The New Stone Age in Northern EuropeTyler, John M. (John Mason)
History
The New Stone Age in Northern Europe
Tyler, John M. (John Mason)
Stone age -- Europe
I. _Negroids._ Color yellowish brown to black, stature large or very
small. Hair short, black or reddish brown, frizzly, flattened-elliptical
in cross-section. Nose broad and flattened. Cheek-bones small, somewhat
retreating. Examples: Negritoes, Negroes.
II. _Mongoloids._ Color yellowish. Stature below average. Hair coarse,
lank, round in cross-section. Nose very small. Cheek-bones prominent.
Examples: Malays, Chinese, Japanese, Thibetans, Siberian "Hyperboreans."
III. _Americans._ Color reddish or coppery. Stature large. Hair long,
lank, coarse, black, round in cross-section. Nose large, bridged, or
aquiline. Cheek-bones moderately prominent. (Probably a branch of II.)
Examples: Indians of North and South America.
IV. _Caucasians._ Color pale or florid. Hair long, wavy or straight,
elliptical in cross-section. Nose large, straight or arched. Cheek-bones
small, unmarked. Examples: Hamitic, Semitic, and European peoples.
We may now imagine quite primitive human beings starting from their
early home and seeking their fortunes widely apart. They came under
quite different climatic and other physical conditions. Their
environment, problems, stimuli, and opportunities were unlike. Thus,
having become more or less unlike in the homeland, they gradually became
differentiated into the present great groups or races already mentioned.
Some started earlier or marched more rapidly than others. Many proved
unequal to the dangers and difficulties of the journey or new place of
settlement, and disappeared. Many stagnated or degenerated. Only the
comparatively successful or fortunate have survived. Hence, our scheme
is hardly an adequate expression of prehistoric racial groups and their
characteristics, except in very general outline.
We have seen that the apes, retreating before the approach of harsh and
dry climatic conditions and diminished forest areas and food supply,
migrated southward into India and Africa. The Orang settled in Borneo,
Pithecanthropus in Java, the Chimpanzee and Gorilla went into Africa.
These routes presented the fewest difficulties and demanded the least
readaptation or change of habit. The climate was mild and food
generally abundant and easily obtained. Their environment was neither
stimulating, trying, nor exacting. Progress was hardly to be expected,
but survival was far easier than in more northerly regions.
The Negritos followed almost exactly the same routes. We find them
purest and perhaps least modified in the "Pygmies" of the African
forests; but also in the Malay Peninsula, the Andaman Islands, and the
Philippines. De Morgan believes that he has found proofs of their
presence on the Iranian plateau at a comparatively late date.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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