. Many explanations have been offered for the remarkable outburst of artistic enthusiasm in Cromagnon times. The one most generally accepted is that the art of these people was a part of their hunting magic. In the history of primitive races it has repeatedly occurred that drawing and design have a special significance in the actual maintenance of life. For example, the Australians draw pictures of animals they use for food. Sitting on the ground about these pictures, they perform certain ceremonies which they believe will insure a plentiful supply of the food they need. The American Indians are in the habit of carving images of animals. They also draw the signs representing rain. In the presence of these emblems they make incantations and believe that by this means they will secure abundant harvest and complete success in their hunting expeditions. Images and pictures act as a sort of magic talisman by means of which to exercise an influence over those animals which serve for food.

But we do not need to go back into the pre-history of the Old Stone Age, or to the superstitions of people still in a primitive stage. Not so long ago the picture of a man was supposed to represent his spirit, and the possessor of such a picture could exert a magic power over his person. Only a few centuries ago learned judges condemned to death men and women on the evidence that they possessed images or pictures of people they were accused of bewitching. Until quite recently there were certain sorcerers and magicians in Sicily who for a price would destroy a hated enemy by the simple executionary method of sticking pins into a wax image of this undesirable person.

It seems to require no further explanation to understand the pictorial efforts of the Australian natives and American Indians. Like them, the Cromagnons drew for the most part the animals which they employed for food. This may not in all respects be a satisfactory answer to the question: Why did man of the Old Stone Age resort to art? It is, however, a good working theory. It shows a real motive for his efforts in this direction. To his mind, all of his works of art assured him some peculiar magical control over the animal life that was necessary for his living and well-being.

Men of the New Stone Age

The fate of the Cromagnon race was no exception to what had gone before or what would follow many times thereafter. Race after race, nation after nation, rose and became master, declined and passed into final extinction. As the day of Cromagnon ascendancy waned a new race invaded western Europe. The Old Stone Age came to its end approximately ten thousand years ago with the advent of the more vigorous Neolithic (New Stone Age) man. He developed a great innovation in manufacturing his implements, making his instruments better and more useful by polishing the stone. Neolithic man was far more practical and thoroughly utilitarian than his predecessors in the Old Stone Age. He introduced many economic advantages and substituted the benefits of applied science for the delusions of magic and sorcery. The man of the New Stone Age, unlike his Cromagnon predecessor, did not alone pray for his crops. He tilled the soil and planted seed. Perhaps he believed in a magic ritual for his hunting expeditions, but to make his food supply as secure as possible, he domesticated many animals that he liked to eat. He was unwilling to depend solely upon hunting magic and art sorcery. He had discovered the true magic of agriculture and sought to control nature by the toil of his hands rather than by mysterious incantations and pictorial art. As a farmer and a cattle raiser he required a permanent home, and in consequence the New Stone Age gave a fresh impulse to the upbuilding of man’s possessive sense. Neolithic man became a land holder, and this advance was a long, provocative step in the direction of modern humanity. Because of it man had to learn new ways and means of defending his claim and of asserting his right. Very quickly this new assertiveness led to the more sanguinary ages of Bronze and Iron with their effective equipments for offense and defense. Its influences finally reached historical times. Ultimately these more aggressive tendencies created all of the armed camps that we are pleased to call civilization, ancient, mediæval, and modern.

At the close of the New Stone Age all of the direct ancestors of modern European races were established in Europe. During the Bronze Age man rapidly learned those new capacities which enabled him to make a permanent record of himself, and thus he entered upon his real historic period. Some authorities set the beginning of this period only so far back as the beginning of the Egyptian calendar. In round numbers this is five or six thousand years ago.

The dawn of history was followed by a procession of great events which began in the early Egyptian dynasties. The development of Pharaonic art and culture, the regal splendours of Babylonia and Chaldea, the incomparable achievements of Greece and Rome, followed in rapid succession. Each of these civilizations in its turn contributed to the development of the race. Then came the long eclipse of the Dark Ages in mediæval times, and at length the brilliant light of the Renaissance, the illuminating influences of which have been carried forward in that steady progress of material accomplishments characteristic of modern times.

