instruments at bits and pieces” (_Horizon_, XV [London, January 1947], 50.) Readers interested in a detailed criticism by an authority on European history (who likewise considers principles rather than isolated errors) are referred to the essay of Professor P. Geyl in _Journal of the History of Ideas_, IX (New York, 1948), 93-124. [33]Part of Volume I and the whole of Volume II are devoted to its discussion. [34]_Op. cit._, III, 214. [35]_Op. cit._, III, 215. [36]We have actually adopted this method in _Archeology and the Sumerian Problem_, SAOC 4 (Chicago, 1932), an example followed by Anton Moortgat, _Frühe Bildkunst in Sumer_ (Leipzig, 1935); but the latter book suffers from the confusion caused by an inadequate delimitation of the successive periods. [37]It would be simple enough if we could equate the beginning of history with the introduction of writing, as is often done. The equation holds good for Egypt where the oldest inscriptions refer to the first identifiable events and personalities and thus, as records of battles and royal names, form the earliest raw material of Egyptian history. But in Mesopotamia this is not so; there civilization took shape, and writing appeared, well before historical documents in the narrow sense came into being. We shall see that this difference between Egypt and Mesopotamia was due to the different purposes which writing and art were made to serve; but it illustrates that generalizations about history and prehistory are hazardous even within a limited field. [38]So, _e.g._ J. S. Slotkin, “Reflections on Collingwood’s Idea of History,” in _Antiquity_, No. 86 (June 1948), 99. Against this misconception see Helmuth Plessner, _Die Stufen des Organischen und der Mensch_, Berlin, 1928. [39]For a penetrating study of this matter see Gertrude Rachel Levy, _The Gate of Horn, A Study of the Religious Conceptions of the Stone Age and Their Influence upon European Thought_, Faber & Faber (London, 1948). [40]On the so-called Libyan palette: Capart, _Primitive Art in Egypt_, 236-7, Figs. 175, 176. [41]L. Borchardt, _Das Grabdenkmal des Königs Sahure_, II (Leipzig, 1913), 10 and Plate I. [42]W. F. Edgerton and J. A. Wilson, _Historical Records of Ramses III_ (Chicago, 1936), 67 f. Wreszinski, _Atlas zur altaegyptischen Kulturgeschichte_, III, Plate 66. [43]Sir Aurel Stein, _An Archaeological Tour in Gedrosia_ (Memoirs of the Archaeological Survey of India, No. 43), 34; cf. 6-7. [44]R. J. & L. Braidwood, in _Antiquity_ XXV, No. 96 (December 1950), 189-95. [45]D. A. E. Garrod and D. M. A. Bates, _The Stone Age Of Mount Carmel_, Oxford, 1937.