The Cambridge Manuals of Science and Literature

PREHISTORIC MAN

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
London: FETTER LANE, E.C.
C. F. CLAY, Manager

London: H. K. LEWIS, 136, GOWER STREET, W.C.
WILLIAM WESLEY & SON, 28, ESSEX STREET, STRAND
Berlin: A. ASHER AND CO.
Leipzig: F. A. BROCKHAUS
New York: G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
Bombay and Calcutta: MACMILLAN AND CO., Ltd.


All rights reserved

First Edition, 1912
Second Edition, 1912

With the exception of the coat of arms atthe foot, the design on the title page is areproduction of one used by the earliest knownCambridge printer, John Siberch, 1521

[Pg v]

PREFACE

This book deals with the earliest phases in thepast history of Mankind: the selected periodends at the Aurignacian division of the PalaeolithicAge. I regret to be unable to affix definite dates inyears to the several divisions of time now recognised.To illustrate the difficulty of forming conclusions onthis subject, it should be noted that in 1904 ProfessorRutot (p. 103) assigned a duration of 139,000 years tothe Pleistocene period, while in 1909 Dr Sturgeclaimed 700,000 years for a portion only of the sameperiod. Evidently the present tendency is to increaseenormously the drafts on geological time, and tomeasure in millions the years that have elapsed sincethe first traces of human existence were deposited.

But in the face of estimates which differ so widely,it seemed preferable to distinguish subdivisions oftime by reference to animal-types or the forms ofstone-implements, rather than by the lapse of years.

In the attempt to summarise a considerableamount of evidence, I have tried to select the factsmost relevant to the subject in hand. And where anopinion is expressed I have endeavoured to indicatethe reasons for the decision that is adopted.

Additional evidence is pouring in at the presenttime, and there is no doubt but that the next few[Pg vi]years will witness great extensions of knowledge. Inthis connection, I take the opportunity of mentioningthe discovery made a few weeks ago by M. HenriMartin at La Quina, of a human skeleton resemblingthe Neanderthal type but presenting (it is said)definite features of inferiority to that type. Anothersubject of vast importance is Mr Moir's recentdemonstration (p. 106) of elaborately worked implementsresting beneath strata referred to the Plioceneperiod.

For the loan of blocks, or for permission toreproduce illustrations, my cordial thanks are due tothe editors and publishers of the journals mentionedin the following list. The authors' names are appendedto the several illustrations.

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