The Prehistoric World; Or, Vanished RacesAllen, Emory Adams
History
The Prehistoric World; Or, Vanished Races
Allen, Emory Adams
Archaeology; Indians; Prehistoric peoples
It is yet a much disputed point to what particular portion of the
Glacial Age we can trace the appearance of man. We can profitably
note the tendency of scientific thought in this direction. But a
short time has elapsed since a few scholars here and there began
to urge an antiquity for man extending back beyond the commonly
accepted period of six thousand years. Though it is now well
known and admitted that there are no good grounds for this
estimate, yet such was its hold, such its sway over scientific as
well as popular thought, that an appeal to this chronology was
deemed sufficient answer to the discoveries of DePerthes,
Schmerling, and others. It was but yesterday that this popular
belief was overthrown and due weight given the discoveries of
careful explorers in many branches, and the antiquity of man
referred, on indisputable grounds, to a point of time at least as
far back as the close of the preceding geological age.51
It seems as if here a halt had been called, and all possible
objections are urged against a further extension of time. It is,
of course, well to be careful in this matter, and to accept only
such results as inevitably follow from well authenticated
discoveries. But it also seems to us there is no longer any doubt
that man dates back to the beginning of that long extended time
we have named the Glacial Age.52
In the first place, we must recall the animals that suddenly made
their appearance in Europe at the beginning of this age. Though
there were a number of species, since become extinct, the
majority of animal forms were those still living.53
These are the animals with which man has always been associated.
There is therefore no longer any reason to suppose the evolution
of animal life had not reached that stage where man was to
appear. We need only recall how strongly this point was urged in
reference to the preceding geological epoch, to see its important
bearings here. Mr. Boyd Dawkins has shown that the great majority
of animals which invaded Europe at the commencement of this age,
can be traced to Northern and Central Asia, whence, owing to
climatic changes, they migrated into Europe.54
Inasmuch as man seems to have been intimately associated with
these animals, it seems to us very likely that he came with them
from their home in Asia. We think the tendency of modern
discoveries is to establish the fact that man arrived in Europe
along with the great invasion of species now living.55
Turning now to the authorities, we find this to be the accepted
theory of many of those competent to form an opinion.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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