Prehistoric manDuckworth, W. L. H. (Wynfrid Laurence Henry)
History
Prehistoric man
Duckworth, W. L. H. (Wynfrid Laurence Henry)
Prehistoric peoples
Then (B) the considerations militating against unquestioning acquiescence
in that view were grouped in sequence, commencing with the difficulties
introduced by the acceptance (in all its significance) of the Galley Hill
skeleton. From an entirely different point of view (C), it was shewn that
many difficulties may be solved by the recognition of more than one
primordial stock of human ancestors. Lastly (F) came the modifications of
theory necessitated by appeals to the powerful influence of physiological
factors, acting in some cases quite obscurely, in others having relation
to climate and food.
The impossibility of summing up in favour of one comprehensive scheme
will be acknowledged. More research is needed; the flatness of a cranial
arc is but one of many characters awaiting research. At the present time
a commencement is being made with regard to the shape and proportions of
the cavity bounded by the skull. From such characters we may aspire to
learn something of the brain which was once active within those walls.
Yet to-day the researches of Professors Keith and Anthony provide little
more than the outlines of a sketch to which the necessary details can
only be added after protracted investigation.
It is tempting to look back to the time of the publication of Sir Charles
Lyell's 'Antiquity of Man.' There we may find the author's vindication of
his claims (made fifty years ago) for the greater antiquity of man. In
comparison with that antiquity, Lyell believed the historical period
'would appear quite insignificant in duration.' As to the course of human
evolution, it was possible even at that early date to quote Huxley's
opinion 'that the primordial stock whence man has proceeded need no
longer be sought ... in the newer tertiaries, but that they may be looked
for in an epoch more distant from the age of the Elephas primigenius than
that is from us.'
The human fossils at the disposal of those authors included the
Neanderthal, the Engis, and the Denise bones. With the Neanderthal
specimen we have (as already seen) to associate now a continually
increasing number of examples. And (to mention the most recent discovery
only) the Ipswich skeleton (p. 151) provides in its early surroundings a
problem as hard to solve as those of the Engis skull and the 'fossil man
of Denise.' But we have far more valuable evidence than Lyell and Huxley
possessed, since the incomparable remains from Mauer and Trinil provide
an interest as superior on the anatomical side as that claimed in
Archaeology by the Sub-crag implements.
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