Revival: Prehistoric Man (1924)

A General Outline of Prehistory

Jacques De Morgan

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN:
  9781138555945
• eBook ISBN:
  9781351347037
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: World History
• Index: History

The subject of the present volume, in essence is the hand and hand's extensions. We cannot insist too strongly that in the evolution of life the "decisive moment" arrived when a living being – who became man – adopted the erect attitude, thus freeing his hands, and when the industrious activity was inauguarted which this freedom made possible. In the use of the hand as an instrument, we have the manifestation of an important physical progress and the promise of further progress.

Part One
The Evolution of Industries

PART ONE
THE EVOLUTION OF INDUSTRIES

CHAPTER I
PALÆOLITHIC INDUSTRY

Eoliths.—Man certainly gave thought to the provision of means to strengthen the power of his arm in attack and defence when his brain had not yet developed much beyond the animal stage. Then, gradually, the idea came to him of adapting to his needs such weapons as his environment furnished; the branch of a tree, broken off to a convenient length, served his purpose; and from stones, roughly fashioned and provided with an edge, he made those rude implements to which the name eoliths has been given. These primitive implements present, however, such close resemblances to "sports of nature" that, although their existence cannot be doubted, it is impossible to distinguish them with certainty from stones split and flaked by natural forces. Certain archæologists believe it possible to say definitely that these primitive tools were used in Tertiary times. The Abbé Bourgeois, in 1867, thought he could distinguish the marks of human industry on certain flints (Fig. 7, Nos. 1, 2 and 2a) from the Aquitanian level at Thenay (Loir-et-Cher): in 1871, the Portuguese geologist, Carlos Ribeiro, discovered others in the Plaisancian beds of Otta (Fig. 7, Nos. 3 and 3a) (Valley of the Tage); and G. and A. de Mortillet, in their Musée Préhistorique,¹ show eoliths from Puy-Courny, near Aurillac (Fig. 7, Nos. 4 and 4a), implements which would belong to the Miocene and like those of Thenay and Otta would be clearly Tertiary. Just recently excavations made at Ipswich, in England, have given similar results, but somewhat more convincing, according to the authorities engaged in the research. The greatest defender of Tertiary eoliths was the Belgian geologist, A. Rutot¹, who not only considered them to represent the first attempts of man in the working of flint, but also thought that they constituted a special industry which, beginning In the Pliocene, was continued down to modern times parallel with other stone industries. (Fig. 7, Nos. 5 and 6). No evidence from actual facts, however, has appeared to confirm this hypothesis; indeed, on the contrary, Marcellin Boule, professor at the Museum de Paris, has conclusively shown² that the industrial mortars of Guerville, near Mantes, in mixing clay and chalk for the manufacture of cement, made eoliths in every respect similar to Rutot's specimens, and consequently that the action of natural forces suffices to produce those effects that have been attributed to human agency.

None the less, it is true that we cannot deny the probability of the existence of an industry greatly inferior to the palæolithic, any more than the probability of human life towards the close of the Tertiary, Unfortunately we know but little of the continental deposits of the Miocene and Pliocene ages, for they were almost all washed away at the time of the great Quaternary inundations, whilst others were swallowed up in the ocean together with the continents on which they had accumulated: nevertheless it is in the humus or mould of these epochs alone that we may expect to discover convincing traces of man and his works.

The Chellean Type.—The oldest implements of which we have knowledge that are quite clearly the work of man are almond-shaped flints roughly flaked on both faces by percussion, and pointed at one extremity, rounded at the other, and slightly convex in the centre.

They differ in dimension and often also in their general form but they are all more or less elongated and rounded, whilst the manner in which they are cut varies considerably. Nevertheless their average length is from ten to fifteen centi-metres. These implements were first found at Abbeville and Amiens, in the department of the Somme, then at Chelles in Seine-et-Marne¹, in the Quaternary alluvium (Fig. 8, Nos. 1, 1a and b, No. 2); later they were discovered in the alluvium in the north of France, in Belgium, Taubach², Saxe-Weimar, and the Grimaldi caverns³ near Mentone, as well as in many other parts of Western Europe.

FIG. 7. Eoliths, 1, 2, and 2a, Thenay (Loir-et-Cher); 3 and 3a, Otta (Portugal); 4 and 4a, Puy-Courny; 5 and 6 (Belgium).

In almost all these beds the typical implement, known as Chellean, is found with flaked fragments of indeterminate shape, worked or otherwise, and with others chipped on one face only which archæologists have differentiated as Moustierian. In general all these stone tools are coarsely worked, especially in localities such as the south of France and Saxony where the only materials available were quartzites, sandstones, quartzes, etc., which do not flake as easily as flint.

