Dawkins’s “Early Man in Britain,” p. 210.
Dawkins’s “Early Man in Britain,” p. 237.
This, as Sir John Lubbock points out, depends on our meaning of the word “religion.” (“Prehistoric Times,” p. 589.)
“The principal instance are Cro-Magnon, Frontal, and Furforz, in Belgium; Aurignac, Bruniquel, and Mentone, in France.” “Cave-Hunting,” chap. vii.
“Contributions to N. A. Ethnology,” vol. i, p. 102; “U.S. Geographical Survey West of the 100th Meridian,” vol. vii, p. 12; Abbott’s “Primitive Industry,” p. 517.
Quoted by Lubbock,”Prehistoric Times,” p. 507.
Dawkins’s “Early Man in Britain,” p. 242.
Prof. Grant Allen, _Popular Science Monthly,_ November, 1882, p. 99.
Chapter V ANTIQUITY OF THE PALEOLITHIC AGE.1
Interest in the Antiquity of man—Connected with the Glacial Age—The Subject Difficult—Proofs of a Glacial Age—State of Greenland to-day—The Terminal Moraine—Appearance of the North Atlantic—Interglacial Age—Causes of the Glacial Age—Croll’s Theory—Geographical causes—The two theories not Antagonistic—The date of the Glacial Age—Probable length of the Paleolithic Age—Time since the close of the Glacial Age—Summary of results.
As we have already remarked, geological periods give us no insight as to the actual passage of years. To say that man lived in the Glacial Age, and that we have some faint traces of his presence in still earlier periods, after all conveys to our minds only vague ideas of a far-away time. The more a geologist studies the structure of the earth, the more impressed is he with the magnitude of the time that must have passed since “The Beginning.” At present, however, there are no means known of accurately measuring the time that has passed. It is just as well that it is so, since, were it known, the human mind would be utterly incapable of comprehending it. But as to the antiquity of man, it is but natural that we should seek more particularly to solve the problem and express our answer in some term of years.
Now, we have seen that the question of the antiquity of man is intimately connected with that of the Glacial Age. That is to say, the relics of man as far as we know them in Europe, are found under such circumstances that we feel confident they are not far removed from the period of cold. For it will be found that those conservative scholars who do not think that man preceded the Glacial Age, or inhabited Europe during the long course of years included in that period, do think he came into Europe as soon as it passed away. So, in any case, if we can determine the date of the Glacial Age, we shall have made a most important step in advance in solving the problem of the antiquity of man himself. So it seems to us best to go over the subject of the Glacial Age again, and see what conclusions some of our best thinkers have come to as to its cause, when it occurred, and other matters in relation to it.