Evolution (Biology); Glacial epoch; Human beings -- Origin; Human evolution
The study of Palaeolithic flint implements has been raised to a fine
art. Both in England and France a regular succession of primitive types
has been established and correlated with the gravel terraces of existing
rivers, and even with the deposits of rivers no longer existing and
with certain glacial deposits. But with all of these the actual bodily
remains of man are comparatively scanty. From this it may be concluded
that primitive methods of burial were such as to be unfavourable to the
actual preservation of human remains. Attempts have also been made to
prove the existence of man in pre-glacial times, but hitherto none of
these have met with general acceptance, since in no case is the evidence
beyond doubt.
One of the most important results of recent research in the subject has
been the establishment of the existence of man in interglacial times.
When Lyell wrote, it was not fully recognised that the glaciation of
Europe was not one continuous process, but that it could be divided into
several episodes, glaciations, or advances of the ice, separated by
a warm interglacial period. The monumental researches of Penck and
Bruckner in the Alps have there established four glaciations with mild
interglacial periods, but all of these cannot be clearly traced in
Britain. One very important point also is the recognition of the
affinities of certain types of Palaeolithic man to the Eskimo, the
Australians, and the Bushmen of South Africa. However, it is impossible
to give here a review of the whole subject. Full details of recent
researches will be found in the works mentioned in the notes at the end
of the book.
Another point of great interest and importance, arising directly from
the study of early man is the nature of the events constituting the
glacial period in Britain and elsewhere. This has been for many years a
fertile subject of controversy, and is likely to continue such. Lyell,
in common with most of the geologists of his day, assumes that during
the glacial period the British Isles were submerged under the sea to a
depth of many hundreds of feet, at any rate as regards the region
north of a line drawn from London to Bristol. Later authors, however,
explained the observed phenomena on the hypothesis of a vast ice-sheet
of the Greenland type, descending from the mountains of Scotland
and Scandinavia, filling up the North Sea and spreading over eastern
England. This explanation is now accepted by the majority, but it must
be recognised that it involves enormous mechanical difficulties. It is
impossible to pursue the subject here; for a full discussion reference
may be made to Professor Bonney's presidential address to the British
Association at Sheffield in 1910.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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