From these discoveries it is abundantly evident that man existed
on the earth contemporaneously with the mastodon and other extinct
mammals belonging to the Pleiocene and early Pleistocene eras. There
are, however, people who stoutly deny that this can be so—at any rate,
as regards Northern and Central Europe—and who rank the discoveries
at Moulin Quignon, Engis, Kent’s Cavern, etc., with late Pleistocene
remains. They maintain that the beds in which these relics were found
could not have been of Pleiocene or early Pleistocene formation,
inasmuch as they lie _above_ the till and boulder-clay which form the
glacial deposits of the time when Europe was an Arctic region—that
is to say, of late Pleistocene times. Therefore, they say, man’s
earliest existence in Europe was post-glacial or late Pleistocene.
But while the fact of the human remains having been discovered above
the boulder-clay appears to point to a post-glacial date, still
there is confronting us the perplexing anomaly of the contemporary
existence of extinct mammals belonging to a tropical fauna, which,
if we accept this theory, involves the necessity of admitting that a
tropical climate followed the last glacial epoch—a condition of things
that we know never existed at all. The fact is there have been more
periods of glaciation than one, each being followed by the deposition
of boulder-clays; and between the periods of intense Arctic cold
there were intervals of tropical or sub-tropical heat, when mammals
belonging to and requiring a tropical climate ventured as far north as
the north of England, to become extinct when the period of glaciation
supervened. The last glacial period, we know, extended its area of
influence as far as the high peaks of Switzerland and Northern Italy,
completely overwhelming the whole of Northern Europe as far south as
the latitude of 45º, and the whole of North America as far south as
the latitude of 40º; since when there has been a gradual diminution
of cold until the present temperate climate supervened. Now, if it
can be positively ascertained that all the boulder-clays found in
England and Northern Europe were deposited during and immediately
after this last glacial period, the date of man’s first appearance
in those districts, as far as we have as yet any evidence, must be
post-glacial; but in such a case it would have been impossible that a
tropical fauna and flora could have existed in the same localities,
whereas their remains have been abundantly found lying side by side
with the remains of Palæolithic man. The conclusion we must draw is
that the boulder-clays found below the remains of Palæolithic man could
not have been deposited after the last period of glaciation, but must
have followed some prior glacial condition, and that man existed in
England and Northern Europe contemporaneously with extinct mammalia
during inter-glacial or pre-glacial times, when the climate of England
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account