Except for the stone tools, what do we know of the way men lived in the
time range after 100,000 to perhaps 40,000 years ago or even later?
We know that in the area from Europe to Palestine, at least some of
the people (some of the time) lived in the fronts of caves and warmed
themselves over fires. In Europe, in the cave layers of these times,
we find the bones of different animals; the bones in the lowest layers
belong to animals that lived in a warm climate; above them are the
bones of those who could stand the cold, like the reindeer and mammoth.
Thus, the meat diet must have been changing, as the glacier crept
farther south. Shells and possibly fish bones have lasted in these
cave layers, but there is not a trace of the vegetable foods and the
nuts and berries and other wild fruits that must have been eaten when
they could be found.
[Illustration: CHART SHOWING PRESENT UNDERSTANDING OF RELATIONSHIPS AND
SUCCESSION OF TOOL-PREPARATION TRADITIONS, INDUSTRIES, AND ASSEMBLAGES
OF WEST-CENTRAL EUROPE
Wavy lines indicate transitions in industrial habits. These transitions
are not yet understood in detail. The glacial and climatic scheme shown
is the alpine one.]
Bone tools have also been found from this period. Some are called
scrapers, and there are also long chisel-like leg-bone fragments
believed to have been used for skinning animals. Larger hunks of bone,
which seem to have served as anvils or chopping blocks, are fairly
common.
Bits of mineral, used as coloring matter, have also been found. We
don’t know what the color was used for.
[Illustration: MOUSTERIAN SIDE SCRAPER]
There is a small but certain number of cases of intentional burials.
These burials have been found on the floors of the caves; in other
words, the people dug graves in the places where they lived. The holes
made for the graves were small. For this reason (or perhaps for some
other?) the bodies were in a curled-up or contracted position. Flint or
bone tools or pieces of meat seem to have been put in with some of the
bodies. In several cases, flat stones had been laid over the graves.
TOOLS FROM AFRICA AND ASIA ABOUT 100,000 YEARS AGO
Professor Movius characterizes early prehistoric Africa as a continent
showing a variety of stone industries. Some of these industries were
purely local developments and some were practically identical with
industries found in Europe at the same time. From northwest Africa
to Capetown--excepting the tropical rain forest region of the west
center--tools of developed Acheulean, Levalloisian, and Mousterian
types have been recognized. Often they are named after African place
names.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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