A brief review of man’s progress in his prehistoric existence shows the following races in his advancement, known by fossil remains:

1. Ape man of Java (Pithecanthropus erectus). Professor Osborn prefers to consider him the Dawn man of Trinil. Probable antiquity about one million years. Probably employed crude stone implements and was a nomadic hunter. Had a poorly developed human brain; nothing known of his cultural development. Chief contributions to human progress: human frontal lobe, human speech, and a complete erect posture.

2. Dawn man of Piltdown, England (Eoanthropus dawsoni). Antiquity over a million years, probably employed crude instruments known as eoliths and thus belonged to the Dawn Stone Age. Had a fairly well-developed human brain. Was a migrant hunter. Nothing known concerning his cultural development. Chief contribution to human progress: further development of the brain.

3. Heidelberg man of Germany (Paleoanthropus). Antiquity about 800,000 years. Fairly well-developed human brain and frontal lobe. Probably employed crude stone implements. Little known of his cultural phases. Chief contribution to human progress: first man of the Old Stone Age and probable progenitor of the Neanderthal race.

4. Neanderthal man (Homo primogenius). Probable antiquity 600,000 years. A well-developed human brain and frontal lobe. Made and improved many flint implements. Hunter and cave dweller. Had definite cultural periods known as the Chellean, Acheulean, and Mousterian. Chief contributions to human progress: established idea of permanent abode, became dominant over other animals of the earth, introduced human burial, laid the foundations of religion. Founder of human assertiveness and supremacy.

5. Cromagnon man (Homo sapiens). Probable antiquity 50,000 years. Well-developed human brain and frontal lobe of modern type. Hunter and artist, employed somewhat refined flint implements of the Old Stone Age. Had definite cultural periods known as the Aurignacian, Solutrean, Magdalenian, and Azilian. Chief contribution to human progress: the conqueror of Neanderthal man; the world’s first great artist. The founder and introducer of art.

6. Neolithic man (Homo sapiens). Probable antiquity 10,000 years. Human brain and frontal lobe of modern type. Employed polished flint implements of a highly developed kind. Was a hunter, herdsman, and farmer. Chief contributions to human progress: introduction of agriculture, culinary art, domestication of animals; also establishment of more permanent abode.

7. Bronze and Iron Age men (Homo sapiens). Probable antiquity 7,000 years. Human brain and frontal lobe of modern type. Used implements made of bronze and iron. Chief contribution to human progress: introduction of the metals for human utility.

In addition to these prehistoric races of men, certain other early members of our family have been recognized in the latter part of the Pliocene and early part of the Pleistocene. These races include the Subcrag and the Foxhall Dawn men who appear to have employed the rostro-carinate flints. Still another race was the Cromerians, who made and used the giant flints found embedded in the cliffs of Cromer.

Prehistoric man is thus gradually emerging from his long obscurity. His skeletal form is known from more than 350 specimens of his fossil remains. In Java, in central Asia, in Rhodesia, central Africa, in Gibraltar, in the Island of Jersey, in France, in Germany, in England, in Austria, and in Galilee, Palestine, these remains have been found.

All phases of man’s early existence are important to our modern thought and development. As the curtain of the past is lifted to reveal the long, prehistoric vista of human existence, it is possible to sense the vast distance that man has come since his journey began. It is also possible to see how he has made his way and why he has progressed. From its earliest appearance on earth the race has grown in humanity as the brain expanded. In man’s first struggles brain power endowed him with a capacity to develop and to hand down certain cultural activities. The earliest instruments that he fashioned gave rise to an uninterrupted stream of human achievements which has passed on as the main current of culture and knowledge. It was this capacity for progressive and racial learning that distinguished the human brain. Estimated by his accomplishments, it seems necessary to assume the existence in man of some special power different from all other living creatures. This distinguishing endowment is variously called the soul, the psyche, the spirit of man, or human genius. Its name may be immaterial, but its source is the secret of our supremacy. If we acquired this power as the divine gift of a creative miracle, that is one thing. If we earned it through a long and tedious process of evolution, that is even a more promising and an altogether different thing.