A Manual of the Antiquity of ManMacLean, J. P. (John Patterson)
History
A Manual of the Antiquity of Man
MacLean, J. P. (John Patterson)
Human beings -- Origin
The Engis skull belongs to the same type, though less bestial. Possibly
this individual did not enter upon the chase, and engage in the manly
pursuits of those times. He may have been an adviser or a dandy; or, his
ingenuity may have led him to the vocation of fashioning weapons and
implements from the flint.
In the time of the Engis man there were large as well as short,
heavy-set men. In the same cavern there was found a clavicle belonging
to a young person who must have been of great stature.
The jaws of La Naulette and Moulin-Quignon display a great tendency to
animal structure, and confirm the impressions as given of the primitive
condition of man during the glacial and pre-glacial ages.
CHAPTER VI.
INTER-GLACIAL EPOCH.
The glaciers have departed. Summer comes again. The forests bloom and
the wild beast roams about. Many species withstood the long siege of
cold; others perished; still others followed the ice as it retreated,
preferring the cold to the coming heat. The floods had abated and man
spread himself over the different tracts blooming with flowers and
radiant with earthly splendors.
The evidences of man's existence during this period are numerous,
consisting in works of art and fossil remains. Only a few examples are
given, as not many will be required to present the evidence and show
man's condition.
The hyena-den at Wokey Hole, explored by Mr. Dawkins, affords specimens
of the works of man. When discovered this den was filled to the roof
with _débris_. Under this rubbish was found several layers of the
excrement of the cave-hyena (_H. spelæa_), each of which indicates an
old floor and a separate period of occupation.
The implements were under these layers of excrement, showing that the
cave had been occupied by the hyenas after the time of the savages.
These implements had not been disturbed by the action of water. In the
bone earth along with the remains of the cave-hyena were found those of
the mammoth, Siberian rhinoceros, (_R. tichorrhinus_), gigantic ox (_Bos
primigenius_), gigantic Irish deer (_Megaceros Hibernicus_), reindeer,
cave-bear, cave-lion (_Felis spelæa_), wolf (_Canis lupus_), fox (_Canis
vulpes_), and the teeth and bones of the horse in great numbers.
Intermixed with these bones were chipped flints, a bleached flint
weapon of the spear-head Amiens type, and arrow-heads made of bone.
[Illustration: FIG. 11. IDEAL SCENE IN THE POST-TERTIARY.
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