Except in a few caverns, implements of the Chellean type have always been found swept into the fluviatile strata, the relative age of which is indicated by the presence of fossil bones. At Chelles they are found with the remains of Elephas antiquus, Rhinoceros mercki, Trongotherium, Ursus spelœus, Hippopotamus amphibius, Hyana spelœa, and various Equidae related to the Tertiary horse, Equus stenonis, whilst, in the drift in the neighbourhood of Abbeville¹, Elephas meridionalis, E, primigenius, Hippopotamus major, Sus s crop ha, Cervus belgrandi, Bison prisons and several other large vertebrates were also found.

This gives us a fairly accurate idea of the conditions under which these primitive men lived. The flora of this epoch is revealed to us by the tufa of Celle-sous-Moret (Seine-et-Marne) which frequently bears plant impressions such as those of the Judas-tree, Fig-tree, the Ladrel of the Canaries, Box, and the large-leafed Spindle-tree, varieties which are suggestive of a mild and damp climate more temperate than that which the basin of the Seine enjoys to-day.

The foregoing observations apply to one region only, and that a comparatively small area, since it includes but three or four adjacent departments. If, however, we go seven or eight hundred kilometres further east, keeping within almost the same latitude, we find in Saxony a fauna and a flora that is rather different. In the forests of Conifer, Birch and Laurel there lived: Elephas aniiquus, Rhinoceros mercki. Bos prisons, Hyœna spelœa, all of our own regions, and also Ursus arctos, Sus antiquus, Equus caballus, Cervus euryceros, Cervus capreolus, Castor fiber, and some members of the Goat family as yet unnamed. The climate of Saxony was at that time cooler than that of France—if we grant that the deposits of the Seine basin were synchronous with those of Central Europe.

At Mentone the climatic conditions likewise were somewhat different; for we find in the silted-up layers of the caverns remains of Ursus arctos, an animal which does not seem to have existed in our northern countries at that time. We find also in eastern Provence, Elepkas antiquus and Rhinoceros mercki.

FIG. 8. Chellean Implements,

Whatever may be the character of the layers, we know nothing of Chellean industry beyond its stone tools; no bone or ivory implement has come down to us, and some degree of uncertainty haunts the very existence of the Chellean as a distinct and typical industry. We have seen that the Chelles character is almost everywhere associated with another called Moustierian, characteristic of implements long considered to belong to a more recent and more advanced Quaternary industry. On the other hand, the Chellean implement embraces the main principles of the Acheulean axe or " coup de poing " of G. de Mortillet; it is only natural to conclude that if the Chelleans were content with a crude implement, it was because they had not felt the need of more highly finished tools, although they were perfectly capable of fashioning them.

The Acheulean Type.—The Acheulean industry¹ is but a specialization of the Chellean, no doubt determined by circumstances the details of which escape us; but whether induced by local changes, or by climatic modifications on a wider scale which produced fresh needs, is still unknown. If we are to judge by the palseontological data in our country, a distinctly cold period followed the warm or temperate interglacial times in which we find the fauna associated with Chellean industry, and it is perhaps due to this change in temperature that the prevailing use of implements of the same type as the Chellean, but of a more highly finished workmanship, is due. It would seem, moreover, that the two classes of implements were not designed for the same purpose: whilst the Chellean "coup de poing" was intended for striking, the Acheulean axe was designed in such a way that it could be used for both cutting and striking. The implements of Moustierian type which are found in abundance with the Chellean in both the drift and the caverns, prove that the Chelleans did not work their "coups de poing" with greater care simply because they did not find it necessary.

The Acheulean implement (Fig. 9, Nos. 1, 2, and 3) in general is lighter than the Chellean and it is more varied in form; we find a lanceolate form so elongated that it might well be taken for a dagger, whereas others are elliptical, rounded, or even discoid (Fig. 9, No. 4). These diverse shapes are obviously intentional, but we are ignorant of the purposes which determine the choice of form.²

The method of usage of the "coup de poing" has been under discussion for years. Taking his stand on the employment of this implement by certain savage tribes who still use it and without a handle, merely smearing the butt (the round part) with a kind of resin to protect the palm of the hand, G. de Mortillet considered that it was used without a handle and held in the hand. Other archæologists, on the contrary, have sought to reconstruct the method of hafting, so that we can merely say that it is probable that these tools were used in several ways. However, it seems certain that it was with the point and sharpened edges only that the fabricators worked, since, among those that are not quite finished off, it is always th...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Original Title
• Original Copyright
• FOREWORD
• Contents
• PREFACE
• PRELIMINARY REVIEW OF THE FIELD
• PART I THE EVOLUTION OF INDUSTRIES
• PART II THE DAILY LIFE OF PREHISTORIC MAN
• PART III INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT AND INTERCOMMUNICATION
• SOME INFERENTIAL CONCLUSIONS
• BIBLIOGRAPHY
• INDEX